Guarino Italy 1888 Marriage Record

[ljg]

Hello,

I have been unable to find the marriage record for our ancestors and am hoping someone more skilled than I can help. Here is the information we have:

Donato Guarino and Josephine Del Vecchio Guarino who immigrated to New Jersey around 1900. A relative said her Italian name was Maria Giusseppe (or Giusseppina) Del Vecchio. They lived in Plainfield, New Jersey from the early 1900s until she passed away in 1961. There have been various spellings of their last name while in the US.

We believe they were married in 1888 in Italy. The year and location are based on news clippings of their anniversary celebrations. We also believe the marriage could have occurred in the Benevento region, possibly in the town of Castelvenere.

I've tried my hand at records online and have not had success. Ultimately, I'm trying to get back to their birth records which could be 1868 or 1874 depending on the source.

Thanks in advance for any help!

[erudita74]

Unfortunately, the marriage records for the town of Castelvenere are not online for the year you need. Here's a link to the birth record for their daughter Anna Maria Guarino born on Feb 3, 1899. Donato's age in the record is given as 25. I looked for his birth record in this town and didn't find it.

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 6m?lang=en

Do you know if he had a brother in law by the name of Pietro de Lucrezia? There is a Donato (transcribed as Donalo) Guarino on a passenger list from this town who arrived on the SS Victoria which left Naples and arrived in NY on Dec 17, 1900. His destination was to a brother-in-law with the name Pietro de Lucrezia who was living at 9 Elisabeth St in NY at the time. He was age 26 at the time.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AJXDG-961

You need to sign in with a username and password to view the passenger list

I also found a Donato Antonio Guarino who was born in the town of Cerreto Sannita on March 12, 1866. His father was Giuseppe, the son of Donato, age 38 at the time of his son's birth. Guiseppe's wife and the mother of this Donato Antonio Guarino was an Anna Maria del Vecchio. I can't say this is your Donato, but it's interesting that his mother was an Anna Maria and that his daughter was as well.

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... EM?lang=en

That's all I can do for tonight.

Erudita

[erudita74]

in case you don't have this-

a son named Vitantonio born to Donato Guarino and wife Maria Giuseppa del Vecchio on May 4, 1895 in Castelvenere. The infant's surname is given as del Vecchio and not as Guarino, but I believe this is an error which wasn't corrected.

Son Vitangelo born on May 4, 1895 to Donato Guarino age 21 and wife Maria Giuseppa del Vecchio

Again, Donato's age is consistent with an 1874 year of birth.

Also, I see a Pietro de Lucrezia in the records married to a Pellegrina Ciabrelli. He also lived on Via Due Torre, so he may not actually have been a relative of Donato Guarino, as the passenger list would have us believe.

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... zb?lang=en

[erudita74]

I found the passenger list for Maria Del Vecchio and daughter Anna Guarino-arriving in NY on the SS Patria June 14, 1902. Destination to her husband Donato Guarino in Elizabeth NJ. (lines 5 and 6)- 847 Magnolia Ave

https://heritage.statueofliberty.org/pa ... 5pZmVzdCI7

You need a username and password to login and view the passenger list

from the stevemorse.org-same passenger list

https://stevemorse.org/ellis2/mm.htm?ba ... morse.org/

under missing manfiest option-use date June 11, 1902, T715, roll 283, frame 49

[ljg]

Erudita74,

I am so grateful for all of your time and effort to help solve this. Thank you so much. What a wealth of information!

This definitely gives us more to look into. Our Donato and Josephine had many children born after Anna Guarino's date and her name is unknown to us. She is not listed on any of the census records at their known address. Either there's more to the story than we know or there's another couple with the same name.

We aren't aware of a connection to Pietro de Lucrezia, but we know so little about the history that he very well may be a relative. The only relative we know for certain is Josephine's brother Antonio del Vecchio. My husband just found an old email from a cousin (who is now deceased) who said Antonio did not come over from the Benevento region but from Avellino.

Antonio immigrated to the US, but didn't stay here. When my husband was a child in the 1950s, his family lived in Europe for a few years and he got the chance to meet Antonio in Italy. Unfortunately he doesn't know exactly where it was.

Before the family left for Europe, Josephine gave my husband's dad a letter to deliver to her brother. They were in Europe a couple years before making it down to Italy. They found the village, but they didn't speak Italian and weren't sure where to go. They managed to communicate just enough with someone in the town who hopped in their car and motioned the directions at each turn until they got to Antonio's home. When he opened the letter the tears streamed down his face. By this point his sister had passed away. That day is a vivid memory for my husband. He recalls how many people from the town came over to Antonio's house to see these distant relatives. They played with the local kids and Antonio gave them some olive oil to take back with them.

Thank you again, Erudita74. I truly appreciate your help.

[erudita74]

Happy to help.

I forgot to mention that right below Maria and daughter Anna Maria on the 1902 passenger list there is a Liberantonio Guarino, age 25, married, also going to his brother Donato Guarino at the same address. There also appears to be a letter N, probably for North, before the 847 Magnolia Ave in Elisabeth NJ

[mmogno]

@erudita74

Distretto militare di Benevento
Esiti di leva dei circondari di Benevento, Cerreto Sannita e
San Bartolomeo in Galdo
Elenco alfabetico dei chiamati alla leva - classi 1870-1880

GUARINO Donato, nato a Cerreto Sannita in data 08/03/1874 da Giuseppe e Del Vecchio Anna
Maria
45 - 77 - 13
GUARINO Donato, nato a Cerreto Sannita in data 08/05/1874 da Giuseppe e Del Vecchio Anna
Maria
44 - 76 - 31

GUARINO Libero Antonio, nato a Cerreto Sannita in data 01/07/1876 da Giuseppe e Del Vecchio
Rosa Maria
45 - 77 - 97
GUARINO Libero Antonio, nato a Cerreto Sannita in data 01/07/1876 da Giuseppe e Del Vecchio
Anna Maria
46 - 78 - 14
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 49/wrXPeBX

GUARINO Carmine, nato a Cerreto Sannita in data 06/03/1879 da Giuseppe e Del Vecchio Anna
Maria

[erudita74]

@mmogno-

Thanks, G, for the link to the military info. Cerreto Sannita was the town in which I originally saw a lot Guarino records. I just wish we could track down a marriage record to be sure of Donato and Maria Giuseppa's place (s) of birth and also be certain of their parents' names. It's unfortunate that the place(s) of birth are not on the passenger lists-only last place of residence.

Also, I would like the first names of the children from the poster that she said was found on the US census records, as I'm having no luck finding the family on those U.S. records. I thought that knowing that info might help with tracking down the Italian records. Also I'm not sure if emailing the two towns would be worth trying at this point to try to track down a marriage record for Donato and Maria Giuseppa. I'm also concerned that, if Giuseppa's brother, Antonio Del Vecchio did arrive in the U.S. from somewhere in Avellino, and not Benevento, that perhaps her birth was in a town there and not in Benevento.

Anyway, I can't work on this the rest of today, as hubby and I are on our way out shortly.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Erudita

[ljg]

Thank you so much, mmogno and Erudita!

I do have information about their children. They lived on Lake Street in Plainfield, New Jersey for decades. 1338 Lake Street and 1342 Lake Street at different times.

The 1910 census listed the last name as Gwyrine and at that point they had one son listed: James.
The 1920 census listed the last name as Gearino and at that point the family was listed as:
Donato Head (44)
Mary - Wife (44)
James - Son (16)
Louis - Son (my husband's grandfather) (age 14)
Alphonse - Son (12)
Mary - Daughter (10)
Julia - Daughter (10)
Earnest - Son (8)
Daniel - Son (5)
Anthony - Son (1 4/12)

According to that 1920 census, Donato and Mary (Josephine)'s birthdates here would be around 1866. But on other census documents and they are recorded as different dates.

The 1950 census indicates they were both 82, putting it around 1868.

And Donato's 1918 draft registration with his 1338 Lake St. address lists birthday as 8/7/1874, same as what we gathered was his passenger record.

Lots of mysteries about the actual birthdate.

Thank you both for trying to help me. You are wonderful!

[ljg]

I just received copies of death certificates for Donato & Josephine today. Here's the information for each:

Donato (Gearino) Guirino
1342 Lake St. Plainfield, NJ (Union County)
Date of Birth: 8/7/1868
Date of Death: 4/2/1951
Birthplace: Italy
Father's Name: Guirino
Mother's Maiden Name Unknown
Informant: Josephine Gearino

Josephine Del Vecchio Gearino
1342 Lake St. Plainfield, NJ (Union County)
Date of Birth: _________ Age 92
Date of Death: 7/4/1961
Father's Name: __________del Vecchio
Mother's Maiden Name: Unknown
Informant: Mrs. Joseph Karam (same address)

I do not think Donato's middle name was Gearino. I think they wanted to reflect the name he was known by.

[erudita74]

The 1910 census shows that Josephine had 4 children, but only 3 that were living at the time of the census. So the child Anna on the passenger list with her in 1902 must have died after arriving in the U.S. I don’t know about the son she had in 1895 with the Del Vecchio surname, but he must have died in Italy.

I see you got the NJ death records today. I know the indices for those records are online and had planned to ask if you had sent for those records. I actually saw Josephine in the index earlier. Sorry that their parents’ names are not in the records. That info would have been extremely helpful with regard to finding them in the Italian records. I’m hoping that the first names of their children will provide a clue though, but I’m calling it a night now.

Erudita

[ljg]

Erudita,

Good work and good night!

I've looked at the 1910 census several times since I found it a week ago and I never noticed the columns with the number of children indicating one was lost. Thank you. That is incredible information.

I found information about a child named Antonia Guerino who died in NJ in 1904 at age 5-6, but it may be an unfortunate coincidence. She was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Newark, NJ with the plot owned by a Donato Guerino. The death was listed as 32 Cutler St. The Newark city directory lists Donato Guarino at that address during the same years our Donato lived on Lake St. in Plainfield. It also said her birth place was USA. I will keep searching for death information of Anna around the same age and year.

Thank you again very much.

[erudita74]

Good morning,

I've been trying to do some research for you since early morning, but I can't say that I've made any headway for you. Just so you know, in the dates given by mmogno for the military records, the month should be first, followed by the day, unlike how we write a date in the U.S.

Anyway, I did some more research concerning the couple Giuseppe Guarino and Anna Maria Del Vecchio from the town of Cerreto Sannita, in case their info ever proves to be connected to your Donato and Maria Giuseppa. I found that they married in that town on Dec 21, 1855, record #42. His first name in the record is given as Giuseppantonio, age 26, born in Cerreto. He was the son of deceased Donato and Cristina Conte. Anna Maria del Vecchio was 18, and also born in the town. She was of deceased Angelo and Maria Grazia di Leone. Giuseppe's grandfather was Luigi Guarino. Anna Maria's grandfather was Gennaro del Vecchio. They actually had their first son named Donato on Feb 24, 1857 (record #30).

They had a daughter named Rosa Feb 28, 1859 record #31

another daughter named Maria Oct 4, 1861 record #96

a daughter Francesca Maria Dec 8, 1864 record #140

son Donato Antonio March 12, 1866 record #49

son Vincenzo Aug 27, 1868 (record #111)

I only did pre 1870 since the male names do not show up in the Military records found by mmogno

All of these records are on the antenati website, but I didn't save the links. Sorry.

Then I looked through the Italy Birth and Baptism record on familysearch.org for the name Maria Giuseppa del Vecchio. There were two in the time frame but the first one is definitely not yours, and I don't think the second one is either.

The first one was the daughter of Girolamo del Vecchio and Vincenza Mottola. Now Girolamo can be James in the U.S. She was born in Benevento on Feb 9, 1872 #104. In the margin of her birth record there is her marriage info on Dec 21, 1900 to a Filippp Tarantino (so this one is definitely eliminated despite the first names of her parents giving me some hope.

There is another Maria Giuseppa del Vecchio born on April 29, 1874 in Castelpagano (Benevento) to Vito Nunzio and Anna Maria Fiore. His father was a Vincenzo Guarino but her father was Constantino. Unfortunately, no marriage info in the margin for her in the margin of her. I don't think the marriage records for this town are online.

I'm trying to do everything to find their places of birth and marriage since their passenger lists have failed us, as has the WWI registration card which only lists Italy as his place of birth, and as have their NJ death records. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack pretty much. Anyway, I'll keep brainstorming and maybe one of these days we'll find something definite. BTW, I also looked for pre 1870 military records, but none for Benevento. I couldn't find any for Avellino since you said that Josephine's brother was listed from there on his passenger list.

Here's a link to the pdf file for the military info in Benevento which may help with town names for the Del Vecchio surname too, You may have to copy and paste the link to access it:

file:///C:/Users/lapip/Desktop/ASBnEsiti_Elenco_1870-83%20lista%20di%20leva%20per%20benevento%20from%201870.pdf

Erudita

[ljg]

Thank you again, Erudita. You have been so generous with your time and knowledge. Thanks to the information from you and mmogno I will expand my search to Cerreto Sannita, which was not on my radar before. I will spend more time looking in that location for the needle in the haystack, as you say.

Best Wishes,
Laura

[erudita74]

You're very welcome, Laura. Please keep us posted re any additional progress you make.
Erudita