Immigrant Secrets – The Search for My Grandparents
By John Mancini; $13.99 at Amazon, 239 pp; Oct 2021, 6×9, 219 pages, ISBN 979-8-48564-746-9
I first must say that this book is great read. I’m sure that many genealogists can identify with Mr. Mancini’s story. I certainly can. Many of us just don’t write about it. In my case, I’m going to attempt to change that.
The author didn’t know anything about his grandparents – both of whom were Italian immigrants. He had been told that they died in the 1930s. Then he located both of them in the 1930 and later, the 1940 census – as inmates in the Rockland Insane Asylum. Using genealogy research, and imagination, as well as excellent writing skills, he was able to construct a picture of his grandparents, presenting them like they very well may have been.
As many who have done genealogy research for a while know, obtaining medical records about our relatives who spent time in asylums in near impossible. There are just too many laws and regulations in place to be able to find out the details of their lives. This story is personal for me, as I have close relatives who spent time in “state hospitals.” I was raised with a first cousin whose life was essentially destroyed by shock treatments in an attempt to cure her. But that’s another story.
The author’s parents, Joseph and Sallyann, left New York City, moving New Jersey in the 1950s shortly after they were married, and had six kids—John, June, Joseph, Jennifer, Jeffrey, and Jeanne.
Joseph Mancini was born in 1925, and served in the U.S. Navy during WWII. He worked at Union Carbide, and them he started his own business with a friend. He had a heart attack in New York City in 1987 shortly after officially retiring. The man never mentioned his family – not once.
In a pair of separate ship manifests, the author located his father’s Italian parents, arriving at Ellis Island in the early 1920s. In the 1930 Census, he found the Frank and Elizabeth family of four – Frank operating a small fruit stand in Manhattan.
With the release of the 1940 Census, his grandparents reappeared in the census as “inmates” at the Rockland Insane Asylum, never to reemerge into society. And he later found that his grandfather, Frank, had died July 16, 1990, at the age of 92. His grandmother, Elizabeth, died at the age of 104 on Feb. 16, 2002. He also found numerous cousins living within a short distance of where he grew up.
This is a family history told in a very untraditional way – but of great import to genealogists. Without access to hospital records of the “insane,” the story of these unfortunate folks may never be told. The author asks for political change in that regard. However, without advocates for these dead relatives, I have doubts that genealogists will get the necessary access to tell their story without the use of imagination – at least not in my lifetime. Thanks to John Mancini for having done that. His grandparents now have a firm place in history.
Note – Court records are public, and can be used to help put the picture together. That and helpful cousins (found on the Internet) were key in John Mancini’s research.
I highly recommend this book. Click here to order at Amazon.com