January 30, 2023

I just signed up to write about 52 ancestors in 52 weeks This is week 3 (yes, I’m a little behind – no surprise there!). Each week I’m given a prompt. This week’s prompt:

EDUCATION:

I told Mark, my husband, about this prompt and I said it HAS to be about Grandpa Vampatella and he said, “which story?” I had to think about that! Was it the story about his education or the story about how he tried to dissuade me from getting an education. 

Grandpa Vampatella, Philip Vampatella, was born in Biscari, Sicily in 1897.  He was the oldest child of Biagio Vampatella (born 3 Feb 1869) and Angela Falconieri (born ? in Biscari, Sicily). Biagio worked for the Italian railroad and lived in a small casello (house) near the tracks. Biagio could read and write in Italian and he wanted his son to be able to do the same.  Biagio’s job took him to various towns throughout Sicily and there were no schools near the railroad tracks.  Grandpa writes in his book, “Passeggiata””

“At seven Philip started going to school. Schools along the track were non-existent.  At a place called Donnafugata was a medieval castle belonging to a duchess of Albarfiorita. It was about 5 miles from the casello and it did not belong to the railroad.…… At school Philip progressed slowly, considering the time he consumed en route to and from it. After a while teaching was passed to the doorman, who charged forty cents per month to impart knowledge into the skulls of striplings from six to fourteen years of age.

One of these schools was in a town named Comiso. Always in the first grade Philip resumed his education from the beginning at every new place. In Comiso a priest teacher put him in the second grade to start with but promoted him to the first soon after he discovered what Philip could do.  Philip, to all accounts was a qualified “somaro” (Donkey).

It was the responsibility of the man to be able to provide for his family and thus Biagio sent his son to learn a trade. He worked in a shop that separated cotton fibers from seeds, he worked as an apprentice shoemaker, coppersmith, stone quarry, cabinet makers and many others.  None of which suited him.  He writes, “Much as he tried to do things to satisfy his teachers, his ineptitude always brought him to deal with menial chores utterly unrelated to the trades.”

However, he does say in his book that he did take to cabinet making. Anyone who is descended from grandpa, probably has something he made in their house.

As time went on, he did better in school and took to reading, but there were not a lot of books. One time he memorized homework regarding national history and his teacher was so impressed he got a reward – a book about Theodore Roosevelt in Africa. He also took to arithmetic and biology, but history was his strength.  He says, “he entered school as a first grader but in two years he was promoted to the fourth”.

When Philip arrived in the United States, he could not read, write, or speak English.  But he was bound and determined to learn.  He would go to movies, pay attention to English speakers and go to the library – the concept of so many books that could be borrowed was astounding to him.  He would also read the dictionary.  Words were very important to him. He became proficient in English – so proficient he could write this beautiful book. 

Yet, it was only important for the male to learn.  When I was in high school and deciding where I wanted to go to college, grandpa very kindly and gently explained to me that it was not important for me to get an education as my husband would provide for me.  That was 1976 – which for many may sound like the dark ages – but it wasn’t and I was NOT going to listen.  My mother had only finished 10^th grade – a piece of knowledge I only learned recently. My father did not complete high school either but did go back for his GED. 

Education – I am so impressed by what my grandfather accomplished in his lifetime, disappointed that he felt it was only for males, proud of myself for succeeding in college and grad school.

Hey, Grandpa!! What do you think now?????