WWI Registration, Coal Country - 1918

On September 12th, 1918, three Riva's walked into the Putman County local draft board office in Granville, Illinois, to register. WWI was going on and the month before President Wilson had agreed to co-operate with the Allies by sending "volunteer" troops. Those Riva's were James/Giacomo Riva (age 45), John Riva (35) and another John Riva, (35). James, we know from crossing checking information on various documents, is OUR James. The other two Riva's we have no documented proof that they are related but we believe they are.

One of the John's lived in Granville and worked for the St. Paul Coal Co. James and the other John (John #1 below) both lived in near-by Standard, Illinois, and worked at the B.F. Berry Coal Co. James and John #1 are also recorded on the 1910 Census as both living in Greenfield Township, Grundy County,IL---both on Sixth Avenue right next door to each other.

James Riva's Registration, Click to enlarge

Birthday: March 25, 1873 – age 45
James is listed as have black hair and blue eyes
Josie Riva (his wife) is listed as his nearest relative
Living in Standard, IL


#1 John Riva's Registration, Click to enlarge

Birthday: June 11, 1884 – age 35
Wife: Minnie Riva
Living in Standard, IL


#2 John Riva's Registration, Click to enlarge

Birthday: August 1, 1883 – age 35
Living in Granville, IL
Nearest Relative: father Bertolomeo Riva in St Ponsio Canavese Italy, Torino Province

So far, I haven't been able to find a St Ponsio. It's possible the above registration document should read San Ponzio or that the village of St. Ponsio no longer exists. Either way it's an interesting mystery because San Ponzio is a village in the same province where James/Giacomo was born. (If anyone has any information on how these two John's might fit into the James Riva family tree please leave a comment.) J.E. Riva © 2008

EDIT TO ADD: Since writing this, I've been told that the "St. Ponsio" is probably San Ponso in the Piedmont region of Torino. (See comment below.)

Coming to America!

My grandfather Giacomo---James in English---Riva left his home in Pertusio, Italy (in the province of Torino) when he was twenty-three years old. He became part of the surge of European immigrants that processed through Ellis Island, forming what historians later dubbed the era of the Great Melting Pot. The passengers' list from the steamer ship the LaBourgne places his arrival in New York City on January 18, 1897. He boarded the ship at LeHavre, France, which was a common departure port for immigrants from the northern mountainous border region of Italy. According to the ship's passenger list his destination was Spring Valley, Illinois.

As a side note, the LaBourgne was built by Chantliers de le Mediterranee in 1886. It was 7,395 tons, 495 feet long and 52 feet wide. Service speed was 17.5 knots. The ship could hold 500 passengers and 200 crew members. It flew a French flag and serviced a line between LeHavre and New York until it sunk following a collision off Newfoundland. 549 lives were lost on July 4, 1898---that was approximately six months after Giacomo Riva hopped on that steamer to come to America.

For more information on this ship, check the New York Times where many LaBourgne articles are archived, and also see this link for a thumbnail on the steamer.



Giacomo came to the United States eleven-and-a-half years after the Statue of Liberty was dedicated. The hundred-and-fifty-one foot copper structure impressed him so much that, according to oral history, he spoke about it often. When I was a teenager in the 1950s my family went to New York City and I'll never forget how disappointed my dad (Peter Riva) was at the sight of raw garbage floating in the statue's harbor and at the tarnished-green color of Miss. Liberty.

"I wish I'd never sent it," he said. "I wish I'd never seen it!" Dad had expected to find the same pristine statue that had greeted the LaBourgne, the welcoming statue that Giacomo Riva loved and respected his entire life as a symbol of freedom.

This would be a good point to mention that Giacomo became a nationalized citizen on October 29, 1898 at the Marshall County Court in Illinois. View the document here. We may never know why exactly he was headed towards Spring Valley, Illinois (Bureau County) but we do know it was a booming coal mining region at the time and it's a good guess that he already had relatives living there who told him a job would be easy to get. Recruiters, back then, used to go to New York to bring back immigrants to work in the state's coal mines which ended up to be his life's work.

© J.E. Riva 2008


Inspection Room, Ellis Island


(Data on Giacomo above found on an Ellis Island passenger list.)

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Italian Army Discharge for Giacomo Riva 1896

Front side (click to enlarge)



Back side (click to enlarge)


Thanks to the posters at Italian Genealogy who translated this document we found out it reveals the following information:

Giacomo Riva was birth date on March 26, 1873

His parents were Giovanni Riva and Margherita Faletto

He was born in Pertusio, Italy, a town in the province of Torino. (Torino is one of eight provinces in the region of Piedmont. Also, in Pertusio there are hamlets called "Case Riva" and "Case Faletto." Hamlets, I'm told, took their names from the people living there.)

Physical description: Height: 5 feet and some inches---there's is a hole in the paper so it's not clear. His hair and eyebrow we listed as chestnut. His eyes were Grey. Forehead: low. Nose: Grecian. Completion: Rosy. Teeth: healthy. He had a distinguishing mark listed as a mole on his chin.

He was assigned to the 4th Alpini Regiment at the Italian colony in Eritrea (Africa)

He was a bread maker

Discharge date: ?/?/1896

NOTE: Giacomo/James Riva carried this document, his nationalization paper (below) and his miner's certification around in a small leather pouch.

© J. E. Riva 2008

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Certificate of Nationalization.............. Giacomo (James) Riva

This certificate was issued from Marshall County, Illinois, USA, on October 29, 1898 for James (English for Giacomo) Riva.

Click to enlarge


Click to enlarge.
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