INDEX
THE NERI FAMILYWouldn't it be wonderful if we could turn back the hands of time to an era when all the relatives lived a few blocks from each other or at most a short city bus ride away? It was a time when we all loved and cared for each other. This is what I remember from my child mind. I feel that current generations have been cheated by not having this experience and my generation also has been cheated in having this snatched from us in the name of progress.
Grandpa Joe was one of the kindest and most compassionate persons you would want to meet. He was not afraid to show emotion and love. The NERI family was a family with much music and togetherness at times of festivities. Three of the boys played instruments. Unfortunately I missed out on this as my grandma Marianna died when I was 4 years old (1939) and the family went helter skelter afterwards. I am left only with hearsay and suppositions. I believe grandma was the matriarch who held the family together. I have been told stories of celebrations and family gatherings around this huge round dining room table. The family lived at 400 Busti ave. (formerly Front Street) on Buffalo's old west side, and it was a nice residential neighborhood at that time. They rented from a lady called "Donna Jenny" who was not only the landlady, she was also a personal friend of the family. I remember hearing stories of grandma's funeral. Her wake was at home which was a second floor flat and for the funeral they had a procession thru the streets two blocks to the church of the Holy Cross. The casket was on an undertaker's gurney, and my brother Joe who was 8 years old walked at the head of the procession. It is from my brother Joe that I heard the most about grandma. He loved her very much.Grandpa and Grandma had seven children, five boys and two girls. Each was special in his or her, own way.
My Father "Sam" was the oldest. As I mentioned earlier my father and grandpa did a lot of work together, first to raise money to send for the family and then as the two principle breadwinners of the family. They worked 10 and 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. One project they worked on was the building of the Buffalo Zoo.Later Dad worked as a painter, getting a job in the "Garrents" building where grandpa was in charge of maintenance and also did all of the plasterwork. He was a master craftsman when it came to plastering. Dad also painted houses on the side. I previously mentioned music in the family. Dad was a cornet player. A cornet was very much like a trumpet only a little mellower and in a difičrent key.Dad married Mary Bartolotta when he was twenty-five and she was sixteen. They had four sons (Mom kept trying for a girl). Joe was the eldest, then Diego (who died at age one and one half) Diego Salvatore (myself) and Charlie. In 1942 dad got a job at Niagara Mohawk Power Corp as a coal handler. He worked at this until be retired due to disability in 1963. In 1953 he helped me get a job with the same company. (Yes nepotism was practiced then). I worked in various positions with "Nimo" eventually spending the last 31 yrs. there in the field of computers. Joe married Maria Iacono from Porto Empedocle and had 3 children; Salvatore, Francesco and Maria. I married Concetta Capizzi, and had 3 children, Salvatore, Teresa (who died at age 16) and Danny. Charlie married Evelyn Blake and had 2 daughters, Jennifer and Nicole.
The second oldest of Grandpa and Grandmas children was my uncle Russell. He married Susan Prestia and they had 4 sons, Joe, Mike, Russell (who died as a toddler) and Richard. Uncle Russell was a carpenter and made toys of wood, which he gave as presents at Christmas, He also played the mandolin and banjo. He worked for the Cheverolet plant in Buffalo and moonlighted as a carpenter. I remember him doing a major remodeling job on my parent's kitchen when I was 14 years old. I worked alongside of him as his helper and learned a lot from him.
Next in age was Uncle Charlie. He married Carmella (Mildred) Tulumello. Their children were Joe, Charlie, Maiyanne, (who died single) and Angelo. Uncle Charlie played the saxophone and was probably the most serious musician in the family. He composed a couple of songs though they were never published. He worked on construction as a union laborer and was an extremely hard worker. I know this first hand because in 1955 I was temporarily laid off from Niagara Mohawk and he got me into the laborers union and I worked with him. At this time uncle Charlie did not drive and asked me if I would teach him. He bought a car and I took him out for driving practice several times. After my father died he was a surrogate father to me.
My Uncle John's middle name should have been "trouble". Trouble followed him around even when he did not do anything to cause it. There was the time he bought a new Ford convertible, and it was stolen. The car thief crashed it into a telephone pole and was killed. He had a bad marriage with Josephine DiBella. They had 3 children John, Joann, and Maryann. His big regret in life was not being able to have a relationship with his kids. The best thing was when Josephine Maus came into his life. They helped each other and she was his companion until the end. Uncle John was the one who kept in touch with everyone in the family.
Next are the twins, Uncle Al and Aunt Tina.
Uncle Al married Kay Rende and they had two daughters, Mary Ann, and Rose Ann. Rose Ann died as a young adult of a spleen disorder. Uncle Al went into the service during WWII and was in the Medical Corp. He was an administrator of an army hospital in New Mexico. After being discharged from the service he worked for the Buffalo Sewer Authority, eventually becoming an administrator. He had a sharp studious mind and a gentle personality, which endeared him to all.
Aunt Tina the other twin married Phillip Ceravolo, and they had 3 girls and a boy. Francis (who died in 1999 from cancer), Mary Ann, Helen, and Phil]ip. After Uncle Phil died aunt Tina re-married to Tony Recchio.
The youngest of the seven was aunt Rose. She married Harold "Hersh" Surkin, They had 2 children; Sarah, and "A". The Surkin family moved around a lot due to Hersh being a salesman. They finally settled in Santa Monica, California. Aunt Rose lives alone now, and she manages a large apartment building. I am so glad I got to visit her in the fall of 1999 as it had been 40 years since I saw her last.
The Bartolotta household was always full of relatives and visitors. Grandpa and Grandma were very popular. Friends would come to them when they were in need of assistance of one kind or another and would find that my grandparents would listen to their problems and give them advice or other assistance. Additionally they would be offered food or a glass of wine. Some of the older Italian men would discuss politics as it related to their native homeland.
This is the story of my Grandpa, Diego Bartolotta, a very complex man, and my Grandma, Giuseppa (Josephine) Bulone Bartolotta, a very warm, generous, loving, hard working lady. I was brought up to love and respect my Grandparents. As I already said Grandpa was complex and to some, was considered harsh, but I could always see through to his gentler side. I confess that being named after him, I was probably one of his favorites. Later in life when Grandpa had his leg amputated because of diabetes he was impatient with his caregivers. My Grandmother as well as my Aunts and Uncle would be chastised for not responding quickly enough or hurting him when they tried to help him. This could not be avoided as his infirmities made him very fragile.
Grandpa and Grandma were born before the turn of the century in Porto Empedocle, Sicily. They were married in 1911, he was 22 and she was 17. Grandma's parents were not living at the time of her marriage and she may have been in an orphanage or living with relatives. In 1912 Grandpa immigrated to the United States. His two younger brothers probably came at about the same time. The next year (1913) Grandma came over with her mother in-law who was now widowed. According to documents in hand Great Grandfather Angelo Bartolotta died on May 6,1912, which was approximately one month before Grandpa Diego immigrated to the United States. The 1920 census shows him living on Front Street in Buffalo N.Y. with Grandma, my mother who is 6, my Uncle Angelo who is 3, his mother Maria who is 62, and his brother Joseph who is 27.
In the United States he worked as a laborer, street car conductor, fish monger, and grocery store owner. I remember when I was 5 years old, going with him, when he was selling fish. He towed a trailer with his car. At the end of the trailer was a scale to weigh the fish, and on the trailer was a long horizontal icebox with compartments packed with different kinds of fish. Next to the scale hung dried cod. I had two duties. I was to blow this long cardboard horn as loud as I could to announce his arrival and yell out "pisce vivi" which translates to fresh fish or more literally to fish alive. My other duty was to hand him newspapers. After he cleaned a customer's fish on the spot, wrapped them in butcher paper from a roll which hung on the end of the trailer, he then wrapped the package with newspaper.
As a young adult I remember once going with him to the farmers market at 4:00 A. M. to buy vegetables to sell at his grocery store. I found it interesting to watch him haggle with the farmers. They would give him a highball price, and he would bargain them down. Sometimes he would start to walk away and they would call him back. It seemed to be a game that they both played. There were some farmers he would not deal with. He'd say they were "Figlie Di Bootani" (Sons of Bitches).
When he could not drive anymore I was enlisted to take him out to pick gardoons (burdock). He would pick several bushels. My poor Grandmother was stuck with the job of cleaning the gardoons. She cooked some for us and the rest were sold in the grocery store.
One year I helped my grandfather and two of his cronies, Settimo and Octavvio, make wine. We filled 14 open barrels with crushed grape mash. He had an electric grape crusher and halfway through the crushing process the motor burned out. Thus the rest of the grapes were crushed by turning a hand crank. We let the crushed grapes with sugar and yeast added ferment for a period of time. Next we put the mash in a large wine press with a huge ratchet on top. We threaded a pipe on to the ratchet and squeezed the mash, straining the liquid through cheesecloth into 3 fifty gallon, oak whiskey barrels. This was about 1955 and he still had customers that bought his wine by the gallon. I was pressed into service to deliver some of his wine from time to time.
My grandma ran a fish market on Hudson Street for many years. The fish market was open on Fridays year round, and on Wednesdays during Lent. Her fish were shipped to her fresh, packed in barrels with dry ice via Railway Express. My Grandfather's fish mongering was in conjunction with the fish market.
There are some stories told to me about the bootlegging days, which may or may not be accurate. During the depression days of prohibition many families sold hooch to put bread on the table. My Grandpa’s operation was quite large, yet he did not get rich as he supported many relatives. I am told he owned two trucks, five fast cars, and a fast speedboat for running rum from Canada. He also had a washing solution company as a front. This front allowed him to buy bottles, and it also provided cover for distribution operations. The trucks were set up with racks of washing solution on the outside, while behind them were racks of moonshine. For his distilling operation be owned two houses on Prospect, 339 and 341. I was born at 341 Prospect. There was a narrow alley between these two buildings with facing windows. When a tip was received that there was going to be a raid, my father and other relatives would be rousted in the middle of the night to move the still and booze through the windows from 339 to 341. The next night they would move everything back.
I still remember when they lived at 326 West Avenue and their tenant who lived on the second floor murdered another man in the attic. He shot him with a pistol wrapped in a pillow to muffle the sound. Then he hit him with a hammer. This all happened in the middle of the night. Then he and his wife wrapped the body in a blanket and carried it to the car leaving a trail of blood on the stairs. They accidently locked themselves out. The wife woke my Grandparents and told them "her husband cut himself on a can opener". She then cleaned up the blood on the stairs. A couple of months later the police found the body in a stone quarry and tied the murder to the tenant. They had been operating a stolen car ring together. Grandpa and Grandma had to testify at the trial, and the tenant was put to death in the electric chair.
My Grandparents had 3 children. The eldest was my mother Mary who married Salvatore Neri when he was twenty-five and she was sixteen. They had four sons (Mom kept trying for a girl). Joe was the eldest, then Diego (who died at age one and one half) Diego Salvatore (myself) and Charlie. In 1942 Dad got a job at Niagara Mohawk Power Corp as a coal handler. He worked at this until he retired due to disability in 1963. In 1953 he helped me get ajob with the same company. (Yes nepotism was practiced then). I worked in various positions with "Nimo" eventually spending the last 31 yrs. there in the field of computers. Joe married Maria Iacono from Porto Empedocle and had 3 children; Salvatore, Francesco and Maria. I married Concetta Capizzi, and had 3 children; Salvatore, Teresa (who died at age 16) and Danny. Charlie married Evelyn Blake and had 2 daughters, Jennifer and Nicole.
Next was Angelo who married Grace Volpe. They had two daughters, Josephine who married Charles Palmeri, and Charlotte who married Roy Hurd.
Then came Concetta who was only a little older than I, and a couple of months younger than my brother Joe. She married Charles Buscarino from Porto Empedocle. They had two children Kathy and Jerry.
