It's All About Family Final for Yumpu

In 1896, Grandma and Grandpa Mazzotti
arrived in America with their two young
daughters, Rose, who was born in 1893, and
Josephine, who was born in 1895. They came
from a village in Calabria, Italy, called Terra
Nova di Sibari. They decided to travel to the
United States at the request of Grandma’s
brother, Louie Lotito, who needed help working
as the caretaker on the Roe farm in
East Patchogue.
After they settled in America, their first
son, Anthony, was born in 1897, and two years
later their third daughter, Lena, was born.
Grandma and Grandpa stayed on the Roe
farm for about five years and then returned to
Italy with their children for reasons that are
not known. During the voyage back to Italy,
Grandma was pregnant with a fourth daughter,
Margaret (Peggy). Not long after their
return to Italy, Grandpa soon realized that life
in the United States was better for their family,
so after sixteen months, he returned to the
Roe farm by himself. He left the rest of the
family in Terra Nova until he could get established
and send for them. Grandma and their
children rejoined Grandpa in about 1905.
Grandma and Grandpa and their children
shared a house with Uncle Louie’s family
on the Roe farm. They did not have electric
lights, only kerosene lamps; and one of the
children’s jobs was to keep the lamps cleaned
and filled. Their main forms of transportation
were by bicycle or horse and carriage. Aunt
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Rose would deliver milk throughout the area
with Grandpa in a horse and carriage. A coal
stove provided heat in the house and the coal
was stored outside the kitchen door in a bin.
At Christmas, the tree was decorated with
candy and little homemade treats. The children
hoped that the “ornaments” would fall
off so they could eat them. Christmas gifts
were practical rather than frivolous and fun.
The children usually received clothing rather
than toys.
In 1905, Uncle Louie Lotito left the Roe
farm to pursue other endeavors. He opened
a number of stores in Patchogue on the four
corners of South Ocean Avenue and Main
Street. Uncle Louie and his family moved
to 48 Railroad Avenue, and, when they
later moved into a larger home at 68 Jayne
Avenue, he offered the Railroad Avenue
house to Grandma and Grandpa in exchange
for assuming the mortgage on the property.
When Grandma and Grandpa moved from the
Roe farm to the house on Railroad Avenue,
Grandpa opened a taxi service with very
attractive, enclosed horse drawn carriages.
Grandma and Grandpa then completed
their large family with the birth of three more
sons: John in 1907, Frank in 1913 and Louie
in 1915. Their youngest daughter, Millie, was
born in 1908.
These reminiscences were provided by Rose Romeo,
as told to her granddaughter, Rita Crocitto King,
and by Jean Fuccillo Aragona Korosh.
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