Searching for Vito Calise from Forio

[carubia]

Yes, that is Dora Castaldo, who married Sebastiano Scalia in 1918 in Brooklyn. The children include 2 from Sebastiano's previous marriage. How do we know she was the same person as Dora Calise?

[TheclaM]

From what I can tell, Loreta Calise came to America with the Castaldo family -- I've seen the ship manifest indicating Castaldo escorting Calise family members in, including Loreta. Dora is my grandmother; my grandfather was Sebastiano Scalia. If you are confirming that this is Dora Castaldo, then she was always known to us as Dora Calise. I suspect there was some indecision about what she should call herself early on in America. I played with Calise cousins. Here is her daughter Sadie (Santa) her last child from Sebastiano. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pe ... 9485/facts and here is Dora's son, Vito, whose forehead is dented because of a bicycle accident in his childhood. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pe ... 9498/facts

I think the Vito Maria Calise/Lucia Restituto line might be incorrect. I think Dora's father might have been Vito Nicola Calise, and the mother Maria Filomena Castaldi. That would be the connection between the families. But I'm still checking it out -- it's possible that they all knew each other and the Castaldi's did the Calises a favor. It's also very confusing because the Forio Calise family and the Sererra Fontana Calise family lived within 5 miles of each other on Ischia and they kept using the same names over and over again!

[TheclaM]

Interestingly, on Ancestry here is a marriage showing for a Loreta "Calisi" and an Antonio "Castaldi" in New York, four years before Dora Castaldo married Bennie. That could explain a lot too.

[carubia]

Could Loreta and Dora have been the same person, or sisters?

If Sebastiano Scalia was your GF, then you and I are 4th cousins once removed. At least that much I know. You can see my tree for him on Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pe ... 4756/facts

[TheclaM]

Possibly this can help? https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pe ... 5455/facts

[TheclaM]

Could Loreta and Dora have been the same person, or sisters?

If Sebastiano Scalia was your GF, then you and I are 4th cousins once removed. At least that much I know. You can see my tree for him on Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pe ... 4756/facts

I left this comment but it isn't showing so I will try again.

Hi, cousin! Thanks, I will look. It appears that there was a Calise/Castaldi marriage in Forio, so there is a connection between these two families. https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer ... cessSource

I THINK what may be going on here is that Maria (or Mary) Castaldi (possibly Maria Filomena Castaldi) and Vito Calise had a daughter of their own named Loretta, and from what I can tell Maria Castaldi escorted the 13 year-old Loreta Calise into the US -- along with apparent siblings Lucia (15), Giuseppe (10) and Maria (5) in 1907 -- to join "her husband, Vito Calise":

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/74 ... dit/record

This would explain why, in tracking Loreta Calise, one seems to move to Philadelphia, and the other marries Bennie.

In 1914, it looks like Loretta might have married a Castaldi cousin, with the record keeper calling her "Calisi" rather than Calise. This would actually track with what my family understands about her -- that she had been previously married before she married Bennie Scalia. It would explain why their wedding records show her as Castaldi (or Castaldo -- Loreta could not read or write.) Supposedly, she came into the marriage with her daughter, Rose. I am wondering if this is she, born in 1915:

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse ... cessSource

I have begun to wonder if perhaps Dora was widowed and pregnant with Angelo (John was his confirmation name), and the widower Bennie married her for their mutual benefit. If you look at Angelo, he looks NOTHING LIKE either Vito or Sadie. Perhaps he is actually a Calise-Castaldi? It would make sense, in a way, but would also open up further mysteries -- who was the Castaldi that Loreta married? How did he die? And finally why does Angelo look so much like the Frank Calise who I currently have in my Vito Maria timeline but who actually seems to belong in the OTHER Loreta Calise's family -- the one headed up by Vito Nicola Calise And Maria Filomena Castaldi? (You and I may not be cousins after all. Boy, that was short-lived! )

If Dora DID marry Antonio Castaldi before Bennie, which looks to be possible, then I appear to be at a standstill, b/c I have NO idea who he is, although an Antonio Castaldi did die in Oct of 1918, just two months before Dora married Bennie.

I'll have to create another timeline for her first marriage, and look to put Rose in it, and -- based on his resemblance to Calise's I have known -- possibly Angelo, too, as I suspect he is Calise-Castaldi, not Calise-Scalia.

I guess a key here would be to find a way to confirm that Vito Maria Calise had these other children -- Lucia, Giuseppe and Maria -- who are listed on the ship manifest with Maria Castaldi. Then you'd know Vito Maria is Dora's father and Lucia Restituto her mother? I feel pretty confident at this point that Vito Nicola is NOT Loreta (Dora) Calise's father. But I can absolutely confirm for you that Loreta Calise and Dora Calise are the same person, the woman who was married to Sebastiano Scalia, your grandfather....possibly not mine.

[TheclaM]

I am realizing that i may have completely misread that manifest, that Maria is bringing their own children to Vito. This is becoming complicated. But I'm very new to this. I need to find when Loretta DORA came to the US.

[TheclaM]

Could Loreta and Dora have been the same person, or sisters?

If Sebastiano Scalia was your GF, then you and I are 4th cousins once removed. At least that much I know. You can see my tree for him on Ancestry: https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/pe ... 4756/facts

After doing some more research, it looks like we must be cousins, indeed. My theory that the widowed Dora might have been pregnant when marrying Bennie can't hold water as they were married in 1918 and Angelo was born in 1920.

Nevertheless, having known both men personally (Angelo was my father) I'm still bothered by the fact that he was a fair-skinned man with hazel-blue eyes who looked much more like the Frank Calise currently appearing in "Vito Nicola Calise" line than anyone in the Scalia family. Something is still wrong with these lines... And Dora is haunting my dreams, all night long! Is it normal for these geneology rabbit holes to do that?

[tomatfirstvine]

Vito Calise and Maria Castaldi were my great-grandparents. So thank you for the link to their marriage registry! Their daughter, Maria, my grandmother, married Giovanni Romano in Brooklyn in 1929. They had three daughters, including my mother, and Maria died in 1936 or 37. My mother remembers Vito, her grandfather -- after her mother died he would visit the girls and pretend to eat worms from the backyard. Happy to be in touch with any other of their descendants.

[tomatfirstvine]

Also, if any of you has a clue as to how or if the two Vito Calises were related, I'd appreciate knowing it. Could Vito M be Vito N's uncle? Vito N's parents were Raffaele Calise and Lucia Esposito, so perhaps Raffaele was Vito M's brother?

[carubia]

On Ancestry, one can see the index for the marriage between Sebastiano Scalia and Dora Cataldo in Brooklyn on 21 Dec 1918. Someone should order the record (certificate #13457) from the NYC Archives and see who their parents were.