Dad’s father, Luigi Alciere

Dad’s father, Luigi Alciere, came to America as a teenager from Potenza, a city in the mountains of south-central Italy. In Italy our relatives spell our name Arcieri, which means “archers”. Either he didn’t know how to spell his own name, or, more likely, since he spoke little or no English, he wasn’t able to communicate well with the immigration clerk.

He was a barber, so he was able to find employment right away. He also became a Democratic Party ward heeler in the North End. His job was to meet the Italian immigrants as they came off the boat, find them jobs and places to live, help them to get citizenship, and tell them who to vote for.

Probably because of this service to the Democratic Party, he was soon working for the City of Boston as a health inspector. This was an interesting job, as many of the Italian immigrants had grown up on farms in the mountains, as he had, and they did not know how to live in a city apartment. Luigi had to explain that it is against the law to keep goats in a city apartment, for example.

He also became Assistant Consul at the Italian Consulate in Boston, because of his work helping Italian immigrants.

Dad’s father died when Dad was nine years old.