He was skilled in the trade of cooper, maker of wooden barrels and casks. He made barrels for shipping raw sugar and molasses to foreign markets.
Bostia is a town on the island of La Cors, or Corsica as its known today. Its part of France but actually located just about 50 miles south and west of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, Melini is most probably an Italian name.
information from 1880 census records