The Marvulli Family of Grumo Appula

The Marvulli Family of Grumo Appula played a huge part in my families history. My great grandmother Nicoletta and great Aunt Angelina Marvulli married brothers, Vincenzo and Vito Luigi Civitano. With such an influence and the intertwining of these branches I decided it was time to introduce and write a little about this Marvulli family.

Domenico Marvulli (1830), son of Giuseppe Marvulli and Angela Santa Tricanco,  married Rosa D’Armiento (1839), daughter of Giovanni Donato D’Armiento and Rita Maria DiGiorgio, on 13 June 1839 in Grumo Appula. (Domenico and Rosa are my 2x great grandparents) They went on to have 13 children. Only 6 would survive to adulthood and out of those 6 all would immigrate and make their home in the United States.

Marriage License of Domenico and Rosa 

 

 

 

The children of Domenico and Rosa were as follows: Angelina (1858-1858) Angelina (1859-1958). Angelina #2  holds the honor of being the oldest child and actually living the longest of her siblings. Giuseppe (1861-62), Rita Edith (1862-1950), Maria Nicola (1865-1865), Maria Nicola (1866-1867), Giuseppe (1867-1950) Maria Nicola (1869-1875), Anna (1871-1873), Giovanni (1875-1859), Nicoletta (1877-1962) (my great grandmother), Antonio (1880-1883), and Gaetano (1889-1953). As I sat and actually listed these children with birth and death dates I began to think about this mother of 13 children, the mother’s of others who lost so many children in infancy or childhood. What had it been like for them? Surely there was deep sadness with the lose of each child, but was there time to mourn?  After so many, did it become the norm? Was childbirth a gamble that loss was expected and if survival did happen, that was cause to celebrate as the child grew into adulthood. I actually shared this thought with my friend Lorna the other day. She shared with me a story she had heard; that there was no time to mourn in those days as work was required at all times to keep the home and family on track but one woman’s memory was  ‘that in making the daily bread, in kneading the dough, it became her way to allow her grief in losing her child to surface. The act of kneading became her grieving tool.’

Here is a list of the 6 children that survived to adulthood and their spouses.

Angelina married Vito Luigi Civitano

Rita Edith married Gaetano Caso

Giuseppe married  Lucia DiGirolamo

Giovanni married Grazia Scarola

Nicoletta married Vincenzo Civitano

Gaetano married Nunzia Lavechhio 

Again I find myself thinking about their mother Rosa D’Armiento Marvulli and her life in Grumo Appula. Her husband Domenico died November 4, 1883. Rosa lived until 1922 which left her a widow for 39 years. Not only had she experienced the death of 7 of her children, but the lose of her husband when she was only 44.  She would come to experience another kind of loss, the lose of all of her children immigrating to the America. The first to leave was Giovanni in 1903, followed by Gaetano in 1904, next her daughter Rita in 1905, Giuseppe in 1906, I do not have the immigration record for Nicoletta but it was sometime close to 1906, followed by her oldest, Angelina, in 1910. I imagine there was a very profound and deep sadness for Rosa when she said good bye to her last child, Angelina. Rosa was already 71 years old. We know from the life of Nicoletta that she did return home in sometime in 1910 under her own cloud of sadness with the lose/murder of her husband Vincenzo. It seems she was not alone very long.  Additionally perhaps that is why Angelina left at that time, Nicoletta was home now to care for their mother freeing her to make her move with her family. Rosa passed away in 1922 with Nicoletta there in Italy with her. That truly brings me some comfort in knowing that Rosa had 1 of her children by her side. Call me sentimental or silly but below is a picture of a embroidered handkerchief/scarf  by Nicoletta (her initials). The photo was shared with me by my cousin Ann Elmendorf who also shares Nicoletta as her great grandmother. What a treasure! How many times might this have covered her head entering church, or wiped her tears? Thank you Ann for this photo.

As I begin to come to the end of this first post on the Marvulli’s and I was getting ready to post the death certificate for Domenico, I wanted to mention just a little about his own sadness with in his family. As the oldest son/child the 2nd born, he witnessed the birth of 7 of 8 siblings of which including himself only 3 survived. His mother, Angela died when he was 18 and his father Giuseppe, when he was 21. He became a man quite early I am sure.

Death certificate for Domenico Marvulli ~ April 5, 1883

Death certificate for Rosa D’Armiento Marvulli  ~ March 26, 1922

 

 

 

I can not leave this posting with out making mention that back about 2/3 years ago I was contacted via my tree on the familysearch.org website, by descendants of Giovanni Marvulli. With the help of google translate I had an exciting dialog in Italian with distant cousin Damiano Sisto and his wife Sara of Lobbi, Italy. In my next post I will continue with more on the Marvulli family in America.