Ice cream sellers and street musicians

[Gillg]

Luigi Brissolari from Genoa sold ice cream in Manchester and Liverpool in the 1860s.  He was also a street musician, and his household in the 1871 census included a large number of foreign musicians. (You can read about Luigi on the Lancashire page in the thread "Ice cream sellers in Manchester and Liverpool", and about the origins of his English wife Jane Maile on the Huntingdonshire thread "George Farey Maile".)

I've heard from several other Rootschatters with similar family links, and we decided it would be a good idea to open this thread and possibly discover new information and even link some of the families. 

Gill

[Gillg]

Incidentally, living with the Brissolaris and their four chldren (here spelled Bripalari) at 7 Lionel Street, Liverpool, in 1871 were, as far as I can make out:

Antonio Bazzanetti or Bagganetti age 37 unm Interpreter b Trieste, Austria
Luigi ?Ginetti? age 34 unm Licensed Hawker b Genoa, Italy
Louis Eckel age 43 un Clerk b Alsace Lorraine
Louigi ?Bonenberg? age 37 unm Interpreter b Witham Essex
C? ?Sasso? age 31 m Musician b Genoa Italy
Mary  do wife age 21 Musician b Witham Essex
James  do son age 2 Scholar (!) b Witham Essex
Nicolo Galasso age 20 unm Musician b Naples, Italy

I have to admit that these are educated guesses at most of the names. As I have already discovered, the variations on the spelling of Brissolari are endless, so who can tell what the correct spelling of these other names was?

If you want to verify any of these, take a look at the 1871 image for Bripalari
4 Lionel Street, St Anne's Ward  Liverpool, District Christchurch, ref. RG 10
p 3789 folio 161.

Gill

[Salford Lass]

Italian brothers Vittorio , Gerardo , Petro and Eugenio Crolla came to Britain, in the 1880's to set up an ice cream business .They settled in Ancoats Manchester where they became one of the first founders of the Little Italy district..

The brothers came from Pisinisco , a hillside village in central Italy.

They were also Musicians and Biscuit makers.

[Gillg]

Hi, Salford Lass

Welcome to this thread and thanks for your information.

Are your Crolla brothers related to the Crollas of Valvona & Crolla in Edinburgh? 

See

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/foodmonthly/story/0,9950,1245442,00.html

Of course there are lots of Italian families in Scotland.  Apparently many of them were en route for America, intending to make the Transatlantic crossing from Greenock, but found that they liked life in Scotland well enough to stay there.
 
Cheers,
Gill

[J.J.]

Hello, Gill,    this thread will be a wonderful find for those searching...

Now this makes me rather angry that I did not know this...but the first waffle cups/ cornets ( that's a cone! Think horn- shaped) appeard in England and the patent for ice cream cones was applied for by an Italian ice-cream seller in Manchester...!
 
The World's fair thing is the story which we have all heard...anyway...this page has some interesting reading for some of you...
http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/IceCream/IceCreamCone.htm


Here is a link to another site with Ice cream sellers in their "Forte" family from  Ciociaria ...
http://www.edmundforte.co.uk/141633.html?*session*id*key*=*session*id*val*


and WELCOME to rootschat! Salford Lass....

all the best, J.J.

[Suffolk Mawther]

My dad, whose pat.grandfather came from Berkshire and mother's family from Ireland so no links to Italy - che peccato!

But he grew up in the 1920s with the Italian family who lived close by and made ice cream and had ice wells - so distributing ice to local businesses.

They were the Togni family of Hammersmith.
SM ...

[Gillg]

Hi SM.  Welcome to this thread. 

The combination of selling ice cream and being a street musician was connected with the weather, of course.  Even if people are too cold to eat ices, they will always want to hear a bit of music.  Other winter occupations included general street trading (licensed as a hawker like one of the boarders with the Brissolaris).  The more successful traders who had suitable premises set up fish and chip shops or cafes. 

Regards,
Gill

[Carrie Ann]

Gosh,this thread`s taken off!
Here are ours.
GARIBALDI Bartholomew  dealer in ice,mother Geromina,wife Angelina Ghirosi. STAFFS
POLI John ice-cream manufactuer and hard confectioner,sweet dealer,sugar boiler, LEICS.wife Louisa Ghiorsi,Andrew,Vincent,Frederick,Theresa.
CAMPODONICO Emmanuel,musician wife,Angelina,son Joseph wife Magdalena all musicians?. WOLVERHAMPTON
CAMPODONICO Louis  confectioner ,ice-cream maker. musical box repairer.LEICS,wives,Johanna Ghiorsi,and Emma  Boston,Angelina, Caroline,Rosie,Ada,Emanuel,Lewis,Charles,Edith,Amy,Harold.
All believed to come from GENOA area though some Census say,GENEVA.

[Suffolk Mawther]

All believed to come from GENOA area though some Census say,GENEVA.

Probably misheard/mistranscribed GENOVA (Genoa) and assumed it was Geneva as British enumerators would have been more familiar with the Anglicised version of this name.


Tanti auguri a tutti

SM ...