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Contents DEDICATION........................................................................................................ 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... 7 PREFACE ............................................................................................................. 9 CHAPTER 1 - IS IT SPELLED COFONE OR CAFONE? .................................. 14 CHAPTER 2 - THE JOURNEY TO THE NEW LAND......................................... 17 Natale Cofone .................................................................................................... 18 Angela Gabriele................................................................................................. 28 CHAPTER 3 –THE MARRIAGE OF NATALE & ANGELA ................................ 33 Early Life ............................................................................................................ 38 Off to Pennsylvania .......................................................................................... 38 Next Stop: Minnesota ....................................................................................... 43 Back to Italy ....................................................................................................... 44 Back to the US................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 4 – GRANDPA MILITARY SERVICE ............................................... 49 CHAPTER 6 - THE AMERICAN HOMESTEADS ............................................... 56 The Nutley House .............................................................................................. 56 The Nutley House Fire .................................................................................... 63 The Lyndhurst House ....................................................................................... 70 CHAPTER 7- OUR GRANDPARENTS’ FAMILY & ANCESTORS .................... 79 The Family’s Geographic Origins .................................................................... 81 2

Brief Ancient History ........................................................................................ 82 Acri Geography ................................................................................................. 83 Demographics ................................................................................................... 85 The Italian Homestead ...................................................................................... 86 Ancestral Lines ................................................................................................. 87 NATALE COFONE .......................................................................................... 88 Immediate Family ........................................................................................ 88 Natale Cofone’s Ancestors .............................................................................. 99 Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Grandparents .................................................... 99 Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Great-Grandparents........................................ 103 Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Great-Great Grandparents.............................. 108 Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents ................... 113 Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Grandparents ................................................. 114 Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Great-Grandparents ....................................... 117 Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Great-Great-Grandparents ............................. 121 Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents ................... 127 Natale Cofone Pedigree Chart ....................................................................... 129 ANGELA GABRIELE ..................................................................................... 131 Immediate Family ...................................................................................... 131 Angela Gabriele’s Ancestors ......................................................................... 136 Grandma Angela’s Paternal Grand Parents .............................................. 136 Grandma Angela’s Paternal Great Grand Parents ..................................... 137 Grandma Angela’s Paternal Great-Great Grand Parents .......................... 139 Grandma Angela’s Paternal Great-Great-Great Grand Parents ................ 143 Grandma Angela’s Maternal Grand Parents .............................................. 144 3

Grandma Angela’s Maternal Great Grand Parents .................................... 146 Grandma Angela’s Maternal Great-Great Grand Parents .......................... 150 Grandma Angela’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grand Parents ................ 154 Angela Gabriele Pedigree Chart .................................................................... 155 CHAPTER 8 - THE FAMILY NICKNAMES ...................................................... 157 CHAPTER 9 – TWO UNCLES WE NEVER KNEW.......................................... 162 Angelo Cofone ................................................................................................ 166 Alfonso Cofone ............................................................................................... 170 Other Children ................................................................................................. 175 CHAPTER 10 – INSIGHT INTO FAMILY LIFE ................................................ 179 Extended Family............................................................................................ 184 Grandpa Was A Strict Man ............................................................................ 187 Grandpa’s Gentle Heart ................................................................................ 187 The Carnival .................................................................................................. 189 Aunt Mary Stories .......................................................................................... 191 Grandpa’s wagons ........................................................................................ 193 Louie’s Bike ................................................................................................... 194 Louie’s Motorcycle......................................................................................... 194 Animal Stories ............................................................................................... 195 Uncle Jimmy Stories...................................................................................... 196 Nicknames .................................................................................................... 199 Grandma’s “Medical” Skills ............................................................................ 199 Grandpa Goes To Jail ................................................................................... 200 Trying To Survive The Depression ................................................................ 204 4

Family Friend Mallarielo Chimento ................................................................ 205 Aunt Jean Stories .......................................................................................... 206 Aunt Tessie ................................................................................................... 207 Aunt Florie ..................................................................................................... 208 Aunt Josie ..................................................................................................... 209 Baptismal Records ........................................................................................ 209 Personal Recollections .................................................................................. 212 Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat ............................................................................. 227 Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie ........................................................................ 237 Aunt Josie and husband 1 ............................................................................. 242 Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie ........................................................................... 242 Aunt Mary and husband 1 .............................................................................. 245 Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny .......................................................................... 247 Aunt Florie and Uncle Red ............................................................................. 250 Uncle Louie and Aunt Angie .......................................................................... 257 Aunt Jean and Uncle Louie ............................................................................ 263 CHAPTER 12- IN SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY............................................ 266 Uncle Sonny .................................................................................................... 268 Uncle Eddie ..................................................................................................... 271 Uncle Red ........................................................................................................ 273 Uncle Louie Cofone ........................................................................................ 275 Uncle Louie Meggiolaro ................................................................................. 276 CHAPTER 13 – THE WAY THEY WERE ......................................................... 279 5

CHAPTER 14 – FAMILY GRAVESITES .......................................................... 285 CHAPTER 15 - THE SECOND GENERATION ................................................ 291 Jimmy and Louie Go to Washington ............................................................. 292 Aunt Josie, Aunt Jean and the Hill ................................................................ 298 EPILOGUE ....................................................................................................... 299 APPENDICES................................................................................................... 302 Cofone Family Abbreviated Time Line .......................................................... 302 Relationship Chart .......................................................................................... 305 Cofone Name Distribution in Italy ................................................................. 306 Gabriele Name Distribution in Italy ............................................................... 307 INDEX ............................................................................................................... 308

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Dedication For Grandpa and Grandma and all their past, present and future generations.

Acknowledgements This historical account and memoir would never have been possible were it not for the contributions or research efforts of many people. Through many interviews and the contributions of photos and documents I was able to learn some interesting information about our family’s early years here in the United States. I feel it is important to recognize several people who passed on firsthand accounts of family connections and events. Those persons are my parents Louis Cofone and Angela Cofone, my aunts Rose Cafone, Mary Arace, Jean Meggiolaro and Tessie Simone. Also included in this category are my great-uncle Nunziato Cofone and Grandpa’s niece Christina Sapporito and cousins Rose and Frank Adragna, Joe Simone, and Rich Simone. Those who assisted directly in the research were my wife Barbara Cofone, my sisters Marie Kearns and Rose Ann Cofone-Stewart, and cousins John Cafone and Gail (Adragna) Maurillo. Other cousins from the Cofone, Cafone, Bolcato, Meggiolaro, Dygus and Adragna line provided help with photos and documents and recounting stories passed down to them. I apologize to those I may have forgotten.

I also need to acknowledge a man who is no direct relation and whom I have never met in person. His name is Edward Bronejko and I believe he lives in California. Ed is a gifted Genealogist who has generously given his time and effort to provide Italian historical family information garnered from a database of official Acri birth, death and marriage records that he has in his possession and 7

which date between 1809 and 1910. I have come to learn that Ed has assisted many people who were and are seeking familial data from southern Italy and in particular Acri, the cradle of our family’s origin. By a stroke of luck I encountered Ed on the internet while seeking source information regarding our family’s heritage and pedigree. Much, if not most, of what you will read about regarding the ancestors of Natale Cofone and Angela Gabriele has been paraphrased or taken directly from data Ed has graciously provided and explained.

This work was done to provide present and future generations a historical background of the beginnings of our branch of the Cofone family both here in the United States and in Italy.

According to the U.S. census bureau in 1990, Cofone is the 74,077th most popular last name (surname) in the United States; frequency is 0.000%; percentile is 89.053 [SourceCBN]

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Preface This is the second edition of our family’s history. This edition is differentiated from an earlier version largely due to access of information contained in Italian birth, death and marriage records that were not available when the first edition was released several years ago. This edition also contains some information from other governmental records such as Census and Military records which were previously not accessible.

The project, which involved many hours of research, investigation and writing, actually began many years ago. As a kid I recalled hearing family stories told to me by Grandma, my parents, and some of our aunts and uncles and I wondered if some of the stories were true or merely fictionalized accounts of events that transpired those many years ago. I promised myself that one day, if time permitted, I would try to shed some light on our family’s history. It was in 1992 that I began the initial investigation into what has proven to be a fascinating albeit, protracted endeavor.

Since 2003 semi-retirement has provided me more time to explore our family’s history, but unfortunately due to life’s demands a project such as this can only be conducted in a piecemeal fashion. What is presented here only scratches the surface. You will read factual accounts based upon documented evidence and actually view copies of some of the evidence. You will also read information that was provided to me by eyewitnesses who were present when certain events unfolded. Just as in 2003 when I started to set this account to paper, sadly, today in 2012 there are hardly any eyewitnesses remaining. Of the original seven commonly known surviving Cofone children only Aunt Mary and Aunt Jean remain and of the original in-laws, my mother Angela and Aunt Rosie are still with 9

us. Now in my late 50s, I have often regretted that I had not spoken to our long gone relatives and family friends about the origins and early times of our family both here and in the old country. From time to time I will assert my own recollections of the family’s past, limited though they may be, to help emphasize a fact or to help you imagine how things were.

Like all families ours had its difficult moments. Besides tragic events such as the premature deaths of some of our members, there were extended periods of time, such as in the mid to late 60’s when, due to a major family feud, certain family members did not speak to one another, The derision in the family lasted for approximately 15 years, but fortunately the family resolved their differences and reunited again. Issues surrounding money and property often provoked events such as these. Troubled times certainly helped to form the fabric of our family and for some the memories may still be uncomfortable at some level. In the tabloid driven society of the early 21st Century intimate details of family schisms might be relished by some. However, this endeavor is not a tabloid and some things are better left unsaid. Therefore you will not read about intimately detailed accountings of such events other than perhaps a brief passage contained among the information presented throughout this snapshot of the Cofone family. This work is merely a window to our past and serves as a reference of where we have been.

As I alluded to above, a major regret I have is that years ago I did not sit down with some of the people you will read about to record some of their accounts of the past and question them about the major events of our family’s history. Fortunately, over the course of preparing this attempted historical account I was able to speak to the first generation Americans of the Cofone family and garner some useful information. It would be wonderful if we could all record stories and information about our kinfolk learned from our parents and 10

relatives and preserve it for the posterity of our family. This is an immediate challenge to those of us in the second American-born generation as we are now the nearest authoritative source. Another related regret I have is that many of the people of which I speak in the pages that follow are not here to read this accounting.

In examining what follows, you will also learn something about your roots in the old country. You will find out where we came from and a little about how we got here. Only recently, with the help of a gentleman I mentioned in the acknowledgements, Ed Bronejko, have we been given insight to some lines of our family’s roots that date back to the late 1700s. I will provide what I have learned through Ed. In my possession are copies of actual birth, death, and marriage records that he provided. Perhaps one day, should a Cofone family website ever come into existence, those copies of the actual documents can be displayed for all to peruse. Another thing to keep in mind is that some of the family connections from the mid-1800s and earlier are extrapolated or otherwise surmised. As such, there is always some uncertainty in the data.

I have decided to focus most of my investigation on the early years beginning with Grandpa and Grandma’s arrival in America and continuing up through the first several decades of the twentieth century. While that sounds like a major undertaking the truth is there is not as much factual information about our history through that period as I was hoping and able to uncover. I can tell you that like many families, over the years our family has seen some wonderful times as well as tumultuous and tragic times. My hope is that one-day someone else from perhaps my generation or a generation to follow will continue with this work.

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In 2009 our family celebrated its 100th Anniversary of being in the United States. Unfortunately it was too difficult to orchestrate a family enclave to commemorate the event collectively. As our family continues to grow we find ourselves moving further apart. While this is a sad but true fact of life, it is also a natural progression. Our family has grown so much during its first hundred years here in the United States. We are currently up to the fourth American born generation of Cofone descendants. Life in the twenty-first century is not as simple as it was in the 1950s and 1960s, which was a time when those of us in the second American generation were children or young adults. Modern life has brought us so many obligations and responsibilities that it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make time for extended family. As the cliché goes, we seem only to catch up at funerals and occasional weddings. Ironically, these very events that have helped us to maintain our family bonds, sadly, in time, as the family continues to expand, will no longer present an opportunity to come together. Ultimately the family line becomes so widespread that we will eventually lose the knowledge of who our blood relatives are. Beyond the generations immediately before and after our own we do not even know the names of our cousins or where they live and what they do. So perhaps for future generations a short written history such as this will serve as a reminder of our family’s journey, at least as it began here in America and with some reflection towards its origins in Italy.

We were lucky years ago to join together for a family reunion. Perhaps we can endeavor to do the same again sometime in the future.

I would like to thank all of you who gave some time to help me in this endeavor. For as long as possible I will continue to maintain this repository of our family history. I would ask each of you to please contact me to share whatever facts and memories you would like to add to this historical account. If and when 12

such additional information becomes available and it is of sufficient quantity and quality, I will, if able, publish subsequent editions. And of course any such updated information will be made available to all in our family.

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Chapter 1 - Is it spelled COfone or CAfone? There has always been a question as to the correct spelling of the family’s last name. Grandpa’s official birth certificate (a 1937 copy attached) shows that the spelling of his last name is COfone.

I am not quite sure how the CAfone version got started but I suspect it must be related to how the name sounds in pronunciation. Grandpa's military discharge papers have the name clearly spelled as CAfone, yet his naturalization papers show the spelling as COfone. The army probably spelled it phonetically and hence the CAfone derivative.

I distinctly remember Grandpa and Grandma pronouncing the name and emphasizing the “CO” sound. Uncle Jimmy is usually credited as the first one of Grandpa and Grandma’s children to consciously use the CA version, which he likely did when he was very young. He may have based his decision on how the name sounded or perhaps he took the spelling from Grandpa’s military papers. I am not sure how it is spelled on Uncle Jimmy’s birth certificate, but I suspect it likely is the CA derivative. We do know

UNDATED NOTATION IN UNCLE JIMMY ’S 1921 BAPTISMAL RECORD INDICATING HE LEGALLY CHANGED HIS NAME

however, that the official Baptismal Register from Holy Family Church has Uncle Jimmy’s name listed very clearly as Vincenzo COfone. An undated notation in the last column of the Register indicates that Father Cuzzini has seen papers which indicate that Uncle Jimmy legally changed his name. The spelling in the record seems to read James COfone however the notation was probably meant to spell it CAfone. 14

My father followed suit with the CA spelling in the late 1980s or early 1990s mostly out of frustration with people and the government just spelling it that way. However as children my sisters and I were taught the COfone spelling.

As indicated, evidence of the correct spelling can be found on Grandpa’s birth certificate. The document indicates that he was born on December 11, 1888 to parents Vincenzo and Teresa (nee Fabbricatore) COfone. Grandpa's death certificate indicates December 22, 1966 as the date of death and the spelling there is CAfone. The source of this spelling is traced to Uncle Jimmy who was directly involved in Grandpa’s funeral arrangements.

Beyond Grandpa’s birth certificate I also have a copy of Grandpa’s father's birth certificate that clearly shows the spelling as COfone. The document indicates that Vincenzo COfone, who was born on February 24, 1856, (Uncle Jimmy was likely named after his grandfather), was the son of Luigi COfone

T HE B IRTH CERTIFICATE OF MY GRANDFATHER N ATALE CO FONE

(my father was probably name after his great grandfather) and Maria (nee Coschignano). (Aunt Mary may have been named after her paternal 15

great grandmother). As an interesting sidebar you will learn in a later chapter that addresses Grandpa’s ancestors, is that his Grandmother Maria’s last name was not Coschignano as indicated on the Vincenzo’s birth certificate. With each preceding generation the spelling of the family name appears in the Italian records as COfone.

Grandpa's birth certificate indicates his mother Teresa (Aunt Tessie was probably named after her grandmother) was born to Filippo Fabbricatore and Luisa (nee Intrieri) on September 1, 1856. More on familial lines will follow in an ensuing chapter.

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Chapter 2 - The Journey to the New Land This chapter focuses Grandpa and Grandma’s immigration to the United States. It was much easier to enter the United States during the time period our grandparents immigrated than it is today. In the early twentieth century passports were not required to gain entry into the U.S. That requirement first began after the start of World War 1 in 1914. However even then there was no statutory authority for the requirement. A law entitled the “Travel Control Act of May 22, 1918” permitted the president, when the United States was at war, to proclaim a passport requirement. That law stayed in effect until 1978 when an amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 made it illegal to enter or depart the United States without an issued passport, even in peacetime.

At the time our grandparents came to the U.S. the country more or less had an open door policy on immigration. Even though a passport was not required at the time our grandparents’ arrival, the immigration process however was none the less stressful. Immigrants entering the United States who could not afford first or second-class passage came through the processing center at Ellis Island, New York, which many of the Italian Immigrants from Acri referred to as “la batteria”. Government inspectors asked a list of questions that were designed to determine if the immigrant had money, relatives, or a job in the United States, or were criminals. They questioned their marital status and sometimes political beliefs or affiliations. They were examined by doctors and nurses who were looking for signs of disease or incapacitating handicaps. Generally immigrants were only detained 3 or 4 hours, and then free to leave. If they did not receive stamps of approval they were sent back to their place of origin at the expense of the shipping line.

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The account of Grandpa and Grandma’s immigration to the United States is garnered mostly from immigration records. They arrived during a period that lead up to the high point of Italian immigration to the United States which, according to Wikipedia, reached its peak in the 1910s. It is claimed that over two million Italians immigrated in the early twentieth century alone. Records indicate that a total of 5.3 million Italians immigrated to the U.S. between 1880 and 1920. Two of those millions of Italian immigrants were our grandparents.

Natale Cofone The SS Indiana is the ship that carried Grandpa Cofone from the port of Naples and Campania, Italy to Ellis Island. The trip took 18 days. The ship departed on March 26, 1906 and is known to have arrived on April 12, 1906. The source of this factual information is the passenger list also known as the ship’s manifest. It is found on the Ellis Island web site.

According to internet sources, contrary to popular belief, U.S. customs officials did not create ship passenger lists. Ship manifests were completed by steamship companies, generally at the point of departure. These passenger manifests were then submitted to the immigration officials upon arrival in the United States. THE SS INDIANA IS THE SHIP THAT BROUGHT NATALE COFONE TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1906.

U.S. immigration officials were

known to add remarks, notes or observations to these ship passenger lists, both 18

at the time of arrival or many years later. These annotations may have been made to correct or explain certain information or to reference other important documents.

A search of the American Family History Immigration Center database at Ellis Island indicates that five men by the name of Natale Cofone landed in Ellis Island over the course of several years. It took a little bit of math and some deductive analysis to determine from the group of five candidates which one was likely our Grandfather. Three of the five were immediately negated as a possibility because they had not originated from Acri, Grandpa’s home region.

One of the Natale Cofone’s from Acri was 24 when he arrived in 1913. Although he would have been born in 1888, the same year as Grandpa, he was going to visit a brother Luigi in Brooklyn and he had a wife named Antonetta. This clearly was not Grandpa as he had no brother by the name of Luigi and was not married prior to his immigration.

The Natale Cofone that arrived on April 12, 1906 was 18 years old and single. If we subtract 18 years from the 1906 arrival year we find that this Natale Cofone would have been born in 1888 which corresponds with Grandpa’s known year of birth. In other words, Grandpa would have been 18 in April of 1906.

The 1906 Natale Cofone also corresponds to another interesting observation. Since our Grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1959, we know that they were married in 1909. And indeed this is evidenced by their marriage certificate which will be presented in a later chapter. This fact alone clearly suggests that both of them arrived in the United States either during 19

or prior to that year. Therefore I believe with a reasonably degree of certainty that the April 12th 1906 Natale Cofone was our grandfather.

The SS Indiana, which is the ship that brought our grandfather to America, was built in 1905 for the shipping line Lloyd Italiano. It sailed under the Italian flag and was built by an Italian company from Riva Trigoso. Dimensionally the ship was 4996 gross tons, 341 feet long, 47 feet wide, and had a top speed of 14 knots. Quite small when compared to today’s modern cruise ships. It carried 1625 passengers of which, all but 25 traveled third class between Italy and New York. The ship was sold several times and eventually scrapped in 1928.

The ship’s manifest, which documents the names and other information regarding its passengers, is hand written in such a style that it is difficult to clearly discern some of the words. In viewing the manifest we find on page15 that Grandpa was passenger 259 and is listed on line 17. We also see that he was 18 years old and single at the time of this voyage. His occupation is listed as laborer. It also indicates that he is not able to read or write. It states that his destination is Niantic RI; however he did not have a final ticket to that destination. The manifest also indicates that he arrived in good health and had $9.00 in cash in his possession and that he had never before been to the U.S. It also indicates that he was intending to visit an uncle, Salvatore Morrone of Box 41, Niantic RI.

M ANIFEST ENTRY IDENTIFYING N ATALE COFONE . T HE X S INDICATE THAT HE WAS HELD FOR SPECIAL INQUIRY BUT LATER ADMITTED .

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The Xs that appear over the log entries pertaining to Grandpa have some significance. Generally an "X" to the far left of the page, before or in the name column, signifies that the passenger was temporarily detained. If you look to the left of Cofone you will see a stamp that contains the word “admitted”. These stamps will usually be located next to the name of someone who was later to be held for Special Inquiry. Also if we look under some other boxes we see the handwritten word “Hold’ suggesting Grandpa was to be detained for some reason. Notations had different meanings depending on the column in which these cryptic entries were made.

A NOTHER CLUE IN THE SHIP ' S MANIFEST INDICATING THAT G RANDPA WAS HELD FOR FURTHER INQUIRY . NOTE THE WORD “HOLD”.

This evidence in the ship’s manifest leads me to conclude that Grandpa may have indeed been temporarily detained for some unknown reason. To corroborate this suspicion we need to look at the end of the ship’s manifest for a section entitled “Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry”. In looking at the record for the SS Indiana we find that index number 36 is a notation for Grandpa. After his name come two columns which connects Grandpa to his passenger list record. The "Group" number corresponds to the ship’s manifest page number containing Grandpa’s listing. The number ("No.") column contains the passenger’s list line number within the manifest page. The “List of Aliens Held” also shows the cause of exclusion under the heading "Cause," and gives the name of the Immigrant Inspector who decided the immigrant should have a hearing. In Grandpa’s case the inspector was someone named English. We also see that the cause of detention is listed as “LPC”.

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R ECORD OF A LIENS HELD FOR S PECIAL I NQUIRY SHOW G RANDPA LISTED AS INDEX NUMBER 36.

The most common exclusion was "LPC" or "Likely Public Charge," taken from the section of law which excludes anyone who might become a burden on the public. Many LPC cases were coupled with Medical Certificates, because it was a medical condition or physical disability which caused officials to think the immigrant would not be able to earn their own living. U.S. Public Health Service officials issued the Medical Certificates during the immigrant’s medical inspection. If we look closely at the top of the “Cause” column we see handwriting that seems to say “Dr Cert Idiot”, likely meaning a doctors certificate indicates that persons listed have a mental incapacity. It is not clear if this annotation applies just to the first person listed or everyone indicated in the column. According to information I found on the Internet, apparently doctors saw the immigrant first, so if a medical certificate was issued it would be known to the Immigrant Inspector who saw the arriving passenger next. Sometimes the fact that an immigrant was held on the basis of a Medical Certificate would also be annotated on the passenger list although we do not see this in Grandpa’s case.

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Most immigrants appeared at a brief hearing and were admitted after explaining their situation or producing a recent letter from a friend or relative at their destination. Others might not have the proof with them, so they would wait until someone came to testify in their behalf or sent a telegram. Later (sometimes later the same day), in a rehearing the new evidence would be produced, or the doctor would certify the immigrant as cured, and the Board would admit the immigrant. The record indicates that Grandpa did not require a re-hearing or fall under a deportation exclusion. Grandpa’s hold was withdrawn on April 14th and he eventually was admitted on April 16, 1906 four days after he arrived. Every day during the era 1892-1924, ten percent or more of arriving immigrants were sent to wait for a Board of Special Inquiry hearing.

T HE SECOND PART OF RECORD OF A LIENS H ELD FOR S PECIAL I NQUIRY SHOWS THAT DATE AND TIME G RANDPA WAS ADMITTED . T HE LAST THREE COLUMNS SHOW THE NUMBER OF BREAKFASTS , LUNCHES AND DINNERS HE WAS GIVEN .

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Returning to the original ship’s passenger list for Grandpa we focus on the part that says he is heading to Niantic RI with $9.00 in his pocket.

F URTHER CONTINUATION OF G RANDPA ' S MANIFEST ENTRY

A close-up of the last section shows that he is intending to visit his uncle. The name Salvatore is rather easy to distinguish, however there is a word preceding and following Salvatore that were a challenge to discern.

T HIS BOX OF THE MANIFEST SHOWS GRANDPA ' S REPORTED DESTINATION OF N IANTIC , RI TO VISIT AN UNCLE MARRONE SALVATORE , AT BOX 41

When Italians of Grandpa’s era were asked to identify themselves they used their last names first. Looking at other entries on the same manifest page with similar lettering in words that are much easier to understand, we were able to determine that the word, or rather the name, to the left of Salvatore is Morrone, which is a common surname in Acri and throughout Italy. Using the same method we discovered that the word after Salvatore is Box 41, inferring a post office box. Bear in mind that Morrone may be a phonetic spelling of Salvatore’s last name based upon Grandpa’s pronunciation to inspectors at Ellis Island.

We have been able to confirm that a Salvatore Morrone from Acri did enter the U.S. in July of 1901 at the age of 19. It appears he was going to visit a brother Angelo in Niantic. It remains to be seen if this is the same person listed on Grandpa’s ship’s manifest as the person he was enroute to visit. 24

So far I have not been able to clearly confirm whether or not Grandpa had an uncle or any relative by the name of Salvatore Morrone who lived in Niantic. It could be that Morrone was a friend and the immigration agent somehow mistakenly put in the word uncle, not really knowing what Grandpa was trying to tell him. Another possibility is that Morrone was married to one of Grandpa’s relatives, the identity of whom we do not know. As you will later read, there was a Morrone in Grandpa’s ancestral lineage.

One can also speculate whether or not Grandpa ever made the trip to Niantic. Recall that the manifest indicates that he did not have a ticket to his final destination. The logical counter-argument would be that unlike today there was no mechanism to pre-purchase a transfer ticket to Niantic. A point could reasonably be made that he would not have purchased the ticket to Niantic until his arrival in the U.S., therefore making a trip to the destination a possibility.

Another dimension to this story can be inferred from an interview I did with Aunt Tessie in 1992. Grandpa had an uncle, Pasquale, his father’s brother, who lived on Ellen Street in the Avondale section of Nutley. He was referred to as the first American “Scaramuzzo”. Aunt Tessie said that Grandpa’s father told him that if he was going to America he should be sure to go and see his brother Pasquale. She specifically used the words “go and see” and not “go and stay with”. One could infer from Aunt Tessie’s statement that Grandpa may have been on the way to some other destination but that he should, at some point, make time to visit his uncle. Aunt Tessie also said that although Grandpa came to the U.S. alone he met people here that he already knew. She never mentioned who those people were, which I believe she would have had she known. Perhaps Salvatore Morrone was one of them. It may also be that Grandpa’s uncle 25

convinced him to remain or at least return to Avondale, which could explain how he came to settle in Nutley.

There is yet another twist we can add to this story that is purely speculation but none the less intriguing to ponder. Grandpa’s father Vincenzo was reportedly born on contrada Morrone in Acri. Perhaps Grandpa was trying to convey to immigration authorities that he was going to see someone named Salvatore in Niantic that he knew from contrada Morrone. One of the meanings for the word contrada is the English word road. It is sometimes used interchangeably with the Italian word via, meaning a street. Perhaps Grandpa used Via Morrone to describe where his contact had lived instead of Contrada Morrone. Via Morrone somehow got convoluted to Zio Morrone by the immigration interpreter or entry official thereby resulting in Uncle Salvatore Morrone.

Regarding Morrone, we find an interesting sidebar and a point for speculation provided in the 1927 Nutley directory. Apparently a family named Maroni lived at 18 Roma Street in Nutley, which of course is located in the Avondale section. Again, this listing may be a phonetic spelling. We just don’t know for sure. Whether the Maroni’s were living in Avondale in 1906 or migrated later from elsewhere is also not known. And unfortunately we cannot at this time make any direct connection between Salvatore Morrone and the Maroni’s who lived on Roma Street. However, when pronounced in Italian, both names sound very similar. The establishment of a connection may be an interesting pursuit for some future researcher.

Aunt Rosie Cafone has told me that our family had relatives in New England, perhaps as far as Massachusetts. My mother told me she recalls 26

hearing Grandpa saying he had an uncle in the Westerly, Rhode Island area. So it is plausible that he did indeed have relatives that lived in Rhode Island. I have some information to suggest that one such cousin went by the surname of Croschi (pronounced crow-shkey). Grandpa had another cousin Immaculata Strafaci who lived in Rhode Island. Strafaci was her marriage name. The aunts may remember her and her son know as Junior who was a barber by trade. I seem to recall that Junior had a barbershop somewhere near Groton, Connecticut.

Niantic RI did indeed exist. It is an old region that goes back to the 1600’s and consisted of the southern coast of New England from the mouth of the Connecticut River east to southwest Rhode Island including Block Island in the Long Island Sound. Eastern Niantic is situated in southwest Rhode Island which is the same region that contains the town of Westerly, which is where Grandpa did have relatives. As a matter of fact I recall as a child visiting relatives there. A check with the Westerly Public Library reveals that a part of Westerly was once known as Niantic. The village that is now Bradford was called Niantic from around 1900 to 1912.

Another interesting fact about the Niantic area is that it was famous for its granite, mined from quarries in Bradford and Potter Hill. In other words the area presented an opportunity for work. Quarries were at their peak during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. Manual labor was used for drilling, cutting, and dressing the stone and moving equipment. The work was laborious, noisy, dirty and hazardous. It may be Grandpa heard that work was available and so set his destination for that area of the country. If Grandpa did work as a laborer he likely worked 8 to 9 hours a day at a rate of less than twenty cents an hour. It may also be whoever told him about the work 27

had an uncle or relative who lived in Niantic and perhaps that it what Grandpa tried to convey to the authorities at Ellis Island.

We have been able to make what appears to be a connection between the Morrone and Cofone families about seven generations back, however the connection may be tenuous at best. Information contained in a later chapter indicates that Grandpa may have had a paternal great-great-great grandmother with the surname of Morrone. For now however, we cannot make a supportable argument that Grandpa indeed had an uncle in Niantic.

Virtually nothing is known regarding Grandpa’s whereabouts between his arrival in April 1906 and marriage in November of 1909.

Angela Gabriele Our Grandmother, Angela Gabriele, arrived in the United States on August 3, 1909 aboard the SS Berlin sometime between 1:50 pm to 4:10 pm. The ship departed the port of Naples on July 12, 1909 and arrived at Ellis Island 22 THE SS BERLIN IS THE SHIP THAT BROUGHT ANGELINA GABRIELE TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1909.

days later. Grandma was 19 years old, single, and did not

speak English. Line 12 on page 661 of the manifest indicates that she came from Acri, Cosenza Italy and that her father’s name was Raffaele. It also indicates that she was 5 feet tall. The manifest shows that she arrived with less than $20 dollars, although it does not say how much less. It also shows that her final 28

destination was Avondale, New Jersey where she was going to join her sister, Santa. As many of you know, Avondale is a section of Nutley.

M ANIFEST OF SS B ERLIN SHOWING HEADER AND G RANDMA LISTED ON LINE 12

S ECTION OF P AGE 2 L INE 12 OF SHIP ' S MANIFEST INDICATING THAT GRANDMA WAS GOING TO VISIT HER SISTER S ANTA IN A VONDALE

In the same box that contains Grandma’s first name is a small notation that seems to indicate that Grandma is the cousin of passenger # 21. The passenger in row 21 is Maria Gabrielli a 19-year-old female who was traveling with her brother Francesco age 24. The spelling of the surname in the manifest is different than the true spelling, likely a phonetic interpretation by whomever it was who recorded the data. Maria and Francesco were going to Avondale to see their brother Michele. Michele went by the nickname “Michele e Fosse”. Later he would live on East Center Street in Nutley almost directly across from the home of Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat. The father of Maria and Francesco was indicated in the manifest as Salvatore, who is believed to have been a brother of Grandma’s father Raffaele. What we have discovered is that Raffaele did indeed have an older brother Salvatore Giuseppe Gabriele born on March 18, 1853. A possible birth record for Michele Gabriele was located that indicates he was born 29

on October 20, 1881 to Salvatore Gabriele and Anna Ritacco. Similarly, a birth citation for Francesco Gabriele born on January 22, 1885 to the same parents was also located. To date no birth record for Maria could be found. The evidence therefore seems to point directly to the fact that Grandma was indeed traveling with her first cousins.

Further confirmation came to light in a 1992 interview with Aunt Tessie. During a brief conversation regarding Grandma’s immigration to the U.S. Aunt Tessie and my mother recalled Grandma saying that she had come to the U.S. with someone else, however they could not recall who that person may have been. We now have the evidence that it was Maria and Francesco. According to Aunt Tessie Grandma spent some time living at Michele’s home probably because her sister Santa and her husband had gone to Nashwauk Minnesota in search of work.

The manifest also indicates some sort of calling or occupation for Grandma. The writing is difficult to decipher. It appears to indicate “farm lab”, with the latter part being perhaps an abbreviation for laborer.

Page 2 of the manifest indicates that Grandma did not possess a ticket to her final destination. It also indicated that her father paid her passage and that she had never before been to the United States. The record also indicates that she was 5 feet tall in in good health and not a cripple. It indicates a place of birth of Cosenza, Acri.

A. G. Weser Shipbuilders, Bremen, Germany, built the SS Berlin in 1909. It weighed 17,323 gross tons; its dimensions were 613 (bp) feet long and 69 feet 30

wide. Steam quadruple expansion engines, with twin screws, powered it. The ship’s service speed was 16 knots. It carried 3,212 passengers of whom 266 were in first class, 246-second class, and 2,700 in third class. You can be sure that Grandma sailed as one of the passengers in the latter category.

The ship was built for North German Lloyd, and sailed under the German flag in 1909 and named Berlin. The line provided Bremerhaven-New York and Mediterranean-New York service. Transferred to White Star and Dominion Lines, in 1920, the ship was renamed Arabic. It continued to provide TransAtlantic service. The ship was finally broken up in Italy in 1931.

We now have a sense of how it was that our Grandparents came to the United States and in particular, Avondale. As indicated, Grandma had a sister Santa who was already here. It believed she may have resided at 14 Humbert Street. From information provided by Christina Sapporito, Santa sent money home to her father who was believed to use the money to purchase some property. It is likely that some of the money was used to subsidize Grandma’s trip to America.

As far as we know Grandpa’s uncle Pasquale Cofone, known as old man “Scaramuzzo”, was living in Nutley prior to Grandpa’s arrival there. From a previously discussed hypothesis it may be that Avondale was not Grandpa’s original destination. As indicated above he may also have had other relatives living in other parts of the country as well. He eventually visited his uncle Pasquale and perhaps it was he who convinced Grandpa to remain in Avondale. It may have been that the prospect for work was better in NJ and so he remained. At the time quarries existed in the Avondale section of Nutley and so

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Grandpa may have found work there. We know that Grandpa had siblings who immigrated to the U.S. but only after his arrival.

While we may not know the precise reason why our Grandparents came to America, it is very likely it was to escape the abject poverty that existed in the countryside where they lived. Like millions of other young immigrants, they came to find a better life and in so doing, they provided a life for us. Without the courageous feat of leaving behind all they knew and risk the venture into the new land, your parents would never have met and you would not be reading this now.

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Chapter 3 –The Marriage of Natale & Angela It is inferred from an article that appeared in the Nutley Sun newspaper on Tuesday, November 24, 1959 that Grandma and Grandpa were married on November 22, 1909. At the time Grandma and Grandpa would have been 20 and 21 years old respectively. It was believed that the month and day of the 50th Anniversary party coincided with the month and day of the actual marriage, and so for many years the family believed that the anniversary date was November 22. As part of the research into the family history Holy Family Church in Nutley was contacted. The church provided a copy of Grandma and Grandpa’s marriage record, which is included below. The record shows that our Grandparents were actually married on November 20, 1909, which was a Saturday.

M ARRIAGE RECORD OF NATALE COFONE AND A NGELA G ABRIELA FROM H OLY F AMILY C HURCH IN N UTLEY .

The document indicates that the best man and maid of honor were Vincenzo Terranova and Francesca Simone, respectively. A parish priest named Father A. DeSantolo officiated at the ceremony. It is interesting to note the spelling of their last names. As can be seen Grandpa’s last name is spelled with the CO derivative. There is a slightly incorrect spelling for Grandma last name 33

indicating Gabriela instead of Gabriele. This illustrates how alternative spellings of names can occur.

The wedding took place after a short courtship. Grandma had only arrived in the United States in August of 1909 and according to steam ship records, was living in Avondale with either her sister Santa or with her cousin Michele on East Centre Street.

We really don’t know exactly how our grandparents met, but one story provided by Aunt Tessie is that Grandpa was already living in the United States and met Grandma in Nutley. Grandma was living with her cousin Michele “e Fosse” (Gabriele) on East Centre Street in Nutley. Grandpa evidently was a friend of Michele. When they first met Grandma did not want to go out with Grandpa. Aunt Tessie relayed that Grandma’s words to her cousin were “I don’t want this Scaramuzzo”! “Do you think I came over here to marry him”? Again according to accounts provided by Aunt Tessie, Michele was heard to reply, “You think you are better than him”? “He’s a good man”. Michele evidently convinced her to go with Grandpa, who we are led to believe was really enamored with Grandma.

Interestingly, within four months of her arrival here in the United States Grandma got married. The ceremony took place somewhere in Holy Family parish. Our Grandparents were one of the first to be married in the newly formed parish. Historical accounts of the parish indicate that it began sometime in 1909 among a collection of poor Italian immigrants. The Reverend Father Alfonso De Santolo, the same priest who married our Grandparents, and who had worked in Paterson and Lyndhurst, started parochial work among the Italians in the Belleville-Nutley area. Several years elapsed before the first church was built. In 34

the interim masses were offered at first in private homes in the area. According to historical accounts for several months Father De Santolo offered Mass in the homes of Michael Stefanelli at Passaic Avenue and Mitchell Street in Belleville and Ciriaco Jannarone at 14 Harrison Street, Nutley. It has been reported that Father De Santola was assisted by the late Dominick Ciccone in raising funds to construct the first church. The first permanent Church structure was built on a 30 by 100 foot

H OLY F AMILY CHURCH AS IT APPEARED CIRCA 1915. I T HAD BEEN LONG BELIEVED THAT OUR G RANDPARENTS WERE MARRIED IN THIS C HURCH .

plot at 115 Harrison Street, Nutley. A frame building, it measured 20 by 50 feet and seated perhaps 140 persons. Its cornerstone was laid by Father James P. Smith of St. Peter’s in Belleville in 1911. An adjoining rectory was built about 1915.

115 H ARRISON S TREET N UTLEY FORMER SITE OF H OLY F AMILY C HURCH T HIS IS HOW THE BUILDING APPEARED IN D ECEMBER OF 2003

Contrary to a long held belief, it appears that our Grandparents were not married in the actual Harrison Avenue church which was built about two years after they were married. More likely the ceremony took place perhaps in a temporary church structure or the home of one of the parishioners indicated above. Italian immigrants from all over Nutley used Holy Family Church for their religious ceremonies as it was considered an “Italian Church”.

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Remnants of the old church can still be seen. It is unknown exactly when, but the church property was sold and converted to a private residence. The modern day photo of the property shows that the external structure of the church is nearly as it was in 1909 with the exception of the missing steeple.

There was reportedly a fire that engulfed at least part of the church. However the date of the fire remains unknown at this writing.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES ANNOUNCING THE 50TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. ONE OF THESE APPEARED IN THE NUTLEY SUN ON TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 1959. IT IS UNKNOWN IN WHICH OTHER PAPER THE ARTICLE ALSO APPEARED.

The newspaper article announcing their 50th wedding anniversary, which was based on information provided by Aunt Mary, indicates that Grandpa and Grandma lived on Ellen Street in Nutley for approximately 15 years before moving to Lyndhurst. We now know that they purchased the Nutley home in 1921 and following a fire, purchased and moved to the

T HE WAY THEY ACTUALLY LOOKED IN 1959 AT THEIR 50 TH A NNIVERSARY . O UR G RANDMA IS 70 AND G RANDPA IS NEARLY 71 YEARS OLD IN THIS PHOTO .

Lyndhurst house in 1926.

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The photo that appears in the newspaper article is not from their 50th anniversary celebration. In all likelihood the photograph was probably taken at the wedding of one of their children, presumably Aunt Florie in October of 1949. If this indeed were true, Grandma and Grandpa would be 61 and 60 years old respectively when the photograph was taken.

According to the article Grandpa worked for many years at American Chain and Cable Company in Newark, New Jersey. The company actually began in 1936 after an acquisition of the American Cable Company of Newark by American Chain, a company which started in about 1917. American Chain and Cable had advertised nationally that it was the largest manufacturer of chain in the world. While we do not know the duration of his employment, 1940 Census records indicate that Grandpa was working for a cable company at the time as a janitor. This corresponds with information provided by family sources that indicated that Grandpa was a porter for American Chain and Cable. It was said that he would work seven days a week and holidays, walking from the Thomas Avenue house to Jauncey Ave in North Arlington where he would take a bus into Newark.

The anniversary article never indicated Grandpa’s employment prior to American Chain. From the 1930 Census listing for the family it indicates that Grandpa was a helper on what appears to be the Rail Road. Again, we do not know how long he was employed or for which railroad he worked.

Following his employment with American Chain, Grandpa worked at East Ridgelawn Cemetery on Main Street in Clifton as a gravedigger and eventually retired from that job. He walked to and from work daily. The trip from Lyndhurst to Clifton was approximately 3 miles. 37

Early Life Following their wedding it is not exactly known where Grandpa and Grandma resided but Aunt Tessie believed they lived somewhere on Roma Street in Nutley. Aunt Rosie provided an insight that leads us to believe that after they were first married they probably lived with relatives somewhere in Avondale. As of yet I have been unable to document their residence from 1910 Census records. This may be due to the fact that they may have likely been on the move during the year.

The town of Nutley at this time was beginning to grow. Its population in 1910 was just over 6000. At the time our Grandparents married the town had entered an era that saw streets and sidewalks being built, the extension of water mains and the metering of water use, not to mention the collection of taxes and water bills, and the licensing of saloons, dogs and peddlers. Municipal services and organizations such as firehouses, churches and new schools were also being built.

There are no records or recollections as to how our Grandparents made a living in their early married life. In all likelihood Grandma stayed home and tended to domestic chores while Grandpa worked as a laborer, possibly in the nearby quarry.

Off to Pennsylvania Sometime in 1910, Grandpa and Grandma are believed to have traveled approximately 400 miles to the small town of Carnegie Pennsylvania, which is 38

located southwest of Pittsburgh in Allegheny County. The newlyweds likely proceeded to the Carnegie area via railroad. A train took them from Nutley to Trenton and then onto Philadelphia and further west to Pittsburgh. Another train from Pittsburgh took them to the Carnegie area. The reason for the move was clearly in pursuit of work. The industry of mining bituminous coal grew a great deal in the early twentieth century. With this growth came the need for more workers most of whom were unskilled and who worked for cheap wages. Grandpa certainly would fit into this category of worker. Workers came from all over the country to work in the mines, seeking a better life in America and hoping to find good paying jobs.

It remains unknown as to exactly when they left Nutley for Carnegie. We can speculate that perhaps it was in the spring or early summer of 1910. Grandma likely became pregnant in April of 1910 and so Grandpa, who was now an expectant father, needed to provide for his new family and so he likely sought opportunities for sustained employment. Just how Grandpa learned about the mines in the Carnegie area or why they went to this particular region is not presently known. Likely a relative or friend sent word back to Avondale that opportunities for work in the mines existed. Word probably spread among Grandpa’s contemporaries and so hearing of the opportunities that awaited them, off they went. This theory seems to be in agreement with something Aunt Tessie told me in 1992. She said that someone told our Grandparents that work might be available in the Carnegie area. She of course heard this from one or both of her parents. She could not offer any further insight as to who it may have been that provided the information.

Aunt Tessie’s birth certificate indicates that she was born in Carnegie Pennsylvania on January 18, 1911, but just where in Carnegie remains a mystery. In pursuit of this answer my wife Barbara and I visited Pittsburgh and 39

Carnegie in November of 2011. We stopped at the Pennsylvania state vital

2011 COPY OF B IRTH C ERTIFICATE OF A UNT T ESSIE

statistics department, the Pittsburgh archdiocese, the Carnegie Library at Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie historical society in the hope of finding the home where our Grandparents lived.

What we discovered is that the family very likely did not live in Carnegie proper but rather one of the many small settlements that were built by coal companies known as “patch towns” or “coal patches”. To get a sense of what it must have been like living in a coal patch I visited the ExplorePAhistory.com web site. What I found was that not only did the companies build the mine and all of its buildings, but they built the company store where all the miners and families could buy their supplies, often using a system known as company "scrip" which simply meant that the cost of any commodities were deducted from their 40

paychecks. The company built the workers’ houses and then rented them to the miner families while they worked in the mine. Sometimes the company would also build a church, a school, and possibly a post office. In these patches the miners lived, often settling along ethnic lines into neighborhoods.

Some companies built poor quality houses for the miners. For example the roofs leaked, wind came through walls with no plaster, etc. The houses were designed to be built quickly. In order for the houses to be built quickly, the company usually built the same type of house, so all the houses looked the same. Several designs were used in various patch towns – such as row houses, which were cheap to build since they shared walls, and also two-story double houses. They were called double houses because it was one building, but divided into two separate houses inside which could hold one family on each side of the house. These double houses would have 4 to 6 rooms per side. Behind the houses would be the double outhouse. Often families would take in boarders to bring in more money. These boarders paid for a place to live, meals, and laundry done. At times there would be two families on one side, plus single mine boarders, making 15 to 20 people living in one small house. The houses were very simple in their furnishings and primitive in function – they did not have running water or electricity. As indicated the miners paid the company rent for these houses. The companies could evict miners if they joined a strike or spoke out against the company. Along with the rental of the house, the families usually also received a small piece of land upon which they could grow vegetables. Not knowing the mine where Grandpa worked, we cannot determine what type of home the family lived in or if they had boarders living with them, although I cannot imagine Grandpa renting space unless it was someone he knew or trusted. It may also been possible that he and Grandma were boarding with another family.

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Saying that life was harsh for the miners and their families might be an understatement. Mining was extremely dangerous. Like most coal miners Grandpa probably worked 10 to 14 hour T YPICAL “ COAL PATCH ” TOWN . I T IS BELIEVED OUR G RANDPARENTS LIVED IN SUCH A COMMUNITY IN THE C ARNEGIE PA AREA WHERE A UNT T ESSIE WAS BORN .

days and earned barely enough to

provide for a family. Grandma probably started her days early with fixing lunch for Grandpa and then working hard doing the housework, sewing, cooking, gardening, and once Aunt Tessie was born, child rearing.

One of the difficulties in locating the exact coal patch where Grandma and Grandpa lived and Aunt Tessie was born is due to the fact that so many mines existed at the time and very few coal company employee records exist today. Most coal company employee records have been lost or destroyed after the mines were closed. The state maintains some records, but generally only in the case where a miner was killed or injured. The likelihood of discovering the exact mine or mines where Grandpa worked is extremely remote and so unfortunately we will probably never know.

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Next Stop: Minnesota Sometime soon after the birth of Aunt Tessie the family is believed to have relocated to the area of Nashwauk, Minnesota which was about 1,000 miles from Carnegie. Aunt Tessie recalled hearing that the family moved on because work had become scarce.

As indicated earlier, it seems that Grandma’s sister Santa (nee Gabriele) Chimento may have been living in Nashwauk at the time. Another possibility emerged when it was learned that a close friend of Grandpa known as Vincenzo “Tindillo” Celico, may also have been living in the Nashwauk area and may have contacted Grandpa regarding available work. As a matter of fact Vincenzo Celico may have been more than a close friend and may have indeed been Grandpa’s cousin. In a subsequent chapter you will learn that Grandpa’s grandmother was Maria Celico.

The Iron Range Research Center Naturalization Record Index (IRRCNR) indicates that a Vincenzo Celico lived in Itasca County, which is the county where Nashwauk is located. Whether this is the same person as Grandpa’s friend is unknown at the present. Without further inquiry all we do know is that this particular Vincenzo lived there sometime between 1854 and 1957 and that his wife’s name was Josephina. (Location: ITASCA State: MINNESOTA Reel #: 3 Vol #: 5 Code #: 7 Page #: 414) Also discovered in the Minnesota Statewide Database for Alien Registrations under the IRRCNR there is a listing for a Sanda (sic) Chimento who is indicated to be 30 years old (County: Itasca City: Nashwauk State: MINNESOTA Age: 30 Roll #: 72 Frame #: 0188) This may very well be the listing for Grandma’s brother-in-law Santo. These leads may be left 43

to some future researcher to explore further. From what I could gather this area is a mining region and so Grandpa may have spent some time working in a local iron ore mine. According to the web site “Immigrant migrations from Northern and Southern Europe provided the bulk of the labor needed for underground and open pit mining operations”. It is not clear how abundant work in the mines was during our Grandparents time in Nashwauk.

According to information provided by Cristina Sapporito, Vincenzo Celico must have come to Nutley to visit his brother Natale Celico, who lived somewhere near Holy Family Church. Vincenzo told Natale about how difficult it was for Grandpa and Grandma to be living in Minnesota evidently due to a lack of work. Natale presumably told Vincenzo to have Grandpa return to Nutley. From what I have heard from other sources it appeared that the Minnesota winter was too severe to their liking, and so Grandma and Grandpa left.

It is not clear exactly how long they remained in Minnesota however it is not thought to be of any significant duration perhaps, less than a year. According to Aunt Tessie, during their stay in Nashwauk Grandma gave birth to another daughter named Maria. It believed that she died in birth or shortly thereafter. I have tried to document this fact, but have been unsuccessful thus far. The church in the area at the time has no record of a birth or death for Maria.

Back to Italy As indicated, it was probably a combination of little work and the extreme cold weather that prompted Grandpa and Grandma sometime in late 1912 or early 1913 to decide that the family should return to Italy and so they left Minnesota. It is not entirely clear, but it seems they did not all return to Nutley 44

together. The information suggests that Grandma and Aunt Tessie proceeded the 1,300 miles to Nutley ahead of Grandpa and then went on directly to Italy. Evidently Grandpa said he was going to return to Italy as well and sold what little they had in Minnesota and eventually followed to Avondale. Several accounts place Aunt Tessie’s age at between one and a half and two years old when she and Grandma departed for Italy, which agrees with the estimated time frame for their leaving as suggested above.

For whatever reason, Grandpa decided to remain in the United States. Living in Avondale during this period of time were Grandpa’s sisters Zia Rosa and Zia Grazia. We can speculate that he probably stayed with one them for some time or perhaps with some of his old friends.

According to Aunt Tessie Grandma and Aunt Tessie returned to the home of Grandma’s parents who lived in a rural area of Acri known as Sericella which is also referred to in general as “Chi la bana Mucone”. It is believed they also visited Grandpa’s parents as well. Except for the time just prior to their return to the U.S., it is believed they never received any communications from Grandpa.

Aunt Tessie told the story that she would ask Grandma why she has no brothers and sisters. Grandma would show her a mark on her knee and say that Grandpa has the key and that when he eventually comes they will get the key and Aunt Tessie’s wish will be fulfilled. Evidently Old Italian folklore was that babies were born from the knee.

Aunt Tessie went to school in Italy. She would sometimes cut school and punishment would be swift and certain which meant she would get hit. 45

Eventually they heard from Grandpa, who after being discharged from the army, sent for Grandma. From what we now know Grandma received some sort of stipend from the U.S. government. In his communication Grandpa is believed to have said that he had “sweat blood” for the money Grandma received. He chided her with words to the effect “Don’t think you’re going to get the check and spend money”. It is not entirely known for how long Grandma received government financial assistance however it was likely during the period of Grandpa’s active service. She evidently accrued sufficient funds to pay for her and Aunt Tessie’s return passage.

Back to the US Records obtained from Ellis Island indicate that Grandma and Aunt Tessie returned to the United States, along with Grandma’s youngest sister Carminella, on January 25, 1921. They departed Naples on January 12th of the same year aboard

T HE DUCA DEGLI ABRUZZI IS THE SHIP THAT TRANSPORTED GRANDMA AND AUNT TESSIE BACK TO THE US AFTER NEARLY A 9 YEAR ABSENCE

the SS Duca Degli Abruzzi and like most poor immigrants traveled steerage. Interestingly and ironically the name of the ship’s captain was Giul Simone.

Grandma and Aunt Tessie returned to the United States after nearly a 9year absence. Grandpa had been out of the army for several years and it is not 46

known what he did to support himself in the intervening years or where he resided. The records indicate that they arrived in the port of New York, which for immigrants usually meant Ellis Island. However, according to Aunt Tessie, Grandpa met them at the battery in Brooklyn. Aunt Tessie had just turned ten when they returned and was somewhat confused when she saw Grandpa. She thought Grandpa would have been happier to see Grandma, but instead he embraced Aunt Tessie first and was kissing her and telling her how much he missed her.

According to Aunt Tessie upon their return the family lived on Humbert Street next door to one of Grandpa’s dear friend Carmine “Mallarielo” Chimento, in what has become known as Pitelle’s house. Zi Carminella also lived with them at this time. It is believed that the family lived in two rooms in the house that was owned by Grandpa’s cumbare, Vincenzo Terranova. You will recall that Vincenzo was Grandpa’s best man and very likely his best friend.

Terranova had two homes in the area over the years. The one that shows up in a 1927 directory at 35 Humbert Street is the house referred to here. The 1928 Nutley directory shows that the Terranova’s moved to another house located on Spurr Place in Nutley, immediately adjacent to what later became the Cofone Nutley homestead.

As indicated above Terranova’s house is also referred to “la casa di Pitelle”. Pitelle was a nickname for Terranova.

The town of Nutley had grown significantly during Grandma’s ten year absence. Evidently the economic prosperity of the 1920s was being experienced 47

to some degree in Nutley as well. The population increased to nearly 9000. Reportedly there was a good deal of optimism. It was in this period that Grandpa managed to buy the Nutley, and then later, Lyndhurst homesteads and most of the children were born. We do not know what Grandpa did for a living during this time. It is indeed possible that he may have worked for the Belleville Land and Stone Company that operated the brownstone quarry on Park Avenue and from whom he purchased the Nutley homestead. However once the Great Depression arrived in 1929, the family, like the rest of the country, would have to endure severe hardships that shaped the way they lived the rest of their lives.

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Chapter 4 – Grandpa Military Service Below is a copy of Grandpa’s Honorable Discharge Certificate, which shows that Grandpa served in the U.S. Army during World War 1. He attained the rank of private first class and was part of the 307th Labor Company Quartermaster Corp. I am not sure exactly what specific jobs he performed but I imagine he was used for various manual labor details, which could mean just about anything that required a strong back.

America entered into World War 1 in April of 1917. In May of that year The Selective Service Act was created that required all male persons between the ages of 21 and 30 to register for service. Being 29 at the time, Grandpa was subjected to these requirements. The initial registrations began in June of 1917.

Grandpa registered and was drafted. His discharge certificate indicates that he was inducted into the army on May 28, 1918 at Newark, New Jersey. To put things in perspective, his entry into the Army occurred about six years after Grandma and Aunt Tessie left for Italy. In examining the various draft categories, Grandpa could have been exempt due to extreme hardship, which included married registrants with dependent spouse and / or children with insufficient family income. Either by design or error he was apparently drafted under some other draft category. It may be that initially he may have led authorities to believe that Grandma was living in Italy with her parents and that he may not have been directly providing for her and Aunt Tessie. Another possibility may be that Grandpa was not too forthcoming with the true facts regarding his family status because he saw the Army as a source of steady income as well as the security of knowing where your next meal was coming from and free shelter. He may also 49

have discovered that service to the country was a fast track to U.S. citizenship and perhaps other benefits after the war. Until such time that his full military record might become available, the truth may never be known as to why Grandpa was not exempt from the draft.

At the time of Grandpa’s induction World War I was on-going and over the next several months the German army launched several unsuccessful offensives. Allied counter attacks weakened the German forces. In a less than 8 months the war would be over. Following induction, Grandpa would have initially undergone about six weeks of boot camp where he trained for the war. It is not clear where he conducted his initial training. Camp Dix, located in Wrightstown, NJ, would have been a logical choice however after May of 1918, it was used as embarkation camp for troops going overseas. Later it was designated as a demobilization and as debarkation camp. As far I can determine, Grandpa was never sent overseas or was involved in combat. One uncorroborated story is that he was on a military ship sailing to Europe when the war ended and the ship immediately returned to port in the US. The end of the war occurred in November of 1918, but the Germans had requested an armistice in the beginning of October. If the story about Grandpa’s deployment is correct, then it likely occurred sometime in September of 1918.

In the beginning of 1919 the army began to demobilize and service men began returning home. Grandpa was apparently honorably discharged on March 18, 1919 from Camp Mills in Long Island, New York after about ten months of service.

Upon closer inspection there appears to be an error on the document regarding his age. It says that he was 28 when he enlisted in 1918. However 50

since he was born in December of 1888, he would have been 29 when he went into the service in May of 1918. As you can see from the dates, it seems that he spent less than a year in the service. His naturalization papers indicate that he was 27 years old in July of 1918, another error. None of the documents required a date of birth so my suspicion is that either they asked Grandpa his age and recorded what they were told by him or perhaps received the information through a translator, who misunderstood what Grandpa was saying.

The discharge certificate also shows that he was married and indicates that Grandpa was discharged due to dependency. Generally speaking, dependency discharges are based on the emotional hardship being in the military is causing. During the time that Grandpa was in the army we know that Grandma and Aunt Tessie were living in Italy. Grandpa evidently convinced the Army that he qualified under the then existing requirements for this category of Honorable Discharge.

Based on accounts of family members we also have reason to believe that Grandma qualified and received some form of a military stipend, however we are not sure of the duration or how much she actually received. It was also not made clear if the money came as a result of Grandpa sending money to Italy or via the government directly. It would seem plausible that the stipend may have been paid during some segment of Grandpa’s military service time and probably ceased once he was discharged.

The discharge paper goes on to say that Grandpa was of excellent character and that his service was honest, faithful with no AWOL. He was entitled to travel pay which included a train ticket at 2/3 the regular rate to Newark. He also received a bonus of $60.00. 51

You will notice that the discharge papers spell his name as CAfone. You will also notice that Grandpa could not write and therefore made “his mark”, which is designated as an X, in place of a written signature.

There is a date of July 5 written in pencil at the top right corner of page two of the discharge paper. I believe this possibly refers to the date he became a U.S. citizen.

G RANDPA ' S DISCHARGE AND E NLISTMENT R ECORD

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Chapter 5 – Grandpa’s U.S. Naturalization

Grandpa’s Naturalization Certificate (see copy below) was issued sometime in July (possibly the 4th or 5th) of 1918, approximately two months pursuant to Grandpa entering into the army. It says Grandpa was 27 years old. He is listed as being 5 feet 5 ½ inches tall, of medium complexion, brown eyes, and dark hair. In reality Grandpa was 29 in July of 1918. Grandpa’s last name in the certificate is spelled COfone.

The certificate indicates that his wife, Angelina, is 28 years old and resides in Gagore, Italy with their daughter Tazianno who was born on January 18, 1911 in Pittsburg, P.A. At the time of Grandpa’s naturalization, Aunt Tessie was approximately 6 years old.

Initially, from Christina Sapporito, a since deceased relative who lived on Humbert Street in Nutley, I learned that Grandma returned to the United States sometime in either 1920 or 1921, approximately one year before Uncle Jimmy was born. More precisely, from Ellis Island immigration records we know that Aunt Tessie and Grandma returned from Italy on January 25, 1921.

Christina recounted the story that when she came to America from Italy in 1920, she brought with her a piece of string which Grandma had given her. The length of string was equivalent to the height of Aunt Tessie. In this way Grandpa could gauge how tall Aunt Tessie had grown.

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Grandma often said that she and Aunt Tessie were in Italy for nine years. That would make their departure date from the US sometime in late 1911 or early to mid-1912 when Aunt Tessie was still an infant. Christina seems to recall that Aunt Tessie was approximately one and a half years old when she and Grandma returned to Italy, and is in agreement with the proffered estimate.

I came to learn from my mother, who has been a wealth of knowledge on the early family history that Grandma and Aunt Tessie went to stay with Grandpa’s father and mother, since Grandma’s own mother was dead. Christina also mentions that Grandma and Aunt Tessie would often stay at Grandpa’s father’s home.

Grandpa lived in a section of the Acri countryside known as Policaretto. Presumably there is an area, or a portion of Policaretto, known as “La Gonga” (the o is pronounced as a long o such as in the word NO). Again it seems quite likely that La Gonga may have been misunderstood and was recorded as Gagore on Grandpa’s naturalization papers. The same misunderstanding apparently occurred with the spelling of Aunt Tessie’s name, which as indicated above was presented in the Naturalization document as Tazianno. Grandma pronounced Aunt Tessie’s name as Tarazina, which loosely translated means little Teresa.

Included in another chapter is a picture of the Cofone homestead in Italy. Given the information provided by Cristina and my mom we can then reasonably assume that it was also the house where Grandma and Aunt Tessie spent at least part of their nine years in Italy. The naturalization document also indicates that Grandpa was residing at Camp Dix, New Jersey at the when he was made a citizen, which makes sense since he was in the army at the time he became Naturalized. 54

By virtue of the fact that Grandma was married to a naturalized citizen she came under the provisions of the first major exception to the naturalization law. From 1790 to 1922, wives of naturalized men automatically became "derivative" citizens. Aunt Tessie being born in Carnegie, PA was of course a native born citizen.

G RANDPA ' S N ATURALIZATION C ERTIFICATE

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Chapter 6 - The American Homesteads There were only two principal family homesteads in the U.S. The first was located in Nutley and the last in Lyndhurst. Prior to the purchase of the Nutley house, the family lived with friends in the Avondale section.

The Nutley House Grandpa and Grandma’s first home was bought on September 6, 1921 and was located in the Avondale section of Nutley. Geographically speaking, Avondale was contained within the borders of Grant Avenue to the north, Park Avenue to the south, River Road to the east and Washington A N 1886 MAP OF A VONDALE . T HE LARGE TRACT NEAR THE CENTER OF THE PHOTO BORDERED BY Q UARRY S TREET ( LATER TO BECOME P ARK A VE ) AND G RANT A VENUE , DEPICTS PROPETY OWNED BY THE T HE B ELLEVILLE S TONE C OMPANY AND CONTAINED ONE OF SEVERAL QUARRYS IN THE AREA . THE RED CIRCLE DEPICTS THE GENERAL AREA WHERE THE NUTLEY HOMESTEAD WOULD LATER BE LOCATED .

Avenue to the west. In addition to those boundary roadways, Avondale also

contained Roma Street, Humbert Street, Ellen Avenue, Spurr Place and Quarry Street, each of which was and is a short, narrow street.

In the early twentieth century Avondale was an ethnic neighborhood that consisted almost entirely of Italian immigrants from southern Italy. Grandma and Aunt Tessie had just returned from Italy in January of 1921. At the time of the 56

purchase, Grandma was approximately five or six months pregnant with Uncle Jimmy. According to the deed that is on file with the Essex County Hall of Records, Grandpa paid $1.00 and other valuable consideration for the property to the Belleville Stone and Land Company. This is typical boilerplate language and does not mean he actually paid one dollar for the property. To date no record of the actual purchase price has been determined although a rather broad price range of between $300 and $3500 has been handed down over the years. In 2012 dollars the range would represent a value between $3,500 and $35,000, respectively. It is not certain if that amount pertained to just the first property, which included a house, or included subsequent properties you will read about shortly and which I believe contained no structure. In any event the initial property, which was designated as Lot 33, was located at the northeast corner of Ellen Avenue and Spurr Place and consisted of a lot that measure approximately 25 feet along Ellen Ave by 109 feet along Spurr Place.

A small item of trivia is that Spurr Place was named for Joseph G. Spurr, treasurer of the Belleville Stone and Land Company, which as we know was the company from which Grandpa purchased the Nutley home. Since the house was on the corner of Spurr Place and Ellen Street it is difficult to determine whether the actual address was Ellen Street or Spurr Place. None of our remaining relatives can seem to recall where the front of the house faced. The address of the current house that stands on the property is 4 Spurr Place. I do not however believe that the original address was the same. Baptismal records of our aunts born in the house indicate an address of 80 Ellen Street. Throughout this writing the location of the house is referred to as both Spurr Place and Ellen Street.

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In the next two succeeding years Grandpa bought two other contiguous lots. On May 25, 1922 he purchased a contiguous lot, number 34, which was of comparable size to the first. The frontage was on Ellen Ave.

M AP SHOWING THE GENERAL NUTLEY LOCATION OF THE HOMESTEAD LOCATED AT S PURR P LACE AND E LLEN S TREET .

On September 28, 1923 Grandpa bought the

third lot, the number of which was absent on the deed but which is assumed to

Roma St

Humbert St

T HIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN CIRCA 1915 ALONG P ARK A VE. T HE SOURCE OF THE PHOTOS INDICATES THAT THE QUARRY BEHIND WHERE THE MAN IS STANDING COINCIDES WITH THE CURRENT LOCATION OF THE R ETS B UILDING 103 P ARK A VE. T HE NORTH SIDE OF P ARK A VE IS ALSO VISIBLE WITH THE BEGINNING OF ROMA AND H UMBERT S TREETS SEEN BETWEEN SOME OF THE HOMES .

be lot # 35. The records show he also paid $1.00 and other valuable consideration for these lots. The deeds never mention what the “other valuable 58

consideration” consisted of, in other words the actual purchase price. Nor do any of the deeds expressly mention or describe the structure that certainly was in place on at least one of these lots.

From what we can piece together the house stood on the corner lot. So what we know is that Grandpa owned 3 lots which in total measured approximately 75 feet along Ellen Ave and 109 feet along Spurr Place. Not much is known about the house itself except that it was quite small and probably consisted of two floors. By all accounts we have, it is known the house contained a stone foundation and a wooden frame. At the time of purchase it was probably not in the best of condition. Information provided during a 1992 interview with Christina Saporitto, who was Grandpa’s niece, indicates that the house had been previously used as a real estate office evidently by the Belleville Stone and Land Company, which also sold homes on Washington Avenue in Nutley. Another possibility is that the house may have been one of many residences previously used by skilled Italian quarrymen who migrated to Nutley to work in the famous sandstone quarries that were located along Park Avenue but had been abandoned in the early 1900s.

At the time or shortly before Grandma and Aunt Tessie returned to Italy it is believed that Grandpa lived at the house of Domenica “Teca Teca”. We also know according to the 1920 U.S. Census Records that Grandpa was a border at 122 Park Avenue, Nutley.

G RANDPA C OFONE WAS LIVING IN "NAPS" HOUSE , 122 P ARK A VE, N UTLEY IN J ANUARY OF 1920. T HIS IS HOW THE BUILDING APPEARED IN J ANUARY OF 2004.

The 1920 Census data lists Grandpa’s 59

name as Natalie Cofoni, 30 years of age and single. It also indicates that he came to the country in 1910 and is a laborer who worked in a factory. One family that lived in the same building was that of Frank Burlat, his wife Mica, daughters Rafaela and Mary and another boarder Frank Grabiero. Also in the building was another family consisting of Joseph Genarelli, his wife Fannie, a nephew Angelo and a border Natale Fingeramo. In the 1927 Nutley Directory, Burlat’s name is listed as Brulatto and Genarelli’s name is indicated as Gencarelli.

The building was owned by someone called Cappuccina, which is probably a nickname. It is believed that Cappuccina’s building was located at the corner of Park Ave and Roma St. The home was also known as the house of “Nap”. Teca Teca’s house is believed to have been located on Roma Street next to “Nap’s corner store. 60

CLOSE UP OF LINE

95 (ARROW ) OF 1920 CENSUS SHOW GRANDPA AS A BOARDER AT 122 PARK AVE NUTLEY

It was at Nap’s house in June of 1920 that Grandpa received an interesting and important message from Grandma, who he had not communicated with for nearly 9 years. Recall an earlier story where Grandma sent a thread equivalent to Aunt Tessie height, via Christina Sapporito. To ensure that the thread made it to America, Grandma sewed the thread into Christina pocket for safekeeping. Aunt Tessie was about 10 at the time.

Upon seeing how much Aunt Tessie had grown, Grandpa was evidently moved and went to see his friend, Vincenzo Terranova, who was his best man (cumbare) and best friend. Also Vincenzo’s wife Carmela “Pitelle” baptized Uncle Jimmy. Vincenzo was also known as “la gagha”, which loosely translated means wisdom tooth. One story passed down over the years is that Vincenzo may have subsidized, at least in part, the return of Grandma and Aunt Tessie, who according to Christina, arrived six months later. As we now know the family reunion occurred in January of 1921. We also believe that Grandma was receiving some sort of government subsidy which may have contributed to funding the return voyage.

With the impending return of Grandma and Aunt Tessie, one prevailing concern was where the family would live. The issue resolved itself when Antonio Cofone, also known as “Cara Cara”, and a cousin to Grandpa, was apparently returning to Italy around the time of Grandma and Aunt Tessie’s arrival. The two 61

rooms he and his family occupied in Vincenzo Terranova’s house at 35 Humbert Street became vacant. Terranova’s house is also referred to as the Pitelle house. “Pitelle” is another family nickname, which loosely translated means a scar or mark. The name is believed to have applied to Vincenzo’s wife, Carmela who has been mentioned above. Several years later Antonio would become Aunt Mary’s Godfather.

Conditions at the Pitelle house were very crowded. Evidently Grandpa, Grandma and Aunt Tessie had to share the previously mentioned two rooms which had been vacated by Antonio Cofone with as many as seven other people. They remained at Pitelle’s house for several months until such time as they purchased the Nutley homestead. THIS RENOVATED HOME ON HUMBERT STREET IS THE HOUSE OF “PITELLE”. IT IS ALSO BELIEVED TO BE THE BIRTHPLACE OF UNCLE JIMMY IN 1921.

It is believed that Uncle Jimmy was born in Pitelle’s house in December of 1921 as evidenced by his baptismal record, which indicates the 35 Humbert Street address for the residence of Grandma and Grandpa. We know that the Ellen Street house was purchased in September of 1921. Why Uncle Jimmy was not born there is not actually known. One reason could be that Grandma had the support of friends in the Pitelle house that helped her through the delivery and recovery period. We do know however that Aunts Josie, Mary, and Florie were born in the Ellen Street house. Another possibility is that the Ellen Street house was undergoing some sort of renovation and was not ready to be moved into at the time of Uncle Jimmy’s birth. Recall that the structure was speculated to have been an office of some 62

sort. If this is true some modification to the structure may have been necessary to convert the space to a residence.

The Nutley House Fire It was the Nutley home that was lost due to fire. Thorough a process of deduction and elimination it was projected that the date of the fire must have been sometime in the first six months of 1926. There were several accounts regarding the fire by several immediate and extended family members. A newspaper article was also discovered and will be discussed later in the story.

One version of the story of the fire’s cause was first obtained from Grandpa’s niece, Cristina Sapporito, who told me she clearly recalled the event. It seems that supposedly a possible cousin of Grandma, Antonio Viola, had a son, Luigi Viola, who was respected as being a man of intelligence and wisdom. Luigi convinced Grandpa to purchase homeowner’s insurance for the Nutley home. The story goes that at about 1 a.m. on the evening of the fire the family had just finished making sausage at the home of Carmella di Pitelle. At some point during the evening Grandpa left for a while. It was Cristina’s suspicion that Grandpa’s absence was with the purpose of igniting the fire. It is unknown whether he departed alone or with someone else. Grandma’s sister Zia Francesca presumably also claimed that the house was deliberately set on fire however how she came to this conclusion will never be known.

According to Cristina’s account the fire occurred somewhere around 2 or 3 a.m. It seems that a person only identified as possibly a teacher, saw the flames and tried to gain entry into the home thinking that someone might still be inside. Intense flames prevented him from gaining entry. Presumably the family pet, either a cat or dog perished in the fire. 63

Christina claimed that Grandpa rolled a 25-gallon barrel of wine down a set of stairs near the rear of the house as a ploy to make it seem that the person or persons who had attempted to steal the wine started the fire. The barrel was presumably found intact sometime after the fire.

Christina claims that Grandpa, at some time shortly before the fire, buried a sewing machine, furniture, and a trunk in a deep hole somewhere on the Ellen Street property. He covered the hole with boards and dried grass.

Another story as to the cause of the fire was provided by Aunt Mary who said the following story was conveyed to her by Aunt Tessie. This account is a lot less dramatic than the version proffered by Cristina. It seems that Grandma and possibly Grandpa and perhaps Aunt Tessie as well as others were in the process of making homemade canned tomatoes when the stove burst into flames causing the house to catch fire. In this version of the event the family received $300 from insurance, which was just enough to put down on the Lyndhurst house. Aunt Tessie was 15 years old at the time of the fire and there is every reason to believe that she would have been present and involved in the process of cooking or canning tomatoes.

In a 1992 interview with Aunt Tessie she told me that she and Grandma weren’t home when the Nutley house caught fire. She claims they were at Carmine “Malarielo” Chimento’s house on Roma Street at the time of the fire, which she thought occurred in the afternoon. The Nutley homestead was described as an old house with an outhouse in the rear. Aunt Tessie believed that Grandpa was working when the fire occurred. She did not recall an exact 64

date or time of year the fire occurred but she thought that it was not too cold. She recalled being very scared. Following the fire, the family stayed for a short while with Grandpa’s niece Cristina and her husband Mike Sapporito. Cristina, who provided an earlier version of the event, was Grandpa’s niece by virtue of the fact that her mother Rosa was Grandpa’s sister.

An examination of the Nutley Fire Department records, which consisted of a handwritten blotter entry into labeled columns, reveals that on Wednesday, March 17, 1926, at 11:40 p.m. a two-story, one family house caught fire on Spurr Place. The fire was called in from fire box 52 which, according to the 1927 Nutley Directory, was located at the corner of Park Avenue and Walnut Street. The record indicates that the fire started on the first floor and that the building was lost. The record indicates that no cause of the fire was ever determined. Firemen were dismissed from the scene at 1:20 a.m. A notation in the report indicates that the fire was “well under way when the alarm was put in”. There was no address listed for the house in the official fire department records. However a thorough examination of the records by Cousin John Cafone, a Nutley Fire official, reveals that this was the only fire of a structure on Spurr Place for 1926 that could be

E XCERPT FROM P AGE 1 OF 1926 N UTLEY FD REPORT OF FIRE AT NUTLEY HOMESTEAD

found and in all likelihood was Grandpa and Grandma’s house.

The Saturday, March 20, 1926 edition of the Nutley Sun, the local newspaper, contained a story about a house fire that occurred on Spurr Place. The Nutley Sun was a weekly paper in the mid-1920s and reported on events 65

that occurred in the prior week. One can see from reading the article that there immediately appears to be some discrepancies. The residence where the fire occurred is reported to belong to Pasquale Cafone. Grandpa did have an uncle by that name that according to the Nutley Directory was believed lived at 61 Ellen Avenue, but there is no family recollection that Uncle Pasquale’s house ever caught fire. My father indicated that Uncle Pasquale’s house was located on the south side of Ellen Avenue and was the last house on the block. It was located just at the point where Ellen Avenue turns north becoming Quarry Road which eventually intersects Grant Ave. The source for information contained in the article likely came from the police or the fire department as no byline appears. It seems more credible that some of the alleged facts were just incorrect.

The newspaper account indicates that the fire occurred on the previous Wednesday. This confirms the March 17 date reflected in the fire department report. The paper also reports the address of the fire as 6 Ellen Avenue, which does not exist. This address conflicts with other information regarding the actual address of the Ellen Street house. A birth announcement for Aunt Florie that appeared in the Nutley Sun in 1925 indicates an address for the family of 80 Ellen Street. The address also appears in her baptismal record from Holy

N UTLEY S UN ARTICLE OF S ATURDAY M ARCH 20, 1926 DETAILING ACCOUNTS OF THE FIRE THAT DESTROYED THE N UTLEY

Family Church in Nutley as well at that for Aunt Mary. No direct sources for the 66

HOUSE

information in the article were ever quoted. Perhaps a typographically error can account for the misrepresentation of the address in the article. We can continue to speculate on the various reasons why the information was not reported accurately, however given the times it is not too surprising that such information could become distorted.

According to the article the two-alarm fire occurred around midnight. The fire department was initially alerted by a telephone call reporting a grass fire at the back of an automobile junk yard evidently in the area.

An attempt was made to determine is such a junk yard existed. Nutley Auto Wreckers was located 188 Washington Avenue, which is located within the boundaries of Avondale. Specifically the building was located on the east side of Washington Avenue between Viola building supply and what had formerly been the Bell Lap Tavern, situated at the northeast corner of Washington and Park Avenues. It is certainly feasible that Nutley Auto Wreckers may have had a storage lot in the near vicinity. The 1927 Nutley Directory indicated that no residences existed on Spurr Place. This was probably true for 1926 as well. So the area just east of Spurr Place and south of Grant Avenue located directly behind the Nutley properties may have indeed served as a junkyard.

As the fire apparatus was about to depart headquarters an area fire box alarm was pulled. By the time that the fire department arrived the second floor was ablaze. The fire was so intense that its glow was presumably visible from the town hall. It took the entire Nutley Fire Department more than an hour and a quarter to extinguish the fire.

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Although the walls were still standing at the end, the roof and floors had fallen. The article indicates that the damage was assessed at between $3000 and $3500 which was interestingly corresponded to what was believed by at least one handed down account to be the insurance settlement and the price of the Lyndhurst house. This assessment was compared to the fire department report which indicated the value of the building was $6000 and that the loss totaled $4000. The fire report indicates that there was $6000 insurance coverage on the building. How the fire department arrived at these figures is unknown. The fire department estimated value of the loss would tend to support an insurance claim settlement of between $3000 to $3500 and not that proposed by other accounts that placed the insurance settlement at about $300.

Another noteworthy fact contained in the newspaper article is found in the last line of the story. It read that the house was unoccupied but fully furnished. Ironically the official fire report’s entries under the columns for Value, Loss, or Insurance of contents are blank. If it is true that the house was furnished then the account of Cristina Sapporito regarding Grandpa’s burying of furniture is called into question. The furnishings probably consisted of little more than a bed or two, a table, and perhaps a few chairs and maybe a sewing machine as Cristina suggests. Cristina’s account also begs the question as to why Grandpa would not have buried everything.

Another interesting sidebar to the story that appeared in the Nutley Sun is that there had evidently been a related story written about a dog that warned residents to escape the fire at the last moment only to die in the fire itself. The last paragraph of the main article indicates that firemen, who stated that the house was fully furnished but unoccupied at the time of the fire, denied the account of the heroic dog. As mentioned earlier there was an account floating 68

around that seemed to indicate that a pet of some sort was lost in the fire but how this incredible version developed is anyone’s guess.

It is interesting to note that the fire occurred on Saint Patrick’s Day. If we are to believe the scenario that Grandpa and his cronies committed arson and then contrived a falsehood to explain the “accidental” cause as involving alleged thieves attempting to steal wine, perhaps they were rather cagy in selecting that particular day. Maybe they thought given the celebratory nature of the holiday by others outside the Italian conclave, that somehow the “Americani” who administered the town might easily believe this story. We will never know for sure.

Following the fire the family returned to live in the Pitelle house until such time that they could move into the Lyndhurst homestead.

The search for another homestead began shortly after the fire. Sources told us that Grandma did not want to remain in Avondale. She was afraid that Grandpa would continue carousing with his friends. It seems he would regularly go out at night visiting friends, some of whom were females, leaving Grandma alone at home with the children. A frequent stop would be the house of Philomena Schiecca, which was believed to be located somewhere on Humbert Street, and where Grandpa and his friends would eat goat cheese, drink wine, and sing Calabrese songs into the night. Another hangout was a bar on Park Avenue known as Pasqualina’s. It is said that often upon arriving home from work Grandpa would hang his jacket on the fence and go off to the bar.

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In the prevailing culture of the time that existed in small Italian communes such as Avondale, the husband was the breadwinner and undisputed head of the household. As such, he had free reign to do as he saw fit and go where he pleased. In many instances wives were completely subservient to their husbands and concerned themselves almost entirely with maintaining the household and raising their children. It was also not uncommon for some wives to be subjected physical abuse from their husbands. Often such abuse was a byproduct of the husband’s level of sobriety. It is not entirely known to what extent Grandpa’s demeanor compared to such a profile but it seems clear that Grandma wanted to separate him from the existing environment.

The Lyndhurst House I suspect that Grandma may have been behind what happened next. Apparently Louie Viola, possibly at Grandma’s behest, convinced Grandpa to buy another house quickly or risk losing the insurance money. A family friend, Nunziata Montalto, also known as “Pedarsa”, which loosely translated means stroke or paralysis, actually advised our grandparents that her brother Carlo was selling a new home he had built in Lyndhurst. According to records in the Bergen County Courthouse, the Lyndhurst house was purchased from Charles (Carlo) and Josephine Montalto on August 16, 1926 for the sum of $3,958.16. It is located at 209 Thomas Avenue. According to an interview with Aunt Jean in 1992, it is believed they may have first looked at a house on Sanford Avenue before settling on the Thomas Avenue house.

It is not entirely clear or substantiated, but by one account it was believed that Charlie Montalto may have been a cousin to Grandpa. Charlie was a builder and was considered a big shot by the local gentry. Aunt Tessie said that family 70

friend Pepina “a Ribichina” loaned them some of the money to buy the house, which as indicated was newly constructed.

Due to dire financial conditions brought about by the Great Depression, the Lyndhurst house was nearly lost three times. An interesting sidebar regarding the Lyndhurst house is that Grandpa filed a tax appeal with the Bergen County Board of Taxation in 1932. The house had been assessed at $2300. Grandpa won the appeal which reduced the assessed value of the home to $2000 and also reduced his property tax.

The Lyndhurst house is located at the intersection of Thomas Avenue and Riverside Avenue. In 1926 the house could best be described as a two-story wood frame structure with an open front porch. The porch was later enclosed but still functioned as a porch of sorts, acting as storage space until the late 1960’s when the area was incorporated as living space. As a child I recall the house being painted a medium gray. It is my belief that the house had been originally painted the same color. Sometime after selling the Nutley property in 1958 Grandpa had light green aluminum siding installed. Years later my father would have the siding painted gray. The home’s exterior and interior underwent several renovations over the years.

The house originally contained four rooms on each floor. Essentially the first floor consisted of a kitchen and three bedrooms. The front room closest to the front door served as the bedroom of Grandma and Grandpa. The other front room nearest the driveway was Jimmy and Louie’s room. The rear bedroom located behind the boys bedroom and adjacent to the kitchen was the girls’ bedroom. The girls shared a bed and slept head to foot. Aunt Florie and Aunt Jean being the youngest slept with her head at the foot of the bed, while Aunt 71

Mary, Aunt Josie and Aunt Tessie slept with their heads at the head of the bed. The kitchen contained a coal stove, washing machine, sink, table and icebox. The house was heated by coal. The accommodations were sparse to say the least.

The basement was unfinished and contained a coal furnace centrally located and coal bin centrally located along the rear wall. The rear corner of the basement adjacent to the driveway was where Grandpa kept his wine press and other paraphernalia which he used to make his annual stock in the fall.

THIS IS THE EARLIEST PICTURE OF THE LYNDHURST HOUSE, CIRCA LATE 1930’S. UNCLE JIMMY DONS A FLASHY BATHING SUIT AS AUNT ROSIE ADORINGLY LOOKS ON. IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY YOU WILL SEE THE” OTHER WOMAN “IN UNCLE JIMMY’S LIFE. HE USED TO REFER TO THE TATTOO OF A MERMAID ON HIS RIGHT THIGH AS HIS “GIRLFRIEND”. HE WOULD ENJOY MAKING HER “DANCE”, WHICH HE DID BY FLEXING HIS MUSCLE.

Grandpa’s wine recipe utilized both red and white grape. I believe Muscatel was the variety of red grape he used. As I recall it, the wine was very 72

rustic and very strong. I also recall how the boxes of grape where passed through the basement windows, stacked and then opened. My father and Uncle Jimmy helped in the production. Over the years some of the uncles may have also assisted. When completed the wine was stored in barrels in the area of the basement known as the “cold cellar”, which was located beneath the porch. It was separated from the rest of the basement by a concrete block wall that had a single door entry point, thereby creating a room. The room maintained a cool temperature year round ideal for aging and storing of wine. Grandma also kept preserves and other items in the room as well. Grandpa eventually added a bathroom in the other rear corner of the basement that consisted of a toilet and shower. The walls around the shower stall were made of scrap boarding.

The second floor was a rented apartment. The first tenants were the Bucceroni’s. Over the years other tenants included Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie, Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie, Annie Papalina and Annie’s brother Sammy Rosa, Harry Sparta and “Florence the Jew”, cousin Jenny Alessio and her husband who vacated when Aunt Mary was to be married, Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny, and finally, Louie and Angela.

An item of trivia that pertains to the address of the Lyndhurst house is that the house was numbered out of sequence. As one is facing the Lyndhurst house the four- family structure to the left contains the address 201 and 203 Thomas Avenue. To the right the house is numbered 205 Thomas Avenue. Likely the Lyndhurst homestead was built subsequent to those addresses previously mentioned, although a clerical error could also have been responsible for the break in continuity.

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The Lyndhurst house was located in a section of the town known as “The Hook”, a triangular shaped area bounded by Kingsland Avenue to the North, Stuyvesant Avenue to the East and Riverside Avenue to the West. There is no documentation on how that section of town got its name. Leading theories refer to either a bend in the Passaic River opposite that area of town or a bend in Riverside Avenue, in the area of Sanford and Copeland Avenues, as it enters and passes through that section of town. Around the time Grandpa purchased the Lyndhurst house The Hook section, like the Avondale section in Nutley, contained a large concentration of Italian immigrants.

Over the years I had heard the names of neighbors who lived on the block and nearby adjacent streets. From the 1930 U.S. Census we learn who some of these people were. Living in the Lyndhurst house was Grandpa, Grandma and all the kids. In the four rooms on the second floor lived Joe and Mary Rosa and their five kids. They appear to be Carmine 16, Josephine 13, Anna 11, Rose 9, and a 7 year old son whose name is not entirely legible but appears to be Sam.

At 201 Thomas Avenue, which was the left side of a four-family home, located next door the Lyndhurst house lived Martin and Margaret Sylvester and a 4 year old son whose name is not legible in the record. Immediately next door at 203 Thomas lived a young couple John and Mildred Ferraro, probably on the second floor. On the first floor were Charlie and Josephine Motaldo (sic) and their children Elizabeth 21, Ernest 13, Rose 9 and Josephine 4. I believe their last name was actually Montalto. Charlie is the same person from whom Grandpa purchased the Lyndhurst house and allegedly the same person who during the Depression alerted authorities regarding a welfare fraud allegation which resulted in Grandpa doing time on a labor farm. On the other side at 205 Thomas Avenue lived and older couple Frank and Lizzie Madato (sic). Their last name appears as Montalto in the 1940 census. 74

Up the block at 229 Thomas Avenue, which is located at the northeast corner of Thomas and Meyer Avenues was Joe and Louisa Durando and their children Louis 20, Mary 17, Angelo 13 and Nancy 7. Twenty three years later Mary would become my Godmother. The Durando’s later had a small grocery store on the first floor of their home.

The addresses 208 and 212 Paul Street were located directly behind the Lyndhurst house. Living in 208 was Sam and Rose Del Core and their children Tessie 14, Carmela 12, Rose 9, Antoinette 7, Josephine 4, Sammy 2 ½, and Carmine 6 months. Grandma and Grandpa were very close with the Del Cores. They were cumbari as either Rose or Sam or both baptized one of our aunts and uncles. Rose was simply known as cumara Rosina.

Sam Albanese, known as Sabatile, and his five children Salvatore 21, Mary 19, a 16 year old daughter whose name is illegible in the record, John 10, and Rocco 6 lived at 212 Paul Street along with his 82 year old father Salvatore. The house is located south of the Del Core home. In the house to the north of the Del Cores were Vincent and Angelina Luzzi at 204 Paul Street with their four children Louie 22, Josephine 16, Anthony 14 and Salvatore 11. At 220 Paul Street, located next to the Albaneses were Eugene and Concetta Costa and their two sons Ernest 23 and Alfred 21.

By the next decade some of the neighbors changed. In 1940 residing next door at 201 Thomas was Ludwig and Genevive Hansler and a son, William Clark. On the second floor were Joe and Mary Polito and a daughter Marian. At 203 Thomas on the first floor was Carmine and Amelia Vitteritto and their children 75

Nunzie, Jennie, Sarah, Frances and Marie. On the second floor were Pete and Kathleen Stefano. Further up the block on Thomas Avenue were the Faziola, Montalto, Vendola, Ricci, Giancarlo, Guzzo and Giaquinto families. Across the way on Riverside were the McDonnell, Coehlo, Turano, DeBonis and Busceroni families On Meyer Avenue were the Jiosi and Ferrarro families.

The rear yard of the Lyndhurst house was small and contained four attached flat roofed wooden garages. I recall that two of the garages stood were the present garage stands now. My father used to house his car in the left garage. It had dark green wooden hinged doors. The THE LYNDHURST HOUSE AS IT APPEARED IN 2004

other was rented to Angelo Pezzano, a neighbor who lived

next door at 203 Thomas Avenue. It had dark green corrugated steel, hinged doors. Attached to these garages were two others that were located directly behind the house. Of these garages, the outermost contained dark green sheet metal doors. It was referred to as Grandpa’s garage. The other, which was located between my father’s garage and Grandpa’s garage, contained no doors at all. I seem to recall that Grandpa stored piles of wood in each of these garages.

Grandpa hated to have anything done to the house. It is not really known why he felt this way. As indicated earlier, it was said that he nearly lost the house several times due largely to the poor economy during the depression. Speculation was that he had a fear that perhaps renovations might cause some 76

irreparable harm to the structure. Others thought that any major improvements could result in a property tax increase. I recall one event in the early 1960s when my parents wanted to add a closet in their bedroom on the second floor of the house. Arrangements were made to have Uncle Jimmy come and get Grandpa and keep him occupied for several hours. I believe it was one of the Simone cousins and perhaps one of our uncles who came to construct the closet in haste. The last thing anyone wanted was for Grandpa to come home to find work on going. I do not think Grandpa ever learned of the project.

There were four other children who were born after the family moved to Lyndhurst. As far as we know at least two were born in hospitals. Louie was born in 1926 in Passaic General Hospital. Next born was Alfonso in 1928, who died within a few days, and Angelo in 1929 who only lived a few months. Based upon information in their death certificates it is believed both were born at home. According to information provided by one of the aunts, one if not both, had been waked in the house. Finally, Jean in 1932 was also born in Passaic General Hospital.

The Nutley property remained in the family until December 30, 1958 at which time it was sold to Amedeo and Josephine De Berardinis. The story goes that Christina Sapporito’s and her husband wanted to buy the property from Grandpa but he refused to sell them the property. Evidently he had some sort of disagreement with the Sapporito’s; some say he disliked their moral character. Supposedly the De Berardinis’ were a front for the Sapporito’s and sometime after purchasing the property from Grandpa they sold the property to John and Jennie Casiello (nee Sapporito).

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As per Grandpa’s wish the Lyndhurst house was eventually inherited by Louie in August of 1967. The house has undergone several renovations over the years including a new garage, front brick face, an expansion that included a master bedroom and bath at the rear of the house. Louie lived there until his death in April of 2011. His wife and my mom, Angela, still live there to this day.

LYNDHURST HOUSE (RED CIRCLE) NEAR INTERSECTION OF RIVERSIDE AND THOMAS AVENUE WITH ADJACENT NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS.

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Chapter 7- Our Grandparents’ Family & Ancestors Thus far we can trace some lines of our family back seven and possibly eight generations beginning with my generation, the second American born generation. Chronologically this extends some of our family’s ancestral lines to the last quarter of the 1700s, which we have been able to establish by extrapolating age information provided in records from early the1800s. There is however a practical limit on how far back we can go. Vital records in Acri did not begin until February 1809. Baptismal records existed through the Church, but not birth records. Given the relatively high infant mortality rate that existed at the time, of which people were intuitively aware, and the prevailing religious beliefs of the region, it would seem plausible that most baptisms during the 19th and early 20th centuries were conducted close to time of birth, often within days.

The Cosenza Archive Web site and as well as the Latter Day Saints database are the major sources of the information to follow. Both contain some records that date back to the early 1800s. Most towns in the province of Cosenza, of which Acri is a part, did not begin keeping vital records until as stated above about 1809. When Napoleon Bonaparte conquered southern Italy he instituted the Napoleonic Code there and required vital records to be kept. After his defeat, many towns stopped keeping those records until Italian unification in 1869. Thankfully Acri was not one of those towns, thus we have information going back to the early 1800s. As indicated above the only possible way to obtain factual data and advance the lines further back would be by a painstaking manual review of church records, provided they still exist and are accessible. Over the centuries events such as wars and natural catastrophes have certainly obliterated some records. Cemetery records dating back to the 1800s and early 1900s are virtually non-existent. It is not like it is here in the U.S. 79

where you can often find your ancestor's tombstone. In Italy, it is common to rent a grave for twenty years or so. When the time is up, the corpse is often dug up and put in a communal grave so the rented grave can be reused. Remember, Italian towns have been around for much longer than our towns and they don't have the space for every corpse after many centuries.

To come up with some of the dates reflected in the sections to follow an extrapolation was made that considered reported ages contained in birth, death and marriage records. Generally the age is subtracted from the date of a documented event to arrive at an estimated year of birth. In viewing the various records, ages are given throughout each document not only for the person who is the subject of the document but also the parents, where applicable, and any witnesses to the particular event. The question that arises is how accurately does the reported age reflect the actual ages of the persons named in a particular document? The general rule on how to treat ages reported in the old documents was provided to me by Ed Bronejko, who was mentioned earlier in the acknowledgement section as being an authority on the 19th century Italian records from Acri and who provided me with copies of many of the old documents tracing our family’s roots. According to Ed, treat ages ending in zero as “about”. For example, about thirty, etc. Treat ages ending in six as “mid” age. For example, mid-twenty, mid-thirty, etc. Also, as you get past forty, the midages decrease leaving mostly ages ending in zero, such as 60, 70, and 80. While you will see many "exact" ages in the twenties and thirties, such as 22, 28, 31, etc., you almost never see similar ages around sixty, seventy, or eighty. So, younger ages are more likely to be correct, unless they end in zero or six!

I have tried to break down the various connections to make them easier to follow, however it can still be challenging. I have also tried to relate the 80

regression of our ancestors to my generation, the second American born generation. If your generation happens to succeed mine just keep adding “greats” until you arrive at your generation. Attached to this document will be an appendix that will present the information in tabular form.

We begin with Grandpa and Grandma individually and work backward as far as records will allow. Thus far, as indicated, we have been able to trace back some of our lineage to the late 1700s. My sister Rose Ann has been maintaining what is commonly referred to as a family tree beginning with the children of Grandma and Grandpa. I hope to one day find a way to integrate that effort with this historical account.

In putting this chapter together I discovered, or I should say corroborated, a major historical fact I had heard once from Aunt Rosie wherein she told me that Grandpa and Grandma were cousins. You’ll see this interesting connection later on but first let’s begin our exploration with a discussion of the area of Italy where our family originated and what little we know about how our early ancestors lived.

The Family’s Geographic Origins Our Grandparents came from the town of Acri in the southern Italian state of Calabria. Calabria is located at the tip of the Italian peninsula; it borders with the Italian state of Basilicata and stretches between the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Ionian Sea in the 81

M AP OF I TALY WITH THE I TALIAN STATE OF C ALABRIA CIRCLED

direction of Sicily from which it is divided by the Strait of Messina. Calabria is familiarly described as the toe and instep of the boot-like Italian peninsula.

Brief Ancient History A brief history of Acri is contained in Wikipedia. A few interesting facts from that accounting are presented below for your edification. Amidst all the historical events is a fascinating piece of information that establishes a direct Cofone connection to the return of stability to the town of Acri in the eleventh century.

The area that encompasses Acri has been inhabited since the Neolithic period (3500-2800 BC). Acri sided with Hannibal against Rome during the “War Against Hannibal” which lasted from 218 to 201 B.C. but was besieged by the Romans in 203 BC. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Acri became part of several kingdoms until it was once again overwhelmed, ransacked and almost completely destroyed during the Gothic War in 542. It was as if history repeated itself numerous times during the course of the next five hundred years as the town was again and again beleaguered, looted and conquered numerous times. It was not until the city fell under the control of the Norman, Robert Guiscard, who in 1074 assigned the city to Count Simone Cofone, that a stable government returned and a sense of stability returned.

The stability that Count Cofone brought to the town was not enduring lasting perhaps less than fifty years. Over the succeeding centuries Acri saw its share of conflict, devastation, pillage killing and natural disasters interspersed with occasional periods of prosperity. Some events were horrific such as when the St. Maria Maggiore Church, the very church where many of our Cofone 82

ancestors were baptized and married, was set fire with women and children inside or when medieval military commanders and certain nobility were sawed alive in the public square. Fortunately unification came to Italy and Acri in the 1860s and a more lasting stability took hold.

It is interesting to ponder whether Count Simone Cofone could be a direct descendant; however the truth is that we will probably never know. Tracing back our lines to the eleventh century does not seem plausible. But if he was a relative, the question that begs an answer is what happened over the course of the next six or seven hundred years that resulted in a Cofone family descent from nobility to nearly the lowest social strata? An amusing and somewhat ironic side bar at this point is the Simone-Cofone connection. I couldn’t help but think about Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie and how fascinated they would have probably been to learn of the Count.

Acri Geography The town of Acri, which was built on three hills overlooking the Mucone and Chàlamo rivers on the edge of Sila National Park, is located in the province of Cosenza. Acri is very large encompassing an area of approximately 78 square miles (202 km2). As of this writing the population stands at about T HE TOWN OF A CRI (I N CIRCLE ) LOCATED IN THE I TALIAN STATE OF C ALABRIA

22,000 people but has been showing a descending trend since 2010.

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Acri contains approximately fifty one “frazione” or territorial sub divisions. These smaller villages and hamlets are located in the countryside that surrounds the main township. More specifically, the countryside T HE MAIN TOWN OF A CRI SERVES AS THE HUB OF MANY “ FRAZIONE " SUCH AS THOSE FROM WHICH OUR GRANDPARENTS CAME .

region where our Grandparents came from is

located on the north bank of the Mucone River, generally southwest from the town of Acri proper. Many Italians from Acri refer to the region as “chi la bana Mucone” meaning the other side of the Mucone River. Generally speaking the terrain is best described as mountainous and heavily wooded and interspersed with farm land.

The region of the Acri countryside where Grandma was born is known as “la Serricella”. Grandpa came from the Acri region of “Policaretto”. Sericella and Policaretto are located about 1.7 miles (2.8 km) and 2.7 miles (4.3 km) from Acri, respectively as the crow flies. The villages are separated by

L OCATION OF GRANDPA ’S HOME VILLAGE OF P OLICARETTO WITH RESPECT TO S ERRICELLA , WHICH WAS G RANDMA ’S HOME VILLAGE , AND THE LARGER MUNICIPALITY OF A CRI .

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about a mile of mountainous terrain. Sericella is located at a height of 2,362 feet (720 m) above sea level while Policaretto is located at 2,625 feet (800 m). Each of these villages has a small population. Most recently Serricella reported 117 residents while Policaretto has 87. During the time of our Grandparents upbringing both villages probably had more residents. It could take a day’s walk to get from Acri to the region of Serricella. The preceding map shows the geographic relationship of these various regions.

Demographics At the time our Grandparents lived there, the inhabitants of their respective villages were generally farmers (contadino), herdsmen (bovaro), laborers (bracciale) and yarn spinners (filatrice) and, for all intents and purposes, were living off the land. Occasionally some of our ancestors possessed trade skills such as a tailor (sarto) or a carpenter (falegname). Generally however, people that possessed trade skills lived in the more developed area of Acri proper.

Additionally, most of the people who lived out in the country during the time of our Grandparents and their ancestors were illiterate. This created problems in verification or validation of information at the time it was recorded. Communication was entirely verbal. The families of the outer regions knew that any time a birth, death, or marriage occurred it was to be reported to the municipal authority in Acri. The reporting requirement was not done in all cases as evidenced, at least in part, by a lack of records. When it was done there were occasions when the names were not entirely understood by those recording the information and so derivatives of the family names emerged. Being illiterate, there was no way our ancestors could confirm a spelling. Keep in mind also that 85

the actual birth and death dates may have been days, weeks, or in some cases perhaps months before documented dates. People from the outer regions had to traverse to Acri proper to make the required government notification. The sojourn to the main town was treacherous in the best of times and could take days on foot. During winter the journey was even more perilous, easily increasing the travel time. To remain in compliance with local law, those reporting births and death often contrived dates that fell within the statutory requirements.

As you read about marriages keep in mind that in Italy at this period of time, a couple needed to get married twice (usually on the same day, but not always) - once in church to fulfill their religious obligations and once at the town hall to fulfill their civil obligations. If they did not marry at the town hall, their children were legally considered illegitimate and could not inherit.

The Italian Homestead Grandpa’s family lived in a three room stone and stucco house. During the winter months, part of the living quarters served as a make shift barn,

I NTERIOR OF C OFONE HOMESTEAD . HEARTH USED FOR COOKING AND HEAT .

E XTERIOR OF C OFONE HOMESTEAD IN A CRI COUNTRYSIDE AS IT APPEARED IN 2002

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housing goats, sheep and chickens. Cooking was done in a hearth, which also supplied heat in the winter.

As of 2002 the structure was still standing and was being used for storage. As you can see from the photos, the building has more or less fallen into disrepair. Standing inside the house gave me a strange and rather emotional feeling as I thought about Grandpa, his parents and siblings and ancestors living in these small quarters. I realized that this structure represented the cradle of our family’s beginning. I felt lucky to have been there seeing it first-hand. There was no way to date the premises. I asked my cousin George and his brother who estimated that the home had been here hundreds of years.

I was lead to believe that the house where Grandma was born and grew up in was similar in design. I was told that it had been destroyed long ago and none of the structure remained. Should I ever return to this area again I would like to at least visit the place where it once stood.

Ancestral Lines We begin our journey back in time with Grandpa’s family. This is the portion of our family’s history where we trace our origins as far back as records will allow. At the outset I must confess that there is more information that we do not know than what is presented below, in large part due to the unavailability of records. Having said this, the quantity of information that appears below is dramatically and considerably greater than what was known and presented in the first edition. Where documentation does not exist, connections were deduced or reasoned. In some cases an element of speculation was employed to suggest possible connections. I tried to make it clear where such license was taken. 87

Added at the end of each section of our Grandparents respective family lines is a Pedigree Chart. It will probably be helpful to print it out and/or refer to it when reading about our ancestral lines beginning with our Great Grandparents. As the old adage goes, “you can’t tell a player without a score card” and believe me, if there is one lesson I learned doing this aspect of the research is that things can easily become convoluted and confusing when trying to make the connection between generations.

NATALE COFONE Immediate Family Father – Vincenzo Cofone b. February 24, 1856, d. After 1924 Mother – Teresa Fabbricatore b. September 1, 1856, d. January 11, 1904 Step Mother – Maria Cristina Gabriele b. around 1882, d. After 1924

We know from Grandpa’s birth record that his father was Vincenzo Cofone born February 24, 1856 at 2 a.m. at contrada di la Morrone [la Morrone street], Acri. He was baptized on the 26th of February 1856 at the church of Santa Maria in Acri. A death record for Vincenzo could not be located however based on the birth of his last child, from a second marriage discussed below, we can conclude he died sometime after 1924 indicating that he was at least 68 years old at the time of his death.

Grandpa’s mother’s name was Teresa Fabbricatore and she was born on September 1, 1856. An Acri death record indicates that she died on January 11, 1904. She was 47 at the time of her death. She was Vincenzo’s first wife.

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Thus far a marriage record for Vincenzo and Teresa could not be located. The birth records of four of Vincenzo's children (Angelo, Maria Rosa, Natale, and Grazia) indicate Vincenzo and Teresa were married. The birth record of the middle child, Maria Giuseppa, indicates an illegitimate birth, which is a bit perplexing. To be considered a legitimate birth the parents must have been married civilly. If they did not marry at the town hall, their children were legally considered illegitimate and could not inherit.

Teresa gave birth to at least five children;

Angelo Angelo was born on February 19, 1880. As of yet we are not quite sure of when Angelo died. According to information provided by Aunt Rosie, it was said that Angelo met his demise relative to an altercation over a woman.

Maria Rosa Maria Rosa, known in the U.S. as “Za Rosa”, meaning Aunt Rose, was born on August 11, 1882. She was probably named for her grandmother Maria Celico and one or both of her great grandmothers either Rosa Coschignano or Rosa Sammara. The birth record of Maria Rosa Cofone had a margin notation referencing her Acri marriage to Giovanni Giuseppe Coschignano on the 13th of June 1901. It appears that Giovanni Giuseppe Coschignano and Maria Rosa Cofone had two daughters. The eldest was Nunziata Coschignano and she was born on March 19, 1902 and the youngest Cristina probably born in 1905. Cristina immigrated to the U.S. around 1920 where she married. She has previously been identified as Cristina Sapporito. It is also believed that Rosa

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married a second time after coming to the United States possibly to someone by the last name Solitto.

It appears that Rosa immigrated to the U.S. on July 16, 1908 aboard the SS Venezia. She is listed in the manifest as Rosa Cafone. She is also listed as being 26 years of age, which corresponds with her known and documented date of birth. The record indicates that her father’s name was Vincenzo. Her marital status is listed as widowed. On page 1 of her passenger record it indicates that he final destination was NY, NY. It is not clear if this entry only refers to the port of arrival. According to the manifest, Rosa was going to visit her brother-in-law Fedele Coschignano at an address in NY. The number of the residence is 29 but the name of the street is not clearly discernible. It appears to begin with a C and possible ends in a d. An “X” in the left margin next to Rosa’s name indicates that she may have been detained by Ellis Island officials and indeed she was until her brother-in-law came to retrieve her later in the day.

Rosa’s daughter, Nunziata Coschignano, who was 6 years old when Rosa came to the U.S., did not arrive in America until nearly twelve years after her mother immigrated. On June 9, 1920 she arrived on board the SS Duca Degli Abruzzi. The manifest spells her first name as Nunzia. She was 18 years old at the time. Her passenger record also indicates that her grandfather was Vincenzo and that she was heading to Nutley. It also stated that her mother was Rosa and that Rosa paid her daughter’s passage. Typed in the box that indicated that she was going to see her mother was an address of 16th Street, Jersey (sic) NJ. Perhaps the notation is referring to Jersey City. However a hand written notation shows an address of 204 Paul Street, Lyndhurst, NJ. Nunziata’s record also indicates that she may have been detained and then later admitted, however no detention record for Nunziata could be located. 90

Nunziata was not traveling alone. Her sister Cristina, who was 15 years old at the time, was also traveling with her. As previously indicated, Cristina was none other than Cristina Sapporito, Grandpa’s niece, who had provided me with an interview in 1992. Cristina was also detained but like her sister, no detention record could be located.

Nunizata and Cristina occupied lines 22 and 23, respectively in the passenger record. A bracket was hand written in the first name space in the manifest that connected lines 22 to 25 indicating that Nunizata and Cristina may also have been traveling with Santa Morrone, 35 years of age, and her daughter Filomena Sporato (sic) 10 years of age also from Acri. There is no indication that Santa and Filomena were related to Nunziata and Cristina. Both Santa and her daughter were heading to Westerly RI. In the box for “Race and People” a written notation for Santa indicates “US Cit” (sic), implying that she is a U.S. citizen. Column 8 on page 1 of the ship’s manifest indicates that Santa cannot read or write. It also indicates any exemption for which the word “husband’ appears. For Filomena the exemption listed is father. It is my belief that this exemption indicates that Santa’s husband, Vincenzo Sposato, was probably a U.S. citizen living at 75 Pleasant Street, Westerly RI. The record indicates that everyone in this traveling party intended to remain permanently in the U.S. and hoped to become citizens.

Interestingly just beneath Filomena’s entry on line 26, the name Francesco Morrone appears. Francesco was 40 years of age and also from Acri and was also heading to Westerly, RI to visit a brother Angelo who lived at Stillman Avenue. Francesco had a wife named Maria. There is no indication whether or not he was related to Santa. The interesting aspect about Santa and 91

Francesco is that their last name and their intended destination of Westerly coincide with a notation in Grandpa’s passenger list entry that he was going to Niantic (later to become part of Westerly) to see an Uncle Salvatore Morrone. It remains to be seen if Salvatore, Santa, and Francesco are related to each other and to Grandpa’s family.

Maria Giuseppa Maria Giuseppa known as Pepina was born on June 11, 1885. She too was named at least in part after her grandmother Maria Celico. Pepina is believed to have married to Genio Cirallo; Strangely as indicated earlier, Maria Guiseppa’s birth record indicates an illegitimate birth. It is anyone’s guess why this is the case.

Natale Our grandfather Natale was born on December 11, 1888 and died on December 22, 1966 at the age of 78 in Fair Lawn Memorial hospital, which no longer exists, from stomach cancer.

Grazia Grazia was born July 8, 1892. It is believed that she arrived in the U.S. on April 1, 1913 aboard the SS Stampalia. She was 20 years of age at the time of her arrival. Her passenger record indicates that her parents and brothers were still in Italy. We know that this information is partially incorrect. Grazia had only two brothers. Natale was already in the U.S. We are not sure when Angelo was killed, so it may be that he was still alive at the time, as were her parents. Page one of Grazia’s passenger record indicates that her final destination was Brooklyn, NY. Page 2 of the record indicates she was going to see her sister 92

Rosa who lived at 131 Hudson Street. No town or city is provided so we consider the more common destination for Italian immigrants. Recall her sister Rosa’s destination was NY, NY. There is also a Hudson Street in Manhattan, so we next direct our attention to Brooklyn. As can be best determined there was and is no Hudson Street in Brooklyn. There is however a Hudson Avenue which is located near the Manhattan Bridge. Another speculated possibility is that Grazia’s final destination may have been Humbert Street in the Avondale section of Nutley, which is the area where her sister Rosa eventually settled. It may be that somehow Humbert got translated to mean Hudson by Ellis Island officials.

Grazia eventually married Pasquale Festa. From the 1927 Nutley directory we know they lived at 12 Humbert Street. It is said that Pasquale committed suicide by hanging. Some speculate that Grazia’s promiscuous conduct lead Pasquale’s demise. Specifically a rumored liaison with an Avondale man known as Mici (pronounced Meech), who real name is believed to have been Frank Fabbricatore, may have been the impetus for Pasquale’s desperate act.

Grazia and Pasquale had four children, Tessie, Carmela, Luigi and Antonio. Carmela’s marriage name is Garofalo. She had a son Hank and three daughters Patty, Barbara and Camile. She lived on Copeland Avenue in Lyndhurst next to the Mt Carmel church until her death in the fall of 2012. Her late brother Lou lived directly across the street from the church also on Copeland Avenue. Lou and his brother Tony, who is also deceased, were milkmen.

Grazia died in March of 1978 at the age of 85. According to the Social Security Death Index her place of death is indicated as Belleville, NJ. This suggests that she probably died in Clara Maas Hospital, which is located in Belleville. 93

Other Children There were also rumors of other children for Vincenzo and Teresa. Michele and perhaps Maria may also have been born to Vincenzo and Teresa, however no birth record could be found. All of Grandpa’s full blooded siblings have died and the death years of some of them have yet to be determined.

Vincenzo Cofone and Cristina Gabriele Vincenzo married a second time to Maria Cristina Gabriele. My great-aunt, Marietta Cofone, said that her mother’s first name was Cristina and was probably not aware of her full birth name. Maria Cristina was also known by the nickname “la balleretta”. Vincenzo's marriage to Christina Gabriele produced at least six or seven children.

In order of birth the children are: Annunziata in 1903 who later married Giuseppe Cofone who was also born in 1903 and is the brother of my Great-Uncle Nunziato Cofone. She is believed to have died around 1983; She is believed to have been the product of Cristina’s first marriage. The next child was Rosaria in 1907, who married Salvatore Liguori, and is believed to have died circa 1950;

The next child was Angelo who was born in 1909. He G RANDPA ’S S TEPMOTHER – C RISTINA “L A B ALLERETTA ”, (PHOTO COURTESY OF Z IA M ARIETTA C OFONE )

later married Anina Ferraro, and is believed to have died in 1975. Angelo’s birth record contained some

interesting and perhaps revealing information regarding the relationship of Vincenzo and Cristina. Firstly his surname is indicated as Gabriele and not 94

Cofone. Additionally, a father for Angelo is not given and the informant of the birth is his mother Cristina. In virtually all the birth records I have observed the usual informant has typically been the father. Angelo’s birth record goes on to list Cristina’s age as 27 making her birth year around 1882. Her occupation is listed as Contadina and we also learn she is the daughter of Pietro Gabriele.

The fact that no father is listed makes this an illegitimate birth. Interestingly there is a margin notation on the document that indicates that on May 13, 1920 parents Vincenzo Cofone & M. Cristina Gabriele were married in Acri. The findings here suggest that although living together and parenting several children, Vincenzo and Cristina did not marry civilly at least for a number of years.

I believe the marriage date indicated on Angelo’s birth record is correct as it also appears as a margin entry on the birth record of his sister Rosaria in 1907. One interpretation of this fact would suggest that 5 of these births were illegitimate. I am assuming that Vincenzo sired all children from Rosaria forward.

I am confident, but not certain, that Vincenzo’s relationship with Cristina did not begin until after the death of his first wife Teresa Fabbricatore, who based on her death record died in 1904. This would lead me to conclude that Annunziata born in 1903 is likely the product of Cristina’s other marriage which pre-dated her marriage to Vincenzo.

It however may be that Vincenzo and Cristina initially had a church wedding and not a civil ceremony in which case, at least morally speaking, their children were not illegitimate. Such evidence has yet to be determined. 95

Following Angelo was another son Michele born in 1914, who married Rosaria Gabriele, and is believed to have died around 1972; He was followed by Anina in 1917, who later married Pasquale Cofone, and died around 2009.

The next child was Marietta who was born in 1919 and who in 1941 married Annunziato Cofone, whom we have been referring to as Nunziato Cofone. Uncle Annunziato was the brother of Giuseppe Cofone, Annunziata’s husband.

We also learned that Annunziato and Marietta were cousins. Annunziato’s father, Giuseppe, and Marietta’s grandfather, Luigi, were brothers.

G RANDPA ’S SISTER Z IA M ARIETTA AND Z IA A NNUNZIATO AND FAMILY CIRCA EARLY 1960 S . S EATED L TO R - Z IA M ARIETTA , F ILOMENA , R OSARIA , DOMINIC . S TANDING L TO R - A NGELINA , P EPE , R OSETTA AND Z IO A NNUNZIATO . A NOTHER DAUGHTER LISA WAS BORN LATER .

Annunziato and Marietta migrated to the U.S. in on January 12, 1961 with their six children. They first lived in on Roma Street in Nutley. Later they lived on Passaic Avenue in Nutley but moved to Florida for several years only to return to Passaic Avenue. The family endured much hardship over the years. Of the seven children Annunziato and Marietta produced only three Angela, Rosaria and Lisa remain, the others having succumbed to untimely deaths. Zio Annunziato died in October of 2012. 96

Following Marietta, Bomina was born in 1924. She was known as “Cerchiara” and later married Eugenio Cofone, and is believed to have died in 2007.

As you can see from viewing the names of spouses, there appears to be several inter-family marriages in this line. At this point some of the actual lines establishing such connections are not entirely clear. Based on what uncle Annunziato told me, not all of the spouses with the Cofone surname were related to Grandpa’s family.

There may also have been additional children however records have yet to be found regarding Vincenzo’s second marriage and the children he sired. The family endured with much tragedy as is conveyed in some of the following accounts.

The first-born son was Angelo who later married a woman named Anina Ferraro. Angelo met an untimely end. He was murdered at the hands of fellow Shepard. After falling asleep out in a field, Angelo was struck in the head with a hatchet by another Shepard known as Vincenzo “di la Lupo” (of the wolf). The other Shepard had stolen a bell from one of Angelo’s sheep and replaced it with a different bell.

One night while Angelo and Vincenzo where out in the fields tended to the sheep they began removing corn silk from corn as was their custom. Angelo recognized his bell on one of the sheep in the Vincenzo’ herd and reclaimed the bell. This evidently enraged Vincenzo who waited for Angelo to fall asleep and 97

then stuck Angelo in the head with a hatchet. Upon being struck Angelo awoke. He realized what happened. He wrapped his arm around his head and walked home profusely bleeding. When he got near his sister Rosa’s home he was crawling and he called out to her and fell dead.

The Italians of that time had a strange custom of naming children after deceased siblings and so a second Angelo was born. Angelo 2 died when a tractor he was driving rolled over and came to rest on him. He was probably in his twenties at the time.

Another brother, Michele was about 2 years old when he either fell or was pushed into boiling water O NE OF G RANDPA ' S STEPBROTHERS , A NGELO (#2) WAS KILLED AFTER A TRACTOR FELL ON HIM . T HE ACTUAL LOCATION OR DATE OF THE PHOTO IS UNKNOWN . C IRCA IS THE EARLY 1900 S. (P HOTO COURTESY OF Z IA M ARIETTA C OFONE )

and subsequently died. While Grandpa’s stepmother was making bread she set a hanging cauldron of

water in the fireplace. It is believed that several hungry dogs may have been trying to lick up flour that spilled onto the floor near the cauldron and somehow in the process caused the child to fall into the cauldron. Grandpa’s stepmother must have heard the child screaming and somehow managed to get him out of the cauldron. She laid him on the bed and placed lard on his blisters and his hanging skin. An attempt was made to get him into Acri proper for some medical help but he died en route.

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Another brother also named Michele died in World War 1 of Cholera.

A third Michele came along and is listed above. As indicated he was married a woman named Rosaria Gabriele. There is a conflicting year of death of 2002 which at some juncture will need to be resolved.

At some point following the birth of their last child, Vincenzo was believed to have either died or abandoned the family.

Natale Cofone’s Ancestors Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Grandparents Luigi Cofone - b. March 30, 1825, d. August 6, 1889 Maria Celico - b. October 20, 1833, d. June 7, 1874

Grandpa’s father Vincenzo’s parents were Luigi Cofone, who was baptized on March 30, 1825, and reportedly Maria Coschignano who was born October 30, 1833. Luigi is reported to be thirty and Maria is reported to be twenty-four at the time of Vincenzo's birth in 1856. Luigi’s occupation is indicated as “contadino” [peasant farmer] and Maria’s occupation is indicated as “filatrice” [textile spinner].

A search for the marriage of Luigi Cofone and Maria Coschignano had initially been unsuccessful. A preliminary thought was that perhaps Luigi Cofone and Maria Coschignano married and had children in another town, then moved to Acri where their last child, Vincenzo, was born. While this seemed a possibility, 99

the ages of Luigi and Maria seem too young for this to have occurred. Another idea was that no marriage took place. And finally, another view was that it could be that some of the information on the Vincenzo’s birth record was not accurate, thereby precluding a successful attempt to document the marriage. As will be demonstrated below, this later reason had the most merit for explaining the lack of the marriage record between Luigi and Maria. However it was in researching Luigi’s parents that his birth, death and marriage information was revealed.

While checking for siblings of Vincenzo, several births in that time period with a father Luigi Cofone and mother Maria Celico were located. One speculation is that there might be an error on Vincenzo's birth record regarding his mother's surname. While searching for Luigi Cofone's marriage to Maria Coschignano, a record was found for the marriage of Luigi Cofone and Maria Celico.

The data from that marriage indicates that Luigi and Maria were wed on August 27, 1848 at the church of Santa Maria in Acri. Luigi was 21 at the time and Maria was 14. The record allowed us to infer that Luigi was born around 1827 and Maria around 1834. Both estimations are close to what is believed to be the actual birth years. As indicated earlier Luigi was born on March 30, 1825.

A birth record for Maria Celico indicates that she was born on October 20, 1833 in Vallonecupo a frazione of Acri located approximately four miles north of the main town. She was apparently the second Maria born to her parents Angelo Celico and Rosa Coschignano. It appears she also had a sister born on May 19, 1811. The death record for the first Maria indicates she died on September 15, 1832 at the age of 26 which can be interpreted as the mid-twenties. If her birth year is correct, then her actual age at death was 21. Her occupation was listed 100

as filatrice. The record also indicates that her parents Angelo and Rosa are still alive.

On his marriage record Luigi’s occupation was listed as a “bovaro” which translates to herdsman. This occupation differs from that on Vincenzo's birth record (contadino). The two records are ten years apart and his occupation might have changed.

We also learn from the marriage record that Luigi’s parents were Nunziato Cofone and Anna Cozzolino

As stated above, Maria Celico's father is Angelo and her mother is Rosa Coschignano. The hypothesis is that when Luigi Cofone went to the town hall to record the birth of his son, Vincenzo, the clerk asked him the name of his wife. Luigi answered Maria. The clerk asks what the mother's family name is. Luigi, thinking he is referring to his wife's mother, Rosa, answers Coschignano. Thus Vincenzo's mother is recorded as Maria Coschignano instead of Maria Celico. Since most Italians were illiterate at this time, Luigi probably had no idea what was written on this birth record.

Though plausible, this theory was only a speculation that could not be proven until a conversation I had with my great-uncle Nunziato Cofone. Uncle Nunziato was nephew of Vincenzo and he told me that Vincenzo had at least two or possibly three brothers. Uncle Nunziato’s grandfather, and his namesake, was Vincenzo’s brother along with Santo and Pasquale. In checking Acri Cofone births between 1845 and 1865 where the parents are listed as Luigi Cofone and Maria Celico we find six births; Pasquale who was born on October 21, 1850, 101

Santo born on November 13, 1852, my great grandfather Vincenzo born on February 24, 1856, another Pasquale born on April 29, 1859, Giuseppe born on April 5, 1862 and Nunziato born on June 9, 1865. The second Pasquale is likely a rename of the first Pasquale who probably died at a young age. In fact, citations for two possibilities for the first Pasquale’s death were found, one in 1851 and another in 1854. Renaming a subsequent sibling for a pre-deceased sibling seems to be a common practice of the time.

The information provided by Great-Uncle Nunziato helped prove that the birth record of my great-grandfather, Vincenzo Cofone, had a clerical error regarding the mother's name. The marriage record of my great-uncle's Grandparents, Nunziato Cofone and Marianna Mancuso was located and it showed that they married on May 10, 1891. The record lists Nunziato's parents as Luigi Cofone and Maria Celico. This, along with great-uncle Nunziato’s testimony that Nunziato and Vincenzo were brothers proves the clerical error. The fact that Luigi Cofone and Maria Celico had children before and after the birth of Vincenzo all but eliminates the possibility that Vincenzo was a halfbrother to Nunziato.

It is believed that Luigi Cofone died on August 6, 1889 evidently at his home located on Contrada Crista. It is estimated that Luigi died at approximately the age of 64. He was predeceased by his wife Maria Celico who died on June 7, 1874 at the age of 41.

Another observation from the Luigi and Maria marriage record is that their respective parents were probably born shortly after the turn of the 19th century.

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Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Great-Grandparents Annunziato Cofone – b. March 7, 1796, d. After 1847 Anna Elenora Cozzolino – b. Circa 1803, d. After 1847

From Grandpa’s grandparents Luigi Cofone and Maria Celico marriage record we learn that Grandpa’s paternal great grandparents were Annunziato Cofone and Anna Elenora Cozzolino. They are Grandpa’s father’s, father’s parents.

Nunziato, as he was known, was baptized on March 7, 1796 in the Chiesa di San Nicola di Sales, Acri. His actual birth date was probably within a few days preceding his baptism.

Anna Cozzolino’s allegati record indicates that she was christened in 1803 which likely corresponds to the year of her birth. This record also contained the names of her parents Saverino Cozzolino and Rafaela Cofone. A citation for the possible death record of Anna indicates that she died on June 14, 1852 at the age of about 50 years. This estimated death year agrees with her believed birth year. It also follows the birth of their last child in 1847.

Annunziato and Anna had bans of matrimony dated September 21 and 28, 1818 and their marriage took place on October 19, 1818. Annunziato was 23 and Anna was 15 years of age when they wed.

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Annunziato and Anna produced eleven children who are identified as follows: Mariangela, born August 20, 1820; Maria Francesca, christened November 17, 1822; Luigi, christened March 30, 1825. As you will find further on it was from both Luigi and Maria Francesca Cofone that we are also descended; Rosa who was christened November 11, 1827; Domenica, christened September 12, 1830;

Up to this point all the children had been baptized in the Chiesa di San Nicola di Belvedere, which is the same church where their parents had been married as evidenced by a notation on the bottom of second page of the marriage record. The remaining six children were baptized in Chiesa di Santa Chiara which was founded in 1724 and is still exists. Why a different church was selected is not presently known. It may be that the family relocated to different area of Acri or perhaps some calamity befell the Chiesa di San Nicola di Belvedere leaving the family no choice but to move to another church.

Following Domenica was Maria Rafaela, christened March 12, 1833; Giuseppe, baptized September 20, 1835; Nicola, baptized May 25, 1837; Angela, christened April 29, 1840; Another Giuseppe, baptized May 7, 1844, which typically indicates that the first Giuseppe was already dead; and finally Francesco, who was born on March 1, 1847 and baptized two days later.

At the time of his wife’s presumed date of death Annunziato would have been 58 years old. Francesco, the youngest child, would have been three. We do not know if Annunziato ever remarried, but likely one or some of his older children helped raise their younger siblings.

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There are a few additional items regarding Annunziato that may require further inquiry in the future. Firstly, in viewing birth documents of his presumed first child in 1820 and his last child in 1847, it is learned that his occupation was indicated as a “bovaro” or a herdsman. In the region of Acri where our ancestors originated, being a bovaro meant that Nunziato likely tended sheep. The listing of bovaro is in contrast to Nunziato’s marriage record and the birth records of the remaining children where his occupation is listed as “Bracciale” (laborer). One possibility is that we may be looking at two different men by the name of Nunziato who sired children with two different women, both of whom were named Anna Cozzolino. Another possibility is that he could have switched occupations or somehow his occupation was misconstrued at the time he registered the birth of his children. Nunziato’s father’s occupation is listed as a contadino on Nunziato’s marriage record, indicating that Nunziato did not follow in his father’s occupation.

The second interesting item pertaining to Nunziato is a possible December 12, 1848 death citation wherein his occupation is given as a bracciale. The age of death reflected in the record is 46 years of age which can be taken to mean the mid-forties. Using Nunziato’s birth or marriage record as a starting point and realizing that the earlier records probably are more accurate with respect to age representation, we would expect Nunziato to be 52 at the time of his last child’s birth. This record also suggests that Nunziato predeceased his wife by about four years. Currently the actual record is not available for viewing so any determination of a direct connection to our ancestor is not possible.

Nunziato and Anna also appear in Grandma’s lineage and connect our grandparents as cousins. They are the parents of one of Grandma’s paternal grandmothers, Maria Francesca Cofone. Nunziato and Anna are also the parents of Grandpa’s paternal grandfather Luigi. As we can see Grandma and Grandpa 105

shared a set of great grandparents. This connection makes Grandpa and Grandma second cousins. As you will see below, there is yet another connection that establishes our grandparents were indeed cousins.

Angelo Celico – b. about 1786, d. November 29, 1863 Rosa Coschignano – b. about 1794, d. After 1848

Grandpa’s other paternal great Grandparents were Angelo Celico and Rosa Coschignano. They are Grandpa’s father’s mother’s parents.

Angelo’s occupation is listed as a (“bovaro”) herdsman in his daughter Maria’s marriage record. The record also indicates that the family lived on Strada Muccone, which we believe is located in the Acri frazione of Vallonecupo. Angelo died on November 29, 1863 in a home on contrada Cuta. From his approximate age of death as indicated in his death record, we estimate that he was likely born around 1786. In examining the birth records of his children a range of possible birth years for Angelo is indicated as 1778 to 1793 or a median year of 1786, with the largest distribution being in the late 1780s. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that Angelo was probably in his late seventies at the time of his death.

The range of Rosa’s possible birth years has also been estimated from her children’s birth records and indicates she was likely born sometime between 1788 and 1800 or a median year of 1794, with the largest distribution being in the mid to late 1790s.

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Thus far no death record for Rosa has been located. All that can be concluded is that she must have died sometime after the marriage of her daughter Maria’s in 1848 as she was not listed as deceased in the record of the event.

Angelo and Rosa also provide a link that connects Grandpa and Grandma as cousins. In brief, in addition to being Grandpa’s great grandparents, it was possible to establish that Angelo and Rosa were also Grandma’s great-great grandparents. In the vernacular of genealogy, this connection makes Grandpa and Grandma second cousins once removed.

Angelo and Rosa gave birth to two daughters named Maria. The first was born in 1811 and it is she who is Grandma’s great grandmother. The 1811 Maria is tied into Grandma’s mother Teresa Crocco’s line, by virtue of the fact that she was Teresa Crocco’s maternal grandmother. The 1811 Maria married Pier Angelo Chimento on May 25, 1823. She died on September 15, 1832 at the approximate age of 21. A little more than a year later, on October 20, 1833, Grandpa’s grandmother Maria was born. Angelo and Rosa evidently followed the common southern Italian tradition of naming a subsequent child after a deceased child.

In addition to the two Marias, we have been able to locate birth records for six more children. Antonio Michele was born June 9, 1818; Nunziata born May 27, 1821; Pasquale born May 16, 1824; Santa born November 1, 1827; Antonio born November 14, 1830; and Michele born on November 20, 1836.

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Future research of Rosa Coschignano may help to further extend her lineage. Presently no additional records regarding her can be located.

Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Great-Great Grandparents Giuseppe Cofone – b. about 1765 to 1779, d. After 1813 Angela Fusaro - b. about 1768, d. October 23, 1836

Grandpa’s paternal great-great grandparents were Giuseppe Cofone, born between 1765 and 1779 with a median year of about 1772 and Angela Fusaro who was also born about 1768.

In addition to Annunziato, mentioned previously, who was born on March 7, 1796, citations for two other sons have been located; Daniele Luigi Cofone born on September 11, 1810 and Pasquale Antonio Cofone born on April 19, 1813. Giuseppe’s occupation is listed as bracciale on Daniele’s birth citation and as a coltivatore, which is another term for farmer, on Pasquale’s birth citation. It is presently unknown if records for other children exist. Given the span between births it would seem plausible that there were other children as well, especially between Annunziato and Daniele, however to date no further records have been located.

Giuseppe’s birth years were extrapolated from several sources. We find his reported age firstly on his son Daniele Luigi’s birth record, next on the marriage record of son Annunziato Cofone stated above, and finally his death record which will be discussed below. The only estimation we presently have for Angela’s birth year is from her son Annunziato’s marriage record. Giuseppe and 108

Angela’s occupations are indicated in the marriage record as contadino which means they were farmers.

A possible death record for Giuseppe indicates that he died on July 30, 1839 at the estimated age of 60. This would make his estimated birth year 1779. His occupation is listed in the death record as Bracciale which means he was a laborer. The difference in occupations (contadino, bracciale, coltivatore) may infer that this particular Giuseppe was not our ancestor, however two of the occupations, contadino and coltivatore, are closely related. It was also not too uncommon to find that someone had changed occupations, although typically during this period of time family occupations generally succeeded to the next generation. Usually, if the father was a contadino so too was the son. Having said this, no information exists to confirm or deny this Giuseppe has a direct connection to our family line. If he is our ancestor his parents were Antonio Cofone and Mariantonia Morrone. What is interesting about this potential connection is that it may lend some credence to the fact, as indicated on Grandpa’s Ellis Island Ship’s Manifest Record, that Grandpa was on his way to visit an uncle, Salvatore Morrone. While nothing within one or two generations previous to Grandpa indicates a Morrone relation, it may have been know across generations that such a relation existed.

Several death records for an Angela Fusaro have been located on the Portale di Storia website. Of these, two records bring us closest to our estimated birth year for Angela. The first is a citation as follows: SIAS Code IT-ASCSF680699, Municipality of ACRI, Volume number 20, document number 18 which indicates the decedent as Angela Fusaro, with the occupation of filatrice, and who was pronounced dead on January 17, 1829 at the age of 60 years. If this is our Angela her estimated birth year would be around 1769. Since we do not have 109

the actual document we cannot tell who her parents were or any other clue that might connect her to our family.

The second closest estimate may be the strongest. It is a record from October 23, 1836 which indicated that Angela Fusaro of the occupation of filatrice, died at about age 60. Extrapolation brings to a possible birth year of 1776. What makes this record intriguing is that one of the informants is Nunziato Cofone, a bracciale by profession, who was about 38 years of age. Recall that our Angela had a son named Annunziato who was born in 1796 and who’s indicated profession on his marriage certificate is a bracciale. In 1836 Annunziato Cofone would be forty years old.

If this Angela is our ancestor, which seems likely from the evidence thus far, her mother was the late Santa Turano. Her father’s name appears to be Daniele, which is not a commonly found name in many of the Acri records I have viewed. Interestingly as indicated earlier, Angela named one of her sons Daniele. This lends further credibility that this death record is indeed that of our GreatGreat-Great-Great Grandmother. Her parents were likely born in the mid-1700s.

Giuseppe and Angela are Grandpa’s father’s, father’s, father’s parents.

Saverino Cozzolino – b. about 1772, d. Before October 19, 1818 Rafaela Cofone – b. about 1772, d. After October 19, 1818

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Grandpa’s other paternal great-great grandparents were Saverino Cozzolino and Rafaela Cofone. They are Grandpa’s father’s father’s mother’s parents.

Rafaela’s is believed to have been born about 1772. Her age was extrapolated from the marriage record of their daughter Anna Elenora, indicated above, to Annunziato Cofone in 1818 which states that at the time of wedding Rafaela was about 46 years old. Rafaela is listed first in the marriage record ahead of any mention of Saverino. As a matter of fact the record seems to indicate that Saverino may have been dead at the time of his daughter’s wedding in October of 1818, however no age or date of death is mentioned in the record. We can only guess that he was born around the same year as his wife.

A possible death record for Rafaela was located that indicates a date of death of September 11, 1838 at age 56. Extrapolating using the estimated age at date renders a birth year estimate of about 1782 which is somewhat in agreement with our earlier estimation of her year of birth. If Rafaela is our ancestor then her parents were Antonio Cofone and Orsola Rocco.

Except for Anna Elenora no other records for children of Saverino and Rafaela have been located or identified.

Giuseppe Celico – b. About 1776, d. after 1786 Maria Capalbo – b. About 1776, d. after 1786

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The third pair of Grandpa’s paternal great-great grandparents were Giuseppe Celico and Maria Capalbo. They are Grandpa’s father’s, mother’s, father’s parents. To date no records are available for them. We can reasonable surmise that they were born in the mid-1700s and died sometime after the birth of the only child we know they produced, Angelo.

A possible death record for Giuseppe was located indicating a date of death of September 1, 1826 at the age of about 50 and making his estimated birth year about 1776. One of the informants on the death record was Angelo Celico, a Bracciale, who was about 38 year old at the time. This informant Angelo was likely born around 1788. Recall that the birth year range for our ancestor Angelo Celico was 1778 to 1793 or a median of 1786 with most of the distribution for his year of birth being in the late 1780 and early 1790s. The estimated birth year of our ancestor Angelo (about 1786) and the informant Angelo (about 1788) seem to be in agreement.

One initial problem in establishing that our ancestor Angelo and the informant Angelo are the same person and as a son of Giuseppe is that Giuseppe, who was presumably born around 1776 would have been about 12 years old in 1788, likely too young to have been married and had a child. He would however have been 17 years old in 1793, the upper range birth year boundary for our ancestor Angelo, and certainly could have sired a child at that age.

Keeping in mind that the ages listed in the Italian death records of the time were notoriously imprecise and only loose estimates, it therefore may be possible that the Angelo Celico listed in this death record may have been Giuseppe’s son and may have been our ancestor. There is however another discrepancy in this 112

death record. The occupation of the Angelo in this death record is listed as Bracciale and does not agree with a previous indication of Bovaro listed for our ancestor Angelo Celico in the marriage record of his daughter Maria. It may be that Angelo changed professions by the time his daughter married 22 years following the death of the Giuseppe indicated here.

As alluded to earlier, the last pair of Grandpa’s paternal Great-GreatGrandparents has yet to be determined. Specifically I am referring to the parents of Rosa Coschignano, Grandpa’s father’s, mother’s, mother’s parents. Hopefully sometime in the future we will be able to discover who they were.

Grandpa Natale’s Paternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents

The potential relatives listed below are seven generations back from my own second American-born generation. The connection to this generation is more or less based on a best guess given what limited information was available and therefore should not be considered highly accurate. Without actual records the connections cannot be corroborated. Unfortunately, the likelihood of uncovering the required information is slim at best, if not entirely improbable and impossible. Leads on three of Grandpa’s possible eight sets of paternal GreatGreat-Great Grandparents were located.

Antonio Cofone and Angelantonia Morrone From the death record for Grandpa’s great-great grandfather Giuseppe Cofone we find the names of his parents. Antonio was Grandpa’s father’s, father’s, father’s, father’s, father. As you would expect Angelantonia was 113

Grandpa’s father’s, father’s, father’s, father’s, mother. All we can say thus far is that both Antonio and Angelantonia were born in the mid-1700s and died sometime after the birth of their son Giuseppe in about 1768.

Daniele Fusaro and Santa Turano From the death record for Grandpa’s great-great grandmother Angela Fusaro we find the names of her parents. We believe that Daniele was Grandpa’s father’s, father’s, father’s ,mother’s, father. As you would expect Santa was Grandpa’s father’s, father’s, father’s, mother’s, mother. Again, all we can say thus far is that both Daniele and Santa were born in the mid-1700s and died sometime after the birth of their daughter Angela in about 1768.

Antonio Cofone and Orsola Rocco From the death record of Grandpa’s great-great grandmother Rafaela Cofone we learn that the name of her parents were Antonio Cofone and Orsola Rocco. Orsola’s name is especially difficult to read. It is likely that Antonio and Orsola were born in the mid-1700s. Antonio and Orsola were Grandpa’s father’s, father’s, mother’s, mother’s, parents. As stated previously, the best we can conclude is that both Antonio and Orsola were born in the mid-1700s and died sometime after the birth of their daughter Rafaela in about 1772.

Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Grandparents Angelo Filippo Fabbricatore – b. October 29, 1829, d. January 13, 1873 Carmela (Luisa) Intrieri – b. October 20, 1831, d. after 1904

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Grandpa’s Grandparents on his mother Teresa Fabbricatore’s side were Angelo Filippo Fabbricatore, who we initially believed was born circa 1826 and died on January 13, 1873, and Luisa Intrieri who was believed to have been born circa 1837. Some records have indicated Angelo as Filippo. Below we shall see how his full first name was uncovered. There is also a belief that Luisa may not have been the actual name of Grandpa’s maternal grandmother. This too will be discussed below.

Filippo and Luisa were married on October 8, 1848, one year before the birth of their first child, Caterina Santa. Filippo, a bovaro by occupation, was 18 years old and Luisa was 17 years old at the time of their marriage. This marriage records lists Filippo's parents as Raffaele Fabbricatore, also a bovaro, and Caterina Cofone, matching the information on Filippo's death certificate and gives Filippo's full name as Angelo Filippo Fabbricatore. It is not at all unusual for an Italian to go by his or her middle name (half the women in Acri are named Maria). Interestingly however is that the marriage record indicates Angelo’s wife's name as Carmela Intrieri, not Luisa Intrieri which was a bit perplexing. On Filippo's death record, his wife is Luisa. This is also true on the birth records of all their children that have been checked thus far. One thought was that the full name of Filippo's wife was Carmela Luisa Intrieri or Luisa Carmela Intrieri. However, this does not seem to be the case. The marriage record goes on to indicate that Carmela’s parents were Pasquale Intrieri, a bracciale, and Rosa Sammaro (sic). There appears to be a question as to the correct spelling of Rosa’s last name which will be explored further below.

Associated with Italian marriage records are "Allegati" records. Before marrying, the bride and groom were required to bring their birth or baptismal records to the town hall as well as the death records of any deceased parents and have those records entered into the town records along with their marriage 115

record and marriage banns. These records have been microfilmed for the time period of Filippo's marriage and were consulted. Carmela Intrieri's birth record listed her name simply as Carmela - no Luisa anywhere. Since these allegati records are hand copies and sometimes have errors, the microfilmed copies of the original birth record for Carmela was checked. (Carmela was baptized on October 30, 1831 at the church of Santa Maria, Acri - birth record # 272). It also listed her name as simply Carmela Intrieri, daughter of Pasquale Intrieri and Rosa Sammara. A search was conducted for any Intrieri birth record in the 1820s and 1830s with Luisa as a first or middle name and none was found.

One possibility is that Luisa was Carmela's nick name. Another is that Luisa Intrieri did not have a birth record in Acri for some reason and the clerk at the time of her marriage simply linked her to this Carmela to avoid a paperwork problem and nobody in the family noticed ( as stated earlier, most people in Acri could not read or write at this time).

All the information seems to suggest that Grandpa’s grandmother’s name was indeed Carmela Intrieri. Looking back in time to the extent possible, no ancestor of Carmela had the name Luisa or for that matter Carmela. Since the identities of Carmela’s husband Angelo Filippo’s parents are considered solid information, I believe we must defer to the marriage record which indicates Carmela as Angelo Filippo’s wife’s name. How she came to be called Luisa will perhaps always remain a mystery.

In addition to Teresa, Filippo and Luisa (Carmela) had at least six other children. Caterina Santa Fabbricatore (spelled with only one "b") was born on October 29, 1849; Angela Rosaria Fabbricatore born on September 30, 1853 and baptized October 2, 1853 at Santa Maria. The informant was Raffaele 116

Fabbricatore, father of Filippo who was absent for some unspecified reason; Raffaele Michele Fabbricatore - born February 11, 1859 at contrada Fravitti [Fravitti Street], Acri and was baptized on February 13, 1859 at the church of Santa Maria, Acri; Benedetto Fabbricatore - born October 16, 1862 at contrada Fravitti, Acri. He was baptized on October 19, 1862 at the church of Santa Maria, Acri. Benedetto died at the house of his father (contrada di la Morrone) less than a year later in August of 1863 at the age of 10 months; Benedetto Carmine Fabbricatore - born July 30,1864 at contrada Fravilli [Fravilli Street], Acri. He was baptized on July 31, 1864 at the church of Santa Maria, Acri and died on May 20, 1880; and finally, Carmine Fabbricatore - born September 24, 1870.

We know that Angelo Filippo Fabbricatore was baptized on October 24, 1829 at the church of Santa Maria, Acri. His father Raffaele was living on contrada Padia (Padia Street) at the time.

Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Great-Grandparents Raffaele Fabbricatore – b. about 1805, d. June 20, 1858 Caterina Fortunata Cofone – b. about December 7, 1809, d. November 23, 1846

Grandpa Natale’s maternal Great Grandparents were Raffaele Fabbricatore and Caterina Cofone. They are Grandpa’s mother’s, father’s, parents.

Raffaele Fabbricatore, a bracciale by occupation, and Caterina Cofone were married on December 30, 1827 at Santa Maria Church. Both had been living with their parents on Strada Morrone. The best estimate of their birth year is derived from their marriage record which indicates that Raffaele was 22 and 117

Caterina was 27 at the time of their marriage. From the associated allegati records, copies of the baptismal records for Raffaele and Caterina were also located. As mentioned earlier, these records were copied into the town records at the time of their marriage. Since their births predate the start of vital records in Acri, there were no birth records for Raffaele or Caterina. The baptismal records are in Latin. Caterina’s baptismal record appears to indicate a date of December 7, 1809. Raffaele’s baptismal record is not legible enough to discern possible dates therefore we can estimate from the marriage record that Raffaele was born in about 1805.

Caterina Cofone died November 23, 1846 at about the age of 37. Eight years later Raffaele died on June 20, 1858 at an approximate age of 50 making his birth year circa 1808 however we generally lend greater weight to age related data in early records, such as marriage records.

The marriage record indicates that Raffaele's parents were Saverino Fabbricatore and Teresa Gencarelli.

We also learn from the marriage record that Caterina Cofone's full name was Caterina Fortunata Cofone. Her parents as indicated in the marriage record were Fedele Cofone and Angela Chimento.

Besides Angelo Filippo, records for six other children of Raffaele and Caterina were found. The family is summarized below:

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The first born was Maria Fabbricatore who was baptized on August 2, 1828 (birth # 153) at Santa Maria, Acri. The second born was Angelo Filippo Fabbricatore, from whom we are descended. He was baptized October 24, 1829 (birth # 245) at Santa Maria, Acri and died on January 13, 1873 (death # 18) at the approximate age of 44. The third child was Francesco Saverio Fabbricatore who was baptized on May 28, 1831 (birth # 144) at the church of San Giorgio, Acri. Francesco, who was 25 years of age, married 16 year old Concetta Ferraro on August 24, 1856. Francesco died on September 21, 1873.

The fourth child was Domenico Rosario Fabbricatore. He was baptized on October 6, 1833 (birth # 243) at Santa Maria, Acri. Domenico (age 23) married Tommasina Ferraro (age 14, born on January 9, 1843) on May 16, 1857 (marriage # 30, it was recorded the following day) at Santa Maria, Acri. This marriage produced several children: a daughter, Maria Giuseppa Fabbricatore, who was born March 17, 1859 and baptized March 19, 1859 at Santa Maria; another daughter, Giuseppa Fabbricatore, who was born on August 11, 1860 and baptized on August 12, 1860 at Santa Maria church; and a son Pasquale Fabbricatore, who was born February 14, 1864 and baptized on February 16, 1864 also at Santa Maria. Finally there was Nunziato Fabbricatore - born about 1869 and died July 24, 1873.

The fifth child of Raffaela and Caterina was Carmine Fedele Fabbricatore [sic] - baptized October 9, 1836 at Santa Maria, Acri. The sixth child was Santa Filomena Fabbricatore who was baptized on March 3, 1841. A witness on this record is the grandfather, Saverino Fabbricatore. Santa (age 15) married Francesco Mancuso (age 28) on February 21,1857 (marriage # 17) at Santa Maria, Acri. The seventh and last child was Mariangela Giuseppa Fabbricatore baptized on October 15, 1843 at Santa Maria, Acri.

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Pasquale Intrieri – b. About 1796, d. before 1824 Rosa Sammarro – b. About 1793, d. After 1831

Grandpa’s other maternal Great Grandparents were Pasquale Intrieri and Rosa Sammarro. They are Grandpa’s mother’s, mother’s, parents.

Rosa’s marriage to Pasquale was her second. She was first married on September 5, 1824 to Angelo Antonio Lupinazzo. It is her marriage to Pasquale that accounts for her relationship to our family.

According to what is believed to be their marriage record, Pasquale and Rosa were wed on March 14, 1830 in Santa Nicola Belvedere Church. The record indicates that when they wed, Pasquale was 24 and Rosa was 27. This would make their estimated birth years at 1796 and 1793, respectively. Pasquale is listed as having the occupation of “Bracciale”, or laborer. Rosa was reportedly living with her parents on Strada Caralicchio. Other than Carmela (aka Luisa) no other children could be found for Pasquale and Rosa.

Pasquale’s parents are listed as Michele Intrieri and Rosa Laudone. Rosa’s parents were Leonardo Sammarro and Fortunata Lupo.

Note the difference in the spelling of Rosa’s last name Sammarro, which is how it appears on her marriage certificate, and Sammara, which is how it appears on her daughter Carmela’s birth certificate. On other documents for children of Rosa’s parents we see the name spelled Sammarra. 120

A possible citation for a death record of a Rosa Sammarro it indicates that Rosa died on January 31, 1853 at the approximate age of 30. If this is our Rosa’s death record then either the year of death or age of death is wrong. If the year is correct her age at the time of her death would be 60 not 30. If the age is correct then the year of death would be 1823 which of course would prove this is not a citation for our Rosa. This issue remains to be resolved. Perhaps viewing the actual document could help address our concerns on the legitimacy of this record. The point here is that the further back we go the more difficult it is to locate and verify the information.

Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Great-Great-Grandparents Saverino Fabbricatore – b. about 1775, d. after 1810 Teresa Gencarelli – b about 1775, d. after 1810

From examining the marriage record of Raffaele Fabbricatore and Caterina Cofone we learn the identities of what are believed to be Grandpa’s maternal Great-Great Grandparents. Saverino Fabbricatore, a Bracciale by profession, and Teresa Gencarelli were Grandpa’s mother’s, father’s, father’s, parents.

A search through the Cosenza archive site reveals that besides Raffaele, Saverino and Teresa may have also given birth to Santo on May 3, 1810.

Fedele Cofone – b. about 1781, d. December 29, 1834 Angela Chimento – b. about 1786, d. January 30, 1857 121

Fedele Cofone, a bracciale, and Angela Chimento were Grandpa’s mother’s father’s mother’s parents.

In addition to Caterina who was born in about 1806, Fedele and Angela had at least five other children. They were: Carmela born on October 23, 1811; Lionardo born February 27, 1814; Domenica born on April 13, 1817; Santa born on January 3, 1820 and Nunziato on July 11, 1822.

The birth record for Carmela Cofone (b. 1811) is interesting. It is reported on October 26, 1811 and occurred on October 23. In it Fedele Cofone seems to have a compound surname, "Cofone Vasonte", which is passed to Carmela. Such a compound name has not been seen anywhere else in our Cofone lines.

The year listed on the birth record of Leonardo Cofone is probably wrong. Ed Bronejko, who is an authority on Acri records, indicates that the 1813 and 1814 Acri records are intermixed. There are "extra" 1813 births and "missing" 1814 births. Although Leonardo's birth record states 1813, from the way the record volumes are laid out, it is believed that it is actually an 1814 record. Also, Leonardo Cofone's given name is spelled "Lionardo".

At the time of Carmela’s birth Fedele and Angela were reported to be 30 and 25 years of age respectively. This infers a birth year of 1781 for Fedele and 1786 for Angela. We know that at the time of Caterina’s death in 1846 her father is dead and her mother still alive. Through the Cosenza Archive site a death record for who we believe is Fedele is located. It indicates that he died on 122

December 29, 1834, which is consistent with the above information contained on Caterina’s death record. In a similar fashion a death record for Angela was located that indicates she died on January 30, 1857.

It is from Fedele’s and Angela’s death records that we learn the identity of their parents. Michele Cofone and Santa Basile were the parents of Fedele and Annunziato Chimento and Catarina Baritano were Angela’s parents.

Michele Intrieri – b. about 1774, d. April 26, 1836 Rosa Laudone – b. about 1779, d. November 12, 1862

Grandpa’s third set of great-great-grandparents were Michele Intrieri and Rosa Laudone. They are Grandpa’s mother’s, mother’s, father’s, parents.

It is believed that Michele died on April 26, 1836. From his death record which indicates an estimated age of seventy, we can estimate a birth year of around 1766. The death record also indicates that Michele was a Bracciale and that his parents were Tommaso Intrieri and Rosa Piro.

A citation for the possible death record for Rosa indicates that she died on November 12, 1862 at the age of 92. If this citation is indeed her death record it suggests she was born around 1750. It also indicates that she was a filatrice, or spinner. Presently no further records exist for Rosa Laudone.

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In addition to son Pasquale who is believed to have been born around 1796, additional records for possibly five other children were located. Nunziata born June 12, 1809; Angela Concetta born on December 12, 1810; Vincenzo Pier Angelo born on April 1, 1814; Antonio Nunziato born June 21, 1818; and Francesco Antonio born on June 29, 1819.

The range of possible birth years for Michele based on information contained in the birth records of the children cited directly above runs from 1769 to 1779, or median year of about 1774. No age was given for Rosa in the birth records for Nunziata and Angela Concetta however based on information contained in the remaining birth records we find that the range of Rosa’s estimated birth years runs from 1774 to 1785 or a median year of about 1779. Since the children’s birth records are more recent to the birth of Michele and Rosa than the death records, it will be assumed that the median year represents the estimated birth year. The median year estimate is also more in agreement with the estimated range of birth years for other ancestors in their generation.

There are a few interesting items regarding information contained in the birth records. For all the births the family is indicated as living on Strada Padia. Three different occupations have been indicated for Michele. In 1809 he is listed as a Forerse, an occupation I have never heard of before but which I believe may mean he was a forester and planted trees. In 1810 and 1819 he is listed as a bracciale. And finally in 1814 and 1818 he is listed as a bovaro. One of the possible ramifications of having different occupations listed may be that we are talking about three sets of couples who all had the same names. Of course another possibility is that Michele may have changed his occupation several times.

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Leonardo Sammarro – b. about 1769, d. after 1830 Fortunata Lupo – b. about 1769, d. about 1830

From the marriage record for Pasquale Intrieri and Rosa Sammarro in 1830 we can identify Grandpa’s fourth set of great-great-grandparents as Leonardo Sammarro and Fortunata Lupo. They are Grandpa’s mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, parents. One of the things that have made this line difficult to research has been the spelling of the last name which will be outlined below.

In an attempt to find additional children for Leonardo and Fortunata a search based on the last name spelled Sammarro was conducted on the Cosenza Archive website. While no birth records emerged for the last name of Sammarro that contained parents Leonardo and Fortunata Lupo, only one marriage record that contained their names as parents was located. Under the spelling Sammarro a June 13, 1819 marriage record, presumably of daughter Angela Sammarra, a contadina, to Andrea Natale Godino was found. Notice that Angela’s last name is spelled Sammarra. Her father’s last name is also spelled the same way in the marriage record.

Researching the last name spelled Sammarra revealed two additional marriage records where the parents are indicated as Leonardo Sammarra and Fortunata Lupo. Maria Francesca Sammara, a contadina, married Vincenzo Francesco Salvino, a bracciale on January 24, 1819 and Domenica Sammarra married Angelo Servino, a bracciale, on February 10, 1833. We know that both Leonardo and Fortunata were alive at the marriage of daughter Domenica in 1833.

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It is interesting to note that in each of the records discovered thus far Leonardo is listed as a bracciale and the family is indicated as residing on Strada Caralicchio. In both 1819 marriage records Leonardo and Fortunata are listed as being about fifty years old which would make their birth year about 1769. The other marriage records do not indicate the age of the parents.

It may be that typographical errors can account for the discrepancy in the spelling of the last name but there is no way to know for sure. Nor do we really know if all of the persons indicated directly above are of the same family. Examining the year of marriage and age at marriage an estimated birth year for each of the known children may be developed. Chronologically speaking Maria Francesca would have been born around 1797, Angela 1800, Rosa 1803 and Domenica in 1809. Given the likelihood that there were other children as well, the spacing and range of birth years does not seem too broad to completely discount the possibility that these four women may be directly related. This raises the possibility that the last name is spelled Sammarra. However since the direct link to our family is through Rosa Sammarro, the spelling of the last name will continue to be shown as presented in her marriage record.

As of this time no person by the name of Leonardo Sammarro is contained within the Cosenza Archive web site and only a single 1829 birth record for a Leonardo Sammarra exists, clearly not our ancestor or a son as the parents’ names for this child are shown in the record. Similarly, no record can be located for a Fortunata Lupo. The data in this web site is limited and so in the future an examination of the LDS records may be made to see if any further evidence exists.

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We have not been able to find a death record for Leonardo and can only surmise that he died after the marriage of his daughter Domenica in February of 1833.

The Cosenza Archive site has thus far provided only one Acri death record listing for a Fortunata Lupo. It indicates a Fortunata Lupo died on April 11, 1844 at age 70. Extrapolating the year of birth from the age at death indicates that this Fortunata would have been born around 1744 which is perhaps a little early when compared to the range of birth year estimates of others in this generation. It is also much earlier than our previous estimate of her birth year indicated above. Unfortunately the record does not provide any data pertaining to spouse or children. If this Fortunata is our great-great-great-great grandmother, then her parents were Giovanni Lupo and Angela Sammarro.

Grandpa Natale’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents Of the eight sets of Grandpa’s Maternal Great-Great-Great-Grandparents, we are only presently aware of possibly four. Other than their names we have no further substantive information regarding their connection to our family although their possible connection to our lineage has been described earlier. We can reasonably surmise that they were likely born around the mid-1700s and died sometime after the birth of last child of record. This group represents the seventh generation back from my second US born generation.

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Michele Cofone and Santa Basile Michele and Santa were Grandpa’s mother’s, father’s, mother’s, father’s, parents. It is from their son Fedele’s a’s death record that we learn the identity of his parents Michele Cofone and Santa Basile.

Annunziato Chimento and Catarina Baritano Annunziato and Catarina were Grandpa’s mother’s, father’s, mother’s, mother’s, parents. It is from their daughter Angela’s death record that we learn the identity of her parents, Annunziato Chimento and Catarina Baritano.

Tommaso Intrieri and Rosa Piro Tommaso and Rosa were Grandpa’s mother’s, mother’s, father’s, father’s, parents. It is from the death record of their son Michele Intrieri that we learned of their identity.

Giovanni Lupo and Angela Sammarro If Giovanni and Angela are our ancestors they would be Grandpa’s mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, mother’s, parents. Their identities were determined from the death record of their daughter Fortunata Lupo.

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Natale Cofone Pedigree Chart Below is Grandpa’s basic pedigree chart which, including Grandpa, spans five and in some cases six generations.

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Natale Cofone

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ANGELA GABRIELE Immediate Family Father – Raffaele Gabriele: b. August 20, 1858, d. after 1921 Mother – Teresa Crocco: b. September 11, 1862, d. after 1921

Grandma’s parents were Raffaele Gabriele and Teresa Crocco. From the data we presently have, it seems that Raffaele was born on August 20, 1858. A birth record for Teresa indicates a birth date of September 11, 1862.

A search for a marriage record for Raffaele Gabriele and Teresa Crocco between 1889 (when Angela is listed as illegitimate) and 1892 (when Peppina was listed as legitimate) was conducted but F ROM L TO R: GRANDMA ’S MOTHER T ERESA C ROCCO , GRANDMA , T OMMASINA , A NNUNZIATA , AND SEATED , HER FATHER , R AFFAELE G ABRIELE .

nothing was found. It is possible that Raffaele and Teresa were married in

church and not at the town hall which may explain why a civil record has not been located. As best as can be determined it is believed that Raffaele and Teresa were still alive in 1921 when Grandma, Aunt Tessie returned to the US with Za Carminella.

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Great grandfather was believed to have gone blind at some point in his adult life. It would not surprise me if his blindness was attributed to cataracts which, in looking at the photo above, seems to indicate that he possesses the telltale grayish white pupils which are a classic symptom of the condition. As we know, cataracts are a clouding of the lens of your eye that can impair your sight and are due mostly to age. It would also not surprise me if he also had macular degeneration, which is a medical condition which usually affects older adults and results in a loss of vision in the center of the visual field (the macula) because of damage to the retina. This infliction may be a hereditary condition as it has plagued Grandma, my father, and Aunt Jean. In either case, there was no treatment for either condition at the time.

Teresa gave birth to eight children. In order of age the children were:

Santa Santa was born April 5, 1887 on Cuta Street in the frazione known as Sericella. She is the first of Grandma’s family to come to the United States arriving at Ellis Island on February 22, 1907 aboard the SS Brasile. She was 20 years of age at the time of her arrival although the manifest indicates her age as 19.

Santa later married Santo Chimento. The 1927 Nutley Directory indicates that they lived at 14 Humbert Street in the Avondale section of Nutley, NJ. It is also known that previously in January of 1920 she was living in Nashwauk, Minnesota. Her mailing box number was 547. Likely Santa and her husband relocated to the area in search of work in the Iron ore mines that existed in the area at the time. Their arrival in Minnesota may have been as early as 1911 or 1912. This fact lends merit to the earlier expressed theory that it was likely Santa 132

who beckoned Grandma and Grandpa to go to Minnesota. Recall that Grandpa and Grandma went to Nashwauk after the birth of Aunt Tessie in January of 1911.

A 1940 Census Record indicates that Santo, who was also known as Sam, and Santa, were still living at 14 Humbert Street in Nutley, and had at least five children, Joe, Frank, Mary, Rose and Carmen. The eldest was Joe who at the time of the 1940 Census was listed as the head of the family. His indicated age was 29 years old, making his birth year 1911. Frank’s age is indicated as 26 in the Census making his birth year 1914. Mary was 24 years old at the time of the 1940 Census, making her birth year 1916. Rose was 15 years old and Carmen was 11 making their birth years 1925 and 1929, respectively. Joe, Frank, and possibly Mary were probably born in Minnesota, while Rose and Carmen were likely born in NJ.

Santa died in June of 1966 at the age of 79. Her last known address was in Nutley, NJ.

Angela Santa was followed by Grandma Angela who was born on September 4, 1889. Grandma died in Clara Maas Hospital in Belleville, NJ on December 1979 at the age of 90 and is interred with Grandpa in St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Ridge Rd in Lyndhurst. Grandma is the only one of her siblings listed as illegitimate, likely an error but as indicated earlier, one reason could be that her parents’ marriage was registered in the church but not with the town of Acri. As indicated earlier Grandma came to the United States in 1909.

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Pepina Pepina, whose real name is Giuseppina, was born on June 11, 1892. Pepina was the last of Grandma’s sisters that immigrated to the U.S. It is believed that she arrived in the 1950s.

Interestingly Pepina’s birth is listed as legitimate. Peppina Gabriele's birth record had a margin note referencing her August 12, 1911 Acri marriage to Carmine Algieri. Carmine Algieri was born on January 20, 1888 to Salvatore Algieri (age 29) and Teresa Coschignano. Carmine's birth record had a similar margin notation about his marriage to "Giuseppina" Gabriele. Carmine and Pepina lived on East Center Street in Nutley right behind Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie until their deaths.

Pepina died in August of 1975 at the age of 83 with her last known address being on East Center Street in Nutley.

Tommasina Tommasina, who was born on January 11, 1895, later married Luigi Gabriele. Again this appears to possibly be a marriage of cousins although there is nothing at this time to document this prospect. They never immigrated to the U.S.

Nunziata Nunziata, who was born on February 24 1898 never married and was believed to have been born with a mental impairment of some sort. 134

Francesca Francesca was born on October 5 1900. She came to the U.S. on December 1, 1919 at the age of 19 traveling aboard the SS America. According to the ship’s manifest, she was going to visit her sister Santa who was living in Nashwauk Minnesota.

She later married Franco Rizzuto and lived on Spurr Place in Nutley until their deaths. Uncle Franco was born on January 26, 1890 and died in October of 1978 at the

G RANDMA ' S SISTERS C ARMELA LEFT AND F RANCESCA RIGHT IN 1947

age of 88. Za Francesca died in November of 1989 at the age of 89. They had four children, Tony, Joe, Frank, and Ralph.

Carmela Known in the family as Zia Carminella, she came to U.S. with Grandma and Aunt Tessie on January 25, 1921 aboard the SS Duca Del Abruzzi. She was 17 years of age at the time, making her birth year circa 1904. She later married Carmine Alessio and lived on East Center Street in Nutley next door to Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat. Their house is currently occupied by grandson Carmine and his family. Uncle Carmine was born on September 14, 1894 and died on November 19, 1987 at the age of 93. He was a veteran. They had several children, Louie, Jenny, and Carmine. 135

Rosaria The final child was Rosaria who was born on October 7, 1905. The birth data is the only information we have thus far.

Angela Gabriele’s Ancestors Grandma Angela’s Paternal Grand Parents Michele Gabriele – b. April 8, 1827, d. July 7, 1868 Maria Francesca Cofone – b. November 17, 1822, d. after 1865

Grandma’s paternal grandparents were Michele Gabriele who was born on April 8, 1827 and Maria Francesca Cofone who was born on November 17, 1822. They were married on March 26, 1852 in Acri. The marriage was the second for Maria Francesca who was previously married to Pasquale Celico, who died in 1848.

We know that Maria Francesca had at least two children with Pasquale Celico, Nunziata Celico born July 13, 1845 and Maria Giuseppa Celico born May 8, 1847. It is believed she had five children with Michele. The eldest child was Salvatore Giuseppe, who was born on March 18, 1853. Next is Annunziato, who was born on January 26, 1856. Third is succession is Raffaele, our Great Grandfather, who was born on August 20, 1858. He is followed by another brother, Benedetto, born on September 27, 1861, and finally the only female, Maria, born on May 24, 1865.

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The information regarding Maria Francesca Cofone tells us that she is related to us in three different ways: First, as the sister of our Great Great Grandfather, Luigi Cofone, she is our Great, Great, Grandaunt. Secondly, as the spouse of Pasquale Celico, she is the wife of our Great, Great, Granduncle. And thirdly, as the wife of Michele Gabriele and mother of Raffaele Gabriele, she is our Great, Great Grandmother.

Michele died on July 7, 1868 at about the age of 40. His occupation is listed as “bracciale” or laborer. From his death record we discover his parents were Santo Gabriele and Anna Coschignano. Also indicated on the death record is the name of his spouse, Maria Francesca Cofone, which is information not typically seen on death records of the time.

The marriage record for Maria and Michele also provided the names of their parents. Michele’s parents have been previously identified. Maria Francesca’s parents were Nunziato Cofone and Anna Cozzolino.

Grandma Angela’s Paternal Great Grand Parents Santo Gabriele – b. about 1794, d. before July 1868 Angela Coschignano – b. about 1801, d. before July 1868

Santo Gabriele and Angela Coschignano were Grandma’s father’s, father’s, parents. Santo and Angela were married on November 1, 1818. Santo’s 137

year of birth is extrapolated from his age at marriage of 24, making his estimated birth year 1794. Similarly, Angela, who was 17 at the time of their marriage, has an estimated birth year of 1801.

Santo and Angela produced seven children whose birth records have been located in the Cosenza Archive site. They are: Domenica Rosa born March 23, 1820; Vincenzo born March 9, 1823; Michele, from whom we are descended, born April 8 1827; Giuseppe born March 18, 1832; Nunziata born January 21, 1835; Pier Angiolo (sic) born November 5, 1837; and Carmine Nunziato born August 2, 1840. Death records have been located which suggest that Giuseppe died at the age of 2 years and Nunziata at age 4 years.

Both Santo and Angela died prior to July 1868, as they are listed as deceased on the death record of their son Michele. No other marriage or death records have been located for their children that might help to better refine the respective death years for Santo and Angela.

The marriage record of Santo and Angela also indicates the parents of Santo to be Vincenzo Gabriele and Saveria DeCicco and for Angela, Francesco Coschignano and Isabella Algieri.

Nunziato Cofone and Anna Cozzolino Nunziato and Anna were Grandma’s father’s, mother’s parents. Detailed information has been previously been provided under Grandpa’s lineage as they were his paternal great grandparents. Recall that this is one of the common links between Grandma and Grandpa’s family. 138

Grandma Angela’s Paternal Great-Great Grand Parents Vincenzo Gabriele – b. about 1758, d. after November 1818 Saveria DeCicco – b. about 1758, d. after November 1818

Vincenzo and Saveria were Grandma’s father’s, father’s, father’s parents. An estimate of the ages for Vincenzo and Saveria is found in the 1818 marriage record of their son Santo Gabriele to Angela Coschignano, which indicates both to be about 60 years old. Therefore their estimated year of birth becomes about 1758. Vincenzo’s occupation is indicated as contadino in Santo’s marriage record. Four years earlier, when son Lionardo is born Vincenzo’s occupation is indicated as a bracciale. In the marriage record of son Santo, Saveria is indicated to be a contadina however in a birth record for son Lionardo her occupation is indicated as filatrice. At the time of Santo’s marriage they lived on via Padia. Four years prior they lived in a quarter of Acri known as Picitti.

At the present it is known that Vincenzo and Saveria produced three sons, Santo circa 1794 and Lionardo on November 9, 1812 and a second Lionardo on June 5, 1814. Likely the first Lionardo died at a young age and as was the practice at the time a subsequent son was named for the deceased brother. Records for other children have yet to be located.

Since both Vincenzo and Saveria are indicated as being alive at their son Santo’s wedding in November of 1818, they obviously died sometime afterwards. A possible death record for Vincenzo dated January 22, 1830 was located. It is not entirely clear if this is our Vincenzo. The record indicates an age at death of 139

approximately 60. Our Vincenzo would have been about 72 in 1830, however recalling the practice of using rounded numbers to designate age it may not be too much of a stretch to imply that this is our ancestor. More challenging is the listed occupation of “muratore” which translates to stone mason. We have at least two different occupations listed for Vincenzo previously, laborer and then farmer. Future research into this record may reveal if this is indeed our ancestor. The parents listed for this Vincenzo are Domenico Gabriele and Rosa Alice.

Thus far records for Saveria De Cicco have not been located.

Francesco Coschignano – b. about 1768, d. after 1822 and before 1840 Isabella Algieri – b. about 1768, d. after 1822 and before 1840

Francesco and Isabella were Grandma’s father’s, father’s, mother’s parents. From the marriage record of their daughter Angela Coschignano to Santo Gabriele in 1818 we find that their ages are given as being about 50 years old. This would make 1768 as their estimated birth year. The occupation for both is given as contadino. It appears they may have lived on Strada Picitti.

Besides Angela, we have a record for a son Annunciato a 19 year old bracciale, who was married to 23 year old Maria Giuseppa Gencarelli on June 9, 1822 at Santa Nicola di Belvedere in Acri. Annunciato’s age is used to extrapolate his year of birth of 1803. Annunciato was living with his parents on Strada Padia at the time he was wed. Francesco’s occupation on his son’s marriage record is indicated as bracciale as well. Also located were two other possible children.

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The marriage record of another potential son was located on the Cosenza Archive site. Giuseppe Coschignano, 21 years of age, from Strada Padia, also a bracciale married 20 year old Maria Teresa Ritacco, a filatrice, on November 2, 1817. Giuseppe’s parents are indicated as Francesco Coschignano and Elisabetta Algieri, both 50 years of age. The approximate age of Francesco and Elisabetta relates to an estimated year of birth of around 1767, which falls within the expected range of birth years for them. The intriguing thing with this finding is that Giuseppe’s mother’s name is indicated as Elisabetta and not Isabella. At one extreme is the possibility that these Coschignano’s are not related to our family. At the other extreme is the possibility that Luigi Sorivieri, who was the official recording the data, may have misunderstood the pronunciation of Isabella name. To date I have been unable to find any other Coschignano children with a mother by the name of Elisabetta.

A few more intriguing leads were discovered regarding Francesco and Isabella. A death record citation for a Francesco Coschignano indicates a date of death of January 2, 1852 at about 80 years old. Extrapolating backward renders an estimated year of birth of around 1772 which is generally in agreement with an earlier estimation of Francesco’s birth year of around 1768. Knowing that the reported ages in documents are general estimates, we can easily speculate that this is our four times great grandfather. Nonetheless, a review of the actual document, which is not yet possible, is required to render a better opinion. An added twist is that a death record for what is potentially another son tends to refute the possibility that the Francesco Coschignano in this death record is our ancestor. This is discussed further below.

As a preface to the last point made in the above paragraph, Acri authority Ed Bronejko provided one questionable death record for an Isabella Algieri dated February 20, 1840. There is not enough data in it to positively say it is our 141

great(x4) grandmother. The Algieri surname is very common in Acri but Isabella is an unusual given name. The record spells the surname Rigieri, which is a variant spelling for Algieri. The record also indicates Isabella’s parents were the late Fedele and the late Nicola Brindisi. In doing a check on the Cosenza Archive site I could not locate any record for an Isabella Algieri.

A death record was located for a Nicola Coschignano, a bracciale, who may possibly another son of Francesco and Isabella. In the record Nicola was reported to have died on September 25, 1840 at the age of 30 years. This would make his estimated birth year 1810. Nicola died in the frazione Cuta, which is in the same vicinity as Serricella and Policaretto. Nicola’s parents are listed as the late Francesco Coschignano and the late Isabella Rigieri indicating that if Nicola is indeed our ancestor, his parents died before 1840. Note that the mother’s last name is indicated as Rigieri, which, as indicated above, is a variant of Algieri. Giuseppe and Fedele Coschignano who reported Nicola’s death may have very well been relatives. They were younger than Nicola and may not have known Isabella’s correct surname. Recall that accepting the premise that Nicola is indeed our relative would discount the 1852 year of death for Francesco that has been discussed above. Perhaps at some future time additional birth records for children might be found to either confirm or refute that Isabella Rigieri is our ancestor.

Giuseppe Cofone and Angela Fusaro Giuseppe and Angela were Grandma’s father’s, mother’s, father’s parents. Their identities were made known in the marriage record of their son Nunziato to Anna Cozzolino. Once again you are referred back to Grandpa’s paternal greatgreat grandparents for further information on Giuseppe and Angela.

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Saverino Cozzolino – b. about 1772, d. before 1818 Raffaela Cofone – b. about 1772, d. after 1818

Grandma’s other paternal great-great grandparents were Saverino Cozzolino and Rafaela Cofone. Both are believed to have been born about 1772. Their identities were made known in the marriage record of their daughter Anna Cozzolino to Annunziato Cofone. They are Grandma’s father’s, mother’s, mother’s parents. Saverino and Rafaela are common relatives to both Grandma and Grandpa, just as Giuseppe Cofone and Angela Fusaro directly above. Once again you are referred back to Grandpa’s paternal great-great grandparents for further information.

From the marriage record of their daughter Anna Cozzolino we learn that in 1818 Saverino, whose occupation was contadino is already dead. A death record for Saverino could not be located. Raffaela, a contadina, is reportedly about 46 years old thereby making her birth year around 1772.

A death record for a Rafaela (sic) Cofone was located which indicated a year of death of 1838 at age 56. This record has been discounted because if this were the same Raffaela stated above her age in 1838 would have been 66 reflecting an estimated birth year of 1782 instead of 1772 which thus far is our best estimate. If this was our 1772 Raffaela her age would likely have been reported as about 60 or 70.

Grandma Angela’s Paternal Great-Great-Great Grand Parents

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Two out of a possible eight sets of Grandma’s paternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents have been located. Having said this, these connections can only be described as tenuous at best, primarily due to the lack of sufficient documentation. They are listed here mainly to alert future researchers that there may be a connection to them.

Domenico Gabriele and Rosa Alice Domenico and Rosa’s names were located in the possible death record for Vincenzo Gabriele Grandma’s Great-Great Grandfather. We can only speculate that they were born in the early 1700s and died before the reported death of Vincenzo in 1830 as they were both indicated deceased in the record. It is probably more likely they died before the turn of the century or shortly thereafter. No occupation was provided for Domenico. Rosa’s occupation was indicated as filatrice.

Fedele Rigieri (Algieri) and Nicola Brindisi Fedele and Nicola’s names were discovered in the death record of their daughter Isabella Rigieri in 1840. Recall from the earlier discussion of Isabella Algieri and her husband Francesco Coschignano that Rigieri is a derivative of Algieri. Isabella’s death record indicates at the time of her death that both Fedele and Nicola are dead. No occupation is listed for either parent.

Grandma Angela’s Maternal Grand Parents Gennaro Crocco – b. September 7, 1825, d. after 1865 Serafina Chimento – b. January 25, 1829, d. after 1865 144

From the birth record of her mother Teresa, we discover that Grandma’s maternal grandparents were Gennaro Crocco and Serafina Chimento. Gennaro was born on September 7, 1825 to Carmino Crocco and Nunziata Di Cicco who at the time of his birth lived on Contrada Padia in Sila Muccone. From Gennaro’s marriage record it is discovered that his occupation was that of a contadino.

Serafina was born to Pier Angelo Chimento and Maria Celico on January 25, 1829. Her occupation is indicated on daughter Teresa’s birth record as filatrice.

According to a citation on the Cosenza Archive website Gennaro and Serafina were married on December 26, 1846. We know of seven children they produced together. The birth citations from the Cosenza Archive site indicates that Angelo was born on October 29, 1848; Maria was born on March 21, 1851; Domenica on August 15, 1854; Marianna on March 9, 1857; Leonardo on November 11, 1859; Teresa our great grandmother on September 11, 1862 and Carmella on November 17, 1865. We also learn that Maria, Domenica and Marianna were born in a frazione of Acri known as Cuta which is located about a half mile south west of Sericella, the small hamlet where Grandma was born.

From the birth citations we also learn that during the birth of the first two children Gennaro’s occupation is listed as Bracciale or laborer. With the birth of Domenica his occupation changes to farmer (contadino). Serafina’s occupation is listed as a filatrice (spinner).

A death record for Gennaro and Serafina could not be located. Nor could we locate marriage or death records of any of their children that might help in 145

narrowing down the range of death years. We can only logically conclude that they died sometime after the birth of their last child in 1865.

Grandma Angela’s Maternal Great Grand Parents Carmelo Crocco – b. about 1804, d. after 1846 Nunziata DiCicco – b. about 1806, d. after 1846

Grandma’s great grandparents were Carmelo Crocco and Nunziato DiCicco. They are Grandma’s mother’s, father’s, parents.

Some references list Carmelo as Carmino and Carmine. Nunziata’s last name has been found in the records as spelled De Cicco.

From a marriage record dated October 28, 1821 we learn that Carmelo was 17 when he wed Nunziata. His occupation was listed as farmer and he resided with his family on Strada Padia. His parents were Gaetano Crocco and Aurelia Acri. From the same document we learn that Nunziata was 15 when they wed. She too lived on Strada Padia with her family. Her father, Domenico Di Cicco, was a farmer and her mother is identified as Marianna Bonvenuto. From the ages indicated in the marriage record we can estimate a year of birth for Carmelo and Nunziata of 1804 and 1806, respectively.

Carmelo and Nunziato produced 8 children for which we have been able to locate records. The first born was a son Gennaro who was born on February 6, 1823. He died in infancy and a death record indicates a date of death of 146

August 26, 1824. Keeping the Italian tradition of the time of naming a subsequent child for a previously deceased sibling, about a year later on September 7, 1825 our direct ancestor Gennaro was born. Following Gennaro was Raffaele on August 27, 1829; Nicola on July 15, 1832; Luigi on October 19, 1834; Natale on December 29, 1836,Vincenzo on February 9, 1845 and another Natale born on October 25, 1846 who died on December 4, 1846. Generally when the family listing has two children that share the same name it is because the elder one is deceased and the younger is named for the first. A death citation for a Natale Crocco dated December 26, 1837 has been located however the document is not available to view. It is likely the record pertains to the first Natale, however only by viewing the record can we sure who his parents were. As you might notice there is a nine year gap between Natale and Vincenzo. Given the rate at which Nunziata was giving birth it seems likely that more children might be located in this period at some future time.

The birth records of the children also indicate, that from the birth of the first Gennaro up to and including Nicola, the family resided on Strada Padia which is located in Acri proper. Carmelo’s occupation is listed as a Bracciale. By the time Luigi is born in 1834 the family has moved to Contrada Cuta, which is located in the Frazione of Cuta in the Acri countryside. As far as we know the family remained there. By the time Vincenzo is born in 1845 Carmelo’s occupation changes to Contadino. An interesting notation was also contained in the birth citation for Vincenzo indicating that he was born in the town of Santa Sofia D’Epito which is located approximately 10 miles northwest of Acri. What little is known of the town is that it had a sizable Albanian population. Why Carmelo and Nunziata went to Santa Sofia is not known.

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Death records for Carmelo and Nunziata could not be located therefore the only logical conclusion is that they died sometime following the birth year of their last child in 1846.

Pier Angelo Chimento– b. about 1804, d. after 1856 Maria Celico – b. about 1811, d. September 15, 1832 Aurelia Gencarelli (second wife) – b. October 8, 1817, d. after 1856

Grandma’s other Great Grandparents were Pier Angelo Chimento and Maria Celico. They are Grandma’s mother’s, mother’s, parents.

Angelo and Maria were married on May 25, 1823. Recall that Maria is the sister of Grandpa’s grandmother Maria Celico who married Luigi Cofone. This is another connection making our grandparents cousins.

From their marriage record we discover that Angelo was 19 and Maria was 12 when they married. This would make their estimated years of birth 1804 for Pier Angelo and 1811 for Maria. Both were living on Strada Padia at the time of their marriage. Pier Angelo’s occupation is indicated as Contadino (farmer). From the marriage record we also learn the names of their parents. Francesco Chimento and Angela Perri were the parents of Pier Angelo and Angelo Celico and Rosa Coschignano were the parents of Maria and as you may recall they are also Grandpa’s paternal Great Grandparents.

From available records we learn that Pier Angelo and Maria produced at least two children. The first child is believed to be Serafina born on January 25, 148

1829. As you will recall it was from she whom we are descended. The second child Giuseppe was born on March 18, 1832.

Maria died on September 15, 1832 at the age of 21. At the time of her death her daughter Serafina is three years and nearly nine months old and her son Giuseppe was only six months old. Given the age of her son at the time it may be her death was the result complications following his birth, although we will never really know. The death record incorrectly states her age as 26.

We know that Pier Angelo married less than a month later on October 12, 1832 to Aurelia Gencarelli. We can speculate that the immediate needs of his children we at least part of his motivation for the somewhat contemporaneous second marriage. Pier Angelo and Aurelia produced eight children for which records exist. Leonardo was born on January 30, 1838; Pasquale Santo on April 26, 1840, Carmela Tommasina on October 2, 1842; Antonio on April 13, 1845; Rosa on June 13, 1847; Gennaro on January 5, 1850, who was born at the Sila Muccone, a forest region across from Acri on the westerly banks of the Muccone River; Santo Salvatore born on April 4. 1852 whose birth citation lists he was born in La Muccone (sic); and finally Mariangela on June 21, 1856 in Cuta, a small settlement and frazione of Acri west of the Muccone River.

A birth record for Aurelia Gencarelli was found that indicates a birth date of October 8, 1817. This would make her 15 years old when she married Pier Angelo in 1832 who was 29 at the time. Her parents were Gennaro Gencarelli and Angela Mancuso.

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A death record could not be located for Pier Angelo or Aurelia Gencarelli. At this point all we can logically conclude is that they died sometime after the birth of their last child in 1856.

Grandma Angela’s Maternal Great-Great Grand Parents Francesco Chimento – b. about 1771, d. September 29, 1851 Angela Perri – b. about mid-1770s, d. after 1811 before 1823

Grandma’s maternal Great Great Grandparents were Francesco Chimento and Angela Perri. Francesco and Angela were Grandma’s mother’s, mother’s, father’s parents.

In addition to Pier Angelo who was born around 1804 and from whom we are descended, a birth record was found for another son, Giuseppe, who was born on February 21, 1811. Giuseppe’s birth record indicates that Francesco was about 40 years old at the time of the birth. This would make his estimated birth year about 1771. His occupation is listed as Bracciale or laborer. While the record identifies Angela Perri as the mother no other information regarding her age or occupation is indicated in the document.

The marriage record of Pier Angelo indicates that at the time of his first marriage in 1823 Angela Perri is dead. A further search for information regarding Angela could not be located. It may be that she was not originally from Acri and therefore the lack of records. Records for any other children other than those indicated herein could also not be located. Therefore the best that we surmise is

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that Angele died after the birth of son Giuseppe but before the marriage of son Pier Angelo in 1823.

A death citation for Francesco was found on the Cosenza Archive site which indicates a date of death of September 29, 1851 at the estimated age of 80. Using Francesco’s death year to extrapolate his birth year renders 1771 and is in agreement with the information contained in his son’s Giuseppe’s birth record suggesting that this may possibly be our ancestor.

Angelo Celico – b. about 1786, d. November 17, 1863 Rosa Coschignano – b. about 1788, d. November 20, 1844

Angelo and Rosa were Grandma’s mother’s, mother’s, mother’s parents. They are a common ancestral connection between Grandma and Grandpa. For more information on them revisit the section on Grandpa’s maternal Great Grandparents.

Gaetano Crocco – b. about 1752, d. April 5, 1842 Aurelia Acri – b. mid 1700s, d. after 1804

Gaetano and Aurelia were Grandma’s mother’s, father’s, father’s parents. Their identities were discovered in the 1821 marriage record of their son Carmelo Crocco to Nunziata De Cicco. The marriage record only tells us that Gaetano is a farmer and that the family lived on Strada Padia. No age information is provided. Not much is known about Gaetano Crocco and Aurelia Acri. One reason may be 151

that Gaetano and Aurelia were not originally from Acri. Possible leads that have been discovered thus far and are discussed below seem to support this opinion.

A town of Acri death record dated April 5, 1842 was located for Gaetano Crocco whose age at death was indicated to be 90. This would calculate to an estimated year of birth of about 1752, which may be somewhat earlier than the expected range of when we our ancestor was believed to have been born. The record indicates that this Gaetano was born in Luzzi, a town in Cosenza, which is located approximately 6 miles southwest of Acri. It is not a frazione of Acri. Gaetano evidently relocated to Acri and was living there at the time of his death. When he relocated to Acri is not known. We do know that our Gaetano was in Acri in 1804 when his son Carmelo was born. The death record also indicates that the parents of this Gaetano were Michele Crocco and Rosa Cofone.

I think it is reasonable to consider that Gaetano’s age as reported in the death record may have been over stated. Since he was originally from Luzzi there was no birth record on file in Acri. An estimate of his age was likely provided by the witnesses who reported the death to authorities. Francesco Rigieri and Giuseppe Luzzi were purportedly fifty and sixty years old, respectively when they reported Gaetano’s death to the municipal authorities. They obviously knew Gaetano was older than they were but probably did not know by how much. The Cosenza Archive website was queried for a Gaetano Crocco from Luzzi and no record was located.

The Cosenza Archive web site contained no listing for an Aurelia Acri associated with the town of Acri. However the Archive site provided two records for an Aurelia Acri outside of the town of Acri. One was an 1811 birth record in the town of Rossano which clearly would not have been our Aurelia since the 152

birth occurred decades after the period when we would expect our Aurelia to have been born. The second finding was a death citation and record dated May 5, 1843 that documented the death of an Aurelia Acri, 60 years old, in the town of Rogliano which is located in Cosenza and is situated about 22 miles south of Acri. The record indicates that Aurelia was born in Luzzi. Extrapolating the age at death to obtain a birth year rendered 1783, certainly within the realm of when we might expect our ancestor to have been born, however not conclusive. The Cosenza Archive website was queried for an Aurelia Acri from Luzzi but no record was located.

Unfortunately there is insufficient evidence supporting the notion that both persons identified above, who share the same names as our ancestors, were both from Luzzi, and may have been born around the same time in the mid to late 1700s, are in fact our ancestors. We can only hope that at some point in the future more information may become available to make or entirely refute the connection.

Domenico DeCicco – b. before 1806, d. after 1821 Marianna Benvenuto – b. before 1806, d. after 1821

Domenico and Marianna were Grandma’s mother’s, father’s, mother’s parents. Not surprisingly, we know very little about Domenico and Marianna. Their identities were discovered in the 1821 marriage record of their daughter Nunizata to Carmelo Crocco. The record only tells us that Domenico is a farmer and that the family lived on Strada Padia. Except with respect to the bride and groom, no other age information is provided in the document for any of the parents.

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Apart from the marriage record of Nunziata De Cicco, an attempt was made to locate any additional records where Domenico and Marianna appeared as the parents. Since it is believed that their daughter Nunziata was born around or before 1806, it was hoped to find some record involving their children in about a 25 year period beginning around 1809, which is when the Napoleonic code required that record keeping in the area begin. Among the 1500 records reviewed on the Cosenza Archive site in search of children with parents with the surnames of De Cicco or Di Cicco no others were found to have Domenico and Marianna Benvenuto as parents.

Death records for Domenico and Marianna could not be located. The best that can be estimated is that they died sometime after the marriage of their daughter Nunziata to Carmino Crocco in October of 1821. Perhaps for some future edition of our family’s history the Latter Day Saints database, a more comprehensive and expansive source than the Cosenza Archive site, can be researched to explore this and other dangling connections represented herein.

Grandma Angela’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grand Parents

Of the eight sets of Grandma’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents, we have possibly located three. Keep in mind that it is difficult to conclude that the following persons are indeed our ancestors. The information was derived from documents believed to represent known ancestors, but lacks sufficient corroboration to drawn definite conclusions as to their authenticity.

Michele Crocco and Rosa Cofone 154

We learned of Michele and Rosa from the death record of their son Gaetano Crocco who is believed to have died in 1842. Gaetano’s death record indicates that his parents were dead prior to the time of his death. We know they were alive at the time Gaetano was born, which is estimated to be around 1752. It is estimated that Michele and Rosa were probably born sometime around the mid -1730s.

Giuseppe Celico and Maria Capalbo While Giuseppe and Maria were Grandma’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents they were Grandpa’s Paternal Great-Great Grandparents. In the vernacular of genealogy this connection would make Grandma and Grandpa 3rd Cousins one removed. For further information regarding Giuseppe and Maria revisit Grandpa’s Paternal Great-Great Grandparents section above.

Carmino Coschignano and Maria Guidi Carmino and Maria are the other set of Grandparents shared by Grandma and Grandpa through their common Celico line. Just as above, they are Grandma’s Maternal Great-Great-Great Grandparents and Grandpa’s Paternal Great-Great Grandparents. Revisit Grandpa’s Great-Great Grandparents section above to view information regarding Carmino and Maria

Angela Gabriele Pedigree Chart What follows on the next page is Grandma’s basic pedigree chart which, including, Grandma spans five and in some cases six generations.

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Angela Gabriele

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Chapter 8 - The Family Nicknames As you know by now, the Cofone family evolved mostly from farmers, herdsman, laborers and spinners. During the nineteenth century and well into the early 20th century, our ancestors worked and lived off the land. They received no formal education, and as such, many if not most, like Grandma and Grandpa, could not read or write. As children became old enough to work the land or tend sheep they contributed to the family’s general wellbeing by performing whatever manual labor helped the family survive. Pursuit of education and literacy was not stressed, particularly in the outer frazione of Acri, where schools were scarce and due to the nature of life, the need for manual labor was plentiful. Overall our ancestors can perhaps be best described as poor, hard-working people, who did whatever they could to provide for their families. I can only imagine that they would be extremely proud to learn that their descendants became educated and generally successful in life.

Our ancestors were too poor to have a family crest or any such image or symbol that represents a family's presumed characteristics. Like most families who evolved in the region of southern Italy where our family began, in lieu of a symbol, families bore nicknames, known in the vernacular as “supranome”. Nicknames helped to distinguish families with similar names from each other. Sometime a nickname had significance to a particular person or family. It might denote for example, a physical characteristic or perhaps a specific sub-region where a family dwelled. In other cases the family nickname had no particular significance. Such seems to be the case with our family.

The Cofone family nickname is Scaramuzzo. It is pronounced Sca’-rahmootz-o, with emphasis on the first syllable. The letter “a” in the Italian language 157

is pronounced “ah” and such is the case here. The letter “r” is pronounced in such a way that it is softly rolled. Sometimes Scaramuzzo is pronounced with the o cut off. As a kid growing up I remember some of the older Italians in the neighborhood referring to me as Joey Scaramuzz or just Scaramuzz. Uncle Jimmy had the nickname Scotty when he was young, which was nothing more than a truncated derivative of Scaramuzzo. All of Grandma and Grandpa’s children grew up with the nickname attached to their first names. For example, Aunt Mary was Maria e’ Scaramuzzo, Aunt Tessie was Terazina e’ Scaramuzzo, so on and so forth for the others. As a matter of fact Grandma and Grandpa would always tell me in sort of a proud way that we came from “I razzi degli Scaramuzzi”, meaning generations of the Scaramuzzos. All this mention of Scaramuzzo lead me to believe that perhaps the Cofone family emanated from an original Scaramuzzo clan.

I have tried without success to trace the genesis of the Scaramuzzo nickname. In Acri there are families with the last name of Scaramuzzo, however no direct link between our Cofone line and the Scaramuzzo line could be established, at least as far back as around 1768, which is the estimated birth year of Grandpa’s great-great-great grandfather Giuseppe Cofone. The origin may reside even prior to this time; however, the likelihood of uncovering its earliest source is remote at best, if not impossible. It may also be that the Scaramuzzo surname was somehow derived from the Cofone surname.

I also checked Italian dictionaries in hopes of finding a root word from which the name evolved. As far as can be determined the separate words scara and muzzo do not exist in the Italian lexicon. The closest word I have discovered that sounds like Scaramuzzo is the Italian word scaramuccia. In pronunciation it sounds almost exactly the same. The cc sound in scaramuccia is slightly softer than the harder sounding zz in Scaramuzzo. The other slight exception pertains 158

to the very last syllable. Because scaramuccia ends in the letter “a” the emphasis is on the “ah” sound as opposed to the “oh” sound reflecting the last letter “o” in Scaramuzzo. The Italian word scaramuccia means a quick and short conflict, encounter, or a fight, between small groups; in other words a skirmish. I have been unable to find any on-line reference source to establish if the name Scaramuzzo is a Calabrian dialect derivative of the word scaramuccia. If there is some connection between these words it makes one wonder if there could have been a personality trait or characteristic of one or a group of our ancestor’s that reflected a tendency to clash with others. While interesting to ponder, there is no way presently to confirm any of this.

So we come full circle. My father’s uncle, Nunziato Cofone, Grandpa’s brother-in-law, told me that Scaramuzzo was merely a nickname. It has no direct translation and no connotation. Although this may be the case, the name Scaramuzzo meant something to our ancestors. Perhaps it was nothing more than a symbol of uniqueness. Like Grandma and Grandpa, perhaps they too felt some sort of pride with being identified as a Scaramuzzo. This meaningless sounding nickname has proven to be the only family legacy that our ancestors, uncomplicated salt of the earth people that they were, could afford to bestow upon us. It may be the only enduring symbol that carries through to the successive generations of the Cofone family.

Grandma’s family also had a nickname. The Gabriele clan from the Serricella frazione of Acri was known as “I Cuorecelli”, which loosely translated means “little hearts”. The genesis of this nickname, like that of Scaramuzzo, will probably never be known.

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As a child I recall being occasionally mocked by some other ItalianAmerican kids because of my last name, or more appropriately, how it sounded in typical pronunciation. Evidently it had some sort of a negative connotation of which I was unaware. I began inquiring about what our name meant and somehow learned that our family name was presumably a synonym for the word peasant. By all accounts, and to be totally frank, our ancestors were indeed peasants. By no fault of their own they were certainly uneducated, agricultural laborers that lived in the rural countryside. I recently checked an Italian dictionary under various derivative spellings of our family name in an attempt to locate a more precise definition. The search revealed the results presented below.

DEFINITION OF THE WORD CAFONE AS IT APPEARED IN THE DICTIONARY

O XFORD PARAVIA ITALIAN

I do not know the actual genesis of our family name or how it evolved over the centuries. All we do know is that long ago the name was bestowed upon our early ancestors. Perhaps it reflected their most basic characteristic and nature those hundreds of years ago. While our ancestors may have lacked formal education and were illiterate, it does not mean they were unintelligent. To the contrary, they learned how to adapt and survive under very harsh conditions that so called sophisticated people could never hope to endure. They may have been 160

uncultured and unrefined by certain social standards of the time, but they created their own culture, that for the most part, revolved around a close-knit, loving, family unit and good friends and which continues to endure to this day.

Over the ensuing generations our ancestors were smart enough and intrepid enough to overcome the connotations of the offensive terms one derivative spelling of our family’s name seems to symbolize or represent. Those in the present and future generations that may face some ridicule because of the grammatical meaning of our family name should feel a sense of pride in what we have been able to collectively accomplish over the centuries. Those achievements speak volumes about the actual quality and integrity of the family known as Cofone, Cafone, or whatever derivative you care to use.

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Chapter 9 – Two Uncles We Never Knew If you asked most of the second American born generation members of the family how many aunts and uncles we had, the reply from most would likely be seven. If asked to name them starting with the eldest the answer would be Tessie, Jimmy, Josie, Mary, Florie, Louie and Jean.

The fact is Grandma and Grandpa produced a total of nine and perhaps ten children that survived and for which there is an actual record of their existence or at least some sort of mention in family lore. Grandma had openly admitted to having had as many as 14 children in all. It is believed that four or possibly five of the fourteen children may have been miscarriages.

This chapter is primarily about two additional surviving sons born to Grandma and Grandpa. Their names were Alfonso and Angelo. There had been speculation that they were born between Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Josie, and died in their infancy. I went in search of our two uncles and tried to determine precisely when they were born and when they died.

First I tried to formulate an idea of when the births took place. If we look at the family time line we see three significant gaps. The first is found between the births of Aunt Tessie on January 18, 1911 and Uncle Jimmy in December 5, 1921. The duration of this gap is almost 10 years and 11 months. The next gap is between the births of Uncle Jimmy, on December 5, 1921 and Aunt Josie on March 16, 1923. This gap is approximately a little more than one year and four months in duration. The final gap is located between my father, Uncle Louie, born on November 29, 1926, and Aunt Jean, whose birthday is April 9, 1932. This 162

gap represents a period of about 5 years 5 months. An interesting pattern worth noting is that in between the birth of Aunt Josie and my father, Grandma and Grandpa managed to have almost one child a year.

We know that for approximately 9 or 10 years beginning in what was believed to be 1911 or 1912; Grandma and Aunt Tessie were living in Italy. We know they returned to the US from Italy in January of 1921. The prolonged absence of approximately nine years accounts for the large gap between Aunt Tessie and Uncle Jimmy and therefore eliminates that period of time to search for any additional births.

The gap between Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Josie of nearly sixteen months seems like a good possibility until you realize the fact that Grandma probably became pregnant with Aunt Josie sometime in June of 1922. This now represents a gap of about 6 months from the birth of Uncle Jimmy. It may be possible that Grandma miscarried sometime during this interval, but obviously another birth was out of the question. Even a premature birth would seem highly unlikely. This leaves us with the gap between Louie and Jean which is precisely where we find our uncles.

As a child, I visited St. Joseph’s Cemetery, located on Ridge Road in Lyndhurst, many times with Grandma. Visiting the T HE G RAVESITES OF A NGELO COFONE AND WHAT WAS PRESUMED TO BE A LFONSO C OFONE ( RED CIRCLE ) IN S T . J OSEPH ' S C EMETERY , LYNDHURST

cemetery back then was like visiting the old neighborhood. It seemed that we made stops at everyone’s

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grave that Grandma knew to say hello and offer a short prayer. And of course we would visit the eventual gravesite of Grandma and Grandpa. I guess they wanted to make sure that I’d know where to find them.

On our many trips to the cemetery Grandma would take me to the graves of what were presumably two of her children. The gravesites are located in the northwest corner of the cemetery, known as the “baby field”, which is an area of the cemetery that consists mainly of children’s graves. A small concrete cross, with the initials “AC” etched into the intersection of the cross, marks the location of one of our unknown uncle’s grave. A small arch shaped, non-descript head stone to the left of the concrete cross shaped headstone was thought to be the grave marker for a second child. Exactly when the stones were set in place has not been determined.

Our Grandparents could not afford a proper headstone but arrangements were made ensure that our uncle’s grave would be marked. It was long thought that Uncle Nat fabricated the cross-shaped headstone. What I came to learn from Aunt Rosie is that the headstone was actually made by a friend of Grandpa’s, who A CLOSE - UP OF HEADSTONES OF A NGELO C OFONE AND PERHAPS ANOTHER CHILD . WAS MADE BY

T HE CROSS - SHAPED HEADSTONE

F RANK “ OO V IZUOCO ” DIG IACOMO .

was a mason, named Frank “ oo Vizuoco” (which loosely translated means one who

never got married) DiGiacomo. Going back to when she first immigrated to 164

America, Vizuoco wanted to marry Grandma, but she would not have him. From what I have heard, Frank was a rather disheveled and uncouth fellow. He eventually did marry and lived on East Center Street across from Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat’s house.

I reasoned that burial records, if they still existed, would allow a determination as to who was buried in the grave and when they were interred. In my search for the burial records I learned that at the turn of the century the original records for St. Joseph’s Cemetery were maintained by Diffley’s Funeral Home in Rutherford. The records were subsequently turned over to St. Joseph’s R.C. Church in East Rutherford years ago. The church later cataloged many of those records.

What I ultimately came to learn from the data obtained from the church is that the grave marked by the concrete cross was occupied by only one child. Based on information presented below we now know that the arched shaped headstone actually marks the grave of another child who was not one of our uncles.

An inquiry with St. Joseph’s Church revealed records of four children, with the Cofone surname, buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Of these, three were buried in the baby field. The fourth infant was interred in another area of the cemetery. I also came to learn that only one of the three infants buried in the baby field was actually a child of Grandma and Grandpa. Of the remaining two in the baby field who were not related, one was named Louis Cofone, who was seven months old when he died in April of 1911, and the other was Salvatore who was 4 days old when he died in Nutley in 1917. Both are buried in grave 2, section I, in an area of baby field which in now located beneath a cemetery 165

roadway adjacent to section M of the baby field where our uncle is buried. These children do not appear to be children of Grandma and Grandpa by virtue of the fact that our grandparents were likely in Pennsylvania, or perhaps in Minnesota, at the time the child known as Louis was born and Grandma was not in the U.S. during the death of the latter child, Salvatore. The fact that both occupy the same grave may be indicative of the fact they were likely related, possibly being brothers.

The burial record for Grandpa and Grandma’s child, whose name was indicated as Angelo, did not specify a grave or section designation. The church secretary who retrieved the record told me it was found in a file that contained all internments in what was known as the “baby field”. It was only from direct knowledge passed down by our grandparents that we can identify the location of the grave which, as indicated above, has been marked with the “AC” inscribed cement, cross shaped, headstone. We now know that the child buried in that grave was Angelo. However, Angelo was not the first of our grandparent’s children to be buried in the cemetery. He was predeceased about 14 months prior by his brother Alfonso who we will discuss shortly.

Angelo Cofone b. August 9, 1929, d. October 11, 1929

According to the cemetery burial record, Angelo was presumably 2 months and 6 days old when he died, although no date of death is indicated on the record. The cause of death is listed as “Congenital Malformation of the Cranium”. The record also indicates that he was interred on October 13, 1929. If the two months and six days age indicated in the record is applied to his burial

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date the implication would be a birthday of August 7th which differs slightly from the date of birth on the death certificate.

B URIAL RECORD FOR A NGELO COFONE

Angelo’s death certificate, which was obtain afterwards, shows that he was born on August 9, 1929, which ironically is the month and day of my birth. He lived just two months and two days. He died on October 11, 1929 in the Lyndhurst house and was pronounced dead by Howard M Cooper, M.D. of Rutherford, New Jersey. The cause of death is the same as listed on the cemetery record but also indicates that infection was a contributory cause. He was interred on October 13, 1929 in St Joseph’s Cemetery. The Collins Funeral Home in Rutherford, New Jersey handled the funeral arrangements.

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D EATH CERTIFICATE OF A NGELO C OFONE

I recall Grandma saying that something kept oozing from the head of one of her babies and that he ultimately died when the top of his head just burst open. Aunt Tessie also told a similar story. Aunt Mary adds more detail to the story. She recalled that they tried to keep Angelo calm but that he began to cry and while doing so the malformation ruptured. The release of pressure was evidently forceful enough to cause blood to splatter up onto the ceiling. According to Aunt Mary, Angelo was immediately taken to the doctor where he died.

Grandma speculated in later years that Angelo was probably born with the defect because during her pregnancy he must have been resting with his head on a fibroid tumor in her uterus, which had been later diagnosed and surgically removed. The thought was that the contact with the tumor made the middle of his head very soft. 168

Angelo was waked at the Lyndhurst house in the front room that years later became Grandpa’s bedroom. Aunt Mary remembers a dark wreath hanging on the front door.

There are two other interesting observations with regard to Angelo’s death records. Firstly, Angelo’s last name is spelled CAfone on the death certificate and COfone on the burial record, the former which is likely the result of the phonetic sounding of the name. Secondly, the death certificate lists Grandma’s maiden name incorrectly as Garavola.

A check of the baptismal records on file with Sacred Heart Church in Lyndhurst reveals that Angelo was born on August 9, 1929 and was baptized on August 25, 1929. His godfather was Samuel Del Core, who lived on Paul Street in Lyndhurst with his wife Rosina and their children. Their house was situated somewhat directly behind the Lyndhurst house. The southwest corner rear yard of their house abutted the northeast corner of the rear yard of the Lyndhurst house. Angelo’s godmother was Grace Polita. Nothing further is known about her. Father Kennedy of Sacred Heart Church baptized Angelo. Interestingly Aunt Jean had the very same godparents.

I can only speculate that Angelo was named after Angelo Celico who was Grandpa’s Great Grandfather and also Grandma’s Great-Great Grandfather. As indicated in an earlier chapter, it is through Angelo Celico that Grandpa and Grandma are related.

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Alfonso Cofone b. August 29, 1928, d. August 30, 1928 Angelo’s brother was not interred in the baby field, as had been thought for quite some time. The burial record indicates the child’s name as Alfonse, the Americanized version of Alfonso, which appears on the death certificate.

B URIAL R ECORD OF A LFONSE COFONE

Alfonse’s burial records show a date of death of August 30, 1928 and also indicated that he lived one day. The cause of death is indicated as “Premature Birth”. The record also indicates that he was buried on September 4, 1928, five days following his death. The record also reveals that he is not buried with his brother Angelo, but rather in an unmarked grave he presumably shares with an infant female, Caroline Murphy. She was buried in the plot about a year earlier, on August 2, 1927.

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Alfonso’s gravesite is unmarked and is located in Plot 28 of Range 5W. The gravesite is situated just to the east of the baby field on the other side of the narrow, west side, roadway of the cemetery. More specifically it is located just south and next to a headstone bearing the surname Franki. Generally, the grave is located in a space between the headstones that bear the last name Franki, which occupies Plot 29 and Krammer, which occupies plots 25 through 27. The Franki head stone is heart shaped and is topped with a statue of a small angel. The Kramer headstone is dark gray and contains an etching of a

T HE ARROW POINTS TO UNMARKED GRAVE OF A LFONSO

branch. Immediately to its left is another headstone bearing the name Kiefer. These gravesites are located about 10 or 12 rows back from the roadway and slightly south of Angelo’s gravesite.

As with Angelo who died later, money was not available to procure a headstone. One must also wonder if they knew precisely where Alfonso was buried. Had they known I am confident that as an adequate marker of sorts would have been fabricated and set in place. It is also likely both markers would have been fabricated and installed at the same time.

A further search of the Lyndhurst Death Records revealed that Alfonso New York Ave Cofone was born prematurely on August 29, 1928. He died on the next day, August 30, 1928 at the Lyndhurst house. He was pronounced dead by Harry Cherashore, M.D. of Nutley, New Jersey who listed the official cause of death as premature birth. The death record indicates that Alfonso was buried in St. 171

Joseph’s Cemetery in Lyndhurst on September 4, 1928, which sadly was Grandma’s 39th birthday. The Collins Funeral Home of Rutherford, New Jersey handled the arrangements. Alfonso’s death certificate had his last name spelled CAfone. It also incorrectly had Grandma’s maiden name as Grabola.

D EATH R ECORD OF A LFONSO COFONE 1928

We can speculate why it took nearly five days to bury the infant and why he was buried with an unrelated child in section W. Perhaps the family needed time to come up with the funds to cover all or part of the burial expenses. Another thought on the common grave with the Murphy child is perhaps it was a gesture of charity on the part of the church or funeral director. Another possibility is that our grandparents left the burial arrangements to the funeral director and might

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not have known where the child was actually buried, believing he was buried in the same grave that Angelo would occupy about a year later.

Angelo’s Gravesite

Alfonso’s Gravesite

R ELATIVE POSITION OF A NGELO AND A LFONSO ' S GRAVESITES

Of all the trips I made to the cemetery with Grandma I never recall visiting the area where Alfonso was buried. Nor do I ever recall hearing Grandma speak of a child named Alfonso. For some reason, I thought that perhaps one of the children was buried along a west side fence adjacent to the baby field section of the cemetery as I recall visiting that area with Grandma several times. These many years later I am not entirely sure whether or not we were visiting a grave in the area along the fence or if we were searching for a grave of another one of her children, perhaps Alfonso. Nor can I clearly recall if Grandma ever mentioned the name of whom it was we were visiting and/or looking for as she always did during our visits to other graves. 173

In viewing the baptismal records for Alfonso we find two interesting and important discrepancies. Firstly, Alfonso is listed in the record as Santo Cofone. It may be that Santo was truly his given name and that it somehow got changed to Alfonso for the civil birth and death record, but was retained for the rite of baptism. A second possibility is a clerical error by whomever it was that documented the name. A third possibility that would not surprise me, is that a doctor or nurse bestowed the name Alfonso on the child during the filing of the death record, thinking that it was a popular Italian name at the time. In viewing our family’s genealogy there is no record of anyone named Alfonso. Grandma did however have a Great Grandfather named Santo Gabriele. Also, you may recall from a previous chapter that her eldest sister was named Santa. So it may be the child was named in honor of one of them.

The second discrepancy deals with records that indicate that Santo was baptized on August 28, 1928, which is probably the day he was born. Fr. Joseph Monestero, a priest from Holy Family Church in Nutley, apparently baptized him. This of course conflicts with the information contained in the Lyndhurst Board of Health Death Record. The record does not actually indicate Santo’s (Alfonso’s) date of birth but rather shows a death date of August 30, 1928 and indicates that he was one day old at the time of his death, implying he was born on August 29th. It may also be that Santo lived two days instead of the one day indicated in the records. Knowing his frail and tenuous condition at the time of birth, Grandma probably had Santo baptized immediately. At the time religious beliefs in the Catholic Church, which dated back to the 4th Century, maintained that unbaptized babies were not full members of the church. As a result, they could not enter heaven, but rather would permanently reside in a place called Limbo.

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Santo’s godparents were listed as Samuel and Rosa Del Core. Grandma always referred to Rose DelCore, Samuel’s wife, as Cumara Rosina and this explains why. The Calabrese word Cumara, means godmother.

Other Children Grandma is also rumored to have had other “named” children who miscarried or died prematurely. It is unknown if it was custom to name miscarriages. One thought is that naming a miscarried child was dependent on how long the child was carried. We don’t really know how far along Grandma was in her pregnancy at the time she miscarried Alfonso.

Speculation by various family members, based on conversations with Grandma, suggest the possibility of a son named Salvatore or Sammy. It was long believed by some that it was he who was buried alongside Angelo in St Joseph’s Cemetery. Grandma was known to have mentioned visiting a child with the name Salvatore, on her trips to the cemetery. In a 1992 interview with Aunt Tessie she mentioned Angelo and Sammy as the names of the infants. In 2008 Aunt Mary stated that the names of the children were Angelo and Carmine. If they did exist, perhaps it was Sammy or Carmine we were looking for along the fence in the baby field in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

Another theory is that Alfonso or more appropriately, Santo and Salvatore or Santo and Sammy may be one in the same person. As mentioned above, Alfonso’s godfather was Samuel Del Core. In the Calabrese dialect the name Samuel is often pronounced as Salvatore. Actually the Calabrese pronunciation phonetically sounds more like Saab’-a-do-rah. The emphasis is on the first syllable. It is possible that Grandma thought of Angelo as Salvatore, with the 175

reference and respect to Angelo’s godfather. This may have been a custom of sorts for the time. This theory is given some credibility by the fact that church records from Holy Family Church in Nutley, Sacred Heart Church in Lyndhurst and St Joseph’s Church in East Rutherford which contains the burial records for St Joseph’s Cemetery in Lyndhurst, as well as a check of death certificates in Lyndhurst and Nutley fail to disclose an infant or premature birth with the name Salvatore Cofone or Cafone born to our Grandparents.

Let’s now try to estimate the range of time when any possible premature births and miscarriages could have occurred. We can of course rule out the period of time between Aunt Tessie and Uncle Jimmy. We now know that this is not possible because Grandma and Aunt Tessie were in Italy during that time. But what about the period of time before the birth of Aunt Tessie?

We know that Grandma and Grandpa were married in November of 1909 and Aunt Tessie was born in January of 1911. Aunt Rosie emphatically states that Grandma mentioned she miscarried before giving birth to Aunt Tessie and lost the child after about 3 months. Aunt Tessie was likely conceived in late April or early May of 1910. Artificial birth control as we know it today was non-existent at the time, not to mention religious morays against its use even if it were. As such, it is possible that Grandma, who we know was extremely fertile, could have become pregnant in her first few months of marriage. Therefore it is also possible that she may have miscarried once before the conception of Aunt Tessie. It was often said that Aunt Tessie was the first child and there was no recollection by anyone I spoke to, other than Aunt Rosie, of a miscarriage prior to Aunt Tessie’s birth. I trust Aunt Rosie’s memory and recollection regarding the matter. As indicated, time wise, it may have been possible that there was another pregnancy prior to Aunt Tessie. 176

It is also possible the Grandma conceived again within a few months of Aunt Tessie’s birth but lost the child prior to the return to Italy. According to an account by Aunt Tessie, another daughter, Maria, was born and died in Nashwauk, Minnesota. An inquiry with the Catholic churches in the area of Nashwauk has thus far failed to provide any written documentation of Maria’s birth. A more in depth investigation in the further may provide more conclusive evidence. Such an investigation would probably require a physical visit to the area.

As indicated earlier, another possible miscarriage could have occurred between Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Josie.

Then there is of course the period of time between the births of Louie in November of 1926 and Alfonso in August of 1928. We know that Alfonso was a premature birth, but we don’t know how long Grandma carried him. If we assume that she carried Alfonso for 8 months this would mean there would have been at least a year between the birth of my father and the conception of Alfonso. Grandma and Grandpa were producing children nearly at the rate of one per year beginning in 1921. It seems highly probable that there would have been some activity in 1927. Grandma could have conceivably gotten pregnant again about a month or two after the birth of Louie and had a child in 1927 and then could have repeated the cycle in 1928 in plenty of time to give birth to Alfonso. I can only speculate that Salvatore, if he truly did exist, may have been an infant who was born and died in 1927. It is worth repeating that there was also no death certificate on file in Lyndhurst for a Salvatore during the late 1920s period of time. While it may be possible that she could have given birth in a town other than Lyndhurst during the same time period, it seems highly unlikely. 177

Finally there is the period between the birth and death of Angelo in 1929 and Aunt Jean in 1932. Angelo died in October of 1929 and Jean was born in April of 1932. She was likely conceived in August of 1931 or approximately 21 months after Angelo’s death. It is possible that Grandma could have had at least one and possible two miscarriages in that interval of time. It is interesting to note that Grandma underwent some sort of surgical procedure sometime prior to the birth of Aunt Jean. The surgery was related to some kind of gynecological condition, likely the fibroid tumors mentioned earlier. From what I gather, it was thought that Grandma might not have been able to have any more children following the procedure, whatever it was, and so Aunt Jean was thought of as some sort of a miracle baby. Grandma was 42 years old when she gave birth to Aunt Jean.

If we consider the various time intervals for possible miscarriages or premature births, we find that we can easily account for the possibility of 14 children. This is the same number of pregnancies Grandma claims to have had in her life.

So there you have it. Two uncles our second American generation never knew and unfortunately neither did most of their siblings. Aunt Rosie has told me that Uncle Jimmy, who would have been seven years old at the time, recalled Angelo. Aunt Tessie, who was 17 and 19 years old at Alfonso and Angelo’s birth respectively, would have very likely recalled both infants and perhaps some of the miscarriages. Unfortunately, neither one of them is around for us to make further inquiries into this interesting facet of our family’s history.

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Chapter 10 – Insight into Family Life This chapter offers a hodge-podge of brief glimpses into family life via stories that have been handed down over the years by our aunts and uncles as well as some personal observations I have made. The material contained in this chapter offers some insight into the personality traits of our Grandparents and the first generation aunts and uncles as well as some members of our extended family. This is one part of the manuscript which I hope will be expanded during the course of years to come by contributed stories from other members of the family. This chapter renders a general sketch of our family’s character, nature and persona.

I had often wondered what it was like for our first generation American born aunts and uncles to grow up in Grandpa and Grandma’s household. It is said that the environments we live in shape and define us as people. Undoubtedly the way we were raised certainly contributes to the type of people we become. What became patently clear listening to varied accounts over the years was that at times during the early periods of their lives, even day to day existence became very difficult for the family of Natale Cofone.

I have come to recognize and truly believe that Grandma and Grandpa loved their children very much, although it is understandable in reading some of the stories and accounts to follow, that someone might question the validity of such an observation. From some of the stories it would appear that our Grandparents were capable of administering severely harsh disciplinary action. The method by which our aunts and uncles were raised might be described by some as a tough love, but nevertheless the end result were children who grew up to be good, decent and respected adults who respected and loved their parents 179

and demonstrated as much to their own children. Human nature being what it is, for some inexplicable reason we tend to recall the difficult episodes in life more so than the mundane occasions where, notwithstanding what may be happening around us, we are generally happy and content. Interwoven in the text to follow are stories of difficult times and difficult people as well as accounts of touching, moving and in some cases, emotional events. There are also versions of amusing and laughable episodes.

As a backdrop to the stories that follow let’s try to establish a context for what is to follow. Grandma was 32 years old when she gave birth to Uncle Jimmy on December 5, 1921. A short sidebar is that Uncle Jimmy’s actual birth name was Vincenzo, being named after Grandpa’s father. In later years he legally changed his name to James. At the time of Uncle Jimmy’s birth Grandma had been back from Italy less than a year following a nine year absence during which she raised Aunt Tessie single handedly. Fourteen months later on March 16, 1923 she had Aunt Josie. Sixteen months later on July 27, 1924 Aunt Mary was born. Sixteen months after Aunt Mary’s birth, on November 15, 1925, Aunt Florie was born followed barely more than a year later, November 29, 1926 by Uncle Louie. Twenty two months later, on August 29, 1928 she had Alfonso, the first of two sons to die in infancy, followed less than a year later, August 9, 1929, by Angelo who lived only a few months. Somewhere in the mix there were likely four or five more miscarriages. Lastly, two and one half years after the birth of Angelo, on April 9, 1932, at the age of 43, Grandma gave birth to Aunt Jean whose full name is Jean Carmela. Aunt Jean claims that she was named after Carmela Costa a friend and neighbor of Grandma who asked that if Grandma had another girl to name it after her. No one is sure how they came up with the name Jean.

It must have been an enormous challenge to raise all these children, even with the help of Aunt Tessie, who was nearly eleven years old, a mere child 180

herself, when Grandma and Grandpa began having the rest of the family. It is also understandable that managing the household must have become nearly impossible at times given their socio-economic status and the social and economic condition of the country and the world at the time. Grandpa worked when he could. For a time the family was on government relief. And there were periods when there was virtually nothing at all to live on. One paramount concern was to keep a roof over their heads. How they managed to accomplish that was in itself an extraordinary feat. As indicated in other parts of this history, the Lyndhurst homestead was nearly lost three times due to looming foreclosures that our Grandparents somehow managed to evade. Sacrifices were made by everyone in the family. Life for our Grandparents could be described as nothing less than a long and arduous struggle.

As the children aged so did our grandparents and controlling the children became even more challenging. Out of this environment came harsh disciplinary action, which was the only methodology our grandparents understood to keep their children from getting into trouble. One could argue that this was a learned behavior on their part, having been subjected to a similar rebuke from their parents when they were children. For example, there is one story where Grandma was thrown down a small embankment by her father for not tending the sheep properly. The action resulted in the breaking of her nose.

Our grandparents could not understand nor relate to the times into which their children grew up. There was no child psychology, how-to advice, or the open minded thinking that exists today. Life was lived and experience was gained in the moment. No doubt our Grandparents were made callous by the mental and physical fatigue of trying to keep the family together through one of the most trying times in history. With time the children learned how to occasionally circumvent some of the disciplinary action to which they had been 181

subjected. On occasion they did things surreptitiously, like sneaking out at night, playing hooky, or remaining silent about people they were with and things that they did. In time, some left the strict environment of the household by getting married. Controlling the children as they aged became a challenge for Grandma. It is said that when she came to her wits end it was not unusual for her to speak to a local priest to see if a troublesome child could be committed to the custody of a home for some temporary period of time in hopes of disciplining the particular culprit. To the best of our knowledge the priest never complied with such a request.

Unfortunately Grandma and Grandpa were illiterate and being uneducated they did not know how to instill the value of continued education to their children. It is believed that they understood that education was important but were powerless in keeping their children from missing school. As evidenced by school records, the children seemed to attend school only about half the time. It has been said that the truant officer was no stranger to 209 Thomas Avenue. The absenteeism however was not always their fault. For instance Aunt Jean missed out on an entire year of school because she was sick and in hospital. None of the children graduated from high school and some dropped out before high school. Still, to their credit, with the exception of my father, all learned to read and write. Fortunately all our aunts and uncles recognized the importance and value of education and instilled that in our second American born generation.

There is no rhyme or reason regarding the order of the snippets below. The stories were provided by those who had first-hand knowledge of the episodes you will read about. Some may be difficult to read and others may make you chuckle, but what follows is a portrait of life in the Cofone household of the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. 182

For a period of time during the Great Depression Grandpa worked for the Works Project Administration. The WPA, as it was known, was the largest and most ambitious federal agency formed under President Franklin D. Roosevelt employing millions of unskilled workers to carry out public works projects. Grandma never went to work and remained at home to raise the family. Early on she was assisted in the rearing of the children by Aunt Tessie who was much older than her siblings. Later the older female siblings helped raise the younger children. The family ate dinner when Grandpa got home.

Make no mistake about it. In his younger years Grandpa could be a difficult person to live with. Grandma told Aunt Rosie that when Grandpa was young he would come home after work, hang his coat on the fence and go out to drink and play cards with his friends. He enjoyed drinking home-made wine, especially his own. In later years his routine changed somewhat. Grandpa always went to work early. His day typically started before 5 a.m. He would arise, have a hearty breakfast and then off to work. Depending on where he was employed, he would walk to take a bus, or just walk directly to his job. He worked at manual labor and it is said he could do the work of two men. He would come home from work at days end, have dinner and go to sleep being tired from working all day. When the kids were young, sometimes post dinner resulted in the meting out of discipline. Grandma’s MO was to wait till everyone ate before she told Grandpa about any indiscretions or disobedience during the day. As has been recounted earlier, Grandpa’s disciplinary action could be severe.

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Extended Family The family would visit relatives and were visited by friends and relatives. Aunt Mary recalls the family visiting Carmela Gencarelli, Aunt Florie’s Godmother. She also recalls going to see Grandma’s sister, Zia Francesca Rizzuto who lived on Spurr Place in Nutley. She was married to Uncle Frank whom she evidently despised. Zia Francesca was very disparaging toward her husband, always swearing at him. She would say to him things like “mallano ti voglio venire!” (Great harm should come to you) or “chi voglio questo giotto frigatto” (Who would want this dumb bastard). Everyone I interviewed who recalled Uncle Frank said he was cordial and generally a very nice and gentle man and not worthy of Za Francesca’s harsh criticism and invective. By one account it is believed she stayed with Uncle Frank merely to remain in the country.

Za Francesca could be harsh. An example is found in a story conveyed to me by Aunt Jean. After the fire that engulfed the Nutley house in 1926, Grandpa established a sizable vegetable garden on the vacant property. I still have a vague recollection of the foundation of the house being surrounded by vegetable plants. The house was located directly across from Za Francesca’s home on Spurr Place. Evidently Grandpa was permitted the use of Za Francesca’s water to care for the plants. I am certain he must have shared some of the produce grown on the land with her. Evidently one day she suddenly became enraged over something and denied Grandpa any further access to her water. We will never know what precipitated the change of heart of Za Francesca’s part or weather Grandpa was ever able to obtain water in the future. We do know that as a result of this event Grandpa and his sister-in-law did not speak to one another for quite some time.

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Sometimes what goes around comes around. One time Za Francesca was eating chicken and began choking on a bone. Her son Ralph, not realizing that she was choking, began singing a song entitled ‘Goody Goody For You’. Somehow Za Francesca was able to dislodge the bone after which she became enraged. The story goes that she began cursing at Ralph for singing while she was choking. She evidently thought his singing was celebratory. It is said she vehemently disliked her son Ralph because he had a birth defect. Ralph had been born with a cleft pallet. It was rumored that due to his defect Za Francesca tried to throw Ralph from a window when he was either an infant or young child. Ironically Ralph, who never married, lived with his mother and cared for her in her later years and up to her death. A sad commentary is that after her death Za Francesca left all her assets to her son Frank and essentially disowned Ralph. But it appears that Ralph would have the last word. When Uncle Frank died in 1978 he was buried in East Ridgelawn Cemetery in Clifton. Za Francesca, who died in 1989, was entombed in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington. Following her death Ralph had his father moved to an adjacent tomb in North Arlington. Perhaps Ralph felt having his parents united in death would result in some form of eternal grief for Za Francesca.

Za Francesca was Aunt Mary’s sponsor for confirmation but not by Aunt Mary’s desire. Aunt Mary wanted Mary Durando but Grandma, probably to appease her sister’s badgering, convinced or coerced Aunt Mary to take Zia Francesca instead. Aunt Mary told me that Za Francesca gave Aunt Mary nothing for a gift but had the audacity to tell everyone she had presented Aunt Mary with a ring.

One could tell from listening to various accounts about Za Francesca that she was not very well liked or respected by many. The response was due in large part to her personality and general demeanor. In Grandma’s later years I would 185

take her to or pick her up at Za Francesca’s home where she would frequently visit. Perhaps she had been mellowed by age but I cannot seem to recall witnessing any of Za Francesca’s tirades during those very brief periods I was at her home. I also recall Uncle Frank being just as everyone had described him.

It is said that Grandma’s sister Santa Chimento may have shared a common demeanor with her younger sister. One story indicates that as her husband Santo lie dying in his bed from cancer he asked her for a glass of water. It is said that Santa flatly refused telling her husband that he was no good. In all fairness we do not know anything about Santo’s character. What little is known suggests that like Uncle Frank Rizzuto, he was a kind man. It is claimed that Uncle Jimmy would say that his Uncle Santo would have been better off had he been in jail than married to his Aunt Santa all those years.

Once in a great while Grandpa’s full sister Zia Rosa, would come to visit. It has been said that Grandpa’s sister did not approve of Grandma and so Grandpa and his sisters were not very close. Grandpa did not particularly like his full blooded sisters. He thought them to be promiscuous, even while married, and seemed to make a conscious effort to avoid them.

Grandpa had an Uncle Pasquale who lived at 61 Ellen Avenue in Nutley. During some of the years that the Nutley Velodrome was in operation my father would park patron’s cars on Uncle Pasquale’s property. My father also told me that Uncle Pasquale had a horse, which I presume he kept at this home. Pasquale’s house was also frequented by Grandpa who from time to time would meet there with friends to play cards.

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Grandpa Was A Strict Man One common characteristic about Grandpa’s personality which has been repeated by all of his children that I have interviewed was that he was extremely strict, especially with his daughters. Grandpa did not like the idea of his daughters going out in the evening and wandering from home. Early on he was apprehensive about potential dangers that threatened their physical being. Later as the children grew older he became concerned with the perception others outside the family might have, especially of the girls. Aunt Mary provides some interesting insight into this aspect of Grandpa’s character. As children they remained mostly in the yard of the Lyndhurst house. Grandpa would get upset when things were not in order, so the children had to be sure that the yard was cleaned of any papers or debris prior to him returning home from work. He inspected the yard daily. If he deemed that conditions were not as he expected he would dole out disciplinary action. Sometimes all he had to do was give them a look. Other times he would flick them on the head. If the infraction was really severe he hit the girls with a piece of hedge which had the quality of a whip. It is said that Grandma never hit the girls bare handed.

Grandpa’s Gentle Heart Although Grandpa was mostly remembered as a stern disciplinarian, occasionally his soft side would emerge. There is no doubt he loved his family. Sometime Grandpa would bring home a small candy or a lollipop for the children. Being as poor as they were, this small treat was regarded as a precious gift.

Another example of Grandpa’s love for his children is exemplified in a story Aunt Jean tells about the day my dad left for the Navy. Upon realizing my father was on the bus and was leaving to report for induction into the service, 187

Grandpa chased after the departing bus that was proceeding up Thomas Avenue with tears streaming down his face. He did not want my father to leave.

I believe that Grandpa and Grandma respected and loved their children’s spouses, especially in later years. I also know that the feeling was mutual. One poignant story involves Grandpa and my mom on the day before he died. Grandpa had been sick for several months suffering from the effects of stomach cancer. By virtue of the fact we lived in the same house, my mother acted as one of Grandpa’s principal caregivers. Shortly before being taken to the hospital, for what would have been the last time he departed his home, Grandpa called my mother over to his bedside. He asked her to give him his pants which hung on a nearby chair. Upon handing him the pants Grandpa went into his pocket and emerged

G RANDPA ' S DOLLAR BILL

with a one dollar bill. He said it was all he had and began tearing it in half. He told my mother, half was hers and the other half his. This act was Grandpa’s way of saying a final thank you for all the things my mom had done for him, not just in his last days, but for all the years she was there to help him. If you knew Grandpa you understood that this simple gesture was his way of demonstrating deep gratitude, love and respect. My mother has, to this day, retained her half of the torn dollar bill out of respect and as a remembrance.

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The Carnival Another family classic tale deals with the time my dad along with friends Johnny Satolla, Angelo “Squeaky” Jiosi and Jerry Joaquin ran away with the carnival. During the 1930s it seems that carnivals were annually hosted by various civic organizations in the town. According to newspaper accounts the Elks club hosted an eleven day event around mid-April of each year in the area of Riverside and Tontine Avenues. The American Legion hosted a carnival and bazaar in May in the area of Orient Way and Rutherford Avenue. The Italian Circle Club held their week-long carnival in early June at what is now known as Marin Oval. In addition to the carnival, occasionally the circus would come to town for a day.

It is believed that my dad and his friends were possibly in their teens at the time of they took off with the carnival. The story goes that a 48 state alarm was issued and they were eventually found in Baltimore. A kid running away with the circus or carnival was not an unusual event during the time the first generation members of the family were youngsters. If the event took on the proportion of a national search, as we have been lead to believe, one would expect to see a front page story in the local newspaper or at least a small headline on page 2, however nothing in the years of 1935 to 1942 shows up in the Commercial Leader, the Lyndhurst town newspaper. What was found however is that carnivals were banned in Lyndhurst in July of 1940 after citizens living in the area where the carnivals were staged complained of the unsanitary conditions that was a consequence of hosting the events. Newspaper accounts also indicated that citizens complained of the noise generated by the carnivals and that supposedly few people from Lyndhurst attended the event. They also claimed that the events were attended by mostly children, whom were thought to be better off staying at home. 189

The carnival ban would indicate that the boys would have had to run away prior to the summer of 1940 if the carnival they ran away with was held in Lyndhurst. My father could only tell me he was a kid when this event occurred. From conversations with my mom and aunts I surmised he was a teenager or was just about to become one. This would narrow the search to a range of years beginning in 1938, at which time he would have been 12, to 1939 when he would have been 13. Unfortunately, as indicated above, a newspaper search during this interval has failed to disclose any information.

It is not entirely clear how long my dad and his friends had been away with the carnival. Estimates ran from a few days to several weeks. My dad once told me that he worked the candy apple stand. He said that he and his friends survived in part by him expropriating some of the apples, which the boys later consumed. How the authorities were alerted and by whom is a mystery. I can imagine that members of one or all of the boys’ families made the initial report to the police. Either the family members provided the lead that the boys left town with the carnival or the police obtained the information through investigative methods. I am also speculating that the police learned of the carnival’s scheduled stops and were able to forward a description to authorities along the way. Eventually Baltimore PD learned of the alarm and located the boys and held them in custody for several days until such time as next of kin came to retrieve them. It was Grandpa and Uncle Nat who went to Baltimore to get my father.

I had once heard from a source outside the family that a party was given for my father upon his safe return. Conversely, Squeaky Jiosi’s family did not immediately respond to pick him up and apparently he was severely beaten by his father for running away. I hope to search the Lyndhurst Police records 190

sometime in the future to see if I can locate a more accurate accounting of this event.

There is another unsubstantiated brief carnival story that indicates that some of our Aunts may have run away with the carnival for just a day or so. This presumably occurred around one Easter, however the year and which of our aunts were involved is unknown.

Aunt Mary Stories There was an occasion when Grandpa somehow discovered that Aunt Mary applied clear nail polish to her fingernails. This evidently annoyed him to the point that he forbade her to have dinner until the polish was removed. It was Aunt Josie who provided a pen knife that Aunt Mary used to scrape the polish from her fingers. Satisfied that the polish was removed Grandpa allowed her to dine with the family.

By her own admission Aunt Mary was sort of Tomboy. She often helped Grandpa with chores such as sawing wood that was used in the stove. The kitchen stove was used not only to prepare meals but it was also a major source of heat for at least part of the home and so this task was important. Aunt Mary realized the necessity of the chore which she completed without protest.

Aunt Mary recalled that one of the first tenants who lived on the second floor in the Lyndhurst house were the Bucceroni’s. there came an occasion when Mrs. Bucceroni was delivering a baby upstairs. Aunt Mary desperately wanted to see the event and so went up the stairs to look. Evidently Grandpa had also 191

made his way up the stairs as well. He did not want Aunt Mary to see the baby being delivered and so he pushed her away. As a result she fell down the stairs and broke her collarbone.

Aunt Josie had friends named Martha and Jassie (Josephine) Sanfillipo and Mary and Dottie Bernardi. They used to go roller skating and never took Aunt Mary. One day Aunt Mary asked why she was never invited to come along. Aunt Josie told her that she and her friends smoked and she was afraid Aunt Mary would squeal on her. Aunt Mary said she didn’t care if they smoked and that she too would learn to smoke. They all went to Riviera’s skating rink in Belleville but Aunt Mary couldn’t skate and continually fell. As she put it, “I kept polishing the floor”. So she turned her efforts to learning to smoke and as she took puffs from a cigarette she started choking. Aunt Mary never went roller skating again. She and Aunt Josie eventually became regular smokers. However even as adults, they never told Grandpa or Grandma that they smoked. Aunt Mary quit smoking many years later.

Aunt Mary’s first job was sewing doll clothes at a small sewing shop behind Sal Durando’s house. Later, when she was about 12 years old Aunt Mary worked at a sewing shop for Mangini on Copeland Avenue. My sister Marie now owns and lives in Mangini’s house. Aunt Josie also worked for Mangini. Aunt Mary later worked for Servideo in Roosevelt Hall next to Roosevelt School. The building later became a catering hall known as The Royal Hawaiian Palms. It is presently a child learning center.

Not unlike some of her siblings, Aunt Mary could be mischievous and a tough little kid when she wanted to be. Her good friend Frances Jiosi tells a story that occurred when Aunt Mary was in grammar school. Evidently she was called 192

upon in class to read from a book but Aunt Mary said she could not because she left her glasses home. It seems the teacher questioned the validity of Aunt Mary’s claim however Aunt Mary told the teacher she would go home and get them and gladly return to read the passage. She evidently left the classroom a short while later, probably during recess or lunch. Frances said that Aunt Mary came upon a kid wearing spectacles either in the hallway or somewhere near the school and without asking merely took the glasses. Later that day she was called on to read but could not see due to the lenses prescription. Grandma and Grandpa were contacted and from we were told Aunt Mary was disciplined.

Grandpa’s wagons Being very poor Grandpa often had to improvise. Grandpa would visit the Nutley garden almost daily. He walked from the Lyndhurst house to the property, a distance of just under a mile, pulling a wooden wagon in tow that he had fabricated. The wagon was used primarily to carry the fresh produce from the garden to home. It is said that he was extremely proud of his wagon.

Over the years he probably constructed more than one wagon. Once he made a wagon that was pushed like a baby carriage and was often used to cart coal pieces. Sometime around 1936 or 1937 during the Great Depression it seems that Grandpa and Aunt Mary would often walk to the quarry in Nutley, which was located along lower Park Avenue across from the Nutley Velodrome, to collect discarded coal ashes. The ashes were sifted for useable pieces of coal, which were placed in the wagon and wheeled back home. Aunt Mary who was 12 or 13 years old at the time recalls how ashamed she felt on some of these trips. But she realized that they needed the coal and so she helped her father. It seems that it was only either Aunt Mary or Aunt Josie that would make these coal

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harvesting trips with Grandpa. He never asked Uncle Jimmy or anyone else to go with him.

Louie’s Bike A story I often heard as a child and conveyed to me by not only my father but Aunt Mary as well, is known as the bike story. It seems that somehow Grandpa had gotten Louie a small tricycle, probably from a junkyard somewhere nearby, and expressly told my father that he was not to ride in the street or the bike would be destroyed. Louie was only a few years old at the time. As you might imagine, Louie did not obey the command of his father and road in the street. It was Aunt Mary who saw him riding in the street and pulled him out of the way of an approaching car. She admonished Louie for riding in the street and so she reported the incident to Grandpa. She asked Grandpa to chop up the bike for fear that Louie would do it again and might get struck by a car. Grandpa complied and took an axe to the bike in the presence of my father. My father had the bike one day.

Louie’s Motorcycle On another occasion it was said that Grandpa chopped up a motorcycle that Louie had in the yard. Louie used to go with a gang that hung out at a burger place called Babs and Bunnies that was located on Riverside Avenue nearly across from the Lyndhurst pool, which used to be situated just north of what is now a present day Little League field. What provoked this reaction from Grandpa was that someone mentioned seeing Louie dragging his leg after falling off the motorcycle. A major argument ensued and the motorcycle was destroyed. Ultimately Louie bought another motorcycle, that unbeknownst to Grandpa, was kept for a while at Aunt Tessie’s house on East Center Street in Nutley. 194

Animal Stories Grandpa came home one day with 3 or 4 chickens for later consumption. He tried to recruit some of the kids to help him kill the chickens. Aunt Josie flatly refused. Uncle Jimmy was not around and Louie was too young and so that left Aunt Mary to help. Aunt Mary recalled holding each chicken and not being able to look as Grandpa slit the bird’s throat. Later Grandma cooked the chickens and served them for supper. Aunt Florie absolutely refused to partake in the meal, declaring that the chickens were pets. Ironically, she then proceeded to make herself 2 eggs and refused to help clean up afterwards. It seems that a very young Aunt Florie hated to help out with things around the house, and by at least one account, she seldom did.

There is a somewhat amusing story about rabbits. The Italians often recognized family friends and close neighbors with titles of respect. Often adults were referred to as Aunt and Uncle. Such is the case with Zio Nunziato Franchina, who lived next door at 205 Thomas Avenue in Lyndhurst. Zio Nunziato had rabbits that he kept in a cage in the rear yard. Sammy Rosa, the brother of Aunt Mary’s friend Annie Papalini, lived upstairs in the Lyndhurst house. One day Sammy suggested to Aunt Mary and some of the other kids that they release the rabbits and maybe Zio Nunziato would offer the kids money to retrieve them. Aunt Mary went along with idea and so she went to tell Zio Nunziato that his rabbits had escaped. He pled with the kids to try to help catch the fleeing animals. To the Italians of the time, rabbit was a food source. So the kids went out and captured the rabbits for which they were paid 50 cents.

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I was surprised to learn that Grandpa loved a pet cat that the family evidently adopted. Cats were useful in controlling any rodent problems that might arise from time to time. According to Aunt Mary, it seems this one particular cat would go by Grandpa’s bedroom window daily at 5 a.m. and wake him up. The reason why I find this incredulous is because years later when my sisters and I were very young my father brought home a small black puppy we had aptly named Smokey. We were thrilled to have our own pet. Upon seeing the dog Grandpa took it in hand and threw it forcefully down onto the floor and demanded the animal be promptly removed. Needless to say the dog did not last a day in our household.

Uncle Jimmy Stories Uncle Jimmy was known to have a mischievous streak and had the reputation of being a tough little kid. According to Aunt Tessie who helped raise him, Uncle Jimmy also had a temper. When he became angry he often expressed his anger by throwing things. Aunt Tessie told a story that occurred when Uncle Jimmy was probably 8 or 9 years old. It seems there was an episode where Grandma had become ill and the family doctor, Dr. Daladay, who was from either Newark or Bloomfield, was summoned. Evidently Uncle Jimmy did not like the idea of the doctor touching his mother or seeing her in any state of disrobement so he threw stones at the doctor’s car and evidently broke its windows. In another version of the story he threw stones at the Lyndhurst house and broke a window. What she told me next made me think there may have been more than one event involving the doctor. It seems that whenever the doctor came to treat a sick member of the family Dr. Daladay invariably would ask, “Where is that kid?” Grandpa being the stern disciplinarian reportedly took Uncle Jimmy down the cellar of the Lyndhurst house following one of these episodes where he was severely beaten. From what I gathered such beatings were not 196

uncommon. On one occasion it is said that Grandpa tied Uncle Jimmy to a column in the cellar and punched him in the jaw.

There was another occasion when as a young boy Uncle Jimmy asked his mother for money to go to the movies. Grandma would not give him the dime he needed for admission. Uncle Jimmy’s response was to kick the front hall door which resulted in the breaking of the door’s glass pane. It was either when Grandpa came home from work or later around the dinner table that evening that Grandma told Grandpa of the incident. Grandpa allowed Uncle Jimmy to eat dinner after which at some point he punched Uncle Jimmy so hard that it is believed he might have broken a few ribs. One had to question if it would not have been wiser to occasionally have given Uncle Jimmy the dime as it was surely less than the cost to repair the broken window or Uncle Jimmy’s broken ribs.

Uncle Jimmy spent several months in a juvenile home in Hackensack. The facts and circumstances of the event that resulted in his confinement are not entirely clear. One version that has been around for a number of years was that he was accused of pushing a teacher down the stairs while he was a student in grammar school however this has never been fully substantiated. As a result of his egregious conduct, Uncle Jimmy presumably was confined at the facility in Hackensack for a period of about three months. He often said that he spent his 15th birthday in the home, which implies that he was sent there sometime in the later part of 1936. From what he told others, Uncle Jimmy enjoyed being there and claims it was one of the best times in his life. There was a female teacher at the facility that Uncle Jimmy admired. From the accounts I have been told, this teacher made sure that Uncle Jimmy ate regularly and evidently treated him with respect, something he was not accustomed to at home. Why he felt the experience was so positive might be attributed to the inspiration and caring of 197

this teacher and also perhaps the stability and regimentation that such an institution provided to him. In any event one gets the sense that he was trying to convey that the experience of being there changed the direction of his life in a positive way. The actual name of the home was not passed down in the stories I heard, however I believe it was possibly the Edna B. Conklin Home, located on Essex Street just west of the Bergen County Court House. The facility, which is now called the Conklin Youth Center, remains a residential crisis shelter for adolescent males and females between the ages of 11 and 17 years old. Today it is a short term facility with a desired maximum stay of 30 days, however back in Uncle Jimmy’s day the duration could be longer. I recall a brief story that Grandma told me regarding a visit to see Uncle Jimmy at the home. When the family arrived they found him on his knees cleaning a floor. He looked at them and motioned not to say a word as apparently speaking during work was not permitted. Uncle Jimmy completed the 8th grade and was promoted the 9th grade. In viewing his school record the overall opinion one would garner is that he was an average student but did achieve some high marks. Some of the best grades he achieved were in drawing and writing.

Uncle Jimmy was perhaps the only one among his siblings that was musically inclined. It is said he used to sit in front of the house playing the harmonica. I once had the occasion to hear my uncle play the harmonica, which I seem to recall he kept in a small case, and I was very impressed. I never learned how it was he came to play the harmonica or who taught him. I got the impression he was self-taught. Uncle Jimmy’s innate musical talents may have come from Grandpa believe it or not. As a child I recall Grandpa having what appeared to be a crudely made flute and I heard him play it once or twice. The instrument appeared to be made of a dull silver colored metal. It was short, perhaps nine inches long and had a mouthpiece protruding from the side near one end. The mouth piece looked something like the mouth piece of a police whistle. There were several holes on top. Grandpa kept his flute in a small cold 198

cellar which was located in the basement of the Lyndhurst house that was used primarily as a wine cellar and cold space to store homemade canned goods, such as fruits and tomatoes. As a young man Uncle Jimmy worked for a short time as a milkman.

Nicknames The boys had nicknames. Uncle Jimmy’s friends used to call him Scotty which was a truncated version of the family’s Italian nickname Scaramuzzo. Louie acquired the nickname Louie Down when he would play with friends in Nutley who referred to him as Louie from down Lyndhurst. You could tell that they both liked their nicknames. As far as anyone knows none of the girls had nicknames.

Grandma’s “Medical” Skills Grandma, surprisingly, was from time to time, a sort of a medical assistant. Dr. Liberta, whose medical office was located at the corner of Fern and Stuyvesant Avenues in Lyndhurst, would often call Grandma to assist with the removal of tonsils in his office. I think part of Grandma’s role was to act as an interpreter. I imagine Dr. Liberta treated many of the immigrant Italian families living in Lyndhurst at the time. Though she could speak almost none of the language, she seemed to generally be able to comprehend certain words spoken to her in English. On one occasion a woman named Grace Cofone (no relation) was having her tonsils removed. Grace had a reputation for always speaking. In advance of the procedure the doctor numbed Grace’s throat. Grace kept attempting to talk even as the procedure was underway. Grandma instructed her to be quiet or else she would risk swallowing her tonsils. Grace neglected to take Grandma’s advice and kept trying to speak. The end of the story is predictable in 199

that Grace’s reluctance to follow Grandma’s instruction resulted in the swallowing of her tonsils.

Grandma was known to be able to heal a sprain by applying what she called “a picatta” to the affected area. She placed egg whites into a bowl into which she dipped cotton. As she waited for the cotton to absorb the egg whites, she massaged some of the egg white into the injured area. Following the massage she wrapped the injured area with the egg-soaked cotton. Some sort of cloth bandage was then applied over the cotton. After a short while the egg white dried and the cotton stiffened creating a cast. The affected area was immobilized for a few days and allowed to rest and heal. After the “cast” was removed the injured party usually felt better.

Grandma also believed she could cure warts. On the full moon she would take the person inflicted with warts by a window and recite three times the following phrase; “La luna e tun, dice me tu, e si pore mi mune”. It loses its rhythmic flow in English but literally translated from the Calabrian dialect it means, “The moon is full, you say to me, and these warts I will peel off”. With each recitation of the phrase she would pass her hand over the area containing the warts in a fashion that depicted a wiping away of the warts. She would claim that by the next day the warts would be gone.

Grandpa Goes To Jail You would think that during difficult times such as the Great Depression people would come together and try to help each other to the extent possible. One would like to believe that certain emotions, such as jealousy, would be set aside as people struggled to survive those difficult times. For the most part this 200

was probably true, but it would seem that our Grandfather may have been the subject of a neighbor’s envy and resentment.

During the Great Depression the family received governmental relief from the Emergency Relief Administration (ERA) which in NJ began in 1931. Government Relief was essentially a form of welfare. During the years 1932 to 1936 there were as few as 873 and as many as 2388 Lyndhurst families receiving relief. Our family was among those numbers. There were local, county, and state relief programs which were mostly funded by the federal government. We are not entirely sure where the source of relief for our family came from, but from information revealed below it would seem it was locally based. We also do not know when the family began to receive the aid nor the duration of time the family was on relief. There were several different elements of the relief program such as food, clothing, fuel, shelter and health services. Typically someone in the family, usually the head of household, was required to work on various public works projects as a condition of receiving relief. To be eligible for relief an applicant, which meant the head of household, lacked the means to provide the necessities of life for himself and his family. A family became ineligible if the head of the family had a full-time job. In some cases however, relief was given to families where the head of household worked part time or did not work at all. The latter situation may have been the case for our family for at least part of the Depression. After relief was initiated home monthly visits were usually made by government personnel to maintain current information of each family receiving relief and to determine if any change in the family’s situation had taken place. This information acts as a backdrop to an event that occurred in 1934.

During the Depression years Grandpa would occasionally help clean up and perhaps do small chores in a small grocery store that Cumara Maria Petrone and her husband, whose name is believed to be either Giuseppe or Alfonso 201

Alfano, owned in Newark. The Alfanos were close family friends, in fact Maria was Louie’s (my father) godmother. Out of gratitude Grandpa was “paid” with food. Carlo (Charlie) Montalto, the very person from whom Grandpa purchased the Lyndhurst house, lived next door at 203 Thomas Avenue. It was told to me from several of our aunts that it was largely believed that Montalto, seeing Grandpa with an occasional bag of food evidently provided to him by Cumara Maria, contacted authorities indicating that Grandpa must have been working, but was still collecting relief. If this were true it would constitute a violation of the law.

A short article appeared on the front page of the Thursday July 18, 1935 issue of the Commercial Leader, the weekly town newspaper at the time, which indicated Grandpa was found guilty of obtaining relief from the Lyndhurst E.R.A by false statement. Evidently Michael Dougherty, the Lyndhurst E.R.A manager, filed a complaint in the Second Criminal Court in Hackensack claiming that the infraction had occurred “last October 16”, implying October 16, 1934. The matter was heard before Judge Abram A. Lebson who found Grandpa guilty of continuing to collect

J ULY 18, 1935 COMMERCIAL L EADER ARTICLE DETAILING G RANDPA ' S CONVICTION ON W ELFARE F RAUD CHARGES

relief despite the fact he was working.

The body of the story indicates that Grandpa was to be sentenced on August 6th contradicting the story’s headline that indicated he was to be sentenced on October 16, implying 1935. Archived microfilm of The Commercial Leader for both the August and October editions as well as the balance of 1935 was examined and found no article reporting the actual sentence hearing. 202

Similarly microfilm for the Bergen Evening Record was examined. On page 2 of the Wednesday, July 17, 1935 edition the story of Grandpa’s trial was found. The Bergen Evening Record story, which provided a little more detail, indicated that Grandpa lied on an application for relief and was drawing relief despite the fact that he was working. The trial was held on the prior day, Tuesday July 16, during which time Grandpa was found guilty. The story in the record, corroborated information contained in the body of the Commercial Leader article that indicated he was to be sentenced on August 6, 1935. A check of the August 6, 7 and 8th editions of The Bergen Evening Record failed to disclose any story about Grandpa’s sentencing.

Grandpa was the only person in the range of years examined for The Commercial Leader (1930 to 1937), whose name was prominently listed in a front page article as a welfare violator. This leads me to think that perhaps he was the first person in the township convicted of such an offense and was meant to be an example to others who were engaged in, or were contemplating, the same activity.

What has been passed down through the years is that as a result of his conviction Grandpa was sentenced to a work farm which was believed to have been in Oradell and where he was apparently confined for several weeks. A search was commenced with the purpose of locating any records regarding such a facility. As a result of checking with the Oradell town historian it was determined that no such farm existed in Oradell, but rather in Paramus. The county Alms House, which was built on more than 100 acres of county-owned property, was located on what is now the corner of Farview Avenue and E. Ridgewood Avenue, opposite Bergen Pines County Hospital. The current official address is 327 E. Ridgewood Avenue. In the 1930s the name of the facility was changed to the County Old Folks Home. The facility was a self-supporting farm 203

which contained cows and produce. For a period of time the facility was a county prison home of sorts where prisoners were used as laborers on the farm. I am confident that this is the facility to which Grandpa was incarcerated sometime in

T HE B ERGEN C OUNTY O LD F OLKS HOME AS IT APPEARS IN 2012. T HE EXTERIOR OF THE STRUCTURE IS MORE OR LESS AS IT WAS IN THE 1930 S . C URRENTLY IT IS HOME TO VARIOUS COUNTY AGENCIES . G RANDPA WAS SENTENCED TO SERVE TIME HERE IN 1935 AS A RESULT OF A CONVICTION OF WELFARE FRAUD .

summer or fall of 1935. Yet to be uncovered however, is the actual record of Grandpa’s incarceration. During the course of further inquiry persons in authority indicated that any such records of the facility have long been long destroyed. Finally an inquiry with The Office of Bergen County Criminal Court Records indicated that no record could be located detailing Grandpa’s trial, conviction and sentencing.

Trying To Survive The Depression Another depression story recounts how Grandma and Aunt Mary went to the Lyndhurst town hall to receive some food that was being distributed to needy families in town. Evidently a program was in place wherein people would redeem coupons in exchange for food. On one particular day Grandma had just been given some grapefruit when suddenly a woman in a fur coat entered the area where the distribution was taking place. The person handling the distribution was named William J Connolly, who around 1937 was the township Director of Welfare. In the prior year Connolly had been the Deputy Director. Connolly was in charge of the Lyndhurst Work Relief Program and it was learned that one of his chief undertakings was to try to decrease the number of families receiving relief, thereby reducing the cost of the program that was shouldered largely by the township. Mr. Connolly proceeded to take the grapefruit from Grandma and 204

Aunt Mary’s hands and gave the fruit to the woman in the fur coat. Grandma pleaded with Connolly saying that she had nothing with which to feed her children. It was to no avail. They received no distribution that day.

My father once told me about a time during the Depression when there was no food. The family survived for two days on Dandelion leaves which Grandma made into a salad.

Family Friend Mallarielo Chimento One of Grandpa’s closest friend’s was a man known by his nickname Mallarielo, or as he was sometimes referred to, Mallara, a nickname that loosely means “to make a mess”. The name is a little tricky to pronounce due to the diphthong “ie” in the middle of the name. Phonetically it sounds something like MAL-AH-EEL with emphasis on the first syllable and is pronounced quickly. As indicated earlier Mallarielo’s real name was Carmine Chimento and he was a genuine character. As a matter of fact it may be that Mallarielo was possibly a cousin of Grandma, recalling that her grandmother was Serafina Chimento. This potential connection has still to be explored.

Mallarielo was the type of person everyone liked and respected for his generosity in helping others and his ingenuity. He could be described as a sort of Rube Goldberg, jack-of-all-trades, type of character with a big heart. One humorous story tells of a time Mallarielo attempted to fix a broken pipe in the toilet at Cousin Ben’s Diner that used to be located on Washington Avenue in Nutley. The Diner was situated very near to Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie’s home on East Center Street. Evidently no pipe was to be found to affect the repair and so improvising, Mallarielo used a bicycle inner tube and a couple of clamps 205

instead. Upon completion of the repair he declared the problem resolved. Needless to say this attempted miracle in plumbing lasted only one flush by an unsuspecting and understanding patron.

Mallarielo had a small pickup truck and evidently was known for not having the best driving skills, although he taught others to drive, like my mother for instance. Aunt Mary said that when the kids saw him coming they would get off the road. There is a classic story about Grandpa and Mallarielo driving down the street when the car they occupied rolled over onto its side. After exiting the overturned car, Mallarielo and Grandpa lifted the car back onto its wheels and then just drove away to the astonishment of bystanders.

Keeping with his kind nature, Mallarielo took Grandma and some of the kids to visit Grandpa who was in the previously mentioned work camp, Aunt Mary recalls the visit being a very emotional occasion where everyone was crying.

Aunt Jean Stories Aunt Jean tells a story that happened when she was 15 years old. She and two of her friends, twin sisters Rosalie and Lucille Rosa, cut school and went to go see singer Tony Martin who was appearing in at the Paramount Theater in New York City. Well it seems that Louie got wind of it and like any selfdisrespecting brother, thought he would use that information to blackmail his sister. He ordered her to go get him cigarettes and when Aunt Jean stood her ground, Louie revealed what she had done to Grandpa and Grandma. Somehow Mr. Morlang, the school truant officer, got involved and the matter was brought before a county court. Aunt Jean’s penalty was a 2-day detention at the Conklin Juvenile Home in Hackensack. 206

When Aunt Jean was about 8 years old she became very ill and the family did not know what to do. Neighbor Louie Durando, who was well respected as being a caring person who helped everyone, pleaded with Grandpa to take Aunt Jean to the hospital. For some reason Grandpa was hesitant to do so but in short course acquiesced. I suspect it had to do with being able to afford medical treatment. Aunt Jean was initially taken to Hackensack Hospital where she was diagnosed with what was believed to be rheumatic fever. After several days she was transferred to Bergen Pines County Hospital in Paramus where she reportedly remained for about 9 months. As with most county hospitals, charity cases were always accepted. Although the Great Depression was starting to wind down, it would endure for about another year. As such, due to the general economic conditions that existed in the country during this time, the family probably qualified for medical aid. Aunt Jean’s school record shows that she was not in attendance for the school year that ended in June of 1940. One of the lasting memories she recalled about the ordeal were trips made by Grandpa who would visit her in the hospital and bring ice cream.

Aunt Tessie Much of what we know about Aunt Tessie’s early life has been discussed in previous chapters. We know that she was called upon to play a major role in helping to raise her siblings. Later we will discuss some of her life with Uncle Nat.

As you can imagine from reading other parts of our history, Aunt Tessie had a difficult childhood. She was raised in Italy during her first ten years of life living at the rural residence of her maternal grandparents. It was not until her return to the US did she get to meet her father. She also had a very strict up207

bringing. One hard fast rule was that she had to be home before grandpa came home from work.

Aunt Tessie helped raise her brother Jimmy. She recalled having to wheel him around in a carriage when he was just an infant. Aunt Tessie was about 11 or 12 and wanted to play with her friends in the neighborhood but she had to take care of Jimmy. Aunt Tessie told me that as a child she enjoyed jumping rope mostly with her best friend Louise Chimento. One day as she was doing just that and while she was minding Jimmy, who was in his carriage, something happened that nearly caused the carriage to tip over. Somehow word got back to either Grandma or Grandpa. I got the impression she received a punishment however she never did say what ensued.

Aunt Tessie also helped to raise her sister Josie whom she always used to carried on her hip. Jimmy liked to hang on her leg. Aunt Tessie raised both of them while Grandma cooked and took care of the house. Needless to say a great deal of responsibility was placed on Aunt Tessie, who was merely a young teenager. Aunt Tessie lived at home until she was married in 1931. As indicated earlier she helped raise Aunt Florie, my father and also Aunt Jean. The skills she learned raising her brothers and sisters must have proved useful when she began her own family.

Aunt Florie Of all the children probably the least is known about Aunt Florie’s early childhood and teenage years. Aunt Tessie who helped raise all her siblings once described Aunt Florie as being a very quiet child. What little information there is

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has been presented in previous portions of this chapter. Later we discuss some aspects of her life with Uncle Red.

Aunt Josie Like Aunt Florie, not much is known about the early childhood of Aunt Josie. What little we do know has been previously presented. What has been garnered about Aunt Josie’s early persona comes largely from rather sparse information regarding her late teenage years and early adulthood. Generally speaking, she seemed to have been the free spirit of the bunch, following her own whims and desires, but did so surreptitiously without the knowledge of Grandpa or Grandma. The inference that someone might draw was that she possessed an uninhibited and unrestrained personality. In short, she liked having a good time and being on her own. We know that Aunt Josie was one of the first to leave the household.

Baptismal Records What follows are baptismal information for our first American born generation aunts and uncles.

Aunt Tessie, as indicated earlier, was born on January 18, 1911. It is believed based upon information from our Aunts that her Godfather was Vincenzo “Tindillo” Celico. As mentioned earlier, Vincenzo is believed to have been living with his wife in Nashwauk Minnesota presumably working in the mines. We do not know if Vincenzo had been in the Carnegie Pennsylvania area previously, and if so, exactly when. This leads to two possibilities. Either Aunt

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Tessie was baptized in Pennsylvania, or our Grandparents waited until their arrival in Minnesota.

Uncle Jimmy was born on December 5, 1921 at 35 Humbert Street in Nutley. He was baptized with the name Vincenzo at Holy Family Church on December 18, 1921 by Father Manastero. His Godparents were Antonio “Cara Cara” Cofone, who is believed to be Grandpa’s cousin, and Carmela Siciliano.

Aunt Josie was born on March 16, 1923 at 80 Humbert Street in Nutley. The street name may have been recorded incorrectly. According to the 1927 Nutley Directory the house numbers on Humbert Street ended at 44. The family at the time resided at 80 Ellen Street. Aunt Josie was baptized with the name Giuseppina at Holy Family Church on April 21, 1923 by Father Manastero. Her Godparents were Francesco Rizzuto, her uncle, and Carmela Siciliano, who was also Uncle

F ATHER J OSEPH M ANASTERO WHO SERVED AT H OLY FAMILY CHURCH IN N UTLEY FROM 1919 TO 1929 BAPTIZED UNCLE JIMMY , A UNT JOSIE , AUNT FLORIE AND UNCLE LOUIE

Jimmy’s Godmother.

Aunt Mary was born on July 27, 1924 at 80 Ellen Street in Nutley. She was baptized with the name Maria at Holy Family Church on August 16, 1924 by Father Diminichius. Her Godfather was Antonio Cofone, who as indicated above is believed to be Grandpa’s cousin and who was Uncle Jimmy’s Godfather as well. Her Godmother was Carmela Siciliano who was also the Godmother for Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Josie.

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Aunt Florie was born on November 15, 1925 at 80 Ellen Street in Nutley, the homestead. She was baptized with the name Florence at Holy Family Church on December 6, 1925 by Father Manastero. Her Godparents were Anna Gencarelli and Angelo Ippolito. Anna was the Grandmother of actor Robert Blake of the Little Rascals and Baretta fame.

Louie’s baptismal record contains several interesting discrepancies. According to his baptismal record Luigi Cofone was born on November 28, 1926 to Natale Cofone and Angela Gabriele. The date of birth reflected here differs from the date contained on Louie’s birth certificate which indicates November 29 as the birthday. Although the family had purchased the Lyndhurst house in August of 1926, Louie was baptized by Father Manastero in Holy Family Church on December 16, 1926. While Grandpa still held title to the Ellen Avenue Nutley property, from what is known on the date of Louie’s baptism the family was living in Lyndhurst. Louie’s baptismal record however indicates that the family resided at 12 Humbert Street in Nutley.

The 1927 Nutley Directory indicates that Grandpa’s sister Grace Festa lived at 12 Humbert Street. Also listed for the same address was a man named Frank Siciliano. There is no way to know for certain if either Grandpa’s sister or Frank Siciliano occupied the address the prior year. Recall that a Carmela Siciliano was listed as Godmother for Uncle Jimmy, Aunt Josie and Aunt Mary. Frank may have been her brother or cousin or not related at all. From the baptismal record we know that Louie’s Godmother was Maria Petrone. Maria was married to either Alfonso or perhaps Giuseppe Alfano, but as was common in the Italian custom, wives maintained their maiden names. Also recall it was at their store in Newark that Grandpa was believed to have been working that lead to his 211

arrest for welfare fraud. To the best of our knowledge Louie had no Godfather. The actual 1926 handwritten record was reviewed. It was written in Italian and signed by Father Manastero and clearly shows no Godfather listed. Having a single Godparent is not unique in the Italian culture.

Aunt Jean was born on April 9, 1932. She was baptized by Father Boyle on May 1, 1932 at Sacred Heart Church. Her Godfather was Sam Del Core and her Godmother was Grace Polito, both of whom were also Godparents to her brother Angelo. Sam Del Core and his wife Rosa were the Godparents to Santo, who like Angelo died in infancy.

As evidenced by being Godmother to three of her children, Carmela Siciliano must have been a very close friend to Grandma. Carmela is believed to have been the wife Vincenzo Terranova, one of Grandpa’s dearest friends. Recall she was known as “la Pitelle”. Based upon information contained in the 1927 Nutley Directory Vincenzo Terranova lived at 35 Humbert Street.

Personal Recollections This particular chapter of our family’s history has focused primarily on stories involving members of our first American born generation. Included among the details have been some of my personal recollections. What follows is a slight digression in that the stories do not directly involve members of the first American born generation, but rather, some of what I can still recall of Grandpa and Grandma. I wanted to preserve more of my personal memories as I believe they are certainly relevant to the overall portrait of Grandpa and Grandma’s character. It is also hoped that this section will motivate and encourage those from my generation to add their own remembrances in some future edition. 212

I always felt very fortunate to have grown up in the same house as my Grandparents. I had Grandpa in my life for a little over twelve years and Grandma for about 25 years. When I was born Grandpa was 65 and Grandma 64. By the time I probably realized who they were and began really knowing them, Grandpa and Grandma both were approaching 70.

One of the main benefits of living in the same home as my Grandparents was the ability, pretty much on a weekly basis, to see and play with my cousins who were about the same age as me. On most Sundays and Holidays Grandpa and Grandma were visited by their children. Grandpa and Grandma looked forward to these visits and I know from hearing them talk that they enjoyed watching their family expand and grow. These weekly visits with my cousins and the time I spent with my Grandparents are among my fondest memories of childhood.

Grandpa enjoyed time with his cronies. I recall from time to time standing alongside Grandpa as he played cards under a large pear tree located in the backyard of next door neighbor Jim and Rose Franchina’s house at 205 Thomas Avenue. Grandpa would regularly play with Pete Ferrara, Rosie’s father, and her Uncle Francesco, and other Italian friends whose names, with the exception of Malarielo, I cannot seem to recall. Occasionally some of the much older boys from the neighborhood were allowed to play if the old timers needed a fourth to round out the group. The game of choice was Brisca, which was played with teams of two. Nearby on the ground, at one of the legs of the table, was always a gallon of home-made wine. And there they spent the afternoon under the shade of the pear tree, playing and drinking a little wine. Of these card games I recall laughter and a very animated style of play which included the passage of cards 213

between partners, the not-so-indiscreet gestures on which card to play, and the triumphant slamming of the trump card as victory was claimed.

Grandpa always wore a grey or brown colored fedora style hat. Each night he placed his hat on a large, ceramic, apple cookie jar that rested on top of a white, narrow, legged wooden cabinet located in the kitchen and adjacent to the door of his bedroom. Irrespective of the season, his shirts were almost always completely buttoned up, unless it was extremely hot at which point he opened the top button only. I do not recall him ever walking around in just a tee shirt. In cooler weather he wore a button down sweater that was usually unbuttoned. Either in his shirt or sweater pocket was his pipe and a pouch of DiNobili tobacco or box of Italian cigars. He wore either medium gray or black work pants over long cotton underwear. Ankle high black work boots or in later years a brown ankle high slip-on served as his footwear. When he prepared himself for bed he would first remove his shoes and socks, rolling the socks up and placing them inside the shoes. The shoes were then placed side by side beneath the narrow cabinet mentioned previously. He usually retired early, around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. and likewise arose early around 4 or 5 in the morning. One of his evening rituals was to listen to the radio which sat atop a refrigerator in the corner of the kitchen. The radio was tuned to an Italian radio station where he listened to news, music and entertainment. I recall that one show seems to feature the music of an Italian singer known as Carlo Buti. Buti has been called the Bing Crosby and the "Frank Sinatra of Italy", because of his preference for the popular songs of the day over the more operatic-type songs.

Regarding music, Grandpa had a favorite song that whenever he heard it brought him to tears. I never knew the name of the song but in my mind I can still 214

hear the melody. As I recall the song was about a man named Giuseppe Musolino, whom I later came to learn was a Calabrian outlaw and folk hero. It was always a mystery as to why the song about Musolino evoked such an emotional response from Grandpa. I seem to recall that someone in the family believed that Grandpa stated that he had actually known or met Musolino. I wondered about the likelihood that they had indeed known each other and began trying to locate clues that might support such a hypothesis. Armed with just this limited

GIUSEPPE MUSOLINO, CIRCA 1901.

information I went to the Internet to learn what I could about Musolino and the song I recalled as a child.

Giuseppe Musolino was indeed from Calabria. According to Wikipedia Musolino was born in Santo Stefano in Aspromonte, in the province of Reggio Calabria in 1876. This province is located about 100 miles southwest of Acri, very near to the toe of the Italian peninsula. Musolino, much like Robin Hood in English folklore, was alleged to have turned outlaw when he was falsely accused of attempted murder in 1897. Perjury was used to convict him and he was sent to prison. Historical accounts indicate that in 1899, he escaped from jail, and for the next three years conducted his own outlaw version of justice. It is said that his good deeds consisted of assisting peasants and giving large sums of money stolen from the rich to monasteries and churches. Musolino was eventually captured far from home in 1901 in the town of Urbino located in the Italian state of Marche. Marche is located in central Italy between the Apennine Mountains and the Adriatic Sea about 350 miles north of Calabria. He was tried and sent to

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prison for life, where he was declared insane twelve years later. He died in 1955 in Reggio Calabria's mental hospital at the age of 79.

Musolino became a legend throughout Italy and became the subject of many Calabrian folk tales and popular songs. A 1950 film “Il Brigante Musolino”, was based on his life. I do not know if Grandpa ever saw the movie. I also discovered that actually there were several songs written and recorded about Musolino by an Italian folk artist named Otello Profazio. The songs are featured in an album that bore the same name as the movie. Profazio’s songs were first released as a single 78 rpm recording in 1957. In later years the 1957 recording was partitioned into several recordings used to form the album. Four songs on this album contain the exact same melody and one or two phrases that I recall hearing Profazio singing on the radio when I was about 5 or 6 years old.

While it is obvious Grandpa knew of Musolino, I cannot establish any direct connection. Although Musolino’s actions were more or less contained within the area of Aspromonte, as indicated above, in 1901 he was captured far from home in the Italian state of Marche. It seems quite possible that he could have passed through Policaretto or Acri enroute to the northeastern regions of Italy. My mother has told me that legend has it that that Musolino did indeed pass through region of Acri, however there are no specifics regarding when. Perhaps Grandpa, who would have been 12 or 13 years old at the time, had an opportunity to meet the legend brigand. Unfortunately we will probably never know or be able to confirm if an encounter ever took place. I think it is safe to assume that for Grandpa, as with many southern Italians during Grandpa’s time, Musolino was a hero. Here in the United States, via the Italian radio stations, Grandpa would have learned of Musolino’s death and later of the musical tribute by Profazio. Evidently the words of the song that recounted Musolino’s life, 216

adventures and struggles, struck a deep emotional chord within Grandpa. They may have in some way reflected several similar hardships experienced by his family. What emerges out of all of this is an image of Grandpa as a man capable of poignant emotions.

On the north side of the Lyndhurst property Grandpa had constructed a wooden fence. The slats for the fence consisted of various shaped scraps of half inch wood that were nailed to a 2 x 4 frame. Occasionally we would pop out the nails near the bottom of one of the slats and move the bottom to one side so we could get to the next yard. Grandpa would re-nail the bottom of the slat which we always denied moving.

Like most Italians in the area, Grandpa had a fig in the yard and later a small peach tree.

The kitchen tabletop our Grandparents home was constructed of metal. I recall a beige color with dark brown trim. Very often Grandpa, as a matter of habit, would rhythmically tap his finger tips on the table. While seated at the table, if one of the grandkids were present, Grandpa would engage in his version of play by making sounds. One of his sounds resembled Donald Duck’s voice. The other sound may have been an attempt to mimic a bird wherein he would quickly utter in a high pitched tone something that phonetically sounded like “chiva-ree”, which he repeated at least twice in succession. The sound got repeated several times. I also recall at other times he would playfully flick us with his fingers. 217

One of my favorite Grandpa stories occurred when I was about 6 or 7. As I indicated earlier Grandpa made his own wine. On this occasion he must have been drinking a glass of his wine and I probably asked him how it tasted. He gave me a very small glass filled about a third of the way and I imbibed. After a short while I began to feel dizzy and told him so. He said he had just the thing to clear my head and proceeded to tell Grandma to make me a hot pepper sandwich. I consumed the sandwich which was made with homemade peppers Grandma had canned and thick slices of recently baked homemade bread. Miraculously and almost immediately my head cleared.

My sister Marie and I would occasionally tease Grandpa to see if we could elicit a response and have him chase us as we ran away as fast as we could. We never knew if Grandpa actually got upset with us or was just playing along. On one occasion we were in the yard and did something to set him off. Marie seems to recall we were calling him Scaramuzzo. I remember Marie and me running down the driveway with Grandpa in pursuit not too far behind with something in his hand. When we were about mid-way down the driveway Grandpa tossed the object that we soon discovered was the head of a hammer. The hammerhead landed on the driveway, slid a short distance, and struck Marie in the ankle, breaking her foot. We were close enough to him that if he really wanted to hurt us, he could have easily reached us with the hammer head. We learned a lesson from this unfortunate accident.

Grandpa would check up on us if we played up to block in the area of Meyer Avenue, which we often did as it was safer to play there due to less traffic. He would take a walk up the block and seeing where we were and that we were safe he would turn around and head home. On one occasion Marie was playing 218

in the front of the house with her friends and for some reason Grandpa became upset and chased them away. A short time after they left Grandpa went looking for Marie and found her playing at a friend’s house on Sanford Avenue. He immediately yelled at her and commanded her to return home.

I also remember a tradition that occurred during Christmas holiday gatherings wherein all attending family members would kiss Grandpa’s hand as a symbol of respect and appreciation for the sacrifices made through the years to keep the family together.

It seems every family has a ghost tale of sorts. This last story about Grandpa is a little eerie but I thought I would include it. This story is genuine and can be corroborated by my life-long best friend Ed Opiela, who lived next door. I was twelve years old and Ed was thirteen when this event occurred.

Shortly after Grandpa died, Ed and I were playing in the Bergen County Park in an area we regularly frequented alongside the entrance/exit road located on Riverside Avenue at the base of Wilson Avenue and just south of the Lyndhurst house. We were there for just a brief time, playing catch with a football as I recall, when we noticed an old man walking down the roadway from Riverside Avenue wearing a dark fedora hat and dark top coat and dark pants. Grandpa was buried in a dark suit and dark hat similar to what the man was wearing. The man’s hands were in his pockets. What we observed next made us stop in our tracks. As unbelievable as this may sound, when the man came closer we both noticed that his face bore a very strong and striking resemblance to Grandpa. He continued walking down the road and into the park in silence without looking directly our way and with what appeared to be a slight grin on his face. We continued to observe him as he continued down into the park and 219

eventually lost sight of him. We both remarked about the uncanny resemblance and quite frankly, were a little spooked. After a while we resumed playing. I guess we were a little afraid to pursue the man to see where he was going. We were in the same general area of the park for probably a few hours that day. We waited and hoped for the man to return our way but he never did. Nor did we ever catch sight of him again in the days, months and years to follow.

I always remember Grandma wearing an apron and kerchief, which in dialect was called a “moccatura”. In the pocket of her apron, wrapped in a handkerchief, were her false teeth. Occasionally in a small knotted handkerchief would be some loose change. Grandma helped raise my sisters and me. My mother worked in the home to help support the family and so for those times that my mother was occupied with work, Grandma was always around to lend a hand.

One of the funniest stories Grandma told dealt with a woman named “Giuseppina la Patota” which translates to Josephine the Patato. It seems as a very young child she and her sisters would be playing in front of their home when Josephine would come along and enter in between the girls. She would then spin around and begin farting causing the girls to disperse in all directions. Grandma would demonstrate Josephine’s movements as she made farting noises with her mouth. Sometimes she did not use her mouth. You see Grandma had no problem producing copious amounts of Methane, almost on command, which was often vented with a thunderous resonance. Unfortunately for some in the family, this same talent became an acquired genetic trait.

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I recall that Grandma would annually can pears which were contained in Mason Jars that she kept in the cold cellar and accessed as needed. Once opened, the jar of pears was placed in the refrigerator. The refrigerator also always contained a milk bottle filled with water which she called “aqua freddo”, which appropriately means cold water. It was, more often than not, the drink of choice especially in the summer.

I recall enjoying some salads that Grandma made. Cicodia, which was made from dandelion leaves, was served with vinegar and a little salt. Cipollini, which were small onions, were served in a similar type of dressing.

In my pre-teen years I would often attend 8:00 a.m. Sunday mass with Grandma at Mount Carmel Church on Copeland Avenue. We took a short cut route to get to the church. At the rear of our yard was a gate that led to a pathway between homes of Cumare Rosina Del Core and Sabatiele Albanese. Their homes fronted onto Paul Street. We made our way to Sanford Avenue via Cedar Street or Weideman Place and then walked a short distance to the home of another one of Grandma’s acquaintances. There we would we cut through another yard and access another gate into the parking lot of the Italian Circle Club, which was located on Copeland Avenue just up the block from the church. We reversed the route to get home following mass.

Like most Italians of her generation, Grandma was religious. I remember that in her bedroom she had an oval-shaped, concaved, ceramic plate that held 221

an image of the head of Christ. The eyes of Christ seem to eerily follow you no matter where you stood in the room. She said that Christ was always looking out for us. In Grandpa’s bedroom she hung a portrait of the Pieta over his bed. When we were very young Grandma would sit my sisters and me near the rear window in her living room and tell us to look at the sky and that the Virgin Mary would make gold stars appear. Through the power of suggestion and impressionable young minds there were times when we actually believed we saw the stars appear. Grandma loved watching any seemingly religious-based movie on TV which, irrespective of the actual title, she always termed “La storia di Gesu Cristo”.

I spent many afternoons and evenings watching TV with Grandma. One of the things I recall is that she had funny names for some of the TV characters and personalities we frequently watched. Among some of the ones I remember were Ed Sullivan who was called “collo storto” which translates to crooked neck, because he never seemed to be able to move his neck. Mr. Spock from Star Trek was “orecchie dizi” or erect ears. Jackie Gleason was “Natale e Stefano”, which was the name used to identify Uncle Nat. Gleason bore a slight resemblence to Uncle Nat in stature and vocal tone. Newsman Walter Cronkite of CBS, who we always seemed to watch, was merely “Cronkeye”, a truncated pronounciation of his last name. Richard Nixon, whom she seemed to dislike, was termed “nasca storto”, meaning crooked nose.

There were certain T.V. shows she would not watch, such as cartoons or the infamous Winchell Mahoney Time, a show that featured the puppet Jerry Mahoney. Grandma believed that you risked having your children turn out like these T.V. characters if you watch them for too long. She told me that her sister 222

Francesca watched the show regularly and that is why her son Ralph was born with a defect. Ralph was inflicted with a cleft palate his entire life.

I have been told that Grandma suffered a painful and somewhat embarrassing household accident. Situated along the back wall of the kitchen between the sink and refrigerator was an electric washing machine that was equipped with a top mounted wringer. I have been told that one day during the course of doing the wash one of Grandma’s breasts got caught in the wringer. I was also told that the accident resulted in substantial contusions and subsequent bruising.

Grandma, like many Italians of her time, believed in the “mal occhio” or evil eye. There are two types of mal occhio, intentional and unintentional. Here we speak of the latter version which as legend has it, is the result of someone being envious of the inflicted person. As I recall, if my sisters or I were not feeling particularly well with a headache the thought was always raised that we might be “faschinata”, which means we had been the subject of a spell that resulted in the mal occhio. In such cases Grandma would take an article of clothing we were wearing, such as a sock, and go visit Cumara Rosina Del Core who somehow knew if a person was so inflicted. Cumara Rosina would perform “a faschina” which is the act of breaking the spell, by saying a prayer over the article of clothing which was re-worn once Grandma returned. I also remember from time to time that if we were found to have “la faschina”, we were instructed to rinse our faces in a bowl of cool salt water and with eyes tightly shut.

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I recall the passing of Grandpa. In the weeks prior he had been receiving a daily shot of what I now assume was morphine. A nurse, by the name of Mrs. McNamara, who lived with her family on Meyer Avenue at the corner of Sanford Avenue in what had formerly been the Jiosi house, would come on her own time to administer the injection. A few days before he died ambulance came to bring Grandpa to the hospital. As they were wheeling him out on he uttered the words “sono fineschuta”, which in dialect means “I am finished”. Grandma and possibly one of her sisters or Grandpa’s sister were at his bedroom door weeping uncontrollably. As they wept they were singing, but not a song per se. It was as if they were speaking to Grandpa but in a melodic way. I can to learn that this custom is called “piangere il morto” or singing to the dead. It was also done at his wake.

It was probably later in the early evening when the family was called to the hospital. With Grandma and his children surrounding him Grandpa perished peacefully and quietly. I recall when everyone returned to the house Aunt Josie took me to the side and wept as she told me that Grandpa was gone. Calls were made and people came to offer condolences. I remember, just as when Aunt Florie died, the large coffee urn was set up and ran non-stop for the next several days.

Grandpa was waked the next day, December 23, 1966 at the Nazare Memorial Home on Ridge Rd in Lyndhurst. He was dressed in a black suit, new shoes. A new dark colored fedora rested near his head along with a folded American flag. Grandpa was laid to rest the following day, Christmas Eve. Following the internment the custom was for people to return to the house where the repast was hosted. It was one of the worst Christmas I had ever known.

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Grandma was 90 when she passed. On the afternoon that she died I recall being at the foot of her bed at Clara Maass Hospital on Franklin Avenue in Belleville. To either side were Aunt Tessie, Aunt Mary and Aunt Jean. Grandma’s bed was reclined upward. Her breathing appeared to be somewhat labored. Indications were that she was failing. As I was standing there speaking with my aunts, Grandma suddenly opened her eyes widely, sat up and looked directly at me. She took one deep breath and then fell backward as her eyes closed. The doctor was summoned and listened to her heart with the stethoscope. After a minute or so he declared she was gone. Grandma was also waked at Nazare’s and she was interred with Grandpa in Saint Joseph’s Cemetery in Lyndhurst.

I had always been very close with Grandma and Grandpa. I believe it was largely due to the fact that, from the time I was born, we lived in the same house. My sisters and I grew up before their very eyes. As I child, I spent many hours watching TV with Grandma or just spending time downstairs playing. Later on when I could drive I would take her places she needed to go. Between my mother and Grandma and Grandpa I learned to speak Italian as a very young child and so communication was easy. My fluency has since diminished as the day to day occasion to speak the language has dwindled with time. Being a grandparent myself, I can now understand the unconditional love for a grandchild. I shall always cherish the time I spent with them.

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G

F Bath

Living Room A

Kitchen

D

B

Stairs to 2nd Floor

Hallway

C

Grandpa’s Bedroom

Foyer

Grandma’s Bedroom

Porch

A = Table B = Cupboard C = Cabinet D = Stove E = Refrigerator F = Sink G = Washer

Window =

Door =

F LOOR P LAN - FIRST FLOOR OF THE L YNDHURST HOUSE IN THE 1950 S TO MID - 1960 S

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Chapter 11 - How They Met I thought it might be interesting and a little fun to share a short rendition of the first meeting and early courtship of our Aunts and Uncles and a brief account about some of them and of the places where they lived and little about their character and what they did in life.

Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat What little we know from their courtship comes from two interviews with Aunt Tessie. The first took place in 1981 and was conducted by our cousin and Aunt Tessie’s granddaughter, Gail (Adragna) Maurillo. The second interview was one I did with her in 1992.

A UNT T ESSIE AND U NCLE N AT ON J UNE 21, 1931

During my interview with Aunt Tessie she told me that she first saw uncle Nat in Nutley. Uncle Nat was born on July 8, 1909. In the late 1920s and until his marriage to Aunt Tessie Uncle Nat lived on Roma Street in Nutley with his father Joe, his brothers Joe Jr. and Jimmy and his sister Lucy. Uncle Nat’s mother had died at a young age. The 1927 Nutley Directory shows no listing for Uncle Nat’s family on Roma Street but does show his father, Giuseppe Simone, living at 120 Park Avenue, which is located between Humbert and Roma Streets. The 1940 Census finds Giuseppe, 69 years old, living with his 21 year old son Jimmy, at 13

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Roma Street. The census record seems to indicate that house was located at the corner of Park Avenue.

Aunt Tessie used to go to Grandpa’s lot on Ellen Avenue, which was formerly the site of the Nutley homestead, to pick tomatoes. It was during one of her occasions there that she first saw Uncle Nat. Aunt Tessie also saw Uncle Nat in Lyndhurst. It seems Uncle Nat would often walk there from his home in Nutley to go see his aunt, Zia Nunziata e “Stefano”, who lived on Sanford Avenue. “Stefano” was a family nickname. It is a derivative of the Italian name for Stephen. It may be that an ancestor of Uncle Nat was named Stefano. It may be just as likely that there was another connotation or perhaps like our Scaramuzzo nick name, it meant nothing. Whatever the case, when our Grandparents spoke of him he was often referred to as “Natale e Stefano” or “Natale e Terazina”, meaning Tessie’s Nat.

At first Aunt Tessie was not particularly attracted to Uncle Nat. I got the impression it was due largely to the fact of her strict upbringing. The Cofone daughters were not permitted to go out on a date. Aunt Tessie recalled that Uncle Nat had once wanted to go for a walk but she was forbidden because Grandpa, being so strict, would not allow it. As a result it was quite a while before they began “keeping company” which was a phrase used to denote couples who were going steady. We don’t really know the extent of the duration from the time they first met to their first date and ultimately to becoming a committed couple.

One gathers from the interview conducted by Cousin Gail that the first date Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat had during the day and consisted of going to the movies in Newark, New Jersey. They had to leave before the movie ended because Aunt Tessie wanted to get home before Grandpa, as he might become 228

angry if he ever learned that she was out with a boy. Evidently Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat were not able to be alone in the early part of their courtship. Uncle Jimmy and a girl who lived upstairs in the Lyndhurst house frequently escorted her on dates.

Uncle Nat would always know when his visits with Aunt Tessie were coming to an end. At the appointed time in a somewhat less than subtle fashion Grandpa would remind Uncle Nat to “tac i scarpe” (phonetically; tock-e-scarpa”), which literally meant “tie your shoes”. However Grandpa’s message was quite clear, in other words, tie your shoes and start walking home.

Aunt Tessie indicated that since Grandpa was so strict, she didn’t think she would ever get married. Grandpa’s demeanor made Aunt Tessie angry. Uncle Nat evidently persisted and kept coming around fairly often. Grandpa could see that Aunt Tessie was becoming quite enamored with Uncle Nat. Evidently one day in May of 1931, about a month before their wedding, Uncle Nat told Grandpa that he and Aunt Tessie would be married. Aunt Tessie said Grandpa initially became angry at the news but then agreed to the marriage. I think that Grandpa wanted to see his daughter happy. We also know that he came to admire Uncle Nat.

What transpired next must have also happened in May of 1931. While in Nutley, Grandpa met with Uncle Nat’s father and he indicated that he thought perhaps Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat wanted to get married. It is said that Giuseppe Simone became irate and his reaction approached the point of violence. He evidently threatened to assault Grandpa with a rake. Grandpa must have conveyed the encounter to Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat and suggested that

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they go without haste to the church and make the arrangements for their marriage.

Uncle Nat also had a strict upbringing. Uncle Nat’s mother had died at a young age and it seemed that his father, Giuseppe, was left to raising Uncle Nat and his siblings. It is said Giuseppe was a tough man to get along with. To give you an idea of the character of Giuseppe Simone, he told Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie after they were married that he wanted the first male child named after him. He said if they did not comply with his demand he would never come to see them. Our cousin Joe, the first born male, was named after his grandfather.

Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie were married on June 21, 1931. He was 21 and she was 19. Aunt Tessie referred to her nuptials as a “house wedding”. They were wed in the church, which we presume was Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Lyndhurst. Following the ceremony, which was attended by about 30 people, they returned home. There was no bridal party, only a best man and maid of honor. They had no honeymoon because they could not afford one.

After their marriage they first lived upstairs in the Lyndhurst house but then moved to 733 Meyer Avenue in Lyndhurst, known as the Benedict house, where they paid a monthly rent of $15.00. The apartment consisted of three small rooms. They next moved to an apartment on Copeland Avenue in Lyndhurst. Their daughter Rose and eldest son Joe were born at that house. It is not certain how long they remained on Copeland 230

A UNT T ESSIE AND R O RO ON THE FRONT STOOP OF THE L YNDHURST HOUSE IN 1933

Avenue. We know from the 1940 Census records that in April of that year they lived on the second floor of Grandpa’s house with their three kids and Uncle Nat’s sister Lucy. Later in 1940 they bought the house at 75 East Center Street in Nutley, for which they paid $3000. The house was purchased from a woman who could no longer afford to maintain it.

Uncle Nat worked for the Viola Company of Nutley, where he drove a truck. My father told me that Uncle Nat was Viola’s first driver. In fact he said that when Uncle Nat started working for Viola he manned a horse and wagon that picked up garbage. Uncle Nat had also been a bartender, although I do not know where and I am not certain if bartending was a second job, with Viola Brothers being his primary employment. It seems Uncle Nat had an argument with the management at Viola’s and so left there to work for a company named Tuscany Products. I do not know what Tuscany Products did but I do not believe he was employed there for long. After leaving Tuscany Products, Uncle Nat went to work at ITT in Nutley. Eventually he returned to work for Viola where he ended his working career. In the late 1940s and early U NCLE N AT STANDING NEXT TO A DUMP TRUCK FOR C AFONE AND S IMONE C ONTRACTING , CIRCA LATE 1940 S

1950s Uncle Nat had a small construction and driveway paving business, which was probably a part time endeavor. His partner was Uncle Jimmy.

How long they remained in business is unknown.

According to an interview with her granddaughter Gail Adragna in 1981, Aunt Tessie claimed she worked for a short time but could not recall where. She spent a good deal of time helping to raise Aunt Jean who was born in 1932 and continued doing so even after the birth of her first child Rose in 1933. 231

Among his many attributes Uncle Nat had the reputation of being generous with his time. For many years he along with Sal Dorando of Thomas Avenue, Sam Del Core of Paul Street and host of others from the Mt Carmel parish, he was actively involved in The Mutual Aid Society of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Lyndhurst. The Society had been a fixture in Lyndhurst since 1914. Dorando became the president of the Society around 1924 and remained in that capacity for at least 20 years or more. We are not sure when Uncle Nat became actively involved although a good guess would be around the time he married Aunt Tessie or perhaps shortly beforehand. Someone in the family estimated that Uncle Nat may have been the president of the Society for 7 or 8 years, although this has not been corroborated. His involvement began well before WW II and continued for many years afterwards. I have found his name listed in the 1936 Commercial Leader as being an active member. In 1940 he was listed as the secretary for the Society’s U NCLE N AT (ON THE LEFT ) MARCHING IN M T. C ARMEL FEAST PARADE ( CIRCA LATE 1940 S ).

arrangement committee which planned and ran the annual feast.

The Society’s largest event of the year was the annual Our Lady of Mt Carmel feast which was usually held around the second week of July. The highlight of the week-long feast was the fireworks display which were held on the last night, usually a Sunday. The physical location of the feast was a third of a mile long section of Copeland Avenue between Stuyvesant and Riverside Avenue in Lyndhurst, which was adorned with overhead colored lights strung across the street, and a variety of concession booths along both sides. It was 232

considered one of the largest Italian feasts in the area for its time. It has been reported in the local newspaper that during some years as many as 15,000 people came to see the fireworks. Considering that the population of Lyndhurst was about 17,000 during this period, the crowd was considered massive by local standards of the time, nearly doubling the town’s population.

I have been told that as part of the celebration the Society would march the statue of the saint around parts of Lyndhurst and into Nutley. I have since learned that the last time the saint was marched into Nutley was in 1954. The feast ended shortly thereafter largely due to the complaints of, and inconvenience to, Copeland Avenue residents. The feast was resumed sometime during the 1990s but at a much smaller scale, with stands and entertainment being restricted to church property and a small section of Copeland Avenue in the immediate vicinity of the church. It has since been transformed to a townwide event coupled with concessions, rides and free entertainment. The venue for the current day feast is the Lyndhurst Town Hall Park on Delafield Avenue.

Uncle Nat was also a member of the Nutley Volunteer Fire Department. He also served as a member of the Nutley Police Reserves. T HIS PHOTO DEPICTS THE WAY MANY OF US RECALL HOW A UNT T ESSIE AND U NCLE N AT LOOKED . C IRCA LATE 1950 S EARLY 1960 S .

I recall a plaque hanging in the living room of his home commemorating his

years of service. Around Christmas time Uncle Nat played Santa and rode on one of the Nutley fire truck as is drove around areas of the town. 233

In 1963 Uncle Nat suffered a stroke that left him more or less speechless and paralyzed on one side of his body. On November 5, 1967 he was at the home of his son Richie preparing to go to Clara Maass hospital in Belleville, New Jersey in order to visit his daughter-in-law Dody who had just given birth to his newest grandson, Darrin. While at the house Uncle Nat suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 58 years old.

Nearly 30 years later, on July 10, 1996 Aunt Tessie died at the age of 85.

I shall always remember the image of Uncle Nat as a bigger than life sort of man. As a child he seemed to me to have had a commanding voice but was not gruff or ill spoken. For some reason people would say he reminded them of Jackie Gleason the famous 20th Century comedian.

I have found that there was no one more universally respected and held in the highest esteem by the other members of the family than Uncle Nat. This obviously says a great deal about the quality of his character. I imagine people outside the family held him in similar regard. He was the quintessential good man.

Another fond memory I have of Uncle Nat is that he loved the song “Let Me Call You Sweetheart” and somehow, at occasional family gatherings he would join in the singing of the song. Although the stroke had deprived him of much of his ability to form discernible words, he courageously did his best to sing the song. I was never sure if it was for some sentimental reason or the fact that 234

his illness prevented him from singing it clearly, but on more than one occasion it evoked an emotional, tearful response from him as well as for the others present.

I also recall being very young and often taking walks to Nutley with Grandpa on Saturday mornings. Our ritual took us across the Nutley Bridge, and up Park Avenue. We would then cut across an open field along the south side of Park Avenue where recreational fields are now located and which was formerly a quarry when Grandpa was a young man living in Avondale and later home to Camp Nutley an Army Reserve base in the 1950s. Grandpa and I would follow a path up a slight sloping embankment that took us up to East Center Street opposite Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie’s light green, one story house. The trip to Aunt Tessie’s house was just under a mile and maybe took us about 20 minutes to walk, but as a young child seemed much greater in time and distance.

I vividly remember that Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie had a small concrete cupola that Uncle Nat had built at the front of a side yard situated adjacent to their driveway. The front of the cupola had a glass door. Contained within the cupola were statues of various saints.

We always entered the house by the back door and exited by a side door, which was located on the west side of the house and adjacent to Zia Carminella Alessio’s house. Grandpa and I always first stopped at Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat’s house to pay a visit before walking further up the block to see Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie. It was there where Grandpa would do his weekly food shopping and I got to play with my cousins. When we were done either Uncle Jimmy or Natty would drive us home in a green, 1953 Chevy station wagon that had wood trim. Grandpa was known to make the trip to Nutley several times a day. He would often go to Uncle Jimmy’s house just to take out the garbage. 235

Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie had 3 biological children and a foster child. In addition to Rose (Ro Ro), Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie had two sons, Joe and Richie, who were both younger than Ro Ro, and as foster daughter, Mary who may have been older.

It is estimated that sometime in 1944 or 45 Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie came to learn that there were children under the custody of Catholic Charities in Newark that they could bring into their home in a foster capacity. Foster parents were usually provided a stipend to cover expenses incurred in maintaining a child into their home. In some the cases the stipend more than covered actual expenses and so for some families, this presented an additional source of income.

It is not known exactly when they applied to foster a child, but eventually Mary Karpinski came to live with them. One impression was that Mary had been adopted by Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie, but according to their son-in-law Frank Adragna, that was not the case. Mary was clearly a foster child. It is also believed that Mary may have originally been from Newark because she kept in touch with a sister who presumably lived there. Ro Ro was in the 5th or 6th grade when Mary, who was older than Ro Ro, came to live with them. Mary remained with Uncle Nat and Aunt Tessie until she was married, possibly in 1952. Mary was known in the family as “Mary the Polack”.

Aunt Tessie eventually married again to a man name Joe Riccio and they continued to live in the East Centre Street house. Joe was a cordial guy and a talented auto mechanic; however he apparently had a drinking problem. After several years of marriage they permanently separated.

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Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie Aunt Rosie whose real name is Rosina was born on July 28, 1923. She came to the United States from Italy in 1939 at the age of 16. Her father Joe Perrone, who had previously immigrated, had a small store at 122 East Centre Street. Aunt Rosie worked in her father’s store. The store was free standing and was located in what is now a driveway at 122 East Centre Street a house that abuts the apartment house property that housed Jimmy’s Market store.

One day Uncle Jimmy came into the store to buy cigarettes with his cousin Tony Rizzuto. Tony was attracted to Aunt Rosie and wanted to go out with her. It was said that he actually might have wanted to marry her. Tony had purchased A UNT R OSIE AND U NCLE J IMMY ON DECEMBER 14, 1941

a new car and drove up and down East Center Street to try to

impress Aunt Rosie. However she was not impressed or interested in Tony.

It seems Aunt Rosie was attracted to Uncle Jimmy. She thought to herself that Uncle Jimmy was good looking and if he was interested, she would have preferred to go out with him. Evidently Uncle Jimmy felt the same way and asked Aunt Rosie for a date.

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Tony’s mother Francesca, who was Grandma’s sister, did not talk to Grandma for years because she thought that Grandma had talked Aunt Rosie into going out with Uncle Jimmy to the detriment of her son Tony.

Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie were married on December 14, 1941 one week following the attack at Pearl Harbor and America’s entry into World War 2. They lived on the second floor of the Lyndhurst house for 5 years. It was in December of 1946 that they moved to Nutley and lived at 122 East Centre Street house. They lived there for several years and in 1951 they moved to the familiar three story brick building on what is now the corner of East Centre Street and Washington Avenue.

The building’s original address was 810 Walnut Street. The building and the house next door were the only buildings located on the short extension of Walnut Street that was located east of Washington Avenue. Walnut Street runs nominally north and south and is nearly parallel to Washington Avenue, which is located just to the east. It is adjacent to the railroad tracks and is located directly behind Washington School. Up until the early 1950s the west end of East Centre Street began just after the very next building to the south of Uncle Jimmy’s building. More precisely, the border for the roadway was located at the curve in the road just after the present 136 East Centre Street. Because grocery suppliers had a hard time finding the address, Uncle Jimmy petitioned the Nutley Board of Commissioners sometime in 1951 or 1952 to include his building as part of East Centre Street. Uncle Jimmy evidently made a compelling case and his petition was granted wherein the address became 140 East Centre Street.

The building’s first floor had housed a sewing factory and previously had possibly been a saloon. Uncle Jimmy, with the help of his father in law Joe 238

Perrone, redesigned and renovated the first floor area into living space with a small grocery store at the front of the three story building. Upstairs apartments provided rental income. It was in this building that Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie raised their seven children. The grocery store was called Jimmy’s Market. Years later the apartment component of the building was named the Rosalie Apartments in honor of Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie’s only daughter.

During the 1930s Uncle Jimmy used to work with Grandpa at American Chain and Cable in Newark. In the 1940s, after American Chain went out of business, he worked for the Ronson Art Metal Works in Newark which produced one of the world’s best cigarette lighters. During WW2, the production of Ronson Lighters almost came to a halt due to the lack of materials. The factory was busy producing ammunition and other articles for the allied forces. Uncle Jimmy stayed at Ronson for about ten years. When the 140 East Centre Street home was purchased he went into the grocery store business with his father-in-law.

To say that Uncle Jimmy was a memorable person was an understatement. Once you met him you never forgot him. He had an interesting perspective on life and the funniest things always seemed to happen to him. One of the funniest stories he told me was about a time when he and Aunt Rosie had just left a store and a man approached to ask the time of day. Uncle Jimmy complied with the man’s request by looking at his wristwatch and telling the man the time. Upon hearing this the man reached into his pocket and removed a large railroad-type pocket watch and proclaimed that Uncle Jimmy’s watch was wrong, and then provided him with the correct time. Uncle Jimmy looked at the man with incredulous disbelieve and proceeded in not so many words to tell the man he was out of his mind.

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On another occasion he conveyed another funny story of how he and Aunt Rosie went to the movies and sat in the middle of a row in a sparsely attended movie. Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie are short people. Uncle Jimmy U NCLE J IMMY AND A UNT R OSIE IN 1982

probably stood about 5 feet 6 or 7 inches or less and Aunt Rosie was shorter still. Just before the movie began a group of very tall people entered the theater and of all the places they could have chosen to sit, they elected the seats directly in front of Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie. With his view now obstructed Uncle Jimmy leaned forward, tapped one of the persons on the shoulder and expressed his displeasure. I seem to recall that he told me that he stated the following unforgettable words that went something like this. “Are you people kidding me? Of all the seats in this place you had to decide to sit here. We can just about see over the seats with nobody there. Can’t you giants sit somewhere else?” The request worked but there was an irony to follow. To make things even funnier, Uncle Jimmy told me that Aunt Rosie fell asleep during the movie.

Then there was the time that Uncle Jimmy decided to go down the shore for a cup of coffee with his nephews Joe and Rich Simone. Uncle Jimmy loved to drive. He told me it relaxed him. Many times he listened to Italian music as he traveled along. By the time he reached the Toms River exit on the Parkway, he changed his mind and decided to proceed further to Wildwood, where he often vacationed with the family. He never saw Wildwood either because not feeling 240

the need to stop he decided to continue down to Washington, DC. For whatever reason, he decided not to make a stop in the nation’s capital and so he continued on. When he finally arrived at Savannah, Georgia he decided to call it a day and got a room for the night. Meanwhile back home Aunt Rosie was worried because he evidently never told her where he was going. Concerned, she contacted my father. It is not entirely clear if they contacted the police. The next day when Uncle Jimmy returned he purportedly became irate when he learned that a search effort had been launched to find him. As he conveyed this story to me, I recall him saying in a rather joking fashion that he demanded Aunt Rosie not to be concerned unless he was gone more than three days! That was Uncle Jimmy.

Like my father, volumes could probably be written about Uncle Jimmy’s life. It was not always easy, especially when he was a young boy. I recall later in his life I really came to enjoy seeing and looked forward speaking with him. He was blessed with a wonderful way of telling a story.

Aunt Rosie worked in her father’s store as indicated above and then later in Jimmy’s Market with Uncle Jimmy, while raising her family. Her talent in making the best Italian sausage this side of the Atlantic Ocean is legendary and is attested to by many people. As a matter of fact she had customers who have come as far as Europe to purchase her second-to-none sausage. Aunt Rosie kept the store open after Uncle Jimmy’s passing, finally closing the doors about 10 or 15 years ago. She is truly a remarkable woman who possesses a keen mind and has been a wealth of information regarding much of the family’s twentieth century history.

Uncle Jimmy died of coronary disease on September 18, 1988.

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Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Rosie had seven children, James Jr. known in the family as Natty, Joe, Mike, John, Paul, Rosalie, and Tom.

Aunt Josie and husband 1 In 1941, at about the age of 18, Aunt Josie married a man named Mario Giancarlo, a friend of Uncle Jimmy. Their marriage had a very brief duration of perhaps a year or less. It was thought that Aunt Josie married solely to get out of the severely strict household Grandpa and Grandma ran. In later years Mario lived up the block from the Lyndhurst house on Thomas Avenue. Other than the fact that he was a contractor, not much else is known about him or why they divorced.

Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie Aunt Josie lived for a while in New York City. It is not known how long she lived there or exactly where in the city she resided or what she did to support herself. About 5 years after her first marriage she met Uncle Eddie, who was in the navy at the time, in New York City. From the information we A UNT J OSIE AND U NCLE E DDIE CIRCA EARLY 1950 S

have it appears that they had a short courtship and were married on March 19, 242

1946 in New York in what is believed to have been a civil ceremony.

After they wed and Uncle Eddie was discharged, they moved to Gary, Indiana and probably resided in the same general area where Uncle Eddie grew up. Uncle Eddie was from a suburb of Gary known as Calumet Township, which is located in Lake County. According to the 1930 US Census he lived on 10th Place with his father Walter Czerwens Dygus (sic), his mother Josephine, and sisters Mary, Wanda and Lillian. Uncle Eddie and his sisters are listed as stepchildren to Walter, whose last name may have actually been Czerwenski.

Following the war Uncle Eddie was a truck driver and is believed to have had his own over-the-road trucking company, which was probably just a one man/one truck operation. Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie lived in Indiana for about 7 years. The story goes that Aunt Josie would occasionally accompany Uncle Eddie on over-the-road trips and at times, actually drove the truck as well.

Evidently there came a point when Aunt Josie no longer liked living in Indiana. According to one account Aunt Josie suspected that Uncle Eddie may have been with other women. It is unknown if any factual basis for this claim exists. One can surmise it may have been related to the long hours spent by Uncle Eddie driving over-the-road. In any event, Aunt Josie returned to Lyndhurst probably in about 1952 or 1953. Prior to her departure Aunt Josie gave Uncle Eddie an ultimatum. If Uncle Eddie really loved her he would sell his business and come back to Jersey to live with her and they would try again to rebuild their relationship. It is not clear how much time elapsed, but not too long after Aunt Josie returned to Lyndhurst Uncle Eddie capitulated and made his way to New Jersey.

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It is believed that Aunt Josie underwent a hysterectomy at about the age of 29. Their adopted daughter and only child, Lynda, was actually Uncle Eddie’s sister’s daughter. His half-sister Irene Czerwenski, who was evidently born after 1930, had an affair with a married Irish man in Gary Indiana and decided to give the baby up for adoption. Since Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie could not have children of their own they decided to adopt Lynda from Irene. Lynda was only 2 days old when she came to New Jersey. The family lived on Lake Avenue in Lyndhurst for approximately a year before moving to 46 Frances Street in Clifton which was located in the Lackawanna section of the city. They later moved to another house on High Street in Clifton, a cul-de-sac, located not too far from Frances Street and remained there until Aunt Josie’s death in 1979. Niece Rose Adragna and her husband Frank and their family lived a few doors away.

Uncle Eddie worked for Frasse Steel Company in Lyndhurst and it is said he helped Uncle Louie Meggiolaro obtain a job there. He also worked for American Can and then in the printing industry helping to get jobs for some of his nephews. Uncle Eddie was another nice guy you couldn’t help but like and respect. I recall he was very mechanically inclined and would gladly offer a helping hand to anyone in the family who may have been engaged in a home improvement or automobile mechanical project. I recall he helped my father finish the basement in the Lyndhurst house and constructed a weight lifting bench for me when I was in the sixth or seventh grade. Cousin Lou Meggiolaro tells of Uncle Eddie being a gifted Ping-Pong player and teaching some of our cousins how to play.

Aunt Josie worked in the Mangini sewing shop on Copeland Avenue when she was young along with Aunt Mary. Interestingly my sister Marie bought the 244

Mangini house and resides there to this day. After returning to New Jersey from Indiana it is not entirely clear where she worked. Once Lynda was adopted she spent her time childrearing.

A few years after Aunt Josie’s death Uncle Eddie married again to a woman named Margaret and lived in either Cresskill or Haworth, New Jersey until his death at age 69 on May 22, 1991.

Aunt Mary and husband 1 Aunt Mary was married 8 or 9 months to a man named Jimmy Gabriele. Although he possessed the same surname as Grandma, we do not believe Jimmy was a direct relative. Aunt Mary met Jimmy through his sister, a co-worker of Aunt Mary’s at the Isolantite Manufacturing Company in Belleville. The company produced Ceramic Insulators, concentric transmission lines and fittings used in the war effort. Aunt Mary was about 18 or 19 at the time of her marriage.

Aunt Mary’s relatively young marriage, like Aunt Josie’s, was induced by the strict household in which she lived. Aunt Mary felt that she had to get out of the house because conditions were such that she couldn’t endure it any longer. After marrying Jimmy she lived in

T HIS RARE PHOTO IS BELIEVED TO BE OF AUNT MARY AND HER FIRST HUSBAND JIMMY GABRIELE , CIRCA 1942-43

Nutley in what was known as Nardo’s house, which was located on the corner 245

of

Park Avenue and Roma Street. The apartment was small and they used to share a bathroom with another couple that lived in the same house.

It seems before they were married Jimmy regularly went to the Veteran’s hospital, but Aunt Mary did not know the reason why. It is not clear if she ever asked Jimmy for an explanation or not. On one occasion Jimmy’s doctor told him that he wanted to meet Aunt Mary, before they wed, to give her the details of Jimmy’s condition. The meeting took place and apparently, without much of an explanation or detail, the doctor told Aunt Mary to be careful when she was with Jimmy. It wasn’t until after they were married however, that Jimmy’s doctor asked Aunt Mary if she knew of his history. She replied that she did not and the doctor informed Aunt Mary that Jimmy suffered from some form of mental illness. Since Jimmy was being treated by VA doctors we assume he was a WW2 veteran. We can only speculate that his condition may have been related to his time in service, perhaps a form of post traumatic syndrome, however we are not sure. Jimmy’s sister never told Aunt Mary about her brother’s condition.

Aunt Mary remembered that Jimmy demonstrated some strange behavior from time to time. One night in the Lyndhurst house for some unknown reason Jimmy threw a cup at her. Afterwards Jimmy also began striking her for no apparent reason. On one occasion Grandma interceded and began yelling at him. Aunt Mary eventually called Jimmy’s doctor who advised her to leave him and obtain an annulment, which she subsequently did sometime in late 1943 or early 1944. She met Uncle Sonny about a year and a half later.

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Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny Aunt Mary met Uncle Sonny on a blind date through my father, Louie, in 1946. My father knew Uncle Sonny’s brother Mikey, who told Uncle Sonny that Louie had a nice sister who was single, having left her husband. Mikey suggested that Uncle Sonny should take her out. At the time Uncle Sonny A UNT M ARY AND U NCLE S ONNY O N THEIR WEDDING DAY IN 1948

lived at 8 Rosedale Avenue in Montclair,

with his parents Joe and Josephine and his brothers Albert, Mike and his sister Rose. Uncle Sonny’s given name was James. He was called Sonny, a nickname bestowed upon him by his family, because he was the youngest sibling.

One night the doorbell rang and Aunt Florie answered the door but Aunt Mary was in the house at the time. In walked Uncle Sonny. He apparently cut his finger and asked if Aunt Mary would apply a bandage. My father who was also present at the time made the formal introduction. According to Aunt Mary, my father said, “Hey May, that’s Sonny”. Louie never told Mary that Sonny phoned him earlier to say he was coming to see Mary. So their first meeting was actually contrived.

The next night Uncle Sonny came over again and he, Aunt Mary, and my father went to visit Aunt Jean in the hospital.

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Their first real date occurred shortly afterwards. It is believed they went to the movies in New York. They had to attend an afternoon show because Grandpa being so stern required that Aunt Mary be home by 8:00 p.m. even though she was 22 years old at the time. Many of their subsequent dates involved just staying at the Lyndhurst house. A UNT M AY AND U NCLE S ONNY CIRCA LATE 1940 S EARLY 1950 S

Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny kept company for about 2 years before they were married on April 17, 1948 at Saint Clare’s Church on Alwood Road in Clifton. My father was best man and next door neighbor Sarah Viteritti was the maid of honor.

Their honeymoon trip was to Indiana to visit Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie who were living out there at the time. They stayed at Uncle Eddie’s mother’s house. One of the most memorable things about the honeymoon trip was the ride back home to New Jersey. It seems that Uncle Eddie’s mother sent home a chicken for Grandma and gave one to Aunt Mary as well. At night from inside the motel room they could hear the chickens clucking in car. The chickens laid 3 eggs on the return trip which took about 3 days.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny lived on the second floor of the Lyndhurst house for four years. They moved at the end of 1951, which coincided with the arrival of my mother, Angela, who was coming from Italy. They purchased the house at 19 Evergreen Avenue in Nutley where they remained for 48 years until the death of Uncle Sonny.

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After Uncle Sonny died Aunt Mary lived for a short time in a small garden apartment on Passaic Avenue in Nutley. Later she moved to 59 Eldorado Street in Toms River, New Jersey, a senior community, where she was near to Aunt Jean. She eventually returned to Nutley and lived at the senior housing on William Street, which is adjacent to Booth Park and near the high school for several years. She presently resides at a nursing home in Cedar Grove, NJ.

Uncle Sonny possessed extraordinary mechanical talents and aptitude. There was nothing he could not build or repair. He worked as a maintenance man for Federal Leather in Belleville for over twenty years and when the company sold to Airco Products, he remained on board in the same capacity. He later worked at Frasse Steel in Lyndhurst and Julius Blum in Carlstadt, again as a maintenance man, repairing and maintaining machinery. Uncle Sonny also had a small home remodeling business as a sideline. He did renovations and repairs on the homes of many of us in the family.

Uncle Sonny liked having a good time. He enjoyed joking around, teasing and laughing. I can still hear his unique and infectious laugh. From what I have also come to learn is that at times he could also be difficult to get along with, especially at the work place. When it came to work Uncle Sonny was all business. Not unlike our other uncles, Uncle Sonny was a good man and had a genuine love and affection for the family.

I recall how in the early 1960s my parents, sisters and I spent many Sundays in the summer at the home of Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny. We’d barbecue, often using a brick grill Uncle Sonny constructed in the yard. My sisters and I learned to swim in their small three by twelve foot above ground pool. I also recall parties in their basement. Who could forget the beautiful wet 249

bar Uncle Sonny had constructed. Over the years they hosted many parties at their home.

Uncle Sonny and Aunt Mary had one adopted son, James. The adoption occurred when Terry Negra, a friend of Aunt Mary’s, was having her income taxes prepared by an attorney named Feinberg (sic) from Newark, who coincidently also prepared Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny’s taxes. Terry learned from Feinberg that a baby was available for adoption and contacted Aunt Mary. Feinberg evidently also handled the adoption proceedings. Uncle Sonny and Aunt Mary went to Saint Michael’s Hospital in Newark about four days after James was born and took him home. James’ birth mother was from Newark. Her last name was Blasi (sic).

After Uncle Sonny’s death Aunt Mary and James became estranged. They reconciled once or twice over the ensuing years, however presently it is not exactly known where the relationship stands.

Aunt Florie and Uncle Red Aunt Florie and Uncle Red met through my father who was a friend of Uncle Red. In 1930 Uncle Red, his father Angelo, his brothers Leo, Peter, Joe and Vincent lived at 128 Verona Ave in Newark, NJ, which was the home of his sister Elizabeth and her A UNT F LO AND U NCLE R ED ON THEIR WEDDING DAY IN O CTOBER OF 1949

husband Eugene Caliaro and their 250

daughters Enna and Irene. Evidently Uncle Red had been to the Lyndhurst house a few times and met Aunt Flo. I once heard that they may have gone roller skating as a first date, however I could not substantiate this account. Not much else is known about their courtship. We do know however that they married on October 29, 1949. Their honeymoon trip was to Niagara Falls, New York.

Their first apartment was at 731 Meyer Avenue in Lyndhurst. A year later their first child Angela was born. They occupied the first floor apartment and remained there until 1955. The house is located at the northwest corner of Thomas and Meyer Avenues and was a short walk from the Lyndhurst homestead. They next moved to Washington Ave, Belleville and lived behind a butcher shop that, as of this writing, is now a laundry mat. They remained there until sometime in 1957 at which time they moved to an apartment building on Passaic Ave, Nutley. Finally in 1960 they purchased the house at 19 Moore Place also in Nutley where they remained until their deaths.

Aunt Mary and Uncle Sonny lent them the money to purchase the Moore Place home. An A UNT F LO AND U NCLE R ED CIRCA LATE 1940 S EARLY 1950 S

amusing story was told to me by Aunt Mary regarding the purchase of the house. It seems the

house was infested with at least one bee hive. Aunt Flo was worried that the bees would be troublesome and evidently was having second thoughts about the purchase. It was Uncle Nat who told her, “Don’t worry about the bees. We’ll take care of them”. And he did by destroying the hive. This evidently assuaged Aunt Flo’s fears and the home was purchased. Their daughter Angela bought the Moore Place house in later years and lived there for a while. She eventually sold it in 1990. 251

Uncle Red worked construction when they were first married. Eventually he went to work for the Nutley DPW. It is unknown if Aunt Flo worked outside the home.

Uncle Red and Aunt Florie had three children. In addition to Angela they also had Tom and Richie.

Aunt Florie’s given name was Florence. Uncle Red was born Lucio. Both died at a relatively young age. Of the first generation American children to reach adulthood, Aunt Florie was the first to die. She suddenly passed at home on September 3, 1966 at age 40 of a massive heart attack. It is said she arose from bed during the night, called to Uncle Red and then collapsed. Evidently a valiant attempt was made by first responders to revive her, but it was to no avail. I seem to remember that there was some speculation that a recent surgery Aunt Flo had undergone may have in some way contributed to the event, but I do not believe it was ever established to have been directly related.

I remember Uncle Louie Meggiolaro and Uncle Sonny coming to our home in the early morning hours to deliver the news to my father and mother and eventually, Grandma and Grandpa. I also recall the extreme shock and profound sadness that followed. One of the saddest aspects of Aunt Florie’s death was the fact that her children were still young. Angela was about 16, Tommy 11, and Richie was about 9 years old.

Approximately two and one half years after Aunt Florie’s death Uncle Red remarried to Carmella (Millie) Gennaro, which he had met while working for the 252

Town of Nutley. Evidently she was living in the area of the Town Yard. They continued to reside on Moore Place. The marriage put a strain on Uncle Red’s family due to personality clashes between Millie and the kids. Some people felt that Uncle Red remarried because he felt the kids needed a maternal presence in their lives that he alone could not provide. Uncle Red loved his kids very much and it would not surprise me if this was his primary motive. Others speculated that Uncle Red married due to loneliness and the fact that he had found someone who would also accept his children. As far as we know Millie never had her own biological children. Millie died in February or 2009 at the age of 87.

Uncle Red died a hero. On July 14, 1975 at the age of 51 Uncle Red suffered a fatal heart attack during a courageous attempt to rescue a local child and one of his co-workers who was at risk of drowning. On the day he died heavy rains had caused flash flooding and the brook that ran through Yanticaw Park, known as the Third River, overflowed its banks. Uncle Red and co-worker John Reiss were assigned to erect barricades in the area of the bridge at Brookfield and Passaic Avenue to prevent traffic from entering the flooded area. A small island which is located just south of the bridge formed between a small tributary to the east and the main brook to the west. The island contained numerous trees and it seems some young boys were trapped in one or some of the trees and may have been calling for help. Evidently John Reiss and Uncle Red became aware of the boys entrapment on the island and attempted to reach them by entering the water. John Reiss was struck by a floating tree limb and was consequently knocked down and carried away by the swift moving current of the flooding water. Upon seeing this Uncle Red began running along the eastern bank of the brook calling to Reiss that he was coming to help.

The waters swept Reiss under the small Brookfield Avenue Bridge. The level of the water was nearly at the bottom of the bridge. Reiss emerged on the 253

north side and from here the facts are not entirely clear. One report indicates that Uncle Red was swept away by the water in an attempt to rescue Reiss. A second account suggests that at a point located approximately 100 feet north of the bridge Uncle Red suffered a heart attack and fell to the ground. Attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. Ironically one of his own nephews, Joe Bolcato, a member of the Nutley First Aid Squad was involved in the resuscitation effort. It is believed that the heart attack was precipitated by his attempt to rescue Reiss. A Nutley fireman eventually pulled Reiss from the waters. According to Cousin Tom Bolcato, Reiss never really spoke about incident afterwards.

In tribute for his valiant effort a monument in honor of Uncle Red was placed in Yanticaw Park at the base of a tree located near the easterly bank of the brook approximately 100 feet north of the Brookfield Avenue Bridge. It was dedicated on May 30, 1977. The monument is a flat granite plaque with Uncle Red’s name etched into it. Funds and donations for the construction of the monument were accepted from the American Legion, Am Vets, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Catholic War Veterans. Other donations came from local associations in the community of Nutley such as UNICO, the Elks, the Rotary Club, and Nutley Park Shop Rite.

M ONUMENT COMMEMORATING UNCLE R ED ' S HEROISM PLACED IN YANTICAW PARK IN NUTLEY NEAR THE PLACE WHERE HE DIED .

A TRIBUTE TO UNCLE RED DRAWN BY A GRADE SCHOOL CHILD

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A tribute on the Internet indicates that Uncle Red had worked with the Nutley Department of Public Works for 15 years. It also stated that he was born in Newark. He is described as “An unselfish human being who touched the hearts of others. He always helped people with no concern for himself. He was a great and honorable man who died trying to rescue others. In return, the town of Nutley dedicated this memorial in his honor.”

I can still recall some of the details of his funeral. One of the things that impressed me most was the line of Nutley employees who respectfully stood in front of the town hall as the funeral cortege passed by. I can still see the firemen and policemen saluting the hearse that contained Uncle Red’s flag draped casket.

His amazing act was so inspiring that children drew pictures of him. For those of us who were lucky enough to remember him, we recall an unselfish, kind, happy-go-lucky man who was strong as an ox and was always willing to lend a hand. Approximately 33 years later, one of the boys who became stranded in a tree on the small island previously mentioned would remember Uncle Red’s heroic efforts in a very moving and emotional tribute. Uncle Red’s actions were publicly acknowledged

C OUSIN RICH B OLCATO PINS THE C APTAIN ’S BADGE ON B ILL H ENN .

on January 24, 2008. Clifton firefighter William Henn was promoted to the rank of Captain and during the ceremony he publicly stated that his sense of public duty was inspired by the 255

heroic actions of Uncle Red. Henn recalled a life changing event that occurred when he was 9 years old. On that fateful day in 1975 he fell into the Yanticaw Park Brook and was being swept away until he was able to get hold of a tree branch. He recounted how without hesitation Uncle Red was one of the first to enter the water in an attempt to save him and knew that Uncle Red died trying to save him. Captain Henn declared Uncle Red a true hero. He also professed that Uncle Red’s effort to save his life inspired Captain Henn to do something significant with his own life and evidently lead to him becoming a firefighter. I am told there was not a dry eye in the house as Captain Henn recounted his ordeal. Cousin Richie Bolcato was present during the promotion ceremony and was asked to pin the Captain’s badge onto Captain Henn. Articles recounting Captain Henn’s experience appeared in both the January 25, 2008 editions of the Bergen Record and Herald News.

There are several fond memories I shall always cherish about Uncle Red. I recall that he used to make a wonderfully delicious red pepper and onion sauce that was great on just about anything you put it on. I also recall that during the period between Aunt Florie’s death and his marriage to Millie, he would occasionally take Tommy, Richie, and I on trips to New York City. We would spend hours walking around Times Square and other nearby areas of the city. Uncle Red possessed mechanical skills as well. I recall he liked to work on cars. I will always remember him with a smile on his face.

As we know Uncle Red worked for the town of Nutley as a machine operator. Cousin Lou Meggiolaro recalls how Uncle Red would come down Evergreen Avenue with the tractor which was equipped with a big bucket in the front. He would load up Louie, Mike and some friends in the bucket and take them for a ride down the street. 256

For a short while Uncle Red and Aunt Florie also occasionally took in Foster children.

Uncle Louie and Aunt Angie Sometime during the summer of 1948 Angela’s aunt, Lee Gaccione and her husband Peppy, visited Peppy’s, relatives in Italy. This trip would ultimately lead to the wedding of Louie and Angie. In addition to fond memories of the trip, Lee returned with what would become a magical charm that, in about a year, would cast its spell on an unsuspecting 23-year-old man from Lyndhurst, New Jersey.

It was either in the spring or summer of 1949 that Lee and Peppy were having their driveway paved. They had a good friend who did this type of work. His name was Nat Simone. Helping Uncle Nat on this faithful day was his

U NCLE L OUIE AND A UNT A NGIE ON THEIR WEDDING DAY IN 1951

younger, then skinny, brother-in-law Louie Cofone.

Lee provided lunch that day and as they sat at the table and ate she told Uncle Nat and Louie about her recent trip to Italy. It seemed her in-laws and Uncle Nat’s in-laws came from the same town in Calabria, Italy, known as Acri. She went so far as to show them pictures from her trip. Among the photos they viewed was a picture of Lee’s niece, Angela. Lee could sense that Louie liked what he saw when he viewed Angela’s picture. She jokingly asked if he wanted to marry Angela. As a matter of fact, she even offered to pay his fare to go to 257

Italy and tie the knot. Louie declined the offer partly because he was engaged at the time to a woman named either Marie or Geraldine. Any way, he asked for the photo and told Aunt Lee that he would like one day to visit Italy and see where his parents had come from.

Approximately 2 years later Louie decided it was time to “go to the other side”. He remembered that Lee had relatives in the same Italian hometown as his parents and so he asked his sister Tessie, Uncle Nat’s wife, to call Aunt Lee to see if she could arrange to have someone meet him in Naples and escort him to Acri. Aunt Lee wrote a letter to her brother-in-law, Angelo Gaccione, who was Angela’s father, and asked him to do her a favor and meet Louie at the dock.

It was sometime in early May of 1951 that Louie boarded the SS Saturnia and departed for Italy. He arrived in Naples on or about May 13th.

Waiting at the dock was Angelo Gaccione, hair and all, carrying a hand written sign, which displayed Louie’s last name. Unbeknownst to Louie, his mother Angela sent word to her sister Peppina, who lived in one of the most rural parts of the paese known as “che la bana Muccone”, that Louie was coming to visit. Peppina arranged for her son Raffaele and his wife Rosaria to meet Louie in Naples. Possessing only a photo of Louie, they somehow managed to find him as well but not before he was met by Angelo.

After greeting my father, Angelo helped him gather his things and he took Louie, and Raffaele and Rosaria to dinner. After dinner they made their way to the Naples train station and boarded the train for Cosenza, the provincial capital. From there they boarded a bus for Acri. The entire journey from Naples to Acri 258

took about 13 hours. Louie and Angelo along with Raffaele and his wife arrived in Acri in the early afternoon of May 14th.

The bus left them at a plaza in the town known as “ou ciazza” (which in the dialect sounds like oo key’-ahtsa). Raffaele and Rosaria returned to Muccone and Angelo and Louie began to traverse a rather steep hill, which ultimately lead to Angelo’s 2-room, stone house.

Upon entering the home Louie found himself standing in what was the bedroom of Angelo and his wife, Assunta. To the side of this room was the combination kitchen and Angela’s bedroom. Louie first met Angelo’s wife and shook her hand. His gaze was then drawn to the kitchen where for the first time he saw Angela standing there. He was unaware that she had been home only a few days from the hospital, having had her appendix removed.

The first thing my Louie noticed about Angela was her glowing, rosy red cheeks. Angelina’s initial recollection of Louie was a “skinny”, (she’d take care of that) good-looking man wearing a pale green jacket and pants with big pockets (but no money). As he shook Angela’s hand her beauty struck him, and he uttered what has become one of the most famous quotes in annuals of our immediate family’s history. “Io piace ti, credo che tu ti piace a me?” loosely translated, “I like you; do you think that you like me?” Her reply was concise and definite, “Si”. Louie went on to explain that he was not a rich man. An then in a style that can only be described as his own, he promptly asked my mother to tell her father to go see the priest as he had only a month before he was to return to America. Of course he also asked Angelo if he would allow Angela to marry him. Angelo replied that it was up to my mother. She evidently agreed and by 3

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o’clock on the afternoon my father arrived in Acri, my parents were engaged to be married.

Courtship back then is not what it is now. On their first date they went to the movies, escorted by my Angelo. They saw that Italian classic “Il Lupo Della Silla”. They were married on June 13th and spent an 8-day honeymoon in Cosenza.

On or about July 1, 1951 Louie departed alone for the U.S. aboard the Italian liner Vulcania. Angela was soon to follow but Immigration doctors in Naples had actually delayed her departure by several months due to a misdiagnosed medical condition. On Christmas day, 1951 Angela left Naples Italy for the America aboard the S.S Independence. On January 4, 1952 she arrived at Pier 42 in New York City.

My parents lived in the Lyndhurst house, occupying the second floor from 1952 until 1967 at which time, following the death of Grandpa and a renovation of the first floor, they moved downstairs.

Louie had many jobs over the years. He worked construction for Napp-Greco Company, which was a major construction company specializing in pipelines. He also worked for Alsco Aluminum Products in Clifton and then Airco Products in Belleville. He eventually went to work for the A UNT A NGIE AND UNCLE LOUIE IN 1997

Lyndhurst DPW in 1965, where he remained 260

for 27 years, retiring in 1992. He was primarily a heavy equipment operator; however he also worked in all the department’s divisions.

My mom worked as a seamstress shortly after her arrival in the US. Her Aunt Mariangela Cozzolino helped her secure her first job. Angela developed extraordinary sewing skills and cooking skills. For a short while she had a small business making homemade ravioli. Later she had an alteration and sewing business that she conducted out of our home, spending countless hours in the evening fabricating dresses. She later went to work for Bernie’s in Rutherford a clothing store and later for Andrew Mark in Secaucus, where she learned to work on furs and leather garments. Her greatest achievements were the wedding gowns she created for my wife and my sisters. Over the years she performed all these jobs in addition to maintaining the household and raising my sisters and me. She also learned English and how to drive. She was also the primary caregiver for my father in his last years.

Louie and Angela had three children, Joe, Marie and Rose Ann.

Louie died on April 29, 2011 at the age of 84.after breaking his femur. He suffered a 5 year illness that included Diabetes, Sleep Apnea, COPD, and CHF.

My father was a unique person. I have never met anyone who did not like him or had an amusing story to tell about something he did or said. He possessed a wonderful work ethic. Simply put, he believed the boss was right and you did what you were told to do, no questions asked. He could also work at a furious pace, but there was a method to his madness. As he would say, he liked to hustle to get things done so that he could slide the rest of the day. He 261

was also fearless. I once learned that during the period of his life in which he worked construction he saved a co-workers life after a trench collapsed at a job site burying the man. My father performed the rescue by digging the co-worker out with his bare hands.

Make no mistake about it my father could be a very strict disciplinarian which is in agreement with his upbringing. If my sisters or I did something that warranted a disciplinary response we often got hit. Corporal punishment was accepted parental behavior at the time. Most times we were forewarned but on occasion the reaction was swift and certain. Of all the infractions that might invoke punishment, disrespect and lying were at the top of the list. Fortunately for us my father never meted out the types of physical punishments that his father had from time to time bestowed upon him and his brother.

On the lighter side my father also absolutely loved joking around and very much enjoyed good times with family and friends. He often would refer to women he knew or didn’t know as Mae West. For the guys it was either Lone Ranger, which he pronounced “Long Ranger”, Kemo Sabe, Tanto and a host of others. I also never heard him express a jealous thought or sentiment. As a matter of fact when someone he knew made a noteworthy achievement he would proudly proclaim it to all.

One of his best attributes emerged if you found yourself in need of his help. He would never think twice of not lending a hand, however be forewarned. If he told you he’d be there at 6:00 a.m. he meant it.

Finally, above all, he adored my mother. 262

Aunt Jean and Uncle Louie In 1946 Aunt Jean was working for a printing company called Henbors Company in North Newark. One day Uncle Louie, who used to work there also, came in to visit his co–workers while on leave from the army. He knew that Aunt Jean knew his brother, Dan Meggiolaro, who she A UNT J EAN AND UNCLE L OUIE ON T HEIR WEDDING DAY IN 1953

became acquainted with through Uncle Red and Aunt Florie. Uncle Louie

also knew Uncle Red and Aunt Florie.

Despite the common acquaintances Aunt Jean was apparently introduced to Uncle Louie by one of her co-workers. On the day they met she recalled having pin curls in her hair. They talked for a while and eventually he asked if he could take her home after work that day, which he did. Later that same evening Uncle Louie came over to the Lyndhurst house for a visit and the courtship began. Uncle Louie lived at 126 Vernon Ave Newark with this parents Giordano and Marie and siblings Joe, Rita, Elizeo and Dante.

Uncle Louie and Aunt Jean’s first official date was to the Empire State building. They continued to date for about five years before getting

UNCLE LOUIE AND AUNT JEAN - CIRCA 1990’S.

engaged. After an engagement of 263

about one and one half years and following Uncle Louie’s discharge from the Army they were married on October 3, 1953. They went to Niagara Falls for their honeymoon.

Uncle Louie and Aunt Jean first lived in an apartment on Wilson Avenue in Lyndhurst, which was within close walking distance to the Grandma and Grandpa’s house on Thomas Avenue. The house was the third on the left from Riverside Avenue, which was known as River Road by the local inhabitants of the area, and they remained there for 2 years. They then moved to an apartment on Lake Ave in Lyndhurst that had been vacated by Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie when they moved to Clifton. Aunt Jean recalls the house being the fourth house down from Ridge on left side of the street. They lived there for approximately a year and a half. From there they moved to an apartment at 750 Washington Ave, Belleville and remained there for approximately 2 ½ years. Their first child Louis was born while they lived there. They then bought the house at 73 Evergreen Ave in Nutley. Their second child, Michael, was born after they moved there. They remained in Nutley until about 1999 at which time they moved to 13 Montreal Court in Toms River, New Jersey.

In addition to their naturally born children Aunt Jean and Uncle Louie also had two foster children named Barry and Glenn Constantine, who were brothers and lived with them for several years.

Uncle Louie died shortly after their move down the shore from complication incident to a stroke. He looked so forward to retiring to the Jersey shore but unfortunately he never got to fully realize and enjoy his dream.

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Uncle Louie was a very good man. I have an early recollection of him being actively involved with his sons Louis and Mike in Little League. Uncle Louie was an affable and very likeable person. To know him was to like him. Like all our uncles he was helpful to anyone and everyone in the family. He had a calm and even-tempered demeanor and his opinion was respected in the family. I recall one summer when he helped Cousin John Cafone and I secure summer jobs at the Peter Frasse Company in Lyndhurst. He was a long time machinist for the company.

Back in the late 1950s and early 1960s most of our Uncles got together and formed an investment club. I got the impression that it was Uncle Louie who may have spearheaded the endeavor. From what I can recall the club lasted quite a number of years. I do not know was caused it to dissolve although I heard that one possible impetus was that membership was expanded to include persons outside the family. In the late 1970s Uncle Louie and Uncle Eddie spearheaded a regeneration of the club, but this time it was composed mostly of our second American born generation. Our attempt was called “The Family Club” and it lasted for nearly 20 years. After about the first eight or nine years interest began to wane. A general lack of interest permeated the group and so by unanimous vote it was decided to dissolve the club. While at one point we were worth nearly a quarter million dollars, by the time the club dissolved we broke just about even.

The impression one got from Uncle Louie was that he was someone who just thoroughly enjoyed life and family. In his later years he was fond of trips to various locations and loved going to see shows and plays.

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Chapter 12- In Service to Our Country We have already learned about Grandpa’s military service. Out of a sense of respect, I thought that I would add a short chapter on how some of our uncles served our country. Admittedly, there presently is not much known about the military service of most of our uncles beyond what has been passed down orally or from a synopsis contained in what few military records were readily available at the time of this edition. What little we know is presented below.

Due to a punctured ear drum Uncle Jimmy was exempt from service. Because of his age and the fact he had a young family Uncle Nat was also exempt.

For those not in the military it is sometimes difficult to understand the hierarchy of the organizational command structure. Each of the services has their own unique organization and is presented from the smallest contingent to the largest. The Army is organized in Squads, Platoons, Companies, Battalions, Brigades, Divisions, Corps and Numbered Armies. The Marine Corps is organized in Teams, Squads, Platoons, Companies, Regiments, and Divisions. Regarding the Navy, the organization is rather complex. A fleet is the basic combatant group and it may be made up of different combinations of ships that were originally designated as divisions based on a particular type of ship, for example a Destroyer Division. Several Divisions made up squadrons (e.g. Battle Squadron). Still the demands of World War 2 forced the creation of the task force system where ships no longer fought solely as part of same-type divisions or squadrons.

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For our Uncles that served in the Navy, generally we know of the ships on which they served and sometimes the task force to which the ships were assigned. We also know that Uncle Eddie and my dad were assigned to the Pacific Fleet. Presently for Uncle Sonny, we know nothing below the Division level, that is to say the company or platoon to which he was assigned during battle. For Uncle Red we know nothing below the Battalion level and the only level above Battalion we are aware of is that he was part of Patton’s Third Army. For Uncle Louie Meggiolaro nothing below the Company level is known. We know that he was part of the larger Army’s First Calvary Division. More specific information about their service careers follows below.

Where possible and when available military Muster Rolls were referenced. Four times per year at the end of every quarter, all ships, aviation squadrons, air stations, bases, stations, training centers or schools, flag staffs, and Marine Corps units compile a Muster Roll, or listing, of individuals who were attached to that unit on the date of the muster. In addition, these ships and other units are required to keep track of changes in personnel in each of the intervening months prior to the next quarterly muster. Extraordinary circumstances might cause a ship to compile an extra Muster Roll, for example, the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The importance of these records is that the Muster Rolls are the final authority of who was present and where they were at a particular point in time. Among other details, the Muster Rolls provide fuller and more accurate representations of names and rates (or ranks) than is usually available in other historical resources such as action reports and deck logs.

Thus far we have been able to locate Muster Rolls for Uncles Eddie, Louie Cofone, and Sonny. 267

Uncle Sonny Uncle Sonny, a WWII veteran and member of the US Marine Corp Reserve, was wounded in the war. According to Aunt Mary, Uncle Sonny was part of the 4th Marine Division in WW II. At the present time we also do not know the actual dates of his enlistment although according to US Marine Corp Muster Roll records it appears he entered the service PFC J AMES A RACE USMC CIRCA 1944

in October of 1944. This is corroborated by

his son, Cousin James Arace, who believes Uncle Sonny enlisted at age 18 and served at least until the war’s end. Uncle Sonny turned 18 in 1944. James stated that Uncle Sonny received his basic training at Camp Le June in Jacksonville North Carolina. This latter fact is also reflected in the Muster Rolls which indicate he became part of the Seventh Training Battalion for the time he was there. In January of 1945, following training at Camp Le June, Uncle Sonny became part of the 24th Marine Regiment which was one of three infantry regiments in the 4th Marine Division and was sent to San Francisco and then shipped out to the south Pacific.

Reference sources indicate that the 4th Marine Division shipped out from Camp Pendleton in California on 13 January 1944, and in 13 months made four major amphibious assaults, in the battles of Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima, suffering more than 17,000 casualties one of which was Uncle Sonny. At the present time the best estimate of when Uncle Sonny joined the rest of the 4th Marine Division in the South Pacific was sometime between the middle January 1945 to the middle of February of 1945. The exploits of the 4th Marine Division were documented in a book published in 1945 entitled “The 4th Marine Division 268

in World War II” by First Lieutenant John C. Chapin, USMCR. As of this writing it can be found and downloaded free on line at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/48198584/The-4th-Marine-Division-in-World-War-II Cousin James had a first edition copy of this book that he received from his father and which James donated to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, 18900 Jefferson Davis Highway, Triangle, VA. Jim believes the book is on display somewhere in the museum.

Uncle Sonny was wounded in battle and there are several accounts as to the circumstances of this event. From what was conveyed to me from Aunt Mary it seems that during battle Uncle Sonny occupied a foxhole and a bullet grazed him under the chin. The bullet then struck and killed one of his companions who

4 TH MARINE DIVISION PATCH

had been crouched right beside him.

Cousin James conveys a different story told to him by Uncle Sonny. During the battle of Iwo Jima, before the famous raising of the flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945, Uncle Sonny, who was in the infantry, was engaged in battle in the jungle when a bomb exploded nearby. Shrapnel from the bomb became embedded in Uncle Sonny’s throat just under his chin and resulted in a 5 or 6 inch gash. He was taken by hospital ship to Honolulu Hawaii where he was treated for his wound. He remained in the hospital for about five weeks and was given the option to return stateside to be discharged. Uncle Sonny elected to return to his outfit instead. Uncle Sonny was awarded a purple heart. He bore a scar from the incident for the rest of his life.

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Further information regarding Uncle Sonny being awarded the Purple Heart was found in The US Marine Muster Roll of the US Marine Corp for the 4th Marine Division, which was obtained via Ancestory.com. Contained therein was a citation in Uncle Sonny’s record that shows he was wounded on March 11, 1945 in the Asiatic-Pac Area of Iwo Jima. He was part of Volcano Group 14. Sometime following being wounded the Muster Rolls reveal that Uncle Sonny was

C ITATION IN US M ARINE M USTER R OLLS REPORTING UNCLE SONNY BEING INJURED IN BATTLE AND SUBSEQUENTLY BEING AWARDED THE PURPLE HEART

transported to the island of Oahu T.H. (reflecting Territory of Hawaii. Hawaii was not a state at the time) aboard the USS Pickaway. This corroborates the information conveyed by Cousin James, that Uncle Sonny was treated in a hospital in Honolulu. As a result of his injury Uncle Sonny was awarded the Purple Heart on June 24, 1945.

Other information contained within the Muster Rolls show that by October of 1945 Uncle Sonny was assigned to the 9th Military Police Battalion in San Francisco, California where is appears he became part of Company “A”. He remained with this Unit through January of 1946. It is believed Uncle Sonny was honorably discharged sometime in 1946.

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Uncle Eddie Uncle Eddie Dygus had the longest military career of all our uncles. He served in the US Navy during WWII. His enrollment period lasted six years from June 6, 1940 to June 5, 1946. He entered the Navy from Chicago, Illinois and did his basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station also in Illinois. As you can see Uncle Eddie enlisted about a year and a half prior to the United States’ entry in the war.

Uncle Eddie served on two ships both of which were assigned to the Pacific theater of the war. On September 20, 1940 he was assigned to the destroyer USS Gridley. From what we can gather, Uncle Eddie appears to have been in Pearl Harbor just before and just after the USS GRIDLEY . U NCLE E DDIE SERVED ON THIS SHIP DURING THE ATTACK ON P EARL H ARBOR .

attack that lead to the US involvement in World War II. According to Naval archival

records, the Gridley, cleared Pearl Harbor 28 November 1941 as part of the antisubmarine screen for the famed air craft carrier Enterprise, flagship of Admiral Halsey, and after a stop at Wake Island, reversed course for Pearl Harbor. The Task Force, of which Uncle Eddie’s ship was a part, was approaching Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 7 when the astounding message heralding the beginning of the war was received: "Air raid on Pearl Harbor, this is no drill." The Gridley, with Uncle Eddie aboard, entered the harbor the next day to help protect against a renewed attack, and during the next 5 months was occupied escorting transports and repair vessels to and from Pearl Harbor and South Pacific ports. Naval records seem to indicate that Uncle Eddie was trained in the use of a 20 mm Anti-Aircraft machine gun. While aboard the 271

Gridley Uncle Eddie attained the rank of Seaman 1st Class. His assignment on the ship ended in April of 1942.

Uncle Eddie’s last assignment at sea was aboard the destroyer USS Lardner, a newly constructed ship, which began on May 19, 1942. Uncle Eddie was aboard for the shakedown cruise off the New England coast that began on May 28th and lasted until July 1, 1942. During this period, the ship investigated several reports of

USS LARDNER . T HIS IS THE LAST SHIP UNCLE E DDIE SERVED ABOARD .

submarines near the coast of Maine and searched for a reported U-boat off Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The ship was subsequently assigned to the Pacific where it arrived on September 3, 1942. There it acted as an escort and screen for convoys and fleet units, making numerous passages to Nouméa and Espiritu Santo, and screening transports landing troops on Guadalcanal, where the ship bombarded enemy positions. During the course of his two year assignment on the Lardner, the ship was involved in several bombardments and had been attacked by dive bombers and sunk at least one cargo ship. In June and July of 1944, the Lardner participated in the occupation of Guam, Saipan, and Tinian; escorted carriers on the first Bonin Islands raid, and joined in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. With the end of hostilities and Japan’s unconditional surrender, the Lardner sailed to Okinawa to join a group of battleships preparing to sail to Japan for the Japanese surrender. With Uncle Eddie aboard, the ship entered Tokyo Bay on August 29, 1945, escorting Fleet Adm. Chester Nimitz’s flagship the South Dakota. The Lardner next joined in evacuating several hundred prisoners-of-war and operated with several task groups and units performing varied occupation duties until October 15, 1945 when she departed for home. She arrived in New York on December 7, 1945 where it remained until 9 272

February 1946. It was probably during this lay over that Uncle Eddie and Aunt Josie met. The ship then sailed to Charleston, South Carolina where it was decommissioned on May 16 1946. The last record we have for Uncle Eddie’s assignment on the ship is dated the day before, May 15, 1946. As indicated earlier, he was discharged about three weeks later therefore ending his service on this decorated vessel. The USS Lardner earned 11 battle stars in World War II. She was also named in wording for a Navy Unit Commendation for Task Force 38.

While on the USS Lardner Uncle Eddie was promoted several times. He was promoted to Coxswain on September 1, 1942; Boatswain’s Mate Second Class on September 1, 1943; Ultimately he attained the rank of Boatswain’s Mate First Class with a technical rating on November 1, 1944. Generally a Boatswain mates trains, directs, and supervises personnel in various maintenance duties. A Boatswain's mate responsibilities cover a large spectrum which are widely depending on the capacity and mission of the vessel or shore installation to which they are assigned. Since Uncle Eddie had a technical rating he likely supervised ship’s personnel in some technical duties.

Uncle Red Uncle Red was a WWII veteran and served in the Army from March 13, 1943 to December 1, 1945. He was under General Patton’s command which meant that his battalion was part of the Third Army. Specifically he served with the 206th Engineering Combat Battalion where he saw action in the Ardennes, Central Europe, Normandy, Northern France and Rhineland. We do not know the platoon or company to which he may have been assigned.

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Uncle Red’s obituary indicates that among the awards he won were a Bronze Star and Five Battle Stars. The criteria for a bronze star is set forth in U.S. Army Regulation Army Regulation 600-8-22 which states, "The Bronze Star Medal is awarded to any person who, while serving in any capacity in or with the Army of the United States after 6 December 1941, distinguished himself or herself by heroic or meritorious achievement or service, not involving participation in aerial flight, in PFC L UCIO B OLCATO , US A RMY C IRCA 1943.

connection with military operations against an armed enemy; or while engaged in military

operations involving conflict with an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party." The Battle Stars indicate that Uncle Red participated in five specific battles, engagements or offensives during the war.

The act of bravery that brought him the Bronze Star and other awards may never be known because the records that document his actions may have been destroyed in a disastrous fire at National Archives National Personnel Records Center for Military Personnel Records (NPRC). The fire destroyed

I NSIGNIA OF THE THIRD ARMY

approximately 16–18 million Official Military Personnel Files, including the records of approximately 80 percent of U.S. Army personnel discharged between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1960. As you can see Uncle Red’s discharge time falls within this category.

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His discharge certificate and any other military papers were retained by his second wife and are presumed destroyed.

Uncle Louie Cofone Uncle Louie Cofone was a WWII veteran and served in the Navy from March 2, 1945 until April 2, 1946. He served in the Pacific theater where he attained the rank of Seaman Second Class.

S EAMAN 2 ND CLASS L OUIS C OFONE , CIRCA 1945.

According to his service record he spent time in the Philippines. He was initially assigned to a nonself-propelled floating work station known as the USS YR-77. He was part of a forty man crew on what was essentially a barge. It is unknown what his specific

USS YR-77 THE FIRST VESSEL TO WHICH U NCLE L OUIE WAS ASSIGNED .

duties were, however from a conversation I had with him once, he indicated that he was part of ship’s general maintenance.

Later he was assigned to the USS PC 1133, a submarine chaser. These vessels were equipped with detection and ranging gear for locating submarines. The ship was commissioned USS PC-1133, August 24, 1943. It was not a very large vessel as its 275

displacement was about 450 tons when fully loaded. It measured about 174 feet long by approximately 23 feet wide. Twin diesel engines were capable of propelling the ship to a top speed of about 20 knots. The ship was armed with one 3"/50 dual purpose gun mount, one 40mm gun mount; three 20mm guns, two rocket launchers, four depth charge projectiles and two depth charge tracks.

Uncle Louie was one of a complement of 65 sailors assigned to the ship. The nature of his specific assignment or duty on this ship is also unknown although, like his previous assignment, I suspect it probably involved general maintenance. This ship was damaged by grounding in the Philippines on March 26, 1945. I do not know if my father was assigned and aboard to the ship at the time. After the war the ship was transferred to the Philippines Navy.

Uncle Louie was also assigned to the US Fleet Hospital #114 in Subic Bay in the Philippines prior to his discharge. As far as I know he never saw combat. I know my father enjoyed his brief stint in the Navy. Like most young sailors at the time, he too acquired tattoos which were located on each bicep and forearm. He once told me he regretted getting them.

Uncle Louie Meggiolaro Uncle Louie Meggiolaro enlisted in the Army and served from January 8, 1951 to January 7, 1954. He fought in the Korean War. He achieved the rank of Technical Sergeant which he attained on February 19, 1953.

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According to his discharge papers, his most significant duty assignment was with the 596th Quartermaster Petrol Depot Company out of Fort Lee, Virginia, however this unit does not appear among the list of Quartermaster Companies deployed in Korea. Therefore two possibilities emerge. Either Uncle Louie was assigned to entirely different unit during his time in Korea or his U NCLE L OUIE M EGG DURING THE K OREAN W AR . A T THE

Company was reassigned to possibly another

TIME THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN H E WAS A CORPORAL . HE LATER ATTAINED THE RANK TO T ECH S ERGEANT .

Quartermaster Battalion. A clue to the answer is revealed by viewing the above photo of Uncle Louie in

uniform and noting the patch on his shoulder. The patch’s insignia represents the US Army’s First Calvary Division thereby identifying the unit in which he served.

The First Calvary was deployed in Korea from the summer of 1950 to sometime in January of 1952. At that time the division was deployed to Japan until 1957 at which time it returned to Korea. Uncle Louie however had been discharged about three years FIRST CALVARY DIVISION INSIGNIA

prior.

On October 20, 1951 Uncle Louie was occupying a troop carrier when he sustained a superficial flesh wound to his left hand as a result of a sniper’s bullet. As a consequence he was awarded the Purple Heart. Additionally he received four other awards: a Combat Infantryman Badge which was presented to an Army infantry enlisted soldier who has satisfactorily performed duty while assigned or attached as a member of an infantry and was engaged in active ground combat. A recipient must be personally present and under hostile fire while serving in an assigned infantry duty, or in a unit actively engaged in ground 277

combat with the enemy; A Korean Service Medal with four Bronze Service Stars, which is the primary United States medal for participation in the Korean War and is awarded to any U.S. service member who performed duty in the Republic of Korea between June 27, 1950 and June 27, 1954. The four Bronze Service Stars attached to the medal indicate that Uncle Louie was involved in four of the thirteen official campaigns of the Korean War; A United Nations Service Medal which is awarded to any military service member of an Armed Force allied with South Korea, who participated in the defense of South Korea from North Korea between the dates of June 27, 1950 and July 27, 1954; And an Occupation Medal with a Japan Clasp which was awarded the Army of Occupation Medal, a service member was required to have performed at least thirty consecutive days of military duty within a designated geographical area of military occupation.

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CHAPTER 13 – THE WAY THEY WERE In this chapter I thought it would enjoyable to take a peek back in time to see what the first and some of the first and second-generation American born family members looked like when they were young and then in later years. An attempt is made to identify who is in the photo, where it was taken and approximately when it was taken.

Early years

F LO CIRCA EARLY 1950 S J EAN AND L OUIE CIRCA 1945 IN FRONT OF L YNDHURST HOUSE

T ESSIE 1928 POSSIBLY IN N UTLEY

M ARY IN M T C ARMEL S OCIETY U NIFORM ON FRONT STEPS OF L YNDHURST HOUSE CIRCA LATE 1930 S. ABOUT AGE 16

L OUIE AT ABOUT AGE TWO CIRCA

1928.

L OUIE CIRCA 1934 AT ABOUT AGE 6

L TO R: RED , S ONNY , E DDIE CIRCA 1950 S ON T HOMAS A VENUE IN FRONT OF LYNDHURST HOUSE

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F LORIE IN 1931 AT 6 YEARS OF AGE

L TO R J OSIE , LOUIE , AND M ARY AT AN UNDISCLOSED BAR CIRCA MID -1940 S .

J OE, R OSIE , R ICHIE S IMONE CIRCA 1940 S

N AT, J IMMY AND T ESSIE CIRCA LATE 1940 S.

N AT AND J IMMY IN 1947

S TANDING L TO R: M ARY K ARPINSKI , R OR O, U NKNOWN WHO LIVED ACROSS FROM A UNT T ESSIE , R OSIE , U NKNOWN , J EAN , J OSIE . S EATED L TO R: F LO , T ESSIE , M ARY C IRCA 1950 S

G RANDMA AND F LO CIRCA LATE 1940 S . C OUSIN A NNIE A LESSIO , J EAN , F LO OR RO R O, AND POSSIBLY M ARY K ARPINSKI CIRCA EARLY TO MID -1940 S.

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I N FRONT OF L YNDHURST H OUSE L TO R: J ESSIE L ENZA , M ARY , T ESSIE , G RANDMA , U NKNOWN BOYS , T ESSIE D EL C ORE , CUMARA R OSINA D EL C ORE , U NKNOWN FACE , J OSIE DEL C ORE , CUMBARE S AM DEL C ORE CIRCA LATE 40 S EARLY 50 S . N AT AT OUR L ADY OF M T C ARMEL L YNDHURST CIRCA 1940 S

L TO R T ESSIE , LUCY S IMONE , UNKNOWN , M ARY ON T HOMAS A VE CIRCA LATE 1930S.

F RANCES J IOSI , R OSE M ONTALTO , A NNIE N ASCO AND M ARY IN M T C ARMEL S OCIETY UNIFORMS CIRCA MID 1930 S

L OUIE , G RANDPA , S ONNY AND E DDIE IN FRONT OF L YNDHURST HOUSE CIRCA LATE 1940S.

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Later Years

T ESSIE , J EAN, J IMMY , J OSIE , M ARY , G RANDMA 1970 S M ARY , J EAN , T ESSIE , J IMMY , L OUIE 1970 S

L OUIE M EGG, J EAN , R OSIE , T ESSIE , M ARY , S ONNY CIRCA LATE 1980 S

L OUIE AND RO R O GOING AT IT AS THEY ALWAYS DID AT FAMILY WEDDINGS , CIRCA 1980 S

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A NGIE , M ARY , L OUIE AND J EAN CIRCA 1990S

R OSIE , S ONNY , M ARY, LOUIE M EGG , T ESSIE J EAN , LOUIE , A NGIE CIRCA EARLY 1990S

E DDIE , J OSIE , T ESSIE , J OE R ICCIO , G RANDMA , J IMMY , R OSIE , M ARY , S ONNY , J EAN , L OUIE M EGG CIRCA EARLY 1970S.

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Grandma and Grandpa in later years

G RANDPA AND G RANDMA ON WALL IN FRONT OF L YNDHURST HOUSE ON S EPTEMBER 15, 1966. A UNT F LO HAD JUST DIED A FEW WEEKS BEFORE . G RANDPA WOULD BE GONE IN A LITTLE MORE THAN 3 MONTHS

G RANDPA ALWAYS WORE A HAT . H IS SHIRTS WERE COMPLETELY BUTTONED UP . I N COOLER WEATHER HE WORE A BUTTON DOWN SWEATER . E ITHER IN HIS SHIRT OR SWEATER POCKET WAS HIS PIPE AND A POUCH OF D I N OBILI TOBACCO OR BOX OF I TALIAN CIGARS . T HIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN CIRCA 1966.

I ALWAYS REMEMBER G RANDMA WEARING AN APRON AND KERCHIEF , WHICH IN DIALECT WAS CALLED A MOCCATURA . C IRCA 1976.

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Chapter 14 – Family Gravesites I thought it would be appropriate to include information regarding the final rest locations of our first US born generation family members should current and future members wish to visit the sites. Where possible, cemetery range and plot numbers are provided. The listing is in no particular order.

Saint Joseph’s Cemetery, Lyndhurst, NJ Saint Joseph’s Cemetery is located on Ridge Road at the corner of New York Avenue, which borders the cemetery to the north. The NJ Transit railroad tracks, which pass beneath Kingsland Station, border the cemetery to the south. Comparatively speaking, the cemetery is very small. It is owned by St. Joseph’s RC Church in East Rutherford, NJ.

Grandpa and Grandma Upon entering the cemetery from the main gate on Ridge Road drive in a short way to just prior where the roadway begins to widen. Grandma and Grandpa are located in the southern area to the left known as Section C. Specifically T HE TOMBSTONE OF G RANDPA AND GRANDMA

they are located about two graves in

from a dirt access path that runs nearly parallel to the railroad tracks. The grave is also about 10 or so rows back from Ridge Road, with the headstone facing Ridge Road. The tombstone is inscribed with the family name spelled CAFONE.

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According to records of the De Paola Monument Company in Newark, Uncle Jimmy handled the purchase of the headstone hence the spelling as it appears. At the foot of the grave is a bronze plaque commemorating Grandpa’s Army unit from WW1. Grandpa died on December 22, 1966 at the age of 78 and Grandma died on December 3, 1979 at the age of 90.

Aunt Florie and Uncle Red Aunt Florie and Uncle Red are also located on the southerly side of the cemetery. Immediately upon entering the cemetery from the main entrance on Ridge Road their graves are located to the left about two thirds of the way to the dirt path adjacent to the rail road tracks. Their grave

T HE TOMBSTONE OF A UNT F LORIE AND U NCLE R ED

is located about two or three rows back from Ridge Road in what is known as Section B. Their headstone faces Ridge Road. Aunt Florie died on September 3, 1966 at the age of 41 and Uncle Red died on July 14, 1975 at the age of 51.

A granite footstone is located at the base of the grave commemorating Uncle Red’s service in the army during WW 2.

Uncles Angelo and Alfonse The location and photos of their respective graves has been provided in an earlier chapter. Recall that Uncle Angelo is located in what is known as the baby field which is situated in the northwest corner of the cemetery. His grave is marked with a small concrete cross that contains engraved initials “AC”. Uncle 286

Alfonso is located in an unmarked grave in Plot 28 Range 5W which he shares with another unrelated female infant.

East Ridgelawn Cemetery, Clifton NJ East Ridgelawn Cemetery is located at 255 Main Avenue in Clifton, NJ. It is the final resting place for the majority of our Aunts and Uncles. Ironically this is the same privately owned cemetery where Grandpa had been employed for many years.

Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat, Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie, Uncle Sonny, Uncle Louie Meggiolaro They lived near each other in life and the same can be said in death. The grave sites of Aunt Josie, Uncle Eddie, Uncle Sonny and Uncle Louie Meggiolaro are located next to one another in the Laurel Hill section of the cemetery. Specifically they are located in section 21 LH Lot 432, with Uncle Sonny

F ROM LEFT TO RIGHT T HE A RACE , M EGGIOLARO AND DYGUS GRAVESITES

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occupying grave 1, Uncle Louie Megg grave 3, and Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie in graves 5 and 6, respectively. The headstones face the roadway.

Uncle Sonny died on August 4, 1998 at the age of 72. Uncle Louie Meggiolaro died less than a year later on May 18, 1999 at the age of 68. Aunt Josie and Uncle Eddie died on December 3, 1978 and May 22, 1991, respectively. Aunt Josie was 55 when she died, Uncle Eddie was 69.

Aunt Tessie and Uncle Nat are located several rows further west in Lot 428, Graves 1 and 2. Their headstone is carved with an icon of our Lady of Mount Carmel. The etching is undoubtedly the result of Uncle Nat’s devotion to the saint and his many years of service with the Mt Carmel Society. Their grave can be viewed from the Arace, Meggiolaro and Dygus gravesites. Uncle Nat died on November 5, 1967 at age 58 and Aunt Tessie died on July 10, 1996 at age 85.

T HE GRAVESITE OF A UNT T ESSIE AND U NCLE NAT ( YELLOW CIRCLE ) AS VIEWED FROM THE A RACE GRAVESITE .

T HE TOMBSTONE OF A UNT T ESSIE AND UNCLE N AT

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Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Montclair NJ Immaculate Conception Cemetery is located at the intersection of Mt Hebron Road and Grove Street in Montclair. It is owned by the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Montclair.

Uncle Jimmy Cafone Uncle Jimmy died on September 17, 1988 at the age of 66. His grave is located opposite the northwest corner of the Mausoleum, approximately seven rows up from, and facing, the roadway. It is also opposite the tomb of his son Joe who is located

T HE TOMBSTONE OF UNCLE J IMMY AND HIS FATHER- IN- LAW J OE PERRONE .

in an exterior crypt on the north side of the mausoleum. Etched numbers on the side of Uncle Jimmy’s tombstone read 10-88-90-92 and identify the grave’s location. He is interred with his father-in-law, Joe Perrone.

Hillside Cemetery, Lyndhurst, NJ Hillside Cemetery is privately own and located at the intersection of Rutherford Avenue and Orient Way in Lyndhurst.

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Uncle Louie Cofone Uncle Louie died on April 29, 2011 at the age of 84. The name on the black granite tombstone appears as CAFONE. My father was using that spelling of his last name for reasons expressed earlier. My mother, who handled the purchase of the stone, decided to employ the CA derivative.

T HE TOMBSTONE OF UNCLE L OUIE COFONE

The grave is identified as being in Section T-S, Lot 3, and Grave 9, which is the eastern lower-central section of the cemetery, with the headstone facing to the east.

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Chapter 15 - The Second Generation Our second born American generation cousins have been previously identified in an earlier chapter of this text where we discussed the marriage of our aunts and uncles. This chapter is basically a brief acknowledgement of the second American born generation whose scope spans 31 years commencing with Rose (Ro Ro) Simone Adragna who was born in 1933 and culminating with Thomas Cafone who was born in 1964. As this second edition is being written Joe Simone, Rich Simone, Rosie Simone Adragna, Mary Karpinski DeCorso and Joe Cafone are unfortunately no longer with us.

THE SECOND GENERATION – MANY OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SECOND GENERATION APPEAR IN THE ABOVE PHOTO TAKEN DURING ONE OF A COUPLE OF FAMILY REUNION PICNICS AT THE HOME OF FRANK ADRAGNA JR. STANDING FROM L TO R: TOM CAFONE, YOUNGEST SECOND GENERATION MEMBER, JOE COFONE, RICH SIMONE, MIKE CAFONE, MIKE MEGGIOLARO, JOE SIMONE, ROSE ANN COFONE STEWART, LYNDA DYGUS, ANGELA BOLCATO, RICH BOLCATO, RORO SIMONE ADRAGNA THE MATRIARCH OF THE SECOND GENERATION, MARY KARPINSKI DECORSO, KNEELING L TO R: NATTY CAFONE, PAUL CAFONE, ROSALIE CAFONE CIAMPI, JOHN CAFONE, LOU MEGGIOLARO AND JOE CAFONE .

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This second edition of our family’s history was not originally intended to directly highlight the second American born generation. It is hoped that future generations will continue with such a detailed documentation. What I wanted to do, however, was to allow other second generation cousins the opportunity to contribute to this endeavor. I have decided to include in this section any stories and recollections, whether funny, poignant, or even mundane, regarding members of the first American born generation, as well as Grandpa and Grandma, recounted by the second American born generation Cofone cousins. I will include what is sent to me in future editions. To begin this endeavor I have submitted the two stories you will read below.

Jimmy and Louie Go to Washington

The next several paragraphs are intended to memorialize a few episodes of an adventure which happened in the spring of 1966 that rose to the level of family lore. The involved parties were Uncle Jimmy, my father, my cousins Mike, John and Joe Cafone and I. Over the years these stories have be recounted numerous times. The events that weave the fabric of this tale have become legendary for many of the second born American generation family members. I have decided to recount as much as I can recall because I feel the story needs to be passed on for posterity and my recollection of the events grows dimmer with each succeeding year. Admittedly, to fully appreciate the stories that follow you needed to know Uncle Jimmy and Uncle Louie. Their character is what made this adventure memorable and hilarious.

The year 1966 would prove to be a tragic year for the family. In September we lost Aunt Florie. In December Grandpa followed. But in the spring of that year all was well in the family. However, after a visit from members of the Cofone clan the same could not be said for Washington D.C. 292

Cousin Joe Cafone, Uncle Jimmy’s second born, was in the US Navy serving on board the destroyer USS John King. The ship was in port in Norfolk Virginia and Joe was coming up for a weekend pass. I am not entirely sure how it came about, but Uncle Jimmy asked my father if he and I wanted to go along with him and my cousins Mike THE ADVENTURE BEGAN WHEN WE WENT TO SPEND SOME SHORE LEAVE WITH JOE CAFONE IN NORFOLK VA IN THE SPRING OF 1966

and John to pay Joe a visit. Since Washington DC was nearby the port we could undertake some sightseeing as well.

On the Friday night before we left I remember we were at Uncle Jimmy’s house for a family visit. My dad and Uncle Jimmy discussed the plans and as we were departing for home my father indicated that he’d wake up Uncle Jimmy at 5 a.m. so that we could get an early start. Knowing my father’s reputation for punctuality and joking around, we all laughed it off. Sure enough around 5:30 a.m., after he wakened me, my father made the call. After numerous rings the phone was answered. I heard my father say, “Jim, are you ready?” I could hear Uncle Jimmy on the other end of the line using expletives and berating commentary on why my father was calling so early. Needless to say we had to wait about an hour or longer for Uncle Jimmy to pick us up. I recall it was still dark out when we departed in Uncle Jimmy’s yellow, 1960 Olds station wagon.

The trip to Norfolk took about four hours. Uncle Jimmy drove. It seems he became very uneasy if anyone else did the driving. I think the trip down was rather uneventful. We stopped for gas and perhaps a cup of coffee. I don’t recall when it was that we actually picked up Joe at the base and whether or not we

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took a tour of his ship. I do recall that we had either lunch or dinner near the base.

Unfortunately I no longer recall the specific chain of events but rather individual vignettes of the places we visited which follows below.

One of the stops we made USS JOHN KING AT PORT IN NORFOLK

was to the Capitol Building. During the course of our time there, Mike and

Joe got separated from the rest of us. The decision was made that John and I would stay with my father and Uncle Jimmy would try to find his other sons. After Uncle Jimmy walked off and was gone for several minutes my father decided to conduct his own search.

If we had bread crumbs we should have dropped them as we went along because before too long we became lost as well. The only recollection I have of the search it that we were walking down what appeared to be a corridor somewhere in the basement of the Capitol building when my father spotted a stairwell. At the base of the stairs was a barricade that read words to the effect of “positively no admittance”. The sign on the barricade may just as well have said “come on in”, because my father immediately proceeded to move the barricade and he instructed John and me to follow. We ascended the stairs and I recall that we entered what appeared to be a large dark meeting room of some sort. From there we exited via a door to a corridor and I recall receiving a strange look from a man who appeared to be part of the Capitol staff. We navigated down the 294

hallway and a short while later by some stroke of luck we managed to find Uncle Jimmy, Mike and Joe near place where we had commenced our search.

Probably the best episode happened at Arlington National Cemetery at the Tomb of the Unknowns. I recall that a crowd of about one hundred people or so gathered to watch the changing of the guard, which is one of the most solemn ceremonies one could ever witness. Somehow we got separated again. My father and I had a good vantage point up near the front. I think Uncle Jimmy, Joe and Mike were nearby. We did not know at the time that my cousin John had acquired an even a better position. He was perched in a nearby tree and could easily see over everyone’s head.

There comes a point in the ceremony when the Master Sergeant in charge of the changing guards requests complete silence from the crowd. Almost immediately after uttering the demand the crowd hushed and the area became eerily still that you could hear a pin drop. Just as the sergeant was turning to commence the actual change ceremony the silence was broken by my father’s voice ringing out loud and clear, “Hey John come over here you can see better.” People’s heads turned our way coupled with shushing sounds. We were all incredulous and mortified, but at the same time struggled not to let our laughter be heard. Had there been a rock large enough, we would probably have hidden beneath it while we were laughing till our sides ached. My father thought nothing of it. He was concerned that taller people might obscure John’s view of the event and he just wanted to make sure his nephew got to view the ceremony.

That night we stayed at the Diplomat Motel in Washington. I did not recall where it was located but by checking the Internet I learned it is long gone but had been situated at the corner of New York Avenue and Bladensburg Rd., N.E. It 295

was located only minutes away from the Capitol, the Washington Monument, Jefferson's Memorial and Lincoln Memorial. Joe and Mike had gone out for the evening and now it was time to turn in. I shared a bed with my dad. Mike was to sleep with Uncle Jimmy. A cot was brought in for Joe. John, being the youngest and smallest, slept on two chairs that were set facing one another.

At some point I recall that a party was going on in the room above us. I think Uncle Jimmy may have called the front desk to complain and perhaps the ruckus toned down for a while, but before long it started up again. My father became enraged at the indignation of the upstairs guests and I can recall him standing on the bed in his

THE DIPLOMAT MOTEL AS IT WAS IN THE

1960 S

white jockey shorts and a broom in his hand. Where he got the broom I do not known, but he began striking the ceiling with the butt end of the broom handle while screaming at the top of his lungs for the people upstairs to quiet down. I even think he threatened to go upstairs to make sure the clamoring would cease. Uncle Jimmy convinced him not to go and may have made a second call to the front desk. It must have been effective, because a short while later eventually things got quiet and we slept.

The next morning we had breakfast in the motel restaurant. We all placed our orders with the waitress. Uncle Jimmy ordered an egg sandwich explaining very precisely how it wanted it cooked. A short while later breakfast arrived and Uncle Jimmy erroneously received a hamburger. He immediately proceeded to 296

call the waitress over and laced into her about the mistake. I recall his last words to her were “Don’t you people know what an egg sandwich is?”

After breakfast we went into the Washington suburbs looking for a cousin of Aunt Rosie I believe, who was a nun. I don’t recall the specific address, however I recall the name of the road we were searching for was Madison Street. I also seem to recall that we spent quiet a period of time searching for the address. I think we may have located one or two streets named Madison but the address did not match. In pursuit of the address we found ourselves in a beautiful neighborhood where we saw several people working on their manicured lawns and flower beds. It was a quiet and beautiful Sunday morning. My father had the window down and was smoking a cigar as Uncle Jimmy drove.

At one point we were approaching an intersection and my father saw a police car stopped at the stop sign. He told Uncle Jimmy to immediately stop the car. When the car stopped he opened the door stood up and proceeded to call to the policeman in the following way as he waved his hand over his head. It may have been due to the cigar in his mouth or his eagerness to get the policeman’s attention, but it sounded like he yelled “Ossifer, Oh Ossifer.” The policeman looked toward my father, waved back and proceeded to drive through the intersection, unwittingly on his way. My father was stunned for a moment and then in frustration yelled out quite loudly, “You son of a bitch!” Needless to say my father’s vociferous proclamation caused people in the neighborhood to direct their attention away from their yard work and toward us. My cousins and I could not believe what had happened and we erupted almost spontaneously into laughter once again.

297

Aunt Josie, Aunt Jean and the Hill

Aunt Josie and Aunt Jean were on the way to visit cousin Natty Cafone who was living it what was then called West Paterson, but is presently known as Woodland Park. Aunt Josie was driving and she was apparently an anxious driver. There came a point in the journey when they found themselves traveling down a steep hill. Aunt Josie told Aunt Jean that she was very nervous almost to the point of being frightened traveling down the hill. In response Aunt Jean nonchalantly and a little sarcastically suggested she close her eyes, which Aunt Josie apparently did. This left Aunt Jean incredulous and nervous herself. Fortunately, after what was probably several seconds, Aunt Josie re-opened her eyes and safely made it to Natty’s house.

298

Epilogue Well there you have it. The pages you have just read were compiled over a period of more than twenty years during which I intermittingly gathered and have written about factual data and surmised and deduced accounts that represents merely a snippet of time in the history of the Cofone family. It has been a labor of love driven by a need to tell our story and a sense that Grandpa and Grandma would have wanted someone to begin to undertake this endeavor. For some inexplicable and perhaps mysterious reason I have felt that the “someone” to get things going was supposed to be me.

It was nice spending some time remembering our departed grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. This endeavor also made me more appreciative our first and second generation relatives that are still with us. I am not ashamed to admit that a tear or two came to my eye in recalling some of the stories and viewing the old photos. I miss them all. It was very insightful and interesting to learn about our many ancestors. I can only imagine how difficult life must have been for them. Yet they endured and continued on despite what the times brought. We owe them a debt of gratitude.

As enlightening and fulfilling as this exercise has been, there remains a sense of frustration over the inability to uncover more of the written documentation of the family’s history. There is much that remains to be done with 299

what I have started here. There are a multitude of questions that continue to evade me. Among some of the many things I would love to be able to answer one day is proof of Aunt Maria’s existence when the family lived for a short time in Minnesota. I would like to know whom it was that Grandpa was hoping to see upon his arrival in America. Was there really an Uncle Salvatore Morrone or was it just a fabricated story he used to get into the country? Where was Grandpa during much of the time between Grandma and Aunt Tessie’s return to Italy and their return to the United States? We know he was in service and we have a Census record of his whereabouts in 1920 but what about the rest of that time? I would like to discover exactly where the family settled during their time in Pennsylvania and Minnesota and how long they actually remained in each place. I would also like to trace the family’s roots in Italy beyond what has been presented here and to the degree possible more concretely establish the familial lines. An avalanche of unanswered questions keeps coming.

I do not know if any of these questions, as well as others, will ever be answered. I also do not know if I will be the one to fill in some of the remaining blanks regarding the information that has appeared in the preceding pages. I shall try to continue on when I can and perhaps some time in the future I will have more information to share with you perhaps in a third edition.

It would be nice to see someone else from perhaps this second, or subsequent generations pick up the story where it has been left off and continue telling the history of our proud family. Whoever you are, I wish you good luck and the only advice I can offer is to be tenacious, yet patient. The answers are out there somewhere waiting to be discovered or reasoned. For whatever cosmic reason, you were chosen to continue on with this endeavor. If I am still here, feel free to call on me for help. 300

It would also be wonderful if a family member skilled in the ways of the Internet and the computer could create a web site that family members over the course of time could visit and continue to contribute facts, information and photos.

I would also challenge each member of each branch of the second U.S. born generation, of which I am a part, and also ensuing generations of our family to make this account a starting point from which you can document your immediate family’s growth. Record your memories so that someone in some future generation of our family will have the information you provide and can connect it to other facets of our family. It would certainly be something nice to pass along to your posterity.

Finally, I hope you have found this account interesting, informative, and perhaps a little fun to read. Never forget where we came from and how wonderful a family we have. Cousin Joe Cofone 2012

301

Appendices Cofone Family Abbreviated Time Line (From Parents of Natale and Angela and Up to their children, the first generation US born)

February 24, 1856

Vincenzo Cofone born Acri, Italy (Natale’s father)

September 1, 1856

Teresa Fabbricatore born Acri, Italy (Natale’s mother)

August 20, 1858

Raffaele Gabriele born Acri, Italy (Angela’s father)

September 11, 1862

Teresa Crocco born Acri, Italy (Angela’s mother)

December 11, 1888

Natale Cofone born Acri, Italy

September 4, 1889

Angela Cofone (nee Gabriele) born Acri, Italy

January 11, 1904

Teresa Fabbricatore dies Acri, Italy (Natale’s mother)

April 12, 1906

Natale arrives at Ellis Island

August 3, 1909

Angelina arrives at Ellis Island

November 22, 1909

Natale and Angelina married.

January 18, 1911

Teresa born in Pittsburg, PA

Circa late192- early 1913 Grandma and Aunt Tessie go to Italy. May 28, 1918

Natale inducted into US Army, Newark, New Jersey

July 5, 1918

Natale becomes naturalized US citizen

March 18, 1919

Natale honorably discharged from the Army, Long Island, NY

302

January 25, 1921

Grandma and Aunt Tessie return to the US with Zia Carminella.

September 6, 1921

Nutley Home at corner of Ellen Avenue & Spurr Place purchased.

December 5, 1921

James (Vincenzo) born

After 1921

Grandma’s parents Raffaele Gabriele & Teresa Crocco die.

March 16, 1923

Josephine born

July 27, 1924

Mary born

After 1924

Vincenzo Cofone born Acri, Italy (Natale’s father) dies

November 15, 1925

Florence born

March 17, 1926

Nutley home on 80 Ellen Street destroyed by fire.

August 16, 1926

Lyndhurst Home 209 Thomas Avenue purchased.

November 29, 1926

Louis born

August 29, 1928

Alfonso (Santo) born

August 30, 1928

Alfonso dies premature birth.

September 4, 1928

Alfonso buried in St Joseph’s Cemetery.

August 9, 1929

Angelo born

October 11, 1929

Angelo dies of congenital malformation of cranium & infection

October 13, 1929

Angelo buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery.

June 21, 1931

Tessie marries Natale Simone (b.7/8/1909)

April 9, 1932

Jean born 303

December 14, 1941

James marries Rose Perrone (b. 7/28/1923)

March 19, 1946

Josie marries Edward Dygus (b. 12/17/1921)

April 17, 1948

Mary marries James “Sonny” Arace (b.1/28/1926)

October 29, 1949

Florence marries Lucio “Red” Bolcato (b.12/13/1923)

June 13, 1951

Louis marries Angela Gaccione (b.7/19/1932)

October 3, 1953

Jean marries Louis Meggiolaro (b.11/10/1930)

December 30, 1958

Nutley property on Ellen Street sold.

September 3, 1966

Florence dies

December 22, 1966

Natale Cofone dies pneumonia & stomach cancer

November 5, 1967

Nat Simone dies heart failure.

July 14, 1975

Red dies as a result of heart attack.

December 3, 1978

Josephine dies of cancer

December 3, 1979

Angelina Cofone dies of heart failure

September 17, 1988

James dies of heart failure

May 22, 1991

Ed Dygus dies.

July 10, 1996

Tessie dies

August 4, 1998

Sonny dies of liver cancer.

May 18, 1999

Lou Meggiolaro dies as a result of stroke.

April 29, 2011

Louie Cofone dies of COPD and CHF and pneumonia

304

Relationship Chart This chart was used to figure out how Grandpa and Grandma were related to each other. Use this chart to figure out how you may be related to some of the people mentioned in this history.

305

Cofone Name Distribution in Italy

306

Gabriele Name Distribution in Italy

307

INDEX a picatta ...................................... 200

Aunt Mary . 9, 15, 36, 64, 66, 73, 158, 168, 169, 175, 180, 184, 185, 187, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 204, 206, 210, 244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 268, 269

Acri. 7, 19, 24, 28, 45, 54, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 88, 89, 91, 95, 98, 99, 100, 101, 103, 105, 106, 110, 115, 116, 117, 118, 119, 122, 127, 133, 134, 136, 139, 140, 141, 145, 146, 147, 149, 150, 151, 152, 157, 158, 159, 257, 258, 260, 302, 303

Aunt Rosie 9, 26, 38, 73, 81, 89, 134, 164, 176, 178, 183, 205, 235, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 297

Acri, Aurelia ........................ 152, 153

Aunt Tessie .... 16, 25, 29, 30, 34, 38, 39, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 61, 64, 70, 73, 83, 131, 135, 158, 162, 163, 165, 168, 175, 176, 177, 178, 180, 183, 194, 196, 207, 208, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 236, 287, 288, 300, 302, 303

ages ..... 80, 100, 112, 139, 140, 141, 146, 198 Alessio, Carmine ......................... 135 Algieri, Isabella... 138, 140, 141, 142, 144 Alice, Rosa .......................... 140, 144

Avondale .. 25, 29, 31, 34, 38, 39, 45, 56, 67, 69, 74, 93, 235

Allegati ........................................ 115 American Chain and Cable ... 37, 239

baby field .... 164, 165, 166, 170, 171, 173, 175, 286

Angelo Filippo Fabbricatore ........ See Filippo Fabbricatore

Baltimore ............................. 189, 190

Army ....... 49, 51, 235, 273, 274, 302

Baritano, Catarina ............... 123, 128

Aunt Angie .................................. 257

Basile, Santa ....................... 123, 128

Aunt Florie ..... 37, 66, 180, 184, 195, 208, 211, 247, 250, 252, 256, 257, 263, 286, 292

batteria .......................................... 17

Aunt Jean . 9, 70, 162, 169, 178, 180, 182, 184, 187, 206, 207, 208, 212, 231, 247, 249, 263, 264

Benvenuto, Marianna .......... 153, 154

Belleville Stone and Land Company ............................................. 57, 59

Bergen County Criminal Court Records ................................... 204

Aunt Josie .. 162, 163, 177, 180, 191, 192, 193, 195, 210, 242, 243, 244, 245, 264, 287

Bergen Pines County Hospital ... 203, 207 308

Blake, Robert .............................. 211

Hillside Cemetery..................... 289

Bolcato, Lucio ..................... 252, 304

Immaculate Conception Cemetery ............................................. 289

Brindisi, Nicola .................... 142, 144

St. Joseph Cemetery ............... 285

Brisca .......................................... 213

Census .. 9, 37, 59, 74, 231, 243, 300

Bronejko, Edward 7, 11, 80, 122, 141

Chiesa di San Nicola di Sales ..... 103

Bronze Star ................................. 274

Chimento, Angela ........ 118, 121, 122

Cafone, Pasquale ......................... 66

Chimento, Annunziato ......... 123, 128

Calabrese ............................. 69, 175

Chimento, Carmine ..................... 205

Calabria ................................ 81, 257

Chimento, Pier Angelo 107, 145, 148

Capalbo, Maria............ 111, 112, 155

Chimento, Serafina...... 144, 145, 205

Cappuccina ................................... 60

Clara Maas Hospital .............. 93, 133

Carminella46, 47, 131, 135, 235, 303

coal patches .................................. 40

Carnegie ..................... 38, 40, 43, 55

Cofone, Alfonso ........................... 170

Carnegie Pennsylvania ................. 38

Cofone, Angelo ........................... 166

carnival ............................... 189, 190

Cofone, Annunziato ...... 96, 103, 108, 110, 111, 143

Celico, Angelo .... 100, 106, 112, 113, 148, 151, 169 Celico, Giuseppe......... 111, 112, 155

Cofone, Antonio ..... 61, 62, 109, 111, 113, 114, 210

Celico, Maria ...... 43, 89, 92, 99, 100, 101, 102, 145, 148

Cofone, Antonio “Cara Cara” ....... 210 Cofone, Caterina . 115, 117, 118, 121

Celico, Natale ............................... 44

Cofone, Caterina Fortunata . 117, 118

Celico, Pasquale ................. 136, 137

Cofone, Count Simone ............ 82, 83

Celico, Vincenzo ..................... 43, 44

Cofone, Fedele ............ 118, 121, 122

Celico, Vincenzo "Tindillo" ............ 43

Cofone, Giuseppe .. 94, 96, 108, 113, 142, 143, 158

Cemeteries East Ridgelawn ......................... 37

Cofone, Louis .......................... 7, 165 309

Cofone, Luigi 99, 100, 101, 102, 137, 148

Coschignano, Maria ...... 99, 100, 101 Coschignano, Nunziata ........... 89, 90

Cofone, Maria Francesca ... 104, 105, 136, 137

Coschignano, Rosa ..................... 106

Cofone, Maria Rosa ...................... 89

Coschignano,Rosa ....... 89, 100, 101, 113, 148, 151

Cofone, Michele .................. 123, 128

Cosenza ..... 28, 30, 79, 83, 121, 122, 125, 126, 127, 138, 141, 142, 145, 151, 152, 154, 258, 260

Cofone, Natale 8, 18, 19, 20, 99, 129, 302, 304 Cofone, Nunziato 7, 94, 96, 101, 102, 110, 137, 138, 159

Cosenza Archive website ............ 153 County Old Folks Home .............. 203

Cofone, Rafaela . 103, 110, 111, 114, 143

Cozzolino, Anna . 101, 103, 105, 137, 138, 142, 143

Cofone, Raffaela ......................... 143

Cozzolino, Anna Elenora ............. 103

Cofone, Rosa ...................... 152, 154 Cofone, Salvatore ....................... 176

Cozzolino, Saverino ... 103, 110, 111, 143

Cofone, Santo ............................. 174

Crocco, Carmelo ......... 146, 151, 153

Cofone, Vincenzo..... 88, 94, 95, 102, 302, 303

Crocco, Gaetano . 146, 151, 152, 155 Crocco, Gennaro ................. 144, 145

Commercial Leader.... 189, 202, 203, 232

Crocco, Michele .................. 152, 154 Crocco,Teresa ..... 107, 131, 302, 303

Connolly, William J...................... 204

Cumara ............................... 175, 201

Constantine, Glenn ..................... 264

Cuorecelli .................................... 159

Coschignano, Angela .. 137, 139, 140

Cuta..... 106, 132, 142, 145, 147, 149

Coschignano, Carmino ............... 155

DeCicco, Domenico..................... 153

Coschignano, Fedele ............ 90, 142

DeCicco, Saveria ................ 138, 139

Coschignano, Francesco ... 138, 140, 141, 142, 144

Del Core, Rosa ............................ 175

Coschignano, Giovanni Giuseppe. 89

Del Core, Samuel ................ 169, 175 310

DiCicco, Nunziata ....................... 146

Father A. DeSantolo ...................... 33

DiNobili ....................................... 214

Father Monastero ................ 210, 211

discharge certificate ...................... 51

Festa ........................................... 211

Dr. Liberta ................................... 199

Festa, Pasquale ............................ 93

Durando, Louie ........................... 207

fire ...... 36, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 184, 233, 274, 303

Durando, Sal ............................... 192

flute ............................................. 198

E.R.A .......................................... 202

Frances Street ............................. 244

East Centre Street 34, 236, 237, 238, 239

Frasse Steel Company ................ 244

East Ridgelawn Cemetery .... 37, 287

frazione 84, 100, 106, 132, 142, 145, 149, 152, 157, 159

Edna B. Conklin Home................ 198 Ellen Avenue ................... 56, 66, 303

Fusaro, Angela ... 108, 109, 110, 114, 142, 143

Ellen Street .... 25, 36, 57, 62, 64, 66, 210, 211, 303, 304

Fusaro, Daniele ........................... 114 Gabriele, Angela ....... 8, 28, 136, 155

Ellis Island 17, 18, 19, 28, 46, 47, 53, 90, 93, 109, 132, 302

Gabriele, Domenico............. 140, 144

Emergency Relief Administration 201

Gabriele, Maria Cristina........... 88, 94

Evergreen Avenue ...................... 248

Gabriele, Michele ................ 136, 137

Fabbricatore, Filippo .... 16, 115, 117, 119

Gabriele, Peppina ....................... 134 Gabriele, Raffaele 131, 137, 302, 303

Fabbricatore, Raffaele 115, 117, 121

Gabriele, Santo ... 137, 139, 140, 174

Fabbricatore, Saverino 118, 119, 121

Gabriele, Vincenzo ...... 138, 139, 144

Fabbricatore, Teresa...... 88, 95, 115, 302

Gaccione, Angelo ........................ 258 Gary, Indiana ............................... 243

Family Club ................................. 265

Gencarelli, Anna .......................... 211

family doctor ............................... 196

Gencarelli, Aurelia ....... 148, 149, 150

fascinata ..................................... 223

Gencarelli, Gennaro .................... 149 311

Gencarelli, Teresa............... 118, 121

Karpinski, Mary ................... 236, 291

Giuseppina la Patota................... 220

La Gonga ...................................... 54

Grace Festa ...................... See Festa

labor farm ...................................... 74

grapefruit ..................................... 204

Laudone, Rosa .................... 120, 123

Grazia ......................... 45, 89, 92, 93

Law

Great Depression ... 48, 71, 183, 193, 200, 201, 207

Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 ....................................... 17

Guidi, Maria ................................ 155

Napoleonic Code ....................... 79

Hackensack Hospital .................. 207

Travel Control Act of May 22, 1918 ............................................... 16

harmonica ................................... 198

Likely Public Charge...................... 22

High Street .................................. 244

List of Aliens Held.......................... 21

Hillside Cemetery ........................ 289

Louie Down ................................. 199

Holy Family Church.... 14, 33, 35, 44, 66, 174, 176, 210, 211

LPC ........... See Likely Public Charge Lupo, Fortunata .. 120, 125, 126, 127, 128

honeymoon . 230, 248, 251, 260, 264 house wedding ............................ 230

Luzzi .............................. 75, 152, 153

Humbert Street..... 31, 47, 53, 56, 62, 69, 93, 132, 210, 212

Intrieri, Michele............ 120, 123, 128

Lyndhurst . 34, 36, 37, 48, 56, 64, 68, 69, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 77, 78, 90, 93, 133, 163, 167, 169, 171, 174, 176, 177, 181, 187, 189, 190, 191, 193, 194, 195, 196, 199, 201, 202, 204, 228, 229, 230, 232, 238, 242, 243, 244, 246, 248, 249, 251, 257, 260, 263, 264, 265, 285, 289, 303

Intrieri, Pasquale . 115, 116, 120, 125

mal occhio ................................... 223

Ippolito, Angelo ........................... 211

Mallarielo ................. 47, 64, 205, 206

Itasca County ................................ 43

Mancuso, Angela ........................ 149

Jimmy’s Market ........... 237, 239, 241

manifest.... 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 90, 91, 132

Il Brigante Musolino .................... 216 Immaculate Conception Cemetery ................................................ 289 Indiana ................ 243, 244, 245, 248

312

Marine ......................................... 268

Nicknames

Meyer Avenue ............... 76, 230, 251

Cara Cara .................................. 61

Michele e Fosse ............................ 29

Cuorecelli................................. 157

mines ........................ 39, 42, 44, 132

la balleretta ................................ 94

Minnesota 30, 43, 44, 132, 135, 166, 300

Louie Down .............................. 199 Madaiela .................................... 65

moccatura ................................... 220

Mary The Pollack ..................... 236

Montalto, Carlo (Charlie) ............. 202

oo vizuoco ............................... 164

Montalto, Charles (Carlo) .............. 70

Pedarsa ..................................... 70

Montalto, Nunziata ........................ 70

Pitelle ......................................... 61

Morrone, Angelantonia................ 113

Scaramuzzo ............................. 157

Morrone, Mariantonia .................. 109

Scotty....................................... 199

Morrone, Salvatore .... 20, 24, 25, 92, 109, 300

Norfolk Virginia ............................ 293

Musolino ............................. 215, 216

Nutley . 25, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 38, 39, 44, 47, 53, 56, 57, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 71, 74, 77, 90, 93, 96, 132, 133, 134, 135, 165, 171, 174, 176, 184, 193, 194, 199, 205, 210, 211, 212, 227, 228, 229, 231, 233, 235, 238, 245, 248, 249, 251, 252, 254, 255, 264, 303, 304

Nashwauk, Minnesota... 43, 132, 177

Nutley Sun................... 33, 65, 66, 68

Naturalization .......................... 43, 53

Occupations

Morrone, Santa ............................. 91 motorcycle .................................. 194 Muccone River ............................ 149 Mucone ............................. 45, 83, 84

Navy.................... 187, 271, 275, 293

bovaro........................................ 85

neighbors ........................ 74, 75, 195

bracciale .................................... 85

New York ..... 17, 20, 31, 47, 50, 206, 242, 248, 251, 256, 260, 285

contadino ................................... 85 falegname .................................. 85

Niantic RI .......................... 20, 24, 27 filatrice ....................................... 85 nick name ........................... 116, 228 313

sarto .......................................... 85

Rizzuto, Franco ........................... 135

Oradell ........................................ 203

Rizzuto, Tony .............................. 237

Our Lady of Mount Carmel .. 230, 232

Ro Ro .................................. 236, 291

Paramus ............................. 203, 207

Rocco, Orsola ..................... 111, 114

Park Avenue .... 48, 56, 59, 193, 227, 235, 246

Roma Street . 38, 56, 60, 64, 96, 227, 246

Passaic General Hospital .............. 77

Ronson Lighters .......................... 239

patch towns ............................. 40, 41

Roosevelt School ........................ 192

Paul Street .............. 75, 90, 169, 232

Sacred Heart Church........... 169, 176

Pennsylvania .......... 38, 39, 166, 300

Saint Joseph’s Cemetery ............ 285

Perri, Angela ....................... 148, 150

Sammara, Rosa ............ 89, 115, 116

Perrone, Joe ............... 237, 239, 289

Sammarro, Leonardo .. 120, 125, 126

Petrone, Maria .................... 201, 211

Sammarro, Rosa . 120, 121, 125, 126

Picitti ................................... 139, 140

Sanford Avenue .................... 70, 228

Pitelle ............ 47, 61, 62, 63, 69, 212

Santa Nicola Belvedere Church .. 120

Policaretto ....................... 54, 84, 142

Sapporito, Christina . 7, 31, 53, 61, 77

Polita, Grace ............................... 169

Sapporito, Cristina . 44, 63, 68, 89, 91

Portale di Storia website ............. 109

Scaramuzzo ..... 25, 31, 34, 157, 158, 159, 199, 228

Purple Heart ................................ 277

Schiecca, Philomena ..................... 69

Record of Aliens Held for Special Inquiry ....................................... 21

Scotty .................................. 158, 199

rescue ......................... 253, 254, 255

Sericella .................. 45, 84, 132, 145

Rhode Island ................................. 27

Ships

Rigieri, Fedele ............................. 144

SS Berlin.................................... 30

Rigieri, Isabella ................... 142, 144

SS Brasile ................................ 132

Riverside Avenue ............ 71, 74, 232

SS Duca Degli Abruzzi ........ 46, 90 314

SS Independence .................... 260

The Bergen Evening Record ....... 203

SS Indiana ..................... 18, 20, 21

The Hook....................................... 74

SS Saturnia ............................. 258

Thomas Avenue ... 37, 70, 71, 73, 74, 75, 76, 188, 195, 202, 232, 242, 264, 303

USS John King ........................ 293 USS Lardner............................ 272

Tomb of the Unknowns ............... 295

USS PC 1133 .......................... 275

Toms River .......................... 249, 264

USS YR-77 .............................. 275

Turano, Santa ..................... 110, 114

Siciliano, Carmela ............... 210, 212 Simone, Francesca ....................... 33

Uncle Eddie 242, 243, 244, 245, 248, 264, 265, 271, 272, 287

Simone, Giul ................................. 46

Uncle Frank Rizzuto ............ 184, 186

Simone, Giuseppe ...... 227, 229, 230

Uncle Jimmy ... 14, 15, 53, 57, 61, 62, 73, 77, 134, 158, 162, 163, 176, 177, 178, 180, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 205, 210, 229, 231, 235, 237, 238, 239, 240, 241, 242, 266, 286, 289, 292, 293, 294, 296, 297

Simone, Nat ........................ 257, 304 Spurr Place .... 47, 56, 57, 59, 65, 67, 135, 184, 228, 303 SS Death Index ............................. 93

Uncle Louie 162, 180, 244, 252, 257, 263, 264, 265, 275, 276, 287, 290, 292

St. Joseph’s Cemetery133, 163, 165, 172, 175, 303 St. Joseph’s R.C. Church ............ 165

Strada Caralicchio............... 120, 126

Uncle Nat . 29, 73, 83, 135, 164, 190, 227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 233, 234, 235, 236, 251, 257, 258, 266, 287, 288

Strada Padia ...... 124, 140, 141, 146, 147, 148, 151, 153

Uncle Red .. 250, 252, 253, 254, 255, 256, 257, 263, 273, 274, 286

Strada Picitti ...................... See Picitti

Uncle Sonny . 73, 246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 268, 269, 287

St. Maria Maggiore........................ 82

tac i scarpe ................................. 229

Vallonecupo ........................ 100, 106

Teca Teca ..................................... 59

Velodrome ........................... 186, 193

Terranova, Vincenzo .. 33, 47, 61, 62, 212

Viola Company ............................ 231 315

Viola, Antonio ................................ 63

Westerly RI .................................... 91

Viola, Luigi .................................... 63

work farm .................................... 203

wagon ................. 193, 231, 235, 293

Yanticaw Park ............. 253, 254, 256

warts ........................................... 200

Za Francesca .............. 135, 184, 185

Washington ...... 56, 59, 67, 205, 238, 251, 264, 292, 293, 295, 297

Zia Francesca ............... 63, 184, 185 Zia Grazia. ..................................... 45

Washington Ave ............ 59, 251, 264

Zia Rosa ................................ 45, 186

welfare .......................... 74, 201, 203

316