Mazzola Family Castlebuono Sicily

[Tessa78]

Here is the birth act for a Luigi Mazzola, born in Castelbuono in 1865 on 20 October.
#301
Parents: Giuseppe Mazzola, 31, farmer; and Vincenza Baggesi, 36, his wife.
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 70/58dZeDX

T.

[SharonHistory]

Thank you!

[Tessa78]

There is an annotation of death in 1916 on Luigi Mazzola and Michelangela Guarcello's marriage act. So it appears that she died in 1916 on 18 August.
Unfortunately, death acts not available online after 1910.
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 88/w9zNN1y

T.

[SharonHistory]

Thank you! I have one favor to ask since you have been so kind? Could you check October of 1860 for the birth of a Luigi Mazzola? His headstone says 1860-1950. I thought it might be an error, but perhaps the Luigi born in 1865 is a completely different individual. With Michaelangela’s death in 1916, I am beginning to believe I have the wrong Luigi. “My” Luigi married in New York in 1908. I thought it was a second marriage. Genealogy is fun and exasperating.

[SharonHistory]

Thank you! I have one favor to ask since you have been so kind? Could you check October of 1860 for the birth of a Luigi Mazzola? His headstone says 1860-1950. I thought it might be an error, but perhaps the Luigi born in 1865 is a completely different individual. With Michaelangela’s death in 1916, I am beginning to believe I have the wrong Luigi. “My” Luigi married in New York in 1908. I thought it was a second marriage. Genealogy is fun and exasperating.

[parkergambino]

Hi Sharon,

I have ancestors from Castelbuono, and some research under my belt. Certain surnames raise a flag as being from Castelbuono. I suspect that just about everybody whose ancestors are from there will have a Mazzola or two somewhere among cousins, if not direct ancestors (and that includes me); it is that common. Other surnames found in this account signal that the person is likely to be from somewhere else. To my ear, Baggese, Aiello, Calamia, and Valeriana might well be in the "somewhere else" category. Given the incomplete narrative of Vincenza's life, perhaps she was passed through the wheel and given that surname by the nuns.

My usual advice about reading ship manifests is that the best images are to be found at FamilySearch, invariably worth the few extra clicks it takes to get there. The indexed spelling for the passenger on the Sicilian Prince is Vincenza Valeriana. I do not share the opinion that she is listed in pencil as a widow, but I sure can't tell what is pencilled in!

Valeria and Concetta appear on another manifest sheet, for detained immigrants; detention was common for unaccompanied females and/or minors until safe passage to a secure destination could be assured.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 04&lang=en
On this sheet Concetta's age is given as 19, so one of the sheets has the age wrong and one has it right. The adjusted address of her destination cousin, Luigi Mazzoli, is 638 East 13th Street, a neighborhood well-known to be populated by the Castelbuonese and other Palermo immigrants. Good thing they held them, eh?

Numerous records of interest will be found in the New York City Municipal Archives Historical Vital Records, so if you're going to continue serious research on these lineages it will be worthwhile to get familiar with this resource:
https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/search.
It helps if you know a certificate number, but the second option is searching by name. Unfortunately there is no wiggle room or wild card provision for spelling, so if someone is indexed incorrectly (or if you have an incorrect spelling) it is troublesome or worse to find a record. For example, for additional searching, it will be helpful to know that the typical spelling for Giovanna' husband's surname is Venturella.

Using Mazzola as the search target I located these marriage records (showing here the "as-indexed" name spellings):

1903 [Domenico Ventrello & Giovannia Mazzola]
https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/8398505

1904 [Luigi Mazzola & Concetta DiPaola] (listed as her first marriage)
https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/8274768

1908 [Luigi Mazzola & Olimpia Calamia]
https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc ... ew/8457926

It seems like Luigi got around!! The 1904 marriage of Concetta seems to confirm the older age option on the manifest, but the names of her parents differ from those found on a birth record by Tessa78.

As I mentioned Mazzola is an extremely common Castelbuono name, and in scanning through the NYC archival records I notice quite a number of Mazzola marriages where the partner had a "Castelbuono" surname. In some cases the bride or groom lists the specific birthplace instead of the more generic "Italy".

I do not have time to delve deeper right now. If you want to have a more targeted conversation, send me a PM.

Good luck, and please keep us posted via the forum.

Parker

[SharonHistory]

Thank you for your help!

[Tessa78]

Thank you! I have one favor to ask since you have been so kind? Could you check October of 1860 for the birth of a Luigi Mazzola? His headstone says 1860-1950. I thought it might be an error, but perhaps the Luigi born in 1865 is a completely different individual. With Michaelangela’s death in 1916, I am beginning to believe I have the wrong Luigi. “My” Luigi married in New York in 1908. I thought it was a second marriage. Genealogy is fun and exasperating.

I checked the birth indices from 1860 through 1865.

There was no Luigi Mazzola in 1860.

Edit to add:

Here is birth of Luigi's sister Giovanna in 1872.
#216
Parents are Giuseppe Mazzola and Vincenza Baggesi

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 52/0JX8yzl

T.

[SharonHistory]

Thank you Tessa!

[parkergambino]

When posting my first message, I had not realized that there was already a second page of posts, which I have now read.

The marriage act posted by Tessa78 is unusual in that it lists a number of dates of birth, etc. in the body of the text, something I have not seen before. Since this feature is found on other documents on this series, I guess it was the scribe's choice to go above and beyond the minimum. Observe that no date is provided for Vincenza Baggesi, which (to me) bolsters the case that she is not originally from Castelbuono.

Vital records for Castelbuono, including extensive 10-year indexes for Matrimoni and Morti, ARE available at Antenati well into the 20th century. The morti document for Michelangela (indexed as Michela) Guarcello, which corresponds to the marginal notation:
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 31/5x37d3a

===================

Luigi Mazzola is turning into a real puzzle, and as you suggest, there may be more than one person with that name, which is confounding the research. But having two people with the same name who also have identically named parents, while not impossible, is a bit much, and has me leaning to the unflattering alternative. Both of the marriage records I had provided list the marriage as his second. What became of Concetta?

Assuming that it is the same Luigi Mazzola who Valeria and Concetta are going to in 1903, it means that Luigi had emigrated earlier. A cursory search of Ellis Island records does not turn up any good matches. Hmmmm...

It will be helpful if you post links to the various census records you refer to.

Parker

[SharonHistory]

Parker, thank you for looking again. I have not been able to find the exact arrival date for Luigi. The US census records of 1910 indicate arrival in 1901, 1920 census indicates 1900. Family anecdotes indicate 1902. Obituary information indicates arrival in 1899.

There is also a story that Vincenza’s biological mother was a “showgirl.”

I have figured out the following,

Luigi Mazzola was married to Michaelangela Guarcello in Castlebuono in 1890,
Vincenza Valeriana was born to unknown parents in April 1897.
Luigi Mazzola arrives in New York between 1899 and 1902. (Note: Giovannia Mazzola, Luigi’s sister, arrives in Nov. 1902.)
Vincenza Valeriana arrives in New York in 3/30/1903 to go to her “uncle” Luigi Mazzola.
Concetta DiPaola arrives with Vincenza Valeriano as companion same date to go to her “cousin” Luigi Mazzola.
Luigi Mazzola (with same parents listed as that of Luigi that married Michaelangela in Castlebuono) marries Concetta DiPaola on 9/10/1904 in Manhattan.
Luigi Mazzola (with same parents of Luigi that married Michaelangela and Concetta) marries Olimpia Calamia 3/12/1908 in Manhattan.
Both US marriages indicate marriage by “alderman.”
I have not found any divorce or death records for Concetta.

1910 US Census lists Luigi Mazzola, his wife Olimpia, and daughter Vincenza in Garfield, New Jersey. (From this point on we have family history of where they lived, etc.)

Check out this record I found on the Ancestry mobile app https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/321768 ... 225632227d

According to Castlebuono records, Michaelangela Guarcella Mazzola died in 1916.

I cannot access Italian church records for any baptismal records for Vincenza Valeriana that might indicate any family relationships.

Vincenza is my mother-in-law’s Mother. My mother-in-law said that she believed that Olimpia was her biological grandmother until a “mean” neighbor told her that she wasn’t. So Vincenza had to explain to her children that her mother had died when she was young. The “mean” lady never made any statements about Luigi not being Vincenza’s father. So, it’s all a puzzle.

[parkergambino]

Sharon I have sent you a PM

[parkergambino]

Here is a summary of some additional findings related to these family issues:

Following their 1890 marriage, Luigi Mazzola & Michelangela Guarcello had two children:

1890 nati #381
Vincenza Mazzola [Luigi Mazzola & Michelangela Guarcello]
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 6y?lang=en

1891 nati #363
Giuseppe Mazzola [Luigi Mazzola & Michelangela Guarcello]
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... O9?lang=en
-----------------------

In Castelbuono, between 1870-1880 I found the births of three Concetta DiPaola; in addition to the 1875 birth located by Tessa78, there are also births in 1877 and 1880. All three of these Concettas have parents different from the ones listed on the 1904 marriage document. So, assuming accuracy on that document, and given the widespread distribution of the DiPaola surname, we don't know the origin of Concetta, but it does not seem to be Castelbuono.

Parker