Ethnic neighborhoods]]> Children of immigrants]]> Suicide]]> Cleaning compounds]]> Tenement houses]]> Immigrant families]]> World War, 1939-1945]]> Rug and carpet industry]]> Entrepreneurship]]> Irish Americans]]> Politics and government]]> City council members]]> Campaign management]]> Urban renewal]]>
His mother, Helen (Spinney) Durkin, was part of the Spinney family, a large Portuguese family in Lowell. The family's surname was originally Espinola, but the patriarch, Dominus, changed it to Spinney when he immigrated to the United States. In this interview, John tells the family folklore of how Dominus was kicked out of Portugal, eventually opening a bookstore in Lowell.]]> Ali, Mehmed]]> Image of Spinney Family circa 1915]]> English]]> Lowell (Mass.)]]>