Emilio Ferrio, Montgomery County

Emilio Ferrio came to the United States in 1867 and emigrated to Illinois in 1869. In the Chicago Tribune, he claimed to have been sent to the United States by a "padrone" who sent small Italian boys to play violin and beg on the streets -- for the benefit of the padrone. But Emilio was caught up in the child saving work and was sent to Hillsboro, Illinois, where he lived with a farmer named Jackson Brown until he was seventeen.

In his letter to the Asylum in 1884, Emilio related that he had attended the "Hillsboro Academy" and then begun teaching school. He called the school the academy, but the school had not been known by that name for many years. Established in 1837, the Hillsboro Academy was one of the oldest schools in Illinois and became the Lutheran College in 1846. The Lutheran College was not long lived either and moved to Springfield.

Classes were continued in the same buildings, probably leading the citizens to continue calling it the Hillsboro Academy.

Emil's education did not stop at the Academy. He became a lawyer and moved to Chicago in 1890. He continued practicing law there until his death in 1934. He married Agatha Ronga, the daughter of a prominent Italian physician, and had one daughter (Teresa) who lived to be an adult.

Emilio died March 14, 1934 but I have not been able to track down an obituary for him.