Danielle Maldonado

Sicilians and Italians in Texas

The Sicilian portion of my family that immigrated to the United States came in through Ellis Island and settled in New Jersey but there was a wave of Sicilians that immigrated directly to Texas. The first Italian in Texas came in search of trade routes in 1497. Italians were often in the employ of the Spanish court during the early period of discovery, like Christopher Columbus (Texas Almanac).

In fact, “Francisco Vásquez de Coronado's trek across the High Plains in 1541 included soldiers with the Italian surnames of Loro, Napolitano and Romano, among others” (Texas Almanac). Some soldiers of fortune came from northern Italy, but the larger numbers were from Sicily and Naples, provinces that were under the Spanish crown at various times. Italian born Prospero Bernardi even fought in the Battle of San Jacinto, helping Texas gain its independence from Mexico.

Between 1820 and 1880, Sicilian immigration in Texas increased dramatically because of economic and social conditions in Sicily, like poverty and required military service (Lone Star Genealogy). The immigrants hoped for a better standard of living for their families (TSHA). According the U.S. census in 1900, there were nearly 4,000 Italian immigrants living in Texas after the rush in the late 1800s. Families settled “in the lower Brazos Valley near present-day Bryan … on the Galveston County mainland,” as well as in Montague County in the Red River Valley.

Because of the increasing Italian and Sicilian population, businesses began advertising want ads in Italian to attract the needed attention. Some became entrepreneurs, purchasing land and opening their own businesses (TSHA). Most Italians and Sicilians were still unskilled workers, though, which meant they became miners or other unskilled laborers or farmers.

Those immigrants who settled into the Brazos Valley were mostly Sicilians, according to the Texas Almanac. The Sicilians, though unskilled, quickly became farmers. Those who went into farming learned to grow cotton and corn. This was especially advantageous in this area of the state where the “rich dark soil and abundance of fresh water created and ideal environment” for farming (Rootsweb). Later, some of these immigrants were even able to buy land after a period of tenant farming but all wasn’t rosy. There were many problems Italians found with farming in Texas. One Italian immigrant is quoted as saying: “The colony lives in poorly constructed houses, made of wood, without the most elementary precautions against the weather” (Nelli 43). The land the immigrants acquired also wasn’t the best because of its tendency to flood. Many Italian immigrants who settled in the Bryan area ended up being forced to find a new home and land to farm after a series of floods near the turn of the century. These immigrants moved southeast to the Galveston area, specifically Dickinson to farm (TSHA).

Many of the immigrants who settled on Galveston Island even helped build a railway from Texas that extended from Victoria to Rosenburg and into Mexico dubbed “The Macaroni Line” in 1881. Later, dire financial situations caused the construction to come to stop and some Italians returned home. Those who decided to stay settled in Victoria, Houston and Galveston  (Texas Almanac).

But the worst wasn’t over for either of these settlement groups. The Galveston hurricane of 1900 destroyed homes and farmland with the “surging saltwater tide” (Texas Almanac). But this didn’t stop them. Later, most found employment in nearby cities like Houston (Texas Almanac).

The Montague County group, near present-day Fort Worth, was mostly from Northern Italy. They, like the other groups, were avid farmers and some even planted vineyards. Before Prohibition, some wineries even operated in the state (Texas Almanac). Still others were unskilled laborers in factories or worked in the mines. When work in the factories and mines closed, some moved home to Italy and others moved to more northern states (Texas Almanac).

According to my research, the Italian and Sicilian immigrants learned English and assimilated quickly, this was thanks in part to the “immigrant church, the Italian-language press, and the benevolent fraternal organizations” that were available (TSHA). In fact, private Italian groups also supported the immigration and settlement of Italian immigrants to Texas for agricultural purposes (Nelli 43). These groups allowed the Italians and Sicilians to act as an early model minority group, even this early in the game. Like Jewish immigrants early on and later, Asian immigrants, the Italians and Sicilians who settled in Texas simply wanted a better life for their families and had no qualms working to get it, paralleling the American Dream story (Objective 3).

Works Cited

Immigration to Texas. 2008. Lone Star Genealogy. 10 July 2008. http://www.lonestargenealogy.com/courses/texas/migration.html

Italians. 2008. Texas State Handbook Online. 10 July 2008. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/II/ppi1.html

Italian Americans. 2008. Texas Almanac. 10 July 2008. http://www.texasalmanac.com/culture/groups/italian.html

Italian Collection. 2008. Rootsweb. 10 July 2008. http://www.rootsweb.anceslotry.com/~txrober2/ItalianCollection.htm

Nelli, Humbert S. “Italians in Urban America: A Study in Ethnic Adjustment.” International Migration Review: Special Issue: The Italian Experience in Emigration. 3(1967): 38-55. JSTOR. University of Houton-Clear Lake Library, Houston, TX. 10 July 2008. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3002739