seeking Sapienza info

[marinahboyles]

My name is Marinah B. and I am part Sicilian: specifically, a Sapienza.
I am hoping to visit my distant Sicilian relatives on my mother's side at some point in the next few years. My recent but minimal Internet searches have yielded information that some of my relatives are still living in Collesano, Palermo Province, Sicily. My maternal grandfather, now deceased, was born Gerald P. Sapienza and lived in Manchester, Connecticut, USA. I know that the majority of his siblings are also deceased at present, although they still live in the area. These families include surnames such as the Sheridans, the DiPietros, and more Sapienzas. Gerald's mother spoke almost no English, and I believe she was a first-generation immigrant directly from Sicily. I would need to further research the specific facts, as well as interview several relatives, but in the meantime I wanted to broaden my search by creating this forum.

If you have any information about this side of my family that would aid me in my ultimate goal of identifying and contacting my Sicilian relatives, please contact me at your earliest convenience. Grazie!

[adelfio]

Welcome to IG website Is this the right Gerald Sapienza
Name: Gerald Sapienza
Event Type: Census
Event Date: 1930
Event Place: Manchester, Hartford, Connecticut
Gender: Male
Age: 4
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Birthplace: Connecticut
Birth Year (Estimated): 1926
Immigration Year:
Relationship to Head of Household: Son
Father's Birthplace: Italy
Mother's Birthplace: Italy

Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head Thomas Sapienza M 50 Italy
Wife Mary Sapienza F 46 Italy
Daughter Ann T Sapienza F 19 New York
Daughter Mary E Sapienza F 18 New York
Daughter Josephine Sapienza F 16 New York
Son Rosario Sapienza M 13 New York
Daughter Teresea Sapienza F 11 New York
Daughter Concittina Sapienza F 8 Connecticut
Daughter Gloria Sapienza F 5 Connecticut
Son Gerald Sapienza M 4 Connecticut

Marty

[PeterTimber]

There are 7 SAPIENZA currently listed in the COLLESANO telephone directory at www.paginebianche.it and put in SAPIENZA on the left and Collesano on the right and click CERCA and the 7 witgh full names,addresses and telephone numbers will come up and are most likely ALL related to you in one stage or another. The telephone numbers are listed and if you can speak some Italian I am sure they speak some English and perhaps you can find what your looking for with a conversation or two. =Peter=

[Tessa78]

Ciao, Peter!

Good to see you back... been a long time!

T.

Hello Marinah

Looking at the census that marty posted, I saw (on the original image) that Tommaso/Thomas Sapienza was 29 when he and Maria/Mary were married. Since he is 50 for the census (born about 1880) that would put the year of marriage about 1909.
I also noticed that the first several children were born in NY.
So....
Here is a POSSIBLE marriage for Tommaso Sapienza and wife, Maria, in 1909 in NY, from the NYC Marriage Index

Sapienza Tommaso Apr 25 1909 Manhattan #8167
Culetta Maria Apr 25 1909 Manhattan #8167

To request a copy... which MAY hold more information -
http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/vi ... iage.shtml

T.

[PeterTimber]

I came across the site yesterday and now that the Italian Genealogy forum people have been taken over by Ancestry.com and are phasing out, I thought maybe I would drop in and say hello and play!..Thanks so much for the greeting Tessa. It was warmly received. =Peter=

[adelfio]

POSSIBLE BIRTH RECORD OF TOMMASO SAPIENZA
INDEX# 182
1879 Oct 26th in the town of Collesano birth of Tommaso Sapienza son of Rosario Sapienza and Anna Lipira
CLICK FOR RECORD KEEP CLICKING TO ENLARGE BOTTOM RIGHT



Marty

[marinahboyles]

Wow, a lot of people in a short amount of time!
Thank you all so much for your readiness to help me uncover info about my family.

Since my initial post in this thread, I have gathered together some data yielded by research in different sources across the Internet. So far, I have traced my maternal ancestors in the following order:

Gerald P. Sapienza = son of Thomas Sapienza and Marianna Culotta (b. 1926)
Thomas Sapienza = son of Rosario Sapienza and Anna LiPira (b. 1879)
Marianna Culotta = daughter of Giacinto Culotta and Maria Peri (b. 1885)

It would seem that "they [the Culottas] had 3 children in Collesano: Marianna, Rose & Charles Salvatore. They emigrated to NYC 1901-1907 & lived on 5th ST. in Manhattan, then moved to Manchester, CT in the 1917-1920 era. The three children married in NYC to 3 other siblings (Sapienza's) also from Collesano." (SandyDeHaan)

I spoke with my mom about this subject today and she said that there is almost no information on Thomas Sapienza's wife Marianna Culotta prior to marriage. Facts suggest that she and Thomas were both from Collesano but family folklore claims that they didn't know each other prior to immigration to the United States, which is where they eventually married. Does anybody know of some caste system/social structure in place that would explain this? From what I can tell, Collesano is a small area and most families there are acquainted with each other. If one family was more socially inclined than the other, however, it could explain why they never met in their homeland. Also, why did Marianna leave Italy to immigrate to America? According to a ship manifest I found at ellisisland.org, she arrived in America in 1900, at age 15. Was this a common age to be travelling, ostensibly alone, overseas? Is there a reason other than money that could have contributed: perhaps a feud between families or some other type of danger? I'm aware that The Godfather movies are works of fiction, but the threat of harm from powerful figures in small towns was quite real in this historical period.

I'm pursuing the whereabouts of a detailed family tree that was written by my grandpa Gerald before he died and may still be with my great aunt Gloria Vendreyes. I should have a call in to her by the end of the week...hoping she can shed some light on the Culottas and their background in Sicily overall, Collesano specifically. In the meantime, new developments are always welcomed with open arms...and this includes anyone who believes they may be related to me!

Grazie <3

[adelfio]

Marriage of Rosario Sapienza and Anna Lipira
INDEX #11
1869 June 2nd in the town of Collesano marriage of Rosario Sapienza age 28 farmer born in Collesano son of Pietro Sapienza and deceased Maria Termotto married Anna Lipira age 17 born in Collesano daughter of deceased Tommaso Lipira and Giuseppa Cappello
CLICK FOR RECORD CLICK TO ENLARGE



Actually Marianna Culotta was born 1884 June 20th in the town of Collesano in a house in the quarter of San Pietro daughter of Giacinto Culotta shoemaker and Marianna Peri
CLICK FOR RECORD CLICK TO ENLARGE



Marty