In Memory of Giuseppe Luigi Langellotti

Giuseppe Luigi Langellotti known as Joseph was my great grandfather. I have written about him before, his life, his family but today I honor and remember him on the anniversary of his passing. From his humble beginnings in San Gregorio, Caserta, Campania, Italy to his home and life in the Bronx, New York, he raised his family and lived his dream.

Giuseppe Luigi Langellotti 

20 March 1876 ~ 6 April 1947 

Joseph was the son of Vincenzo Langellotti and Maria Maddalena Ferritto both of San Gregorio, Italy. He was one of three (known) son’s born to his parents. Angelo Antonio (1870), Joseph (1876) and Theodore who I have not researched or have any information on at this time.

Overshadowed by his father’s death on 13 Dec. 1899, Joseph married Filomena DeLellis (also from San Gregorio) on 9 June 1900. Their first child, Ermina Maria (Emily) was born in 1901 followed by son Vincenzo Gregorio (Vincent James).

Times were difficult in San Gregorio and all over southern Italy. Joseph’s brother Angelo had already left for a new start in America and Joseph deciding now was his time to set sail, left Filomena and his two young children and joined brother Angelo.

A shoemaker at that time he sailed on the SS Prinz Adalbert he arrived on 22 June 1904.

 

By 1907 his wife and two children had joined him. News of his mother Maria’s passing in 1909 must have touched him deeply, now both his parents were gone. With Joseph and Angelo here and not knowing what had become of his brother Theodore yet, I like to believe that Maria passed with at least one of her sons still at home.

I was unable to find either Joseph or Angelo in the 1905 census finding them first in 1910. Living at 290 E. 149th St., the Bronx, Joseph (34) was no longer working as a shoemaker but was now a laborer in the building trade. Filomena had given birth to two more children, Immacolata (Margaret) (1907), and Antonio (Anthony) (1909). Living with them was brother Angelo also working in the same trade along with 2 male boarders, Marchese Deleiso and Vincenzo Ingo working in the same trade.

 

Sometime between 1910 and 1915 Angelo had sent for his wife and children to join him.  But on Dec. 28, 1915, tragedy struck with the death of Angelo at the age of 39 leaving his wife Catherine Bocchino a widow with four children, Nicola, Maria, Angelica, and John. This must have been a very sad time for the whole family as Joseph and Angelo seemed to be extremely close-knit.

Then with his own growing family, Joseph moved a few blocks away to 283 E. 149th Street. By 1920 my grandmother Catherine had joined the family along with the birth of Rita Lucy and Arthur Frank. Joseph was supporting them as a street cleaner for the city now.

 

Doing very well during this time he purchased a home at 1141 Croes Ave. He was no longer a street cleaner but was working as scowman on the docks.  The value of his home was listed at $18,000 on the 1930 c.

 

I like to think of this time as a heyday for this family. My grandmother had recently married her husband Frank Civitano and was living with them along with her sister Margaret who had married John Leone. Sister Emily was married to Frank Tanzillo and their three children were also at the same address. Not far from them was grandfather Frank Civitano’s Uncle, Frank Civitano and his wife Rose DiArmiento at 1129 Croes Ave., with 5 of their children, Louis, Helen, Dominick, John, and Julia, along with their married daughter Lena and her husband Sal Vizzo,  Mary and her husband Anthony Gentile.

But the happiness did not last, 1932 brought the tragic death of their daughter Emily. I have written quite extensively about Emily’s story before. By 1935  the Croes St. house was sold and the family moved again to 1114 Metcalf.  No longer working on the docks, Joseph was now employed as a window trimmer. It is interesting to note too that Joseph had only a 4th-grade education and yet he came, he saw and he prospered.

Tragedy struck in 1942, 10 years after Emily’s death when his wife Filomena (65) passed away.

For the children of Filomena and Joseph Langellotti, tragedy struck again, this time with the passing of their beloved father Joseph on April 6th, 1947. He was 71.

 

May His, Their Memory Be A Blessing

They were laid to rest at St Raymonds Cemetery, Bronx, New York

 

 

 

©2019, copyright. Sharon Haimowitz-Civitano. All rights reserved.