Locations: America and Calabria, Italy
Date: 1906 to 1907
Andrea Moschilla left his recently married wife, Cecilia Pedulla, in Siderno and returned to America for work. On this journey, he was accompanied by his brother-in-law Giorgio Caruso. The two men departed Naples on 3 August, 1906 aboard the ship Konig Albert and arrived at Ellis Island, New York on Thursday, 16 August 1906. Their final destination was Heinrich*, West Virginia where Andrea's brother, Domenico Moschilla, and nephew, Raffaele Trimboli, were already based.
During the first decade of the 1900’s, an influx of immigrants from southern Italy found employment in the coal mines of West Virginia. They laboured with picks and shovels, working long hours in harsh, gruelling conditions. Although there is no primary evidence to directly confirm Andrea’s occupation in America, through association with both Domenico and Raffaele, it’s highly probable he worked as a miner too. Domenico and Raffaele both settled permanently in America and census records list their occupations as coal miners.
In 1907, Andrea's life changed significantly when he received a letter from Italy with good news. On 9 March, his wife Cecilia had given birth to their first child – a daughter named Maria. The arrival of his ‘prima figghia’ signalled it was now time for Andrea to go back home.
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* Heinrich does not appear on any current maps of West Virginia. Andrew Linderman (Reference Assistant at the West Virginia and Regional History Centre, West Virginia University) explained, via email, that it’s a common occurrence throughout the state for many towns established in the past, to no longer exist today.
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