Giapetti family, London area, 1930s-1940s

[Andrew24]

Hello all,
I'm trying to find any reference to the Giapetti family in London, more especially Vince Giapetti who was in London in the 1930s-40s (possibly longer). The family was believed to have a shop, some sort of grocers or greengrocers in Morning Lane in Homerton/Hackney.

I searched FreeBMD and found a mention of a Guido & Deggio Giapetti from 1900 & 1902 in Paddington, but have no idea if they're related (although it seems quite likely). There is hardly any mention of any Giapetti on GR, Ancestry or Google apart from a chemistry book's author.

Does anyone out there know where I can go from here? I am of the belief that my Dad may have several half-brothers, half-sisters, aunts, uncles etc either in London, or possibly in Italy and I would like to find out anything I can about them. I speak Italian reasonably well if it should be of any help.

Thanks in advance for any help.
Andrew Ives

[vj]

Hello Andrew!

I checked several subscription databases without much success
It appears that Giapetti may not be the original spelling of the surname

On ancestry. com there was one Giapetti in Hendon Middlesex, one in Stepney London and one in Ilford Essex in the Death Index after 1916
Valarie

England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005

Name: Sylvestre Giapetti
Death Registration Month/Year: 1924
Age at death (estimated): 60 (born abt 1864)
Registration district: Hendon
Inferred County: Middlesex
Volume: 3a
Page: 329

Name: Isolina Giapetti
Death Registration Month/Year: 1945
Age at death (estimated): 80 (born abt 1865)
Registration district: Stepney
Inferred County: London
Volume: 1c
Page: 118

Name: William Giapetti
Death Registration Month/Year: 1953 (born abt 1901)
Age at death (estimated): 52
Registration district: Ilford
Inferred County: Essex
Volume: 5a
Page: 268

edit: added estimated birth years

[vj]

Here are Sylvester & Isolina Giapetti with son Guido (William??) in Paddington in 1901
(mistranscribed on ancestry)

1901 census
1901 page 2

385 Edgware Road

Registration district: Paddington
Sub-registration district: St Mary, Paddington

Civil parish: Paddington
Ecclesiastical parish: St Mary
County/Island: London
Country: England

head Silvester Grasselli (Giapetti) 39, abt 1862 Italy
- Italian subject
- confectioner, own account
wife Isolina Grasselli (Giapetti) 29, abt 1872 Italy
- Italian subject
son Guido Grasselli (Giapetti) 5 months, abt 1900 London, Paddington

boarder Teplimo Perugini 28, abt 1873 Italy
- Italian subject
- confectionery baker, worker
---

checked London Directories 1930, 1935 1940 1945 - no listing

[Andrew24]

Thanks for your help VJ. That was a quick response!

It's difficult to know what to make of these answers... they don't really tie in with anything I know about. I was rather hoping for some mention perhaps of Islington or Clerkenwell, or the shop in Hackney perhaps becoming another shop somewhere nearby in later years.

If Giapetti is mistranscribed as Graselli here, maybe it is elsewhere too. Aieieie! It looks more like Giapelli in the handwriting. Anyway, it's all very interesting. I've been searching for over 2yrs and found almost nothing, so this is at least something! Thanks.

[suanj]

In adding at vj finding I can add that the same family had another son John Giapetti born abt in 1903 ( 1911 UK census- Willesden, Middlesex)..
but the only birth that I found around 1903 is:
England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
about Deggio Domenico Giapetti
Name: Deggio Domenico Giapetti
Year of Registration: 1902
Quarter of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep
District: Paddington
County: Greater London, London, Middlesex
Volume: 1a
Page: 53 (click to see others on page)


regards,
suanj

[Andrew24]

Thanks Suanj.
It does seem that either FreeBMD is incomplete/erroneous with these names or that certain members of the Giapetti family came and went on the census and/or were born overseas.

I have one other slight lead that just came to light. There was some sort of court case - a child maintenance type thing - which would've been in Islington or very close by, some time during the 1940s. It seems this may have caused some friction between the Ives & Giapetti families (rather a touchy subject that nobody ever told me about) hence we've fallen out of touch, although I believe that Vince's mother was still in contact until maybe the 1970s-90s with other Ives relatives. There is generally some memory that her name was Nell (Antonella?) and that she also lived in London. Sorry I can't be of more help, but I only have a photo of Vince Giapetti and my Dad's date of birth being 31/12/40 to go on. I figured it's such a rare surname that it'd be easy anyway...!

[suanj]

Giapetti surname seeming is a Tuscany surname... very rare....
here a Charlie Giapetti in 1921
"History of Stratford, West Ham, Canning Town, Silvertown etc & lots of historical London Pubs"

http://london1912.co.uk/streets/DalstonLaneNorth.shtml

the surname had some other little spelling:
England & Wales, Death Index: 1916-2005
about John Giopetti
Name: John Giopetti
Birth Date: 1905
Death Registration Month/Year: 1974
Registration district: Southwark
Inferred County: London
Volume: 15
Page: 0030

[Andrew24]

Thanks very much Suanj!!! Charlie Giapetti in this location, this kind of shop trade and around this time, sounds a very promising link. I never knew it was a Tuscan-sounding surname either. Thanks )))

[johnnyonthespot]

A possible alternate spelling which appears in small numbers in many parts of modern Italy is Geppetti. See this map.

[Andrew24]

Thanks JohnnyOnTheSpot - I had never seen that website, or considered that alternative spelling. So now, I'm only looking for Giapetti, Giapelli, Gepetti, Graselli and Grasselli... I'll be including Rossi soon ;o)

Thanks for all your leads everyone, you've been great!

[johnnyonthespot]

Thanks JohnnyOnTheSpot - I had never seen that website, or considered that alternative spelling. So now, I'm only looking for Giapetti, Giapelli, Gepetti, Graselli and Grasselli... I'll be including Rossi soon ;o)

Thanks for all your leads everyone, you've been great!

Geppetti with two p's and two t's.

I tried numerous variations of Giapetti and always came up empty in modern Italy (the mapping tool I linked to previously and also the Italian telephone directory. Geppetti seems a reasonable phonetic alternative.

Uh-oh - here's another possibility: Ciapetti. Nearly four times more common than Geppetti, and closer to your initial spelling. Also, the difference in pronunciation (chuh-pet-ty vs. juh-pet-ty) is so slight as to almost invite misspelling.

[Andrew24]

Thanks Johnnyonthespot. Luckily, even these derivatives should be pretty rare in and around London in the 1900-1960 era.

The other confusion is what the first names become in London, on censuses etc: eg Vincenzo -> Vince is pretty easy, but Deggio -> ??? Or vice versa. I have another non-Giapetti relative(?) whose first name is Lina or Lena, which derives from Angelina? Carlina? etc. It all gets a bit nightmarish when you don't know someone's first name properly, the surname spelling, the dates or the locations!

[Italysearcher]

or Maddalena.

[suanj]

Thanks Johnnyonthespot. Luckily, even these derivatives should be pretty rare in and around London in the 1900-1960 era.

The other confusion is what the first names become in London, on censuses etc: eg Vincenzo -> Vince is pretty easy, but Deggio -> ??? Or vice versa. I have another non-Giapetti relative(?) whose first name is Lina or Lena, which derives from Angelina? Carlina? etc. It all gets a bit nightmarish when you don't know someone's first name properly, the surname spelling, the dates or the locations!

maybe is the diminutive of Isolina

[Andrew24]

I would never have thought of Isolina. Maddalena is good too. Thanks.