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     Mary Biollo Doyle:  Summary of Transcript

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Carlo & Lina 
Amodio
 

Rudy & Rita 
Cavaliere

Mary Biollo Doyle

Tony Falcone

Bill Nigro

 Sabatino Roncucci

Spinelli Family
 
Alessandro &
Lina Urso

Fiore M. Vecchio

 

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  • Of the Venice colony, she says that they were brave people who worked hard; initially lived in huts; not all stayed; her Father was a good farmer and believed in pure-bred animals; his nephew is still there and has 200 head of Herfords, which was the stock her Father bred; he helped others to improve their stock; used Clydesdales and Percheron horses; he was the best educated person in the colony; clay soil with very few pockets of loam; had to be fertilized, crops rotated. 
      
    Don Carlo Fabbris, a priest brought from Italy in 1924 built a church but it was never completed (Il Redentore/Holy Redeemer); torn down and built St. Anne's
      

  • On the W.W. II and internment experience, she notes that Corporal Fielding picked up her Father and he was put into a "concentration camp"-didn't even allow him to change clothes; two people had to swear against him; he went first to Kananaskis and, then, Camp Petawawa in Ontario; at least four to five men from the Venice/Hylo area were interned; a Corporal Hanna worked to get her Father released; this was hard on the family; no-one to replace him; a cousin from Edmonton came to help; there was a Fascist Italian Club but the family never discussed politics; her Father was a member of the Club and played bocce; she too was investigated because she was teaching school; taught Italian with books supplied by the Italian government
      
  • Feels that the Consular Agent Felice DeAngelis belittled her Father; he was arrogant and believed that he was above everyone and he soon went back to Italy
      
  • Notes that her parents separated and that her Father moved to Edmonton and worked at the St. Regis Hotel as the Night Clerk (78th Avenue and 106 Street); he also had a house built
      
  • In the 1925 election it appears that Mr. Biollo got into trouble for vote rigging; Mrs. Doyle believes that he was too trusting; believed in the candidate Maynard and sponsored him to run for Parliament in St. Paul; her Father was Maynard's foreman and she believes that Maynard turned against him; it would appear that ballots were falsified and that her Father bore the brunt of this and was actually sentenced to prison; her Father was very generous and gave credit to his customers and even went bankrupt; he ran a sawmill, flour mill, elevator, post office, livery stable; he could make money but couldn't manage it

Related Links

Biollo Family History:  Read about the Biollo Family as excerpted from "Harvest of Memories", by the Hylo-Venice History Book Committee.

Listen to Oral History  |  Read Short Biography

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