HOW OUR FAMILY GOT TO BE HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA by JOSEPH ZANONI, JR. for MARY !

The story we were told by our mother, Florence Zanoni (Luchi) of Cloz, Val di Non, Tirol, now Trentino, Italy about our immigration to the United States by our ancestors, who ?, when ?, why ?, etc. IS AS FOLLOWS!

1 The first one to come to the United States, was Stefano Luchi, her father, my Grandfather. He came to Vulcan, Michigan in 1870. In those days men were recruited to come to work in the iron mines at Vulcan. So, they always said "We are going to Vulcan", not to America, or New York, not Chicago, etc. "VULCAN" was the name!! As depicted in the documentary "Bread From Underground", they drilled through over a mile of solid rock to reach the real iron. By 1875, some 5 companies had gone bankrupt trying to reach the iron in the Vulcan mine and most men were out of work in Vulcan. Five of them, including Stefano Luchi, left Michigan ON FOOT and WALKED ALL THE WAY to HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA. It took them 3 MONTHS!!

2 Sometime after they got to Hazleton and worked in the mines there, Grandpa Stefano Luchi went back to Cloz and married Fidele Magagna of Revo. My mother, Florence, was born March 11th, 1880. Around 1885, Stefano's family went back to America and settled in Ecckely, about 10 miles from Hazleton. (That's where the Molly McGuires organization fought battles and the famous movie was made of those days.) My mother went to school from the 1st grade on up. Her family stayed there until 1898. During the Spanish-American War, they returned to Cloz.

3 In January, 1902, my mother, Florence Luchi, married Joseph Zanoni, Sr. She taught him English, then sent him to Hazleton. I have records that show every cent my father earned, and that he joined the union in 1904. My mother followed my father to Hazleton shortly after with her mother, Fidele, and her second son, Serafino, who was born in March, 1904. Her first son, Albino, had died in September, 1903, when he was only 6 months old. Grandpa Stefano Luchi died in Cloz in 1904. Grandma Fidele Luchi died in Cloz in 1919, after she had made this last trip to Hazleton and back.

4 On August 2, 1913, there was a tragedy in Tower City, Pennsylvania. A mine explosion killed many workers. My Uncle Victor Zanoni, and cousin Egidio Luchi who worked as blacksmiths were on the surface. They rushed into the mine to rescue the survivors, but a second explosion killed them!! THEY ARE THE UNSUNG HEROES. Uncle Victor's wife, Maria, and her two daughters, Vittoria and Lauretta, had to go back to Cloz, because a widow had no way to support her family. My father was obligated to help his brother's family, so he decided to go back to Cloz for a long visit. The whole family went - Ma, Pa, Grandma Fidele, Serafino, Paolina, Fr. Silvio, Sr. Miriam, and Victor. They stayed in Cloz until Pa was able to return to America. He was stopped by World War 1. I was born in 1915, Bonnie in 1918, and Mario in 1922.

5 Pa went back to the U.S.A.; later Serafino went to join him. In the summer of 1926, Pa returned to Cloz. Bonnie ran toward Pa and jumped into his arms; I was right behind him. In April of 1927, Pa and I went to Melrose Park. Ma and the rest of our family came in September, except for Silvio and Victor, who were in the seminary in Piacenza. Victor cam to the U.S.A in 1928 with Fr. Benjamin Franch who had been in Italy on his first vacation since coming to Melrose in 1905. Victor quit the seminary because he got sick.

6 In 1939, Labor Day, our family went to Michigan for the first time to see where Grandpa Stefano had been in 1870 to 1875. At 6 a.m. we were in Green Bay having breakfast. When we came out of the retaurant, we heard the terrible news that France and England had declared war on Germany. Later, when Ma saw the sign for Menominee, she cried, but she didn't know why. She only remembered her father had told her that something bad had happened to him when he was walking through Menominee. In 1940, we returned to Michigan with the intentions of renting a log cabin at Marion Park in Norway, but Ma and I ended up buying the lot at Hamilton Lakes, where we later built out house that burned down.