The Odyssey of a Tyrolean Immigrant

History and Nature combined to create an economic depression for the Trentino
that became the cause for emigration. Agriculture, practiced in the traditional was
the fundamental activity in 1850 for 70% of 314,770 inhabitants of the province.
Farmers were frustrated and without hope. Their children automatically followed
them into farming. Real estate was divided into small parcels and was owned by
few landlords. Commodities and food had to be imported from the Trentino`s
neighboring provinces, the Veneto and Lombardy. Their economic conditions
worsened when their traditional trading partners became part of Italy. The new
borders created custom barriers, taxation and duties on imports and exports. In
those years, nature further complicated the depression with deceases to their
vines, silkworms, and their potato crop. Rather than further detailing the
hardships of the Trentino, what follows is a profile of one such emigrant who
was certainly affected by the forces of nature.and by history both in the
Trentino and in the United States.

Angelo Berasi was born in 1870 in Marazzone, Bleggio Superiore in the Val di
Giudicarie. Following the typical and usual traditions, he worked as a paesant
farmer and while we have no recollection of his motivations, it can be presumed
that he followed the then current pattern of escaping poverty and raise his standard of living which diluted the
pain of departure. Like fellow emigrants, America acted as a magnet beckoning them as a real adventure with the
flavor of a mystery. In 1890, Angelo Berasi followed the pattern, left for Trento where he took a train to Le
Havre, France and embarked for New York, with its strange language, traditions and jobs. But Angelo did not stay
with the Trentino colony in New York but took a train and traveled for five days to Walsenburg, Colorado. There,
although a farmer, Angelo like his paesani, was forced to work in the coal mines. Mining was dangerous and
difficult work. Coal miners in Colorado were at constant risk for explosion, suffocation, and collapsing mine
walls. Between 1884 and 1912, mining accidents claimed the lives of more than 1,700 Coloradans. In 1913 alone,
"104 men would die in Colorado`s mines, and 6 in the mine workings on the surace, in accidents that widowed 51
and left 108 children fatherless. The high death was due in part to Colorado's unique geology, but also due to
poor enforcement of safety regulations. In 1914, the United States House Committee on Mines and Mining
attributed the high fatality rate to the management of its coal mines.Angelo worked in these mines for 15 years
adding prospecting for gold as well as he searched for alternatives to the mines. He came in contact with two
relatives of mine, Carlo and Giuseppe Brunelli who originated from Rango of the same Bleggio Superiore.
Giuseppe and Carlo, coming earlier than Angelo, had ventured
beyond the mines purchasing land, raising cattle and even
opening a hotel or boarding house for the miners of
Walsenberg .in 1902, Angelo is made a naturalized citizen. In
1905, he returns to the Trentino where he seeks out the
unmarried niece of Giuseppe and Carlo, Teresa. They are wed
and after a time, he returns to Colorado to follow yet another
pattern of those emigrants. He precedes Teresa who is now
with child and in September 1907 with her new born, Lino,
Teresa makes the long ocean voyage to New York and then the 5 day train ride to Wallsenberg, Colorado. Angelo,
properly inspired by the entepeneurship of Carlo and Giuseppe and possibly aided by some of their capital, opens
us the Star Saloon. Such an enterprise was singular for our Trentini emigrants but Angelo was a confident,
enterprising person and was not averse to taking risks. More children arrived in quick succession. Angelina in
1908, Rosa in 1909, Maria in 1911, Cora in 1913, and Adele in 1914.
History again touches the lives of the Berasi family. While they lived in the town of Walsenburg, the ensuing
turmoil with the mines would engulf everyone. In 1913-1914, there ensued the 14-month southern Colorado Coal
Angelo Berasi & Carlo Brunelli
Berasi Family 1912
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Strikers in ront o 1ent City Armored Death Car` Atermath o Massacre Coins o the Massacre
Strike, itself the deadliest strike in the history of the United States. The strike was organized by the United Mine
Workers of America (UMWA) against coal mining companies in Colorado. The miners resided in company towns,
in which all land, real estate, and amenities were owned by the mine operator, and which were expressly designed
to inculcate loyalty and squelch dissent. When the miners go out on strike, their families were evicted and went to
live in a tent city.On April 20, 1914, the Colorado National Guard attacked the tent colony of 1,200 striking coal
miners and their families at Ludlow, Colorado shooting through the tents with a machine gun mounted on an
armored car causing the violent deaths of 19 people. This was to be known as the Ludlow Massacre. In
response, the miners armed themselves and attacked dozens of mines, destroying property and engaging in several
skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard causing the death of yet another fifty.
Violence permeated Wallsenberg and Teresa Brunelli Berasi was so terrified for her family that she gave her
husband no peace saying in our dialect: Se stagho chi, mi moro..I I remain here, I will die.and so will the
children. So history again affects his life; this time American history. Angelo, despite his successful American
enterprise, packs up his American amily.all the children were now American citizens.moves them on the long
five day train trip across the country to New York and sets sail for La Havre, France retracing his original route
and arrives at the Austrian border to the consternation of the Austrian officials who ask him: Why are you
returning now, war is about to break out.and it did. Angelo, a successful American businessman had now
returned to his farming and the simple life of the village. He was conscripted into the Austrian army as were
hundreds of other Trentini. Many of which became the crack squad, Tiroler Kaiserjaegger, the Tyrolean hunters
of the Czar. They fought in Russia and then returned to the Trentino to combat the Italian forces Angelo served
as a cook strangely enough on the entrenchments on the peaks of mountains of Val Marcia, the mountain range
that stares down at his very own village. Two more children arrived: Amalia and Bruno. After the war, he returned
to Colorado alone in the hope of resuming his enterprise but his oldest son,
Lino, was simply too traumatized by the violence that he experienced in
Walsenburg and refused to return and this concluded his American odyssey. He
returned permanently to his village and like Giannini in San Francisco he
assisted his cash poor paesani offering them small loans to pay their taxes. Two
of his daughters, Maria and Adele returned to USA, their country of origins as
spouses to yet other emigrants. Angelo Berasi is truly a Tyrolean pioneer and a
genuine hero.
All these details of this family was compiled by Danny Caliari of Queens, NY, a
grandson of Angelo Berasi, who in 1980 was determined to discover his roots
and his family`s odyssey. Well before the Internet, he would go every day on his
lunch time to the Main Library on Fifth Ave and search what records he could
find. He wrote and made trips to the National Archives. He interviewed
whoever might provide information about his family. His work spanned 30
years. He is to be saluted for his passion and diligence. In subequent issues, we
hope to have him give us some tips and instruction of how to conduct family
research.
Attention: We would welcome submissions of the history, stories, and episodes of other Tyroleans
who made their passage from the Trentino to our United States. Contact Lou Brunelli by phone or
email. 914-739-2313 or www.louis.brunelli@att.net
Berasi Family 1921
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