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The Carbones -- Searchers For Fire, Keepers Of The Flame -- Written for a family reunion in 1997

Carbone means “coal” in modern Italian, but if you search through old Italian and Latin dictionaries and history books you will find that they tell that “carbone” has two basic meanings. One is the completely worthless burned out piece of charcoal in a fireplace and the other is the very valuable glowing ember in a dying fire from which a new fire may be started. They also tell about, “Carboneria” --- the people who burned charcoal. This use of that word probably predated the discovery of coal, and first related to those people who were responsible for keeping the village fires burning. It was a dirty job, but because fire was so important it was an extremely important job, one that could only be entrusted to someone who was intelligent and reliable.

If you saw the movie, “Quest For Fire”, you may remember that the plot centered around one nomad / caveman whose responsibility it was to keep the village fire burning when his clan moved to another location. He would pack up the glowing embers, the “carbone” and keep them alive during the trip. He was perhaps the first engineer --- this may have predated the use of tools. Anyhow, in the movie, the Flame Keeper --- whose name, I like to imagine was Joe Carbone, stumbled when they were crossing a river and the precious glowing ember was immediately quenched, setting up the search for a new naturally occurring fire; the “Quest For Fire”, from lightning or a volcano --- so they could start their village fire again.

Over the years evidently, the word Carboneria grew to mean, “Keepers Of The Flame”. Evidence of this can be found be found in history books that tell the name, “Carboneria” was adopted by Italian liberal activists when they formed a secret society that fought against the State and the Church and rule by foreigners. I like to think they picked this name, because the “Carbones” were known to be clever, reliable, courageous members of the working class who would stand up to oppressive authority.

The secret society, Carboneria, developed elaborate initiation rituals and rules of solidarity that were later copied by the Camorra which evidently later lead to the Mafia. Most of this activity took place in southern Italy near Naples --- further leading me to think our ancestors were active in this Carboneria --- because they lived near Naples.

The Carboneria or Carbonari, as they were sometimes called, strongly influenced both Giuseppe Mazzini and Giuseppe Garibaldi who were to Italy what Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were to the United States. Mazzini was a politician who started the “Young Italy “ movement aimed solely at the establishment of one Italian Nation, instead of separate non-aligned states. Garibaldi was the General who got the job done by driving the French and Austrians from the continent. See the book, “Garibaldi and his enemies”, by Christopher Hibbert --- pages 12 and 43.

The Carbonari also influenced Louis Napoleon, ( nephew of the famous emperor ), a member of the Carbonari in his youth. It was Louis Napoleon’s troops who first attacked Rome in 1849, defeating Garibaldi in that battle but ultimately losing the war to him. The war was being fought by Carbonari on both sides!

I take great pride in the name and am proud to be descended from “Keepers Of The Flame”. I am sure they were clever, reliable and courageous and I like to think that those traits are in our genes.

Martin R. Carbone -- 4/22/97