Oh, the power of a vowel.
A tangled family tree and decades of official misspellings have dogged the Cavelero family.
Sometime between 1884 – when the Italian immigrants set down roots in Snohomish County – and the 20th century, the “a” crowded out the “e.”
Cavelero became Cavalero on maps, on voting records and in collective memory.
“Usually when we see our name, it’s always spelled wrong,” said Mark Cavelero of Everett.
The Lake Stevens School District is doing its part to right a symbolic wrong.
This week, the school board affirmed that it will name its new eighth- and ninth-grade school Cavelero Mid High School instead of Cavalero Mid High School.
The latter name, with an “a,” was picked from 200 submissions earlier this month. The spelling was taken from county records.
It was meant to pay tribute to history.
The school building is under construction on what is now broadly known as Cavalero Hill.
It was originally called Cavelero Hill after local landowner Dominic Cavelero, one of Snohomish County’s early pioneers who farmed there. The base of the hill, where U.S. 2 curves west toward Everett, was known as Cavelero’s Corner.
Dominic Cavelero is the great-great grandfather of Mark Cavelero.
After hearing from Mark Cavelero and doing some research, the school district decided to update the spelling by going back to the past.
“We wanted to get it right,” said Arlene Hulten, a district spokeswoman. “It’s been a wonderful history lesson.”
Dominic Cavelero immigrated with his family to the United States from Italy.
A 1926 history of Snohomish County features Cavelero and his son, John, in a volume of biographies of notable locals. The account uses the “e” spelling of the surname, although it incorrectly adds a “k” at the end of Dominic’s name.
It’s unclear how or when the vowel switched in Cavelero, although there’s a theory.
John Cavelero married an Italian woman whose last name was similar, but spelled Cavalero.
The pair apparently favored the “a,” Mark Cavelero said. They had two daughters who worked for Snohomish County, which may be one reason the “a” spelling became the more well-known one, he said.
Regardless, the 36-year-old software engineer has been on a mission to set the record straight. In 2002 he approached the Snohomish County Department of Public Works, but staff told him it would be too costly to change everything back.
Cavelero Mid High School will open in the fall of 2007. Plans call for the building to later become the growing school district’s second high school.
New schools get state money for public art projects. The school district hopes to commission artwork at Cavelero school that reflects the area’s pioneer past.
Cavelero descendents were thrilled to have the school named for their family.
“I was just totally excited,” said Kathy Barnes, 55, of Snohomish, a great-great granddaughter of Dominic Cavelero. “It’s the family history, and to know there are people of the pioneer era that are still well thought of.”
At a relative’s 90th birthday party last weekend, the naming was a big topic of conversation.
“It’s not all the time you get a (school) that has your last name in it and it means something to your ancestors and is part of your family,” Mark Cavelero said.
And if it’s spelled correctly? “That’s even better.”
Reporter Melissa Slager: 425-339-3465 or mslager@heraldnet.com.
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