Italians in the Rich Precinct Census 1920
John Valenty, Luigi Mark and other Italians in Pingree, 1920
7/8/20262 min read
The 1920 census taker at Rich Precinct (roughly just north of where Tilden Bridge now stands to a half mile west of Pingree, and to the Snake River southward from there) must have awakened each morning either eager for today's surprise or weary from yesterday's, for his ears, over the period of his weeks of information collection time, had to absorb the accents of 467 people from 34 states and 30 more from 12 different foreign countries.
Three-fourths of those settled in Rich hailed from the western states of Wyoming and Nevada to the coastal states—Utah and Idaho with 319 of that population. Their accents wouldn't be a problem—even though the parents of some of the children were foreign born. And the midwesterners from South Dakota to Iowa and Nebraska, another 64 residents, probably had an understandable speech pattern. But what about the southerners (27 from West Virginia down to Alabama) and the northerners (9)? And then there were the Texas and Oklahoma drawls (16). It must have taken a few moments to regroup after leaving one homestead and heading to the next. Thankfully, he had plenty of time if he was riding a horse—if he was in a car, well, he may have been pushing it out of mudholes more than he was driving.
There was a settler from Canada, two from England, five from the Scandinavian countries, four from Germany, one from Mexico and twelve from Italy and Austria. One particular day may have been the most auditorily jarring when he interviewed not only two Japanese born residents, who worked the railroad maintenance crew and farmed, but their Spanish speaking Mexican farmhand, too.
Old time residents might remember the name Grimaud, the only French settlers in the Rich precinct. And the first DeGiulio (Gustino), another name that still resonates in the area, shows up in the 1920 census. Some might even know the offspring of Sam Valenty (pictured), an early Italian immigrant who farmed first in Pingree, then Springfield, before moving to Tyhee where son John was instrumental in incorporating the town of Chubbuck. But the names of Italians Salvatore Decetis, his wife Mary and their five children likely have passed into forgotten history. And Luigi Mark (shortened from Marcovecchio, in the manner of many immigrants anglicizing their name), his wife Jenni and their fourteen children have left little trace (Luigi, AKA Gorice, is the second man from the right in the picture), having moved to California in the hard times of the twenties or thirties.
Photos are taken from Ancestry.com.
John Valenty
