Maria was ten when she moved in with another family. Her own family could no longer support her. Several years later her "foster" family had another child and they, in turn, could no longer support her. That's how she found herself with a marriage broker who connected her with a bachelor in the United States. She corresponded with the man and agreed to marry him, if he wired the money necessary for the voyage from Italy.
The family story says that Maria Mormile was sixteen when she headed to America. Checking online Ellis Island information, there was a 20-year-old Maria Mormile who went through Ellis Island in 1904 ... the year of her marriage. Is this the same Maria? Did she lie to the custom's officials? Did they record the wrong age? Or over the past century did the family misremember her age? It could be any of these. [Update. According to her husband's death certificate, Maria would have actually been sixteen in 1904 ... so I'm guessing she lied to get on the ship.]
But she did make the voyage, by herself, and took a train from the East Coast to Florence, Colorado. Then onto Rockvale, a coal-mining town. It wasn't until she got there that she learned of the lie. The picture she had received of a young Italian man was not the man who waited for her in Rockvale. No. The man who waited was much older and was hobbled, walking with a cane.
She refused to marry him, hiding away in a local hotel. It was a small mining town and news traveled quickly. Another bachelor, Angelo, heard of Maria's plight. The two talked and agreed to be married, once Angelo repaid Maria's expenses. And so Angelo "Harris" and Maria Mormile married on July 2, 1904.
No, Harris is not your typical Italian name. His real name was Ariasi. It was quite common for names to magically change at Ellis Island. It took just the scrawl of a pen on paper to suddenly have an Anglo-sounding name. And just as magically, Maria Mormile became Mary Harris. Though on Angelo's death certificate, his name reads: Angelo Ariasi (Harris).
Angelo and Maria Harris were my great grandparents. The parents of the grandmother I never met. My grandmother, Minnie, died when my dad was young.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
A Girl Named Maria
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3 comments:
Fascinating family history, Gary.
I'm tempted to say that there's an intriguing novel in that story, but I won't.
It may be time to publish a revised 'Family Cookbook' - it's so funny how the stories twist and turn with every telling...I had heard she was 13 years old and that the real name for Harris was Ariasi. How did you find all this out?
And that's how the story changes. I may have been told Ariasi and my mind switched it to Arisini. But this is the story I was told, I think mostly by Aunt Connie, when I was living there. I wrote it up for a history paper for a class at Grossmont. There was a Maria Mormile who was 13 who came through Ellis Island, but that wasn't until 1916, and that was too late as the marriage record I found for them was from 1904 in Fremont, CO.
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