Giambattista and Marguerita (Giacomo) Bariola were among the first generation to leave their homes in Ancona, Italy, and settle in the lower Mississippi Delta. They came separately, Giam in through Mexico, traveling through Texas to join relatives and landsmen who were working at the infamous Sunnyside plantation, near Lake Village, Arkansas. Marguerita came later through New York. They were not content to work as sharecroppers in a state of near peonage in the malarial, swampy lands of Sunnyside and soon bought land neaby. Today their descendants are among the largest landowners and planters in the region. (Louise Bariola Farris collection. Photo ca. 1960s)