I have a few wonderful family photo’s to share. In my last posting there was a photo of my father Vincent with his God-father Thomas DeVito at his confirmation. You can see the post here Thomas (Gaetano) DeVito and FamilySeptember 25, 2020
While going through photo’s to find the confirmation picture, my brother Frank found a few more that he shared with me that I had not seen before.
In this photo below is my grandfather Frank Civitano with his cousin Vincent (James) Civitano with one of his daughters.
Frank Civitano with his cousin Vincent (James) Civitano and Vincents daughter
Vincent was the son of Louis Civitano and Angelina Marvulli. Vincent born in 1897, Grumo Appula, Italy immigrated in 1910 at the age of 13. He was traveling with his 10 year old brother Giuseppe aboard the SS America. They were the last of their family to leave Italy, traveling to their father on the immigration record. Written under ‘family or relative in country in which they came’ was recorded “nobody”. Vincent went on to marry Anna Plavcson on June 29, 1919. Vincent and Anna had 5 children, 3 boys, Louis (1921), Thomas (1930) and Frank Thomas (1934) and 2 girls, Angelina (1923) and Julia (1926). Checking with my uncle on this photo, he is not sure which daughter this is. I am guessing this photo was from the mid to late 40’s.
Frank Civitano and John Robert or Dominic John Civitano 🙂
This must be one of the first photo bombed pictures I have seen. Notice the man looking in on them. The woman appears to be a advertisement. In this photo my grandfather Frank is enjoying and afternoon ride with his cousin John Robert or Dominic JohnCivitano. They are the son’s of Frank Civitano and his wife Rosa DiArmiento. Frank and Rosina were the parents of 7 children, 3 boys and 4 girls. All were born here in the states. Angelina (19109), Mary (1911), Helen (1914) and Julia (1929) and Louis John (1912), Dominic John (1920) and John Robert (1922) My uncle could not be sure in identifying which son this was. I am leaning on this being Dominic but would love to have a family member chime in on this. Dominic married Anna Rose Servidio March 14, 1943 and they went on to have 4 children. John married Frances Kaiserman 1953 and had 3 sons. Whether Dominic or John – I love seeing them out having fun.
This last picture is of my grandfather Frank holding (who my uncle believes) is the daughter of father Anthony (Tony) Langellotti, Franks brother-in-law. Tony married Marie Visaggi on Dec 11, 1940. They had 2 daughters.
Not a Civitano or blood relation, but an extremely important family can not be overlooked. Below is photo of my father Vincent Civitano and Vincent DeVito, son of Thomas (Gaetano) DeVito and Mary Mercurio/Mercumo.
Feb/March 1953 Cheonwon, Korea Vincent Civitano & Vincent DeVito
I have posted this photo before on the blog with out identifying the man with my father. Spotting the photo recently, my Uncle shared who the other fellow was. He believes this meeting was by chance, and he is not sure they were in the same unit. What is important is that the DeVito family was more like family than friends. Vincent’s father, Thomas DeVito was my father Vincents Godfather.
Thomas and my grandfather Frank were paisan – country men from Bari, but it went farther than that. There was a bond of brotherhood between the two men that extended into the families. So in this posting I will honor the family of Gaetano (Thomas) DeVito.
Thomas was born on February 26, 1901 in Toritto, Bari, Puglia, Italy. Toritto is 2. 85 miles from our home town of Grumo Appula. Whether they had known each other growing up or had met in New York, the bond between the two was cemented here in the states. Thomas arrived aboard the SS Dante Alighieri on May 14, 1920 at the age of 19. I was unable to find his actual immigration passenger record so this information came from his Intention and his Petition To Naturalize from Ancestry.com.
Declaration of Intention gave us this great glimpse of what Thomas looked like.
Petition For Naturalization 1936
Using familysearch.com I was able to locate Thomas’s marriage record to Mary Mercurio. From this record I discovered that Thomas’s parents were Vincenzo DeVito and his mothers name was not legible and spelled as Ar…Ela Ferrovecch. Mary’s parents were Nicola Mercurio and Anna Ottomanelli.
Thomas married under his name Gaetano to Mary on June 21, 1925. First born daughter Marie was born in 1927, followed by Anna, 1929, Virgina, 1932, Vincent, 1932, and Nicholas, 1935.
Thomas worked in the business so popular with our family – the ice and coal delivery service. The 1930 census records from Ancestry.com listed him and Mary at 1054 Trinity Ave., Bronx, rent $50, work listed as proprietor Ice Co. Marie and Anna had both been born. Living with them or the apt next to them (it wasn’t clear) at this address was his brother Michael and his wife Mary – also in the ice business. Listed under the spelling of their last name as Devits in 1940 they had moved to 1221 Bryant Ave. Still in the ice business, all of their children had been born.
Vincent Civitano and Thomas DeVito
I was so pleased to learn there was a photo of my father and Thomas (his Godfather) at his confirmation. A big thank you to my brother Frank for digging through photo’s and finding it for me.
I have been unable to find a death record for Thomas or for his wife Mary. I know very little about their lives or family. It seems the families grew apart and lost touch or as our family members grew older and passed, the stories faded.
I was able to find a death record for son Vincent, buddy in the picture with my father.
Vincent passed away on Oct 15, 2003 and is buried at Ascension Cemetery, Monsey, Rockland Co., New York.
I did check the cemetery for any other family members. There is a Nicholas DeVito buried there but with no ages given. It’s possible it is Vincents brother but that in not known
I have written numerous times about the DeLellis and Langellotti families on our blog. Some of the female maiden names, going back 5 generations, included Fattore, Iannetti, Loffreda, Ferrito, DiAmico, Magro, Cianci, D’Onofiro, Ciccarelli, Maisono and Mastangelo.
In blending these two families together I will try to explain as simply as I can this new family branch.
Francesco DeLellis (my 2x great grandfather) had been married two times. His first wife was a woman named Anna LNU and from this union son Vincenzo DeLellis was born abt. 1863, San Gregorio, Caserta, Italy. Vincenzo married Maria Carmella Iannetti some time prior to 1890 in San Gregorio. (it is through Vincenzo’s 1/2 sister Filomena Maria DeLellis daughter of Francesco’s second wife Caterina Loffreda, that my line or branch follows)
Vincenzo and Maria had 11 children, all born in the US, of which 6 survived to adulthood.
Philomena (1890-1966) m Pietro Nicoletti, Maria Carmella (1893-1984) m Arthur Langellotti,Marco Francesco (1869-1981) m Winifred Cassidy,Benedetto (1898-1941), Annina/Anna (1901-1994) m Riccardo Tiselli and Vincenza (1906-1996) m Carmine Fera. Those that did not survive were BabyGirl (1890-1890) Antonio (1894-1903) Clara Antonia (1904-1906) Maria T (1911-1911) along with Thomas (1894) who I have no other information on.
It is about their daughter Maria (Mary) Carmela, born 17 Dec., 1893 Phil., Penn. and her family, that I would like to focus on.
Maria (Mary) Carmela DeLellis married Attilio (Arthur) Langellotti on May 14th, 1914. The event took place in Providence, Rhode Island, however the marriage was registered in Springfield, MA. (I will refer to Attilio as Arthur)
Arthur Langellotti and Maria DeLellis
Both Photos Courtesy of the Langelo Family
Maria DeLellis Langellotti 1923
Arthur born abt. 1888, was the son of Antonio Langellotti (1856) and Anna Fattore both of San Gregorio, Caserta, Italy. ( I have not attempted to research how Antonio fits into our family yet) Anna passed away sometime prior to 1904 in Italy and it was after that, Antonio left and immigrated with their 2 sons Roberto (Umberto) and Arthur. (A 3rd son, Adamo (1886) had arrived a few years prior to his father and two brothers. He married in 1909, Cranston, R.I. to Guiseppina Cerro. This branch has dropped the L from the last name and uses Angelotti)
Antonio applied to be naturalized on 28 Feb., 1905 in Philedelphia, Pennsylvania where he first settled with Roberto and Arthur. (record from ancestry.com)
Antonio Langellotti Petition to Naturalize
I was able to find Antonio in the Providence Rhode Island City Directories under Contractors and Builders in 1910, 1911, and 1912. His address was listed as 13 Pequot. The building still stands, built in 1900, looking as if it has had a facelift. https://goo.gl/maps/ABMLHQij5XMarspMA
With the marriage date for son Arthur (Attilio) and Maria in May 1914, I feel comfortable in writing that the family relocated to Rhode Island possibly as early as 1910.
I also located a record of sale for two lots to an Antonio Langellotti on Penbroke Ave. in 1918 for $600.
From Genealogybank: Evening Bulletin, Jan 23, 1918.
A quick look on google for the road Penbroke and I discovered the neighborhood is now the Oakland Avenue Historic District. I was unable to locate a death record for Antonio Langellotti. This is the last mention I could find for him.
Coming back to Antonio’s son, Arthur (Attilio) and Maria, their first child Emily, was born in 1818 followed by Vincent 1919, Arthur Jr 1922 and Victor in 1924.
Unable to find a 1920 census for the family I did find Arthur’s naturalization record with the date of naturalizing Dec. 11, 1920. This gives us a location for where the family was living in 1920 – 238 Sterling Ave., Providence. I also discovered something else about this address of Sterling Ave.. Maria’s father, Vincenzo DeLellis’s death record from familysearch.com, lists his address was 238 Sterling Ave. So he was living with them or they were living with Maria’s father. Vincenzo died in 1915 from atrophic cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 52. He is buried in St Ann Cemetery in Cranston, Rhode Island. The family had remained in the home.
Notice the name of the witness above, Frank Delellis. I have been thinking about this and just who was this Frank? This is just a guess but I am making the assumption that this was most likely Arthurs wife’s brother, Marco Francesco (aka Frank) b. 1896. In 1920 he would have been 24 years old. Both records are from Ancestry.com
Above is his Intention to Naturalize with a date of Dec. 1904. Arthur’s occupation was listed as steam engineer. One question I had was, when had the name been changed from Langellotti to Langelo. On both nat’l records he is using Langelo. But it is important to note that on his wedding record of 1914, he did use Langellotti.
Another wonderful photo shared with me by the Langelo Family is this photo of Arthur and Maria with their children Vincent, Arthur Jr. & Emily. I estimate this photo to be 1923 with Arthur Jr born in 1922 and Victor not yet born (1924)
Maria and Arthur (Attilio) with children L to R Vincent, Arthur Jr. and Emily
I really love this photo. I love that Emily and Arthur Jr. are holding hands and I can’t help but wonder is this possibly a first photo for the children? Their expressions seem to be saying ‘what is going on or happening here’ Vincents sailor suit is adorable too. Both Emily and Vincent have the same hair cut and shoes seem the same too. Emily’s hair bow is larger than her sweet little head, and certainly in style for this time.
By 1930 Arthur had moved his family to 37 Simmonsville Rd. in the town of Johnston. Their last child Victor had joined the family in 1925. Unfortunately no information on what Arthur was doing for work was listed on the census. One clue to his occupation was his WW1 Draft Registration (ancestry.com) Written as Arturo Langelotti, occupation is fireman.
The 1930 census was enumerated in April. Perhaps he had been ill at this time and the reason he was not listed, because 7 months later on November 21st, Attilio (Langellotti) Langelo died at the age of 43 in Cranston, R,I.. He is buried at St. Anne Cemetery, Cranston, R.I..
Maria was 38 when she lost her husband, leaving her with 4 children under the age of 12. This must have been a very heavy burden for her. I have not been able to locate any information on where Arthur’s brothers, Roberto and Adamo were at the time. Were they close by and able to help? I have not taken the long look at her siblings yet to answer that question. By 1940 Maria had relocated her family 89 Cumerford St. in Providence. A picture of the home can be seen at https://goo.gl/maps/WFWw6WGu2JDMCiPc8
It appears that Vincent, now 20 was the only one working according the the census information. He was a bread wrapper in a bakery. Neither Emily 22, or Arthur Jr. 18 showed an occupation. A listing in the 1942 City Directory, still on Cumerford, Arthur was working as a bread wrapper, Victor and Emily were working as clerks, and Vincent was listed as USN. Continuing to track the family by 1945, still on Cumerford, Vincent USN, Victor USAAC (United States Army Air Corp) and Arthur USA – I believe this stands for U.S. Army as I have his WWII draft registration for the Army. Emily is listed but without work.
But 1945 would bring sadness to the family with the passing of Emily on July 26th. She was 28 years old.
Emily High School Photo (Ancestry.com) photo below courtesy Langelo Family
From 1945 through 1962 using City Directories on ancestry.com I was able to tract the family. They remained at the 89 Cumerford address up until 1951 with Maria and her three sons all together at that address. By 1952 Vincent had left home. Then jumping to the 1962 directory, Maria was listed alone at 3 What Cheer. While the 1945 directory showed all three son’s in the service of the our country in 1947 they were all listed as students. Arthur Jr. had found a job in personal finance in 1951 Victor was not working and Vincent was still a student. 1952 Arthur Jr. became the asst. manager for the Methodist Finance Co., and Victor was working as an engineer both still living with their mom.
Maria outlived two of her sons, Arthur Jr. who passed away in 1977 and then Victor who passed the follow year in 1978. Maria had outlived her husband Arthur by 54 years, passing away in 1984. Her son Vincent saw the passing of all his siblings and father and mother.
Saint Ann Cemetery, Cranston, Rhode Island
Saint Ann Cemetery, Cranston, Rhode Island
Col. Arthur Frances Langelo is buried at Saint Marys Cemetery, Bristol, Bristol Co. Rhode Island
Victor Anthony Langelo and his wife are buried together at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery, Springfield, Delaware Co., PennsylvaniaVincent Arthur Langelo is buried at Lake Grove Cemetery, Holliston Middlesex Co. Massachusetts along with a WWII Veterans Grave site
I am very thankful to the Langelo family that reached out to me after locating our family blog and providing me with these wonderful photo’s of their connected family. I plan on spending additional time researching the family.
Branches On Our Civitano Family Tree 