Luigi DeLellis was born on August 21, 1880 in San Gregorio, Caserta, Italy. He was the son of Francesco DeLellis and Caterina Loffreda. He was named after his grandfather Luigi DeLellis and his wife, Luigi’s grandmother Mariana D’Amico. Caterina’s parents were Onorato Loffreda and Maria Maddalena D’Amico. Luigi joined siblings Vincenzo, 17 years his senior, the son of Luigi and his first wife Anna LNU, and sister Filomena (1877) daughter of Francesco and Caterina.
Luigi married Annunziata Cordini (1879). She was the daughter of Nicodemo Cordini and Maria Vorruti. Annunziata was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina which I learned from her death announcement. According to the 1910 census they married in 1901, just prior to Luigi immigrating to the United States in 1902. I was able to locate an immigration record on the Ellis Island site that I believe is for Luigi. This record states he was 21 years old, from San Gregorio, married, arriving on June 30th, 1902. A quick look at the passenger information told me that he was traveling to a brother-in-law named “Ferritto”. I have not been able to identify a Ferritto marriage that would be a brother-in-law as stated but, Vincenzo Langellotti married Maria Ferritto; they were the parents of the Giuseppe Langellotti who would marry Luigi’s sister Filomena, my great grandmother. The connection was there. According to his naturalization papers Luigi stated he arrived on July 11, 1902 but I feel the June 30th date is close enough (with dates commonly off) to be a match.
The first census record for Luigi was the 1910 Rhode Island census. Recorded under the name of Dellis he was living at 504 Union Ave., Johnston, Providence, Rhode Island. Luigi was 30 years old, living with his wife Nunnziatina (32). His occupation was listed as cobbler although the census reported he had been out of work for the last 24 months. Luigi and Annunziata had three living children. Antoinette born in 1903 in Italy with immigration noted in year 1904. That gave me the clue that Annuziatia remained in Italy when Luigi immigrated traveling a year later with their infant daughter. Maria was born in 1905 in R.I. followed by Francesco (1908) passing away a year later in 1909 and baby boy DeLellis in 1910, later named Anthony.
Item 1: In 1913 Luigi filed his Declaration of Intention to Naturalize. I am having trouble with adding the documentation but have been successful in adding at the end of this posting. Please see item 1 at the bottom.
It is also important to note that it does not appear that Luigi ever completed the naturalization process. He was still listed with Alien status on the 1940 census.
Along with the above document, his in 1918 WWI draft registration a few more gaps about his life filled in. See Item 2
Their family had also grown by 1919. Catherine (1912) Frank (1914) Vera (1917) and Albert Luigi (1919) had been born making the number of children in the household seven.
Still at the Simmonsville Road address on the 1920 census, there appears to be no house numbers associated with this street. I located Luigi now listed as Louis and his wife as Nunzie Delles/Deller. His occupation was listed shoemaker in a repair shop. I like to think of him out of that huge factory and into something more like a small mom and pop type shoe repair shop. Louis had submitted his papers for naturalization in 1913 but they were still not finalized. Antonionette (18) was working as a spinner – hosiery, and Mary (15) was a doffer in woolen mill. On this 1920 census Albert Luigi was listed as Alberto.
A doffer is someone who removes (“doffs”) bobbins, pirns or spindles holding spun fiber such as cotton or wool from a spinning frame and replaces them with empty ones. Historically, spinners, doffers, and sweepers each had separate tasks that were required in the manufacture of spun textiles. from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
Found in U.S. Directories for the year 1922, I located the listing for Luigi. Working as a shoe repairer with the work address of 900 Cranston. Located there now is a Dunkin Donut shop. The home was located on Thornton.
Rhode Island has a 1925 census and on this daughter Anna, the last of the children had been born in 1923. At home were all of the other children as well as their oldest daughter Antoinette (22) now married and with her husband Thomas Pezzuco (29). In this census Luigi was still using Louis and Annunziata was now Nancy. No occupation was listed.
Between 1930 and 1940 life moved on for the family. The 1930c revealed that the home on Walnut was owned by Luigi (50). It’s value was listed at $4000. At this time he was an inspector / rubber works. I am speculating he may still had been working for the Bourn’s National Rubber Co. Daughter Mary (24) was also in the work force in the same field, inspector / rubber works along with daughter Catherine (17) doing bench work / rubber works. Anthony (19) was working as a stone setter / jewelry. Wife Nancy (52) was home with the children Frank B. (15), Alvenia/Vera (13), Albert L. (10), and Anna C. (7). Antoinette and Thomas were now living at 48 Elmhurst, Cranston, R.I.. Luigi and Nancy became grandparents to 3 children: Nancy (5) Anthony (3) and Thomas (1). They would remain at this home for many years.
Some time between 1930 and 1935 daughter Mary married John DelBonis. I located a census record for John on familysearch.org . Not only married to Mary, they are living with her parents and they had 1 child. John was working as a shipper in hardware.
John Delbonis
| Name | John Delbonis | |||
| Event Type | Census | |||
| Event Year | 1935 | |||
| Event Place | Providence, Rhode Island, United States | |||
| Address | 107 Walnut | |||
| Gender | Male | |||
| Marital Status | Married | |||
| Race | White | |||
| Number in Family | 3 | |||
| Name | Anthony Saccoccia | |||
| gender | Male | |||
| Wife | Catherine Saccoccia | |||
| Name | Catherine Saccoccia | |||
| Gender | Female | |||
| Death Date | 03 Feb 1938 | |||
| Death Place | Providence, Rhode Island | |||
| Age | 25 | |||
| Birth Date | 1913 | |||
| Marital Status | Married | |||
| Spouse’s Name | Anthony Saccoccia | |||
| Father’s Name | Luigi De Lellis | |||
| Mother’s Name | Annunziata Cordini | |||
Vera had also married. From Mark (Luigi’s grandson) I was able to note her husbands name as Louis Mosca but I was not able to find a marriage record. From ancestry.com I found a 1935 census record for Vera Mosca which indicates she was married by 1935. On familysearch.org I found her death record of Feb. 5, 1987, San Bernardino, CA.
| Name | Vera Mosca | |||
| Event Type | Death | |||
| Event Date | 05 Feb 1987 | |||
| Event Place | San Bernardino, California, United States | |||
| Birth Date | 25 Jan 1917 | |||
| Birthplace | Rhode Island | |||
| Gender | Female | |||
| Father’s Name | Delillis | |||
| Mother’s Name | Cordina | |||
Citing this Record
Antoinette had married by 1925 and was living with her husband and children which left only son Frank B. (1915) to locate. He was home in 1935 with his parents working as a butcher living at the 1066 Plainfield address. I located a WWII draft record (1942) for Frank, confirmed with his profession as a meat cutter. It also stated is that he was married.
The 1940 census was interesting. It appears Louis had sold the house on Walnut and moved to the home at 1066 Plainfield St. The census indicates this was his home in 1935 as well. The ages for Louis and Nancy have been consistent throughout the censuses. Nancy (61) a bit older than Louis (59). Louis also had a job change. He was now a laborer doing road work for the government. Anthony (30) was no longer working as a stone cutter/jewelry but was working with brother Albert L. (20) at a cotton mill as a laborer. They were both still living at home along with Anna C. (17) noted as a new worker. The value of the home on Plainfield was $1500. The 1939 city directory noted son Frank was living at the 1066 Plainfield address but no occupation was given. Frank was located on Thornton in 1940 and working as a clerk at Weybosset Market.
The 1942 WWII draft registration for Thomas Pezzuco, Antoinette’s husband continued to show the 48 Elmhurst address. Thomas was the owner of a Cattle business. According to another researcher she has listed 5 more children born to Thomas and Antoinette in addition to the 3 I have confirmed. I have reached out to her but have not heard anything back. She has no documents to prove the children so I will leave it at the first 3 for now. I was able to find a city directory listings up to 1961 with cattle business listed. I was able to find few more of the children through google searches but again they are not proved so I will not include them at this time. It appears some of the family has remained in the area with a construction company in business.
To recap the highlights of Luigi’s life
He was born in 1880 and immigrated about 1902, he would outlive his father Francesco who passed away in R.I. in 1908, followed by the passing of his first son Francesco in 1909. His older 1/2 brother Vincenzo passed away in 1915, and then his mother Caterina in 1918, both in R.I also. Luigi would bury his daughter Catherine in 1938, he was 57 when she died. He would also suffer the loss of his only sister, Filomena in 1942 (Bronx) and then his wife Annuziata in 1950, R.I.. He would survive another 12 years before passing away on
Feb 17, 1962
Luigi and Annunciate are buried at Saint Ann Cemetery, Cranston, Rhode Island.
I would like to dedicate this post to Mark DeLellis ~ and his family. Luigi and Annunziata are Mark’s grandparents. I hope that I have been able to provide a time line and some new information for Mark and his family about his grandparents, aunts and uncles and extended family. It’s been a pleasure corresponding with Mark.
Providence JournalSunday, Jun 07, 1959 Providence, RI Page: 142
As I had mentioned this posting has been updated from the original and much of the information has been deleted. I was able to add just a few of the original documents and 1 pic to the bottom. There had been a glitch with photo’s and then a change in WordPress made reposting the original missing content impossible.
Branches On Our Civitano Family Tree 