My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

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shelleyrock
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My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by shelleyrock »

Hi my grandmother's family came from Italy to America as indentured servants. They were sent from Ellis island to Virginia to work on a cotton plantation. Does anyone have any information on records?
erudita74
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Re: My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by erudita74 »

shelleyrock wrote:Hi my grandmother's family came from Italy to America as indentured servants. They were sent from Ellis island to Virginia to work on a cotton plantation. Does anyone have any information on records?
Shelley
I don't see how your ancestors came through Ellis Island as indentured servants, as anyone suspected of being criminals, or indentured servants, would have been turned away by the inspectors there. So they would have had to have entered the country illegally and, I would assume, there would then be no record of them coming to this country.

I just know that in the year 1768, for example, there were 100 Italian indentured servants brought to this country to raise indigo plants in New Smyrna, Florida. But, at that time, Ellis Island did not exist, and I don't know how or where they entered this country.

Indentured servitude has also been referred to as "white slavery."

So, is it possible that your family oral history is not accurate, or that your are talking about ancestors who entered this country in the 1700s, or early 1800s, and not in 1906?

You may find this pdf file of interest

http://www.colorado.edu/ibs/eb/alston/e ... ericas.pdf

Erudita
shelleyrock
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Re: My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by shelleyrock »

Hello and thank you for your response. I know that they are listed on Ellis island directory so they came through to New York. I know that they went south to a state with cotton fields. I know that they escaped in the night from that plantation and arrived in Connecticut. All 7 of them! My grandmother was 4 or 5 at that time. I know that the plantation owner paid for passage and then my people had to work off that passage. It was around 1904 or 1905. My Aunt who was older used to tell me how they escaped in the night. I will look at the link you sent me.
Thank you again.
Shelley
shelleyrock
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Re: My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by shelleyrock »

I think it was Louisiana that they went to.
dominique426
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Re: My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by dominique426 »

shelleyrock wrote:I think it was Louisiana that they went to.
Hi! :D

If you give me their names and town where they came from, I'd be more than happy to help with your research.

You may find this forum post interesting too.

http://www.italiangenealogy.com/forum/topic2676.html

Also this article on the treatment of Italians in the South, particularly New Orleans.

http://www.niaf.org/milestones/year_1891.asp
FAMILY SURNAMES: Sessa, Apuzzo, Merenda, Fisicaro, Bloise, Esposito, Costanzo, Ferrigno, Letiziano, Tomasetta, Covollo, Lerardi, Ferrigno, Barbella, Capparelli
shelleyrock
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Re: My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by shelleyrock »

Hi and thanks for helping me. My great grandfather Giovanni Bighinatti and his wife Candida Zaghini left the area of Castelnoro Bariana, with 5 children in or around 1905 and sailed to Louisiana directly. The children were Mary, Ermide, Regely ?? can't remember the rest. They worked on a cotton plantation until they escaped in the night and took the under ground railroad. I know this is what happened as my aunt often spoke of the night time escape.
I can't tell you how i appreciate you helping me.
regards, Shelley Angela
Pedemonti/Bighinatti
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Re: My family were Indentured Servants around 1906

Post by Pedemonti/Bighinatti »

Hi Shelley-I may have some information on the Bighinatti Family as well as the Pedemonti's. I live in CT
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