Great Grandfather Dominic came to the US in 1902 from North Central Italy (Tuscany). When he moved over his sister convinced him to leave the baby, Segundo [Pa] with her until the rest of the family was settled. In 1914, to escape the draft at age 14, Segundo came over to the US and settled with his parents and estranged siblings in Hibbing MN. Dominic had begun to work the iron mines like many Italian immigrants of his time. Dominic saved enough money to open a tavern outside the gates of the mine he worked in with a partner who then proceded to steal all the companies money and leave Dominic holding all the bills. Dominic then took a job as janitor and Lucille, his wife, rented out rooms for boarders (boarding houses were apparently a good way to make money at one time).
When Segundo joined his family, he had a brother he'd never met, and didn't know the rest of his family either. He'd been less than 2 when the other 6 kids had went to the US. In Italy he'd been left to his own devices by his aunt that "cared" for him, and his brothers described him as a "wild ass of a young man" who didn't want to obey his parents and resented his siblings for knowing their parents.
At age 16 after several hairy fights with Dominic, Segundo left the house and it would be 13 years before he saw anyone in his family again. He tried to find work, but no one was hiring Italians in 1917. Being the smart guy he was Segundo changed his first name to "Frank" and his last name from Cavalieri to Cavalier. He told everyone he was a French immigrant. He was hired immediately as a laborer helping to build paved roads.
Frank worked his way down from MN into Illinois. In this span of several years he'd learned to operate the heavy equipment used to build roads back then. No easy task considering this was still in the days of steam operated construction equipment. He'd also learned to drink...heavily.
When he reached Illinois he met two people who would figure large in his life. Geneva DeWitt and Eugene Saal. Geneva he married, the crazy wench, and Eugene, then only 13, became Pa's best and most loyal friend. Gene followed Pa to every job he ever went to. As a 13 year old Gene, whose name Pa always pronounced U-ah-Gene because of the accent would come to the job site looking for work as a day laborer. Pa took pity on him and hired him. From then on, anytime Pa changed companies or job sites, Gene followed. They also became drinking buddies.
The rocky marriage of Geneva and Frank was punctuate by the birth of 8 kids.
Ma's stories varied between admiration of Pa, and anger at him. She loved to tell how he had such big hands, could chin himself with one arm up to the age of 60, and could fix any piece of mechanical equipment he set his hands on. She also loved to tell stories about what an inconsiderate hard drinking SOB he was.
Once, when Pa was in the St Louis Metropolitan Jail on a drunk and disorderly Ma refused to bail him out (I've been arrested and taken to this same jail, by the way, small world) Anyhow, Pa lost his job for missing work.
One company had sent a big steam backhoe by rail to the job site, but no one was able to get the darned thing unloaded, no one could operate it. The company finally decided to go into St Louis and bail out Pa so he could get the equipment off the rail head for them. They ended up having to give him his job back.
Gene used to tell me the calls he would get from Ma to come handle Pa when he was having DT's. Gene dodged the pick ax more than once as Pa was in the Wood Shed killing snakes he kept seeing on the walls. Snakes were what he usually saw during DT's I don't know why.
Later in Pa's life, when he came back to Illinois from KY, he had a secure job and worked all year round when he wasn't too drunk. One of the guys on his crew was assigned to wake him up each morning when they were at a remote site and staying in hotels instead of houses. In 1952 a guy who was to become the president of the Union I joined in 1984 used to get paid a dollar a day extra to go wake up Pa. If he'd not had too bad a night it wasn't to bad, but if he'd tied on a good one...well, more than one guy took the full brunt of Pa's steel toed boots thrown at them by Pa.
Gene was a funny guy too. Married a HARD woman, and he was PW'd. She used to make him not only lift and lower the toliet seat, but he had to get down on his hands and knees to urinate, otherwise she'd of killed him.
Gene and Ma had a crush on each other. I don't think anything ever happened between them, not even after Pa died in 1969, but you could tell they were sweet on each other, and Gene admitted as much to me one night while we were drinking together (he became my drinking buddy too.)
Ma divorce Pa in 1957 or so because "he was just such an old SOB" She married him a year later, which is when the rest of the family found out his given name of Secundo. The priest used his full given name as opposed to the one he had used since turning 16. Pa seemed to be ashamed of being Italian. He never spoke the language unless mad as all heck, and never told anyone his real name, except for Ma. As Ma told it Pa looked like he was gonna slug the priest for telling his real name.
Pa died in '69, Ma waited until 1995. during those 26 years without him, she lived in the same house, kept the old orange recliner that had been Pa's for so many years before that, and always received her mail and listed her phone as Mrs. Frank Cavalier.
I used to sit at the foot of that chair and rub my hand through the open wound on Pa's leg that never healed from the wreck he had in 42. I can even remember seeing Pa wince with pain as Ma would debride the wound once a week. I also remember being with my cousin of the same age and teasing Pa mercilessly taunting him and being just out of reach of his crutches, that was until Ma or aunt Caroline came home. Ma would whip us good, if Aunt Caroline caught us, she turned us over to Pa and his crutch.
I don't really know why I'm writing all this. Minimus asked. There are just sooo many stories I've heard over the years. Pa used to be a bootlegger in KY after the wreck, he had his car gas tank set up to hold the moonshine.
One day in the restraunt, while on a drunk, Pa hit Ma in the back end with a broom while she was carrying a load of plates. She came back from the pantry with a mop handle and gave Pa the beat down, BAD!
Soo many more things I could write, but I'm sure you're all bored with this by now.
Thanks for reading.
