eugenia farneti denicola faiella (part 3 of 3)

I put together all the information I have found from various sources on Eugenia Farneti Faiella to see if I could narrow down her birth date.

Birth Date

The sources I have for Eugenia's birth are:

• August 31, 1903 passenger record she is 42 years old : born between Aug 1861-Aug 1862
• May 1906 passenger record she is 44 years old : born between May 1862-May 1863
• May 1906 border crossing she is 44 years old : born between May 1862-May 1863
• 1920 census she is 56 years old (suppose to be status as of jan 1) : born  between Jan 1864- Jan 1865
• 1930 census she is 68 years old (suppose to be status as of apr 1) : born between Apr 1862 - Apr 1863
• May 1937 death obituary she is 67 years old : born between May 1870 - May 1871

Eugenia's age at death in 1937 of 67 seems unlikely, as the 1930 census states that she is 68 years old.  The ages in the other sources seem to correspond more closely to the 1930 census.  I would think the earliest record I have of Eugenia, her passenger records, might be more accurate.  So I am guessing her date of birth to be between the years of 1861-1864.  If we also take into account that she was 16 years old when she first married, according to the 1930 census, it seems likely she could have married Adolph before Luigi at a young age.  The first child I have a record of for Eugenia and Luigi is their daughter Elvira who was born around 1885.  The only child of Eugenia and Adolph that I have a record for is Arnaldo, who was born in September of 1879.  That is a large gap, although it is possible Eugenia and Luigi left children in Italy when they emigrated.  Arnaldo's year of birth is significant though; if Eugenia was born between 1862-1864, she would have been around 16 or 17 years old when she had him.  Again, this corresponds with the date of her first marriage at the age of 16.  

When I am able to search for Eugenia's birth records, I will focus on these years.  Also, according to one of Eugenia and Luigi Faiella's children's birth record, (Guy born in Chicago, IL); Eugenia was born in Rome.  Another clue for finding her birth record.  I also have sources which state my great grandfather, Arnaldo DeNicola, was born in Rome; which makes the connection even closer between them.   To sum up their connections:

1. I have a picture of Arnaldo's children with Eugenia's other grandchildren through her marriage to Luigi Faiella : and distant cousins stating that Eugenia was married to a DeNicola before she married Faiella
2. both Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola were born in Rome, Italy
3. both Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola eventually lived in Prezza, Italy before they immigrated to the United States.
4. both Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola eventually settled in Quincy, MA
5. birth year of Arnaldo DeNicola in 1879 would be close to when Eugenia Farneti Faiella's first marriage occurred, when she was 16 years old.    

If Arnaldo is the son of Eugenia Farneti Faiella, then according to Michael LoDico's website and Facebook page, this is my 2nd great grandmother, Eugenia...

Eugenia Farneti Faiella picture courtesy of Michael LoDico

eugenia farneti denicola faiella (part 2 of 3)

Marriage Record

I searched for the marriage of Eugenia Farneti and Luigi Faiella in the Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915 on familysearch.org without success.  I would assume that Eugenia and Luigi Faiella were married before 1915, as I know they had many children together and by 1915 Eugenia would be around 53 years old; too late to have children.  Since they are not in this database, it is likely that they were married in Italy before the immigrated to the United States.  It is posted on Michael LoDico's Facebook page that Eugenia Farneti and Luigi Faiella were married in Prezza on June 15, 1884. Prezza records will be a great place to look for this record; unfortunately they are only available up until 1865 online.

Passenger Record

It was easy to locate Eugenia and Luigi Faiella's passenger records from Italy with a simple search for Luigi Faiella on ancestry.com's Boston, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1954.  This record provides a great amount of new information.  Eugenia's maiden name is listed, Farneti, as well as many of their children that traveled with them; including Elvira age 18, Bianca age 17, Emma age 15, Nunzio age 13, Giselda age 10, Rodolfo age 8, Americo age 6, Giovannini age 4, Aristide age 1.  Luigi is 50 and Eugenia is 42 years old.  They left Naples, Italy on August 31, 1903 on the ship S.S. Cambroman.  I am unable to read Luigi's profession, it looks like "possessor" but it is crossed out?  The record states their last place of residence is Prezza, Italy; which corresponds with information I have on Eugenia's son Arnaldo DeNicola and his wife Louisa Terragnoli.  A surprising bit of information on this record is that Eugenia and Luigi are heading to Chicago, IL and not remaining in Boston, MA.  There is also another man listed above them, Amadeo Ghetti, from Prezza heading to Chicago, IL.  They list they are going to join their friends, David and Sabatino Falone; and that they have never been in the US before.  They are not joining Eugenia's possible son Arnaldo.  This is not that surprising as Arnaldo does not seem to be settled in Massachusetts yet, even though he had traveled there in 1902.  Arnaldo went back and forth a couple of times before settling in 1906.

1903 passenger record from Naples, Italy to Boston Massachusetts; Luigi and Eugenia Faiella

At some point, the Faiella family returned to Italy; as they are found on another passenger record in the Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 database in May of 1906.  This time the family left Antwerp, Belgium and were heading to Montreal, Canada on the ship Mount Temple.  Eugenia is now 44 years old and traveling with her husband Luigi and children Nunzio, Giselda, Rodolfo, Americo, Giovannini, Aristide, and a new son Gaetano.  The border crossing record from ancestry's database Border Crossings : From Canada to US, 1895-1956 shows their last residence was again Prezza, Italy and they again are heading to Chicago, IL.  It looks like they were joining Luigi and Eugenia's son-in-law Ant. Febbo at 317 Taylor Street in West Chicago.  I am not sure which daughter married a Febbo, but their daughter Bianca does marry a Thomas Fratto, who remain in Chicago, IL throughout their lives.  Perhaps this is who they were visiting and the border record was not exact in their recording the correct surname?

1906 passenger record from Belguim, Germany to Montreal, Canada; Luigi and Eugenia Faiella

1906 Canada Border Crossing; Luigi and Eugenia Faiella

I am not sure if the family stayed in the United States or returned again to Italy, but I did not find any other passenger records for them.  The census records below do show that they eventually moved from Chicago to Massachusetts.  So out of these passenger records, the only connection I have found for Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola is that they both immigrated to the US from Prezza, Italy.

Census Records

The first census record I have been able to find Eugenia Faiella in is the 1920 US Federal Census, living in Quincy, MA.  Eugenia is listed as Virginia Faiella.  I cannot tell if this is a transcription error of if the enumerator actually wrote Virginia and misheard her name.  Her husband is listed as Louis Faiella, when he should be Luigi.  Two sons are living with them, Eddie and Guy; probably Aristide and Gaetano according to their birth dates.  Gaetano's birth place states Illinois, which may mean the family was still living in Chicago in 1904, and probably traveled home to Italy for just a visit before returning to Chicago in 1906.  (From the Facebook pictures, it also states that the Faiella family lived in Missouri and that one of their son's, Americo, was born in Brazil around 1896 - so it seems they did a lot of traveling).  In 1920, they are living at 59 Main Street in Quincy.  By 1926, Edward, Guy and Eugenia are all living at 8 Silver Street; Eugenia's husband Luigi died in Sept of 1925 according to the Quincy City Directory on ancestry.com.

1920 Census Quincy, MA; Eugenia Faiella

Eugenia is also listed in the 1930 Census, still living with her son Eddie and his family; this time at 40 Baxter Street in Quincy, MA.  Her other son Guy is also still living with them.  They seem to be living with another family, or at least in a two family home.  The other family's head of household is Sam and Emma Pasquale; Emma is Eugenia's daughter.  The 1930 census also lists their immigration status; Eugenia is still an alien, while her son Edward was naturalized.

1930 Census Quincy, MA; Eugenia Faiella

Another interesting bit of information on the 1930 census is Eugenia's age at first marriage.  This will be helpful when trying to locate the marriage record for Eugenia and her possible first husband Adolph DeNicola.  If this is the correct Eugenia, she was 16 years old when she married Adolph DeNicola, according to this census.  This bit of information does not provide any direct evidence that Eugenia Faiella and Adolph were once married.  The only connection these census records do make is that Eugenia Faiella and her possible son from her first marriage, Arnaldo DeNicola, are both living in Quincy in 1920 and 1930.

Death

It took a little bit to track down any death information on Eugenia.  I finally found her in the Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 on ancestry.com.  She was indexed under the surname Fai Ella.  This database on ancestry is not indexed very well for searching; so whenever I find an entry, I look at the actual scanned index page.  For instance, Eugenia's death is indexed on this ancestry database as 1940 in Boston; but after looking at the actual page, I see she died in 1937 in Quincy.  Now that I have at least the year of her death, I contacted the Quincy Public Library for a possible obituary in the Patriot Ledger, the local newspaper for Quincy.  I was so excited when the librarian emailed the obituary to me.  The obituary states Eugenia died on May 3, 1937 and is buried at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, the same cemetery my grandfather and great grandparents are buried.  I will have to make another visit to the cemetery to find her gravestone.  It also states her age at death is 67 years old, which I am not sure is that accurate.

Patriot Ledger 5/5/1937; obituary Eugenia Faiella

In my next post, I will look at all the sources of information I have on Eugenia's age and come up with a date range for her birth.  This date range will help me eventually narrow down her birth in the Italian records and to see if the age for a first marriage to Adolph DeNicola makes sense with this Eugenia Farneti that married Luigi Faiella.

eugenia farneti denicola faiella (part 1 of 3)

My last post was about my Italian immigrant ancestor, one of my second great grandmothers, Francesca Lucente.  Another second great grandmother of mine was also from Italy, Eugenia Farneti.  Eugenia's first husband was Adolph DeNicola, my second great-grandfather.  I believe Adolph died in Italy, and Eugenia married a second time to Luigi Faiella.  Again, I have not had much success finding information on this family in Italian records.  The only information I have on Adolph is his name.  However; unlike my last post with Francesca Lucente, I was able to find what I think is Eugenia's passenger record.  If I have the correct Eugenia, she actually traveled back and forth between Italy and and various other countries with her second husband and their children.

I know Adolph DeNicola and Eugenia Farneti are my second great grandparents from the death certificate of my great grandfather, Arnaldo DeNicola, translated from Mass Document Retrieval.  I do have some evidence from Arnaldo's naturalization papers and his passenger records that Arnaldo was born in Rome, Italy.  This would make Rome a place to look for more information on his parents, Adolph and Eugenia.  I have not looked yet to see if there are records for Rome online, as I do not know which church or area of Rome Arnaldo was from.

The only information I have that links Arnaldo's mother Eugenia Farneti to a second husband is from Facebook.  A distant cousin's Facebook page, Michael LoDico, includes pictures of my grandfather, Remo DeNicola, as a young child.  The discussion under this photo mentions that Remo's grandfather, Adolph DeNicola, died and his wife, Eugenia, later married Luigi Faiella.  The picture with my grandfather, Remo DeNicola, also includes some of his siblings along with some Faiella children that were grandchildren of Eugenia Farneti Faiella.  Remo is the son of Arnaldo, and therefore the grandson of Eugenia Farneti.  This does show that there is some sort of a connection with the DeNicola's and the Faiella's.  I think that it is very likely Arnaldo's mother, Eugenia Farneti, is the same Eugenia Farneti that marries Luigi Faiella; which is what all the cousins on Facebook have posted.  Remo is the first boy on the left, middle row, with bowl-cut next to boy in hat.

Rudolfo and Jenny LoDico Faiella with Faiella and DeNicola children picture courtesy of Michael LoDico

Now that I have some evidence that Eugenia Farneti DeNicola and Eugenia Farneti Faiella are the same person, I looked into finding more information on Eugenia Farneti Faiella in Massachusetts; hoping to find documentation that Eugenia Faiella was once married to Adolph DeNicola.

In my next post I will focus on finding the following in United States records:

• marriage record to Luigi Faiella
• passenger record
• census records
• death record
• burial record

francesca lucente terragnoli pettinelli

I have been focusing on my fourth great grandparents in my last few posts; but I know that I have another side of my family where I have very little information that I need to focus on.  The reason that I have little information is that there is a gap in records available online for the area this family is from, Prezza, L'Aquila, Italy in the Abruzzo region.  I would love to obtain records from Italy, but I know the only way this is going to happen is if I hire someone to do the research or if I visit Italy myself.  I have tried unsuccessfully to write to the civil registration office for Prezza and I have contacted a couple of researchers, but all have been too expensive.  Instead, I thought I would see if I could find some more clues in the records I do have and see if there are any more records that may be in the United States, starting with one of my second great grandmothers, Francesca Lucente.

Francesca has been tricky to find in the United States, but she definitely came here at some point because I came upon her gravestone in Quincy, MA on findagrave while I was searching for someone else.  I wrote a little about this in another post.  With the information from her stone, I also obtained a transcription of her death record from Massachusetts Document Retrieval service; which answered some questions, and left many to be answered.

From previous research I have done on Francesca, I have come to the conclusion that Francesca Lucente first married Guiseppe Terragnoli, my second great grandfather, in Italy.  They had at least three children, Luisa, Damiano, and Cosnio (spelling is a guess from records). All of these children came to the United States at some point - the following is the information I have on these children:

• Cosnio or Cosmo Terragnoli : passenger record from Italy to Boston - he came over with his brother-in-law, Arnaldo DeNicola - his sister Luisa's husband, in 1906 and he lives in Boston in 1907.  He may have gone back to Italy as I cannot find him in the United States after these dates. 
• Damiano Terragnoli : have not found his passenger record; but the 1920 census states he came to US in 1898, 1930 census states he came to US in 1907.  He marries Giselda Faiella in 1910 in Boston, MA.  At some point he changes his name to Damiano Pettinelli, all of his children have the Pettinelli surname.  (Terragnoli is surname on Damiano's marriage record in 1910, but census for 1920 and 1930 he is going by Pettinelli)
• Louisa Terragnoli : married Arnaldo DeNicola, probably in Italy around 1905.  She came to US in 1907 with her husband and first daughter.  The rest of their children were born in MA.  Arnaldo came back and forth from Italy a few times before they settled here in 1907.  They came from Prezza, Italy. 

These are the only children I know of that Francesca had.  There may have been more in Italy that did not come over.  Francesca's' husband, Guiseppe Terragnoli, must have died in Italy as Francesca's death certificate and her gravestone has the last name of Pettinelli.  Her death record states she is widowed from Luigi Pettinelli. (This is where her son Damiano got his new last name from - although I do find it strange that he did not keep his Terragnoli surname).  I have not been able to find a marriage record of Luigi and Francesca, so I am guessing they were married in Italy.  I do not even know if Luigi Pettinelli came to the United States, as I have not been able to find any records in the US for Luigi.  I also do not know when Francesca came to the US, as I cannot find her passenger record.  

Her death record does state she had been in the "community" for 18 years.  She died in 1925, so she probably came to the US around 1907.  This is around the same date her children came to the US also.  I have searched the passenger records using both the ancestry.com search form and the Stephen Morse search interface on http://stevemorse.org/ for a Francesca Terragnoli, Francesca Pettinelli and even her maiden name of Francesca Lucente; and still cannot find her.  I did not even restrict the search to a timeframe, and still found no good matches.

If Francesca had been living in the United States since 1907, she should be in the 1910 and the 1920 census. I cannot find her in either.  As I mentioned above, her death record shows that she was residing at 54 Winter street in Quincy, at the time of her death in 1925.  The 1924 Quincy directory has Arnaldo DeNicola and Francesca's daughter Louisa living at this residence in 1924.  So clearly, Francesca is living with her daughter when she dies.  I searched the 1920 census for her daughter and husband Arnaldo DeNicola, and I also cannot find them.  I am frustrated I cannot find them as they are living in Quincy, MA according to the Quincy directory; on Washington Street in 1920.  If Francesca was living with them, it would provide me with another date of birth and a possible immigration date to compare with her death record.  

The death record of Francesca Pettinelli also provided a possible birth date of 1839, as the informant, Luigi Pettinelli, states Francesca Pettinelli was 86 years old at the time of her death in 1925.  We also have her parent's names from this record.  Her father is listed as Nichelle Lucente and her mother Dominca DiRanico. Since some records for Prezza, Italy are online at the Archives of Italy, I browsed through the dates of 1838-1850, and the only birth for a Francesca Lucente was in 1846 to Nichelle Lucente and Dominca Gentile.  The maiden name of her mother is different;  but this is still a very close match.  So that brings the question as to who is the informant of Francesca's death?  The name of the informant is given as Luigi Pettinelli, who is residing at 54 Winter street; the same place of residence as Francesca, according to the death record.  

I only found two Luigi Pettinellis in the 1920 census.  One is living in Lawrence, MA, and looking at other records for this Luigi show that he is the son of Andria Pettinelli.  I have not made any connections with this Luigi to my family, and as they seem to be living in Lawrence, it seems unlikely this Luigi would be residing with Francesca at the time of her death in 1925, as the death record states.  The other Luigi Pettinelli is Francesca's grandson, the son of Damiano Pettinelli.  This Luigi was born in 1913.  If he was the informant, he would only have been 12 years old . That does seem a bit young.  The relationship on the death record of the informant Luigi Pettinelli is listed as NR, not recorded. If this Luigi Pettinelli is the informant of Francesca's death, he probably would have not known the correct age of his grandmother, or the name of his great grandmother.  (Does DiRanico sound similar to DeNicola, Francesca's daughter's married name - maybe this was the error?) 

If I could just find Francesca in the 1910 or 1920 census, I would have more information as to her correct birth date and therefore possible parents.  Another document that would be very helpful would be her two marriage records, first to Guiseppe Terragnoli and secondly to Luigi Pettinelli.  These documents would most likely have her parents' names.  The documents for Prezza that are online though the state archives only go up to 1865.  I think both marriages took place after 1865, as Francesca's daughter Louisa was born in 1877.  The Family History Centers do not have records past 1865 either.  After writing to the civil registration office for Prezza a couple of times already, and not getting a response, it seems I will have to hire a researcher who can obtain these marriage records for me.  So far I have not had much luck finding a researcher that will only look for one record for me.  

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). 

arnaldo denicola

I recently requested a marriage record from Italy for Arnaldo DeNicola and Louisa Terragnoli, so I waned to put all the information I had on this couple in one place.

The first time Arnaldo's name appears on a passenger list was in March 1902, on the ship The Commonwealth. Arnaldo last place of residence states Prezza, Italy. His name is actually crossed off this passenger list, so perhaps he never came to Boston as expected at this time.

The next time I found Arnaldo listed on a passenger list is arriving in Boston from the Port of Naples, on April 23, 1906 on the ship S.S. Romanic. He states his last place of residence as Prezza, Italy again. Arnaldo is traveling with two other people from Prezza, Guisseppe Pasquale and Cosmos Terragnoli. Cosmos is going to 1 North Square, Boston, where his cousin Michele Bolea is. Arnaldo states he is going to 1 North Square also, where his cousin Nunzio Pasquale resides. Arnaldo also states that he was in the US before between the years 1903-1904 in Boston.

Arnaldo finally came to the US to stay when he arrived in Boston on May 13, 1907 with his wife Louisa and child Annunziata from the Port of Naples on the ship S.S. Caponic. Arnaldo again states his and his family's last place of residence was Prezza, Italy, and they are going to 3 North Square, Boston where Louisa's brother is, Cosmo Terragnoli. This passenger list also states their place of birth. Louisa and Annunziata are stated to have been born in Prezza, Italy, and Arnaldo's place of birth is listed as Rome, Italy. When I first saw this passenger record, the transcription on Ancestry.com stated Raiano as the place of birth for Arnaldo, but looking closer at the original record it looks more like Roma than Raiano.

A couple of years later, Arnaldo applied for his citizenship with his declaration of intention in 1909. Unfortunately his petition of naturalization was denied in 1915, due to lack of knowledge of history and government as stated in his second petition of naturalization, listed below. He applied again with his declaration of intention on June 16 1920. This time his petition of naturalization was accepted on July 20, 1920. Arnaldo took his oath of allegiance July 21, 1920. The naturalization papers for Arnaldo state he was born in Rome, so it does seem the passenger record sates Roma, not Raiano. I will have to wait to see what his marriage record states when it arrives (if it arrives).

Arnaldo DeNicola and his family moved around a lot in the next twenty years, always staying in Quincy, MA. Arnaldo's declaration of intention in 1909 states he was living at 52-54 Canal Street in Quincy, MA, and he was a grocer. The 1910 Census states he was living at 52 Canal Street in Quincy also. In 1912 his occupation is listed as both a grocer and a steamship ticket agent in a Quincy Directory. On his second petition of naturalization in 1915, Arnaldo states his residence as 9 Canal Street, Quincy, MA. This same address of 9 Canal Street is listed when Arnaldo registered for the WWI draft in September of 1918. By the time his petition of naturalization was accepted in 1920, he is living at 126-128 Washington Street, Quincy, MA. Within 10 years in the United States, it looks like Arnaldo and his family moved at least three times.

By 1926 Arnaldo adds Justice of the Peace to his occupation, as listed in the Quincy City directory for that year. The residence listing for 1926 also shows he moved again to 54 Winter Street, Quincy, MA. By the 1929 Directory, his occupation is listed as Notary of the Public and agent - now living at 125 Brackett Street in Quincy. He moves again by 1932, to 9 Edwards Street, Quincy. He moves one last time in 1933 to 9 Massachusetts Ave, Quincy, MA and lists his occupation as manager at 1195 Sea Street, which is G A & P Tea Co, the grocers. Within these last seven years, between 1926 and 1933, Arnaldo and family moved four more times.

That is all the information I have on Arnaldo DeNicola for now. As I mentioned above, I have requested from Prezza, Italy the marriage act of Arnaldo and Louisa Terragnoli, which will list Arnaldo's place of birth and his parents. This record will also show this information for Louisa. After I know that Arnaldo was actually born in Rome and not Raiano, I can send a request for his military records in Italy.

Naturalization Records

I decided to do some catch-up with reading my back-log of magazines. I started with the September 2007 issue of Family Tree Magazine. It is their issue with the 101 best genealogy sites. I like these issues because I always hope their is some great website out there that I do not yet know about, even though deep down I assume I already know all the important sites.

So I start reading with hope that one of these sites will inspire me to find something I have not already found. I have not even read pass the first page, when I saw a website I should try out. Footnote. I have been here in the past, so it is not really a new site for me; however, the article reminded me that they have naturalization records for MA (and some other states).

I have searched for my ancestor's naturalization records on this site before, but have been unsuccessful. I decided to give it another try, knowing that it is very likely one of my Italian ancestors must be in here somewhere. My first attempt was to look for Antonio Pompeo, my great grandfather. No luck. I browsed through all the Pompeos listed, and no match. I am not even sure he did file for naturalization. On the 1910 census he is listed as AL for Alien, on the 1920 census he may be listed as AL or perhaps PA -which could mean pending (the writing is difficult to read). I have to look into this information with more detail.

Anyway, I moved away from searching for the Pompeo family to the DeNicolas. I typed in "Denicola" hoping to find anything. Nothing. I did not want to give up just yet. In the past I have found records on the DeNicola's by searching with a space in their name - "De Nicola". I thought I would give this a try, and YAY! Arnaldo popped right up - my great grandfather! At first I was surprised I had not searched this way before on this website, but I guess it does not hurt to revisit sites after time to try new techniques or in hopes new records were indexed. In this instance, I am guessing I never did search this way on Footnote and the records were always there, I just missed them. Back to the records I found. What a great feeling to find something you have been looking for!!! So these documents led me to 5 naturalization documents for Arnaldo.

declaration of intention 1909
petition of naturalization 1916 - denied for lack of knowledge of government
declaration of intention June 16 1920
petition of naturalization July 20 1920 (accepted)
oath of allegiance July 21 1920

It was nice to have these records of naturalization, but they did not actually give me much new genealogical information on Arnaldo. Some things I did learn though were his and his wife Louisa's actual birth dates; I only had the years before this record. I found some contradictory information on their birth places though. I found previously from their passenger records that Arnaldo was born in Raiano, Italy and Louisa was born in Prezza, Italy. The naturalization records state they were both born in Rome. I am hoping that the passenger records are correct, as searching through all of Rome parish registers will prove more difficult than searching through the smaller areas of Raiano and Prezza (I am guessing as I have not started this task yet). However, on the 1930 Census, it also states that Arnaldo was born in Rome, Italy, while Louisa's simply states Italy. Looking more closely at the passenger records, the column for birth for Arnaldo could be read as Roma, which I mistook for Raiano?

To Do
1. Look into census records more closely for Antonio Pompeo
2. Search for naturalization records for Antonio on Footnote - if they exist
3. Find Arnaldo DeNicola's birth record in Raiano Civil Registration Records - order microfilm from the FHL library.
4. Find Louisa Terragnoli's birth record in Prezza Civil Registration Records - order microfilm from the FHL library.

Links on Topic
Naturalization Timeline from Family Tree Magazine