Preface

I am the fifth son of a fifth son. My father was the fifth son of merchant Don Nicola D’Alessandro, of Laurenzana of the Province of Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, whose lineage according to family lore was traced back to Nicola di Pasquale of the Dukes of Pescolanciano. Father never made much of his genealogy. According to mother the Dukes of Pescolanciano were decorated for valor and held positions of dignity from ancient time. The family name was traced back to 1187 to ancestral migrations from Greece according to The Dizzionario Storico Nobilare Italiano by Crollolanza.

My parents were Italian Immigrants who came to America at the t-urn of the century. My father was a tailor. He was not a great or powerful man. He did not make his mark in the arts, business, politics, science, or any other glamorous field. He did not amass a great fortune or build a large estate to leave to his heirs. He was a modest man who learned his craft well in his youth, worked at it creatively and used it honorably to support and raise four sons who were able to realize the American dream because of the principles, values and the work ethic he passed on to them.

He lived a long and full life and died at the age of eighty-three. It seems fitting that I should finally in this year of our Lord 1996 take to the computer and, xii My Father Was a Tailor coincidentally in my eighty-third year, begin to record my father’s story and my story as well in order that my progeny and members of my extended family will know from whence they have come. Finally, it is also fitting that father’s descendants and others who may read this book be given the opportunity to share intimately in this personal remembrance of an immigrant father’s permanent and ongoing impact on the lives of his American born sons, and particularly on my life and career in public service.

Edward A. D’Alessandro