Finding Your Italian Ancestors in the US Census

The United States Census is a marvelous tool for genealogy research. It has been taken every 10 years from 1790 through 2000, and in some years the census lists not only names, ages and birthplaces, but also give the relationship of individuals in a household, when ancestors came to the U.S., if and when they were naturalized, and other important pieces of information.

Those looking for their Italian roots will be most interested in censuses taken between 1850 and 1930 for a few reason, foremost because this is the period that saw the biggest Italian immigration into the United States, but also because the census from 1790 through 1840 only named the head of the household, everyone else in the household was just listed in categories. For example — 2 females over 16, 1 male under 16 and finally because censuses after 1930 are still confidential and the information they contain is not open to the public.

The census from 1850 through 1930 lists each member of the household and usually gives the relationship to the head of the house. It also gives age (later years give birth month and year) and place of birth (usually just the state or foreign country).Note that unfortunately the 1890 census was almost totally destroyed by fire so there is a 20 year gap between 1880 and 1900.

I suggest that you begin your search with the 1930 census and work backward. you will probably have more information on relatives who were alive in 1930 than earlier and you can work your way backwards as more names are found and linked together. For instance I found almost every branch of my family in the 1930s census, and the following information about them:

The Santora's names all listed: Nicholas, Grace, Anthony, Jerry, Madeline, Filimina, Agnes, Angelina, Lucy, and Dorothy, as well as Loglio's (sic - should be Lovaglio) Rocco, Olga, Angelina, Ralph, and Nicholas, all living at 28 Floyd Street, an apartment building which Nicholas Santora owned in Brooklyn NY and that Rocco was renting his apartment there for $20/month. I also found a list of all their occupations: Nicholas was a baker at an unnamed bakery Anthony and Jerry are listed as upholsterers Madeline, Filimina, Agnes, and Angelina are all listed as seamstresses with different specialities; and Rocco Lovaglio's occupation was a sole cutter at a shoe factory.

The DeVito's: Antonio, Carmella, Edward, and Michael can also be found on the 1930 census, living at 657 Wythe Avenue Brooklyn NY an apartment which they rented for $30/month. The occupation listed for Antonio, Michael and Eddie was Barber, and their industry is listed as "own shop".

Aurelia DeVito was married by 1930, and appears in the census as "illegible" Tedone, and is incorrectly listed as a male. "his" "wife" is listed as Fulvatore (maybe Salvatore?)

I also found my mother's family. Leonard C Butcher, Alice Atwood, Laura and Bernice Atwood appear on the 1930 census At 4123 Whitman Ave, Seattle City, WA. It looks as if at the time of the census they were living in different apartments in the same building so perhaps this is is how they met. Alice is listed as a factory worker and Leonard as the foreman of a lumber yard, Alice was born in Minnesota, Leonard in England. Both the girls were born in Washington State Leonard's immigration year appears to be 1914, and he was not Naturalized as of 1930. All this I know only from the census listing.

My wife's Grandfather Henry H. Atkins is also in the 1930's census. His age was 28, his wife is listed as Jese M. 34, Children Janice11 mo and Henry H. Jr. 2 and stepdaughter Millicent Wigfield 11 also appear on the 1930 census all living along the Baltimore Pike in Allegheny MD. Henry's occupation is listed as a machinist at a stub mill.

So you see, there is a wealth of information that can be gleaned from the census.

Individuals are listed in a census by year, then state, then county, and district. You must know the state to begin a search. Within the 1850–1930 period, unless you know a fairly exact location, the most important consideration is the existence of an index. In an earlier posting about the Ellis Island ship manifest archive I recommended searching on relatives with unusual names first. The strategy is still a sound one. You can also take advantage of Soundex Indexes. See my post on the Soundex System.

The 1920 census has been indexed by the government by surnames within a household using the Soundex system. The 1900 census also has a Soundex index for all states. The 1910 census has only been indexed for the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia. Unfortunately, this omits some of the most populous states such as New York and New Jersey. The Soundex index to the 1880 census only covers households that had children under the age of 10. The Soundex indexes were created by copying the original handwritten entries from the census. The index cards for some years are also handwritten. This means that you are reading the handwriting of one person who wrote down what he or she thought another person had written. Needless to say, errors can occur. In all indexes, if you do not find the name you are looking for, you should look under other letters that might be written similarly — F for T, S for L, etc. You should also assume that an L (4) and a T (3) within the name might have been mistaken and search other Soundex codes. Be alert for unexpected spellings of the name you are looking for. Earlier Censuses and Printed Indexes exist, but are beyond the scope of this posting. The Family History Library in Salt Lake City has an extensive collection, but they do not circulate.

Many states also had their own census, sometimes at more frequent intervals. There are census returns in other countries also. Canada and Great Britain have census for every 10 years since 1841. There are not nearly as many indexes for these census as for the U.S. ones, but there is an online index of the 1871 census for Ontario. Because of their 100 year confidentiality rule, only 1841–1891 are open to the public. They can also be obtained from the Family History Library. No matter what area you are researching, one of the first resources you should look for is a census.

All U.S. censuses are available at the 11 offices of the National Archives. Many of the censuses are also available in many genealogy libraries and Family History Centers. All censuses are available on loan from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City through your local Family History Center. There are also many sources online for your search, most require a small membership fee to access them.

Mozzarella

Mozzarella is a soft, creamy stretch-curd cheese that tastes like pure heaven. I have childhood memories of my Uncle Andy coming back from one of his shopping excursions moments before the antipasto was served and pulling a container out of a paper bag filled with a huge oval of white mozzarella in salted water, and cutting a taste off for himself and I before turning it over to my Aunt Agnes.

The Mozzarella I grew up with in the 1960's in NY was probably often made from cow's milk, what Calabrians would have called "Fioradilatte" (flower of milk) rather than "mozzarella di bufala" (buffalo mozzarella) but if I know my Uncle Andy, he probably found and purchased the buffalo milk mozzarella whenever possible. My uncle had a love of entertaining his family and friends that I must have inherited, and often when I am shopping for good food I think of him.

Mozzarella-making begins the same way as many cheeses, a small bit of started cheese is added to milk (in this case from cows or water buffalo) which is warmed and curdled and allowed to set for an hour. The curds are then cut into small pieces and allowed to rest for several hours and the whey is discarded.

I mentioned earlier that Mozzarella is a pulled-curd cheese, the process is called Pasta Filata in Italian, and involves placing the curds in a hot water bath for another several hours at about ninety-five degrees centigrade. When the curds are ready they will begin to float. Most of the liquid is poured off and the curds are mixed and kneaded until it achieves a stringy texture. At this point a thick strand may be pulled out, and small loaves cut off, or small strands may be pulled out and braided together.

Now the Mozzarella is ready to be served. Ideally mozzarella should be consumed within a few days, though it can be preserved in salt water for about a week-and-a-half, smoking will preserve it longer.

A six ounce ball of mozzarella, it's about $4-$8, Rich, creamy, fresh taste: it's priceless, but the memories of a happy childhood: well, it's Italian.

Sicilian Chicken Dishes

During the last weeks of my mother's life, her good friend Tannina came down from New York to stay with us and to be with Mom here in North Carolina. I cannot begin to tell you the comfort, and ease that she managed to bring into our house, or the debt of gratitude that I feel toward her. While she was with us she introduced us to two wonderful Sicilian dishes, and whenever we make them, we think of her.
The first we call Taninna's chicken, but the second one is chicken, artichoke and olive, which in Americanized Italiano is Chicken Carcofi-e-olive which sounds like Chicken Kar choe fee ah leave ay. and i would submit is just as catchy as Chicken Cacciatorri. Here is the recipe:

Chicken Carciofi e Olive

Saute an onion (choped into large chunks) in olive oil,
Add chicken cubes, continuing to saute till chicken is tender
add black olives,
add either frozen or a couple jars of artichoke hearts
add a can of chicken broth and simmer until artichokes are tender.

Yum.

The DeVitos come to America

Unfortunately I know very little about my paternal Grandfather's side of the family. I have learned that on Dec 19,1920, Antonio De Vito, a Barber from Ruvo Di Puglia, Puglia, Italy brought his dress-maker Daughter, 22-year- old Aurelia, and his 14 year old son, Felice, to the United States. Once there the family stayed at Number 69 Brookfield St. White Plains, NY; at the home of Antonio's brother-in-law, Rocco Cotaldo Cioce. Rocco was the brother of Antonio's wife Carmella.

A few months later, on May 9, 1921 his wife Carmella, and Antonio and Carmella's older son Michele, joined the rest of the family in the US. Antonio and Carmella and the two boys moved from White Plains to Brooklyn, NY. Once there Antonio opened a barber shop, where both Michele and Felice worked.

Michele went by the name Michael, and remained a bachelor his whole life, and Felice, my grandfather, married my grandmother, Madelina Santora. Aurelia may have gone by the name Laura. She married into the Tedone family, and her husband owned a car dealership on Long Island either in Brooklyn or Queens. One of her sons was an arranger for Les Brown, and his "Band of Renown".

Rocco Cioce, the brother-in-law settled in White Plains where he became a stone mason, and his handiwork may still be seen in the area. His son became a stone carver, mostly creating headstones and monuments. He and members of his family are buried in White Plains, where I have visited their grave site. I have also been in touch with their decedents, cousins I would never have known about if it weren't for the manifests available from the Ellis Island website.

An Offer I Could Refuse

I just received my renewal for my Sons-of-Italy membership, and along with the regular paperwork was a plea for donations. The substance of this letter was rather odd. It stated that historically Italian-Americans were treated poorly, second only to African Americans, but thanks to the efforts of the Sons of Italy they weren't lynching Italians anymore, which I suppose is a good thing, though I really wasn't living in fear of, nor had I even considered taking precautions against that possibility. According to this letter we Italian-Americans owe our lynch-free existence to the efforts of the Sons of Italy and their on-going efforts to eliminate the association of Italian Americans with the Mafia, Cosa Nostra, and or organized crime, and quelling this association is something we Italian-Americans should be passionate about. It was an ill-conceived letter that trivialized the actual historical significance of the Sons of Italy.

I have to say that my passions are infinitely more stirred at the thought of revisionism and the dilution of historical facts in the name of political-correctness, than they are by the fear that someone might incorrectly identify me as the descendant of a mobster. As far as I know, most of my family was not involved in organized crime, but I feel pretty certain that organized mafia-like activity had a great deal to do with my family's entrance into the United States in that they had the help of a godfather-like figure known as a padrone who secured my Great-Grandfather a position with a bakery, and provided him with information so that he could book passage and enter the United States.

A padrone, though not necessarily connected with a particular family or "syndicate" was a man who helped laborers or tradesmen and their entire families to come to the United States. The padrone would act as banker, loan office, travel agent, interpreter, and legal counselor for these immigrants. Often dishonest, he rented out the immigrant's services to line his pockets, and paid the immigrant a mere pittance. The padrone might also take advantage of the ignorance of his immigrants by selling them groceries at grossly inflated prices. If an immigrant had a skill, other than a laborer, or was of an entrepreneurial-bent the padrone might help the immigrant land a position or start a business with the expectation of an on-going percentage of the profits.

The Sicilian Mafia certainly was a large part of the Italian-American lifestyle in all of the major cities, along with similar organizations like the Neapolitan Camorra gangs, the thing is, the bulk of the Italian population was made up of victims of these groups, rather than members. Though organized crime may have provided resources to immigrants that otherwise would have been completely unavailable to them, and so-called mobsters put themselves in the position to do favors for otherwise law-abiding Italian businesses that enabled them to thrive in the repressive anti-Italian, anti-immigrant climate of the time, the kickbacks and protection money placed a crippling burden upon them. Those Italian-American businesses that succeeded did so in spite of, rather than because of these organizations. Fortunately legitimate institutions such as the Sons of Italy also began to spring up around the turn of the last century to work to better the life of the early Italian immigrants by providing them with articulate leadership, responsible representation in civic matters.

The Order of the Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) was founded in 1905 by Dr. Vincent Sellaro, its principal organizer; Giuseppe Carlino, a sculptor; Pietro Viscardi and Roberto Merlo, two barbers; Ludovico Ferrari, a pharmacist; and Antonio Marzullo, an attorney at law. Their aim was to create a support system for all Italian immigrants that would assist them with becoming U.S. citizens, provide health/death benefits and educational opportunities and offer assistance with assimilation in America. They established free schools to teach immigrants English and centers to help them become U.S. citizens. They established orphanages and homes for the elderly, life insurance and mortuary funds, credit unions, welfare societies and scholarship funds to aid members in need. During World Wars I and II, OSIA members bought war bonds and war stamps to support the war effort, and lodges competed with each other to contribute the most money to the Red Cross. In World War II, the OSIA Supreme Council (national officers) issued a resolution urging members to donate one day's salary to the national defense, and to date, OSIA members have given more than $93 million to educational programs, disaster relief, cultural advancement and medical research.

There are certainly many reasons to give generously to the OSIA, but I don't think that anti-defamation efforts against mafia-stereotypes and boycotting "The Soprano's" have kept my neck out of the noose. And though it is true that very few Italian-Americans have any connection at all to the Mafia or Organized crime, it is still part of our heritage, and I embrace it, after all, it's Italian.

Finding relatives on the Ellis Island Website

The Ellis Island Website www.ellisisland.org provides a wonderful resource for finding one's ancestors and filling in gaps about one's family history, and it was the basis for the two preceding posts, and for a future post:
The De Vitos come to America. Note the space between the "De" and "Vito". Apparently I have been spelling my name wrong all my life, and it made it darned hard to find members of my family in the copious manifests available on the Ellis Island Website.
Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.

Ellis Island in New York was the port of entry for thousands upon thousands of immigrants to the United States. Today the Ellis Island - Statue of Liberty Foundation maintains a fantastic database of ship manifests - passenger list forms that were completed by the steamship companies, and presented to government officials upon arrival at Ellis Island. The digital images of the actual manifests are stored along with painstakingly transcribed data points such as the passenger's first and last name, age, date-of-arrival, place-of-origin (sort of), and the name-of-the-ship. Further information may be gleaned from the digitized image of the manifest, such things as the passenger's occupation, who sponsored them, where they were headed within the United States, and who they were traveling with. But one must beware. Transcription errors exist, some introduced by the modern transcribers because most of the records were entered by hand, and some of that handwriting is very hard to read. Some of the errors exist in miss-communication between the ship record keeper and the passenger, sometimes due to language barriers, mistrust on the part of the passenger for the authority figure, or sloppiness and or tiredness of the recorder. Here are some tips for finding your immigrant ancestors.

1. If you can find out from anyone the approximate date that your ancestors arrived, or the birth year of the immigrant, it will help narrow your search, as will the maiden names of any of the female immigrants, approximate dates of arrival, or the name of the ship they arrived on.

2. Start with the immigrant with the strangest first name, and search on that person's first and last name. If the individual with the unusual first name is a woman, try searching under their maiden name first, especially if they are from Italy, France, Portugal, or Spain. If you do not find that person's listing try to broaden the Field with alternate spellings of the last name. The immigrant's name may not be included correctly in the Ellis Island database due to typos, illegible handwriting and other errors. Start with common misspellings. If that doesn't work, then try reversing a few letters, such as "Devtio" for "Devito."

3. Romance languages such as French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese may "genderize" or pluralize the last name by changing trailing vowels. For example Devito - Devita. Names formed by using smaller words (as in "de vita" which means "of life" may be joined or separated at the word breaks. Also names formed with leading "De" "Di" "Da" may all be interchangeable, and consonants that are now double in the name may once have been a single consonant, and vice versa (e.g. Devitta/ De Vito). Names that end in a long "e" sound now may have had a "y" appended, or have once ended in an "i" "i-a" blends pronounced "ya" may become simplified to a single vowel. There is a phonetic search available on the Ellis Island Website.

4. Certain letters may also may have been confused when transcribing from the original script. Some letters in old handwriting are often difficult to recognize or are commonly confused because of curls and flourishes, plus the differences in old style writing and modern day writing style. In old Italian script, for instance, the upper-case "S" looks like an "F".

Commonly Confused Upper Case Letters
F - H
J - I
K - R
S - L, F
O - Q
P - R
U - V
W - M, UU

Commonly Confused Lower Case Letters
b - f
c - e
d - el, cl
e - c, i
i - e, l
j - i
k - t
s - l
t - c
ss - fs, ps
w - vv
y - g

5. If you are still not finding the individual with the unusual name, try the first initial and various spellings of the last name, or no initial and various spellings of the last name, but limit the search by the approximate birth year of the individual.

6. Search for other individuals they may have traveled with.

7. If all else fails, try reversing the first and last name.

8. Immigrants may have "Americanized" their name. (e.g.: Nicola became Nicholas, Grazia became Grace, my Uncle Andy thought Anthony sounded too Italian, my Grandfather Felice Ettore DeVito went by Eddie, and my aunt Agness was actually named Assunta).

9. If you know the name of the ship and approximate date of arrival, you can search by ship.

10. Try the the Ellis Island One-Step Search Tool developed by Stephen P. Morse. This is an amazing resource that allows you to specify surname, boat name, year and/or age of arrival, port, ethnicity, etc. in just one step.

Well, I hope you find this useful, just be persistent - stubborn even. As traits go, it's Italian.

An Italian Christmas Eve in August

In my family Christmas Eves were spent at my Uncle Andy's and Aunt Agnes' house, and included several courses of fish. I've been told that some Italians say there needs to be seven different types of fish prepared (or 11, or 12, or 13) but I honestly don't remember this ever being discussed, I mean every meal at my aunt and uncle's house consisted of multiple courses, but on days like Christmas Eve the courses were not supposed to contain meat, so instead we had fish. My dad agrees that he never knew of a set number of fish-dishes, and if there was, he knows of no reason or significance in that number.

The reason I bring this up in August is that my wife Karen has had a craving for one of these dishes for the past few weeks. Well tonight I decided to indulge. Truly, it seems the perfect dish for a hot summer day: a fish salad prepared with a olive oil and lemon dressing, and featuring black olives, slices of celery and chopped Italian parsley served chilled.

The fish featured in those long-ago Christmas eve dinners was usually Baccala. The long slender salted Baccala could usually be found in Italian delicatessens like "DaBilla Bros." the shop around the corner from our apartment on 13th street in Manhattan, NY when I was between the ages of 6 and 12. I can almost smell the way that deli smelled, with its huge cheeses hanging from the ceiling, boxes of panatone (a northern Italian Christmas cake) stacked on the shelves and nougat candy by the cash register. The Baccala was whole salt-dessicated fish, and they stood heads-up in a barrel in much the same way umbrellas stood in an umbrella stand.

Baccala is a pain to prepare, and I have a deepening respect for the trouble Aunt Agnes and Nana would go through to prepare our holiday feasts! The Baccala must be rinsed and soaked and have its water changed several times for about a day before you can cook it - a bit too high maintenance for Karen and me and our hectic lifestyle, so for Karen's supper I picked Whiting, an alternative which often made it to my Aunt and Uncles table on a Christmas eve. Here is my take on the recipe; it tasted a lot like I remembered it, with plenty of garlic because (wait for it...) it's Italian:


1 lb Whiting (or Baccala, soaked and drained*)
3 or 4 cloves garlic, chopped into large pieces**
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
1 can whole cured black olives
3 celery stalk, diced
1 bunch of parsley chopped
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Place fish in a medium saucepan.
Add enough water to cover fish by 1 inch.
Bring the water to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes or until the fish flakes easily. Do not overcook.
Remove the fish and drain well.
In a bowl mix the garlic, olives, celery, and black pepper, parsley, lemon juice, and olive oil.
Break the fish apart in medium pieces and add to the bowl.
Toss the fish with the garlic-olive mixture.
Refrigerate and let sit for at least one half hour before serving.
Serve salad cold.
--------------------------------------------
* If using Baccala (salt cured cod), rinse it and soak it in cold water for 24 hours in the refrigerator, changing the water 2-3 times a day, then rinse, and remove the bones and skin.

** My aunt never minced garlic, she left the pieces large so the diner could remove them if so desired.