L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 L'Italo-Americano A r k a n s a s i s steeped in his- t o r y , n a t u r a l b e a u t y a n d southern hos- pitality. It is (you would think) one of the last places in America where residents from, fourth, fifth and sixth generations can trace their l i n e a g e b a c k t o I t a l y . One location in Arkansas where Italian immigrants were brought over to work on a cotton plantation circa 1895 was Sunnyside. The small community lies in the Chicot County of the state, where a small Italian Ameri- can museum was created to commemorate this rare fact. Aside from Sunnyside's interesting history, another I t a l o A r k a n s a n w h o c a n claim his family's contribu- tion in the area long before 1895 is Patrick Presley. He is a direct descendant to Antonio Molini, a friend o f T h o m a s J e f f e r s o n . Patrick's family shows the p r o f o u n d i m p a c t t h a t I t a l i a n s h a v e h a d i n Arkansas and US history. "In the American South there was and is a far more size- able Italian American com- m u n i t y t h a n t h e c o u n t r y r e a l i z e s , " a v e r r e d t h e Arkansan. P a t r i c k P r e s l e y i s t h e D i r e c t o r o f D e v e l o p m e n t and Media Relations of the B o y s a n d G i r l s C l u b o f C e n t r a l A r k a n s a s . H e i s extremely dedicated to his work and family but as he grew older, something was missing in his life. Patrick realized he needed to have m o r e o f a p u r p o s e . H e decided that reconnecting with his roots would fulfill this desire. As many of us e n t e r o u r m i d d l e a g e , s e a r c h i n g f o r a d i f f e r e n t p u r p o s e i s a n a t u r a l process. We become more nostalgic as our mortality is more apparent than when we were younger. For Patrick, he wanted to f i n d a w a y w h e r e h i s ( 4 x removed) great-grandfather Antonio Molini's legacy in America could be remem- bered. Antonio's parents Paolo Molini and Angela C h i a r a Z a p p e l l a w e r e from Burano, Venice. They moved to a more industrial- i z e d c i t y , G e n o a , w h e r e their son Antonio was born circa 1751. At a young age, Antonio worked in the out- s k i r t s o f t h e m e t r o p o l i s . "He was a well known vine- yard worker in Genoa and a l s o w o r k e d i n t h e v i n e - yards of Toscana especially near Livorno," said Patrick. I n 1 7 7 3 , a t t h e a g e o f twenty-three, he set sail to N o r t h A m e r i c a o n T h e Triumph, courtesy of the f a m e d I t a l i a n F i l i p p o M a z z e i . F i l i p p o w a s a physician, merchant, and an Enlightenment intellectual. While in London, he met several prominent North American businessmen and was introduced to political l e a d e r s , w h i c h i n c l u d e d B e n j a m i n F r a n k l i n a n d Thomas Jefferson. Mazzei was a firm believ- er in independent republics, a n i d e a d e v e l o p i n g i n E u r o p e a n d r e a c h i n g E n g l a n d ' s 1 3 c o l o n i e s . S i m i l a r t o a n o t h e r Enlightenment philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who advocated in his (1762) Social Contract, "That man i s b o r n f r e e b u t i s e v e r y - w h e r e i n c h a i n s , " M a z z e i also wrote that, although p a t r i a r c h a l , " a l l m e n a r e c r e a t e d e q u a l , " w h i c h Jefferson copied and wrote i n t h e D e c l a r a t i o n o f Independence. T h e F o u n d i n g F a t h e r greatly admired his Italian friend. In one of his many e n c o u n t e r s w i t h F i l i p p o , J e f f e r s o n s a w t h e I t a l i a n merchant's value in another area, h o r t i c u l t u r e . The Virginian statesman asked Filippo to stay and recreate the vineyar ds of Tuscany near his Monticello estate. J e f f e r s o n ' s v i s i o n w a s t o h a v e a v i n e y a r d j u s t l i k e t h o s e f r o m I t a l y ' s w i n e regions. F i l i p p o a c q u i r e d l a n d near Monticello, and named his farm Il Colle. He later organized a group of Italian vineyard laborers to work o n t h e n e w l y p u r c h a s e d land. Antonio was one of Mazzei's workers. Antonio worked for 3 years planting and attempting to recreate the magic of Italian wines at M o n t i c e l l o u n t i l t h e A m e r i c a n R e v o l u t i o n i n 1776. "My Italian ancestor who by this time was known as A n t o n i o M o l i n a b e c a m e f r i e n d s w i t h T h o m a s J e f f e r s o n . T h e t h i r d - U S President nicknamed him Little Anthony as he fondly expressed in some letters," Patrick excitedly declared. "He and his twenty-five fel- l o w I t a l i a n s h a d n o i d e a they would be some of the e a r l i e s t s e t t l e r s i n w h a t would become the United States of America," the fifty- one year old also explained. J e f f e r s o n ' s g r e a t w i n e experiment never came to fruition. Il Colle's fertile land was never able to cap- ture the essence of Italy's T u s c a n y r e g i o n . A s f o r A n t o n i o , h e a d o r e d h i s adopted territory, turned into a newly formed nation. H i s A m e r i c a n p a t r i o t i s m was most likely influenced by Jefferson and Mazzei, but " f o r e i g n b o r n c o u l d n o t e n l i s t a t t h e t i m e , s o Anthony took the alias of Anthony Mullins and was then accepted into the Army t o f i g h t t h e w a r o f Independence," Patrick later said. After the war, Anthony Mullins lived the rest of his life in Virginia and finally d i e d ( 1 8 3 6 ) i n L i n c o l n County, Tennessee. He was married twice and had eigh- teen children. The Molina- Zappella family is proof of t h i s u n k n o w n l e g a c y i n American history. Patrick's Italian heritage is from his mother's side; his father can trace his roots to Germany, hence the surname, which was originally Bessemer to P r e s s l e r ; a n d m u t a t e d somehow into Presley. P a t r i c k w a s b o r n i n Trumann, a small town in Arkansas about thirty miles from Memphis, Tennessee, w h e r e a n o t h e r P r e s l e y gyrated his hips to the musi- cal sounds of rock-n-roll. There is no relation between the two, but of course when you have lived in close prox- imity to Elvis Presley, the thought enters the mind of those listening to Patrick's i n c r e d i b l e s t o r y . " T h e r e were only two families in the small town of 6,000 people who had Italian ancestry. It was both a source of pride as well as a distinct feeling of, where the hell are the OTHER Italians?" said Pat. Growing-up in the 1980s i n T r u m a n n m e a n t h i s friends nicknamed Patrick and his twin brother, Rocky, Ferrigno, Boom Boom or the occasional Marino or Montana, after the famous Italian American NFL quar- t e r b a c k s . T h e m o n i k e r s were given as a way to high- light more of their Italian features than the German s i d e . " I h a d t h e c l a s s i c t e e n a g e i n t e r e s t s , g i r l s , s p o r t s a n d M i a m i V i c e . Many years later my Italian heritage grew to mean far, far more to me and is a vital part of who I am and how I l i v e o n a d a i l y b a s i s , " expressed Pat. Pat enrolled, for his own interests, in Italian lan- guage classes. "I wanted t o l e a r n a s I f e e l l i k e t h e Italian language, one of the most beautiful on the plan- e t , i s h o n e s t l y f o r g o t t e n about, and part of our living legacy and one worth keep- ing alive," explained Patrick. As another way to cele- brate and educate the public a b o u t I t a l i a n c u l t u r e i n Arkansas, Patrick started, along with Justin Acri, the I t a l i a n f o o d a n d f i l m festival in Little Rock. The Italian festival, usually h e l d d u r i n g A p r i l , d r a w s people from states far and wide. Patrick reflected on h i s m o t i v a t i o n a n d s a i d , " T h e f i r e , t h e d r i v e , t h e inspiration to create this festival goes right back to Little Anthony." ALFONSO GUERRIERO Antonio Molini, friends of Thomas Jefferson HERITAGE HISTORY IDENTITY TRADITIONS PEOPLE Thomas Jefferson's Little Anthony and the Arkansas delta

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