Gaspare Mastroianni

Gaspare Mastroianni, (September 12, 1859, Nocera Terinese, province of Catanzaro, region of Calabria, Italy - February 6, 1937, Brooklyn, New York).

Gaspare Mastroianni was a son of Gaetano and Rosaria Biondi Mastroianni. One day, an unidentified man came to Nocera Terinese looking for men to hire to come to New York to work. Any man who accepted was bound to give five years of labor to the man's firm, then they could choose to go on their own, or the firm would pay for them to return to Italy. Among those men was Gaspare. He came to the United States of America landing on or about the 24th day of March, 1882 at the Port of New York, New York Harbor.

His first job was helping to build the Brooklyn Bridge, which at the time was under construction. After the bridge's completion, he was given odd jobs to do, before his indentureship was ended in 1887. At that time, he went west to work on a rail gang as a gandy dancer, that helped repair portions of the Transcontinental Railroad.

In 1891, he settled in southwestern Pennsylvania in a small coal mining patch-village, just south of Pittsburgh. The people of the village were, for the most part, uneduacated and learned about life on their own. This is where Gaspare (also called "Gasper") is said to have made his "claim to fame".

Apparently, the miners who were not Italian were unaware that a fruit that grew wildly in their yards was good and nourishing to eat. Rather, they thought the fruit to be poisonous. Gasper recognized this fruit as a "pomodoro," which is Italian for "tomato." One day, as Gasper passed down the road that he always walked along to the mine, he saw some ripe tomatoes in a yard. He asked the man in the yard if he could have one. The man, and several of his sons who helped him tend to his duties said, "No! No!" and ran in the house and slammed the door. Gasper picked the tomato and ate it. He then continued on his way. The next day, as Gasper walked in front of the same house, the man ran up to him and said, "You're not dead!" Gasper replied, "I pomodori sono buoni mangiare!" or in English, "Tomatoes are good to eat!" From that day forward, the tomato became popular in the coal patches of the Pittsburgh Coal and Connellsville Coke Region. When the flood of Italian immigrants came to the Pittsburgh area at the turn of the century, the already popular tomato became a staple in the delicacies that defined the area as a metropolitan melting pot.

In 1892, Gasper moved to Alice Mine, Pennsylvania, where met Miss Carolina Capparelli (May 1860, Santa Caterina Albanese, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy - March 11, 1906, Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania), daughter of Pasquale and Agata Ida (Ricca) Capparelli. The two married on July 2, 1892, in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania. They resided at Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, where they became the parents of four daughters, Rosaria Mastroianni (September 15, 1896, Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, - May 1978, Brooklyn, New York); Maria Mastroianni (June 19, 1898, Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, - November 1, 1945, Connellsville, Pennsylvania); Amelia Anna Mastroianni (April 25, 1900, Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, - 1982, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania); and Anna Teresa Mastroianni (March 1, 1902, Alverton, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, - February 21, 1968, Connellsville, Pennsylvania).

Carolina (Capparelli) Mastroianni died of pneumonia March 11, 1906 at Alverton. Gasper asked his mother-in-law, Agata Ida (Ricca) Capparelli to move in and help take care of the girls. Her husband, Pasquale Capparelli, had died in an explosion at the Southwest No. 4 Mine, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, on February 24, 1901. Gasper, Agata, and the girls moved to Tarrs and Old Bethany, both in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Each of the girls married by the age of 14 years. Gasper, who was said to have been a benevolent, loving, and caring man, never remarried. He lived in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, and Panther, West Virginia, before finally locating to Brooklyn, New York, where his daughter, Rosaria, resided with her husband, Domenico Branciforte. Gasper's other daughters married and resided as follows: Maria married Luigi Mancuso, and resided at Connellsville, Pennsylvania; Amelia Anna married Gaetano Mirisciotta, and resided at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania; and Anna Teresa married Salvatore Butera, and resided at Connellsville, Pennsylvania.

Mother-in-law Agata relocated to East Palestine, Ohio, with her son, Antonio Capparelli, before moving to Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, where she died on July 4, 1930, at the age of 92 years and 8 months (she was born November 12, 1837 in Santa Caterina Albanese, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy).

Gasper died on February 6, 1937 in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 77 years and 5 months. He was buried in Saint John's Cemetery, Queens, New York.

TRIVIA: Gaspare Mastroianni was the father of four daughters, and the grandfather of 28 grandchildren.

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