Geneablogy - A Weblog about Digging Up the Family Tree (Genealogy)

Sunday, December 30, 2001

I did some more Census research at Rutgers last week. I found Raffaele De Rosa in both 1900 and 1920, neither of which I had before. In 1900, he was listed as Robert De Rosa, and his wife was Bepina or Pepina, presumably a diminutive for Giuseppina. Their first son, John, had been born by that point, and was five months old. His birthdate was listed as Jan 1900. Raffaele’s was shown as March 1879, and Giuseppina’s as Sept 1881. They were living at 38 Cross Street in Paterson. Raffaele is listed as a watch maker. Nobody else in the family had come to America yet as of Census time in 1900.

In 1920, Raffaele and Giuseppina and their family were living at 95 Market Street, and Raffaele was working as a musician. No new children since the 1915 Census. Raffaele’s parents (Laura’s great-great-grandparents) "John" and "Lucy" (Giovanni and Lucia (Nannariello) De Rosa) were living with them. Giovanni was working as a blacksmith; I can’t read where, though. Raffaele owned the house. There were two other families living at the address, renting parts of the house.

Vittorio Minnocci and his wife Anna (Magliocchetti) were living at 323 Trenton in 1920 with their daughter Rose, their son Arthur, his wife Vienna, and Arthur and Vienna’s two daughters Anna and Mary. Vittorio’s nephew Ralph Morrocco was also there, as was a boarder named Ralph Pietrobono. Vittorio owned his own home. He hadn’t gotten naturalized. He ran his macaroni manufacturing business, and son Arthur worked as a chauffeur for the business. The boarder, Ralph Pietrobono, was one of the macaroni makers. Vittorio was shown as 57 years old, and Anna as 55, neither of which is quite correct, but they’re close. (I believe they were both 56 at the time.)

Philip Saracco and his wife Frances (De Rosa) (otherwise known as Filippo and Francheschina) were living at 38 Ward in 1920, in a house that they owned. Filippo had gotten naturalized in 1898. All of their children were born by this point, with the most recent addition being Victoria. Aunt Vic, of course, is still alive, the only one of the children who is. Filippo was still a loomfixer in the silk mills, and the two oldest children, Josephine, age 16, and Sebatian, age 15, were working as weavers in the mills. Aunt Jo, of course, eventually went to college and became a teacher, and passed away in July 2000.

Out in Prospect Park, the Sisto and Felicia (Minnocci) Pantano family was living on Haledon Avenue in a house that they owned. Sisto was still making shoes. The children were listed as John, age 12, Lena, age 10, Annie, age 9, daughter Louise, age 7 (that’s a mistake; it should be son Louis), and Mary, age 5. There was also a boarder, Ettore Santucci, who worked as a shoemaker, possibly in Sisto’s shop. Part of the house was rented out by another family, the Seidels.

I looked for Filippo Saracco in the 1895 New Jersey state Census, but haven’t found him yet. He wasn’t in wards 3, 6, 7, or 8. Next time I go to Rutgers, I’ll page my way through wards 4 and 5; 5 seems like a likely possibility. There didn’t appear to be many Italians in the other wards, mainly English and Irish and the like. Maybe there just weren’t many Italians in Paterson period in 1895.

Census Records

Posted at 2:43:48 PM

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