louisa terragnoli denicola (part 1 of 3)

birth

I do not have a lot of information on my great grandmother, Louisa Terragnoli.  I have only seen an exact birthdate on one record, her husband Arnaldo DeNicola's petition for naturalization.  This record has a date for Louisa's birth as May 20, 1877.  This record also states that she was born in Roma, Italy, but Louisa's passenger record states she was born in Prezza, Italy.

Arnaldo DeNicola's petition for naturalization (with Louisa's birth date)

From blog post louisa terragnoli

Arnaldo and Louisa DeNicola's passenger record (states Louisa was born in Prezza)

From blog post louisa terragnoli

I do not have any records that state who Louis'a parents were.  I am hoping when I obtain her death record it will list them.  I do have a couple of guesses from some indirect sources.

One source is a gravestone of her daughter, Eva, who died at a very young age in 1923.   John Talieri created a memorial on findagrave.com with a picture of her gravestone from Mount Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy, MA; which also has Eva's grandmother listed on the stone, Francesca Pettinelli.  Perhaps this is Louisa's mother.

Eva DeNicola and Francesca Pettinelli's gravestone at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, MA picture of gravestone from findagrave.com user John Talieri

From blog post louisa terragnoli

I remember some time ago when I first became interested in genealogy that one of my family members mentioned the name Pettinelli (and Faiella) in relation to my great grandmother, Louisa Terragnoli.  I am not sure where the Pettinelli name came from though, as I would guess she would have had her married name of Terragnoli on her stone.  It could be her maiden name, but again I find it strange that she would not put her married name.  Another option might be that she remarried a Pettinelli, and this is her second married name.  Finding her death record would also be of help to get more information.  (see updated post on Terragnoli / Pettinelli connection)

Another indirect source I found which  links the Francesca name to Terragnoli is a marriage record I found of a Damiano Terragnoli.  He marries Giselda Faiella (a name mentioned in my family) in Boston, MA and his parents are lised as Guiseppe Terragnoli and Francesca Licente.  Maybe Damiano was Louisa's brother and Francesca Pettinelli's maiden name is Licente.  That would mean Francesca most likely remarried a Pettinelli.  The trees on ancestry.com have Giselda Faiella from the same area of Prezza, Italy.  I was unable to find more information (such as passenger or census records) for Damiano or Francesca though; so I am not sure if they were from Prezza also. (see note 1 for update)

I did not find too much information about the area of Italy that Louisa grew up in.  I am guessing that the petition of naturalization was wrong in stating Roma as her place of birth, and that she was born in Prezza as this area is listed for many Terragnolis.  Prezza is in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy.  It seems to be a small commune, with a current population of around 1200.  The following is an excerpt from the http://www.abruzzocitta.it/english/comuni/prezza.html website :

"Prezza is a commune with an altitude of 500 mt above sea level and a population of 1200 inhabitants. Perched on the slopes of Mount Prezza this centre overlooks the Peligna valley. Prezza was known in the Middle Ages, although several archaeological findings date back to a prehistoric age.a terrace over the Peligna Valley, it dominates the whole Sulmona basin. Enchanting is the village, with its typical houses, together with the Baronial palace and the 13th- century of St. Lucia, a destination for religious tourism for the worship bound to the miracle of the grace against eye disease."

(to be continued, immigration to America...)

to do:
1. order death record for Francesca Pettinelli and Louisa Terragnoli from mass-doc.com (since I do not have the time to go to Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics).  These would hopefully give me Francesca's maiden name and if it matches Damiano Terragnoli's marriage certificate, I know Louisa and he are brothers.  It would be great if Francesca's death record also gives me her parents' names to go back one more generation. 
2. find more information about Prezza, Italy

notes:
1. While I was searching for Pettinellis in the 1922 Quincy directory, I came across a Damiano and Giselda Pettinelli.  This makes it more likely that Damiano was Louisa's brother, and he changed his name from Terragnoli (on his marriage record) to Pettinelli - perhaps his mother's new married name.  This explains why I could not find much information on Damiano, I was using the Terragnoli name.  All of his children have the Pettinelli last name, and he uses this last name on all of his records, including WWI and WWII records, and also a naturalization record (only have index entry, not image on fold3.com).