Henry and Antonio

[joetucciarone]

These notices were posted in different newspapers on the same day: May 14, 1864. The papers were published during the Civil War; one in a Confederate State, the other in a Union State.

In Richmond, Virginia, G.W. Richardson offered a $200 reward for the return of his runaway slave, Henry. Richardson believed the fugitive was “making his way to the enemy,” to General Grant’s forces, encamped just sixty miles away. The Union Army represented freedom for people like Henry, but not everyone north of the Mason-Dixon Line was free.

14MAY1864_escaped_slave_Henry.jpg

Three hundred miles away in New York City, Pasquale Falvella offered a $5 reward for information about a lost Italian boy, Antonio Pricolo. The advertisement said the boy was 11 years old and played the harp.

14MAY1864_escaped_Italian_Antonio.jpg

What it doesn’t say is that Antonio wasn’t lost; he had run away from Falvella. He had done so once already, four months earlier, but Falvella caught him. Antonio fled a third time in November 1864. Falvella, determined to recapture him, posted additional rewards through the Spring of 1865. With each new notice, he raised the bounty on Antonio. Pasquale Falvella was a particularly cruel padrone. Six other child musicians had run away from him between January 1864 and September 1865.

The fates of Henry and Antonio are not known.

[suanj]

A Antonio Pricolo born on 1853 arrived in New York on 1863 with a man, 20 old Giuseppe Calviello. And I believe that is the same, married in New York on 1892.
Nome: Antonio Pricolo
Sesso: Male (Maschio)
Data del matrimonio: 29 Sep 1892 (29 set 1892)
Luogo del matrimonio: Manhattan, New York, USA (Stati Uniti)
Coniuge: Carmela Tomasso (or Carmina De Masi)
Numero certificato: 12434

Normally .....these children were passed on to other exploiters. I believe that Antonio may have managed to escape and was helped to hide until he grew up he was able to face his slave owner.
The age at births of their children match enough.. who know?

[joetucciarone]

Hi Suanj,

Thank you for the information about Antonio Pricolo. Unfortunately, the age of the Antonio Pricolo (married in New York on September 29, 1892) is not listed in the record on Ancestry.com. There were at least two other Antonio Pricolo’s living in New York City with wives and children at the end of the 19th century. Unfortunately, they were both born after 1865 so they cannot be the Antonio Pricolo who escaped from Pasquale Falvella in 1864. According to Falvella’s advertisements, "his" Antonio would have been born about 1852.

And thank you for mentioning Antonio’s arrival in 1863. As you saw, he came to New York aboard the steamship Cella on September 23, 1863. That was four months before Falvella posted the first reward for a “lost” Antonio Pricolo.

Italian passengers who listed their occupations as “musician” immigrated on the Cella on seven or eight other occasions between 1867 and 1870. That isn’t unusual; many other Italian musicians and organ grinders came to New York on other steamships. However, on two of those voyages of the Cella to New York, large groups of Italian children were accompanied by just two or three adults. All of these children were listed as musicians, and all were between 7 and 11 years old. Those are telltale signs that these children were brought unwilling, and would be forced to perform for padrones on American streets.

An Antonio Pricolo was born in Saponara (Grumento Nova), in Basilicata, on December 14, 1852. His age perfectly matches that of the boy who escaped from Falvella. In addition, most enslaved child musicians were born in this part of Basilicata. But I’ve never been able to connect this boy with the runaway in New York.

[suanj]

Oh yes Joe in effects the Antonio Pricolo found by me was 36 old on 1900 so born around 1864 ... no 1854! Abt the Antonio Pricolo born on 1852 yes it could be, but the name is no a rare name...The trip could be the right trip...
the adults were boy hunters for these slaveholders. The story that they were street musicians was to avoid being arrested, these boys were actually taught to beg, and the more thin and suffering they were, the more they had money from those who felt compassion for them. The owners always tried to make them stay undernourished so that others would feel pity. If they wanted to eat something they had to steal it ... and secretly from their slaveholder. Probable that Antonio changed the name, maybe anglicized...
best regards,
suanj