An Immigrant Story - Giuseppe Cottini

Giuseppe Cottini portrait

Keweenaw NHP archives; Cottini Collection--Joseph Cottini Studio Portrait--ca 1910

Hailing from rural Tuscany, Italy, Giuseppe (Joseph) Cottini came to the Copper Country in 1903. Saving up his wages as a trammer for the Quincy Mining Company, by 1907 his family was able to join him.

Wife Georgina Battaglini Cottini, son Hugo and Georgina's sister Giulia arrived in May of 1907. Tragedy struck the family in late September when Hugo, aged 7, died from the accidental discharge of a shotgun he was carrying inside the home of his aunt Giulia and new uncle Frank Raffaelli on Quincy Hill.

 

Patriotic member of the Cottini family

NPS, Keweenaw NHP, Cottini family papers

The following year, Giuseppe's mother Francesca arrived in the United States. Francesca left her husband Pietro in Italy when she immigrated. She traveled with Giuseppe and Georgina's children Pietro and Leo as well as her unmarried daughter Giuseppina. This group was held at Ellis Island for a week before they were cleared to continue to their destination on Quincy Hill. By 1910, the Cottinis were operating a boarding house at Quincy's Sing-Sing location.

 

Four members of the Cottini family rest at Lakeside Cemetery in Hancock. They are Francesca, Hugo, Mary (1917-1918) and another infant child of Giuseppe and Georgina (1916). — at Lakeside Cemetery.

NPS Photo

Several members of the Cottini family were buried in the Lakeside Cemetery in Hancock before others moved to the Chicago area in the 1920s, following the pattern of many other Italian immigrant families.

Nearly one hundred years later, descendants of the Cottini family donated heirlooms and photos to Keweenaw National Historical Park. Their donation and subsequent visit help us to tell the story of Italians in the Copper Country; what an immigrant story they are able to tell!