Our Family
Francesco Crinella
Anna Crinella
Domenico Zurlo
Teresa Zurlo
Marino Crinella
Marian Zurlo Crinella
Uncle Domenic
Uncle Lou
Aunt Marguerite
Cousin Marina
Family Photos
The Letters
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About the Crinellas •
Our Family •
Photo Album •
The Letters
Francesco Crinella
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Francesco Crinella, our
paternal grandfather, was born
on April 15, 1867 in the
village of Monteroso, near the
slightly larger town of
Sassoferrato, in the Province
of Le Marche, about 50 miles
West of the Adriatic seacoast
city of Ancona. Sassoferrato,
high in the mountains, was the
site of the ancient Roman city
of Sentinum, which had been a
battlefield of note in the war
among the factions that arose
following the death of Julius
Caesar. In fact, the Crinella
ancestral home in Sassoferrato
is built over the ruins of a
2,000 year old Roman forum,
although they had no idea that
it was there until a marble floor
was discovered by accident in
the 1950's.
It is thought that the Crinellas came to Sassoferrato from the Greek Island of Chios, which had been the site of a Venetian trading colony in the 17th century.
In the 19th Century,
Sassoferrato was a farming and
mining town in a simple quiet
region. Wheat, cattle, sheep
and fruit were the backbone of
the local economy along with a
little mining. The
mountainsides yielded both
coal and sulfur. A fertile valley
formed by the confluence of
three rivers which coursed
down the mountainsides,
produced an abundance of
grain. Eventually the rivers
give way to spreading water near the edge of the Adriatic Sea to become salt water
marches, hence the name Le Marche which means "the marshes." Small game abounded in
the countryside. As a result, the citizens of Sassoferrato lived more comfortably than
those in many other rural Italian towns.
Francesco Crinella worked in the mines near Sassoferrato as an explosives expert. He
could read and write and he had an education which is the equivalent of perhaps eighth
grade in America. For that time and place Francesco was very well educated as the literacy
rate in Italy was only 25%. He had also learned the art of drilling holes and planting
dynamite charges by experience in the mines. As a result he was very well paid. Each
morning, he would blow out enough coal to keep his fellow miners busy loading coal carts
for the rest of the day. But, after the explosives were blown, Francesco was nowhere to be
found, as he would be off to hunt or fish, his primary avocations.
Family pictures indicate that Francesco was a very handsome young man. He viewed a
decent mans place in the world as a protector and provider according to his son, Marino.
Women were to be revered as conservators of the species.
When he was about 20 years old, in 1887, he married Anna Azzeri, also a native of
Monterosso. She was about four years older than he was. From this union, three sons were
born, Domenico (1892) Luigi (1898), and Marino (1904), and then a daughter, Annetta
(1906). While poor by modern day standards, the Crinella family was very well off
compared to other families in Sassoferrato. From all accounts, Francesco was a happy
man.
All this changed in a flash on a day in 1906, when Francesco came upon a woman who
was being beaten in the street by her husband. Francesco intervened, delivering a few
blows of his own, and knocked the man to the ground. The man's head struck the
cobblestones, and he died a short time thereafter (probably of a subdural hematoma). The
townspeople learned that the carabinieri (Italian federal police) were about to arrest
Francesco because of the man's death, and "took up a purse" amongst themselves so that
Francesco could flee the town before he could be arrested. The collection was needed
because the local economy was commodity based and even a well off family did not have
much cash on hand. He left from Ancona, the nearest seaport, in 1906, taking with him his
older sons Domenic, then about 14, and Luigi, then about 8, and eventually landed in New
York. From there, Francesco and his sons headed to the coal mines of Pennsylvania, where
they heard there was work, but soon moved on, as he learned of the vibrant mining
economy of the Mesabi Iron Range in Northern Minnesota, on the shores of Lake Superior.
He settled in the town of Virginia, and there, his skills with explosives earned him the
title of "engineer" within eight or nine months although he had no formal degree. Each day
he mapped out and set his charges early in the morning, and was off to other pursuits after
the charges had been exploded. His primary concern was that of earning enough money to
send for his wife and two younger children, the youngest of which he had never seen. He
also wanted to have a house ready for them when they arrived but first, of course, he had to
pay back the money that the townspeople had loaned his for his passage to America, which
in those days was $40.00 per person. The yearly wage for a miner in Minnesota was
$400.00 per year and Francesco maybe earned $600.00 because of his special skills. He
also had to support himself and his two sons in America and send money back to his wife
and children in Italy for their day to day support.
To earn more money, Francesco worked with plumbers, helping them deal with
Minnesota's permafrost by dynamiting trenches in the frozen ground. This enabled the
plumbers to lay pipes deeply enough to prevent their freezing during the winter, when
temperatures of 20 to 30 below zero were not uncommon. Over the years this side interest
grew into Crinella & Sons, Plumbing and Steamfitting.
Francesco and his sons located a piece of property for their first home in America, and
an abundant source of building materials--discarded railroad ties. The building site, on the
side of a knoll, was excavated so that the back wall and two side walls were partially
subterranean, providing protection from the weather. Within the excavated site, the railroad
ties were laid lengthwise, one atop the other, cemented together with a mortar made of mud
and straw. The roof, also made of railroad ties was covered with sod, with the exception of
the chimney. The house consisted of one large room, and was heated by a single wood
stove, also used for cooking. There was no indoor plumbing. The weight-bearing beams
were used to hang draperies, to partition the sleeping areas from the main room.
While this was a time of new beginnings for Francesco, Domenico and Luigi, it was also
a time of separation and loss. It took two years for Frank Crinella to save enough money to
bring his wife and remaining two children, Marino and Annetta, to the United States. It took
another year for Anna to make her way to Minnesota because of the huge medical and
burial expenses Anna incurred on her arrival in New York. When the family was eventually
reunited, three years after Francesco had fled Italy, they took every advantage of the
economic opportunities that were available. Anna took in borders. Francesco worked in the
iron mines while developing his plumbing business, in which the older boys, Domenico and
Luigi soon became involved. The boys also worked in the sawmills, as communities
throughout the Midwest, were growing and there was a steady demand for lumber.
Little Marino would soon be delegated by his older brothers to do the hunting for the
family, and he became proficient in trapping and shooting. Deer, snowshoe, and cottontail
rabbits, ruffed grouse, geese and ducks were plentiful in Minnesota, as were the fish in
Minnesota's many lakes--bass, walleye, pickerel, Northern pike, trout, and various pan
fish. There were also berries, pine nuts, and morel mushrooms for the taking. The Crinella
family also had a garden, but the season was pitifully short. They stocked up during the
season, then pickled, canned, salted and dried, and smoked to preserve the food through
the winter. With everyone pulling together, they lived well and soon moved from their
sod-roofed house to a modern frame house in town with all the very latest conveniences for
which they paid in cash. Soon more of the Crinella family joined them and there were more
than thirteen Crinella adults with all their children living in Virginia.
Click on image for a detailed
view.
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In Virginia, Minnesota, the Crinella family was one of a large coterie of immigrant Italian
miners, and they formed a social club to preserve their way of life. The men of the club
would send to California for grapes to make wine (there were concord grapes in Minnesota,
but they wanted grapes that could be used to make the dry red and white wines of their
native Italy). Frank Crinella, as he was now known, was the first to determine that the
Minnesota Italians were getting cheated because they were not only paying for the grapes
but for the heavy wooden boxes that contained the grapes. He thought that they should
send someone to California to buy the grapes by the railroad carload, and have the loaded
freight cars sent to Virginia. The club sent Cesare Mondavi, who was also from
Sassoferrato, as their delegate to California. (The Mondavi family later owned the Charles
Krug winery in Saint Helena and Robert, Cesare's son, founded the Rober Mondavi winery in
Oakville.) Mondavi fell in love with California and relocated his own family there in 1923
and began growing grapes in Lodi. Then, he encouraged the Crinella family to move to the
land of plenty and sunshine. By 1923 the Crinella brothers were doing well, and had
received a patent from the Unites States Patent Office for a pipe threading device. The
future looked very good. Thus, in 1925, the Crinellas left Minnesota and moved to
California. By this time, Frank Crinella had saved enough money to buy a comfortable six
room house at 714 Main Street (now Petaluma Boulevard) in Petaluma, a property which
the Crinella family still owns. On the grounds was a large barn that became the Crinella
Bother's plumbing shop. Frank had earned enough in the twenty years in America to retire
at this time and the sons started the new business.
In 1927, while in the midst of great national prosperity and good times for the Crinella
family, fate intervened once more, as Frank Crinella contracted pneumonia. In these days
of antibiotics, we tend to forget how lethal pneumonia can be, and Frank Crinella was dead
at age 60, after a short illness. He was remembered by his son, Marino, as a man who
believed in "doing the right thing" and enjoyed life fully even in the face of adversity. He
had a happy life because he found meaning in his everyday pursuits and doing them well.
His legacy to his family was a strong one in his sense of right and wrong, reverence for
family, and love of the outdoors.
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Frank Crinella had the capacity to derive great enjoyment from whatever he had, in
particular good food and wine with his family and friends at the end of a good days work..
What was his favorite recipe? In Minnesota, the ruffed grouse were abundant, and could be
hunted during the long, snowy winters. In Sonoma County, there were no ruffed grouse, but
plenty of pheasants. Wildfowl such as grouse or pheasant tended to be a bit lean and dry
when simply roasted, and most Italian families would cook these
birds in a sauce, or "a la cacciatore," which literally means "in the manner of the hunter." This was Francesco
Crinella's favorite meal.
Incidentally, we know that Frank Crinella hunted in California, because he had obtained
a California hunting license on April 29,1926, one year before his death. The information
on the license indicates that he was 5'10" tall, with blue eyes and dark hair. Other records
indicate that he weighed about 235 pounds most of his adult life.
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