Domenico Mascia in West Virginia, USA

[angelamascia]

Hello All,

I am launching yet another attempt to see if somebody can help me.

As you might know I am searching for Domenico Mascia who died in WV in 1907. He was born in 1866/1867.

Now, I had the hardest time to locate any information on him because either his first name or his surname was spelled and recorded with mistakes. Today, I seem to have made some progress, but I still need all your help.

This is the information I found on the 1887 manifest:

1887 manifest
10 or 13 November 1887 SS Bulgaria Sorrento (Naples) and Marseille to NY
Dome. Mascia, 21 (born 1867)
- last residence Italy
- final destination: United States

This is the only D. (Domenico) Mascia who actually was born in the right year so I assume this must the ONE. Unfortunately, this manifest does not specify last place of residence other than Italy. Is there anywhere possible that I can find out where this Dome. Mascia was from in Italy?

Are passenger lists of the Bulgaria listed on the internet, or does anyone of you have access to these records and can tell me if perhaps in Italy was recorded more than simply coming from Italy?

Knowing from where in Italy this Dome. Mascia was will determine if he is the right relative I am looking for.

Please help if you can, I'm pretty much desperate at this point.

Grazie infinte - many thanks!

Angela

[vj]

For reference:
1887 Mascia manifest
There may be clues to a possible location
by checking the surnames above and below
his (if they were unique to a certain area)

[angelamascia]

Unfortuantely the entire manifest says only Italy for all passengers.

[DonnaPellegrin]

Angela,
There is one way to know with certainty. You can write a letter to request the death certificate of Domenico Mascia from the Marion County Courthouse in Fairmont. Address your letter to: Janice Cosco. She is the Marion County Clerk. I have met her and she is courteous and professional. Here is her website:
http://www.marioncountywv.com/marioncountyclerk.htm

Here is the form that you need to send to her.
http://www.marioncountywv.com/VITALRECORDS.doc

Send a letter that briefly explains your request along with the form and $5 to the following address:

Janice Cosco
Marion County Courthouse
P. O. Box 1267
Fairmont, WV 26554

I promise you, I have sent requests to this courthouse many times in recent years. They are fast with their replies. They are helpful and efficient. I have received replies from them within one week of sending my request.

If you have any further questions you can email Janice Cosco at JaniceCosco@marioncountywv.com

I have to share something with you that is kind of ironic. One hundred years ago, after the Monongah disaster, a committee was formed to provide help for the widows and children of the miners who were killed. The committe was made up of 24 men. Two of the men were Italians, Reverend Joseph D'Andrea, the priest of the Italian Church in Monongah and Filippo Pellegrini, the owner of a grocery store in Monongah. Many of the families of the victims lived in Italy and the difficult task of finding these families probably fell squarely on the shoulders of these two men.

Filippo Pellegrini was my great grandfather. And I think that it is simply amazing that 100 years after the disaster the Italian families of the Monongah victims are still aching to know if their men came out of that mine.

[angelamascia]

Hi Donna,

Thank you again for writing again. In the meantime, I have been communicating with someone from Mine Research Group who is working on a database of the 1907 disaster although the database is not yet complete and therefore has not yet been made public.

The Mine Research Group person did send me the portion out ot the Monongah Mines Relief Fund Report pertaining to Domenico Mascia and his widow, which was great for me to see.

Furthermore, he said that the deat records for Marion County, 1907, are nowhere to be found. Also, as for the fatality record, he also said, it has been about five years since he did mine fatalities for 1907, and from what he remembers, the individual records were so hurriedly written that there is not much information there.

But said all this, I will write to the Marion County Courthouse and request the death certificate. I assume that the Vital Records office in Charleston, WV would not be the right office to request any information.

As you may have noticed, I don't give up so easily so tomorrow a letter will go out to the court house.

Thank you so much for responding.

Angela

[daveferro]

Hi Angela,
I have been searching the MSHA (Mine Safety and Health Administration) of the Dept of Labor for Giovanni Petti's great grandfather, so I tried to find your relative. This site MSHA Search allows search by mine, last or first name of victim and many others, as well as browse.
I could not find anyone named Mascia. Browsing by state, I got to the Monongah Disaster of 1907.

Frustratingly, the next screen said:

At the present time no digital file is attached to this record.
To obtain a copy please contact the
Technical Information Center & Library
1301 Airport Rd., Beaver, WV 25813
Email: MSHALibrary@dol.gov
Telephone: 304-256-3266
Clicking on related info, a list of the miners comes up, but no Mascia: there is a Masch, so they misspelled it. This must be corrected.

At List of Fatalities Monongah 1907, there is a list of names by mine number and by ethnic group. Under mine no. 8, Italians, there is a D. C. Masch, but no Mascia. Many of the other names have been changed.

(There were 16 accidents in these mines in West Virginia from 1897 to 1910)

The MSHA site has a slide show of photographs from the time.
Slide Show of Monongah Mine 1907
This isn't much for a government site. They need to transcribe and correct their data.

Wish I could have helped more. Keep looking as everyone will.
Dave

[angelamascia]

Dear Dave,

Thank you for the additional information you have shared with me. I am in the process of contacting the appropriate goverment agencies to get the name of D.C. Mash corrected to Domenico Mascia. It is indeed him and luckily his name was spelled correctly on his headstone.

I keep looking and I appreciate all your comments, links and more.

Angela

[DonnaPellegrin]

Angela,
I was not aware that the death records from 1907 were missing. If that is true then that is very unfortunate. However, the Catholic Church records may still be intact. Have you also tried to contact the Catholic Church in Monongah? If not, here is the contact information:

Holy Spirit Parish
687 Maple Ter
Monongah, WV 26554
Phone: (304) 534-3020 Fax: (304) 534-5910
A Parish of The Roman Catholic Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston WV

Here is a link with phone numbers and email addresses:

http://www.parishesonline.com/scripts/H ... =2&ID=9227

And here is the official website for the church:

http://www.dwc.org/parishes/ParishDetai ... shid=20615

Hope it helps!

[angelamascia]

Donna,

Thank you again for your help. I have already sent an email to the Holy Spirit Parish and I am waiting for response now. I was estonished myself in learing that the death certificates were missing for 1907. I will wait and see what the church responds, then I will try to make my way to WVU and if that doesn't help, well, then I have to think of something else.

Thanks again!

Angela Mascia

[DonnaPellegrin]

Angela,
I've sent you a private message with the names of 4 people that you can hire to do the research for you at the WVU library. It should only take them 20-25 minutes at the most find the information for you. So it really shouldn't cost much for the job. All they need to do is to go to the 6th floor and ask the librarian for the file on the miner named Domenico Mascia who was killed in the Monongah Disaster. Someone from the library will find the file in the archives. Then your researcher can make copies of the documents for you. That's it. It shouldn't cost much because it is not a big job.

The files on the Monongah miners contain letters written to the widows, receipts for money paid to the widows, and various other correspondance regarding the financial settlement. These are the files that the Relief Committee kept for their records. They were meticulous in their record keeping. You might just find valuable information.

I wish you much luck in your search. Please let us know when you find your answers.

[angelamascia]

Donna,

Thank you for your follow-up and the names of the people who can actually do the research for me. I went ahead and wrote to the Holy Spirit Parish and I received a very nice response already. In addition, the Pastoral Associate who also put me in contact with a gentleman in PA who has done extensive research on the mine victims. He has also responded to my email and I am hoping to get some answers from him as well.

I certainly will let you know about any progress.

Angela Mascia

[daveferro]

Hello,
The death records are not missing, but not available online. They haven't been transcribed yet and you have to send for any info, which makes it more difficult.

Luckily, the Italian Emigrants Internet Association website http://www.emigrati.it/Tragedie/MONONGAHelencoVITT.asp has a corrected list.

This means also that Giovanni Petti's greatgrandfather, Basso, might be in the MSHA site under an Anglisized name: his Alien Registration Card says Petts, but that was not found. So, browsing I will go.

Good luck, Angela

Dave

[angelamascia]

Hi daveferro,

Thank you for clarifying and letting me know about the death records.

I spoke with somebody from the Mine Research Group who is currently working on a database that will show all the names of the deceased miners, their country of origin, how many descendents he had and much more. I was able to obtain the portion pertaining to D. Mascia. The person from the Mine Research Group told me tha the death records for 1907 Marion Co. were unexisting. Perhaps I misunderstood.

Nevertheless, I will request a death certificate. I find it odd that D. Mascia was buried at the Mt. Calvary Cemetery in Monongah, WV without a death certificate. Would this even be possible?

Thank you for everybody's precious contribution, which makes my research every day easier.

Angela

[daveferro]

Have you heard of FindAGrave.com? People can search for a name, but also can request a photograph to be placed on the site, with (electronic) flowers and/or a memorial. It's free to join, though they would like donations. A relative of my foster mother now has most of the gravestones on the site, which she can visit from her home in Virginia. She will be here in Sept (for the NY State Fair) to meet her long lost relatives.
You said you are going to W. Virginia so you can take some and put them on yourself.

I'm at the library and I have the book on Italian-American Folklore, so I will be posting in the other forum and Amici/di Gente.

I might write to my congressmen and congresswoman to get them to update the MSHA site and correct the names.!!

Dave

[angelamascia]

Hi daveferro,

I have not heard of FindAGrave.com but I certainly will check it out and I will most likely join. It seems a very nice idea. Indeed, I am planning to attend the celebrations in Monongah, WV on August 18th and 19th. It will be my pleasure to take some pictures at the Mt. Calvary cemetery.

It would mean a lot to many people if the names on the MSHA site would be corrected but you know how long those things can take.

Thank you for help and interesting web site.

Angela