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"Little Italy" Early 1900's Love at First Sight 1924 See Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6
Chapter 4 "Little Italy" Early 1900's "When in Rome, do as the Romans." –Originated with Saint Ambrose, A.D. 387 Di Fabrizio to Defa
Frank Defa (left), Joe, "Auntie" with Leo, in front, Rosie, Alfonzo, Colleta, Leo, Frank. Click photo for full image. Three of Antonio’s brothers were among the immigrants. Francisco Di Fabrizio and his wife, Maria Porreca, were some of the first to homestead Hanna, Utah. Several other Italian single men and families not related to the Di Fabrizio’s settled there also. Soon Hanna was nicknamed "Little Italy." Mary and Frank Defa. Click photo for full image. Stockmore Frank Defa built a rough cabin on the northwest end of the valley and set up a saloon. It was known as the North Fork Saloon and he peddled the best whiskey around. History tells of the two swindlers who moved into the area selling land they did not own and gold they did not mine. In a bar in Park City, Utah, a stranger paid for his drink with a small gold nugget.
Gold was not found and a sheriff was sent to investigate the land and claims being sold by the two men. Stockman and Moore heard of his coming, left their phony scheme and deserted their worthless claims. Soon Stockmore was a ghost town. But the name stayed with the area. The U.S. Government Forest Service later named their building in that area the Stockmore Ranger Station. Farm Creek Frank Defa left Stockmore and set up his more permanent home about six miles further southeast at the end of the Farm Creek road. Besides farming, Frank continued brewing his own whiskey although bootlegging was against the law. On the side and under cover, he sold it to many inside and outside the Uintah Basin. For many years Frank encountered and sometimes dodged the law. He did this by moving his still often and by posting his men on both ends of the town to watch for the "feds." Frank Defa, better known by people in the community as "King Defa," was a strong individual, and ruled his little kingdom with an iron hand. Frank’s illegal business caught up with him some time later when the law ousted him from the county for a period of time. When he was finally permitted to move home again, he got involved in other business ventures. Frank and Mary’s oldest son, Joseph (Joe) was born in Italy, but the other four, Rosa, Leo, Alfonzo, and Tracy were born in Utah. Rosa, later known as Rosie was Frank and Mary Defa’s oldest daughter and second child, born in Salt Lake City, August 7, 1906. Her parents left Salt Lake one day after Christmas, when she was five months old, and came over Wolf Creek Pass in a sleigh. It took them a good week "possibly killing off one or two teams," according to her history. Rosie continues, "For a house all we had was a tent. The boards came up half way and then the tent went over the top." The conditions were deplorable. "There were mountain rats and the sage brush was high as their heads." Rosie had to stay with her mother in bed so she wouldn’t get bit. When she was old enough to crawl she found rat traps set all over their house. One time she said, "I [got] a little closer and a little closer and then wham, right in the nose. That’s why they said I have such a big nose." She was a pretty girl with beautiful dark, curly hair, big sky-blue eyes, and stood about five feet two inches tall as a mature adult. Rosie was not feminine, but was as rough and tough as the brothers and male cousins she had grown up with. Her sister, Tracy, the only other female in the family, was thirteen years younger [Tracy’s birthday is December 6, 1919]. Rosie learned to swear and cuss at a young age. "I was a real tomboy," she said of herself. Nephi Moon, a neighbor in the community, wrote about her nature and demeanor, "She was so friendly and nice to people. I always just loved her. I was always kidding her when I said ‘What are you so mad about Rosie?’ Then she would smile and say, ‘I’m not mad!’" Within a short time, Frank Defa’s brother, Domenico, moved in with them. Frank’s wife, Mary, and Domenico’s wife, Maria Nicolaia (Coletta) Porreca, were sisters. Frank’s and Domenico’s families were very close. For several years, the small cabins at the head of Farm Creek provided adequate lodging for the two families. In time, however, they outgrew their living conditions, so Frank purchased property by the river, about one mile to the west and moved into a larger home with his family. The Domenico family stayed where they were. The house was nice with two bedrooms on the main floor and two upstairs. Tom, Frank’s grandson, remembers vividly living in the house with his parents and grandparents. Inside the home, Tom’s most vivid memories were the "old wind-up Victorola phonograph," and ironically, "a picture of the Salt Lake LDS Temple that was secured behind glass on a prominent wall in the front room." Within a short time they had built sheds, a pig pen, chicken coop, cellar and other structures to accommodate their needs. They worked hard from sun up to sun down, then in the evenings the cousins romped and played childhood games while their folks visited. Rosie said, "It was really tough in those days when you had to work so hard. My dad used to go to Salt Lake with a team about once a year. He would bring back 100 pounds each of beans, sugar and rice. That was about the size of it. You done the rest. We started out with a cow, a few chickens, [and] a pig. We got the eggs, milk, butter and we would eat the pig." In her own words she describes this time in her life:
Rosie got a lot of pleasure out of little things in life. She reminisced about their meager Christmases as a child:
Rosie rarely left the area because "there was no cars and no way of going anywhere and nobody went anywhere." So when her dad invited her to go with him to Salt Lake that summer of 1924, she had big ideas about how she would spend her time there.
Chapter 5 Love at First Sight 1924 Two shall be born, the whole wide world apart, and speak in
different tongues
It was a hot July day when Rosie, her dad and brother finally arrived in South Salt Lake (near the Point of the Mountain). Most of their relatives lived in Magna, but the farm that several families had purchased and farmed together was located in South Salt Lake. Only two couples resided at the farm in crude housing. She had heard good things about the young man who had come from the "old country," just a few years earlier. He was handsome, industrious and very single. Rosie’s eyes quickly scanned the group of men out working in the hay fields. Instead of her anticipated meeting, she was greeted and whisked away to a kitchen by the women who lived there. One had a new baby and desperately needed help in preparing food for the hungry crew out in the field, who would soon be descending upon them. Rosie was asked if she knew how to make noodles. She was only seventeen at the time and had been raised with brothers and cousins who were all boys. Since she was the only female old enough to help at home, she was an expert at cooking, cleaning, maintaining a garden and even milking cows. Rosie records what happened next:
That was the beginning of the romantic relationship between Pasquale and Rosie. Rosie lived with her parents in Hanna and Pasquale owned his own home in Magna, so their courting situation was a real challenge. To get to Hanna, Pasquale went by train from Magna to Price, over Indian Canyon to Duchesne by Stage Coach, and from Duchesne to Hanna, in an old Model T that was driven by the mail man. To get up the hills, they turned the car around and went up backwards. Rosie recorded, "After our first date at Salt Air, I think I seen Pasquale three times after that before we got married." While they were courting the eleven months prior to their marriage, they corresponded by letter. A paragraph from a letter dated December 27, 1924 expressed her appreciation and love for him that Christmas:
The "parcel" Rosie referred to included presents for everyone in her family. She was pleased with his generosity because she mentioned the occasion again in her written history. She repeats, "We were just tickled to death," to get the Christmas gifts. The following month, January 28, 1925 Rosie wrote Pasquale about her concern and love. Apparently, he was involved in an illegal whiskey bust while working as a runner for his relatives.
And finally the month before they married Rosie wrote:
It was love at first sight! It’s obvious that at this point in time, Pasquale felt very much a part of the Di Fabrizio (Defa) family. He was calling them his relatives, long before he even met Rosie. Frank, Pandelone, and others had pulled him into the family circle. Maybe, for this reason and others, sometime before he married, Pasquale changed and Americanized his name also. Rosie’s letters indicate the change, she called him Charlie, but there was some question in her mind about his last name. In a letter dated November 23, 1924, she wrote, ". . .I remember the last letter I got from you, you sign[ed] your name Charlie Di Fabrizio instead of Defa. What name are we going by when we get married?" Charlie was very close to the family, but he wanted to also make a definite statement when he married into the family. Although Rosie was a Defa, Charlie was not marrying a blood relative and so he felt this distinction in last names might help quiet inquiries. Any how, he chose to keep the Italian name of the family he had grown up with. Even Rosie made a minor change in her name. Their Marriage Certificate certifies that Charley Di Fabrizio of Magna, Utah and Rosa Defa of Hanna, Utah were joined together in Holy Matrimony at Salt Lake City, Utah the 10th of June, 1925. Charlie had just turned twenty-two and Rosie was two months shy of nineteen.
Charlie & Rosa's Wedding Day. Click photo for full image. As nice as the house was, Rosie was not happy there, she continues, "Charlie was working at Kennecott and he used to come home from work lookin’ just like a colored baby. Oh brother, a man that has to come home that dirty every night, I didn’t want no part of that kind of job. So I talked him into movin’ to Hanna." He admitted that he wasn’t much of a farmer, but he was willing to give it a try for her sake. After selling the house in Magna, they moved in with her parents for a short time. With the money he had from the sale of his house, he then bought a little land from his father-in-law and they moved to a small log cabin about a mile northwest, by the river. After they were settled, Frank suggested that his son, Joe, and Charlie sell their cars and with their money, build a store and go into business together. This they did. Charlie and Rosie not only owned their own house and some land, but were part owners in Charlie’s next business. Charlie and Rosie worked side-by-side in the store, and were very happy together. When Charlie finally became a citizen of the United States of America in 1938, his name on the Citizenship papers was Charles D. Fabrizio. However, his Social Security Card read Charlie Dan Fabrizio while many of his later documents were signed, Charlie D. Fabrizio. Most people, throughout his life, referred to him as Charlie, although, a few called him "Chaulk" as a nickname. Fortunately he left his posterity a self-imposed description of himself when he applied for and received his citizenship papers on 15th day of July, 1938. He would have been 35 years old at the time:
Pasquale Pasqualetti, the penniless, orphaned boy from Torricella, had transformed himself into a strong, financially stable American with a new wife and home. The dejected unstable life he had experienced in his youth was in the past. He finally knew who he was and where he belonged. He was ready to live the American Dream.
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