Looking for Di Caprio family from Naples

[musicalshore]

I am trying to find any info on my great grandmother from the Naples area, Carmela Di Caprio. I do not know the comune.

Her surname is frequently mispelled, often ridiculously - De Crapino, De Crapia, Decapiro, etc. making searches difficult.

Her NY marriage certificate has her age 20 in Apr 1906, putting her birth year at 1886 or 1885.

I believe she arrived at Ellis Island in 1905, although that may be wrong. The closest passenger record is from 1904 and would make her a couple of years older.

I cannot find a death record, although I believe she died young, in the 1920s.


She married Pasquale Russo from Sant’Antimo (15 Jan 1883 - 20 Oct 1918).

Her parents were Giuseppe and Rachele Perrica, although not sure exactly her mother’s maiden name.

The only other records I’ve found for her were when she had to leave her children with the Catholic protectorate, due to poverty.

I’ve been at this dead end for a while. Even my grandfather’s death certificate misspelled her name.

[MarcuccioV]

While Di Caprio is found predominantly all over the Naples area, Perrica is very rare (at least today) and is only found in a few communes -- a smattering in the northern provinces and in eastern Sicily. It will definitely be an uphill battle...

[rlw254]

Perreca/Perreco/Perrico is not uncommon in Napoli, particularly Vicaria. What makes this search difficult is that the years you need to search for Carmela's birth are not currently digitized in the districts of Napoli. Partial birth records in Vicaria for 1881, 1886, 1888, and 1889 are available, however these do not have indices and thousands of pages will need to be searched individually to see if you can discover any Di Caprio births to the expected parents. This will take some luck as the full years are not available.

There are three indexed records for births of children with the name Rachele Perreca here between 1848-1861 to the same couple. One of them, born 6 Apr 1861, has an 1882 marriage record notation on her birth record to a Giuseppe di Gregorio. This is perhaps a little interesting just because it wasn't uncommon to omit the actual surname in favor for the father's name so it's possible 'di Gregorio' is not really this Giuseppe's surname. This marriage record isn't available to check, however.

The 1904 ship manifest provides the name of her aunt, Maria di Caprio, though I wasn't able to find a useful ship manifest for Maria that gave a more specific place name. I appended another ship manifest to Carmela's profile here:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 95R-JSYQ-B
This makes it clear she had a brother, Giuseppe, living in Napoli. Additionally it suggests she was from the actual city of Napoli versus just using this as the nearest big town on Pasquale's naturalization. She was traveling with their two children.

[musicalshore]

It’s odd I can’t find a NY death certificate for her. Family lore has it that she died during the flu pandemic.

However, I found records from the Catholic Protectory where she left my grandfather Salvatore and his brother Joseph, claiming destitution. One record from 1926 states (correctly) that Pasquale died 8 years earlier, and that she died 6 years earlier, putting her out of range of the pandemic.

It also states that her daughter Teresa had gone to live with her aunt Anna Di Caprio on Staten Island, and that Sal and Joseph had briefly lived with an uncle Vincezo Di Caprio, in Brooklyn, but he couldn’t take care of them.

I managed to track down both Anna and Vincenzo. I believe Anna would have been born around 1882, based on census data. Vincenzo was naturalized and has 2 petitions for naturalization, from 1925 when he lived in Manhattan and from 1927 after he moved to Brooklyn.

His 1925 petition claims he arrived at Boston around 4 Jul 1905, ship unknown. The 1927 petition says he arrived in NY. Likely a question of interpretation as the ship would have arrived at Boston on the way to NY.

I found a Boston passenger list from 8 Jul 1907 and manifest, indicating a Giuseppe Di Caprio,49, traveling with his son Vincenzo, 12.

I also found an 1893 immigration record for a Giuseppe Di Caprio from Naples, and the age aligns with the 1907 record. It also says he could read & write, but Carmela was illiterate.

While I could surmise Vincenzo was Carmela’s brother, I have only indirect evidence. Less so for Anna Di Caprio, who may be her sister, or maybe she’s her aunt “Ma Di Caprio”. My family was loose about who we called aunt and uncle. I had aunts and uncles who had no family relation. She could also be a cousin.

I am surprised by all the trips between Italy and USA made by the Di Caprios. Vincenzo and Anna’s life in America is well documented, Carmela’s is not. I am wondering if she simply abandoned her children and returned to Italy. Pasquale was buried in the public cemetery for the destitute and he has a death certificate.