EXAMINING PATTERNS OF ITALIAN IMMIGRATION TO ...

Tables XV-XIX show the distribution, in percentages and absolute numbers, of the
Italians over the townships and the villages. Some mining locations are also indicated when
there were Italians living there.
After determining numbers and percentages of Italians for each township and village,
the patterns of settlement of the two main groups of Italian immigrants, Torinesi and
Lucchesi, have been compared to see if they showed different preferences as to townships
and villages of residence. 46 Italians originating in other provinces were excluded from
examination because of low absolute numbers.
4.1 Settlements in 1870
In 1870 Houghton County is divided into eleven townships: Adams, Baraga,
Calumet, Franklin, Hancock, Huron, L’Anse, Portage, Quincy, Schoolcraft, Webster. The
Italian community counts just twenty-one individuals. They are concentrated in Franklin
Township. 47 Only one Italian is living in Baraga Township.
4.2 Settlements in 1880
In 1880 the division of Houghton County changes a little bit. The townships are
seven: Adams, Calumet, Franklin, Hancock, Portage, Quincy, and Schoolcraft. Baraga,
Huron, L’Anse, and Webster Township are no longer part of Houghton County.
Italians have increased in number from twenty-one to 220. As Table XIV shows,
most of them are living within the territory of Calumet Township: 131 in Red Jacket Village,
and twenty-eight in Precinct 2. In Franklin Township there are fifty-four Italians, and seven
in Quincy.
46 Many previous studies about Italian immigrants have shown that they were really province or even villageminded
in the sense that they tended to congregate with other Italians from the same province or even the same
village. See, for example, Park, Robert and Herbert Miller, Old World Traits Transplanted, New York: 1921,
pp.146-151.
47 Italian descendants interviewed by professor Magnaghi remember that the very first Italians in Houghton
County settled in Franklin. Magnaghi, M. Russell. Interview with Mike Gemignani, 5-14-1982, Franklin Mine,
Michigan.
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