Margherita Minicola was the second child of Fillippo and Lucia Minicola and the eldest of the Minicola daughters, born in Roseto, Italy October 27th, 1865. She had emigrated to Canada with her mother and the rest of the children in September of 1886. Margherita married Donato Sabatino on January 10th, 1888 at St. Peter’s cathedral in Peterborough.

Donato Sabatino was born February 25th, 1859 in the town of Foggia, not far from the Minicola’s home town of Roseto, Italy. He had become a skilled cement mason and had attained the level of foreman in his home town. He sailed for America in 1883 out of the port of Naples and arrived in New York on March 24th, 1883. It seems Donato had met Fillippo and Nicola Minicola in the mid-1880’s while they were in Roseto, PA. The three of them along with a couple of other Italians traveled to Belleville, Ontario where they secured work with the Grand Trunk Railway. The Grand Trunk had begun to double track
much of their main line between Montreal and Toronto in 1887 and this would have provided ample work for Italian immigrants, especially those skilled in cement work.

It was during this time that Donato met and married Margheretta Minicola. Two of their children were born in Belleville. Another two were born in
Cornwall. We don’t know for sure why they were in Cornwall but there was a Portland Cement company located there and a major bridge building project was under way in the mid 1890’s which may have brought them to the city.

Donato moved the family to Lakefield when the Lakefield Portland Cement Company opened there. The family settled in Lakefield and it became their permanent home. Donato eventually became a foreman at the plant and later retired at that level. They lived in a large house at 34 Albert Street (at the corner of Rabbit and Albert). The family grew to include 8 children: Domenico, Antonio, Concetta, Joseph, Lucia, Maria, Giovanni and Luigi. By 1905 a large addition was added to the home to accommodate the growing family. As the children began leaving home the addition was converted to a boarding house for Italian workers at the cement plant.

The Canadian Cement Company championship hockey team of 1927.

Front far right is Louis Sabatino, second row far left is John Sabatino.Four of the boys: Tony, John, Joe and Luigi in their younger years worked as clerks at Leonard’s Hardware Store on Queen St. on the spot currently occupied by the Pro Hardware store on Lakefield’s main street. The family was very active in the community with several of the boys playing hockey with the Lakefeild Cement company hockey team. Most of the boys later also served on the Lakefield volunteer Fire Department. The family was also very active at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic church (Lakefield).