Marion’s rich history as a seaport community has been well documented over decades. Less has been known about its immigrating workers and the people who settled on the outskirts of estates and wealth. But that is changing now, thanks in no small part to the collaborative efforts of the Marion Historical Commission and the Sippican Historical Society.
On February 1, the Music Hall was filled with townsfolk interested in learning more about the people who populated Route 6 and the immigrant neighborhoods.
MHC Chairperson Meg Steinberg told The Wanderer that Claire Dempsey, a historic-preservation consultant, produced an inventory and historic research report on Marion’s Portuguese, Azorean and Cape Verdean communities. The MHC funded this project so that Dempsey could complete her analysis of the Point Road and Gifford’s Corner neighborhoods, an earlier project also funded by the MHC.
Local resident, Cape Verdean ancestor and educator Rick DaSilva has been participating in the immigrant history project for several years. In a response to how he became involved in the project, DaSilva replied, “I joined the Sippican Historical Board a few years ago, before the pandemic, with strong intentions to increase the diversity of perspectives and narratives. A few years ago, I was contacted by Claire Dempsey, the writer of the report, and … spent some time discussing the different areas in Marion she was researching.”
But how did these areas become meccas for immigrants? Who were the people? What are their stories? This is what DaSilva, who taught history at Tabor Academy for many years and is now the director of Community and Equity Affairs at St. Mark’s School in Southborough, wishes to pursue in greater detail. He believes it will “fill in the blanks.”
Some work had begun on collecting Cape Verdean oral histories when Judith Rosbe of the SHS recorded several with the assistance of family members with surnames Pina, Barros and Pires. That was the beginning of filling in the blanks, a place where documentation ends and memories begin.
“I ended the talk last night mentioning that goal (of gathering oral histories) and that the purpose of doing the talk was to shed light on the countless stories we don’t have and haven’t collected,” DaSilva told The Wanderer. He said that while data, such as that reported by Dempsey, is critical, “it is nothing without the anecdotes and narratives from those who lived in these areas through 1930 to 1990.”
In his presentation and follow-up, DaSilva noted that successive generations, the children and grandchildren of the immigrants, have migrated out of the area. “Those stories are gone.” He said, however, that there are immigrant ancestors who attended talks such as these and have access to images and testimonies, along with those who have remained in the area willing to share those pieces of the story.
A large part of the February presentation focused on Dempsey’s exhaustive research of documents, deeds, assessors’ reports and tax records. That mapping told a silent story. A story of immigration from the Cape Verdean Islands to the southeast coast of Massachusetts by people, primarily young men, in search of employment and a more stable area for resources.
In his oral history, DaSilva told Rosbe that the Cape Verdean Islands were prone to drought and famine. “Men came looking for work on fishing boats, in cranberry bogs, in construction…” Those first immigrants who settled in the area would later bring family members to Marion. Families would grow into neighborhoods along Point Road, Mill Street, Creek Road, Wareham Road and Giffords Corner.
DaSilva also spoke of the Point Road School built to educate the increasing number of children being born to the immigrants and the challenges those children faced.
Once Sippican School opened, there would be concerns regarding the necessity and purpose of maintaining two schools in the town. DaSilva said, “Children of Cape Verdean heritage were thrown into a different culture,” when required to attend Sippican School versus the Point Road School that had been filled with family and friends and their cultural identity.
DaSilva wants to cast a wide net and capture the full story of immigrating people to the area. “I believe that in the southeast, more people are now interested not just in tracing family roots but hearing and reading about the families that helped build this area,” he said. “Whether on ships, bogs or in textile mills, the Cape Verdeans, Azoreans and Portuguese – and countless mixtures among them – were as important to the foundation of growth and success as any other group or groups who are often given credit for making the southeast vibrant and viable.”
Got a story to share? Contact DaSilva at rsilv@me.com or Meg Steinberg, Marion Historical Commission, at 508-748-3500.
Marion Historical Commission / Sippican Historical Society
By Marilou Newell