P&J Oyster

The story of P&J begins many thousands of miles from New Orleans in Italy, Sicily and Austria along the coast of the Adriatic and Mediterranean Seas. Back in 1857, our great-great grandfather Agostino Mazzola and our great-great grandmother Giovannina Lauricella brought their son Caledonia, (Calcy) to New Orleans. They emigrated from the small Ital... ian island of Ustica, which is located between the mainland of Italy and Sicily. Agostino and Calcy owned and operated the sailing schooner Burtia that they brought passengers and goods such as fruits, vegetables, and seafood's, including oysters from the mouth of the river in Plaquemines Parish to the French Market in New Orleans. On their return trips, they would bring supplies back to the farmers, fisherman, and boat captains who lived down River. Soon after settling into their successful business in New Orleans, Agostino sent for his daughters, Francesca, Josephine, Maria, Diodora, and Angelina. Mazzola also brought son-in law Salvatore Sunseri who was married to Maria, and his brothers, Francesco, Filippo, Antonio, Michael, and Giuseppe, all immigrants from Trabia, Sicily to work at the docks of New Orleans. All had experience in shipping and receiving goods at the docks in Palermo. Our great grandfather along with his brothers worked as merchants, shipping and receiving clerks, and laborers in the French Market buying, selling, and handling seafood's, fruits and vegetables. The brothers business had numerous fellow Sicilians working alongside them which unloaded vessels carrying cargos that were mainly bananas from Central America as well as fruits, vegetables, and oysters. Part of their services included cleaning the vessels and preparing them for their next voyage therein the birth of the New Orleans longshoremen. In 1870, two Jurisich brothers, Giuseppe, (John, 23), Giuseppe, (Joseph, 21), who were both farmers coming from Austria, brought a young Antonio Popich to New Orleans to start an oyster farming business in the town of Olga, at the mouth of the ...Read More