This was so interesting, not only because it was where my grandparents came from, a place so different from my home in the suburbs of New York, but also because we were treated like honored guests, not like strangers but like family, which we were to many of them.
My grandfather Ignazio Firrantello was born in Sciara in 1875. At this point, Sicily had been part of the Kingdom of Italy for less than 15 years. Ignazio's parents, Loreto Castiglia and Santa Farella were not married when he was born so they did not keep the baby. Instead they gave him to Santa's married sister, Anna Maria. His adopted parents were Francesco Firrantello and Anna Maria Farella. He was named Ignazio after Francesco's father. Loreto and Santa became his aunt and uncle, but Ignazio knew that the Castiglias were his relatives too. And there were many Castiglias in Sciara and there are now many of them in the Unites States. This is fortunate because Anna Maria and Francesco had no children of their own. There seems to have been no other Firrantellos in Sciara at the time, and there are none today. The only people sharing the Firrantello name are in the neighboring town of Caccamo.
The late 19th century was not a good time for Sicily. As you probably know, the economic situation was bad, and, as you probaby do not know, the political situation was bad too. Partisan fighting continued against the Italian kingdom and also Italy was waging a military campaign in Africa, drafting young men to fight in it. Whether these political reasons had anything to do with Ignazio’s emigration, I don’t know. Sicily was not historically poor, as some people think, but rather had a history of being prosperous. You can read an excellent summary of the 3,000 years of civilization in Sicily at The Best of Sicily. At this time in history the United States on the other hand, was in need of a larger labor force and opened the doors to immigration resulting in a millions of southern Itlians, as well as people for other countries, coming to the US. This lasted until the early 1920s.
Ignazio came to the United States in the late 1890s and lived in New York City. In April 1897 he married Anna Otriano. They lived for a time in the Bronx next door to Antonino Peri and his wife Teresa DiPasquale who were also from Sciara. During this time, Niccolo Castiglia, Ignazio’s “cousin” (who was really his brother) came to America with the help of Ignazio. Ignazio's wife Anna died sometime around 1905. Ignazio's friend Signor Peri arranged for his young niece, Maria Quattrocchi, to come to America. She lived with her aunts, Caterina and Sebastiana in New York City. One day Antonino came to Maria to ask for her hand in marrage to Ignazio and the two were married July 11, 1906.
They settled in New Rochelle, NY and sometime between 1915 and 1920 they bought a house at 43 Beechwood Ave where they continued to live for the next 30 years. For a while they raised Niccolo's three children when he was without a wife. One child, Loreto (known as Larry) Castiglia remained with Ignazio and Maria and became thier de facto adpoted child. Ignazio and Maria had five children of their own: Frank, (1909), Tom (1912), Loreto, known to his family as Babe (1915), Anna Maria (1917) and Mary (1920). At the age of 6, Ann Maria was hit by a car and died. This left in the house four children plus their nephew Larry. Another person that lived with them for quite a while was Maria's half brother, Gioacchino, known as Jack.
Maria's father, Tomasso Quattrocchi, died when she was still a baby and her mother, Maria Peri remarried to Gioacchino Ricotta. She had three more children with him and Gioacchino (Jack) was the oldest. In addition to these half siblings, Maria had a full brother, Guiseppe (Joe) Quattrocchi who also lived in New Rochelle and had seven children.
Frank married Emily Casella and had one son. Emily died at the age of 35. Frank married again and after many years was again widowed. He married a third time in 1970 and died in 1973.
Tom married Marjorie Wilson. Tom died in 1961 and Marjorie raised their five children. These children had children of their own, and their chldren have already given us a few members of the next generation.
Loreto, who in his adult life used the name Larry married Olga Vernaglia and had one son, namely me. They had the good sense not to give me the name of Loreto :)
Mary married George Robershaw and had three children, they in turn had children and there is even one baby now of the next generation
As for my grandparents, my grandfather was in the construction business, and so I have been told, built many of the roads in New Rochelle. He died in 1957. I was only a small child at the time so I only have only a vague recollection of him. My grandmother who worked hard as a mother and homemaker, unfortunately never learned to read and write. She spoke with a heavy Italian accent with some unique pronounciations and to this day we still sometimes call my mother "Aiga" which is how my grandmother pronounced "Olga." It my grandmother who developed my taste for tea, and also taught me how to play Rummy. She died when I was 14.
To see this information in more detail go to my Firrantello genealogy website
My great-grandfather was called Luigi Vernacolo Vernaglia and he was the Baron of Silento. We are told he left his barony in Silento to move to Trentinara. Since the whole matter of why, as well as if it indeed was he or his father or grandfather
that moved is not totally clear, I will not go into that here. Both Trentinara and
Silento are not far from Salerno. Of course, keep in mind that distances were considered
greater in the 19th century when there were no automobiles. My great-grandfather was
probably born in the 1820s. He married Maddalena Ciuccio and had seven children I know
of, Rachela, Emilia, Carolina, Lavinia, Paolo, Antonio and Domenico.
All of them came to live in New York except for Emilia and Domenico and possibly Carolina. Lavinia and Paolo eventually returned to Itlay. Emilia's descendants now live in the US as well as Rachela's. Domenico had descendants who live in Italy and Antonio, my grandfather, and one of the younger children, has descendants in the United States.
My grandmother was Maria Avigliano, know as Marietta. Her parents were Luigi Avigliano and Irena Vernaglia. As you may have noticed, this means she and Antonio were cousinss, this is why we say, we are all so crazy in the family. My grandmother had a brother, Luigi, and two sisters, Clara and Caterina. Her brother stayed in Italy and had one daughter who I met when I went to Italy in 1967. Caterina stayed in Italy and had a family but I do not know their name. My grandmother's sister, known as Clelia married Frank Santoro. They settled in Boston and today her descendants live in California and Washington State. I don't know if my grandmother came from Trentinara or Salerno.
Unfortunately I have never been to Trentinara, although I would very much like to go. I did visit friends and relatives of my mother's parents in Italy the same year I went to Sicily, these were people who had formerly lived in the US and had returned to Italy in their retirement. They did not live in the town they grew up.
My grandfather died in 1927 and probably for that reason is remembered so fondly by my mother and other relatives. The stories about him have the flavor of legends. My grandfather even had a connection to heaven itself. He worked with Sister Frances Xavier Cabrini who later became the first American saint. I am told he predicted her canonization. My maternal grandmother, born Maria Avigliano, also died before I was born, but lived many years as a widow. My grandfather's death left her with 8 children, bereft of a doctor's income and on the verge of the Great Depression.
Keep in mind that my mother's family was wealthy enough to have several servants and were now being plunged into poverty. Well, perhaps not so bad off considering how most people lived during the Depression. Stories abound, however about secret benefactors who left food for the family of the beloved Dr. Vernaglia. The children, by the way, were named Antonio (Tony), Maddelena (Madelaine), Mario, Irena (Irene), Hugo, Luigi (Gigi or Lou), Olga (my mother) and Alma. My oldest uncle was also a doctor, known as "Doc" Tony and interestingly his granddaughter is now a doctor also.