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My great-grandparents (Alicandro and Maria Antonia Mezza - nee Cerifice) left Italy (Casalattico) around 1899/1900 and travelled first to Scotland and then to Northern Ireland. I've been researching my family tree in fits and starts, have made some progress but still have a lot to do.
What intrigues me is the fact that the Mezza family in Ireland is a complete mystery. I understand this in relation to my own direct line because Maria Antonia died in the early 1900s and Alicandro (known as Alexander in Ireland) appears to have effectievly abandoned his children (but that's another story). However, no matter how many 'Mezza' people you contact, including the two remaining Mezzas in Casalattico, they all know nothing or very little about their ancestors, even going back only a couple of generations.
I'd love to hear from anyone who knows any Mezzas, particulalry any based in the South of Ireland, as Alicandro had a twin brother, Lorenzo, who was certainly there around 1907/1908, had a wife and family (3 or 4 children by that time) and I can't find a record of him having moved anywhere else in the UK.
Thanks, but I've tried Scotland. Lorenzo and his wife were there in 1900, at the same time as my great-grandfather and both had their first children there (both daughters, both born in 1900 and both named Maria Felice!!). Lorenzo also seems to have spent some time in London (listed in the 1901 census) and then to have moved to Ireland. After that, I can't trace him.
don't know if you already have seen this record from Ancestry.com and if it may be related to your research:
Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956
about Angelo Mezza
Name: Angelo Mezza
Arrival Date: 27 Feb 1927
Age: 39 years 2 months
Birth Date: abt 1887
Birth Country: Italy
Gender: Male Race/Nationality: Italian
Ship Name: Montrose
Port of Arrival: St John, New Brunswick, Canada Port of Departure: Belfast, Ireland
Angelo Mezza (place of birth Casalattico - last permanent residence Belfast) was going to Detroit MI, to join his brother Levio Mezza.
He was leaving in Italy his borther Anselmo in Casalattico (but there is an other address crossed out, it seems Dublin)...
He also states he was in the U.S. before, from 1905 to 1913 to Newark - New Jersey...
Thanks Laura
There could well be some connection between these Mezzas and mine. I'll need to spend some time searching records from Casalattico to establish if my GGF and his brother had other siblings or to track down cousins etc. It's the next step in my 'action plan'.
There are some names in the Irish civil registrations database that I know, including my great uncle (who incidentally later moved to Canada - I've only recently managed to trace him, hampered by a name change!) and my GGF's death is there too. There are also some other familiar names in the list of births that I'll follow up too.
Hello i've been doing some family research myself and your post interested me
My granny was called Iolanda Cafolla and i searched her mother and father, her father being Carmine Cafolla from Italy and mother being Maria Felice Mezza from Scotland. I'm pretty sure she is one of the daughters you have listed and i hope i've helped you in your search!
i would be interested to hear of any other information you may have so please respond to this as i think we may share the same ancestors
Yes, we are related! Maria Felice Mezza who married Carmine Cafolla was my grandfather Domenico's sister. Their parents were Maria Antonia Cirefice and Alicandro Mezza. The other Maria Felice you found in Scotland was Lorenzo's daughter - he was Alicandro's twin brother. I have your Great Grandmother's baptism details from 1900 in Scotland - her birth was never officially registered and my information is that she didn't know where or when exactly she was born.
Funny enough, I was also recently in touch with Rose Mathews (nee Cafolla) in Canada who would be your Granny's sister. She didn't have any info to give on the family, but it was nice to be in contact all the same.
And the timing of your post is also interesting, as I was telling my 5 year old son the other evening about the Italians and how his grandad used to help make ice cream in the Cafolla's cafe in Warrenpoint (The Genoa), but that he was never allowed to know the secret ingredient!!
I'd love to swap information, so let me know what you have (and where you are - I live in Belfast) and we'll maybe make some progress.
Yes, I'm aware of these Mezzas, but haven't yet managed to tie them - or another Mezza family also in Belfast at the time - to my own family (who were in Scotland in 1900 and 1901 but in Belfast by 1902). There is undoubtedly a connection, but because my grandfather and his siblings were effectively abandoned by their father after their mother's death, his memories about his Mezza ancestors were 'selective'...I'll get there eventually with more digging and some luck!
Not sure if you will have any info for me however here goes.
Do you know anything about Mezza family going to Mexico?
I have details of Ernesto Mezza born in 1892 in Mexico of Italian parents.
My grandfather's sister Filomena travelled from Germany to Mexico to marry Ernesto.
I do not think she would have travelled if her family did not know the Mezza family.
Could they have come originally from Casalattico?
Any info would be good
thanks
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