Taken together, the Tirocchis illustrate a number of themes common to the immigrant experience of the time; yet, paradoxically, they also go beyond it as well. They migrated in search of greater economic opportunity, and the family displayed unusual spirit, talent, and business acumen. The men established businesses in construction and service industries, common areas for immigrant entrepreneurship, and the women sometimes played important roles in these endeavors, as well as earning money through work done at home. Anna represents an exception to the common experience for women and for immigrants in general. She remained single, independent, and the proprietor of a business that put her in intimate contact with upper- and upper-middle-class Americans. She and Laura cultivated a middle-class life, limiting their contacts with the larger Italian working class in Providence to members of their own family. Personal inclinations as well as business strategies undoubtedly prompted this social mobility. Anna made a number of trips back to Italy; but, if the surviving correspondence is any indication, she focused her attention on middle-class members of the family while there, the Del Signores and the priests Andrea and Ignazio Tirocchi, members of an Italian Franciscan religious order. Kin such as Salvatore's eldest son Federico Achille Tirocchi, pastor of the Roman Catholic parish of the Sacred Heart in the Natick section of West Warwick, Rhode Island, also maintained close ties with Anna [fig. 75].(31)

Family solidarity was a major asset in the Tirocchi successes in Providence. Anna entertained the families of her brother, sisters, and cousins at her Narragansett Pier home. Surviving cousins fondly recalled vacations there, as well as the silver dollars Anna distributed to the Tirocchi children. Mention has been made of the important loans family members made to Anna's business. Anna also contributed to the economic health of other family members. Frank's trucking business was the beneficiary of a number of sums from Anna over the years. She also paid off a mortgage he and Maria had contracted in 1917. Dr. Cella continued to maintain his office in Eugenia's Pocasset business block for a brief time after his marriage to Laura, and he relied on his brother-in-law Frank as agent in the management of his farm. Anna managed some financial tasks for her Uncle Tito in both Providence and Italy. She received a number of nephews and nieces into the Broadway house for periods of time and supported their schooling at the neighboring St. Mary's Parish School. She also supported their further education and professional aspirations. Laura's daughter Beatrice received the bulk of these contributions. Beatrice's brother, Dr. Louis J. Cella, Jr., believeshat Anna vetoed Laura's desire that her daughter Beatrice become a nun. Certainly Anna played a prominent role in Beatrice's education, paying for music lessons, supporting a correspondence course, and assuming the cost of her college tuition. Anna also took an interest in the education of male members of the younger generation of Tirocchis. She wrote to a cousin once removed, Carlo C. Tirocchi, while he was in military service, telling him that she had opened a savings account for him and was sure that he, like Angelo, another of the younger generation of Tirocchis under her wing, would have enough money to finish high school, college, and "get a nice profession." Carlo died while in the military, and Anna took responsibility for reporting the unhappy event in the Rhode Island records.(32)