My Grandfathers, 1910s

These photos of my grandfathers were taken around the same time.

Top: (far right) my mother's father, Lytton, 1912, in Kentucky

Bottom photo: my father's father, Vincenzo; photo taken in Sicily in the 19'teens: Vincenzo is in the photo held by his brother, far right, because he emigrated to the U.S. in 1913.

 

The parents in the photos are, of course, my great-grandparents.
Top, left: Martha & James
Below, center: Marianna & Michele (seated)

And the siblings, my great- aunts and uncles.
Top: Pearl and Bertha
Bottom photo: Prudenzia, Frank, and Anthony (I presume those names were originally Francesco and Antonio--Prudenzia became "Prudence" in the US.)

I just noticed that my Kentucky relatives are not touching each other--there's just the slightest air-gap between each one, while the Siclians are all touching.

(It's not that the Sicilians were nicer, though. [cough, cough] Oh, no.*)

I've cut the bottom of the photo off, but Michele is holding the hand of that little unknown person next to him--no one knows who this child is. Perhaps she died? or was someone else's child who stayed in Sicily?

*Okay, to be fair, my father and Auntie Vi loved their grandfather, Michele--said he was kind and friendly--even though he spoke no English and they, almost no Sicilian (tho' my father said he was surprised how much he understood when he went to Sicily in his fifties).
But mostly they said this branch of the family was mean.
I feel it in myself sometimes--a kind of bitter, cutting energy.

And I feel a kind of preachiness in me, too--from the other side?
Big Boss even said I am a preacher!
I try to quash that (not exactly effectively, as you may have noticed); but he told me he meant it as a compliment.

All these threads!