2024 #52Ancestors, Week 9: Name Changes

Name changes and/or creative name manipulation are the bane of a genealogist's existence.  I (like many others, I'm sure) have been stymied and frustrated by ancestors' decisions to suddenly use their middles names as their first names, change their surnames to something unrecognizable, or (in the case of one of my relatives) enact a complete name change with no legal documentation.  Below, I will detail some of the more frustrating experiences I've had with name changes.

Pearsons

The Pearson surname has been Pearson for as far back as I've been able to track them, but they tended to play fast and loose with their first names.  In particular, my great grandfather's generation seemed to take great delight in using first and middle names interchangeably.  My great grandpa Ben is a prime example.  Grandpa Ben's legal name was Daniel Benton Pearson, but the 1900 census lists him as Benjamin D. Pearson.  The 1910 census lists him as Daniel B.  His marriage to my great grandmother is recorded in the Swedish American Church Records; there, he is Benton Daniel Pearson.  Great Grandpa Ben's brother, Peyton Eric, went by Eric for most of his life.  Early on, this made searching for his records quite difficult.  

Ben and Eric's half-sister also made my life difficult.  The first document I found indicating her existence was the 1900 census.  She was listed as Rosa Pearson.  I have also found what I believe is a register of her birth where she is recorded as Rosella Pearson. She married not long after the 1900 census, and her daughter's 1903 birth certificate lists the mother as Mary Rose Hughes.  In the 1910 census, she was Rosy Hughes, but in the 1920 census, she was Mary R. Hughes.  The Illinois Death Index lists her as Rose Mary Hughes.  

These, of course, are trivial issues compared to the story of one Pierson McClure (whose mother was Nettie Pearson).  Pierson spent the first 8 years of his life using that name, but in 1923, he was baptized Joseph Marion Miller (presumably in a nod to Nettie's current husband, Walter Miller).  According to everything else I have found concerning Joseph's life, he never used the name Pierson again. 

Hugo Robertson

Hugo Robertson was my great great grandfather. He emigrated from Sweden in 1887 and his emigration record indicates his name was Carl Hugo Robert Jonsson.  Now, I know it's not odd for names to change during the immigration process, but here's the unusual part (for me, at least).  Hugo's twin sister, Anna Elvira Augusta Jonsson also emigrated, but she did not change her surname.  She seems to have arrived in America shortly after Carl...Hugo...whatever his name was, and her 1906 marriage to Charles Blomberg shows her maiden name was Jonsson.  Charles and Anna Elvira were my Great Grandma Thelma's sponsors at her baptism, so it's not like the siblings didn't see each other regularly.  Why didn't they get on the same page about their surnames?  Other than church records, it seems my great great grandfather also dropped Carl entirely.  The 1900 and 1910 censuses and his 1911 death certificate all list him as Hugo Robertson.

Palermos and Aloisios

On the other side of my family, the Sicilians kept their surnames, but they tended to go by more Americanized first names. Mariano Aloisio became Mario (although that still sounds pretty Sicilian to me).  Mariano's wife, Serafina, came to be known as Sophie.  Mario and Sophie's daughter, Carmela, went by Nell, and her brother Rosario was referred to as Bud.  For the Palermos, Great Grandpa Francisco Antonio Palermo, the fruit dealer, switched to the Americanized 'Frank,' and his uncle Giuseppe chose to go by Joseph.  Many of Frank's children did the same.  Paola became Pauline, Antonino became Tony, and my Grandpa Martin's name was actually Matteo.

2024 #52Ancestors #Week8 Heirlooms

When I was a child, the rock-tock of the clock in the dining room was a lull that, as I got older, I often found I had trouble sleeping without. An heirloom from my dads’ mother’s side of the family, she is a treasured piece of history.

In about 1896, my great-great grandmother and great-aunt Bertha went to town to purchase a new clock for the house. Below is Bertha’s elderly reminisce of the trip. Going to town was often an event, sometimes including the wearing of your finest clothes. 

When Bertha writes of brother Gerrit and other siblings joining her to watch and listen to the clock, and that her older siblings were working out, she’s likely referring to only one other sibling, my great grandmother Elsie, who was about 16 at the turn of the century. 

Made by the Gilbert Clock Company, she stands 24 inches high and strikes at the hour and the half hour. When new, she sold for under $4.00, with an additional charge for an alarm. I’m unsure if our clock ever alarmed in its early days. Similar models, all antiques, sell on sites like eBay for around $150, which is approximately the value of $4 in 1900.

Now residing with the 5th generation of the extended TenKley family, “Grandma” sits on a shelf at my brother’s home, with Aunt Bertha’s story and notecards from my dad explaining her model and the repairs he performed on her in 1985, tucked away behind her pendulum.

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 8: Heirlooms

It’s possible I’ve been thinking too hard about this one. I think it may be because my idea of an heirloom is something ancient that you keep behind the glass in your china cabinet.  You proudly point it out to guests, but no one touches it or uses it for fear of damaging it.  I don't really have those sorts of heirlooms.  What I do have are several lovely photos (some of them framed) that are well over 100 years old and a candy dish from an aunt I never met.

This framed, hand-tinted photograph is of my Great Grandma Thelma's confirmation some time in the early 1920's.  She hangs in my dimly lit back hallway because I worry about her getting washed out by the sun.

This fraying cabinet card album is even older.  While most of the subjects in the pictures remain unidentified (such as the ones pictured here), this book appears to be a collection of Great Grandma Thelma's in-laws.  One of the photos I was able to identify is of my Great Grandpa Oscar's aunt, Pernilla (Svensdotter) Hanson.  The photo is from approximately 1890.  134 years old qualifies it as an heirloom, right?

Finally, some years back, I made contact with a cousin I didn't know I had.  Her mother was my grandfather's daughter from his first marriage. Carol and I visited back and forth for a couple of years (amazingly, she lives only an hour away) before she decided I needed something to 'remember' my Aunt Dolores Palermo who passed back in 1996.

This is one of Aunt Deee's (not a typo - apparently that's how she referred to herself) crystal candy dishes.  It holds a place of honor on my entertainment center (I took it down to get a clear picture).  It is not presently filled with candy, but I have occasionally used it for the purpose for which it was intended.

I maintain a hope that a younger member of my family will take an interest in these items and see the value in preserving them.  It's what any heirloom deserves.

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 7: Immigration

I imagine one of the most difficult parts of immigrating was having to leave behind your previous life and the comfort of your culture, but at least you had your family by your side.  Most of my ancestors, at any rate, seem to have immigrated with other members of their family (parents, spouses, siblings, etc.), but my great great grandmother, Anna (LiPira) Sapienza, left her husband behind in Italy!

Rosario Sapienza and Anna LiPira were born and married in Collesano, Sicily, and had at least 8 children.  Some family trees suggest 9, but I have not been able to confirm that.  Of the 8 I have confirmed, it seems that only one did not immigrate to America - a daughter, Maricchia, born around 1867.  As the oldest of their children, perhaps she had already settled down to raise a family and did not wish to relocate.  The remaining children and their approximate dates of immigration to the United States are as follows:

Peter Sapienza, b. 1870 (arrived 1902/1903)
Giuseppa Josephine [Sapienza] Iocolano, b. 1875 (arrived April 1903)
Thomas Sapienza, b. 1876 (arrived 1901)
Theresa [Sapienza] Gullo, b. 1882 (arrived 1907/1908)
Concettina Eva Sapienza, b. 1884 (arrived 1900)
Serafina Sapienza, b. 1887 (arrived 1903)
Joseph Guiseppe Sapienza, b. 1890 (arrived 1906)

Documentation for the family is spotty, but here's what I've been able to discern.  It seems Concettina (who went by Eva) came to the U.S. first in 1900.  When Anna immigrated in 1901, she listed Eva as the relative she was going to join.  Anna was 49 years old, and the passenger list names her as Anna LiPira, not Sapienza.  According to the 1910 census, Thomas also immigrated in 1901, but I don't have any primary sources to confirm that. Peter, Giuseppa, and Serafina all arrived between 1902 & 1903.  Serafina's passenger list cites her mother as the relative she was joining. The last two children to join their mother in the United States were Joseph and Theresa between 1906 & 1908.  By the 1915 New York Census, Anna and her children, Peter Sapienza and Theresa Gullo, appear on facing pages.  In 1920 and 1930, Anna is living with Theresa's family.  The 1920 census lists Anna as married, but the 1930 census lists her as widowed.  To me, this evidence suggests that Rosario died some time between 1920 and 1930.

I have found no explanation for why Anna chose to come to the United States without her husband.  All I have to go on is an old Ancestry query that reads, in part, "Rosario Sapienza married Anna Li Pira in Collesano. They had 9 children born in Collesano in the 1870 to 1890 era. Eight of these 9 children emigrated to NYC between 1900 and 1909...Anna Li Pira Sapienza emigrated to NYC in 1901. Rosario remained in Collesano with their remaining daughter who never emigrated. Anna died in Brooklyn in 1932 and Rosario died prior to 1930 in Collesano, never having traveled to the USA."

I'll probably never know why Anna and Rosario chose(?) to live out their old age on separate continents, but it's interesting to speculate.

2024 #52Ancestors #Week7 Immigrant Toddlers

The immigrants that interest me so much are my great grandparents. They were both born in the northern Netherlands, Peter was his parents’ first child to survive infancy as well as their firstborn son, and Elsje (pronounced EL-sha) was her parents’ last child born in their homeland. Both children learned to speak Dutch, learned to walk in cobbled streets and may have worn small wooden shoes. Elsje may have even enjoyed the comfort of her grandmother’s lap.

That all changed abruptly when each of them were about three years old. The TenKleys journeyed from Apeldoorn to Amsterdam and the Winkels from Hattem to Rotterdam, journeys of 55 miles and 90 miles, respectively. I can only surmise that both journeys were likely by train. Both families boarded ships and traveled in steerage, which in most cases was at best unclean. Margjen “Maggie” TenKley had 8 children, but her two oldest girls were surely a huge help throughout the ordeal. Dirkje Winkel, on the other hand, appears to have traveled with only her husband to lend a hand with their three sons, ages 3, 2, and 3 months. I can imagine both little Elsje and little Peter, thumb or fingers in mouth, probably tied to apron strings (very common as a method for safety) so that they didn’t disappear into the crowds or get into mischief. 

If either child saw the ocean at all, it may have been their first and only time, and I expect there would have been questions. How very sad that neither of them would have had opportunity to see it at an age where they might have remembered it better. 

As far as research has shown, the TenKleys settled briefly in Baltic, Connecticut (not at all coastal) but only stayed there 18 months at perhaps the longest. Dirk and the older children worked in a factory, and instead of a Dutch houseboat, likely lived in a factory related house or even tenement. The Winkels on the other hand appear to have journeyed directly all the way to northwest Iowa to join Dirkje’s brother, a blacksmith in a largely Dutch community.

With the exception of the stop in Connecticut, both families stayed near to a larger Dutch community, retaining their heritage and their language. Both Peter and Elsje spoke Dutch fluently as adults, and while certainly they didn’t remember their journeys to their new home, surely heard tales of both the adventures of travel and of nostalgia for their parents’ homeland.

Dutch children at Ellis Island, Google image

2024 #52Ancestors #Week6 Earning a Living at Dayton’s

 

As it has been related to me, when my aunt (dad’s younger sister) was old enough to be at school most of the time, Grandma went to work in downtown Minneapolis. Suburban malls didn’t yet exist (although the first one in the country would open a few years later near my grandparent’s house). Grandma worked in the gift-wrapping department at Dayton’s on Nicollet Mall, and if you’d ever received a package from her, you knew how very meticulous she was about her wrapping. Lovely boxes in pretty paper, with the seams matched as if creating a new outfit.

It was while working at this job that she was approached by someone in management regarding a new project or department that Dayton’s was embarking on - a drop-in childcare so that mothers could shop without their little charges. Grandma adored small children, and she accepted the offer.

Kiddie Care was set up on one of the upper floors at Dayton’s and installed with every kind of toy. Workers wore white uniforms in the early days, and there was a giant fiberglass elephant whose trunk was a slide. When a child arrived, they were welcomed by an older lady (I believe most were grandmothers), given a sticker in primary colors with the Kiddie Care name on it, and shown around the space. There were “romper-stompers” to walk on, giant hopper balls with handles, counters for Play-Doh and coloring, and many other toys and activities. There were some planned activities, but “free play” led by the individual child was the model. That elephant slide was a huge draw, and i vividly remember helping to wear out the treads on the way to it’s slide. I was signed in countless times as a child, as were my brother and cousin. Grandma became the Director, and as far as I know was always there when we were. In my memory, almost the entire place was a garish 70’s orange, but it’s definitely a delight when it comes to memory.

In addition to the delight that was Kiddie Care, Grandma had all kinds of wonderful toys in a brown cabinet in her basement. We had Slinkies (the stairs in the house were quite steep) and building blocks, puzzles and Candyland, which will forever remind me of her kitchen and playing with her at the table.

Grandma always called her employees at Dayton’s “her girls” with great affection and told me once that she thought calling children “kids” was akin to disrespect. “Little Treasures” is how she referred to all of us. Little wonder Margaret Lowe was known as “Grandma Love.”

2024 #52Ancestors #Week5 - Influencer

To say that this week's topic has been daunting is an understatement.

My great-grandfather Peter Winkel wasn't known to me, although I met him as a toddler before his death. When I was expecting my son, I decided that he would be named after two of my great-grandfathers, and I believe I made a great choice. My grandmother (Pete's daughter) told me she was delighted.

My step-father was close to his grandfather Pete (that's a tale for another day) and has told me many stories about him, including about Pete's work at the Farmer's Co-op, and his later loss of the job. I knew that Pete was on the side of the farmer (he wrote to the newspaper frequently with both letters to the paper and poems on his views). I found so many newspaper articles about his involvement in this and other organizations, however, that I may just tell the story through the articles themselves. Some of the letters and poems I've seen in the past I'm still trying to find.

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Dick Winkel has given up his job at the Wassenaar’s lumberyard and intends to go to Canada. His brother Pete will take his place in the yard. - Nieuwsblad March 1909. This was one year prior to Pete's marriage. He was twenty-six and had fund his vocation.

Board of Supervisors Meet - Bills Allowed - Peter Winkel board of health and review 11 00 11 00 - Alton Democrat Sept 1911. I'm not sure what these codes mean as posted in the newspaper but assume that Pete was given some sort of budget.

Peter Winkel, manager of our Farmer’s lumber yard, made a business trip to the county seat last Tuesday - Alton Democrat Dec 1917. Within 8 years, but at an unknown date Pete had become manager.

Several ads circa 1915 - 1930 addressing the Co-ops shareholders appeared encouraging all to purchase cement while rates were cheap and to notify him at once if their dividend checks had not been recieved. Peter Winkel, Manager

Peter Winkel was appointed permanent trustee in place of J.P. Schut, in the trusteeship of the Gerrit J. Van de Berg property and his bond fixed at $15,000.00 - Ireton Ledger Jan 1927. Per later articles outlining management and staff, it seems Schut was effectively Pete's boss. I have to look into who Van de Berg is, as he doesn't appear to have been a relative, possibly an associate.

Mr. Milo Reno, president of the Iowa Farmer’s Union has invited Mr. Peter Winkel, manager of the Farmers Union Stock Yards Commission Company at Sioux City, Iowa, to be present at the Public School auditorium at Sioux Center, IA, Thursday night at eight o’clock, Feb 13, 1930, for the purpose of discussing in detail the situation relative to the affairs of said commission company. All interested are requested to be present - Volksvriend Feb 13, 1930. A harbinger of dealings to come between the two men, it seems. A large crowd was reported to have attended the first known public meeting of the two men.

When Peter Winkel, former manager of the Farmer Co-operative society at Sioux Center, attempted to question Mr. Reno about certain points in the latter’s report, Reno’s supporters shouted him down. P. E. DeVries, Sioux County Supervisor-elect, was the only member of the opposition to which the convention listened, and he was permitted to finish his talk without disturbance. Sept 25, 1931. With no real way to know, this seems a bit like a verbal brawl. To have been a fly on the wall, decades before my own birth.

Peter Winkel, manager of the Farmers Union Commission Co. of Sioux City, will give a talk on Cooperative Marketing. F.H. Everson, president of the So. Dak. Farmers Union, will be the main speaker. Mr. Everson has been a member of the So. Dak. legislature for several years and is expected to discuss the farm problem intelligently. - Sioux Center News May 1932 This was at the annual Farmers Union Picnic, held despite being almost three years into the Depression.

At a recent meeting of the board of directors of the Farmers Union Livestock Commission company of Sioux City, a resolution was adopted asking Peter Winkel to resign as manager.

Before accepting the position as manager of the above company, Mr. Winkel was manager of the Farmers Cooperative Society at Sioux Center and resigned as such to accept the Sioux City job. As manager of the Sioux City company he was very successful and also made dividends for the Sioux City concern.

The Farmers Unions of Nebraska, S. Dakota, Minnesota and the Farmers Cooperative Society of Sioux Center compose the membership of the Sioux City company. The last two have furnished more than half of the business done by the concern and they have protested against the firing of Mr. Winkel, being well satisfied with his management. Mr. Winkel was never very strong for the Milo Reno regime and this may have been the cause for his unceremonious dismissal. - Boyden Reporter Nov 23, 1933. Regime, huh?

Farmers to Meet Saturday - Sioux Center will be the scene of one more episode in the removal of Milo Reno from power among the farmers of Iowa. The members of the Co-op Society are going to meet for the purpose of starting a new commission house in Sioux City. It has always been a sore point with Reno that he has nothing to say about the business of the Farmers Union Commission house in Sioux City. The large profits that Pete Winkel made seemed to spur his interest and finally did he get his finger in. And when he did, Peter Winkel was forced to resign. The Farmers Co-op Society of Sioux Center and the Progressive Farmers Union of Iowa each have one-sixth interest in the commission house as far as control goes. But they really have more than fifty percent interest because between the two of them because between the two of them they supply 59 percent of the business. These two groups have always backed Peter Winkel and fought Reno. Now that Reno is dictating the policies of the commission house they are going to withdraw their business and start a new commission firm to handle their business. Peter WInkel will no doubt be chosen to head the new firm.

The fear that these two groups of farmers have of Reno control is entirely justified. It seems as if everything that Reno touches just sours and dies. The commission house in Chicago, several insurance companies in Iowa, the Farmers Union of Iowa and now even the Holiday movement, all have been blighted by the presence of Reno. Each one of them has been a failure and all have failed because Milo Reno mismanaged them. - Sioux Center News Nov 23, 1933

PETER WINKEL WILL MANAGE NEW COMMISSION FIRM -

A new commission firm, to be called the Progressive Cooperative Livestock Agency, was originated here Saturday at a meeting of stockholders of the Farmers Cooperative Society and the Members of the Progressive Farmers Union.

Martin Moeller, president of the Cooperative society presided at the meeting which was held at the school house and attended by some 200 farmers. The new firm will open an office in the Livestock Exchange building, Sioux City on December first, under the management of Peter Winkel, former manager of the Farmers Union Commission Co.

The new commission firm owes its origin to dissatisfaction with the policies of the Farmer’s Union Commission Co., who recently dismissed Mr. Winkel in spite of his outstanding success as manager. The majority of the directors of the company are Farmer’s Holiday men and opposed to paying a patronage dividend, wishing to use the profits for organization …. - a policy to which Manager Winkel and the Sioux Center directors were opposed. - Sioux Center Times - Alton Democrat Dec 1, 1933. There was no time for paint to dry on the resignation.

$100,000.00

We have the above … available for lease to good cattle and

Sheep feeders.

Six percent interest and no other charges.

We are now able to give you excellent financial service along with

Good selling service and good sized patronage dividends.

PROGRESSIVE FARMERS CO-OP COMMISSION

Stock Yards, Sioux City, Iowa

Phone 87200 Peter Winkel, Manager

Alton Democrat April 13, 1934

Progressive Farmers Union Organizes Insurance Company - Local Man Elected Secretary-Treasurer -

At a meeting of officers of the Progressive Farmer’s Union of Iowa held at Des Moines last Friday the Progressive Mutual Automobile Insurance Association was organized. The company was created for the purpose of furnishing various types of automobile insurance at cost. Standards have been set so high that policies written will be as good as the best and at a lower rate, according to the newly elected officers of the company.

Ralph Sutherlin was elected president of the Progressive Mutual Automobile Insurance Assoc. Carl Wilken, Vice-president, C.A. Punt of Sioux Center, secretary-treasurer; Peter Winkel, Ass’t secretary-treasurer; Henry Brossmle, director; F. W. Bolte, director, and Albert Lohff was elected general manager. The Company will have ... a temporary office at Sioux City under direction of Peter Winkel. Sioux Center News June 13, 1935

REVIEW OF SIOUX CENTER CO-OPS - Gas & Oil - Co-Op Founded in 1924 -

The Co-op Gas and Oil Co. of Sioux Center, now one of the … successful and largest of it’s kind, was organized in 1924, and opened for business in July.

The first officers were Neal Mouw, president; P.E. Vermeer, treas.; H.E. deVries, sec’y. The directors were Neal Mouw, H.E. deVries, C. Schelling, J.P. Schutt, Wm. Rons, M.T. Moeller, P.E. Vermeer, P. Winkel, R. Bartels. These men were the prime movers in the organization. The late H.E. DeVries was especially active in the organization.

John Boeyink has been the manager from the beginning. The original staff is pretty much intact and the success of the Coop is owing in good measure to their loyalty and ability. Steve Campagne was assistant manager at that time. Andrew Nattinga the present assistant was assistant trucker then. Fred Overlander started with the Co-op in 1924 and has been on the job ever since. - Sioux Center News Jan 30, 1936

Franken, Frank Punt and Pete Winkel of Sioux City left Monday afternoon for Des Moines on insurance business. - Sioux Center News Jan 1938

ANNUAL MEETING OF COOPERATIVE GAS AND OIL CO. MONDAY JANUARY 24

The 14th annual meeting of the Cooperative Gas and Oil Company will be held next Monday afternoon starting at one o’clock in the Sierperda skating rink. Cards were sent out to all members last Friday morning and according to John Boeyink there will be a record crowd if the weather remains as good as it was early this week. At this meeting the annual report will be read, new officers elected, and interest and dividend checks handed out to patrons.

The Gas and Oil Company was organized in the summer of 1924. The first officers were Neal Mouw, president; J.P. Schutt, vice-president; H.E. DeVries, secretary; P.E. Vermeer, treasurer. The directors were C. Schelling, Wm. Rons, M.T. Moeller, Pete Winkel and Ralph Bartels. John Boeyink, the present manager, was also the first manager and two others of the original staff are still with the company, Andrew Nettinga and Fred Overlander. Other employees for the company are: Henry Mulder station assistant; James Hollander, service man; P.W. Mouw, W. Obbink, and Orville Buffington as truck drivers for country delivery; and Mabel Eggink as assistant bookkeeper.

The company has done a total business in its 13 ½ years of close to $2 Million. The dividends paid back to patrons during this time is near $175,000. - SIOUX CENTER JAN 20, 1938

CO-OPERATIVE GAS & OIL COMPANY ORGANIZED IN 1924 - The Co-operative Gas and Oil Co. was organized and began its first day of business on August 12, 1924. The first officers were: Neal Mouw, Pres.; J.P. Schut, Vice-Pres.; H.E. DeVries, secretary, and P.E. Vermeer, treasurer. First Board - 1924 - The first directors of the organization were C. Schelling, Wm. Rons, M.T. Moeller, Peter Winkel and Ralph Bartels. (original buildings owned by G. J. Schut) - Sioux Center News July 31, 1941

Bought Out Nick Wassenaar - Peter Winkel Manager - The farmers bought out Nick Wassenaar in 1912 to establish a lumber yard and Pete Winkel was the first manager of the lumber yard, followed by George Reimersma. … - Sioux Center News July 31, 1941

He organized and managed the Progressive Farmer’s Cooperative Commission Firm and was manager of that concern until his retirement in 1958.

As Dad has said, Pete was always an advocate for the farmer, and by extension for the working man. I definitely will spend at least a small amount of time looking into what became of Mr. Reno, but it's clear to me from the light that all of these articles ad the stories I've heard in the past that Pete was more than just an influencer in his community. He had principles that were consistent. And while reflecting on my grandmother's view of him as perhaps larger than life ... well, the man was six foot five, so perhaps this assisted in his ability to influence. With four children and fourteen grandchildren, his influence has been shared widely.

2024 #52Ancestors, Week 6: Earning a Living at the Fruit Stand

My great grandfather, Francisco Antonio (Frank) Palermo was born in Sicily in 1884 and came to the United States in 1897.  By 1900, he had settled in St. Louis, Missouri.  His 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses all indicate he worked in the fruit sales industry.  Frank's 1917 naturalization document further indicates that he was a 'fruit dealer.'  On the 1920 census, another relative - Frank's uncle, Giuseppe (Joseph) Palermo - who was also living in the St. Louis area, reported that he was a fruit peddler. 

If I had given any thought to this profession, I probably would have envisioned men arguing good-naturedly as they attempted to persuade customers to peruse their wares.  I might also have assumed there was camaraderie but also some friendly competition amongst the vendors.  However, I hadn't ever given it any thought until I stumbled across an article while searching for information on Frank's father.  I didn't find the information for which I was searching (of course), but the article I did discover revealed what fruit vending was like in early 1900s St. Louis.  This profession, which seems to have been specific to Italian immigrants, had very particular ideas about when fruit vending was acceptable.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 24 Jun. 1896, p. 8.

I will admit, the article made me giggle more than a little bit.  It amused me that such a dispute found its way into the newspaper.  I found it even funnier that Mr. Pamsina felt a recent tornado was a judgment from God concerning the unholy sale of fruit on Sundays.  However, it makes sense that a God-fearing individual, doing his best to earn a living for himself and his family, would be frustrated by those sacrilegious enough to do business on the Sabbath.  Intrigued, I decided to see what else the local newspapers had to offer.  Another newspaper article, with a similar title but a distinctly different complaint, was published about 4 months later.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 30 Oct. 1896, p. 10

Honestly, it had never occurred to me to wonder about how or where the vendors sold their wares, but as you can see, it was a bone of contention!  I also don't know whose side to take, as I don't know if Frank and Joseph had stationary or mobile fruit carts!  In any case, the issue with Sabbath sales and methods of vending would eventually be resolved.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 17 Feb. 1899, p. 5

On the 1910 census, Great Grandpa Frank had indicated he was part of the fruit commission.  I can only assume that such an organization would dictate rules like the ones mentioned above. Regardless, it seems the compromise was as follows. Fruit push-carts were allowed on all days but Sunday - probably with the rationalization that pushing a cart constituted work on what was supposed to be a day of rest.  Those who who manned a stationary cart could continue to sell their fruit on Sundays without fear of upsetting their rivals...or angering God.  

All good-natured ribbing aside, there was unfortunate evidence that these confrontations could become dangerous.  The article below tells the story of an ill-fated man who sold his fruit to the wrong person.  

 

St. Louis Globe-Democrat, 13 Sep. 1910, p. 14.

I haven't unearthed anything that would suggest that Frank or Joseph ever found themselves in such a threatening situation, but earning a living at the fruit stand was far more contentious and perilous than I ever could have imagined!