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Istrian Seamen
Benevolent Society
(founded in 1924)
The Istrian Seamen
Benevolent Society came to existence to serve the needs of Istrian
seamen in the New York area. The first meeting of the Society was held
at Horatio and Greenwich Streets in downtown Manhattan on April 24,
1924. Among those present were the familiar names of Carlich, Stroligo,
Babich, Celich, Liubicich and others. That meeting was called to order
by Tony Stroligo*, the Society's first President.
The original members
consisted of approximately 100 dues-paying men. Members had to be at
least 18 years of age. Most of these members had been born under the
Austrian flag in Istrian towns and villages scattered throughout the
northeastern part of Istria, southwest of the mountain Ucka (Monte
Maggiore): Brdo (Berdo/Briani), Susnjevica (Susnieviza/Valdarsa), Nova
Vas (Noselo/Villanova d'Arsa), Cepic (Cepich/Felicia), Tupljak
(Tupliacco), Krsan (Chersano), Boljun (Bogliuno), Kosljak (Cosliacco),
Sveta Nedelja (Santa Domenica) and others.
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The house on Horatio and
Greenwich Streets where the first Society meeting was held.
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Most of the men, before
coming to and settling down in the New York area, had worked as seamen
aboard the many so-called steerage ships that were coming to this
country. Istrian seamen were generally known as good and reliable
workers, which helped them to obtain jobs in the U.S.A. Many of these
ex-seamen worked as laborers on tugboats, or as longshoremen in the
then-thriving New York City harbor.
There were many reasons for
the men choosing to stay in the New York area and not return home, but
they naturally missed their families back home and their social and
cultural environment. Moreover, it should be emphasized that at that
time in the 1920s there were very few Istrian women in the New York
area. At one point, at the feast and fund raising dances two hundred men
atttended and just two women, one of whom was married!
Most of the men were either
single or had left their wives and families while they went to sea to
earn a living for themselves and their families. These men were lonely
in a new country and surrounded by an unfamiliar society. They needed
social and emotional support structures in the new country. Therefore,
it was natural that sooner or later someone would take the initiative to
form a mutual-help benevolent association to serve their needs. In time,
the Istrian Seamen Benevolent Society became the magnet which drew the
Istrian families together.
In addition to the social
and emotional reasons for establishing the Society, there were other
reasons for bonding together. Before the Society was formed, door to
door collections had to be taken if a person died without funds for
burial. Another important reason was lack of medical care. By joining
the Society, the members and their families obtained free medical care.
For example: the Society contracted with a Dr. Waserman, for a yearly
fee, to provide medical care for the members and their families' needs.
At the beginning of the
1920's most of the members of the Society lived in downtown Manhattan,
in the general area of 14th Street and 9th Avenue known as Greenwich
Village West. Meetings were held usually once a month at various places
in the same area. All members had to attend the monthly meetings, as
well as the scheduled dances and picnics, plus the deceased member's
funeral wakes; otherwise, they had to pay a fine. The Society originally
also paid for the deceased member's burial expenses, including burial
plots, as well as sick benefits. Most of the early members were buried
from Our Lady of Pompeii Church in downtown Manhattan.
As the years went by and a
new wave of immigrants from Istria came to the New York area, they would
join and participate in the activities of the Society. There was an
especially large influx of members into the Society after World War II.
A significant number of young Istrians left their hometowns and
continued streaming into the New York area for the next 25 years.
Initially, many if, not most, of these newcomers lived in downtown
Manhattan or Brooklyn (mainly Park Slope). As time went on, many
families started to move out of Manhattan to nearby Astoria and then
farther out to Flushing, Whitestone and eventually to areas outside the
Metropolitan New York City area such as upstate New York, the
neighboring states of New Jersey and Connecticut and a few as far west
as California. Similarly, some living in Park Slove left for
Bensonhurst, Bay Ridge, as well as Astoria, etc., some regretting it
later as their old brownstone homes which they had purchased over the
years for a pittance are today selling for $1 million ($3 million in
2021!) and more in what has since become one of the prime residential
areas of New York City.
The scattering of our people
all over the area made it more difficult for them to meet on a regular
basis, but they co-sponsored annual picnics together with two other
Istrian societies -
Austrian Seamen's
and Jurina i Franina - which for many years not only drew Istrian
families from the metropolitan city area, but also groups arriving in
busloads from Pennsylvania, Ohio and others parts of North America.
Please help us to identify the people in
these two photos - click to enlarge.
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