Achieving the American Dream in Patchogue: The Story of Barbara Patete and Antonio DeVito, Two 19th-Century Italian Immigrants Hardcover – October 13, 2024

Following the unification of Italy in 1871, millions of Italians left southern Italy for America to escape the corruption, poverty and disease that had plagued their native country with hopes and dreams of a new and better life in America. Among the first wave of migrants were Barbara Patete and Antonio DeVito, the author's great grandparents.This work chronicles their lives, starting from their impoverished childhood years in rural Roccasicura Italy, followed by their separate immigration to America in the early 1880s, meeting up in New York City, getting married, settling in Patchogue, Long Island, New York in the 1890s, and raising a family while striving to achieve the American dream throughout the decades that followed.Journey with the author on what life was like for 19th-century Italians who migrated to New York City and New York State. Learn about the discrimination they faced, hardships they were forced to endure, and unique historical events that occurred in Patchogue and neighboring towns during the late 19th and into the 20th centuries: pivotal years of growth in many Long Island towns. Extensive coverage of the short-lived electric Boynton Bicycle Rail Road in East Patchogue, the Patchogue Lace Mill, and the rapid growth and development of Patchogue Village during the 1890s and into the 1920s is provided and supplemented with many photographs.The story of Barbara Patete and Antonio DeVito is universal, in many ways, to the stories of many other Italian migrants that settled in towns throughout the United States. Read more