Appendix: John/Genarro and Catherine

Just to fill in the blanks, here is the story of my grandparents as contributed by my aunts, Grace and Eileen.

John DeGrazia, son of Genarro and Grazia was born on May 1 1899 in Chicago.  He was the first of our Italian family born in the USA.  He married Catherine O'Neill, my grandmother.  This is their story:

John was born as Gennaro but later his name was changed to John to make it more American.  When he was about 13 years old, he had to quit school and go to work.  He worked in a factory doing piece work, and because he was young and agile, he made more money than his stepfather.  He had to lie to his father about going back to night school. He told him he was going to his uncle's house, and his uncle covered for him.  He went to night school and graduated from 8th grade.

When he was young, working in a machine shop, he heard about a class that he could take to become a tool and die maker.  They had to have more people sign up or they wouldn't have the class.  He was excited and talked others into taking the class.  He said he was the first to drop out.  He needed Algebra to continue.  (My father, John Michael DeGrazia (aka Jack) followed in his father's footsteps and also became a machinist; later going on to become a mechanical engineer)

John/Gennaro loved music and, before he was married, he would organize dances.  He would rent a hotel room.  He'd have live music and lots of people went and it was a great way to make money during the depression.  His half-brothers helped out at the dances.  (Years later, his son, Donald DeGrazia, also organized dances in Chicago and I remember my dad helping him out.)

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Catherine Mary Margeret O'Neill was born on December 18, 1904 in Chicago.  Catherine's mother, Bridget Powers was born in County Clare and came to this country when she was about 18.  She had siblings in Ireland who died of T.B.  Two brothers did come to America, Patty and Marty.  Neither of them ever married.  Bridget's mother ( my great great grandmother..I don't know her name) later came to America, and she and Catherine saw each other from time to time.  Catherine's mother, Bridget (my great-grandmother) died when Catherine was about 17.

Catherine's father, Michael O'Neill was born in back of a general store that his parents owned in Harvard, IL.  His parents came from County Cork, Ireland.  Michael traveled some as a bachelor.  He went to the Black Hills to pan for gold.  He was quite a reader, and Catherine remembered reading some of his books by Dickens.  He was also involved in local politics as a precinct captain or an alderman..  Michael had a sister who lived on a farm with her husband (last name Leahy) in Harvard Illinois.  Michael's father lived with his sister and her husband until he died.  Michael's sister had two boys Tom and Ed Leahy.

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Catherine and John first met at a Polish wedding they both crashed.  John went there with his half brother, Charlie Pedote and Catherine went with a girlfriend.  Neither of them knew the couple getting married but they had a wonderful time anyway.  They started seeing each other that and after a short time decided to marry. (They always commented in later years about how much fun Polish weddings were).  John had been married before and was divorced.

After Catherine's mother Bridgett died, Catherine lived at home with her father Michael O'Neill.   She was about 20 years old when she met John (aka Genarro) DeGrazia  Michael was very Catholic and certainly expected his daughter to be married in the church, however, since John was divorced that couldn't happen and Catherine was reluctant to tell him she was engaged to a divorced man. They solved the problem by being secretly married at city hall  and then, saints preserve us, were married by a priest in the rectory without Michael ever finding out.  Of course...they had to  lie to the priest about it but Michael was happy in his ignorance and I guess there was no harm done...except maybe to their souls.

The first years of their marriage were spent in Michael's flat on Jackson Blvd in Chicago.  Their first child Matthew was born there but he died at the age of 5 months, of what they think was pneumonia.  Not long after that John (called Jack) was born.   Grace was born 2 1/2 years later followed by Eileen and Donald.  Sometime during this time they lived for a short time in Westmont where Michael died from a faulty water heater.   They then moved back to the flat.  This was during the great depression and John was often out of work like so many.  Grace remembers him and Catherine sitting at the dining room table putting peanuts in little cellophane envelopes.  They would fold the open end and seal it with an eyelet.  These were to be hung on the little stands next to the cash registers in grocery stores and sold.

Both John and Catherine both dreamt of moving to the country where they could raise their children in the fresh air and sunshine but money was very short  and John was often not working.  Somehow they scraped up enough for a down payment on a little old house in Downers Grove where their daughter Kathy was born.

In the early 1950's John/Genarro and Catherine, and their three daughters: Grace (with her spouse, Don, brother John's best friend), Eileen and Kathy (still a teenager)  moved to California where John opened a grocery store.  Their two sons, John Michael (aka "Jack") and Donald stayed in Chicago.

John/Genarro died July 18, 1983 and Catherine died in December 23, 2000.  They had 15 grandchildren.

(If anyone has any further memories or history to share, just let me know, and I'll amend this post).