INFORMATION BULLETIN

Early Romanians in the United States

Various research about Romanian immigration in the United States expanded and deepened about 1916-1917. It was done to identify early Romanian immigrants in this land. Some very interesting findings were arrived at.

1. We learned that among the early Romanian immigrants in the United States were Irimie Proca from Rasnov, Braşov county, Transylvania, and another Romanian, one Plivas, also from Transylvania, but whose village is not known. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Irimie Proca had died, but his son Louis Hugo (an Americanized name) was still living. He was a businessman in Cleveland. During the First World War, Louis Hugo moved from Cleveland to Florida, and died shortly afterwards. It is interesting that throughout his entire life, Louis Hugo maintained a close relationship with his relatives in Rasnov. His father taught him to read and write in Romanian.

2.  About 1900, Romanian immigration to the United States intensified. More and more people found jobs in the mills around St. Clair Street in Cleveland. Louis Hugo took advantage of this and soon opened a retail business on St. Clair Street. He did business almost exclusively with the newly-arrived Romanian immigrants. They did not know the American language. Louis Hugo proved worthy of their trust, and they bought all they needed from his store. To have a helper in his business, Hugo brought over from Rasnov his great-nephew Gheorghe Soiu.

Like many other Romanians, Louis Hugo was very talented at story-telling. One of his favorite stories was about his father Irimie Proca. “My old man,” he used to say proudly, “was in his youth a captain of ‘Outlaws,’ like Robin Hood. With his band, he terrified the Austro-Hungarian oppressors in the southern part of Transylvania. When things got tough with the jandams (police), he fled over the Carpathians into the Old Kingdom. From there, between 1840-1845, he left for America.”

We learn also from Louis Hugo that his father was a real horse-trader in the United States. Here he married a woman of French extraction and had a son, Louis Irimie Proca, which was his name given at baptism. When Louis Hugo appeared among Cleveland’s Romanians, he was about fifty years old. His direct contact with the Romanian immigrants gave him an opportunity once again to have a good command of Romanian, which he had almost forgotten. Louis Irimie Proca looked on himself as a Romanian of the Orthodox religion. He is listed as a founding member of the church in the records of St. Mary’s Church in Cleveland. Often he is listed as Louis Hugo, sometimes as Louis Proca, and occasionally as Louis Irimie Proca.

3. The story of Eugen Alcaz is very interesting. Besides his enrollment as a volunteer in the Northern army during the Civil War, we do not have any trace of his existence in America. Many researchers concluded that he died in battle and was buried in a common grave with the remains of other soldiers who could not be identified. But new research has been done in Romania on Eugen Alcaz, and fresh and exciting facts have been uncovered. Alcaz is being brought to life once more and the mysteries of his life are being dispelled. And here is his story:

The first prince of modern Romania, Alexandru Cuza (1820-1873), was not only the architect of national rural reform and peasant emancipation, but also an active pioneer of the modern Romanian army and the nation’s industrialization and international trade. In line with his advanced ideas, Prince Cuza sent to the West a number of scientists and businessmen to study the new technology, the production and organization of industry, and modern commerce. Romania would then make use of their expertise and knowledge.

In a letter signed by Maria Solescu from Campulung-Muscel on January 10, 1860, we learn that Eugen Alcaz, a colonel, and also a close relative of Prince Cuza, was a member of such a delegation sent to the West. His task was to study the technology of cloth manufacturing. This was badly needed not only by the population of the country, but especially by the army. Romania imported too much cloth, which seriously upset the balance of trade, and the Prince hoped to develop a national cloth industry to improve this situation. Eugen Alcaz was also dedicated to this idea, and in pursuit of it he reached the United States of America. But in 1862, he was caught by the Civil War and, animated by its great ideals of freedom for all, he volunteered to serve in the Union Army.

It appears that Alcaz was soon recalled by Cuza, and he obeyed his order. At this point, we lose track of him in America, and many fanciful theories about him arise from then on. Alcaz was a very well trained officer. He studied military science in the most advanced schools of Europe, especially in Metz, Germany. In Romania, he dedicated much of his life to developing a modern textile manufacturing industry. The lack of money in the young Romanian state did not discourage him. Three times he went bankrupt, and each time he started over again from the beginning. Eventually, he built the first textile mill in Romania at Neamtu, and later another at Buhusi in northern Moldavia. As a private businessman, he supplied the Romanian army with cloth needed for uniforms and blankets. Thus, Eugen Alcaz, volunteer in the American Civil War (1862), is considered by Romania as a pioneer of national manufacturing.

(“Solia,” February, 1981)

JOHN PODEA