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A Tale of Two Immigrants
02-01-2002
| From the 1830s through the 1850s, Europe was in turmoil. Ireland suffered a devastating famine. Monarchies were threatened as democratic ideals spread across the continent. Ethnic and national groups freed themselves from foreign domination. Separately governed states combined to form the new nations of Germany and Italy.
(To view historic maps of Europe, click on these links: http://home.wanadoo.nl/gerard.vonhebel/1850.htm
http://home.wanadoo.nl/gerard.vonhebel/1861.htm
Turmoil and deprivation often lead to massive emigration. This was the case as thousands left Europe and established new homes in the United States. Marion County attracted its share of immigrants during this era.
Around 1860, Marion's first Italian resident, Ansano Benvenuti, settled here, finding work as a baker. His accent and mannerisms seemed strange in this predominantly English and German community. Before coming to America, Benvenuti had fought for Italian unification with his homeland's great patriot, Giuseppe Garibaldi and he soon acquired the nickname "Garibaldi."
Civil War erupted in the United States in 1861. Marion's "Garibaldi" was among the first to enlist, joining Company K of the 4th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in June, 1861. In 1862, he joined the 4th Regiment of the U. S. Artillery. He saw action in some of the war's fiercest battles. At Gettysburg, Benvenuti's unit was commanded by Lt. Alonzo H. Cushing. The unit sustained severe losses, but Cushing ordered his last two guns to the line, where Benvenuti stood with him. When Cushing was mortally injured in a Confederate advance, Benvenuti was also wounded. According to the Marion Star (25 August 1913), "he lay under his gun while the battle tide surged about him, and lived to come back to Marion."
In 1850, Elizabeth Power was born in Ireland, which was just starting to recover from its potato famine. We do not know when her parents decided to bring their family to America, but by 1866, they had settled in Marion. On May 20 of that year, Elizabeth married Ansano Benvenuti, who was fourteen years older than she. They were the parents of eight children.
Following the Civil War, Benvenuti was a grocer in Marion. In April, 1883 he opened an amusement hall on North Main Street, complete with a bowling alley and lunch stand. He closed this operation in early July and opened an ice cream parlor and confectionary stand. But Ansano Benvenuti is best known for his service as a Marion policeman in the early 1890s, which led to his acquiring a second nickname, "Hot Copper." In 1895 he was a fruit dealer and in 1900 he operated a confectionary at 131 North Main Street.
The Benvenutis left Marion about 1900. Ansano Benvenuti, who fought for a unity in Italy and the United States, died in 1913. At the time of his death, he had been residing at the soldiers' and sailors' home in Sandusky for several years and had previously lived at a similar home in Dayton. Elizabeth Power Benvenuti died in 1925 in Chicago, where she had apparently been living with one of her children. Their bodies were returned to Marion and laid to rest in St. Mary's Cemetery.
Note: Jane Ratterman and others provided research for this column.
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