La Famiglia Manno Part One: Palermo Francesco Paolo Manno was born on August 18, 1902 in Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily. He had eight siblings, three older and five younger. In 1916, Paolo's parents made the decision to leave Palermo with their nine children and immigrate to the United States. When the family arrived at the dock, Paolo and three of his siblings were not allowed to board the ship waiting to take them to America, as they were suffering from muropurulent conjunctivitis, or pink eye, which was highly contagious. The four children were left behind with their grandparents while the rest of the family set off for their new home, eventually settling in St. Louis. It would be thirty years before fourteen-year-old Paolo would next see his mother. He would never see his father again. * * * * * Concetta Elena Romero was born in Palermo on May 24, 1912. She married Francesco Paolo Manno in 1928 at the age of sixteen. The Manno's daughter Rosa was born the following year. Their daughter Concetta was born in 1931 and Anna in 1935. A year or two later, a fourth daughter, Maria, was born; she died at age two of pneumonia. In 1939, Francesco Paolo Manno finally got a namesake. When his son Paolo was born, he was so happy he jumped off a balcony and declared, "I got a boy!" During World War II, Palermo was heavily bombed by the Allied forces. The first air raid was carried out by the French on June 23, 1940. The Mannos were forced to take refuge in Terrasini, about 20 miles west of Palermo, where they remained until the end of the war. It was there that daughter Serafina was born in 1942 and Rosalia in 1944.
The Mannos were a close-knit family. Elena stayed home and raised her children while her husband worked to support them. The Manno children helped each other with the chores; they sang; they listened to music; they giggled. They would sneak into their father's wine barrel and get drunk in the barn. Francesco Paolo Manno was in the horse trade business. He bought and sold horses — beautiful horses, expensive horses — which required him to travel throughout Sicily. But after the war, Manno's horse trade business declined to a point where he could no longer provide for his family. So in 1946, he stowed away on a ship bound for the United States, intending to find his mother and siblings in St. Louis, and hoping to find a better life for his wife and six children.
After arriving in New York, Manno made his way to St. Louis. But since he was in the country unlawfully, his mother and siblings wanted little to do with him; they didn't want to be seen as harboring an illegal alien. Manno needed to work. He met a man named Nathan Tureen who took a liking to him. Tureen owned Northwestern Cooperage, a company located at 1542 North Tenth Street which specialized in reconditioning used barrels and metal drums. Tureen gave Manno a job at his factory. It was a very physical job; Manno often worked outside in cold weather. But he was a hard worker and made enough to both support himself and send money back to his family. Tureen helped him rent and furnish an apartment. Manno continued to work at Northwestern Cooperage until October 13, 1950, when police and immigration authorities came to the factory and discovered he had come to the United States illegally. Tureen vouched for him, and the authorities allowed Manno to go back to Italy on his own instead of deporting him. Tureen paid for Manno to return to Palermo and reunite with his family.
Four of the Manno daughters lived within a mile of the men they would marry. Rosa would marry Agostino Gabriele, Concetta would marry Francesco Sanfilippo, Anna would marry John Mineo and Serafina would marry Giovanni Gabriele. Rosalia would marry Benedetto Buzzetta, who lived in Carini, 20 miles from Palermo. Paolo Manno would marry Concetta DiNatale, who lived in Ragusa, 150 miles south of Palermo. The Manno children and their spouses would all end up living in St. Louis. Francesco Paolo Manno returned to St. Louis in 1956 with his son Paolo and his daughter Anna. Elena would follow in 1958, with daughters Serafina and Rosalia. Rosa would immigrate in 1959 and Concetta in 1967.
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