On today’s date (September 9), the following happened in my family tree:
In 1830, my 4th great grandparents Domenicantonio Rossi and Maria Domenica Della Bricciosa married in San Giovanni, Penne, Abruzzo. Domenicantonio was the son of Giovanni Rossi and Anna Saveria Barbacone. Maria Domenica was the daughter of Blasio Della Bricciosa and Vittoria Gambacorta. They were the great grandparents of Cesidio Marcella. (His mother was named Elisabetta Rossi.)
We have the signature of Domenicantonio Rossi and the signature of Maria Domenica’s father Blasio. I don’t know if this meant they were literate, but they were able to sign their names legibly on the marriage document as you can see. This couple, and other members of their families, moved around this area of Abruzzo to multiple villages during their lifetimes. I don’t know what that means or why. I would love to hear your ideas.
On my maternal side the following happened:
In 1594, my 9th great grandmother Vittoria Litieri was baptized in Sant’ Agnese Parish, in San Felice a Cancello, Caserta. I know almost nothing about her, except her parents’ names, Cesare Litieri and Tommasina Secondina, and that she was the mother of my ancestor Pietro Capobianco. A Portia d’Adamo is noted on the baptism and may have been the midwife or the godmother. What is your guess? What do you see?
In 1834, my 3rd great grandfather Joseph Anton Heinzen was baptised in the Catholic parish of Glis near the Swiss border with Italy in Valais. He was born the day before in the tiny hamlet of Lingwurm. The godparents noted in the church record were Felix Nillen and Maria Josepha Nillin. His parents were Johann Joseph Heinzen and Anna Maria Vollmar. They were farmers.
Coincidentally, his daughter, on September 9, 1886, my immigrant second great grandmother Anne Aloisia (Anna) Heinzen and Ludwig (Louis) Fritz Kirsch got married before a Justice of the Peace in Chicago. She was Catholic and he was Lutheran.
In 1864, during a cholera epidemic in Chicago, 10 month old Loretta Schuttler, my second great grandmother Katharina Schuttler’s baby sister died.
Finally, on the other side of the Atlantic, in 1886, in Montecalvario, Naples, Italy, Carmen Ferraro’s sister Elena Ferraro was born. In America she married Angelo Scarnecchia.
Do you have any additions or corrections, or are we related? Please email me, because WordPress does not notify you if I comment on your comment on my blog. cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
Today in family history my sixth great grandparents Maddalena Capobianco and Giovanni Zingariello got married in San Felice Chiesa in San Felice a Cancello, Caserta. The year was 1727. At that time, the town was actually named Sei Casali d’Arienzo. Who are these people? They are the ancestors of my immigrant Ferraro ancestors.
Maddalena’s ancestors had been living in the area of the parish going all the way back to at least the middle 1500s when the records I can access started. I have been lucky to trace her to 10th great grandparents Cesare Litieri and Tommasina Secondina. The only distinguishing thing I know about Cesare and Tommasina is that there was an M.O. on the baptismal record of their child, meaning Cesare was a craftsman of some kind.
Giovanni is a different story. His surname literally means little gypsy. His family was not from the same town. They came from Saviano. His baptismal record stated this about his parents’ living state and his state at birth:
They live in the house of Sebastiano Busti in an undeveloped place called Casal Pertinelli Barzia. Baptized by midwife for fear of death and by Don Vincenzo Morgillo-priest.
Sometimes when you go back to your tree and look at people, you find all of these little notes you put in your tree about them and forgot. It is worth translating the entirety of church records you retrieve! I am very lucky the church records for this town where my ancestors lived for centuries in Caserta are available online.
On today’s date in 1640 , my 8th great grandparents Vittoria Cioffi and Martio Giovanni Ventura were married in Sant ‘Agnese Church in San Felice a Cancello, Caserta, Campania, Italy. This marriage is of note because it is the second such marriage of my ancestors that I have located from this time period in which the bride was 12 years old. They were the ancestors of my immigrant great grandfather Carmine Ferraro.
Via Family Search digitized records from Arienzo and San Felice a Cancello
Vittoria was the daughter of Nicola Cioffi and Ottavia Pellone. She was born on July 21, 1627 and was a twin to Margerita. Her husband was born on June 2, 1617 to Matteo Ventura and Beatrice Bonello.
This week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks theme is Harvest. A few years ago I came across the tithe records for my ancestors from San Leonardo Abbate in Arienzo, Caserta.
Tithe records, or decime in Italian, were collected once a year, during harvesting time in August, and were supposed to be one tenth of a parishioner’s annual production. I was excited to see anything to have to do with my ancestors besides the church’s usual birth, marriage, and death records.
In the parish decime I found surnames from my tree such as Barbarino, Porrino, Bernardo, Dragone, Delle Cave, Zingariello, Ferraro, Affenita, Bionillo, Carfora, Cioffi, etc. These tithe records start in 1710 and continue through 1742. Either the tithes weren’t recorded or they were lost for a few years between 1728 and 1742.
The largest measurement of the harvest yield they used was tomolo, then mezzo, and then quarto. In 1714 my 7th great grandfather Silvestro Ferraro had a good year and was the biggest decima contributor to the parish. The parish priest Giuseppe Lettiero, who transcribed the records, wrote that Silvestro gave:
un tomolo di grano buono;
un tomolo e mezzo d’orgio;
un tomolo e quarto di fave; and
un tomolo di grano d’india.
In 1717 my 8th great grandfather Marzio Porrino, who was likely in his eighties at this point, gave mezzo cinque di grano buono, and mezzo quarto di grano d’india. I had no idea he was still alive! That is very valuable. That same year my 7th great grandfather Domenico Zingariello contributed tre mezzo di grano buono and cinque mezzo di grano d’india. I was not sure he was still living in Arienzo or that he was even alive. His surname means Little Gypsy. In 1724 I still found Marzio Porrino donating tithes to the church. He was likely near 90 at that point! Or it could be a man with the same name!
It is not just the men listed in these records. Female heads of family like Elisabetta Porrino, Carmina Delle Cave and parishioners like Catarina Dragone, who provided significant decime, were also listed. I assume that the smaller-portioned harvests in my tree belonged to the Zingariello, Delle Cave, and Porrino families based on the amounts of their decime. However, one could guess the Zingariello harvests increased, because their decime rose through the years. The largest decime in my tree belonged to the Barbarino, Dragone, and Ferraro families.
If you would like to view the decime records I am discussing, they start here on Family Search. The first years are hard to decipher but get easier to read as you progress to the 1720s. If you would like to read more about the tomolo, and are willing to translate from Italian, you can go here. From that link, note that Arienzo is in Caserta and the measurement of the tomolo in meters is not listed there. Benevento and Avellino are close provinces geographically. If you average those together, maybe a tomolo is a little less than an American acre.
Do you have any questions, corrections, or comments? Please feel free to email me: cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.
Next week: An update on my hunt for the slaveholders of David Dedford’s family in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
Possible Romani/Zingari surnames: Trocciola, Sepe, Stellato, Notaro, Parziale
Province of Salerno
San Valentino di Sarno: Petillo, Di Conza – note 9/2023 – I cannot prove either surname was from this town. I am exploring the possibility they were Romani.
Province of Caserta
Marcianise: Ferraro
Grazzanise: Ferraro
San Prisco: Ferraro, Delle Cave
San Prisco Collateral Lines: Vitale, Pitrillo, Iannotta, Ferrara, Mincione
Nola records are now online on Antenati under the Archives of Caserta as part of the old region of Terra di Lavoro.
Marcianise, Grazzanise, and San Prisco are partially loaded on Antenati, also under the Archives of Caserta.
San Felice a Cancello records have been partially loaded on Antenati at the same Archives of Caserta link I have used above. They are under the headings Sei Casali d’Arienzo and San Felice a Cancello.
Church records for San Felice a Cancello are available on Family Search for anyone to view in the comfort of their own homes. Some of the church records go back to the 1500s.
On today’s date in 1823, my third great grandparents Francesco Antonio Ferraro and Angela Maria Delle Cave were married in San Pietro Apostolo in Talanico, Sei Casali d’Arienzo (present-day San Felice a Cancello), Caserta in the Kingdom of Naples. They were the parents of Angelo Ferraro.
Francesco Antonio was born in 1798 in Talanico to Filippo Ferraro and Giuseppa Fruggieri. Angela Maria Delle Cave was born in 1800 in Talanico to Luca Delle Cave and Olimpia Librera. They were all contadini.
Filippo had not yet become a soldier in the Terzo Cacciatori. Since Italy was not yet a unified nation, the Kingdom of Naples was half of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Terzo Cacciatori were a branch of the army of the Bourbon King Ferdinand.
Five months after their marriage their first child was born. In order from oldest to youngest, these are the children of their union whose births I have located in San Felice a Cancello, Marcianise, and San Prisco:
Clemente (died in infancy) – born in San Felice a Cancello
Filippo – born in Marcianise
Clemente – born in San Felice a Cancello
Carmine – born in San Felice a Cancello
Maria Giuseppa – born in San Prisco
Luigi – born in San Felice a Cancello
Angelo – born in San Prisco (our ancestor)
In 1824, Francesco Antonio was listed as a soldier in the Terzo Cacciatori on Filippo’s birth record in Marcianise. In 1827, when the second Clemente was born, Filippo was listed as a contadino.
There are six years between the birth of Luigi and Angelo. I do not know where Francesco Antonio and Angela Maria were living between 1836 and 1842 (the birth year of Angelo.)
-cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
Sources:
Diocese of Acerra church records at Family Search
Santa Maria Capua Vetere Tribunale records at Family Search
Women’s History Month: Rispetto per I molti italiano levatrici nella mia genealogia. There are many midwives in the Italian parts of my tree. They were farmers’ wives, tailors’ wives, shepherds’ wives, innkeepers’ mothers, blacksmiths’ daughters, and landowners’ daughters. One was even an unwed mother who was the Ricevitrice di Proietti (receiver at the foundling wheel). She was a landowner’s daughter.
The first one I found was Maria Giuseppa Marcella. She was there when my great grandfather was born. She was named in civil birth records because the fathers weren’t able to report the birth. She would have to go to the municipal hall to do this. I was also lucky to find many baptismal records where a mammana or ostetrice is mentioned.
My great grandfather’s father was sick, so his sister, Maria Giuseppa went to town hall. She delivered several of Filippo‘s children and the children of many others in Case Bruciate.
A levatrice not only assisted in birthings but provided medical help to women for all female ailments. She also provided different kinds of help when there was unwanted pregnancies, as it was her responsibility to leave the baby at the foundling wheel. If the baby’s health was in danger at birth, she would perform a baptism. She also was known to assist women in their desire to maintain their youth, etc.
When I found one of these levatrice in Pescara, I could usually trace who in their close relationships was also a levatrice. In Caserta and Napoli, I have not been able to do that yet. I am positive I will find more in Campania and Abruzzo.
A couple years ago I was informed by a cousin that my great grandmother was likely familiar with midwifery because she was familiar with traditional folk remedies.
In honor of Women’s History Month this week, the following are the italiano levatrici nella mia genealogia:
Farindola:
Serafina Merlenghi, my great grandmother
Maria Giuseppa Marcella and
her mother Maria Carolina Colangeli (direct ancestress) and
her mother Maria Carmina Crocetta (direct ancestress) and
her mother-in-law Maria Carmina Marcucci Collalto (direct ancestress)
March is Women’s History Month, making it an excellent time to focus on the ancestresses in my genealogy. I tried a memory exercise off the top of my head going alphabetically listing names of women in my tree. I did pretty well, with the exception of Y and X.
I also listed off the top of my head where they lived. If I could find their profession, station, or husband’s station, I listed that too. All of these women were born pre-1870 and were born overseas.* Only two on my list are immigrants.
Here we go:
A is for Apolline Weyland, 9th great grandmother, Liederscheidt, Moselle, France, a laborer’s wife
B is for Anna Saveria Barbacone, 5th great grandmother, Rione di San Giovanni, Penne, Pescara, Italy, a contadina
C is for Cecilia “Cilla” Vocciero, 7th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
D is for Dorotea Frattarola, 7th great grandmother, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, landowner’s mother
E is for Elisabetha Stauder, 8th great grandmother, Schweyen, Moselle, France, laborer’s wife
F is for Karolina Friederika Wilhemina Fehlig, 3rd great grandmother, Grohnde, Hameln-Pyrmont, Niedersachsen, Germany, master tailor’s wife
G is for Anna Dorothea Maria Grabe, 4th great grandmother, Grossmehlra, Schwarzburg-Sonderhausen, Thuringen, Germany, miller owner’s wife
H is for Anne Marie Aloisia Heinzen, 2nd great grandmother, Brig, Canton Valais, Switzerland, immigrant – dress-maker
I is for Ignota (Italian for unknown), mother of Panfilo Zenone, husband of Maria Giustina Marcella, Panfilo’s mother left Panfilo at the foundling wheel in Penne, Pescara, Italy
J is for Elisabetta di Julio, 6th great grandmother, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, unknown
K is for Kunigunde (No Last Name Known), 9th great grandmother, Hornbach, Sudwestpfalz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, unknown
L is for Laisa Girardo, 8th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
M is for Marie Louise Koppel, 3rd great grandmother, Koerner, Sonderhausen, Thüringen, Germany, immigrant – miller owner’s daughter
N is for Vittoria Di Norscia, 6th great grandmother, Rione di San Giovanni, Penne, Pescara, Italy, a lacemaker
O is for Odile Kolsch, 8th great grandmother, Vinningen, Germany, wife of the Eschevin de Justice
P is for Veneranda Paolucci, 6th great grandmother, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, a contadina
Q is for Anna Elisabetha Dorre-mother of Quirinus Eckebrecht, 4th great grandmother, Grossmehlra, Sonderhausen, Thüringen, Germany, laborer’s wife
R is for Laura Rosa, 5th great grandmother, Contrada Tavo, Farindola, Pescara, Italy, a contadina
S is for Sandra Dragone, 5th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
T is for Tommasina Secondina, 10th great grandmother, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
U is for Ursula Magliulo, 7th great grandmother, Talanico, Kingdom of Naples, unknown
V is for Vittoria Gambacorta, 5th great grandmother, Rione di San Giovanni, Penne, Pescara, Italy, a lacemaker
W is for Caroline Christina Wilhemina Julianne Geselle, 5th great grandmother, Sankt Andreasberg, Goslar, Niedersachsen, Germany, wife of silver mineworks supervisor
X is for all of the women in the tree with no surname. They were in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy.
Y is for Magdalena SteYer, 5th great grandmother, Huberhof, Nuenschweiler, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, a farmer
Z is for Anna Apollonia Ziehl, 7th great grandmother, Monbijou, Leichelbingen, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany, farm manager’s daughter
*I only have one female ancestor in my tree that was born pre-1870 in America – Katharina Schuttler Eckebrecht. Her parents were immigrants.
Can you find one for every letter in your tree?
For my next entry this month, I plan to focus on a female ancestor we only know by her first name.
Immigrant Gelsomina Ferraro Ciocco was born in 1884 in Naples and came through Ellis Island in 1904 with her mother, Filomena Napolitano, and siblings Angela Maria Ferraro Valerioti,Elena Ferraro Scarnecchia, and Carmine Ferraro, my great grandfather, when she was 19. She was the mother of well – known biostatistician Dr. Antonio Ciocco. Like her mother and sisters, she didn’t speak English, and was detained for a simple reason. Her father, Angelo Ferraro, was not on time to collect the women to take them to Brooklyn. The passenger manifest was marked that she could read and write in her native tongue. She was my great grand aunt and the only sibling of my great grandfather that we have a photo of.
Gelsomina and son Antonio Ciocco in her 1921 U.S. Passport Application; yes, she looks like half of the females in the family
One year later Gelsomina was residing with her parents when they lived in Brooklyn. By 1907, Angelo and Filomena had moved to Columbus, Ohio. That is where Gelsomina likely met her future husband Angelo Michele (Michael) Ciocco. They were married in early 1908 by Father Sovilla in St. John the Baptist Church.
Franklin County Marriage Certificate via Ancestry.
Michael (Angelo Michele) Ciocco was born at #289 Via Borga, Guardialfiera, Campobasso, Molise, Italy on May 30, 1883 to Antonio Ciocco, a pasta maker, and Rosaria D’Onofrio. His birth record (#41) via Antenati.
Gelsomina’s son Antonio Ciocco was born May 1, 1908. Michael was naturalized in 1916 in Franklin County, Ohio.
When Michel’s parents brought the family to America, they ran an Italian bakery in Columbus. Michael worked there and was also able to graduate high school.
Gelsomina went by Jessie in “American.” I was glad United States Passport Applications up to I think, 1925, are on Ancestry and we have those photos of Gelsomina, Antonio, and Michael from 1921. It gave me a hint about where Gelsomina had lived in America up until that point. She stated she lived in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Columbus. Oh, and she was also apparently 5’5″!
Remember in 1908 she married Michael? In 1910 Michael was living with his parents and working at their bakery with Gelsomina and son Antonio nowhere in sight. So I wondered if she was living in Chicago because Michael’s passport application stated that he had only lived in Columbus since he came to America. Could she have been living near my great grandfather, her brother, in Chicago? Or near Angela Maria Ferraro Valerioti her sister in Chicago?
Maybe Gelsomina was living with her parents in Columbus. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find them on the 1910 Census. In 1912 she traveled to Naples with her parents and visited 22 Montesanto Naples. There is a monastery on Montesanto today, although not at the same address. When her mother Filomena passed away in Columbus in 1914, Gelsomina was the informant on her death record.
In 1920, Gelsomina was living with her husband according to the Federal Census. She was the bookkeeper for his pasta business – Columbus Macaroni Company.
Gelsomina returned to Naples two more times in the 1920s. The 1925 return passenger manifest showed Gelsomina and Michael lived at 101 Thompson Street in New York City.
In 1927 and 1928 I found Gelsomina and Michael in the Newark, NJ City Directory. Gelsomina was the Treasurer of their company Ciocco Macaroni Company, Inc.
Like Gelsomina’s sister Angela Maria’s husband Jerry Valerioti, Michael Ciocco appears on the letterhead of my great grandfather’s opera school, the International Grand Opera Association in Chicago. Michael Ciocco was listed as “press agent.”
Michael Ciocco’s parents continued to have their Italian bakery business in Columbus while continuing to speak their native tongue, according to the census records I found on them, and nobody suffered for it. Michael’s father passed in 1932 and his mother passed in 1936.
Dr. Antonio Ciocco – Gelsomina Ferraro’s Son
Gelsomina only had one child – Dr. Antonio Ciocco and he was extremely important to health research in Pennsylvania, if not to the nation. To discover where Gelsomina and Michael went after retirement from pasta manufacturing, I had to search for information on my 1st cousin two times removed Dr. Antonio Ciocco. By 1935, Gelsomina and Michael had moved to Baltimore Maryland, where they lived with their son Antonio who was employed by the Federal Government at the United States Department of Health as a statistician.
I found a newspaper article on newspapers.com stating that Antonio was the chief of the Hagerstown, Maryland Field Station of the U.S. Public Health Service. They likely moved to Pittsburgh with Antonio, because, in 1957, Michael Ciocco passed away in Pittsburgh, and in 1958, Gelsomina Ferraro passed away outside of Pittsburgh in New Brighton, Beaver County. Antonio was the informant on both death records and signed his name as Dr.
Gelsomina was laid to rest at St. Joseph’s cemetery in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband.
Dr. Antonio Ciocco held science degrees from the University of Naples and Johns Hopkins. The latter was likely the reason for his previous Baltimore address.
Articles referencing Antonio’s work in Pittsburgh starting around 1950 fill newspapers.com. He conducted many studies, including some on cancer statistics, and is most well-known for his study on the effects of pollution in Donora, Pennsylvania that was published in coordination with another researcher in 1948. The deadly and historic wall of polluted fog is also called the Donora Smog. In four days in October 1948, it killed 20 people and is believed to be the cause of death for at least 5 others.
Other information is best summed up about him in his Pittsburgh Post-Gazette obituary dated January 6, 1972. I am posting it below in chunks.
His mass of Christian burial was held at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Pittsburgh. I found his Find-a-Grave memorial created by another user. He is buried in Silver Spring, Maryland.
I tried finding information about Michael and Gelsomina’s pasta companies but I didn’t turn up anything. The Campobasso ancestry of Angelo Michele Ciocco and his parents can very easily be traced on Antenati.
Who do you think Great Grand Aunt Gelsomina resembles the most?
My immigrant great grandfather has one more sister – Giovannina Ferraro.
Talanico, San Felice a Cancello, Caserta, Campania – When Vito Barbarino and Angela Nicolino are appearing in your pedigree twice as your forebears, you know two people in your Ferraro ancestry must’ve been related. It turns out that great great grandfather Immigrant #3 ~ Retired Army Captain and Merchant Angelo Ferraro‘s parents were related because Vito Barbarino and Angela Nicolino from Roccarainola are in his ancestry on both sides of his family. They were his great great grandparents twice through their daughter Giulia Barbarino – the ancestress of Angelo’s mother Angela Maria Delle Cave and Giovanna Barbarino – the ancestress of Angelo’s father Francesco Antonio Ferraro.
Giulia and Giovanna Barbarino were sisters, both daughters of Vito Barbarino and Angela Nicolino.
Baptism of Giulia Barbarino, 1696, San Pietro Apostolo, Talanico, San Felice a Cancello
This all makes the parents of Angelo Ferraro third cousins.
Vito Barbarino and Angela Nicolino began to appear in the Talanico, San Felice a Cancello’s San Pietro Apostolo’s church records around 1690, with the notation that they were from a parish of Roccarainola, which is about 5 miles from the ancestral town of Angelo’s parents, San Felice a Cancello.
What can be gleaned from the online church records from the Diocese of Acerra concerning the Barbarinos is that their son Giacomo Antonio was at one point contributing the largest amount of tomolo of grain in tithes to the parish of San Leonardo in San Felice a Cancello. Tomolo is an old Southern Italian measurement.
You can see the from pedigree of both parents of Angelo that, yep Barbarino and Nicolino are indeed in each one.
Giulia Barbarino married Lorenzo Delle Cave in 1721. Giovanna Barbarino married Leonardo De Lardo in 1716. Descendants of both sisters married approximately 100 years later and had Angelo Ferraro.
So. They were related. At least they weren’t 1st cousins HA!
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 