Pignanelli

[maestra36]

I found death information for a person I believe to be your Filomena's second husband Bruno. The last name is spelled as Montonesa. He died on Feb 5, 1927 in Clarksburg, Harrison, W Va at the age of 62 years, 10months, and 4 days. His date of birth is given as April 1, 1864. He was married and a Huckster. His burial date was Feb 7, 1927 in Holy Cross Cemetery. He died of organic heart disease. The cemetery appears to be in Romine County. Informant was a Frank Montonesa. His wife was Felomina Montonesa. There are two images to view if you search his name on

http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_dcsearch.aspx

So we should expect to find him on the 1920 census.

[TiffanyLamkin]

My mom remembers that her great aunt Clara had a daughter named Nellie, but I think it was a fairly common name back then. She remembers them being from the Clarksburg area. I found a stillborn son (Larry) and it shows Clara at age 31 as having had 15 children, but with only 4 surviving. Does this seem possible? I'm continuing to try and find a marriage record to determine if the Clarice that married Pasco is my Clarice. It's tempting to jump to the assumption that it is, but I know that without documentation I could be barking up the wrong tree.

[maestra36]

Yes, finding that marriage record for Clarice and Pasco is of upmost importance to prove that she is, in fact, related to your ancestry. As to how many children she may have had, anything is possible. These women didn't use birth control and also often aided each other in aborting pregnancies using coat hangers and the like. I don't want any info I have shared with you to mislead you. Documentation is the way to prove or disprove relationships to your ancestry. So you need to keep digging until you find it.

I also found a 1920 census for Pasco and Clara, in case she proves to be related to your ancestry. Pasco's surname is spelled as Corella on the census, ED 65, sheet 11A, lines 1-6, Clay District, Harrison, WVa.

Pasco was 29
Clara, his wife, 28
daughter Elisabeth, 8
daughter, looks like Fillie (could this be a nickname for Filomena-the maternal grandmother???), age 6
daughter, Rosa, age 2
daughter, Carmelena, age 8 months

the family was living at 231 Bethlehem Ave.

This census shows Clara's year of immigration as 1906.

Possibly someone can upload a copy of this census for you. I located it through HeritageQuest.

[TiffanyLamkin]

I went back and looked at all of the information that I had on this. I think it's very possible that the Clara that married Pasco Covallo is my Clara. When I reviewed the 1910 census that was so helpfully posted here, one of the boarders living with the family was a Pasquale Covall, a single 20 year old male that immigrated from Italy in 1905. Please let me know your thoughts on this. Thanks!
Tiffany

[mbutler]

Hi Tiffany,

I came across this message board after googling the name Thobois while researching members of my family. My great great Grandmother is the Clara that you're trying find information on. My great grandmother Filimone (went by Thelma) was married to Paul Thobois. An Aunt and Uncle of mine put together a family tree for their children a while ago and passed it along to my Mother. She thought we would like a copy too. I gave her a call after reading all the comments on here and this is what she gave me. Clara had many children (my mother thinks maybe in the 20's) but only 5 survived. I'm not sure of the history behind that but it came as a shock to me too! Her children were Filimone (my great grandmother), Elizabeth, Nellie, James and Rose. I only have memories of Aunt Nellie gowing up. Aunt Nellie took care of James because he was handicap. The West Virginia web site and Family search site came in handy so thanks to you all for that! My mother has great great Grandma Clara's parents as Felomine (I've also seen Philomena) Pinion and John Oliveto. If you enter Philomena in the family search site, a death notice comes up for an Antonio Oliveto with parents listed as Antonio and Philomena. I'm not sure where the John came from but plan on contacting my Aunt to see if she has any other information on Clara's siblings. My tree stops at Felomine Pinion. If her spouse Antonio was also listed as John then this could be the Felomine that your're looking for. I'm not sure where Pinion came from if you have something different. I now this was posted a while ago so you may have more information or even know all of this already. Let me know... we could be related!

[TiffanyLamkin]

Hi! This is so exciting! I'm pretty sure that your great great grandmother Clara was the sister of my great grandmother Mary (Maria). My information is that Filomena Pignanelli, widow of Antonio Olivito, immgrated to the US with their 4 children (Maria, Francesco, Antonio, and Clarice). On the original Ellis Island manifest, she indicates that her final destination was WV and her brother Giuseppe. I found a Giuseppe Pignanelli in the area, who went by various combinations of Giuseppe/Joe Pignanelli/Pinion. I also found on either Francesco's (Frank) or Antonio's (Anthony) death certificate that Filomena was listed as Pinion instead of of Pignanelli, so I know that at one point she was using Pinion. My mom remember Nellie caring for a brother. She couldn't remember his name but said that she thought that he was deaf. I belive that Pinion was just the shortened pronunciation of Pignanelli. The various spellings of Olivito and Pignanelli have made it a little confusing to track the various relatives, but I actually have found quite a bit and the West Virginia website has been very helpful. I would love to chat with you and see what we can piece together.

Tiffany

[TiffanyLamkin]

Hi! It's me again. Here's the death certificate that shows Antonio's mother as Filomena Pinion. http://www.wvculture.org/vrr/va_view.as ... Type=Death The informant is listed as Clara Cavallo. I spoke to my mom again, and she remembers Nellie's brother James going by Jimmy. She also said that there was someone in Nellie's family who went by Jo Jo. Does that sound familiar at all? My grandmother, Elizabeth, was one of the 9 surviving children of Maria (Mary) Olivito and Gennaro (John) Falbo. Looking forward to comparing notes!

Tiffany

[mbutler]

Hi Tiffany,

Sorry it took so long for me to log back on here. email me sometime @ mlbutler@ymail.com. I'd like to hear about what you've found over the years. Thanks!

Michelle

[Robtp24]

So I saw this post looking around online my last name is spelled Pignanello just was wondering if there was any connection

[TiffanyLamkin]

Not sure. I have very limited information about my Pignanelli ancestors. I know they came from Calabria, either Caccuri or San Giovanni in Fiore, and settled in WV. At some point they started going by Pinion instead of Pignanelli. Where are your ancestors from?

[Reid_Tanner]

I'm helping my wife search for her relatives in Italy. She has made good progress but hit some road blocks. She is starting with Mariano Galdenzi who was born in San Giorgio, Di Pesaro, Pesario E Urbino, Marche, Italy. DOB 26, September, 1855. If you know where she can look for additional links for his line going back. She can't find his wife, but we think Dominic Galdenzi is his son. We are very new to these resources and any coaching would be very helpful. Thanks, Reid Tanner for Linda Tanner

[Marcas]

Mr Tanner,
Here's a link for her:
http://www.fanodiocesi.it/parrocchie/?s ... -di-pesaro
grab directions, telephone, etc
When you'll reach it eventually, look for the baptism in the registers, cause I'm unable to guess which family Mariano belongs to:
(1) is it Gaudenzi Domenico and Catarina, or
(2) Gaudenzi Giovanni and Giovanna, or
(3) Gaudenzi Francesco and Giovanna, or
(4) Gaudenzi Luigi and Teresa?
because, you guess it, I researched a bit and found four good branches of Gaudenzi in S.Giorgio in the said period.
Good Luck