SOPHIA NIGRO
APRIL 8, 1980
These are notes taken during an interview with Sophia Nigro at her home
in Walsenburg. Mrs. Nigro and Rosalyn McCain were talking together April 8,
1980.
I was born in Dawson, New Mexico. Dawson is south of Raton, New
Mexico. It is between Raton and Cimmaron. Now it is a ghost town, but
previously it was a coal mining town. The Phelps-Dodge Corporation was the
owner of the mine. Coal mining started in Da son in the 1900's. The coal
mines closed down there in 1950. They say that a coal mining town had
fifty years to survive. That's what did happen at Dawson. The town had a
population of over 8,000 people at its height. I was born there and lived
there for 19 years. Then I came to Walsenburg and married John. I had met
him in Raton. His dad had an automobile dearership there. John was born
and raised in Walsenburg. His dad had a bar and then a recreation parlor
after prohibition.
My dad also had a bar before prohibition. He went into the mines at
the age of 54. He had a pool hall, etc. after prohibition. He went to work
in the mines in 1929, and he died in 1936. My brother Bruno worked in the
mines also. There were six kids at home when my father died. The oldest
two children at home were 18 and 20, and they went to work at the mine.
One went to work at the company store, and one went to work in the mine.
There were nine children in my family. Ther were five boys and four girls.
My oldest brother was killed in a mine accident at Cameron.
My parents wer from the Turol. It used to be Austira, but now it is
in Italy. My dad came here in 1905. His name was Serafino Bergamo, and my
mother was named Anna Bergamo. He worked for the company. He was a bartend-
er for them. When he first came here, he worked in the mine. Then his
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partner was made manager of the saloon in Dawson. So he hired my Dad as the
barkeeper. This was all for the mine company.
My husband had a garage until the depression. During the depression
he worked for the City and for the County. When we married, we moved to
Walsenburg. In 1936 John opened a liquor store on Main Street, San Isabel
Liquor. He had that package liquor store for 28 years, and then he retired.
Now he enjoys golfing. It is a really nice sport. It is good exercise.
and you get lots of fresh air. and you have good company and socialize alot
there.
Irma Menghini was a very good friend of mine. She really brought me
out of my shell when I had my children. She was always very active. She
worked at the drug store, etc. I wasn't active at all at that time. She
convinced me to join the PTA and to join the Tabernacle Society, and I started
doing church work. I did a lot of work with the PTA. They used to have
soft ball teams for the young girls. I believe they have more activities for
women now than they did in those days. They have volleyball teams, etc,
now.
I moved to Walsenburg in 1930. I had heard so much about Walsenburg
being a dangerous place that I was afraid to come here. You heard so much
about the strikes and murders that happened here. But after I came here
to live. I realized that it was like any other place. The Wobblie Strike
in 1928 was the last strike. Conditions were starting to get better. My
dad died December 22, 1936. He had just gotten a job where he could get
ahead.
Walsenburg was just starting to decline when I came here. During the
Depression we had enough to eat. I was expecting Lorraine, when Roosevelt
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closed the bank. We had $40.00 saved to pay for her. The bank opened
before she was born, and we could get our money out. Mama was in Dawson
then with all of the children. We all had enough to eat. We gardened and
we canned fruit. I remember that we bought a half a pig at 2¢ a pound.
We would buy sugar by the 100 pound sack and flour by the 50 pound sack.
We always had enough for bread, etc.
For Easter we always have the dish from the Tyrol, from north Italy.
It is palenta served with a good stew. Palenta is made with corn meal. It
is shaped into a ball and served on a platter to be sliced. It is wonderful
with a chicken stew. We also like it with sauer kraut and spareribs. We
like to dig the little new dandelions in the sand when they are still white
in the spring and make a good salad. In Italy they eat palenta daily in the
place of bread.
My husband's father always made his own wine. Especially during pro-
hibition everybody made wine for their own use. He made his last batch of
wine in 1938, and we finished his last bottle of wine last year. It was so
good and so pretty.
My mother married my father in Italy. Then she came to America on the
Cunard line 2nd class. She had a beautiful trip until she got on the train.
She didn't know any English, and she didn't know anybody on the train to help
her out. Before she got to her destination, by luck, she met two men on the
train who knew my dad, and they took her to dad. He was going to Raton to
pick her up, but she arrived in Dawson with these two men who helped her
so she found him. My brother was 16 months old when she came. I was born
next, and I and all the others were born in Dawson.
Women had their babies at home. My first two babies were born at home.
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I remember when my first sister was born. The other children were sent away.
I stayed home. I was so excited to have a new sister when the midwife came
out with her. The last two daughters I bathed and curled their hair. I
gave them their baths on Saturdays. I baked when I was real young. I learned
to crochet and embroider. The ladies used to get together to do handwork.
We baked 12 loaves of bread at a time. That was one batch, and I
still have my mother's bread pans. We baked every four or five days. On
saturday I would bake 12 pies and cakes. Sometimes mother had her brothers
as boarders when they worked in the mines.
Now people eat richer foods. They eat more prepared foods. We didn't
have refrigerators. We had ice boxes. Farmers would butcher a calf and
take it around to the mines. They also brought chickens and eggs around.
A typical meal for us would consist of meat, bread, or palenta, potatoes
and a salad. We didn't have much fruits. We usually had coffee and cheese
or bread for breakfast. Sometines we would toast bread in the oven. Some-
times we would have hash brown potatoes.
We used to grow lettuce, radishes, cabbage, celery, beans, corn,parsley,
rosemary, basil, and sage. I never heard of oregano until they came out
with pizzas here. Papa used to make sauer kraut in a crock. We had sauer
kraut with palenta. Mother didn't can much. We kept our kraut in a crock
in the cellar. We also grew and kept a lot of carrots. We ate a lot of
stews. Mainly it was vegetables, meat and fresh bread. John's family's
specialty was raviolis. That was their favorite dish. I used to stay up
until 3:00 making raviolis, and then I would get up early and visit and
entertain company.
We have really seen thr decline ot this town. There used to be fur-
niture stores, hardware stores, drug stores and movie theaters. Now there
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no place to sit and have a malted milk. We used to have two drug stores,
and Barnes was across the street from where Fawks Drugs is now. The movies
used to have two long features and a comedy for l5¢ for the matinee. Barnes
Confectinery was in the J&L building. There used to be the Dissler and
Kelmes shoe stores. Peter Roricks used to sell banana splits for 20¢.
There used to be lots of dances. The ledges had dances. The Eagles,
The Moose, The Elks, Odd Fellows all had dances. There was one Italian
lodge called Dante Alleghieri. My husband belongs to the Moose, the Eagles,
the Elks. They had picnics in the summers, and they had their dances here
in the different lodges. There were Slavinian lodges.
The different nationalities were all friends, and they stuck together
real good. The ladies exchanged foods from their native countries. They
would trade recipes back and forth.
I like to make manicotti. The name means "little muff", and it is
made like a crepe. You make a ravioli filling and roll it up in a crepe;
you roll it up and bake. They are real good. I used to always have them
frozen. I would just boil them up and all a sauce whenever people would
drop in. It was so handy.
Modern appliances are wonderful. The washing machine is the number one
improvement. The refrigerator and freezer and iron are next, and a dish-
washer is nice for a large family.
To me Walsenburg is a paradise. You can walk to church and to town
to shop. The climate is good. and the winters are not too bad.
