Filomena Langellotti nee DeLellis

Filomena Maria DeLellis was born on October 28th, 1877, Via Andrea 5, San Gregorio, Caserta, Campania, Italy. She was my great grandmother and the only daughter of Francesco DeLellis and Catherine Loffreda, both of San Gregorio.

Birth Certificate for Filomena

Filomena was a 1/2 sister to Vincenzo, 14 years her senior, and a full sibling to Luigi born 3 years after her followed by Umberto 13 years later.

By 1900 at the age of 23 Filomena had married Giuseppe (Joseph) Langellotti. Giuseppe was the son of Vincenzo Langellotti (1838 – 1899) and Maria Maddalena Ferritto (1834 – 1908) both also of San Gregorio, Italy.

Let me stop there and tie in the Langellotti and DeLellis line just little bit more. Vincenzo Langellotti (Giuseppe”s father) was the son of Gabriele Langellotti and Teresa DeLellis. I have not been able to research further back to tie in this grandparent generation to confirm a cousin match however if we were to assume that Luigi and Teresa DeLellis with siblings, we would have a cousin marriage. I think it is very possible. Even if Teresa and Luigi were cousin’s, we have a familia connection at best.

 

What I find so very interesting when working on a family is how it breaks down and the connections that are found. These are two families with their roots deep in this San Gregorio, Caserta region of Italy. It seems so natural that families merged and blended together.

Giuseppe and Filomena married on the 9th of June, 1900 in San Gregorio, Caserta, Italy

Marriage License

 

 

 

Their first child, Erminia Maria (Emily) was born in 1901 followed by son Vincenzo Gregorio (Vincent James) in 1903. One year following Vincenzo’s birth Giuseppe left Italy for New York harbor aboard the Prinz Adalbert joining his brother Angelo Langellotti living in Brooklyn, New York. Giuseppe arrived on June 22, 1904.  His profession was noted as shoemaker.  Filomena’s brother Luigi was also a shoemaker/cobbler and already here. They arrived aboard the S.S. Prinz Adalbert.

 

 

Two year later in 1906 Filomena left to join Giuseppe. Over the last few years I have had many conversation’s with my Uncle Joe regarding the route she may have taken to get here. He was always under the impression that she came via Argentina. I had been unable to find anything to support this or any immigration record for Filomena. While preparing for this post I decided to take one last look for anything I could find. I was so shocked to locate a record on familysearch.org (which I have checked many times) for Filomena, traveling under her maiden name of DeLellis, with daughter Erminia and Vincenzo.  The name of the ship is still in question. On the following document (3rd) you will see the ship’s name is unclear. There were two ships owned and in use by the The White Star Line at the time; The S.S. Celtic and The S.S. Cedric. I think she was on the Celtic; because of the tic ending.  Sometimes known as the S.S. Celtic (Steam Ship) it was also known as RMS Celtic (Royal Mail Ship or Steamship) From the site http://www.norwayheritage.com/p_ship.asp?sh=celt2 ; I located a S.S. Celtic (2) which departed on Sept 21, 1906, departed Liverpool for New York via Queenstown. The familysearch record had Queenstown for the ship name which through me off at first. It was an indication of going through Queenstown. Scrolling backwards through the microfilm the ship recorded prior was spelled clearly as CRETIC, also a tic ending. For now it remains unclear as to the ship Filomena was actually on. I have found nothing to confirm that the ship may have traveled to or through Argentina.

A wonderful photo of Filomena with presumed Ermina standing and Vincenzo on the pedestal. Filomena would be about 26 years old in this photo.

The first census I found for the family was the 1910. They were living at 209 E. 149th St., Bronx, NY. Giuseppe had adopted his Americanized name of Joseph (34)  and was working as a laborer in the building trade. Filomena (32), Erminia (9) was recorded as Emma, James (7). Two more children had been added to the family Margaret (2), transcribed as Maculato and Antonio 4/12. Living with the family was Joseph’s brother Angelo (34 – married)  and two boarders, Marchese Deleiso and Vincenzo Ingo. All three of them were working as laborers in the building trade along with Joseph.

1910 was a year of excitement for the family because shortly after the census in April, Angelo’s wife of Caterina (Bucchino) and their 3 children, Nicola, Maria Filomena, and Angelica arrived in August from San Gregorio. One more child would be born, John Frank in 1911 and then tragedy struck. Angelo passed away sometime in 1915 at 45 years old. Angelo is buried at Old Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in the Bronx.

By 1915 more children had joined the family of Joseph and Filomena. Catherine (my grandmother) had been born and her sister Rita. The family had also moved to 283/288 148th St, Bronx. Finding this census took some doing as this is by far the worst misspelling of a name I have ever run across. The last name was recorded as Lanciardo and Filomena was recorded as Firearms. Also living with them was Filomena’s mother Caterina (60), widowed. Joseph’s (38) occupation again was laborer, building and Filomena (37) house work. Listed with alien status was Joseph, Filomena, first born Emilia, now Emily, and Vincenzo now Vincent with his mother in law Caterina.

1918 saw the passing of Filomena’s mother Caterina. She died on Feb. 15th and she too was buried at St Raymond’s Cemetery.

 

While looking at this death certificate for Caterina, I noticed something I had not put  much thought into before I began blogging about this family. This death record states she was here in the U.S. for 4 years. I suddenly realized she must have returned to Italy after first arriving in 1904 after husband Francesco passed away in 1908. Not only had she returned but this must be when and most likely why youngest son Umberto, then 18, returned to Italy. Aging, she returned in May of 1915 (not a true 4 years) to her daughter Filomena and her family to be cared for until she passed away. This seems to support the notion reported by a family member that they believed Umberto had returned to Italy and why I have had no succession finding Umberto or Caterina here in the states between those years.

In my next post I will continue with the story Filomena and Joseph and their family.

 

 

Photo of Vincenzo DeLellis & Maria Carmela Iannetti

Before I move on with my next post for the DeLellis Family branch I wanted to share this wonderful photo of my 2x great uncle Vincenzo DeLellis and his wife Maria Carmella Iannetti. Vincenzo is the oldest son of Francesco Saverio DeLellis and 1/2 brother to my great grandmother Filomena, and brothers Luigi and Umberto. All of the family hailed from the town of San Gregorio, Casserta, Italy settling in the Providence/Johnston area of Rhode Island. I have been blogging extensively on this family for the last few post with the exception of Filomena, who will be next.

Vincenzo and Maria were the parents of 11 children, 3 of which did not survive past infancy. Vincenzo passed in 1915 and Maria went on to live until 1940.

Vincenzo and Maria Carmela DeLellis 

Courtesy of a family member of Vincenzo’s branch. I can not say thank you enough for sharing this picture with me. 

 

In memory of Julia Mary Civitano

In loving memory of

Julia Mary Civitano – Bianca 

15 August 1929  ~ 24 June 2018 

There are time’s in ones life when you are blessed to meet a person who leaves such an impression on you that it changes your entire outlook on how to view the world and this was certainly true of Julia for me.

Julia was born to Francesco Civitano (1884 – 1972) and Rosa D’Armiento (1888 – 1963) both of  Grumo Appula, Bari, Italy. Her parents were married in 1908 in Grumo, arriving in New York by 1909, they settled into a new life and began their family.  The last born of  8 children, Julia, joined siblings Angelina (1909), Mary (1911), Louis (1912), Helen (1914), Julia (1917 -1917), Dominick (1920) and John (1922).

At the time of Julia’s birth the family was living at 1129 Croes Ave, Bronx. By then   daughter Angelina had married Sam Vizzo, and daughter Mary had married Anthony Gentile. The entire family was all there together at the Croes address. Living a few doors down was my grandfather Frank Civitano and his wife Katie at 1141 Croes. This was a grand time of intertwined family which I know nurtured Julia’s love for family and her deep faith.

Her father had 5 siblings, Dominick m Jenny Maggio, Julia m Vito Simone, Rose m Dominick Simone, Vincent/James m Anna Plavcsan, and Joseph m Nancy Traini. Joining Julia from this branch of our family was 27 1st cousin’s. Julia’s mother Rosa had 3 siblings, Rita Margherita m Peter Lucatuorto, John m Mary Cirillo and Frank m Rosa Laudo. From this side of the family Julia had 17 1st cousins.

A typical  photo of family all gathered to enjoy life

Julia, my 2nd cousin 1x removed was deeply passionate about everything as well as sharing the love of genealogy with her grandson Peter Marino and myself. I can’t  remember how Peter and I originally connected, it’s been so many years now, but I quickly bowed to his expertise referring to him as Sherlock taking a back seat as his Holmes. But Julia ~ she was our “Ace Photo Detective” We shared many days and hours swapping photo’s and asking Julia to help us with identification of unlabeled photo’s.

Sometime around 2013/14, I had the honor to meet with Julia, Peter and Phyllis in Delray Beach. Surprisingly my adopting mother, Grace lived there too, it was certainly kismet that we all connected. Myself and Grace met with them in an Italian restaurant (of course) for lunch. The impression left on me, even more so on my mom was one of genuine love and the pure joy of life from Julia. The memory of her warmth and caring for my mom (very health compromised) for those few brief hours would see Grace through to her time of passing in 2015. She never stopped talking about Julia and how much she adored her. I can not say thank you enough for the love she brought to my mothers spirit.

I would like to share something Peter wrote to me that captures Julia’s heart and our love of genealogy and this blog.

“The Civitano Family was everything my grandmother lived and breathed for. While my grandmother was the last of the old guard, I feel it is my responsibility to keep her, and all those that came before her, memories alive” ~ 

I have often said ~ we have a responsibility to remember those who have passed before us, without them we would not be, without us to remember, they will not be ~

Julia Bianca, 88

Julia Bianca, formerly a 37 year resident of Pelham, passed away peacefully at home in Delray Beach, FL on June 24, 2018 surrounded by her family. She was 88 years old.

She was born on August 15, 1929 at 1129 Croes Avenue in the Bronx, NY to Francesco Civitano and Rosa D’Armiento who immigrated to this country from Grumo Appula, Province of Bari in the Apulia region of Italy. The youngest of seven adult children, she attended Public School 47, Jane Addams High School, and James Monroe High School. After leaving school, she worked as a clerk at Bonwit Teller before spending over 10 years as a counter for the American Bank Note Company. She met musician Joseph Bianca at Charlie’s Inn in the Bronx and they married on June 7, 1959 in Yonkers, NY. Julia was passionate about her Catholic faith and her family was everything in the world to her. She truly lived life to it’s fullest and she will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

Mrs. Bianca is survived by her daughter Phyllis (Peter) Marino and grandsons Joseph and Peter Marino. She was preceded in death by her sisters Lena Vizzo, Mary Gentile, Helen Hardina, and an infant sister Julia, and her brothers Louis, Dominic (Dick), and John Civitano. 

Photo Courtesy of Marino Family

While those of us left will miss her greatly Julia is now at rest. May love and light surround those of us left. Cousin Julia you were an amazing woman, strong, compassionate, caring, full of laughter and love. Your shoes can never be filled and your loss will always be felt. I am thankful for the short precious moments I had with you in my life time.

Photo’s Courtesy of the Marino Family