Angelo? Labarbera?

[tvm2]

Part of my father's family came from Italy, but unfortunately most of the genealogy and history has been lost since my great grandfather and grandmother emigrated to the United States.

What I do know is that my great grandfather's original name was Nicola Angelo (sometimes D'angelo), and his father was Carmine Angelo, they were supposed to have been from Sicily.

My great grandmother's name was Giovannina "Jennie" Labarbera, and she and her family I have been told were from Florence.

They met in Pennsylvania and married in the Italian church of Saint Peter the Apostle in Pittsburgh sometime around 1915, and shortly thereafter Nicola changed his name to Harry Miller in order to get a loan from a bank.

In time I can provide more specific information like their parents' names, important dates, et cetera in case someone thinks they have a lead, but that is all I have off the top of my head right now. If anyone has any information whatsoever of any Angelo or Labarbera families in the areas of Florence and Sicily, especially with my great grandparents' names, I would love to hear back from you.

[vj]

Welcome to the Forum!

If these are your Nicola Angelo/Harry Miller’s records,
He indicates he was born in Naples Chieti Italy:
- Naples town or province, Campania?
- or Chieti province, Abruzzo??
- or ???

1942 WWII Draft Registration Card
Harry Miller
- born 6 May 1891

1930 census
page 2
Nicola Angelo & family
With LaBarbera in laws

1920 census
Harry Miller
3815 Pier Street
- immig 1895, naturalized 1916

1917 WWI Draft Registration Card
Nicholas Angelo
3815 Pier Street
Born 6 May 1889 in
Naples Chieti Italy

[tvm2]

Wow, thank you very much! All three are definitely him, although there are some interesting discrepancies, like the slight difference in birth date and such, but I'm sure we all know how things like that can get mixed up in immigration.

Naples or Chieti, I'll have to look into that...

And thank you again!

[johnlabarbera]

Hello and Welcome...

If you find that you have LaBarbera's from Sicily I may be able to help you..

[vj]

Thank you for the update ,
We'll see what we can do to help
you find the correct locations.
Valarie

another location clue:

LaBarbera

Giovannina LaBarbera Angelo’s brother Frank
(from 1930 Angelo census)

1942 WWII Draft Registration Card
Frank LaBarbera
Born 1 Apr 1888
Contact Harry Miller

1917 WWI Draft Registration Card
Frank LaBarbera
Born 1 Apr 1888 in Villa ??

[tvm2]

Great stuff, thanks again!

That town is hard to make out, there are Villafranca in Tuscany, Piedmont, and Sicily, a Villasanta in Lombardy, but that looks more like two separate words, Villa Something-ata or -ita perhaps.

@johnlabarbera:

I was always told that the Labarberas of my family were from Florence and that the d'Angelos were from Sicily; however, my dad's side of the family was never told much about their heritage and never even knew any of the family history until distant cousins came around for a funeral about fifteen years ago. My grandfather, Harry's son, always told his kids they were American and that was that. (I personally believe that could have been a result of the kinds of prejudices that persuaded Harry to change his name.)

Back to the point, my family history is blurred and it's very possible things could have gotten switched around and that the Labarberas were from Sicily; if you see any names or information you recognize, I would greatly appreciate any more information. I will try to get more names from these families.

[Lucap]

There is also a Villafrati near Palermo.
Moreover, from gens.labo you can see that if you type La Barbera, the surname has a big diffusion in Sicily and not so much in Tuscany

Ciao
Luca

[tvm2]

I tried touching up the image of the city name a little, it didn't help a lot but it definitely looks more than anything like Villafrati, or possibly Villabate, which are both close to Palermo. Well, it seems now highly likely that my family's been mixed up all along! (I know my great grandmother had red hair, it seemed to me like red hair would be more common in northern Italy than Sicily, but there are always exceptions..)

Well it seems I have an interesting little breakthrough.

[tvm2]

I realized that, according to the censuses, Nicola was born ~1890, and immigrated in 1895. Seeing as how he couldn't have been older than six years old, I assume he came here with his parents, but I don't see any record of them. Is there any way to find them on a passenger manifest or any other records? I know his father was Carmine Angelo and I will hopefully get in contact with my uncle to find out his mother's name (as well as Jennie's parents) as soon as possible.

[johnlabarbera]

Try to do some searching on this free website

http://www.familysearch.org/

it is fun and rewarding when you find things...if you run into trouble post it and we can help...

I also find Ancestry.com as a great source and way to document your findings but it does require a paid subscription though I think they have a free trial going right now...John

[tvm2]

Hello again,

First off, after a trial on Ancestry, (definitely thinking about subscribing) I found a 1910 census featuring the family of Jean and Mary Angelo, to which belongs a 19 year old son Nicholas. My great-grandfather would have been about that age at the time. The only previous information I had on his parents was a glimpse at a marriage certificate in Italian from a church in Pittsburgh, PA, the only name of which I remembered was Nicola's father Carmine. So if Carmine went by Jean in the United States, then this census could very possibly show my ancestors. What do you think?

Lines 89-94
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/7295/ang1910fw1.jpg


Also, through the use of a genealogical DNA test, I have found out that the Angelo line actually descends from Norman/Scandinavian roots. I have been informed that the name itself could derive from the Angles. I seem to share similar ancestry with the Beaumont Counts de Meulan, Bernard the Dane, and Hastein the Viking. if anyone knows anything about these or their compatriots having descendants in southern Italy, I would greatly appreciate any information.


I also have enlisted the research abilities of Giovanni Montanti to help find more about the Angelos in Italy. I was wary at first, but his rates are good and I haven't read anything bad about him. If anyone knows that I'm making a mistake, please let me know as soon as possible.


As always, any help or information is greatly appreciated, and if nobody can find any more than I can, then I hope that at least this is interesting. Thanks again!