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Toni DiBernardo-Jones
My Grandfather
Annibale Giovanni DiBernardo was born to Alfonso DiBernardo
and Finizia Forese in Camigliano, Caserta, Italy March 30,1890. He
was a man of very humble beginnings, and up bringing. His father
Alfonso was a property owner and wine maker, who owned his own
vineyards that are still in this family today. The nieces and
nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews are still making wine off
this land that Alfonso DiBernardo and his wife and children owned
for the last two to three hundred
years.
It is amazing to think that the same vineyards are still in
existence all of these years later. Alfonso taught his son to be a
hard worker. My Grandfather learned how to be a farmer and a
winemaker from his dad. He was also taught responsibility and how to
take care of the land, the knowledge that my Grandfather took with
him to America as a young man. He was also taught by his parents his
deep faith in God and his strong faith to his Catholic Religion,
another long time value he carried from the old country with him.
Annibale was very young when he started making the trips from Italy
to America where he would come to make some money for his family
back in Italy. They would come and stay for a few months with family
they had in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area. Alfonso would work at
any type of job that he could find for a few months and go back home
to be with his family. He had hopes of coming and living in America
to one day, a dream of his that was never fulfilled, but that lived
on with Annibale.
I can imagine how this hurt for Alfonso and Finizia to agree and let
their oldest son only nineteen years old in 1909 to make the long
trip by himself to America and see if he would be able to find work
here in a new strange land so far away from his loved ones and
friends, I am sure that they struggled with this decision for a long
time before they would let their oldest son leave.
When he left for America, he packed his suitcase and his memories of
a lifetime and a family that he would never see again. Also he took
along with him a framed picture of his parents, a picture that still
hangs in my Aunt Verna DiBernardo Penwell's home to this very day, a
picture that I am sure that he looked at everyday wishing that he
could be with his family and parents again.
When he made his last trip from Italy to America, he went to live
with family that lived in the Swissvale Braddock area of Pittsburgh
where there are still family members to this day. He started to work
in a steel mill and friend that he had left Pittsburgh to move to
Hillsville, Pennsylvania called him one day to let him know they
were looking for workers on the railroad and that they also had a
girl for him to meet, that a girl was Antoinette Messina my
Grandmother, for whom I was named.
He eventually did leave Pittsburgh and got a job with the railroad
and married my grandmother in 1912. Grandpa and Grandma raised a
large family they had five girls and four boys. A daughter Pauline
Joan DiBernardo had died at a very young age which of course was a
very difficult time for the whole family. But with the strong
devotion that this family had they pulled together and carried on
with life minus their beloved daughter and sister.
Annibale rode a dinky railroad car up and down the tracks in
Hillsville for the railroad which was a booming business back then.
He would come home from work and eat his dinner and go make his
garden to help raise vegetables for his family and friends. He had a
grape arbor so he could make his wine and a wine cellar in the
basement of his home. He took his knowledge of wine making with him
to America.
My Grandfather was a hard-working man who loved his family and
grandchildren, he would sit under his swing that was under a big oak
tree in the yard. He had a stone wheel that he would sit at and
sharpen his knives and scissors. He was a gentle and humble man that
came from humble beginnings in Camigliano and had traveled so far to
have the American dream, but did lose a lot to be here, he left
behind his parents and siblings behind and never saw them again, how
hard that must have been for him.
He received a call from Italy to let him know when both of his
parents passed away one can only imagine how hard that would have
been. Grandpa lived for his family he loved each of them very much
and all of his grandchildren. As I started researching my family
history in 1992, I realized just how very important that my
Grandfather really was to me as a child and as an adult today.
Just being in his boyhood home and his homeland that he loved so
very much and meet his brothers and sisters family was an honor for
me that I will never forget. Being in the church that he would go
too, And to see his niece Alfonsina D'Onofrio use the outside bake
oven that his mother used all those years before was a feeling that
I can't describe, from the day I walked in and seen his boyhood home
I knew that I not only found my roots but I also had found my very
existence where it all started. I walked around his village and
wondered what would my Great-grandfather and my Grandfather think
about me doing all of this in their honor out of a deep love and out
of family loyalty that I don't want to be lost or forgotten.
From the day I arrived in Camigliano I was made to feel accepted and
loved and very respected back and I was very touched at the way that
I was accepted, little did I know just how accepted I would really
be. I should have known the whole time, for I knew Annibale and he
was the same way, very warm and loving and very patient with his
family and Grandchildren.
My Aunt Mary's wedding day. L-R Verna DiBernardo Penwell, my Dad Jose Montanary. ph DiBernardo, Uncle Sammy next to dad Grandpa Aunt Mary DiBernardo Rogers in back of Aunt Mary Uncle Alfred and Uncle Jimmy Grandma Antonette Messina Aunt Florence DiBernardo Dover and Aunt Katie Montanary. DiBernardo Mont
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