The immigrant experience is central to the history of Rhode Island. Italian-Americans celebrate Saint Joseph’s day today. One fascinating collection of letters and ephemera in the collections of the Rhode Island Historical Society are the DiSandro Family Papers which were acquired in 2002. Mostly written in Italian, the letters are often postmarked in Providence and tell the story of one extended Italian family that settled in Rhode Island in the early 20th Century.
The DiSandro family lived in Cordoba, Argentina from at least January 1902 – January 1905. They apparently went back to Italy early in 1905. Michele DiSandro then went to America sometime around June 1905 to stay with his cousin Romano Mancini in Philadelphia leaving his wife and children in Colli al Volturno. His wife and children probably joined him in America in 1908 or early 1909. The family returned to Italy again by June 1909 and were still there in April 1910. Michele sailed to New York in 1911 to stay with his brother-in-law Giovanni Fiori [John S. Fiore] and sister-in-law Teresina Fiore who lived in Providence, RI. Michele spent April – June 1912 living in Philadelphia and then moved back to Providence. He brought the rest of the family to join him sometime in November or early December of 1913 which is corroborated by the 1920 census (no manifest yet found). Their youngest child, Elsie (DiSandro) Scott (1914-2001), was born shortly after their arrival. In their early years in America, the DiSandros lived in Natick, Warren and Providence, R.I. By 1919, they had settled in Providence’s largely Italian North End, where they lived in a succession of Charles Street addresses, and Michele supported the family with his work as a weaver in a webbing mill. The oldest son, Domenic, was working as a clerk in an Italian-American exchange bank by 1920.
~ Phoebe Bean & Karen Eberhart
