My mother's father's father, Francesco Bruscato of Vicari Sicily, came to America twice. Once at age 18 in 1900 through Ellis Island in steerage with his 15-year-old sister, and a friend whose last name was Zagone. There were 1,300 other Sicilians on the boat pictured. He arrived in America with $4.00 to get from New York to Clarks, where his sponsor was waiting and a job at the sawmill.

He worked for 6 years, saved his money, and in 1906 he returned to Sicily to find his bride, Benedetta Pollina. They returned in 1907 through New Orleans. The couple had $42.00, which was more than many of the others on the ship.

A Sicilian community was created in Clarks Louisiana to harvest pine trees and work in sawmills. Later many Sicilians moved to Columbia Louisiana, which was a port town on the Ouachita River. A Sicilian Hardware Store owner named Shepis sculptured a monument with Christopher Columbus and George Washington above his store.

After America became a country, it replaced honoring King George with honoring Christopher Columbus and the feminine naming version "Columbia." After the 1891 Massacre of Italians and Sicilians in New Orleans, US President Harrisson made Columbus Day a major event to help Italians be accepted in America.

From 1917-1940, Francesco and Benedetta overcame the Spanish Flu, the Second comming of the KKK, the Great Flood of 1927, and the Great Depression. My grandfather "Geno" is the youngest boy in the middle.
By 1930, Francesco had started his grocery business in Monroe and listed his home as worth $4,500.00 on the census, while most listed that they were paying $8 to $12 for monthly rent. When he died in 1943. Francesco and Benedetta, owned a block of commercial and residential real estate in downtown Monroe on DeSiard Street

Francesco's sister would marry a Zagone. A descendant of their Zagone family, would became a hero in WWII. He was on a medical team that spent 3-days treating wounded in Germany during a battle.

My dad’s dad’s grandfather, Giuseppe Marsala, was from a nearby village in Sicily, Roccopalumba. The Marsala family lived 10 blocks from my mother's family in the "Little Italy" part of Monroe.

Like their grandparents, In 1959 my parents married and a year later left for New Orleans. In 1966, The City of Monroe tore down "Little Italy" to build the Civic Center.

In nearby St. Matthew's Cemetery, the former corner stone of the Italian Columbus Hall in Monroe has been placed near the graves of those Sicilian Immigrants to Northeast Louisiana who worked to assimilate into America.

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