Giovanni Madonia and Maria Paula Musillami from Monreale Palermo

[AmberJackman]

Hello-

I have about 5 years of extensive research into the Madonia family from Palermo but am stumped on this section of the family. Any information regarding the following would be greatly helpful.

Here is my issue:

I have Giovanni Madonia (b. 1858-?) and his wife Maria "Pauline'" Musillami (1862-1935) who were from Palermo and moved to NY at some point. They had 4 children:
Salvatore Fortunato Madonia (1883-1944)
Caterina Madonia (1886-1913)
Rosalie/Rosalia Madonia (1890-1966)
Igazia "Nettie" Madonia (1892-?)

1) I cannot find any information on Caterina other than when her and her mother Pauline came to NY in 1903. I do not know if she ever married or had any children.
2) One of my clients has very close DNA matches to the descendants of this couple- specifically Salvatore Madonia and his wife Grazia Loiacono (1885-1961). I have records of them having 2 children, John Steve Madonia (1922-1969) and Pauline Madonia (1913-2003). Both John and Pauline's children show as a 1st cousin match to my client. The only way for this to be possible is if there was a third child by Salvatore but I have yet to find one and the family members I have spoke with only know of John and Pauline. I am looking for any possible information on Salvatore from when he was in Sicily or after he came to the US to potentially identify this child.

I know that he would have been living in Brooklyn, NY in the 40's and 50s with ties to Somerset and Middlesex Counties in NJ.


Any information would be very helpful!

-Amber

[suanj]

Name Guiseppe Tucolano
Sex Male
Age 29
Birth Year (Estimated) 1881
Birthplace Morriale, Sicily
Marital Status Single
Race White
Father's Name Guiseppe Tucolano
Mother's Name Antonina Milto
Spouse's Name Caterina Madonia
Spouse's Sex Female
Spouse's Age 22
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1888
Spouse's Birthplace Aliamo, Sicily
Spouse's Marital Status Single
Spouse's Race White
Spouse's Father's Name Giovanni Madonia
Spouse's Mother's Name Paola Musillami
Marriage Date 27 Mar 1910
Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, New York, United States
Marriage Place (Original) Manhattan, New York
the husband surname is Incolano or Iuculano, or something like so.. however here the 1930 census:
Event Type Census
Name Joseph Iancolano
Sex Male
Age 50
Event Date 1930
Event Place Manhattan (Districts 0501-0750), New York, New York, United States
Birth Year (Estimated) 1880
Birthplace Italy
Marital Status Married
Race White
Relationship to Head of Household Head
Father's Birthplace Italy
Mother's Birthplace Italy
Sheet Letter B
Sheet Number 15
Joseph Iancolano's Spouses and Children
Katherine Iancolano
Daughter
F
42
Italy

Joseph Iancolano
Son
M
19
New York

Anna Iancolano
Daughter
F
10
New York
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AX42P-YRQ

1920 census:
Name Joseph Incolano
Sex Male
Age 38
Event Date 1920
Event Place New York City, New York, United States
Event Place (Original) New York, New York
Immigration Date 1905
Birth Year (Estimated) 1882
Birthplace Italy
Marital Status Married
Race White
Relationship to Head of Household Head
Father's Birthplace Italy
Mother's Birthplace Italy
Household Identifier 75
Line Number 40
Sheet Letter A
Sheet Number 4
Sheet Number and Letter 4A
Affiliate Film Number 1187
Affiliate Publication Number T625
Affiliate Name The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
Joseph Incolano's Spouses and Children
Catherine Incolano
Wife
F
32
Italy

Joseph Incolano
Son
M
9
New York

Anna Incolano
Daughter
F
0
New York
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AMJYM-7BT
maybe helpful,
regards,
suanj

[Tessa78]

Here is the marriage of Salvatore and Grace in NYC in 1912

Note that Grace's mother's surname is also Musillami - perhaps the DNA relationship is through their mothers?

Name Salvatore Madonia
Sex Male
Age 30
Birth Year (Estimated) 1882
Birthplace Italy
Marital Status Single
Race White
Father's Name Giovanni
Mother's Name Maria P. Musillami
Spouse's Name Grazia Lo Iacono
Spouse's Sex Female
Spouse's Age 27
Spouse's Birth Year (Estimated) 1885
Spouse's Birthplace Italy
Spouse's Marital Status Single
Spouse's Race White
Spouse's Father's Name Stefano
Spouse's Mother's Name Ignazia Musillami
Marriage Date 14 Mar 1912
Marriage Place Manhattan, New York, New York, United States
Marriage Place (Original) Manhattan, New York

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:243J-W3F

Salvatore's Petition for Naturalization in 1928 lists only the two children you mentioned above.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... AWC7T-11T2

T.

[joetucciarone]

Hi Amber - I found this article in the July 7, 1911 edition of the New York Sun:

https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn ... nge&page=1

The article, which takes up most of the first column, reports the attempted murder by the Black Hand of Giovanni Madonia, a New York spaghetti-maker. It said Giovanni's son, Salvatore, was 23-years-old, and that Giovanni's spaghetti shop was located at 236 Elizabeth Street.

This article caught my eye because the father's and son's names match those in your family, and they lived in New York where you said "your" Madonia's settled. Plus, Salvatore's age in the 1911 article, 23, would have been approximately the same as that of "your" Salvatore. Also, the article indicates Giovanni had at least two daughters, and "your" Giovanni had three.

[AmberJackman]

So I found who I was looking for:

Caterina Madonia married Giuseppe Iucolano on March 27, 1910.

They had 2 children that I can find so far- Antonina G “Anna” Iucolano and Joseph Bara Iucolano.

Joseph is the person I have been searching for! He married Millie (I can’t find any information on her or her maiden name/family). And they had the following children: Catherine G (1934), Grace M (1938, married name Arout), Joseph A (1953), Jo Ann, and Patricia.

If anyone can help me find more information on Joseph and his children that would be great.

I know that he died in the 60s due to complications from a brain tumor, owned a grocery store in Brooklyn, and was involved in fraud case in the 40s with sugar coupons and fake checks.

[parkergambino]

Amber,

If you haven't already (it is not mentioned), you could have a look at the following vital documents from New York City. Sometimes clues emerge from data on the original documents (witnesses at weddings, etc), which are not picked up by the indexes.

https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/8449995
1910 Marriage Document of Giuseppe and Caterina show him living at 451 East 86th Street.

https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/6413410
Death of James Incolano of 453 East 86th Street; undertaker arranged by his brother Pietro; these are surely Giuseppe's brothers.

https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/8624883
1911 marriage of Giuseppe D'Anna and Rosalia Madonia

https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/8794144
1918 marriage of Vincenzo Madonia and Ignazia Madonia

It may be that the close familial relationship discovered via DNA ("The only way for this to be possible is if there was a third child by Salvatore") is perhaps an outlier at the extreme margin of error of a slightly more distant relative. There seems to be potential for these to be floating around in NYC or elsewhere, considering these documents. And do not discount the biasing effects of consanguinity; there is enough here to suggest that it might apply.

I would recommend going to the NYC Vital Docs site (https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search) and searching for the marriage to Millie or other docs with every possible spelling variant of LaIacono that you can imagine, and then solicit this forum for more variants you might not have imagined. While the site is ultra-valuable, there are plenty docs where the names are butchered to shreds!

Happy hunting,

Parker