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Season 8, Episode 6
Zachary Quinto
Zachary Quinto learns about his great-grandfather’s impact on fighting for the working class and discovers more about his father’s Italian origins.
Actor Zachary Quinto has fond memories of growing up in Pittsburgh, but his father, Joseph Quinto, died of cancer when Zach was just seven years old. His mother, Margaret McArdle Quinto was left to raise her two young sons alone. Because of this tragedy, Zach never had the opportunity to ask questions about his lineage, and he knows very little about his family history. On his father’s side of the family, his paternal grandparents Micela and Maria Quinto were born in Italy and immigrated to the United States. Beyond that, he knows nothing except that family was very important to his father, and he would be excited that Zach was going to learn more about his Italian roots. His maternal grandparents were Margaret and Joseph McArdle. He knows that both Joseph and his great grandfather PJ McArdle had political careers in Pittsburgh. In fact, his great grandfather PJ was such a prominent figure in the city, that there is a major roadway named after him – but Zach knows almost nothing about PJ’s history in Pittsburgh.
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Explore how newspapers and other printed documents played a key role in finding Zachary’s story.
Zach contacts Ancestry® to look into his Italian side, and then heads off to Pittsburgh to find out more about his maternal great-grandfather PJ McArdle. He meets with historian Ed Slavishak who has been looking into PJ’s career. Zach reads a union paper from 1899 and is not only surprised to find PJ is living in Muncie, Indiana but also discovers he’s not the only one in the family to have used the phrase “...live long and prosper.” He is a corresponding member of the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel, and Tin Workers – a large labor union. Ed explains that the Amalgamated Association was fighting for fair wages, a shorter work day, and the safety of their members. These men were working long hours in constant, deafening noise, and extreme heat. Terrible accidents would happen, there were even accounts of men watching their co-workers being burned alive by molten metal. Zach then reads a newspaper article from 1905 that shows that, six years later, PJ McArdle is living in Pittsburgh and is the President of the whole union at just 30 years old. Zach wonders what PJ is up against in this new role. Ed tells him that as steel mills became more automated, these jobs required less and less skill. The steel barons saw their employees, many of whom were poor immigrants, as inherently replaceable – making it difficult for unions to negotiate with employers. Zach realizes PJ is taking on this role at the absolute worst time, and he is very curious – was PJ able to turn things around for the union? Ed suggests that he investigate further at the labor archives at the University of Maryland.
Zach meets historian Chad Pearson, who shows him a circular written by his great-grandfather in 1909, asking workers to set aside their differences and join together to strike against the terrible conditions in the mills. Chad explains that PJ is going up against U.S. Steel – the biggest corporation in the world. U.S. Steel had decided to stop recognizing unions and refused to negotiate with the Amalgamated Association. Chad shows him a newspaper article from 1910, a year after PJ calls the strike. Zach reads that Henry McArdle, his great-grandfather’s brother, has been killed in a mine explosion. He imagines that this was devastating for PJ. His brother was killed in a non-union work site, due to the lack of the very safety conditions PJ is fighting to improve. Zach reads a letter from PJ just a few months later that shows the union is calling the strike off. They’ve lost the fight. Zach is heartbroken for his great-grandfather. Working people just couldn’t hold out any longer, Chad explains, they needed to get back to work. Zach is disappointed by the outcome, but he very much admires PJ’s dedication.
Zach knows PJ was enough of a force in Pittsburgh politics that he had a road named after him, so he heads back to Pittsburgh to explore the city archives. In the room where the city council once met, Zach reads PJ’s obituary from 1940 and is surprised to learn that PJ was on the city council for 28 years and that PJ once sat in that very room. He also notices that many elected officials and labor leaders attended the funeral. PJ was a beloved local politician who never lost sight of the struggle of working people. Zach takes a walk along the PJ McArdle roadway, now that he truly understands who his great-grandfather was, and all that he sacrificed. Just then he gets an email from Jenn Utley, the genealogist he contacted about his Italian roots. She has sent him a family tree that pushes back on his father’s line to his 3rd great-grandparents Pietro Caffola and Clemenzia Rosato who were living in Lenola, Italy during a period of political unrest. Utley suggests that Zach explore the archives at Caserta to see if Pietro and Clemenzia were caught up in the turmoil. Zach is thrilled to be headed off to Italy.
SEARCH IMMIGRATION RECORDS
SEARCH IMMIGRATION RECORDS
Discover your ancestors’ journeys of coming to America and the hardships they may have faced in a new country.
Discover your ancestors’ journeys of coming to America and the hardships they may have faced in a new country.
Zach arrives at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Italy. Historian Lucy Riall explains that Italy was separate kingdoms until 1860, when nationalists overtook this kingdom, and it became part of the unified Italy we know today. Zach wonders how his ancestors Pietro and Clemenzia were affected by all this political unrest. He reads a police record that reveals that Pietro was a poor farm laborer who was kidnapped in 1864 by criminals known as brigands. Lucy explains that the brigands were part of a larger effort by the former rulers of the kingdom to destabilize the new unified Italian government. Zach reads a firsthand statement from Pietro—he was beaten and nearly killed by these bandits before being released. Lucy was able to find Pietro’s death certificate, and Zach discovers he lived to the impressive age of 75 and died in Lenola. Lucy encourages him to go to Lenola and meet with the surveyor of the town. Zach is excited to head to the town where his ancestors lived.
Zach meets with Gianfranco, the surveyor, in Lenola who shows him a photo of his grandfather with two other men. Gianfranco tells Zach one of the men is actually his own grandfather, and Gianfranco is Zach’s second cousin! Gianfranco shows Zach the town, and the very street where their ancestors lived for centuries. Zach reflects on the fact that while he will never achieve the dream of traveling to Italy with his father, he is still so grateful to see this place and meet Gianfranco. The experience has opened up a whole new level of connection, appreciation and love for where he came from.