Wednesday, April 26, 2000
Today was a banner day in the mail department. I got two SS-5s and a set of marriage documents. The SS-5s were for my grandfather, Ralph A. Brandi Jr., and Angelo Brandi, who Aunt Lonnie says my grandfather referred to as his cousin. Grandpa’s form refers to his father as Ralph Albert Brandi, so I’m starting to be convinced of that. It refers to his mother as Anna Wisinewski, but I think he just got the name wrong (the spelling of the last name seems wrong, too). The form was filled out on April 27, 1942, and lists his employer as Zenith Cleaners at 10510 Harper, so I think maybe that was my great grandfather’s business, rather than Aunt Yola’s. I wonder when my grandfather joined the Marines; he was 22 when he filled out this form in 1942.
Angelo Brandi’s form is interesting. He worked at the same Chrysler plant on E. Jefferson that Great Grandpa Horbal and Vincent Sobol worked at; I wonder if he knew them? He might have known Sobol, since Sobol was a shop steward. I guess it’s not likely; the plant was probably pretty big. Angelo was born on July 5, 1909, and gives his place of birth as San Potito Sannitico (Italy)! That’s the first documentation I have of a Brandi in America coming from San Potito Sannitico. I haven’t definitively tied him to my family tree, but it’s interesting nonetheless. He lists his father as Salvatore Samuel Brandi and his mother as Raffaela Pito.
The marriage documents were very interesting. The first was a "Duplicate Marriage License" that seems to get some basic facts wrong, like listing Joseph Horbal and Victoria Mazur’s ages both as "TWENTY-ONE", despite the fact that another document in the package lists them as 24 and 22 respectively. It gives the officiating minister’s name as Rev. Julius Lauger; I don’t know if that’s correct, or if it’s Langer.
The second document is a photocopy of their original Application for Marriage. The photocopy isn’t terribly good, but I can make out most of the information. The copy came on two pages, as the prothonotary’s copy machine seems to not do a very good job on the bottom of the page. I scanned in both pages and did a paste-together job in Photoshop so it all looks like one page, though.
Interesting stuff here: they both lived in Allegheny Furnace, Logan Township (closer look). Great grandpa’s mother’s name looks more like "Christine" than "Justine", but it’s not that clear, whereas great grandpa’s SS-5 is pretty clear. They claim to have the consent of their parents or guardians, which makes me wonder if they were in Pennsylvania. Neither had been married before. Great grandpa gives his occupation as [garbled letter] Helper South Altoona. I guess help includes making pierogies. Buscha’s is given as "at home", which also makes me wonder if she was living with her parents. They’re both listed as having been born in Austria, Europe. And finally, in the area for signatures, Buscha makes a mark rather than signing her name; I guess she couldn’t read at that point. And great grandpa signs his name Jozef, although it’s spelled Joseph on the application. Nine years later, when he was naturalized, he was signing his name as "Joe".
Social Security Applications
Joseph Horbal and Victoria Mazur
Posted at 9:30:14 PM
