One in a collection by Allen Bachoroski,
Local Historical Writer,
Tales Along the
Highway of Legends
Note: This
is one in a series of historical stories about local families
in the Trinidad region.
Click here to find out more
about how these stories were collected.
Often
one hears a Trinidad native ask for "Marta bread"
instead of italian of french bread. The name dates to
1926 when Martin and Prospero Marta opened Marta Bakery
on Country Club Drive.
The brothers, sons of Giovanni Marta and Mary Bersono,
were born in the Piedmonte Region of Italy in the little
village of San Giovonni Canavese, province of Torino.
Martin was born Oct. 26, 1878, and Prospero ten years
later in 1888.
The older brother was a cabinet maker. He came to the
United States in 1902 to work as a carpenter in the Illinois
coal mines. He joined an older brother and two older sisters.
He took out his citizenship papers in Illinois on 1904.
In 1907 he returned to Italy for an extended family visit.
However, as was the custom among immigrants, he hoped
to find a bride during his visit home.
Never a man to make rash decisions, he returned to the
United States unmarried. This time, he settled in Lester,
one of the coal camps of southern Colorado. Almost a year
would go bye before he wrote to Veronica Domenioa Pricco,
also of San Giovananni Canavese, and asked her to come
to Colorado and marry him.
Verinica, the second of three daughters of Domenico Pricco
and Catherina Caserio, was born Nov. 1, 1885. Martin's
proposal was a surprise because he had only spoken to
her casually and danced with her a few times at village
feasts. He hadn't indicated serious intentions.
She, however, was a young woman who was not afraid to
take a chance. At the age of 13, she had gone to Nancy
France, to work in to silk factories. She had stayed 5
years. The opportunity to go to America proved the deciding
factor. She wrote her acceptance and arrived in Colorado
in June 1909.
Martin and Veronica were married at Holy Trinity Church
in Trinidad the day she arrived. In the camps where bachelors
were plentiful and housing scarce, the Martas divided
their one-room, company-owned house and took in borders.
Their first child, John, was born in Lester in 1910. They
remained in the camp until the summer of 1913 when CFI
- with only a 24-hour notice - expelled them because they
and borders were union sympathizers.
They arrived in Trinidad, unemployed, almost penniless
and with Veronica in advance pregnancy, on the eve of
the 1913 strike. They were fortunate to have friends from
their native Piedmont who took them in. A few days after
their arrival, their second child, Mary, was born. A second
daughter, Katherine (Kate), was born in 1916.
Jobs outside the mines were scarce but on Piedmontese
friend took Martin as a partner in his blacksmith shop
on Plum Street. When the partner decided to returned to
Italy, Ventura Gagliardi, another Italian immigrant, took
his place. Eventually, Martin sold his share to Gagliardi
when business proved unable to support two families.
As was the custom among many Italians, The Martas had
always made their own wine. The onset of Prohibition brought
an end to this hobby, but presented them with a new business
opportunity.
Martin and his wife divorced in 1924 He never remarried.
She remarried Charles Bonino.
In 1926 Martin, a cabinet maker and builder, combined
his talents, with his brother, Prospero, a master baker.
The brothers brought a dilapidated building and opened
the Marta Bakery. The bakery became famous in Southern
Colorado for its bread, bread sticks and torchetti. In
1947 Martin and Prospero sold to Louis Bergamo and Charles
Cassio.
Martin lived in Trinidad after retirement and died on
September 11, 1952. Prospero had moved to Michigan when
the bakery was sold and died there in 1948.
John B. Marta (deceased 10/11/65) worked at the bakery
until 1940. He was associated in several businesses with
Talico Micheliza, including M and M Distributing Co. In
the 1950s' he opened the Trinidad Janitor Supply. he was
married in 1935 to Hazel Harper (deceased 12/20/68). They
had one daughter, Veronica Marta Goodrich, and divorced
in 1938. In 1949 he married Francine Futterman (deceased
11/15/86). They had two daughters, Karen Marta Ladda and
Marleen Marta.
Mary K. Marta (deceased 1968) was a graduate of seton
school of nursing and a public health nurse. During World
War II, she served with the U.S. Army Nurses Corps in
England. In 1946 she married Robert Griffith (deceased
1970). She, her husband and two children, Marta Lee and
Bill, lived in Atlanta, Ga.
Katherine Marta married Lawrence Nazzaro of Aguilar in
1947. She worked at the bakery until its sale. She and
her husband moved to Alamosa in 1948 where they owned
a restaurant and bar and later a vending machine company.
They are retired and still reside in Alamosa.
Information submitted by Katherine Marta Nazzaro and Veronica
Marta Goodrick.
(Note:
if you have Photos of this family or know of anyone that
does, please have them get in touch with us so that we
might share some photos of the family here)