Labor Day- Occupational Research

Labor Day is a good time to reflect on the occupations of our ancestors.  My great grandfather, Antonino Cimino, was a contadino or peasant farm laborer in Sicily.  He immigrated to Omaha, Nebraska in 1906 and the 1910 census shows that he worked as a laborer for the railroad.
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Antonino moved his family to Sioux City, Iowa about 1912.  On his 1918 World War I draft card, his occupation was written as:  Laborer, C.M. St. P. at 22nd St. Yards, Sioux City, Iowa.  The abbreviation stands for Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad also known as the "Milwaukee Road".  The 1920 census states that "Tony" was working in the Round House at the rail yard.  Today the yard has been turned into a museum known as the Milwaukee Yard.  A visit to this museum is on my bucket list!  In the meantime, we all can take a mini tour of the Railroad Shops here.

My grandfather, Richard Cimino, worked in a packing house in Sioux City, according to the 1930 census.  By 1947, he had moved to Sacramento, California.  I was able to trace his work history through the Sacramento city directories:

• 1947 casing worker, Andrew DeWied Casing Company.
• 1949 his occupation changed to "driver" no company name listed.
• 1952 laborer with State Division of Highways
• 1953 stockman with State Division of Highways
• 1956 clerk State Dept of Public Works
• 1958-1975 storekeeper State Division of Highways
• 1977 retired

My father, Richard J. Cimino, worked while going to school  at a service station and also baled hay.   After high school, he worked as an Electrician Apprentice for 18 months but did not like that there were periods of unemployment in the construction industry.  From 1956 to 1986,  he was employed by Pacific Telephone as a supply man, installer, repairman and desk man on the test board. While in Woodland in the 1950's, he worked the graveyard shift supplying the trucks for the next day.  There was a tomato field next to his building. He would pick ripe tomatoes and sprinkle them with salt for a delicious snack.  

In Sacramento, he worked at 24th & S Streets, as a supply man and later as an installer.  He enjoyed going to the homes of customers when he was a telephone installer, especially the older homes.   Sometimes he would offer to buy their unwanted trash that became his treasure.  On one occasion, I remember that Dad took us to an old house that he had serviced so we could dig antique bottles in the backyard. Dad has always had a passion for antiques and collectibles.  

My father drove a truck similar to this one while employed with Pacific Bell in Sacramento and Santa Rosa.
When I worked for the phone company in the summers of 1973 &1974, I drove a Ford Econoline at Lake Tahoe.

When I was in college, Dad was able to get me a summer job with the phone company.  He transferred to Santa Rosa and he says that was the best thing that ever happened to him.  He loved the weather and the people of Sonoma County.  After retirement from the phone company, he was employed as a school bus driver for the Windsor School District.  He was fully retired by 1996.  His retirement business has been buying and selling collectible toy cars.  He had a camper van that he used to travel to toy shows inscribed with "Cimino's Machines in Miniature."

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UPCOMING EVENT:

One of my clients is interested in documenting her ancestor's occupational experience as a cowboy on the Chisolm Trail.  The 1867 Settlement in Texas City is already well documented as a "Freedom Village" founded by ex-slaves who were cowboys on the Butler Ranch in Galveston County.  All are welcome to join the 5th Annual historical street festival in celebration of the 1867 Settlement Historical District. The event will include a parade, a trail ride and a new historical exhibit.  See the flyer below for more information.

WHEN: September 26, 2015 @ 9:00 am – 7:00 pm
WHERE: 1867 Settlement Historical District & Bell House Museum
106 South Bell Drive
Texas City, TX 77591
COST: Free
CONTACT: Cynthia at 409-770-3085 or Frankie at 409-599-1967

Celebrating Citizenship in a New Century with Nonnu.

I began searching for Nonnu's citizenship papers in 1992, but finally found them in 2015.   Nonnu is the Sicilian name for grandfather.  My great grandfather, Antonino Cimino is known as "Nonnu" by the extended Cimino clan.  He was born in Carlentini in the Siracusa province of Sicily on December 24, 1878 according to the Carlentini birth records.

I had a very bad experience with the Immigration and Naturalization Service back in 1992.

I signed the application in February 1991 and INS finally found my application and check over a year later.  By that time the check was noncollectable.  I was so disgusted with the process that it took me over twenty years to try again.   All is forgiven now!  I am just happy to finally have Nonnu's citizenship papers.

When I examined his Certificate of Citizenship and compared it with the other papers in the file, I was struck by the fact that Nonnu had his own difficulties with the Naturalization Service and the District Court of Dakota County Nebraska.  Note the following Affidavit for Issuing New Naturalization Paper in Lieu of One Lost or Destroyed:

I recommend that you review the "facts" in naturalization papers with caution.  The following image of the Declaration of Intention has the wrong information for his date of birth and the name of the vessel.  As stated earlier he was born on 24 December 1878 and this document says 15 December 1876. The Declaration of Intention says he emigrated to the U.S.A. from Naples, Italy on the vessel "Barbados."  The actual vessel where his name appears on the passenger list is the S.S. Barbarossa.

It is also notable that "Nonnu" AKA Tony Cimino signed the Declaration of Intention with an X in 1923.  By the time he finally received his Certificate of Citizenship in 1930 he could sign his name.

The first paper in the process was the Petition for Naturalization.  This 1921 document is packed with information but it also has a few inaccuracies with the birth dates that are not obscured.  These mistakes in the facts may be due to Nonnu's fuzzy memories or to a communication breakdown with the Dakota County court clerk in South Sioux City, Nebraska.  Suffice it to say that further documentation is required to ascertain the "true facts."

The picture of Nonnu on the Certificate of Citizenship was an unexpected bonus.  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service now has an online application process that appears to have improved the process tremendously.  Check out the USCIS Genealogy page for more information:
http://www.uscis.gov/genealogy

UPCOMING PRESENTATION ON IMMIGRATION

Friday, July 31, 2015 — 8:30 AM to Noon

Topic: Immigration and Emigration Records
Frances Sprott Goforth Memorial Genealogy Weekend
Cost: Free
Location: Huntsville Public Library, 1219 13th Street, Huntsville, Texas 77340

The Weekend is hosted by Huntsville Public Library & Walker County Genealogical Society. The Huntsville Public Library is a FamilySearch Affiliate Library.

Pre-registration is encouraged, but not required. For more information go to www.myhuntsvillelibrary.com or contact: Mary Kokot, Adult Services Coordinator at 936-291-5471.

Italian Naming Patterns

In honor of Italian Heritage Month, I offer this little anecdote about the names of my paternal grandfather and his siblings.

Italy has a long standing tradition that determines how children are named:

• The first male is named after his paternal grandfather.
• The second male is named after his maternal grandfather.
• The first female is named after her paternal grandmother.
• The second female is named after her maternal grandmother.

One exception to this pattern is if the first son or daughter dies, the parents will give their next child the same name.  This happened in my family.  My Cimino great grandparents named their first child, Carmela after the paternal grandmother, Carmela Grasso.  The first Carmela was born 28 April 1903 in Carlentini in the Siracusa province of Sicily. She died 14 October 1903 in Carlentini.  The second child was also a daughter and she was born 8 August 1904 in Carlentini and again this child was named Carmela.

My grandfather was the third child and he was born 30 October 1906 in Lentini.    He was the first male child and he was named after his paternal grandfather, Sebastiano Cimino.  Sebastiano took the name Richard when he arrived in the U.S.  We always knew him as Grandpa Dick.   His father arrived in the U.S. for the first time in April of 1907.  He was working in Omaha, Nebraska but returned to Sicily in the fall of 1908.  He returned to the U.S. in February of 1909.  On the 3^rd of July 1909, Uncle John was born in Lentini.  Since he was the second son he was named after the maternal grandfather, Giovanni Ossino.

The other exception to the Italian naming pattern is the impact of immigration.  By April 1911 the entire family had arrived in Omaha, Nebraska.  Shortly thereafter they moved to Sioux City, Iowa.  The next child, Sarah was born 28 Mar 1912 in Sioux City, Woodbury County, Iowa.  She should have been named Concetta after the maternal grandmother, Concetta Bruno.  Concetta may have been her actual birth name, but we always knew her as Sarah.

Uncle Fred, Uncle Sam, Aunt Josie and Aunt Rose were the next children born in 1913, 1915, 1917 and 1918 respectively.

Wedding of Carmela Cimino and Pasquale Defazio. My grandfather, Richard Sebastiano Cimino is seated on far right and my great grandfather, Antonino Cimino is in back between the bride and groom. Jean Defazio Hewitt believes that the man on the far right is John Giudice and the one directly behind the girl with the flowers is, Frank LaScala.  The rest of the people are unknown. Please contact Nick Cimino at AncestorPuzzles@gmail.com if you know their names.

The second Carmela died in childbirth on the 1st of June 1920. On the 29^th of August 1921, the last child Camilla Cimino was born to Tony “Antonino” Cimino and his wife Mary [Maria Ossino].  Even though the spelling is slightly different, we think that the naming tradition insisted that this child should be named after the paternal grandmother.

An Italian Wedding in Sioux City, Iowa?

UPDATE: March 19, 2020

This photograph has mystified me from the first time that I saw it on the wall of my aunt Betty's house. That was over twenty years ago but this last fall I finally started to find some of the missing puzzle pieces. Aunt Betty told me that it was a picture of the wedding of my grandfather's sister, Carmela Cimino. The family story was that Carmela married a man named Defazio. Aunt Betty told me that her father (my grandfather), Sebastiano "Richard" Cimino was seated on the far right and my great grandfather, Antonino Cimino was in back between the bride and groom.

FILE NAME: cimino-defazio.jpg

TITLE OF PHOTO: Wedding of Carmela Cimino and Pasquale "Peter" Defazio.

LOCATION OF PHOTO: Sioux City, Iowa

DATE: April 1918

My quest to solve the mystery of who was in this photo led me to Jean Defazio Hewitt, a descendant of Pasquale "Pete" Defazio who believes that the man on the far left is John Giudice. Frank LaScala is standing second from left behind the girl with the flowers. Frank’s wife was Teresa Defazio, sister of the groom, Pasquale Defazio.  My quest now is to find out which one of these women was Teresa Defazio LaScala.

The story of Carmela Cimino DeFazio is a sad one as she died in 1920 in Sioux City, Iowa. Her death occured on June 1, 1920, two months before her sixteenth birthday. We were always told that she died in childbirth but her death certificate says she died of acute myocarditis which is a viral infection of the lining of the heart.

Carmela Cimino was born in Carlentini, Siracusa, Sicilia on 8 Aug 1904. My grandpa, Sebastiano "Dick" Cimino was born in Lentini 30 Oct 1906 perhaps at the home of his maternal grandparents. His father, Antonino Cimino left Carlentini for the United States in search of work in 1907 and arrived in New York on the 9th of April. He returned to Sicily probably in 1908 then returned to the U.S. with his brother Alfio and his sister, Lucia in February 1909. Lucia Cimino was traveling with her daughter, Sebastiana Calafiore and all four of the travelers were bound for Omaha to join up with Lucia's husband, Filadelfio Calafiore.

Back in 1996, I made contact with the son of Alfio Cimino who lived in Milan, Italy. His name was Antonino Cimino, named after my great grandfather. Here is his account of the voyage across the Atlantic: "In the first years of 1900, my father and your great-grandfather left for the U.S. to search for work but they had little luck. They worked on the construction of the railroads, slept in sheds like slaves and earned very little money. My father, Alfio returned to Italy after three years in the U.S. and your great-grandfather remained in America and we never heard any more about him."

When my great grandfather returned to the U.S. he left behind a pregnant wife. Their second son, Giovanni "John" Cimino was born in Carlentini 3 July 1909. The mother and her three children sailed from Palermo 18 Mar 1911 on the Steamship Friedrich der Grosse and arrived at the Port of New York 31 Mar 1911. The family was reunited in Omaha, Nebraska which by that time had formed a "Little Italy".

Here is what the book Italians of Omaha published in 1941 had to say about Omaha's Little Italy as it existed in the 1930s:

"The most distinct Italian colony, from an ethnic standpoint, and in which segregation is most intense with the highest ratio of foreign-born, is Omaha's Little Italy. It lies in the eastern part of the city, south of the downtown business and industrial section. It is here that the Sicilians are in the majority with an astoundingly heavy representation from the towns of Lentini and Carlentini...if one were to stand on the corner of Sixth and Pierce Streets and question the Italians who passed, the tabulation would show Lentini and Carlentini in the Province of Syracuse as the place of origin of seven out of ten persons."

Despite the presence of neighbors and friends from Carlentini and Lentini, the Cimino family left the familiar confines of Omaha's Little Italy a year later. The next child, Sarah, was born in Sioux City, Iowa on 28 March 1912. Antonino had found work in Sioux City as a teamster and by 1918 was employed as a laborer at the 22nd Street Yards of the "Milwaukee Road". This historic railroad is officially known as the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. While the railroad does not exist as a separate entity anymore, it is still commemorated in buildings like the historic Milwaukee Road Depot in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The 22nd Street Yards in Sioux City have also been preserved as a railroad museum. The museum's website is at www.milwaukeerailroadshops.org. The site originally encompassed over 50 acres of land and incorporated over 25 buildings to include a 30 stall roundhouse, machine/blacksmith shop, car/carpenter shop, steam power plant, water softener plant, stores warehouse, sand drying house and two wooden sand towers, a 300 ton capacity wood coal tower and more. The complex also included over 10 miles of track and employed over 500 people. 

Sioux City had become home for the Ciminos. Antonino's sister, Lucia and her husband, Filadelfio Calafiore had also moved from Omaha to Sioux City by 1920. Filadelfio had found work as a laborer at a packing house in Sioux City. It is quite possible that one or more of the Calafiore family is featured in this wedding picture. Lucia and Filadelfio had two daughters, Sebastiana also known as Nettie and Carmela also known as Della born in 1903  and 1909 respectively. These two girls would be about the right age to match with the two bridesmaids holding flowers and the younger girl on the left but the pictures that I have for Nettie and Della do not seem to match the girls in the wedding photo.

The Calafiore family: father: Filadelifo "Phil" Calafiore, mother: Lucia Cimino, daughters: Nettie and Della.

Nettie and Della Calafiore

The railroads and the packing houses in Sioux City employed many Italians. These Italians became the "extended family" of the Ciminos despite having origins from many other places in Italy. The two men identified by Jean Defazio Hewitt in the photo must have been part of that extended family.

Frank LaScala was employed as an oiler in an engine room in 1920. The census for that year enumerates him with his wife "Tressa", son, "January" and sister-in-law "Johanna" Defazio.  One would presume from this census record that Frank LaScala's wife, "Tressa", or Teresa was a Defazio. The death certificate of Teresa LaScala confirms that her maiden name was Defazio.  

SOURCE: Ancestry.com. Iowa, Death Records, 1920-1940 [database on-line]. 

The death certificate names her parents as Father: Anthony Defizio and Mother: Carmali Tucchi. These names are in conflict with the names of the parents of Pasquale Defazio that he provided in his second marriage record which are Pasquale Defazio and Carmella Grece.   Carmali Tucchi and Carmella Grece do sound similar but Anthony and Pasquale do not match at all.

The 1930 census shows that the mother of Pasquale Defazio was living with his family. The obituary for Teresa LaScala lists her brother, Pasquale Defazio as a survivor.

SOURCE: Sioux City Journal, Sioux City, Iowa, Saturday, 27 Aug 1938, Page 15 on Newspapers.com

It would seem likely that Teresa Defazio LaScala is one of the people in the Cimino-Defazio wedding photo.  I am in the process of contacting descendants of Frank LaScala and Teresa Defazio to see if they have a picture of them.  Here is the person in the photograph that I believe to be Frank LaScala.

1918- The man is thought to be Frank LaScala.  The woman may be his wife Teresa Defazio LaScala.

John Giudice owned an Italian restaurant called John's Place in Sioux City. I could not find him in the 1920 census of Sioux City. Jean had said that he ran a restaurant in the neighborhood but he was not there in 1920 nor could I find him in the 1930 census. Jean could not recall the exact spelling of the name and variant spellings always present a difficulty when searching Italian names. I finally found his naturalization record which amazingly included a photograph.

There is a definite resemblace between this photograph of John Giudice in 1939 and the man on the left in the wedding photo taken in 1918. John Giudice was married to Felicia Defazio. Here is the 1918 image that may be Giovanni "John" Giudice:

1918-This is the man thought to be John Giudice. The mother of Pasquale Defazio may be in front of him.

Here is the obituary for Felicia Defazio Giudice:

Perhaps one of her descendants named in the obituary might have an old picture of her that we could compare to the 1918 image.

A family photo of Carmela's headstone showed her name as "Camela Defozeo" Aug 8, 1903 to June 1, 1920. This mispelling is another example of the difficulty of searching Italian names in U.S. records. Our family records told me that Carmela Defazio was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Sioux City. In September of 2011 my wife and I flew from Houston to Omaha and then drove north to Sioux City. It was a pilgrimage to the Sioux City which was the site of so much of the Cimino family history. There were several cemeteries to visit with family buried on both the Iowa and Nebraska sides of the Missouri River which divides the two states. The family was living in South Sioux City, Nebraska by 1930 and my great grandfather, Antonino Cimino remained in "South Soo" until he died in 1963. Antonino and three of his sons, Richard, John and Sam each had houses on the same street in South Sioux City. My father, Richard Jr. was born in South Sioux City 5 Mar 1934. My dad lived there until my grandpa relocated his family to Sacramento in the 1940s. I was born in Sacramento in 1954.

We visited Calvary Cemetery in September 2011 and after an extensive search we found Carmela's grave marked with a substantial headstone with a cross on top in the Marian Section of the cemetery. The gravestone is the centerpiece of the Defazio family burial lots. Buried near her are her husband, Pete Defazio, 1893-1965; her mother-in-law, Carmela Defazio, 1865-1936; and her husband's second wife, Mary Pironaggi Defazio, 1903-2002. After seeing the Defazio graves, I new I had to try to find the Defazio descendants. Pete Defazio and Mary Pironaggi had eleven children all born in Sioux City, Iowa. Jean Defazio Hewitt was their third child and she currently lives in San Leandro, California in the San Francisco Bay area. Ironically, I had lived just a few miles away from Jean in Walnut Creek, California until August of 2010.

After returning home, I mailed copies of the wedding photo to Jean and her siblings in the hopes that one of them could identify the people in the photograph. I received a response from Jean who had heard stories about her father's first wife but had never seen a picture of her father at such a young age. She recognized John Giudice and Frank LaScala. The mystery is not completely solved. We have a lot more information about the people and how they came together at a wedding in 1919. A few pieces of the puzzle remain to be found. If you can help identify any of these people, please contact me at this email address.

All the best,

Nick Cimino

League City, TX

My Blog
http://ancestorpuzzles.com

The Italians of Nebraska and Iowa

That's right!  There are people with Italian heritage in Nebraska and Iowa.  In the 1930s during the Great Depression, the Federal Writers' Program sponsored a book called the The Italians of Omaha.  Omaha has preserved its Italian neighborhood or "Little Italy" and it has its own Facebook page.   My great grandfather immigrated from Carlentini, Sicily to Omaha in 1906.  His wife and three children including my grandfather immigrated in 1911.  Here is what the book Italians of Omaha had to say about Omaha's Little Italy as it existed in the 1930s:

"The most distinct Italian colony, from an ethnic standpoint, and in which segregation is most intense with the highest ratio of foreign-born, is Omaha's Little Italy.  It lies in the eastern part of the city, south of the downtown business and industrial section.  It is here that the Sicilians are in the majority with an astoundingly heavy representation from the towns of Lentini and Carlentini...if one were to stand on the corner of Sixth and Pierce Streets and question the Italians who passed, the tabulation would show Lentini and Carlentini in the Province of Syracuse as the place of origin of seven out of ten persons."

If you would like to take a virtual tour of Lentini and Carlentini, go to Google maps and search the town names, then look at the street view.  I have spent many hours wandering the streets and looking up addresses from the Italian vital records for my family in this way.

I would like to organize a delegation of Americans with ancestry connected to Omaha, Lentini and Carlentini to visit Sicily in the near future.  We can travel to the island of our ancestors and connect with our heritage together.