Francis B. Spinola | |
|---|---|
_engraved_portrait.jpg) BEP engraved portrait of Spinola | |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives from New York's10th district | |
| In office March 4, 1887 – April 14, 1891 | |
| Preceded by | Abram S. Hewitt |
| Succeeded by | William Bourke Cockran |
| Member of theNew York Senate from the 3rd district | |
| In office 1858–1861 | |
| Preceded by | Dan Sickles |
| Succeeded by | Henry C. Murphy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Francis Barretto Spinola (1821-03-19)March 19, 1821 Old Field, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 14, 1891(1891-04-14) (aged 70) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Resting place | Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York City |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |
|
| Branch/service | United States Army Union Army |
| Rank | Brigadier general |
| Commands | "Spinola Brigade" (Second Brigade, Second Division,Third Army Corps) |
| Battles/wars | |
Francis Barretto Spinola (March 19, 1821 – April 14, 1891) was an American politician and military leader often considered to have been the firstItalian American[1] to be elected to theUnited States House of Representatives, serving two terms as a representative from New York from 1887 to 1891.
He also served as a general in theUnion Army during theAmerican Civil War.
Spinola was born inOld Field,[2] nearStony Brook,Brookhaven,Suffolk County,Long Island, New York.[3] He attended Quaker Hill Academy inDutchess County and then passed the bar exam before establishing a law practice inBrooklyn.
He was elected alderman of the Second Ward in Brooklyn in 1846 and 1847, and was reelected in 1849 and served for four years. By 1854, when he joined a special force known as "Special Police" to keep order in the streets of New York, he was already one of the "most respected and influential citizens" of the city.[4] Politically aDemocrat, he was a member of theNew York State Assembly (Kings Co., 2nd D.) in1856. He was a member of theNew York State Senate (3rd D.) from 1858 to 1861, sitting in the81st,82nd,83rd and84th New York State Legislatures. He was a delegate to the1860 Democratic National Convention.[5]
He was commissioner ofNew York Harbor when the Civil War erupted.
Spinola joined the volunteer army in a New York regiment and was commissioned as an officer. He was appointedbrigadier general of Volunteers on October 2, 1862. He commanded two relief efforts to lift the Confederatesiege of Washington, North Carolina. In July–October 1862 he recruited and organized a brigade of four regiments, known asSpinola's Empire Brigade.[6]
Spinola assumed command of the New York "Excelsior Brigade" (the Second Brigade, Second Division,Third Army Corps), on July 11, 1863, following theBattle of Gettysburg as theArmy of the Potomac strove to fill open command slots created by battle casualties. Spinola's brigade led the Union troops on July 23 at theBattle of Wapping Heights inLinden, Virginia, suffering 18 men killed, including two officers. Spinola was wounded in the fighting, along with dozens of his men. He was honorably discharged from the service in August 1865.[5]
Following the war, Spinola was a banker and insurance agent and became an influential figure among the rapidly growing Italian immigrant community in the New York City area.
He was again a member of the State Assembly (New York Co., 16th D.) in1877,1881 and1883.
He was a U.S. representative from New York's 10th district from 1887 to 1891.[5]
He died in office in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1891,[3] from pneumonia.[7]
His funeral was held at theImmaculate Conception Church on April 16, 1891, and he was buried atGreen-Wood Cemetery inBrooklyn, New York.[8]
His estate, valued at over $1,000,000 in 1897, was left to his wife (d. 1896), and a nephew, Ferdinand McKee. In 1897 his sister Annie Douglass contested his will.[9]
Spinola had his country seat atCrane Neck, Long Island. It was menaced by a fire in 1887.[10]
Francis Barretto Spinola was the son of João Leandro Spinola (b. 1782), laterAnglicised as John Leander Spinola,[11] a Portuguese merchant fromMadeira Island, and Elizabeth Phelan (1790,Long Island – 1873),[12] daughter of Captain John Phelan (1747,Waterford, Ireland – September 14, 1827,Baltimore, Maryland), who served in theAmerican Revolutionary War, and his wife Susanna Davis (b.Long Island, d. 1857). João Leandro Spinola married Eliza Phelan on June 18, 1808, atTrinity Church parish, New York.[13]
Frank W. Alduino, in his bookSons of Garibaldi in Blue and Gray: Italians in the American Civil War (p. 180), refers to his father John as a "prosperous farmer and oysterman" who migrated to the United States from Madeira Island, Portugal, whose family had originally hailed from the city ofGenoa,Liguria.[2][14][15] The Spinolas, of nobleGenoese origin, moved into Madeira Island in the late 15th, early 16th century, as merchants.[16] John Leander Spinola is recorded travelling betweenFunchal and New York on board of thebrig Pomona in 1821. He is also recorded travelling toHavana andRio Grande. He was buried in the Meadow Avenue ofGreen-Wood Cemetery,Brooklyn, New York.[17]
His grandfather John Phelan was a lieutenant in Wigglesworth's13th Massachusetts Regiment, and his grand-uncles Edward and Patrick were respectively captain and lieutenant at the same time.[11] He was a member of theOrder of the Cincinnati.[18] His grand uncle Phillip Phelan joined the American forces during the Revolutionary War, where he served as lieutenant, and died at theBattle of Eutaw Springs on May 22, 1781. John Phelan's mother was Mary Heron Phelan, fromWaterford, Ireland. One of her descendants, Mrs. Regina M. Knott, was one of the earliest members of theDaughters of the American Revolution.[19]
He had an older brother, John Leander Spinola (b. 1818) who worked as adruggist,[20] a younger brother, Douglas A. Spinola (b. 1830), an older sister, Angelina Spinola, seamstress (b. 1814), and two younger sisters, Louisa (b. 1825) and Ann Eliza (b. 1829).
Gen. Spinola provided for his sister Ann Douglass until his death in 1891. She supported herself teaching music until her eyesight failed, and by 1903, at over seventy years of age, she was living on charity, on an allowance of $120 a year from theSociety of the Cincinnati. This motivated a newspaper article, pleading for help and referring her family, the Spinolas, as New York aristocrats, a "distinguished family".[11]
Gen. Francis Spinola married Elizabeth Nancy Glazebrook, from Kings,Saratoga County, New York, at May 7, 1855, in New York City. Eliza N. Spinola, as she was known, survived her husband for five years, dying in 1896.[citation needed]
He once told me that he was of Italian lineage.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)...Francis B. Spinola, the first Italian American Member of Congress...
New York City's Francis B. Spinola was the first Italian American to serve in Congress (1887-91).
1886: Francis Spinola of New York is the first Italian American elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Gen. F.B. Spinola died at 1:25 o'clock this morning after an illness which had lasted several weeks. His condition had so improved during the last few days that his friends had begun to entertain some hope of his recovery. ...
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)WASHINGTON, April 14.—Gen. Spinola died at 1:25 o'clock this morning. He had been ill for over a week from pneumonia attributed to la grippe, and his life had hung in the balance for some days.
The body of Congressman Francis B. Spinola arrived in New-York yesterday afternoon in charge of Deputy Sergeant at Arms of the House Kavanaugh and two or three assistants. It was taken at once to the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Fourteenth Street and Avenue A, where funeral services will be held at 10:30 o'clock this morning. ...
Phelan
| New York State Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by George A. Searing | New York State Assembly Kings County, 2nd District 1856 | Succeeded by Thomas Mulligan |
| Preceded by George Y. Whitson | New York State Assembly New York County, 16th District 1877 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Edward P. Hagan | New York State Assembly New York County, 16th District 1881 | Succeeded by James Edward Morrison |
| Preceded by James Edward Morrison | New York State Assembly New York County, 16th District 1883 | Succeeded by Peter F. Murray |
| New York State Senate | ||
| Preceded by | New York State Senate 3rd District 1858–1861 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromNew York's 10th congressional district 1887–1891 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
