The Family that inspired this company
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The Martin Ulisse Family Today
Irma Ulisse and Leonard Martin
Here is the reason this company was created.
The family upon which it stands and grows.
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Irma Martin on her honeymoon in Itlay |
Leonard Martin on his honeymoon in Italy |
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Martin Family History
Where the business mindset of this company was born, nourished and inspired.
Charles Martin came from Syria to the United States around 1910. He owned and operated Frisco Shows, which was a carnival that toured mainly in the west. Being the entrepreneur that he was, Charles also owned a factory that manufactured commodes. He had a son named Charles Albert Martin (Albert). Charles Martin later died of cancer.
Albert Martin and E.D. McCrary, whom he met on another show, decided to go into business together and bought Shrader Shows. They changed the name to 20th Century Shows. It was a top rate carnival for that time period complete with concessions and a female review. Albert married Velma Arlene Brown of Ottawa, Kansas. They had a son named Charles Leonard Martin (Leonard), named after his father and grandfather. Leonard not only got his grandfathers name, he also inherited his entrepreneurial spirit. At the age of 13, Leonard opened a small shed in Ottawa, Kansas where he sold novelties.
Leonard went on a scholarship to the University of Kansas to play basketball under Fog Allen. During his time in school he purchased a dry cleaners, whose income helped him lived during his school years. The Korean War began during his college years and to continue his education and further his basketball career he had to join the ROTC and pledge three years to the military once he graduated. When Leonard was 18 he lost his father to a plane crash. His mother kept 20th Century Shows running while Leonard was in school. She later fell in love and married her husband’s partner E.D. McCrary. Once he graduated he joined the air force and attended flight school. He then worked as the assistant adjuant of the headquarters command. During the air force Leonard also attended law school in the evenings at George Washington University.
Instead of becoming a lawyer he went back into the carnival business to give his mother a years vacation. The vacation enticed her to retire so she sold the carnival to her son. He traveled up and down the east coast doing fairs. He landed contracts for Washington’s Birthday Celebration in Laredo, TX., Charro Days in Brownsville, TX., and the International Spring Festival in McAllen, TX. These three Texas spots he has played since 1965 and continues to play to this day.
Don’t forget his entrepreneurial spirit he inherited from his grandfather. Although he as been in the amusement business most of his life, he has started many other successful businesses including but not limited to; shimp boats, gold and silver trading, oil rigs, trackless trains, used cars, building pools, Magic Isles Amusement Park, Shaklee and The Flatstalker (fishing equiptment). Leonard has proven his business skills over the years
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Ulisse Family History
The family that has given the company the culture, experience and love for wine and our customers.
In 1922 my great-grandfather, Dominico Iacozzi, left his native Italy to make a try for the opportunity and freedom available in America. He had 3 brothers; one migrated to Australia, one to Argentina and the other, Imidio had already left for America. Imidio wanted to Dominico to come to America so that they could open their own contracting company. America was said to be a prosperous country full of opportunity and a promise of a better life.
Leaving behind his wife, Rosina and their new baby Maria, he made his way to America. He worked hard in America saving money and preparing a home for his family. At this time of immigration, the United States was not as liberal as it seems to be these days. An immigrant had to have someone in the US waiting for them, a guarantee of a job, and housing as well as all other necessities to prove they would not be a burden to the US government. In other words an immigrant must prove they could provide for themselves.
Once my great-grandfather had secured enough money and prepared jobs and housing for his wife and daughter it had been 30 years. Maria, now in her thirties, had grown up, married and given birth to children of her own. This meant Rosina would make the voyage alone, not because they could not afford to bring Maria’s family, but because of the ship quotas. Quotas were lists of people who wished to go to the US and had everything they needed to do so. Unfortunately for Maria, now married to Dominic Ulisse, these quota lists were in alphabetical order. Her mother (Iacozzi) made a ships manifest in 1952. It took four years for the Ulisse family to make it onto a manifest of a ship. On August 22, 1956 Maria and Dominic Ulisse and their three Children, Jack, Irma, and Anna set sail on the TSS Irpinia. Heading for the US they were filled with fear, excitement and anticipation. Having never met her father, Maria only had a picture to go by. On September 4,1956 they deboarded in the New York Harbor looking for a man that fit the photo she had carried for 30 years.
My mother, Irma, said they docked during the night near Ellis Island and when people awoke in the morning from every port hole you could see lady liberty towering over the boat. That picture she had in her head of a better life was then a reality. The Statue of Liberty greeted them all and as they went through immigration later that day in New York Harbor all her dreams were coming true.
Not speaking a word of English, the Ulisse family traveled to Lawrence, MA where Dominico Iacozzi had their new life waiting. Him and his brother had indeed started their own contracting company building roads. It is family legend that they helped build most of the roads that are now used in New England. Dominico Iacozzi had left the road construction business and had begun building houses. So when Maria and her family arrived, Dominic Ulisse and his son Jack worked building houses in Massachusetts. Jack, the oldest of the three children was drafted into the US Military at 18. He fought for his new country during the Vietnam War. When Jack finished his time in the military, he opened the Skyport Restaurant in Massachusetts. Him and his father were the only chefs there and the food was amazing.
Another sister, Linda Ulisse, soon joined the two daughters, Irma and Anna. Linda was the first person in the Ulisse family born in the US and by that right the first American citizen. Irma and Anna had to wait until they were 16 and had learned American politics and history. They took the lengthy exam and received their citizenship soon after their 16th birthdays.
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Martin Ulisse Importers welcomes you to "uncork an adventure" while you discover the fine products we provide from Italy. 
