EXAMINING PATTERNS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION TO ...

totally countrymen, it is a little surprising to find just two farm laborers. One reason may be
that during the first years Italian emigration was temporary and people wanted to earn as
much as possible in a short time and then go back to Italy. 40 Investing in land, therefore,
would have been too much of a long-term engagement. Secondly, buying land was not
immediately affordable for the ones that had already in mind to stay in the foreign country.
Thirdly, Italians could have worked as farm laborers for other landowners, but the salaries in
agriculture were fairly low compared to other sectors such as mining. 41 Another thing to be
considered is the short farming season in Upper Michigan that did not allow a steady income
all year long for people working in agriculture.
As for women, the census indicates that forty-three of them are working outside the
household in 1900. Twenty-three of them are servants, five boarding house keepers, five
housekeepers, four salesladies, two dressmakers, two grocers, one milliner, and one
washwoman. As for boarding house keepers, it is important to notice that many more Italian
households include boarders although the census does not indicate the head nor the wife as
boarding house keepers. These data, therefore, are indicative but not conclusive of women’s
roles.
There seems to be no relation between region of provenience of the Italians and jobs
because they are more or less equally distributed in all the groups and jobs.
3.4 Occupations in 1910
In 1910 the great increase in the Italian community only partially corresponds to
increases of the number of working people. In fact in 1900 the working population - without
students who are not included in 1910 - was 48.5% of the community, whereas in 1910 they
represented 42.1%. This is a result of the fact that there are many more families than single
men compared to 1900 and many members of the families are children.
The bulk of the Italians are occupied in the mines (72.9%). The absolute number of
miners is higher compared to 1900, 365 versus 290. However most of the Italians still have
40 Di Palma-Castiglione, G. F. “Vari centri italiani negli stati di Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota e
Wisconsin”. In Bollettino dell’Emigrazione Vol. 14 (15 Giugno 1915), p. 27.
41 Ibidem, p. 26. According to Di Palma-Castiglione the salaries of farm laborers in 1912, ranged between $ 18
and $ 25 a month.
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