Origins of the name Testa and Venditti

[allitalian1]

Hi:

My dad's mothers family were the Testa family. They were from Campabasso and came to Staten Island USA in 1909. My grandmothers name was Philbelminna Florence Testa. Her parents were Anthony and Antonetta Testa. They lived in New Dorp Manor, Ward 2, Staten Island. Philbelminna was 2 years old upon coming to the US. Philbelminna has a few brothers and sisters. There was Mary, Carminer, Christina, Joe and Lucy. Mary was born in 1909, Philbelminna in 1906, Carminer in 1909, Lucy in 1893, Joe in 1904 and Christina in 1898.

Philbelminna married Bernardino Andrew Venditti in 1924. They had a few children, John A. Venditti, Antonetta and Andrew. It is believed that Bernandino left Philbelminna in August 1927 and died in 1980 in Sonoma County, CA. It is believed he was a farmer and given the location, it appears he could have been a grape farmer. I cannot find any information on his mom, Philbelminna.

My dad is Andrew. Unfortunately, my dad was put up for adoption as Philbelminna and Bernardino had little money. I understand that his brother John and sister Antonetta were also put up for adoption for the same reasons. It seems that John died in Los Angeles, California in 1962 at the the young age of 36. I cannot found out any information on his sister, Antonetta.

My dad is now 81 and has recently learned from much of the research I have done. He knew he was adopted from the NY Foundling Hospital, but never researched his geneology. I have done some work on this for him and have shared my findings. He was releaved to know he was 100% Italian as he was rumored to be half Italian and half German, but this information has brough forth many new questions.

If anyone can help me with the geneaology it would be greatly appreciated

God Bless,

John

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[misbris]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

I don't know if you searched this website for the names Venditti and Testa yet. If not, this thread might interest you. If it is not relevant to your family, it will at least give you a little insight about the name.

http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... art=0.html

I think your grandmother's name might actually be (in Italian) Filomena, her brother is probably Carmine.

Can you tell us what records you already have so we don't duplicate? Do you have ships' manifests and census records?

[allitalian1]

Hello Misbris:

Thank you for the reply. I viewed the thread you referenced. Thank you, it was helpful.

The only concrete information I have is documentation of my dads adoption which is from the NY Foundling Hospital (NYFH). Included with that was documentation of Philbelminna and Bernardino. It was Dept. of Welfare forms showing that they turned Andrew over to them on 5/4/28. From there he went to NYFH on 7/11/28. The documentation represents his sister, Antonetta and brother, John. Further, it offers information on her parents Anthony and Antonetta, their address at the time and reason for placing Andrew in State care. Other information I have receive from Ancestry.com.

I have nothing else. I do not have birth certificates or ship manifests. Most of the information on Ancestry.com comes from 1930 0r 1910 census reports. If you know how I can obtain that or other information, I would greatly appreciate it.

God Bless,

John

[allitalian1]

Misbris:

Also, on Ancestry.com they advise that an alternate name is Easta. I do not know what that means.

[misbris]

I think this may be Filomina's manifest. Take a careful look at the names.

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0027

What do you think?

[allitalian1]

Misbris:

Thank you for the manifest. Item 30 seems to be the only person with a first name Filomena, but the last name does not match. The information I have states that she came to the U.S. in 1906 at age 2.

Could this still be the correct manifest?

[allitalian1]

Ancestry.com has a record on Philbelminna that states she was 4 in 1910.
That would mean that her birth year was 1906, not 1904.

I that is true and if her parents Anthony and Antonetta came here in 1906, she would have been less that a year old.

On the website they state that name could also be identified as Easta.

[allitalian1]

Another find is that on Ancestry.com, I look at the 1910 census report. The Testa family is listed and Philbelminna is listed as a four year old child. All her brothers and sisters were listed. The intreresting part of this is that on this censues form, the Venditti Family and the Testa Family are on the same form, but listed right after one another as families. This indicates to me they were friends and went to fill out this form together. The Venditti family is item 67, with their family filling out lines 67-72, the Testa family is lines 73-80 with their family having these seven lines.

Further, I know this is them as everything seems to match up as far as parental and sibling names. I am trying to find out what happended to everyone.

[JohnArmellino]

Thank you for the manifest. Item 30 seems to be the only person with a first name Filomena, but the last name does not match. The information I have states that she came to the U.S. in 1906 at age 2.

To my eye, the last name is actually Testa. It appears that 5 children were traveling with their mother. The mother is Antonia Venditti (age 31) and the children are Maria Carmina (age 13), Cristina (10), Carmine (4), Giuseppe (2), and Filomena (less than 1). They were from Vinchiaturo, which is a town located in the province of Campobasso. They were traveling to join the father, Angel'Antonio Testa in Newdorp, New York. The names do seem very similar to those of your family. I note that there are X's next to each of the names, although I don't know what that means.

[JohnArmellino]

This appears to be the father's manifest from 1904.

Manifest for Angel'Antonio Testa (age 38)

Note that he was traveling to his father-in-law Giuseppe Venditti in New Dorpe, Staten Isl. He had also been to the USA before, 1897-1899.

[misbris]

Hi,

I don't have access to Ancestry.com. Can someone please post the censuses under discussion? Thanks.

MJ

[vj]

Hi,
I don't have access to <a href="http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-3166187-10456885" TARGET="_blank">Ancestry.com</a>. Can someone please post the censuses under discussion? Thanks.
MJ

Here you go MJ, 1910
Valarie
http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/6886/1910ls9.jpg

[JohnArmellino]

The 1907 Ellis Island Manifest posted by MJ has the following family

mother Antonia Venditti, age 31
daughter Maria Carmina, age 13
daughter Cristina, age 10
son Carmine, age 4
son Giuseppe, age 2
daughter Filomena, age <1

traveling to join their husband/father Angelantonio Testa (age 38 on 1904 manifest) in New Dorp, Staten Island, NY.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 1910 Federal Census Record posted by Valarie has the following family

father Anthony Testa, age 32
mother Antonetta Testa, age 33
daughter Lucy, age 17
daughter Christina, age 12
daughter Phlibelminna, age 4
daughter Mary, age 4/12
son Carminer, age 7
son Joe, age 6

living in Ward 2, Richmond [Staten Island], NY.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Does anyone have an opinion as to whether it is likely that this is the same family? The ages vary and the name Maria Carmina is replaced with the name Lucy, but it seems to me they match up pretty well. Would such differences be common between manifests and census records?

[misbris]

John,

I do think it is the same family. Things are complicated by the fact that Antonia's (Antonetta) maiden name is Venditti and her daughter Filomina married a Bernardino Vendetti (probably a cousin). These two families seem to be tied together. According to the manifest Angelantonio Testa went to his father in law Giuseppe Venditti, in New Dorp, (Staten Island, Richmond cty. NY)

I have a few possibilities I will post for a manifest for Bernardino. But can someone look for a 1920 census for this family? Or more info about them?

[misbris]

I don't usually post more than one manifest at a time, but these are both possibilities for Bernardino Venditti. John is new at this, so maybe we can help him make sense of these records.

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0012

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0030