Run Squirrel Run! Tutti I Giusvallini

The Almighty PIZZELLE

2011-12-24T09:10:00.003-05:00

At this time of year, the almighty Pizzelle flourishes across the dessert tray of many Italian families. We all recognize them immediately: a flat, round-shaped cookie, almost resembling a waffle in some sense. Yet different..

When one sees this cookie, its appearance creates a bit of a façade regarding its ingredients: after all, how much variation could go into a cookie that always seems to look like the same thing, when found in so many different families’ dessert lineups? They must all do theirs the same way, right? WRONG.

The ones that I had seen most prominently when growing up were the plain kind (more commonly known as “vanilla”), as well as an anisette-flavored kind, and I think on some occasions I’d learned that there was a lemon variant out there. However, in recent years I was introduced to a chocolate version that one of my cousins in the Ghione family likes to make. That was neat to see, because I only remember my mother doing the vanilla ones (or anisette, which look the same).

Over the years, I’ve always tried to take a moment to ask the baker what it was about their personal Pizzelles that they felt made theirs different from the others that were made out there. I don’t want to threaten the security of anyone’s family recipe secrets out there (you know how protective we Italians are of our recipes), but the answers that I got (which were few and, even provided conditionally, hehe) included all kinds of things from using a specific Pizzelle iron type, to totally ELIMINATING certain ingredients which others believe are mandatory to use in the make-up of the Pizzelle, to all kinds of little nuances. The art of making these cookies really does have an underground chain of customizations which, even though the cookie may LOOK the same as the Pizzelle type you know and love from your family, there just might be something different about that one at a friend’s or other family member’s.

There are also variations as to how that cookie should be, texturally- some believe it should be crunchy, so you can dip it in your coffee. Others believe it should be a softer cookie instead. There really are a lot of different ways to spin a Pizzelle! But at the end of the day, the important part is this: as long as you made some time to make some for the Holiday season, you’re good to go..

BUON NATALE TUTTI!

Lou Robino

2011-12-17T14:07:00.003-05:00

I would like to take a moment to ask all of our readers to say a prayer for one of my extended family members, Lou Robino. Lou was born at Squirrel Run in 1915, and up until recently, was doing extremely well for a man his age.

In recent weeks his health has begun to decline, and for the sake of the Squirrel Run Community out there, I would like to ask for you all to think of him and his family during this time.

For those of you who attended the Winterthur Exhibit that Frank and I were a part of in 2010, Lou was there to be a part of it all as well. His photo even made the Delaware News Journal. I have attached another photo of him with this article.

I have spoken with Lou many times about Squirrel Run, and taken many notes from him to help in retaining all of those wonderful memories. At a time when pretty much all of the "old timers" in my family from Squirrel Run have passed on, Lou gave me yet one more opportunity to learn some more about that magical place.

This one's for you, Lou.........

A Last Chance To See It Before It's Gone

2011-11-23T19:04:00.005-05:00

To all of our readers who are familiar with the locale surrounding the Squirrel Run and Hagley areas, I wanted to send this update out: I am trying to remember, in my quickly-aging mind, who it was that once told me that their family lived in (or near) the home shown in the pics attached. I have an idea who it might have been who told me that story, but until I have confirmation I will wait to share it. Nevertheless, I am sad to report that the home in the attached images is doomed to be knocked down. I was in the area today for some other events, and while passing the home I noticed the sign adjacent to it which read, "Demolition Plan". I guess I shouldn't be surprised, knowing that this home has been in this particular condition for quite some time. However, I was wondering if the DE Historical Society was going to pick it up to save, or if maybe the Childrens' Hospital located behind it would find a way to leverage the existing structure. Apparently not the case.

I did not have time to read the sign to see what the future holds for this lot- however, I am very happy that I was able to capture some images of it before it was too late. For those of you who read our blog and enjoy the topics we cover, I would greatly appreciate any comments or stories that are remembered regarding this home. These old pieces of local history are fading fast.

Remembering September 23, 1923

2011-09-23T11:12:00.002-04:00

Today marks the 88th anniversary of the gathering of “Tutti i Giusvallini” on the grounds of what is now the Hagley Museum. Those who still remember this gathering, and others like it, all share many of the same sentiments …. wonderful memories of family and friends during a time when their little community took care of itself and neighbors watched out for each other. We hope that some of these values continue through the generations yet to come. We the younger generations have a lot to live up to, and we are fortunate to call these strong people our family.

For those of us whose families were a part of this iconic image (and event) from 88 years ago, we are happy to take a moment to honor them today. Not only are they remembered for being a part of the historic photo, but for all that they endured while coming to this Country from their homeland. Many left the last of their family behind, never to be seen again, while others lost family members who had survived the trip, but died after arriving here. The banner photo you see above perhaps symbolizes the bravery and determination of our ancestors to make a better life for themselves and their children. We would like to believe that we and our own children are an extension of those peoples' dreams realized.

The July 4th Tomato Challenge.

2011-06-27T19:15:00.004-04:00

When I was a boy, my grandfather had an extensive garden. My sister and I saw it so regularly that we eventually became desensitized by it. We figured everyone must have a garden so extravagant, with such a variety of fruits and vegetables, since Grandpop Salvo made it all look so easy.

It wasn't until I was much older that I learned about one of the little challenges my grandfather would have running "behind the scenes" of his lavish garden. My father told me one day that Grandpop Salvo and his gardening cronies had a yearly challenge running amongst them. The challenge was simple in nature, yet a pretty involved task: have a red tomato either on the vine, or picked, by 4th of July..

At face value, it doesn't sound like much of a challenge. But anyone who has ever grown a tomato plant knows there's more to it than meets the eye. Yeah, tomato plants are pretty self-sufficient and all, however they require a great deal of watering, monitoring, and even protection from the local wildlife! Therefore, anyone who thinks this challenge is for the faint of heart is definitely missing some facts.

This is my second year of growing tomatoes myself, and last week I put word out to my gardening family members that the 4th of July was right around the corner, and I reminded all of them about Grandpop Salvo's tomato challenge. This year, my Aunt Alma seems to be the one in the target audience to have the first red tomato. It's a CHERRY tomato, but hey- we can't get picky now, can we?

I hope that this article sparks some fond memories for our readers. If your family follows the same tradition, we'd love to hear about it!

Bertù ‘d Tzunìn: ur cowboy ‘d Prati Proia

2011-03-27T21:21:00.000-04:00

Though the Giusvallini that settled in the Wilmington, Delaware area around the turn of the 20th century represent the largest group of immigrants from Giusvalla to settle in one place in the United States, there were certainly others who sought their fortunes in other places throughout the country. The Pizzorno family settled in the Buffalo, New York area, there were a handful of Baccino, Perrone and Rabellino immigrants who went to San Francisco, the descendants of Silvio Baccino went to the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania .... just to name a few. The experiences of these Giusvallini immigrants surely differed greatly from our gang of ancestors who worked for the DuPont family in the powder mills or went into the mushroom business.

Perhaps no experience could have been more different than that of Bartolomeo “Bertù” Carlo Zunino. Bertù first came to the United States in 1907. Like most of his friends from back home, he arrived through Ellis Island. However where most went directly to “Henry Clay Factory, Wilmington, Delaware,” Bertù “went west.” In those days, the desert towns in White Pine County, Nevada offered two means of livelihood: ranching or copper mining. What attracted Bertù to the Wild West remains a mystery, but local records reveal the names of several Italians, so perhaps word of opportunity in that part of the U.S. had come to the Giusvalla area and the romantic notion of the cowboy lifestyle appealed to young Bertù? Certainly many a young giusvallino had gone to South America in pursuit of a similar lifestyle as a gaucho. What is known for a fact is that Bertù went to Nevada and worked for a local rancher named William N. McGill on the Cleveland Ranch in Spring Valley, which at the time was the largest and most successful cattle ranch in the area. Bertù became a real life cowboy, tending the cattle on the vast Cleveland Ranch on horseback. In 1915, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen and later that year returned to Italy for a few years to care for his aging father. When Bertù returned to the U.S. in 1920, he went back to Spring Valley and with the small inheritance he received from his father, he was able to invest as a partner in his own ranch.

During the 1920s, Bertù and his friend Antonio Persico operated a small cattle ranch just outside of Spring Valley. Bertù must have been a solitary man, he never married and spent the remainder of his years quietly tending cattle on his patch of desert among the vast Nevada wilderness. The cowboy from località Prati Proia died on his little ranch during the 1940s and was laid to rest in the dusty ground that was once roamed by the native Shoshone, old cowpokes, Mormon settlers and stagecoach drivers ....

The Matteo Letters.

2011-03-02T21:05:00.005-05:00

This article is for all of our readers out there who not only share in our Giusvallin background, but in our pack-rat-type tendencies as well…

In January of this year, I needed to go out to our shed in the back yard for some necessary cleanup and reorganization. This shed came to our home around 1999-2000, and over the years it has amassed quite a variety of different, shall I say, “inventory”.

A couple of years back, my mother provided me with a large stack of old family photos, many of which at the time did not have corresponding names to go with the faces. With the help of Frank Rosaio and his family, almost every single photo was miraculously identified. Some of those photos even exist in the archives of this website today. The reason I am making reference to this event is because at the same time those photos were forwarded to me, it was also explained to me that there were other family relics still stored “somewhere” (and in my family, ‘somewhere’ is a pretty big place). Among those relics were supposed letters that my Aunt Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone had received from friends and family over the years, all of the way up until her death in 1983.

Returning back to my shed-cleaning experience, the event prompted me to have to move quite a few items around, and also throw some things away. The necessity of having to do these various tasks forced me to have to move some things around which had not been touched in quite some time. Some of the items in that shed were most likely even brought in around the timeframe of 1999-2000, put down in what was to be a “temporary” location at that particular moment, and now here, 11-12 years later, they are just being touched once again..

As I moved the various boxes, tools, and other miscellany around, a box made of white cardboard managed to fall, which I had not remembered touching or even bumping to make it do so. As I approached the box, I noticed that the side that was facing me was the bottom of the box, and its contents had spilled onto the floor behind an old sewing machine. I was somewhat frustrated when it happened, as my job at that point in the shed was to be cleaning up, and this box spilling over just added to the “cleaning up” part of my work out there. I sighed and leaned over the sewing machine to see just how much extra work I was in for. When I looked down, I noticed what appeared to be a small stack of envelopes, white with red and blue borders all of the way around them. They were basically all face-down, and although I could see some writing on them, it wasn’t clear enough for me to see the details of the writing. It only took me a second, however, to realize that the stack of letters, lying on the floor of this dirty old shed, were no doubt letters sent to someone in my family from Europe. As I bent down and picked them up, I immediately started to see names on the backs of them like BAGNUS, GIORDANO, BROCCOLI, and one that really jumped out at me: TORTAROLO. The names I was seeing corresponded to the return addresses on the back, and as I flipped over the envelopes, they all read: “Theresa Angelone”, “Mrs. Theresa Angelone”, “Arthur and Theresa Angelone”. I just stood there, speechless. The missing letters my mother had told me about had just surfaced.
I began opening the letters right there in the shed, and was so astonished by what I was seeing. There were so many different types of formats: handwritten on regular paper, handwritten on decorative letter paper, handwritten on tissue-like paper, typed on regular paper, there were so many different features to all of them. Some had the same type of handwriting from the start of a letter to its end, some had different types of handwriting all found within the same letter, it was such an incredible moment. As I looked over all of the letters and started to put them in some type of organized fashion (even if they’d been organized in the box, they certainly didn’t stay that way once they’d hit the floor), one name really started to jump out at me. One letter, after another, after another, the backs read TORTAROLO, MATTEO e ENRICHETTA.

For our readers who are not already aware, it is the lineage of the Tortarolo family that makes Frank and I part of the same family. When Theresa’s parents, Valentino and Luigia, both died from the flu of 1918, Theresa came to live with my Salvo family, and her 2 siblings, Egidio and Josephine, went to live with Frank’s family. Theresa went on to marry Arthur Angelone, and to be honest, it wasn’t until I was much older that I’d learn more about her Tortarolo lineage, and, more specifically, its connection to my own family history.

The “Matteo letters” (as Frank and I came to call them while translating them) highlight events and family information from the period of 1962 to 1970 (the image that accompanies this post is from a letter that came from Matteo in 1976; however, only the envelope remains). They not only contain general correspondence between Theresa and her family back in Italy, but they also provide amazing details regarding ‘known’ family members, as well as relatives yet to be identified in the family tree as well! The letters were truly an invaluable find.

So, for those of you who find yourself saving various pieces of documentation without being able to justify to yourself why you are doing it: maybe it’s because God is asking you to put them aside for someone else….

La Strega di Natale

2010-12-24T08:03:00.003-05:00

Maria Fiorenzano was one of the little trovatelli of Giusvalla .... born to a young unwed mother among i brichi ed i boschi, Maria was given the surname “Fiorenzano.” The floral reference was typical of almost all the little trovatelli of Giusvalla, however the name carries another connotation which was most certainly intended by Maria’s mother to impart a blessing of hope and good wishes upon her unfortunate baby girl. Maria was born on Christmas Eve in the year 1832, a time when the villagers of Giusvalla still held tightly to the old beliefs and folklore. A baby girl born on Christmas Eve was said to be destined to become a witch. This old superstition would not have been lost on the townfolk of Giusvalla. And so perhaps Maria’s sanguine surname was intended by her mother to counteract a curse.

The details of Maria’s childhood have been lost to time, and there is no reason to believe that the old Italian superstition came true and she became a witch. If anything, the good fortune that her mother hoped for her seemed to follow her through life. Maria married young to a well-to-do merchant from Piemonte and moved with him to his hometown in the province of Cuneo where they raised a large family. When Maria died on December 31, 1894, she was said to be “possidente” (wealthy).

Bun Natòl a tùcci vuiocci!

The Dowry of a Giusvalla Bride

2010-11-28T15:40:00.003-05:00

In the days of our Giusvallini great-grandparents, the selection of a spouse was most often something along the lines of a financial transaction between two families. The process began with an agreement between two local families, the motivation was not necessarily one borne out of love or mutual affection between two young people. We are all familiar with the old stories of arranged marriages, perhaps some of these family stories have even made their way down through the generations .... sad stories of a great-grandmother who was in love with the boy from a neighboring farm, but was forced to marry another because the decision of who she was to marry was left in the hands of her parents. Such was life in the days of our forefathers, families did whatever was necessary to ensure their survival and this meant that sacrifices and difficult decisions sometimes had to be made. Sometimes our great-grandparents grew to love one another, other times they managed to learn to live with each other. Ultimately, divorce was not a possibility and the only sustainable option was to accept one’s fate and find a way to get through life.

The more traditional aspects of the arranged marriage varied from town to town and depended on what was locally considered valuable. The process was simple enough; the father of the girl would offer a dote (dowry) to the father of a local boy who he felt would make a good husband and provide well for his daughter. If the father of the boy accepted the offer, the girl and boy would accompany their parents to the local notary, where the financial aspects of the agreement would be formally recorded, as well as the intention and promise of the two young people to marry. Once the dote was witnessed and signed, it became a legal and binding contract. A breach of the contract meant financial loss to the family of the girl and the shame of rejection brought upon the boy and his family - it was understandably a rare occurrence.

Within a few weeks of the dote (and the subsequent payment to the family of the boy), the marriage ceremony would take place at the local parish church, or if the bride was from a neighboring town, the marriage would be celebrated at the parish in her hometown. Sometimes a family could not afford to make a lump payment of the dote, and in those cases a sort of “payment plan” would be made .... the dote might be 500 lire, paid in increments of 100 lire over a five year period. At the end of the five years and after the final payment (or in the event that the family of the groom for some reason decided to release the family of the bride from the balance of the original dote), a quittanza dote would be made between the two families. Again the notary would draw up the document stating that the debt had been satisfied and the family of the bride was released from its obligation.

In Giusvalla, the most prized and valuable dote was farmable land or property that included chestnut trees. Only the wealthiest families (and in Giusvalla there were few) could spare family land for the dowry of a daughter. The next most valuable dote came in the form of cash. Families that were better off could afford larger cash dowries, so when the wealthy father of Angela Maria Massa offered the family of Giuseppe Anselmi a dote of 700 lire, there was surely no question that it would be accepted. Poorer families were able to make far less lucrative offers, the young orphan Maddalena Angela Caterina Beltrame had been left a dowry of just 155 lire in the will of her father. It was hoped that it would be enough for the young girl to find a husband when the time came. Maddalena’s brother Giovanni Battista Beltrame was named the trustee of her dowry, and fortunately when Maddalena was old enough (maybe only 14 years old), a local widower named Gioanni Doglio accepted the offer.

Most of the families in Giusvalla were very poor, and the dowries of the poorest might consist only of a goat, or a bushel of chestnuts. The tradition of the dote continued virtually unchanged in Giusvalla (and throughout Italy) for hundreds of years. In the years between the World Wars, the custom fell out of practice and the young people of Giusvalla were free to choose their own spouses. Even so, for many years after, marriages outside of Giusvalla (or, at worst, a neighboring town) were still viewed with much disdain. When my cousin married a young man from Calabria in 1966, her parents did not approve, but ultimately the marriage took place and in time they came to accept the Calabrese boy with the strange customs and nearly unintelligible accent.

U temp u viagia … e lòchi u’na nent ritörn.

In the picture: Giuseppina Pesce & Giovanni Battista "Batistén" Perrone on their wedding day, October 5, 1911.

La chiesetta di Lalla Pina

2010-09-24T17:31:00.003-04:00

Grandmom Rosaio was proud of her chiesetta, the little “church” she had built in the yard next to her house where she displayed statues of the Blessed Mother and her favorite saints. It was another tradition she brought with her from her hometown of Giusvalla, where le chiesette dot the countryside .... little “churches” that were erected by Giusvallini families to honor Our Lady or a saint to whom they had a particular devotion. Some of the chiesette were large enough to accommodate a small altar with a few pews. La Chiesetta della Madonna del Deserto (loc. Mulino), la Chiesetta della Madonna della Guardia (loc. Riondi) and la Chiesetta del Bambin di Praga (loc. Ciocchini) are the largest of the chiesette, each big enough on its own to resemble a small church. Others (loc. Caporali, Pimpiri, Zambon, etc.) were no bigger than a refrigerator box, with an opening where a statue and some candles could be placed and a stone at the base of the structure to kneel on.

Each chiesetta carries its own history, often intertwined with the history of a particular family in Giusvalla. The history of the chiesetta devoted to Our Lady of the Desert at località Mulino begins in the early 1910s with a man named Carlo Marenco who made a special promise to the Blessed Mother. Carlo’s son had been injured when a sharp piece of metal cut a deep gash into his leg. The leg became infected, and it appeared likely that the leg would have to be amputated. Carlo’s vow to the Blessed Mother was that if through her intercession his son’s leg healed and was spared amputation, he would build a chapel that he and all his descendants would maintain in her honor. And so when his son’s leg healed in spite of the doctor’s dire prediction, Carlo made good on his promise and the Chiesetta della Madonna del Deserto was built – and is maintained by Carlo’s descendants to this day.

Grandmom’s chiesetta was quite modest compared to Carlo Marenco’s grand chapel at Mulino. But we all knew her devotion to the little church in her yard, and the marvelous sight of the pious convocation of the Blessed Mother, the Infant of Prague and Grandmom’s favorite saints – St. Anthony of Padua, St. Joseph and St. Jude – is something we all remember with great fondness.

What’s in a name?

2010-09-15T09:23:00.003-04:00

The etymology of Italian surnames is a fascinating topic to which my humble blogging could never do justice. Nor do I presume to be an expert on the topic, but for the casual family historian there are some basics I’ve learned over the years that may help you understand the origin of your Italian family name.

It wasn’t until the 15th century that the use of surnames began to take hold in the area that became Italy – and throughout Europe for that matter. As the human population exploded after the plague ridden Middle Ages, the use of a surname became essential, as you might guess, in order to distinguish one individual from another. The Council of Trent decreed what was really the first official act that required the recording of an individual with both their Christian name and surname in the parish registers throughout Europe.

But where did these names come from?

Probably the most common origin of the surname in Italy can be attributed to patronymics, where an individual came to be known through his connection to another person, usually his father. Therefore, Giovanni, the son of Antonio, might be called “Giovanni di Antonio.” Surnames such as “de Bartolomeis” (son of Bartolomeo) “Perrone” (son of Piero) and “Gerardi” (son of Gerardo) all reflect the given name of some remote ancestor.

Other Italian surnames are derived from a geographical reference. For example, Anthony of the town of Padua might have been called “Antonio di Padova,” or James who lived on the little hill might have been known as “Giacomo Collina.” Another common surname origin is related to an occupation, such as Tortarolo (miller of flour), Ferraro (smith/blacksmith), Vaccaro (herdsman), Pastore (shepherd), etc.

Still other Italian surnames originate in a nickname that was given to an ancestor. Giuseppe with a red beard may have become known as “Giuseppe Rossi,” or Marco with curly hair may have been called “Marco Ricci.” These surnames could derive from any physical or personality trait. The soldiers of the local nobleman “Bonifacio il Vasto,” who controlled the territory in the area that is now Giusvalla and the surrounding towns, became known by the nickname “i Bonifacini” - or individually - “Bonifacino.” Due to the many soldiers who were known by this nickname, the surname Bonifacino became quite common in the various towns throughout the Val Bormida.

Other Italian family names originated in the custom of giving an invented surname to children that were born out of wedlock or abandoned by their parents. These surnames were sometimes created by the child’s mother, or by the priest who recorded the baptism or the official who recorded the birth in the town hall. Different towns had different traditions when it came to naming their illegitimate or abandoned babies. Some towns named the babies after the month they were born in (Aprile, Ottobre, etc.), other towns gave the babies floral sounding names (Mirto, Fiorello, Mela). Surnames such as Esposito (exposed) and Trovato (found) were sometimes given to abandoned babies.

Dozens of surnames often evolved from the “root” name, so a simple surname like “di Giovanni” could take on many forms: Giovannoni, Giovanelli, Giova, Giannoni, Zunino, etc.

A vitally important consideration for the family historian is the distinction of unrelated families who share a common surname. Just like Anglo surnames such as “Johnson,” “Baker” and “Miller,” many Italian surnames are quite common and therefore it would be completely inaccurate to assume that two people with the same surname, even those living in a small town like Giusvalla, are related. The only way to prove that any two people are related is through genealogical research that documents a paper trail for both individuals back to a common ancestor.

The Becco Sisters

2010-09-08T18:48:00.002-04:00

Many of we Giusvallini here in the U.S. and our cousins in Italy are descended from the Becco sisters – Francesca (Becco) Pesce and Carlotta (Becco) Bazzano. Francesca was the mother of eight children, six of whom came to the U.S. as adults before Francesca herself came over in 1910 at the age of 59. Carlotta, who was 10 years younger than Francesca, was the mother of six children, two of whom came to the U.S. Carlotta stayed in Giusvalla, but came over to visit her two sons in the 1930s.

Francesca and Carlotta were among the large brood of children born to Francesco Becco and his wife Margherita. One of their brothers, Carlo Becco, married in 1876 to Angela Beltrame, a relative of the Carozzo and Camoirano families. Another sister, Giuseppina Becco, married Pietro Reverdito and their son Lorenzo came to Squirrel Run in 1910. Lorenzo was a gardener for the DuPont family for many years, then worked as a mushroom farmer and stone mason.

Francesca was a tiny woman, just over five feet. She became the matriarch of her large brood of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren and was known in the family as our “Mùma granda” and “Little Grandmom.” She lived with my great-grandmother up on the farm on Ebright Road, and my aunts often spoke of their memories of her as a kind and loving grandmother. She spoke only the Giusvalla dialect, and my aunts would reminisce about how they remembered her saying her prayers every night, kneeling beside her bed with her long hair hanging loose or in a braid down her back. Francesca died in 1940 at the age of 89, those who knew her during her lifetime still remember her with great fondness and much love.

Carlotta was taller than her older sister Francesca. She and her husband Giovanni Callisto Bazzano lived in a little house right along the strada provinciale near the center of Giusvalla. Giovanni held the important position of local postmaster, a vocation that later passed to his son Cide. One of my cousins tells me that she remembers Cide as a tall man, always dressed up formally in a suit and a tie and having a very serious expression with a deep baritone voice. He must have struck quite an imposing presence. Cide would stop at the Cavallo Bianco every day on his walk home from work for a glass of red wine. He was the youngest of Carlotta’s children, and died in 1977 at the age of 79. Carlotta made a visit to her sons Pietro “Pete” and Amedeo “Dave” in Kennett Square in 1931. She was almost 70 years old at the time and made the trip by herself, traveling aboard the steamer ship “Augustus.” She died at home in Giusvalla in 1943.

Like the Biblical Rebekah, who became “the mother of thousands of millions,” Francesca and Carlotta were blessed with an enormous progeny. We their descendants remember them with great pride.

In the picture: The Becco sisters, Carlotta Bazzano and Francesca Pesce, visit in Kennett Square (summer 1931).

Albert J. "Blue" Feliciani

2010-08-18T19:09:00.003-04:00

My family spoke with great fondness of our cousins Jennie and Blue. Jennie was a sweet and gentle soul like her mother Lalla Genia, with a touch of red in her hair. She passed away in 2002, the last of her family which included four older brothers. Jennie’s husband Blue was just as wonderful and kind as she, I always heard it said what good people they were. We were saddened to hear that Blue passed away this past Monday, August 16.

We offer the following history in honor of Blue and Jennie.

Albert J. “Blue” Feliciani was born March 30, 1920 in the little town of Cellino Attanasio, which is located in the province of Teramo in the Abruzzo region of Italy. His parents Giuseppe & Carmella (Ragazzo) Feliciani had returned to Italy in 1919, a couple years after they married in Delaware, and Blue was born during the time when they were living back in Italy. The family returned to the United States through Ellis Island on May 1, 1921 aboard the S.S. Ferdinando Palasciano. Blue was just a year old and his name was written as “Umberto” Feliciani on the ship manifest.

A family legacy was born in the years following the Feliciani’s return to the United States. Blue’s father Giuseppe “Joseph” went to work as a gardener on the Henry Francis duPont estate “Winterthur” where his father-in-law Euplio “Abraham” Ragazzo was already employed as a carpenter. Joseph Feliciani worked on the Winterthur estate for 40 years, rising to the position of supervisor of the cutting garden. Blue followed in the steps of his father, he worked on the Winterthur estate for over 40 years, eventually taking over his father’s position of supervisor of the cutting garden. Blue’s son John continued the legacy, working on the Winterthur estate for nearly 40 years until his recent retirement.

Blue and Jennie spent 58 years of married life together, they raised a family of three children and had six grandchildren. A new kind of legacy has blossomed over the past several years with the arrival of six great-grandchildren.

Our deepest sympathies go out to Blue’s family - the kind and gentle nature of Blue and Jennie was well-known throughout the branches of your large extended family, and will not be soon forgotten.

In the picture: Cellino Attanasio, birthplace of Albert J. "Blue" Feliciani.

The Paris Shoe Repairing Co.

2010-08-18T10:02:00.002-04:00

Giovanni Battista “Batistèn” Perrone came to Squirrel Run from Giusvalla in 1906. He was 25 years at the time and like his father “Piedrinìn,” he was a master shoemaker, so soon after his arrival he began making plans to start his own business in the city of Wilmington. He saved enough money working in the powder mills for a couple years to lease a building at 210 West 8th Street. Batistèn called his business the “Paris Shoe Repairing Co.” and hired other experienced Italians, including several of his fellow Giusvallini, to work in his shop. By the late 1910s, his business was doing very well; he had purchased the building on West 8th Street and a nice home at 3107 Monroe Street. He had a crew of many men and a secretary working for him. It is said in my family lore that his clients included various members of the DuPont family, and that he made special shoes for certain DuPonts that had particular podiatric needs.

Batistèn’s family included his wife, Josephine (Pesce), and their children Antonia (who died at birth), Paolo (who died at the age of 13 months), Alicina “Elsie,” Anne and Johnny. His three sisters, Paolina Camoirano, Katie Rosaio and Maria Baccino also came over from Giusvalla and lived in the area with their families. Around the time that they all gathered together with the other Giusvallini families in 1923 for the “Tutti i Giusvallini” reunion, Batistèn had begun to develop stomach problems. The problem got worse over the next few months, and in mid April 1924 he underwent an operation at the University of Pennsylvania hospital in Philadelphia. Later that week, Batistèn became frustrated with his recovery and left the hospital, probably prematurely. When he arrived in the city of Wilmington, he lost his balance as he was stepping off the trolley car and stumbled into the street, further injuring himself. He was brought home where he died in bed a few hours later. He was just 43 years old.

The funeral Mass for Batistèn was said at St. Patrick’s Church in Wilmington, and he was buried in St. Joseph-on-the-Brandywine Cemetery.

In the picture: The Paris Shoe Repairing Co. shop at 210 West 8th Street, Wilmington. Batistèn Perrone (owner) is on the far left. Also in this picture are Giusvallini Edgar Carozzo, Dave Bazzano and Henry Bonifacino.

Aj mei cüggèni

2010-08-10T19:05:00.004-04:00

I was just a young kid when I became interested in our family history, I was fortunate to be exposed to so much of it growing up among a close knit legion of aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and great-grandparents – and a strong sense of the extended family. Even as a child, I had a natural curiosity in the previous generations, I listened to the conversations my elders would have about “the old days.” My father often spoke to my sister and I of Giusvalla and our family there, passing along the many stories he remembered hearing during his own childhood. With the encouragement of my Aunts Anne and Elsie, I began writing to a 2nd cousin of the same age in Giusvalla who has become like a brother over the years. Back then, there was no internet or email, and we had no computer in the house. Everything was written out by hand, and it was often many months in between each letter.

Then when I started high school, I began researching our family history in earnest – that was almost 23 years ago now. There was still no such thing as the internet or email at that time. To trace your family tree you had to write letters to town halls, archives, courthouses and the like and wait for someone to look up the information for you, copy it and mail it back. Or go in person and look up the records yourself, sifting through drawers of dusty documents or carefully going line by line through bound copies of property deeds or probate records - hoping to find what you were searching for. If the records were microfilmed, you might spend hours in front of the microfilm reader, carefully reading each frame until your eyes went bleary. There were no instant answers "online," every step of the process required great pazienza. It has been quite a journey into the past.

I’ve met some really wonderful people along the way, various cousins that the family has lost touch with over the years and other people who simply share my interest. Some cousins I’ve written to never write back, some fade away again after awhile and others I’ve become very close with over the years. The capacity of some people’s generosity is what is most memorable to me. Folks that I hardly know – some of them not even related – who have sent me the nicest letters or even treasured family pictures and the like – and those who have never had email or a computer but continue to write or call.

How lucky I am to know such wonderful people, I am happy to call many of them “cousin.”

A nù nent parole per ringrazié aj mei cüggèni … che brovi ch’ishtei. Tanci grazie a tùcci!

In the picture: The Rosaio & Perrone cousins gather for Grandmom’s birthday, July 23, 1966.

A Great Day for a Tomato Sandwich..

2010-08-08T14:40:00.003-04:00

August is always a time of the year when tomato crops are in full harvest in virtually any Italian’s garden- I remember as a boy, hearing my Grandpop Salvo and my parents talking about having a “tomato sandwich” during this time of year and, as I’ve expressed in prior articles here, how hearing something like that as a child would simply blow me away.

Growing up in America in the 1970s and 80s, anyone who watched TV for at least one hour during that era would be familiar with the variety of commercials pertaining to fast food. Every hamburger, for the most part, would always be topped with some kind of cheese, lettuce, and yes…. Tomato. If you went out to eat at any other kind of restaurant, a sandwich would most likely be served with lettuce, tomato, and a pickle (or something to that effect).

So, having grown up in a world where tomato was the garnish of the sandwich, it amazed me that one could make a sandwich containing nothing other than…. Tomato!

Nevertheless, since that time in my youth, I’ve had many a tomato sandwich, including the ones I ate today, which prompted this article. If your family indulges in this hidden treasure of simple Italian cuisine, please post a comment in response to this article. It’s always great hearing the feedback we receive from our reading community!

Ra shtoria d’ra Piazza Anselmi

2010-08-04T16:54:00.003-04:00

Visitors to Giusvalla may be surprised by the quiet rusticity of the little village they encounter. To reach Giusvalla from any direction, one must travel through areas of dense forest that open to areas of vast green countryside among the hills. The occasional stone farmhouses, most in various stages of dilapidation, leave no doubt about Giusvalla’s purely agrarian past. The main road by which one arrives at the tiny centro storico of Giusvalla is the strada provinciale (provincial road 542). If you enter from the west (from Dego) you are welcomed to the center of Giusvalla by the unforgettable sight of the twin rows of twisted and gnarled locust trees that line the strada .... “zû dar gazìe.” According to tradition, the trees were planted by the French who occupied Giusvalla during the first Napoleonic campaign in the late 1790s.

The tiny center of Giusvalla is composed of little more than the parish church of San Maté and the little town hall. Across from the town hall is a modern looking one-story structure that was built as the community center “la Croce Bianca” in the early 1990s. There is a small memorial with the names of the men from Giusvalla who fought in the First and Second World Wars, then just a bit further down the strada one reaches the Piazza Anselmi which boasts a small produce shop and the Cavallo Bianco restaurant. After one passes the brief outcropping of buildings that comprise the tiny “center” of Giusvalla, the strada almost immediately disappears again into the countryside as one makes their way past località Perroni and on to the town of Pontinvrea.

The “Piazza Anselmi” was so named after a Giusvalla native named Pio Felice Anselmi (1819-1869), who fought for Italian independence and unification under Giuseppe Garibaldi, and his brother Don Giovanni Battista Anselmi (1802-1885), who was the pastor of the church of San Maté in Giusvalla for many years. The Anselmi family came to Giusvalla in 1764 from a town in Piemonte called Strevi. On July 11th of that year, brothers Giuseppe and Michele Anselmi of Strevi leased the mill owned by Antonio Maria Buschiazzo at località Mulino in Giusvalla. The mill and the attached property were gradually acquired by the descendants of the Anselmi family, and remained in the family until the late 19th century when it was leased to the Zunino brothers.

A small handful of descendants of the Anselmi family remain in Giusvalla and the surrounding towns, though none carry the family name, and many descendants now live in South America and France. I am proud to be related to the Anselmi family through both of my paternal grandparents.

In the picture: View of the center of Giusvalla and the Piazza Anselmi, circa 1945

I fiëj ‘d Pietrìn ur Palardèn

2010-07-12T19:28:00.005-04:00

Judging from his straninome alone, it appears my ancestor Pietro Perrone “Palardèn” must have been someone of great respect in Giusvalla. Whatever specific actions warranted him that fine nickname have been lost to time, but it’s apparent from other sources that Pietro was someone who was trusted and relied upon by his fellow Giusvallìn. His name appears over and over among the town records, as arbitrator, town councilman and witness to various important documents. As a respected town elder, he was appointed mayor of Giusvalla in the 1830s. He is also recorded throughout the church records of San Matè, it is apparent that he was an active and faithful parishioner.

Pietro was born in Giusvalla in 1773 and was a son of Gaspare Perrone and Caterina Scarrone. He is called “contadino” (farmer) on the early records, as the eldest son he inherited the farm on the family homestead at ra Collà. Pietro married Angela Maria Caterina Doglio in 1799 and became the father of ten children and through them, the scion of one of the largest Perrone families in Giusvalla …. quite a feat when you consider that each of the many brichi ed Giusvalla had their own Perrone clan. By the time of his death in 1855, he is called “possidente” (wealthy); it is evident that Pietro “Palardèn” lived a fruitful and industrious life.

Pietro’s eldest son, Gaspare Perrone “Gashpèn ‘d Palardèn,” inherited the family farm at ra Collà, he followed in his father’s footsteps and married a local girl, Margherita Baccino, with whom he had a large brood of ten children of his own. Catasti records indicate that Gaspare made certain improvements to his father’s farm at ra Collà, and that the farm included a respectable number of livestock (an indication of prosperity in oft-impoverished Giusvalla). Several of Gaspare’s children were among the first waves of Giusvallini immigrants to South America. In fact, later in life, Gaspare accompanied his daughter Adelaide and her family to Montevideo, Uruguay, where he died in 1876 at the age of 76.

Following in the tradition, Gaspare’s eldest son Lorenzo Antonio Perrone remained on the family farm at ra Collà, where he honored the other tradition of having a large family. Lorenzo and his wife, Maria Luigia Perrone (from the Perrone family “dei Galletti”) had nine children, including my 2nd great-grandmother, Maria Caterina “Marinìn.”

Our “mùma granda” Marinìn never came to the United States, but her son Francesco “Franceschèn” Rosaio did, and so did her brother Antonio Perrone. Both my great-grandfather Rosaio and his uncle “Borba Tunèn” initially worked for the DuPont family; my great-grandfather in the powder mills and Borba Tunèn as a carpenter and stone mason in the Hagley yard. By 1917, my great-grandfather was in the mushroom business on his own farm on Ebright Road (and had married a girl from yet another Perrone family of Giusvalla – Caterina Perrone “Catarinìn ‘d Piedrinìn”).

After the powder mills closed, Borba Tunèn went to work as a stonemason on the Henry F. DuPont estate at Winterthur. But he deserves a story of his own.

In the picture: The road to località Collà, ancestral home of my Perrone ancestors - ch’è balli ch’j sun i brichi ed Giusvalla!

Winterthur 2010 Attendance List

2010-07-05T19:22:00.003-04:00

As many already know, "Proud To Be Italian" day at Winterthur turned out to be a huge success. Frank and I (as well as the staff at Winterthur) were very pleased with all who'd taken the time out of their already short-and-packed weekend agendas, to come and see all that we'd worked to put together.

In the midst of the event, my mother, Marianne (Salvo) Brady, thought it might be a good idea to place a "sign-in" sheet on the exhibit display table, to help in capturing the names of some of the many who'd come out to Winterthur for the day. After finding out about what she had done, I was so happy to see that my mother had taken the initiative to do this. There were so many people present for the event whom I'd never met before, and I feel that this list really helped in being able to capture a glimpse of the many who helped in making this event so memorable.

Although these sheets do not include all of the individuals who came out that day, I wanted to pay tribute to those who had taken the time to jot their names down for us. Hopefully after you signed, you were able to get a piece of the Torrone too! (click on the image to see it in enlarged form)

Life at Vicari

2010-07-05T13:58:00.006-04:00

Up the winding road about a mile past his father’s farm at Barbiella, my great-grandfather Rosaio would have arrived at ra ca deŕ Vicoŕi (località Vicari) and the home of the Buschiazzo family. In those days, it was common for young adults – and even children – to leave the family home to go to work on the farm of a neighboring family. The work was generally unpaid, but it alleviated the burden on the family when children could be sent to live with a neighboring family, where they would “earn their keep” by helping out on the farm. Times were much different in the days of our grandparents and great-grandparents; families did whatever was necessary to survive. My great-grandfather went to work on the farm at Vicari as a young boy.

Località Vicari is located northwest of the center of Giusvalla – the farm would have consisted of perhaps two cleared acres among the heavily forested hills. The road that led from the “strada provinciale” to Vicari was dirt (it still is today), one would pass the small farm and the Ca’d Tunòn at Barbiella to the right while making the way to Vicari. My great-grandfather’s father Tunòn was considered extremely fortunate, his farm at Barbiella included “duj bùi” – two large steer – so he did not have to till the rocky soil of his farm by hand. I bùi ‘d Tunòn came to him by way of a tumultuous agreement he reached with his brother Gianòn in settling their late father’s estate – Tunòn got the steer and Gianòn got the small house off the main road. It is said that Tunòn got the better end of that deal.

Like all the farms in Giusvalla, the Buschiazzo farm at Vicari was modest and hardscrabble. The small family home was a field stone and wood beam structure – one level – consisting of a kitchen and perhaps two bedrooms. There may have been a tiny root cellar or cold shed beneath the house. There was of course, no running water – it was taken from a nearby spring or stream. There was a small stone barn where the cow, pig and goat were kept – if the family was fortunate enough to have them. This is where my great-grandfather and any other farm hands would have slept as well. The Buschiazzo house maid, Lucia Ancili, would have slept in the main house, probably in the kitchen.

The main crops in Giusvalla at the time were granturco (corn) and fieno (hay). My great-grandfather helped with the tilling of the fields – the Buschiazzo family did not have any “bùi” so this was done by hand – then the planting and harvesting. The family also kept a garden, fruit trees and of course the beloved “cashtagne.” The families in Giusvalla tried their best to preserve enough of the harvest to last through the long and cold winters there. This was not an easy task. If the family was lucky enough to have a pig, it would be slaughtered near harvest time and the meat would be cured or made into sotìzza and stored in the cold shed. Every bit of the pig was utilized in some way, they wasted nothing. The men would hunt wild boar and deer in the abundant boschi throughout Giusvalla in order to help put a little meat on the table. Portabello and porcini mushrooms would have been another staple, harvested throughout the summer in Giusvalla’s abundant forests and dried in the sun to preserve them for future use. Many a meal would have been made of polenta with mushrooms. If the harvest was bad, or there was no pig that year, or the winter lingered a bit too long – or the family did not prepare adequately – they were in trouble. Malnourishment and even starvation was not uncommon.

It was a terribly difficult existence, but in the midst of it was life and love and friendship. In between the daily chores, my great-grandfather would have enjoyed a few minutes with his friends GioBatta Buschiazzo and Lucia Ancili. GioBatta left the farm at Vicari as a young man, he came to the United States and went to work for the DuPont family in the powder mills. He went back and forth from Italy to the U.S. a couple times over the years before returning permanently to take over the family farm at Vicari. He died there in 1963.

Little Lucia Ancili – like my great-grandfather – went to work on the farm at Vicari as a young girl. She worked in the main house and would have been responsible (among other things) for helping in the kitchen, the washing, the garden – and even the harvest, when everyone came out of the house to help in the fields. When Lucia came to the U.S. in 1912, she went to live with my great-grandfather Rosaio (who came in 1910). She never married and had developed tuberculosis and a deformity on her upper spine, my great-grandfather cared for Lucia until she passed away within a couple years of her arrival here in the U.S.

Life presented new challenges here in America, but a background of hard work and perseverance in Giusvalla prepared our grandparents and great-grandparents for anything. They worked hard and pushed forward, they became Americans and were proud to be here. My great-grandfather came here as a young man and within a few years was running his own farm of over 100 acres. I wonder what he dreamed about after those long days tilling the rocky fields at Vicari – could he have ever imagined the opportunities that lay ahead in America?

In the picture: View of the abandoned remains of ra ca’d Tunòn at Barbiella, from the road to Vicari.

Il buon dottore Bigatti

2010-06-26T11:07:00.003-04:00

Dr. Ottaviano Bigatti and his wife Laura Pane came to Giusvalla near the end of the 19th century from Piemonte. For a tiny village like Giusvalla, it was a rare blessing to have an experienced doctor like Dr. Bigatti in their midst. The Bigatti family settled into their new home at No. 30 Via Montenotte, right along the modest Piazza Anselmi. The property included a private garden and a separate kitchen and cold shed, and the first floor of the two story house was used as the office and examination room of Dr. Bigatti. The house was one room deep, so as you entered the small central foyer on the first floor there was a room on either side, and a winding staircase that led to a second floor landing, with a bedroom on each side. It was considered an extremely comfortable home in comparison to the rustic farms and shacks that dotted the countryside.

In spite of his reported enthusiasm for vino rosso, Dr. Bigatti was said to be a first rate doctor and surgeon. His services were highly sought throughout Giusvalla and the surrounding towns, it is said he would travel through the worst snow storm to call on his patients who required medical attention. Dr. Bigatti’s wife, “ra Madama” Laura, became the maestra at the little schoolhouse in Giusvalla. The Bigattis had two children: son, Gino, who became a chemist and daughter, Giovanna, who took her mother’s place as the maestra at the school in Giusvalla – a career that she held for almost her entire life and whose students still remember her fondly. Both the Bigatti children lived as adults with their parents and never married. The Bigatti household also included the girls that the doctor employed to help with the housework and cooking – Marì dei Ninoni and Carmelina della Casùrera. Marì worked for the Bigatti family until she married her husband Gianèn and moved to Taranco and Carmelina remained in the services of the family right up until the doctor’s death.

After the death of Dr. Bigatti, his house was purchased by the family of my cousin Enzo – the old examination room was converted to a kitchen and his office was made into a living room. Dr. Bigatti bequeathed his beloved maid Carmelina a small apartment that adjoined the main house. Her daughter Emma continues to live in the apartment today, with her daughter Giovanna and granddaughter Simona.

The Bigatti family – Dr. Ottaviano, Madama Laura, Gino the chemist and Maestra Giovanna – are all now just another memory in Giusvalla lore. They rest together in the little cemetery in Giusvalla.

In the photo: il dottore Ottaviano Bigatti and his house

Ra feshta d’ur papà

2010-06-20T10:20:00.005-04:00

One of my earliest memories is walking out of a restaurant with my father - I was perhaps three or four years old at the time - and Dad hoisting me into his arms to show me a map of Italy that hung on the wall. I remember Dad’s finger tracing up the coastline on the map, “Giusvalla is …. here. This is where we came from” was his simple explanation.

It was always the same with Dad, there was always some family story, a memory from his own childhood …. and he often spoke of his grandparents’ hometown …. Giusvalla. Perhaps without him even realizing it, his own love for the place inspired the same in his son.

I proudly carry my Giusvalla surname, not just because of a personal affinity for the town and our history there, but moreover out of deep admiration for those who carried it before me. It was Dad who taught me to be proud of these things. More than anything I am just proud to be his son.

Happy Father’s Day, Dad …. at vüj tanc bèn … turnumma a Gişvàla prash!

In the picture: ur papà e pcit Franceschèn, July 4, 1975.

Giusvalla godparents …. through the generations

2010-06-17T16:36:00.004-04:00

Like many others from an Italian-American household, I grew up in a family where godparents were a very important part of our lives, we were all proud of our godparents and family conversations often included godparent acknowledgements such as “Aunt So-and-So was such a special lady. She was my godmother you know ….” My godparents were my Uncle Frank and my Aunt Marina (both siblings of my father). Aunt Marina has always referred to me as her “Nephew-Godson,” growing up I had a special bond with her because she is my godmother.

The selection of the godparents was always a serious and deliberate matter, whom do we deem most worthy to bequeath the spiritual well-being of our children? The christening day was a time of great celebration and tradition. In my family, it has become a great honor to pass down the christening gown that has now been worn by grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins. On the day of my son's christening, his godfather (my cousin Enzo) resurrected the old Giusvalla tradition of the father's and godfather's shave (with the obligatory straight razor). It was Enzo's grandfather Bastianèn who was responsible for performing this rite on all the new fathers and godfathers in Giusvalla. We were proud to carry this tradition into the next generation.

Our godparents can perhaps be considered our “spiritual” ancestors, certainly they played an important role in our families throughout the generations. In my genealogical research, whenever possible I always try to document the names of the godparents. This is accomplished by consulting ecclesiastical records, where godparents’ names are listed (on the baptismal acts, for example). Following is my “Godparent Tree,” showing the godparents for several generations of my direct paternal family line.

My Son
Godfather: Cousin Enzo
Godmother: Aunt Angela
Me (Frank)
Godfather: Frank Rosaio
Godmother: Marina Rosaio
My father (Michael)
Godfather: Ernest Camoirano
Godmother: Gloria (Faenza) Malatesta
My grandfather (Frank)
Godfather: Giuseppe Camoirano
Godmother: Elsie Perrone
My great-grandfather (Francesco)
Godfather: Gaspare Perrone
Godmother: Maria Teresa Manzino
My great-great grandfather (Giacomo Antonio)
Godfather: Giacomo Beltrame
Godmother: Gioanna (Verdino) Baccino
My gr-gr-gr grandfather (Gioanni Antonio)
Godfather: Giovanni Antonio Bonifacino
Godmother: Angela (wife of Giovanni Antonio Bonifacino)

In the picture: Christening Day, May 16, 1974, with godparents Uncle Frank & Aunt Marina

On This Day in 1939.

2010-06-15T11:59:00.002-04:00

On this day back in 1939 (it was a Thursday that year), Marian Theresa Ghione took Ernest Salvo to be her lawfully-wedded husband, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death did they part.

Their Honeymoon took them to New York, where the infamous World’s Fair was underway. While up in that part of the Country, they visited the Fair, and made other stops as well, one being at Niagra Falls.

A year later, they would have their first child together, a son (Ernest J.). And shortly after that, 2 more children followed (Paul and Marianne). Their family of 5 shared many years of happiness together.

Today would be their 71st wedding anniversary, which comes just after a weekend-honorarium to both them, and their families, at the Winterthur museum in DE.

Although both of them have since passed on (Marian on April 8, 1968, Ernest on June 12, 1982), we have faith that they were re-joined after death and are now together in Heaven.

Felice Anniversario, Grandmom e Grandpop……………………………

Celebrate Being Italian With Winterthur on Sunday, June 13th

2010-06-06T19:23:00.004-04:00

This coming Sunday, June 13th, Winterthur will be having a "Celebrate Being Italian" day from 10AM until 5PM. Frank Rosaio and I will be on-site to share our knowledge and family histories, some special Italian items will be offered on the Winterthur café menu and many other surprises await as well! And don't forget, the Lost Gardens of the Brandywine exhibit is still on display (through July 25th).

For more information, click on the image attached with this post, or visit
www.winterthur.org

Ra pórta ‘d ra Lalla Pina

2010-05-15T19:37:00.003-04:00

The story of “Grandmom’s doors” has been told and retold in my family hundreds of times over the past almost 50 years. Even the extended family and cousins still talk about those doors. The story goes like this ….

On one of her visits back home to Giusvalla, Grandmom Rosaio noticed the doors in the vestibule of the church were in terrible condition. Grandmom went to her nephew Piciòn (Lorenzo Perrone) and asked him why the doors hadn’t been fixed, and he told her that the church didn’t have the money to pay for repairs. The next Sunday after Mass, Grandmom walked right up to the pastor and told him that she wanted to pay for new doors to be installed. She gave him the donation for the doors, and he promised that they would be put up very soon. Piciòn made sure that Grandmom was recognized for her generous donation, and to this day 47 years later there is a plaque above the vestibule doors that reads "Dono di Giuseppina Pesce" (Gift of Josephine Pesce). The beautiful glass and wood doors remain in perfect condition to this day.

“Grandmom’s doors” have become a favorite destination for her visiting descendants over the years, several of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren have stood in front of those doors and smiled proudly for the camera. And lest any of us forget, her great-nieces and nephews in Giusvalla still eagerly point up to the bronze plaque that bears her name and tell the story of ra pórta ‘d ra Lalla Pina ….

Watching TV With Grandpop Salvo: “Lawrence Welk”

2010-05-06T13:50:00.001-04:00

I have some great TV memories from growing up during the late 70s and early 80s: CHiPs, Fantasy Island, The Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredible Hulk, so many great shows on during that time. But there’s one show that I would catch during those days, that I never thought would pique my interest some 30 years later…

I remember many times, especially on weekends, our TV’s being tuned into a little musical program known as………. “The Lawrence Welk Show”. I would watch in confusion as my Grandpop Salvo sat and absorbed this program, usually his one leg crossed over the other, and the upper foot tapping mildly in the air to the beat of the songs. During my time of these memories, disco music was on its way out, and pop music (later just to be known at “80’s music”) was quickly rolling in. But none of the songs I was hearing on the radio ever seemed to make it to this program- and even weirder, the women always seemed to be wearing these draping, heavenly-like gowns. It didn’t matter what song was being sung, or which singer was singing it. They were all dressed the same way, and the style of dress that they were wearing I never seemed to see worn anywhere else in my life.

Grandpop always liked watching that show, but after he passed in 1982, it’s sad to say that I don’t remember seeing that program on as much on our TV’s. I’m sure my mother watched it on occasion, but the number of times that it would be on in our home after that year definitely diminished.

That time in my life, and especially that show, prompted an ongoing joke for my sister and I. If someone ever made mention of Lawrence Welk, we would (and still do today) be quick to shout out, “CUE THE BUBBLES!!!”

It wasn’t until I got older that I would fully understand why Grandpop Salvo enjoyed that program as much as he did: The music was light, yet happy. The singers weren’t being chased every day by People and Star magazines, their personal lives to be exploited to no end. There were familiar instruments in the program’s requiem, specifically accordions and clarinets. And most of all, the audience was always of a “more mature” age bracket, still smiling and enjoying life. Welk’s mode of operation was simple, and it worked out perfectly. He was able to target people who lived their lives just as simply, one being my grandfather.

This past weekend, a special program aired on MPT titled “Lawrence Welk – Milestones and Memories”. I had to sit and watch it. Not for the music, and not to see how much the original cast members had aged... But for Grandpop Salvo. I could almost see his foot happily tapping once again..

Perrone dell’avvocato

2010-05-03T17:32:00.002-04:00

Giusvalla’s resident noble family was “Perrone dell’avvocato” - no relation to the various other Perrone families of Giusvalla. Though not technically of aristocratic stock, these Perrones were locally quite influential since the 16th century and married into other socially prominent families from Savona and Genoa. They became lawyers, judges, notaries and acted in various official capacities in town affairs. The younger Perrone sons pursued vocations in the Church. Rev. Michele Antonio Perrone served as pastor in Giusvalla’s parish church of San Matteo for many years until his death on March 14, 1803. Don Perrone had a natural interest in history and it is said that he compiled a 1000 page account of the genealogies of all the families in Giusvalla. Unfortunately for us, it seems Don Perrone’s research of the families in his parish has been lost to time.

Michele Perrone was just one of several descendants of this family to tend to the ecclesiastical needs of the flock in Giusvalla. Don Perrone's nephews Francesco Antonio and GioBatta Perrone served the parish in Giusvalla for many years during the early 19th century.

Rev. Angelo Perrone was born in Giusvalla on November 2, 1874 and was a son of Gerolamo Perrone and Angela Sambolino. He was ordained in the diocese of Acqui and was sent to the United States to serve the diocese of Chicago. He arrived at Ellis Island on October 24, 1911 aboard the “Rochambeau.” In 1923, Rev. Perrone was transferred to the diocese of Scranton (Pennsylvania) to serve as pastor of the Italian parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Carbondale, where he became a much beloved spiritual leader and friend to the families there.

Rev. Perrone died suddenly on March 16, 1927 at St. Joseph’s hospital in Carbondale after an operation to remove his appendix. He was buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery, Carbondale on March 21. Rev. Perrone left a sizeable estate, which included a bequest to the town of Giusvalla with instructions that a kindergarten be built there and directed by the Sisters of the diocese of Acqui. Rev. Angelo Perrone is the only known descendant of the “nobile stirpe” of the Perrone family to come to the United States.

Like many local families, by the 1950s the family “Perrone dell’avvocato” had all but disappeared from Giusvalla. Descendants had relocated permanently to Genoa and Milan. All that remains of Giusvalla’s noble family today is their family tomb in the little cemetery behind the church.

In the picture: Tomb of the noble Perrone family in the Giusvalla town cemetery.

Bonifacino …. of Rocchetta di Cairo Montenotte

2010-04-26T08:07:00.001-04:00

One of the first rules of good family history research is to avoid assumptions, preconceptions and unverified notions. At the forefront of this pitfall is the “surname game.” In this old genealogical blunder, the would-be family historian assumes that everyone with the same surname is automatically related to one another. Genealogy how-to books are replete with “what not to do” stories about those who make claims of a family relationship to a famous person with the same surname. One old favorite is the claim to be a “descendant” of George Washington. Of course, George Washington had no children, and therefore no descendants. Claims like this are pretty transparent and are easily disproven with minimal research.

Other times, researchers will simply assume that all people with the same last name share a common ancestor. For example, someone with the last name of Baccino or Tortarolo might assume that they are related to all people with that last name. Of course, those of us who are familiar with Giusvalla family history know better than this. Names like Baccino and Tortarolo are common throughout Giusvalla and the surrounding towns and nearby provinces. Even in a small town like Giusvalla, the Tortarolo family from località Taranco will quickly point out to you that they are not related to the Tortarolo family from down the road in località Prati Proia.

The bottom line is clear in all situations; genealogy basics (“Genealogy 101,” if you will) dictate that you do your research before you assume you are related to someone simply because they share your last name.

Recent research into the families of immigrants Luigi Bonifacino and his brother, Giuseppe Bonifacino, illustrates another facet of the name game: never assume that all people of the same surname are from the same place.

A couple incidental factors led me to erroneously assume that Luigi and Giuseppe Bonifacino were from Giusvalla. The first factor illustrates the ease with which we fall into Genealogy Pitfall #1: surname frequency. Bonifacino is a common surname in Giusvalla, and there was another family named Bonifacino that did come from Giusvalla to the U.S. The second factor was location (and association). When Luigi and Giuseppe Bonifacino came to the U.S., they went to work for the DuPont family in the powder mills. Giuseppe lived for awhile at Squirrel Run, and Luigi also lived for several years on the grounds of the powder mills. While working in the powder mills, Luigi and Giuseppe became associated with the families that came from Giusvalla, including the Bonifacino family of Giusvalla. Luigi even married as his first wife Giusvalla native Felicita Bonifacino.

And so, for many years, it went no further than that. It was a case of guilt by association. I ignored the fact that I had not one shred of evidence that Luigi and Giuseppe came from Giusvalla. I blithely continued to document the American descendants of these two men, assuming they were all part of our big Giusvalla family simply because their name was Bonifacino.

There was, however, something that I always wondered about. Not one person from the large families of Luigi and Giuseppe Bonifacino attended the “Tutti I Giusvallini” reunion in 1923. They are completely absent from the big picture of the Giusvalla immigrants that was taken at that reunion. How could this be?

A light went off last month when I was reviewing the birth records of the children of Giuseppe Bonifacino. On birth records from this era (late 19th through early 20th centuries), usually only the country of birth is listed for the parents. So, on the birth records of the children of Luigi and Giuseppe, their respective birthplaces are listed simply as “Italy.” Except for one. And on that birth record – remarkably - Giuseppe’s town of birth is listed. The record states that Giuseppe Bonifacino was born in “Rochetto Cairo” [sic, Rocchetta di Cairo Montenotte].

I already knew from their death records that Luigi and Giuseppe’s parents’ names were Giovanni Bonifacino and Rosa Santi. With this information, I was able to contact the diocesan archives in Acqui Terme and obtain a copy of the marriage record of Giovanni and Rosa. It states that on July 9, 1861, Rosa Santi of Cairo Montenotte, daughter of Luigi Santi and Teresa Berretta, married Giovanni Bonifacino of Rocchetta di Cairo Montenotte. Rose and Giovanni were married at the church of Sant’Andrea in Rocchetta di Cairo Montenotte.

Luigi and Giuseppe and their families were not at the 1923 “Tutti I Giusvallini” reunion because they weren’t from Giusvalla! Their presence at the powder mills however, was not merely incidental, because there were other families from Rocchetta di Cairo Montenotte living there as well (Ferraro, Sicco, Persoglio, etc.). Like the Giusvalla immigrants, Luigi and Giuseppe followed their friends and neighbors from their hometown in Italy to the DuPont powder mills.

Though I’m sorry to have to admit to myself that I fell for Genealogy Pitfall #1, I am grateful to know that the information on the families of Luigi and Giuseppe Bonifacino is now accurate and well-documented. And I relearned an important lesson about making assumptions, however logical they may seem.

In the picture: Birth Certificate of Louis Bonifacino (Delaware Public Archives).

Furtinèn ed Manzèn

2010-04-19T16:37:00.005-04:00

My great-uncle Fortunato (Borba Furtinèn ed Manzèn) was one of Giusvalla’s most prominent citizens. He was very active throughout his entire life as a town consigliere, and on more than one occasion was elected mayor of Giusvalla.

Borba Furtinèn was born in Giusvalla on April 25, 1887. At the age of 18, like all young Giusvalla men from his era, Furtinèn joined the 1st regiment of the “Alpini.” After completing his required two years in the Italian army, he returned to Giusvalla and married. He and his wife Santina ran a little store that was attached to the front of their home on the Piazza Anselmi. They never had any children of their own, but became well known in the town as the people to go to whenever you needed help with something. Borba Furtinèn is referred to in my family lore as “l’uomo più buono del mondo.”

Furtinèn owned the first car in Giusvalla. With only tiny roads winding through the countryside, there wasn’t much room for him to make his way. A couple years later Carlo Ferraro (aka “Cide-yes”) bought a car and when the two would meet on the roads of Giusvalla, one of the drivers would have to backtrack until the other could find an area wide enough to pass!

A soft-spoken and gentle soul, Borba Furtinèn passed away quietly in Giusvalla on January 1, 1959. He is lovingly remembered by those who knew him.

In the picture: Lalla Santina and Borba Furtinèn, circa 1958.

Ra Trifurina

2010-04-11T20:06:00.003-04:00

My great-grandfather’s cousin Matté Perrone married in 1904 in Giusvalla to Caterina Ferruccio. Matté was born in Giusvalla in 1876 at località Dogli, one of the large brood of children of Pietro “l'plén” Perrone and his wife, Teresa Manzino. He was a quiet, gentle and extremely reserved man. Matté’s bride, Caterina, on the other hand, was full of fire and very strong willed. Because Matté was so reserved, he was content to let Caterina run the house. She made all the important decisions and because she became known as the head of the household, she was called “Ra Trifurina.”

Matté came to the U.S. in 1905 and went to work for the DuPont family in the powder mills. Shortly after his arrival, there was an explosion and Matté was seriously injured. Upon receiving word of her husband’s accident, Caterina immediately left Giusvalla - on her own - to come to the U.S. and take care of Matté. When Matté regained his strength, they both returned to Giusvalla and opened a little store near their home at Ca’d Gaspò.

“Ra Trifurina” became known in Giusvalla as a force to be reckoned with. She was a fierce and intimidating business woman, always demanding the best deal possible. All the while, she was a loving wife to Matté and a gentle mother to their brood of six children. When Ra Trifurina died in 1937, the house at Ca’d Gaspò quietly mourned the loss of their matriarch, however 73 years later her descendants and their cousins still repeat the stories of the fiery and lively Caterina “Ra Trifurina!” It seems she is not yet ready to be forgotten.

In the picture: Caterina Ferruccio, “Ra Trifurina”

Italian Magic: The Dandelion

2010-04-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I was happy to see that the Dandelions were starting to bloom. I ran out and dug up a bucketful, and took them into the house to start prepping them for salad. After I had them cleaned and ready to eat, I decided to call my mother to see if she would like to have some of the day’s “harvest”. To my surprise, she told me that she and my father were just finishing up their lunch. Included on their menu for the day was…….. Dandelion Salad! She’d beat me to it!

I remember as a boy, watching my Grandpop Salvo pick the Dandelions from our yard, and bring them into the house in either a pot or a colander. Eventually they would be washed and then “vanish”. I did not know for sure what was being done with these WEEDS (yes, the average American sees them as weeds unfortunately) once they were washed, but couldn’t help but wonder.

And then, one day I noticed that there was a different looking “salad” on the table during lunch, served in a glass bowl. I said “what is that??”, to which I was told………. “Dandelion Salad”. I can’t remember during my first experience seeing them, if they had hard-boiled eggs with them or not. But if it wasn’t during that initial time, it definitely was during a subsequent serving of them that I remember seeing them with hard-boiled eggs. Sometimes they would even include a mixture of what our family calls “chi chi’s” (chick peas or garbanzo beans). You can add this dish to the list of what I considered “A Menu for the Mentally Insane or Senile” at that time.

I have to reiterate that when my grandfather lived with us, I was a little boy. I was born in 1971, and he moved in with us in 1973. I’ve said it in previous posts here on the blog, but I’ll say it again now: growing up with my Grandpop Salvo around was sooooooooo different from what I would see at homes of friends who were my age. If I had lunch at a friend’s house at that time, the menu would include items like : peanut butter and jelly, hot dogs, or maybe even a piece of frozen pizza. I can tell you as I sit here typing this, that NEVER at that time did I walk into a friend’s house to have them say “oh hey my mom just put Dandelion Salad on the table- you want some??”

As I got older, I eventually tried them. It was something I could take or leave. With their slightly bitter, peppery taste, I wondered what damaged psyche would actually “enjoy” eating something of this nature. Not to mention the fact that I never recalled seeing anyone else on our street pulling stuff out of their yards and throwing it on the dinner table! It really makes you wonder as a child, what alternate dimension you’re living in when this stuff is going on every day in your house, and you KNOW it’s not happening at the places where your friends live.. And do you dare mention it to a friend, to see what they would say about it all? NO WAY. “Yeah, I might be living with aliens, but I’m not telling anyone else that! They won’t talk to me anymore!”

I did eventually ask my parents and grandfather why people would even eat these things. The reply that came back was the same that would be provided when things like escarole (pronounced “scuttle” in our home), turnips, broccoli rabe, and other strange veggies made their way to the table: “because it’s good for you”. That was it. “OK so if these things are so good for you, then why are we the only ones on our BLOCK eating them from our YARD”, I thought to myself.. But at that age, you don’t ask questions in that fashion, unless you want to find yourself unconscious.

Over Easter weekend, I told my wife’s grandmother (a native of San Pietro a Maida, Italy), that on the day prior, I’d been out gathering Dandelions for salad. I sat eagerly awaiting her reaction, as it’s the first time I think I’ve ever gotten to mention to her that our family eats them. Her 89-year old eyes suddenly widened, and she said with a smile, “YOU EAT DANDELION SALAD??!!”. I said yes, by all means. She told me that she’d not had them since she was a little girl. I told her the story that I have just recaptured here, and as I told it to her, she smiled the entire time. She too is from the age of my grandfather (who would have been 106 this year if he were still alive), so she always enjoys me telling her about the traditions I try my best to continue on from Grandpop Salvo’s family.

As many of our readers probably already know, the Dandelion truly is “good for you”, as I was taught decades ago. But why it’s good is for many reasons: it works as a natural diuretic, it purifies the blood, contains multiple vitamins, and even sustains the immune system. Funny how they never mention that on the Scott’s Turf Builder ads!

Buona Pasqua to all of our readers...

I Pesce dei Giachi

2010-03-30T18:11:00.007-04:00

The Pesce family can claim the largest number of descendants of any of the families that came to the United States from Giusvalla. This family was also unique among the Giusvalla immigrant families because all the grown Pesce siblings (with the exception of the oldest sister) came over to Squirrel Run, followed by their elderly parents – Paolo Rocco and Francesca (Becco) Pesce.

Paolo and Francesca had 8 children, 44 grandchildren and 68 great-grandchildren. Their progeny continue to flourish into the seventh generation now, with several great-great-great-great grandchildren having been born into the Pesce family! This is the story of their origins in Giusvalla.

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In the middle of the 19th century, Giovanni Battista Pesce and his wife, Francesca Teresa Zunino, lived in a little neighborhood in Giusvalla called “Giachi.” Giachi is located down the road and up the hill from Cavanna (the homestead of the Bonifacino family), off the strada provinciale. Giachi is still very much an agricultural neighborhood amidst “i brichi ed Giusvalla”; if you visit today you will find Laura hard at work among her dairy cows.

Giovanni Battista had gone to Altare (a neighboring town of Giusvalla) and worked for several years in the famous glass making industry there before returning to the farm at Giachi, where he raised his family which included his son, Paolo Rocco and a daughter, Luigia.

Paolo Rocco Pesce was born on August 16, 1848 and married Francesca Becco on February 19, 1870. Francesca’s family came from a farm at località Taranco, just a short distance from Giachi. The Pesces were a tenant farmer family, they did not own their own farm, rather they rented the land they cultivated. When Paolo’s parents both died in 1894, there was no inheritance. Paolo and his young family continued to eek out a meager existence on the farm at Giachi, but life in Giusvalla was hard and soon his growing children began to look elsewhere for better opportunities.

And where better to find opportunity in the first decade of the 20th century than the “land of opportunity” …. America soon beckoned with its promises of a better life and financial stability. Paolo and Francesca’s eldest living son, GioBatta “John” Pesce was the first in the family to venture across the ocean to America. He arrived at Ellis Island on March 20, 1901 and listed his destination as Wilmington, Delaware. He arrived at the DuPont powder mills ready to work alongside the two or three fellow Giusvallini who were already there. GioBatta soon sent word home of the plentiful work available at the powder mills, and gradually his brothers, sisters and brothers-in-law began arriving. They all lived their first years in the United States in the Squirrel Run employee housing neighborhood on the grounds of the powder mills. With the exception of the eldest sister - whose entrepreneur husband preferred to keep his business ventures close to home - all the living Pesce siblings came to Squirrel Run. Their parents eventually joined them as well, Paolo and Francesca arrived at Ellis Island on April 12, 1910.

The children of Paolo Rocco & Francesca (Becco) Pesce were:

Francesca “Francìscha,” born in Giusvalla, Jan. 7, 1871; died in Giusvalla, Jul. 1, 1930. Married Jun. 15, 1886 in Giusvalla to Santino Salvo. They had six children.

Carolina, born in Giusvalla, Jul. 9, 1872; died in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Nov. 12, 1959. Married Feb. 4, 1890 in Giusvalla to Francesco Baccino. They had eight children.

Giuseppe Francesco GioBatta, born in Giusvalla, Jul. 11, 1874; died in Giusvalla, Apr. 13, 1894.

GioBatta “John,” born in Giusvalla, Feb. 17, 1878; died in Wilmington, Delaware, Nov. 10, 1911. Married Jul. 24, 1902 at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Wilmington, to Maria Lucia Bonifacino. They had four children.

Vittorio “Gianèn,” born in Giusvalla, Mar. 22, 1882; died in Kennett Twp., Pennsylvania, Feb. 11, 1947. Married Jul. 11, 1903 at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Wilmington, to Eugenia Baccino. They had seven children.

Carmelina, born in Giusvalla, Sep. 27, 1884; died in Wilmington, Delaware, Aug. 31, 1953. Married (1) Nov. 28, 1901 in Giusvalla to Casimiro Giovanni Carozzo and (2) Jan. 27, 1921 at St. Joseph-on-the-Brandywine Church, Henry Clay, Delaware to Giovanni Brondo. She had five children by her first husband and two children by her second husband.

Giuseppe “Pinén,” born in Giusvalla, Oct. 28, 1886; died in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, Mar. 30, 1960. Married (1) Sep. 3, 1908 at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Wilmington to Flaminia Giuseppina Briccotto and (2) Jan. 27, 1921 at St. Joseph-on-the-Brandywine Church, Henry Clay, Delaware to Adelaide Brondo. He had three children by his first wife and three children by his second wife.

Giuseppina “Pina,” born in Giusvalla, Jul. 23, 1891; died in Newark, Delaware, Nov. 6, 1989. Married (1) Oct. 5, 1911 at St. Joseph-on-the-Brandywine Church to Giovanni Battista Perrone and (2) Aug. 15, 1927 at Christ Our King Church, Wilmington, Delaware to Francesco Rosaio. She had five children by her first husband and one child by her second husband.

In the picture: My great-great grandparents, Paolo Rocco & Francesca (Becco) Pesce, circa 1915.

Tartaglia the Midwife

2010-03-21T14:46:00.003-04:00

Dedicated with love to my grandmother, Rita Rosaio, the strongest woman I know

I’ve often wondered what day-to-day life must have been like for our great-grandparents. My great-grandmother was always quick to remind us that she worked as hard as her husband to provide for her family. There was the work on the farm and at the farmer’s market in Wilmington, but also a hundred things around the house to keep my great-grandmother busy. The Italian families at Squirrel Run were generally quite large, our grandmothers and great-grandmothers were up early in the morning getting the children their breakfast and sending them off to school. The chores that followed must have seemed endless, everything was to be done by hand as there were no washing machines, dishwashers or vacuum cleaners at Squirrel Run. In addition, many of our great-grandmothers kept boarders, took in laundry or worked in varying domestic capacities for the DuPonts and other affluent families in the area.

In the early years at Squirrel Run, it wasn’t a doctor that was called in when a new baby was due to arrive - it was Tartaglia the Midwife. Maria Tartaglia delivered many of the little Giusvallini babies that were born during the early years at Squirrel Run. Like the women whose babies she delivered, Maria was a native of Italy. She was born May 30, 1885 in the town of Lama dei Peligni, which is located in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy. When she was about 12 years old, Maria’s family immigrated to Rio de Janiero, Brazil, where she lived for six or seven years until the family came to the United States in April, 1903. The Tartaglia family settled in Wilmington’s Little Italy, and she became well-known in the area as a midwife to many of the local Italian women. In 1907, Maria married Lama dei Peligni native Antonio DiBenedetto and by him she had several children. As her own large family continued to grow, Maria was gradually unable to continue her services as a midwife and the good Dr. Meredith Iver Samuel took her place tending the childbearing needs of the Italian women at Squirrel Run.

Maria (Tartaglia) DiBenedetto lived a long life among the Italian community she had served as a young woman in Wilmington, she died on January 9, 1978 at the age of 92 years. It is noteworthy that the hands of a strong Italian woman brought the first generation of Giusvallini-Americani into the world. We gratefully remember Tartaglia the Midwife, and all our brave Italian grandmothers and great-grandmothers, whose struggles only made them stronger.

In the picture: My great-grandmother, Giuseppina (Pesce) (Perrone) Rosaio and her daughters, Elsie (b. 1915) and Anne (b. 1918).

I Rumèni ed Gišvala - The Romanians of Giusvalla

2010-03-12T18:17:00.002-05:00

I have often been asked - incredulously, what is this about Romanians in Giusvalla? I suppose it seems difficult to accept that our little ancestral hometown could be anything but completely “Italian,” demographically as well as culturally. The truth may surprise you. Allow me to explain.

Giusvalla has always been a tiny little town, the population peaked at around 1,200 souls during the early 19th century. Emigration to South America began in the mid 19th century and continued in full force for nearly one hundred years. Around 1900 the birth rate began to plummet. Giusvalla lost another large portion of the population to the United States from around 1900-1920. By the 1980s, there was just a scattering of less than 300 people left living in Giusvalla. The younger generation had all but moved out to the bigger cities to pursue better opportunities. Those who remained clung desperately to family farms, and the already rustic landscape of Giusvalla began taking on the appearance of an impoverished, hardscrabble ghost town in the wilderness as abandoned, centuries old farmhouses began to collapse due to neglect.

With no local industry and an increasing abandonment of the agrarian lifestyle in northern Italy, the situation seemed hopeless. In spite of the spartan conditions, the price of real estate in Giusvalla continued to sky rocket – further incentive for the natives to “sell” to real estate speculators and move on to better prospects. By the early 1990s, with no new students enrolled in Giusvalla’s little school (and the little school at Cavanna already closed), the town prepared to close the doors to the schoolhouse forever.

No one could have predicted that things were about to change when Giusvalla native Elio Rizzo moved home from Tuscany in 1994 with his new Romanian bride Luminita. What happened then was remarkable. The following year, Luminita’s brother arrived in Giusvalla to visit. He immediately felt at home among the rocky hills and forests of the little village, and decided to stay. Then cousins from Romania began to arrive, then friends and neighbors. Soon the Giusvalla white pages contained family names like Burca, Tuduca, Vasile and Cornel alongside the dwindling number of Baccinos and Bonifacinos. Like other new immigrant groups who come from an inpoverished agricultural background and don’t speak the local language, the Romanians began taking the jobs the Giusvallini had abandoned, working as laborers, factory workers (at the bottling plant in Cairo Montenotte), housekeepers and caretakers for the elderly. There was life again in the abandoned homes "i Rumèni" rented from the now absent Giusvallini. The school in Giusvalla was saved from extinction as they began enrolling Romanian children.

For the first time in nearly 150 years, Giusvalla’s population began to climb again, with approximately 10-12 new Romanians arriving every year. There are now over 400 people living in Giusvalla, of which approximately 30% are Romanian natives. There are also now a significant number of non-Giusvalla native Italians living in Giusvalla, as well as Germans, Swiss, Greeks and even Moroccans, who have purchased some of the old crumbling farm houses and restored them into elegant weekend and summer retreats.

The handful of remaining Giusvalla natives have lovingly embraced their new neighbors as the future of their town. The Giusvalla of today is a much different place than it was just 15 years ago, when Elio Rizzo arrived with his foreign bride, however our little ancestral village has sustained itself and assured its survival in the same way it always has …. through perseverance and an unwavering openness to change.

In the picture: Once largely abandoned and in a state of neglect, località Taranco, is now the home of several Romanian families in Giusvalla.

Life Before Squirrel Run

2010-03-08T13:09:00.003-05:00

Although many of our ancestors came here as children, there were still others who were already adults, or, were on their way into adulthood at the time that they came to America. One such example was my great grandfather, Giuseppe Ghione.

He and his wife Teresa (Reggio) Ghione came to America in March of 1912, and arrived to Squirrel Run shortly thereafter. However, in Italy at that time, all young men were required to serve in the Country’s military for a term upon reaching the age of 18. My great-grandfather turned 18 in 1904. For his military service, he was what was known as a “bersaglieri”, or sharpshooter. The above photo shows Giuseppe wearing his official bersaglieri uniform.

The bottom of the photo indicates that it was taken at the E. DINA photography studio in Milan, Italy.

This photo is a great contribution by my cousin, Rich Ghione. As one can imagine, it is a very special piece of our family history. And thanks to Rich and his family who kept it in tact for all of these years, we are able to display the image here for our readers to appreciate as well.

Save the Dates! Upcoming Giusvalla and Squirrel Run Related Events at Winterthur

2010-03-05T22:18:00.006-05:00

St. Anthony's Day, Sunday, June 13, 2010

Last day of the Wilmington Italian Festival, Winterthur Museum invites you to participate in their Proud to be Italian Day.

$5 discount off the price of general admission to anyone who holds a ticket to the Italian festival or says they are "Proud to be Italian."

This offer is made in conjunction with the March 27-July 25 Exhibition:

Lost Gardens of the Brandywine

In the 1920s and 30s, the Wilmington area became known as one of the centers of horticulture in the United States. Italian gardeners were an essential component to the high quality of the gardens. Unlike the owners or designers, staff contributions to individual gardens were largely unacknowledged and are now mostly forgotten.

At Winterthur for example, no family except the du Ponts had as much of an impact as the Felicianis, three generations of whom have helped shape the landscape. Joseph Feliciani, born in Italy, began at Winterthur as a gardener in the 1920s. His father-in-law, Abraham Ragazzo, worked on what was known as the Bull Gang, building the roads of the estate. In the 1930s Joseph and his son, Albert, were among the hundreds turning Winterthur into one of the premier naturalistic gardens of the world.

A surprising number of the gardeners were from the town of Giusvalla, in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. Many of the men worked at the DuPont Gunpowder Mills on the Brandywine and on various du Pont estates as gardeners in the early 20th century. Some went on to be mushroom farmers as well. The community remains active to this day.

“See that wall over there? Your [ ] helped with it ………”

2010-02-26T16:23:00.009-05:00

Your esteemed blog hosts recently discussed together the number of people they’ve run into over the years, who remember hearing the above statement told to them by a loved one regarding the wall surrounding A.I. duPont Children’s Hospital.

When Jim first heard those words spoken, he and his family were either on the way to visit relatives in Montchanin or off to a dentist checkup with Dr. Selvaggi at the Lombardy Center on Foulk Road. Whatever prompted his parents to tell him the story of the wall, Jim’s never forgotten it. Perhaps it was because of knowing that one of his family members had actually helped “build” it that it stayed with him. Or maybe it was simply etched into his psyche, because he could not understand why a wall would be topped with so many shards of broken glass.

Jim’s earliest memory of being told about the wall actually comes from his mother. During one of the trips mentioned above, he remembers the wall being pointed out to him, and being told that his Great-Great Uncle, Teodoro ‘Doro’ Piuma, had been a part of setting the shards of glass on top of it. He also recently learned that his great-grandfather, John "Mutèn" Salvo also helped in the building of the wall. Jim can’t remember now if he was told during that initial time that the glass-topped wall was constructed to keep people ‘out’ of the DuPont property, or if it was to actually help keep some individuals ‘in’ on the grounds. Since that time, he has actually heard stories that reflect both possibilities.

When Jim and Frank first began corresponding a few months ago, they exchanged many of the area stories they’d both heard over the years. As one could expect, the story regarding the wall came up. Frank remembers hearing the various rumors concerning the reasons for the foreboding, jagged shards of multi-colored glass atop the thick, stone walls surrounding the Nemours estate. He also recalled the stories that old Alfred I. duPont had the glass put there to keep his unwanted relatives out; and that yet others said it was to keep certain relatives “in.” Other theories that were knocking around verged on the outrageous – i.e., the DuPonts were part of a secret Masonic order and the wall was constructed to keep their various rites and rituals “top secret.”

It turns out, however, that the truth about the glass-topped walls was far less fantastic; they were constructed in the fashion of the walls surrounding other famous estates in the DuPont family's ancestral province in France. So much for family feuds and magical rituals.

In the Summer of 2009, Jim was reconnected with his cousin Rich Ghione. Time, careers, and moves to different areas over the years caused their families to lose touch. Jim was so happy when he was able to get back in contact with Rich. Since there was a lot of catching up to do, the cousins naturally talked a lot on phone and via email, and also shared a large variety of family photos with one another. At one point while Squirrel Run was being discussed, out of nowhere Rich says, “…well you know that wall around AI? The Ferraro family helped build it.” Jim just laughed to himself, since there had been so many different times in his life when he’d heard others mention a similar story. It would include the wall, but about another friend of the family or loved one whom they knew. Jim’s reply of course to Rich was “well I didn’t know about the Ferraros building it, but I know your Uncle Ernie’s uncle helped put the glass on the top!” It was another great moment in the reunion of members in the family, as Rich had never recalled being told that before. Jim believes that for as many stones as there are in that wall, there are an equal number of us out there who have heard about someone being a part of building it. And for him it makes that wall all the more special.

It is an honor for both Jim and Frank to know, whenever driving through the Montchanin/Hagley/St. Joe’s area, that so many members of their families were involved with the variety of different projects that took place in that area so long ago. It is a real privilege to drive through there almost 100 years after the fact, and to still see so many things that their ancestors helped erect and/or maintain. If money was no object, there is a large part of both of them who would really like to live and/or work in that area today, just to continue the “living presence” of their family heritage there.

As we mark the recent centennial anniversary of Nemours, it is an appropriate time to reflect upon those who participated in the construction of this great estate, and the curious wall that surrounds it. It is known for certain that the Piuma, Salvo, Ferraro, and Olivieri families helped build the wall- but several other Squirrel Run men were undoubtedly there too.

If you have any stories about family members who participated in the construction of this great old wall, please email Frank or Jim, we’d love to hear about it!

To Our Grandfather(s)

2010-02-25T07:58:00.008-05:00

In loving memory of our grandfather, Frank John Rosaio, Jr., on his 80th birthday.

Though we never knew you, we carry you always in our hearts. You are the angel that watches over us, the spirit that guides us and the grandfather that inspires us. You left us the sweetest of grandmothers and gave us the best of parents. We your grandchildren honor your memory proudly on this your 80th birthday.

We love you and miss you …. at vüj bèn noshtr cör papà grande, t’ammanchi tanci.

And to the Salvo family lineage, this posting also honors Ernest Salvo, whose birthday was on February 24th (just yesterday). He is still in our minds and hearts daily as well.

In the picture: Frank J. Rosaio, Jr. (left) & Ernest P. Salvo (right)

I Perrone ed Piedrinìn

2010-02-01T17:05:00.004-05:00

My great-grandparents were brother and sister-in-law. How is this possible, you might ask? Well, my great-grandfather’s 1st wife was a sister of my great-grandmother’s 1st husband. So for the 16 years before they were married to one another, my great-grandparents were related by marriage because their spouses were siblings. They had both married into the Perrone family, more specifically “i Perrone ed Piedrinìn.”

Many of the Giusvallini families of Squirrel Run tie into this family by blood or marriage. This is the beginning of their story in America.

The patriarch of this family was Giacomo Paolino “Piedrinìn” Perrone, born in Giusvalla in 1851 and married there on November 17, 1873 to a young orphan named Pasqualina Maria Trento. Four of the five children born to Giacomo and Pasqualina came to Squirrel Run, then as an old man Giacomo himself came to the United States to live out his last years. The children of Giacomo and Pasqualina were:

Maria Teresa, born in Giusvalla in 1875, she married Giovanni Piovano and died in Toulon, France on October 16, 1905. She had two children: Baptistin & Mario.

Caterina “Catarinìn” (Katie), born in Giusvalla in 1879, she worked as a dressmaker in Toulon, France for a couple years with her sister Paolina before coming to the United States in 1907. She settled at Squirrel Run and married Giusvalla native Francesco Rosaio at St. Joseph’s-on-the-Brandywine Church on September 5, 1907. Katie Rosaio died in Wilmington on October 25, 1925 of kidney disease and is buried in Cathedral Cemetery.

Francesco Rosaio was already related to another Perrone family through his mother, Maria Caterina “Marinìn” Perrone, who was from the family “Perrone della Collà.” Because there were few family names in Giusvalla, it was common to have multiple generations marrying into families with the same name.

Giovanni Battista “Batistén” (John), born in Giusvalla in 1880, he came to the United States in 1906 and settled at Squirrel Run. He soon bought his own shop at 210 West 8th Street in the city of Wilmington and ran a successful business building and repairing shoes. John married Giusvalla native Giuseppina “Josephine” Pesce at St. Joseph’s-on-the-Brandywine Church on October 5, 1911. They had five children: Antonia, Paolo, Alicina (Elsie), Anne & John.

John died at home, 3107 Monroe Street in Wilmington on April 20, 1924 of complications from a disease of the stomach and is buried in St. Joseph’s-on-the-Brandywine Cemetery. His widow Josephine remarried in 1927 to her recently widowed brother-in-law, Francesco Rosaio.

Paolina (Pauline), born in Giusvalla in 1883, she worked as a dressmaker in Toulon, France with her sister Caterina for a couple years before arriving in the United States in 1907. She settled in Squirrel Run and married Giusvalla native Giuseppe Camoirano at St. Joseph’s-on-the-Brandywine Church in 1907. Paolina and her husband moved to Valley Road, Hockessin where they worked for many years in the mushroom business and became very well known in the area. Paolina died October 31, 1965 at Memorial Hospital in Wilmington and is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Ashland, Delaware. Giuseppe and Paolina had four children: Ernest Jr., Edna, Josephine & Charles.

Paolina’s father Giacomo came from Giusvalla to live with her in 1931. He died at her home in Hockessin on April 16, 1935 and is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Kennett Twp.

Maria (Mary), born in Giusvalla in 1888, she came to the United States in 1921 and settled at Squirrel Run. She married at St. Joseph’s-on-the-Brandywine Church on September 2, 1922 to the widow Francesco “Masetta” Baccino. Francesco’s 1st wife, Luigia Perrone, was a 1st cousin of Francesco Rosaio (who was married to Maria’s sister Caterina). Maria suffered from tuberculosis and died six years after her marriage to Masetta on December 30, 1928 at Delaware State Hospital, Farnhurst. She is buried in St. Patrick’s Cemetery, Kennett Twp.

The twice widowed Masetta married a third and final time to the widow Secondina (Olivieri) Zunino at St. Patrick’s Church in Kennett Square on August 1, 1929.

In the picture: The Perrone siblings at Squirrel Run. Standing left to right: Katie (Perrone) Rosaio; Maria (Perrone) Baccino; Paolina (Perrone) Camoirano. Seated: John Battista Perrone. This picture was taken Sept. 23, 1923, the day of the original “Tutti I Giusvallini” reunion.

A Good Day For An Authentic Italian Ice...

2010-01-30T20:50:00.002-05:00

Today I passed a tradition on to my children that my mother shared with me from her childhood. It is snowing here in MD today, and we got approximately 3-4" of snow. I remembered how over the Summer of last year, my mother told me a story after she'd tasted some of my cousin Vince Ghione's homemade wine: she talked initially about how the wine tasted similar to the wine her family had made at home years ago. But then, her story expanded into something even more special.. She talked about how during the Winter months, when it would snow, her parents would make "snow cones" for her and her brothers. However, the list of ingredients was pretty short: 1. a cup of fresh snow, and 2. a little bit of homemade red wine poured over the snow (for color). It was a simple recipe, but it was one that was special enough for my mother to remember after over 60 years.

Today, as I watched the snow falling, and I sat with my children, I thought about the "snow cone" recipe my mother had shared with me. I didn't go to the full extent of putting homemade red wine on the snow, but I did make some for them using Welch's grape juice, and also one with a lemon juice/honey combo. The kids really enjoyed it, and my daughter simply could not believe her eyes as I went out onto the back deck and scooped fresh snow from the recent downfall.

As I made the authentic "italian ice", it made me really reflect upon how our ancestors used such simple creations as these to keep their spirits up in a strange, new World: America.

Erminia T. (Ferraro) Odorisio (1920-2010)

2010-01-28T21:53:00.007-05:00

This week we received the sad news of the passing of Squirrel Run native Erminia “Min” (Ferraro) Odorisio. Min passed away at her home in West Grove this past Saturday, January 23, 2010 at the age of 89.

Min was born at house #125 in the Squirrel Run community located at the DuPont powder mills along the Brandywine. She was the daughter of Francesco “Frank” Ferraro (known as “Brocìn”) and Maria (Bonifacino) Pesce.

Min’s parents were both immigrants from Giusvalla, Italy, but her father’s family - the Ferraros - were originally from the town of Cairo Montenotte (a neighboring town of Giusvalla). Francesco’s nickname “Brocìn” was derived from the neighborhood of “Broc” (where the Ferraro family originated in Cairo Montenotte). He came to the U.S. in 1905 and went to work for the DuPont family working in the powder mills.

Min’s mother, whose maiden name was Maria Lucia Bonifacino, was a native of a little village in Giusvalla called Cavanna. Maria came to the U.S. with her sister and brother-in-law and married her first husband, GioBatta “John” Pesce at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Wilmington, Delaware on July 24, 1902. She had four children by her first husband: Catherine “Katie,” Paul, Frances & Helen. John Pesce worked as a gardener for the DuPont family and died from injuries sustained in a work related accident on November 10, 1911 at the age of 33.

The widowed Maria (Bonifacino) Pesce remarried Frank Ferraro in Wilmington on December 16, 1912. By him she had five additional children: Frederick, an unnamed son who died at birth, Herman, Erminia “Min” & Charles.

After the powder mills closed in the mid 1920s, the Ferraro family moved to Chester county, Pennsylvania and went into the mushroom business. Min married Philadelphia native Anthony Odorisio, who passed away in 1970. At the time of her passing, Min had four children, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Min can be seen as a little girl in the arms of her mother in the “Tutti I Giusvallini” banner picture above, which was taken at Squirrel Run on September 23, 1923.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Min’s family and friends. A full version of her obituary can be viewed at:

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2010/01/25/obituaries/srv0000007423950.txt

In the picture: Erminia's parents, Francesco & Maria (Bonifacino) (Pesce) Ferraro. Photo courtesy of Jim Brady (Ernest Salvo family collection).

Expressions.

2010-01-26T12:26:00.004-05:00

Even though many of those who spoke these expressions are no longer with us, my Squirrel Run family members, their descendants, and related community always had some expressions that I never seemed to hear from others outside of that part of my family. Some of the expressions were wise and inspiring, while others lacked some tact but were still simply unforgettable.

My Grandpop Salvo always had some great expressions that I remember clearly to this day. For example, if I wanted a cookie or a piece of candy, he would always remind me that "what tastes sweet to your mouth tastes sour to your stomach". He also mentioned regularly that any food that was grilled was better for you, because "the charcoal is good for your stomach". And one that my mother remembers him saying was that whenever you learned something you didn't know prior, that meant you would "live another day longer" for having learned it.

My Great Uncle Paul Ghione had an expression he was known by his children and extended family for: he seemed to believe that all children were born with a birth defect, because my cousins can all remember him asking them "do you keep your brains in your [rhymes with brass]???"

If our readers have expressions that they remember hearing their Italian ancestors say regularly, please drop us an email or post them to the Comments section under this article. I am sure there are many other expressions that are out there that I have forgotten my family saying, but will probably recognize instantly upon hearing them again!

Remembering 1993: 70 Year “Tutti I Giusvallini” Reunion

2010-01-19T17:55:00.003-05:00

On a sunny day in September 1993, the descendants of the original Squirrel Run Giusvallini gathered to honor their forbearers. It was the first time in 70 years that the families had all come together to celebrate and there were nearly 800 in attendance. The event took place on Sunday, September 19th at St. Anthony’s in the Hills in Avondale and the guests of honor were composed of a very special core group: the 32 survivors of the original 1923 reunion at Squirrel Run.

Cousin Ernie Camoirano (who also happens to be my father’s godfather) was Master of Ceremonies for the day and kept the event lively in his usual gregarious way, and 1923 reunion attendee bunanima ed Carlèn d'Cianpè even joined us by phone all the way from Giusvalla! The beneficent Fr. Roberto was present to bestow his blessing, as he had done at many Giusvallini baptisms, marriages and burials through the years. The older generations reconnected and the young ones met for the first time, it was an event that many will always remember.

The ’93 reunion was many years in the making, but Rosemarie “Tootie” (Pia) Barber’s enthusiasm to get everyone back together inspired the group that made it happen. Those go-getters included Albert Baccino, Victorine (Marenco) Camoirano, Jennie (Pesce) Feliciani, Mary (Olivieri) Guerrina, Marie Guerrina, Arlene (Baccino) Kelly, Victor Pesce and many others who helped organize the event in endlessly invaluable ways.

Many faces that are no longer with us look back from our priceless pictures from that day, we are grateful for the great gathering that brought us all together.

We remember those we have lost in the years since the 1993 Tutti I Giusvallini reunion, but we also welcome the new generation of Giusvallini children that has joined us in the years since then. We hope to inspire in them a love and respect for family and one another; may the things that kept our grandparents’ generation connected live on through our children and grandchildren!

Sperumma ben!

In the picture: Tutti I Giusvallini, September 19, 1993, Avondale, PA

In Memoriam

2010-01-16T18:35:00.004-05:00

The blog post today regarding Joseph Carozzo brought to mind the several Giusvalla descendants that passed away in 2009. As a way of remembering those from our group who we’ve lost over the past year, we have added an “In Memoriam” section which will always appear along the right side of this page.

Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families of those who we’ve lost during these recent months.

In the picture: Madonna della guardia dei Riondi (Giusvalla)

In Memory of... Joseph Carozzo (1931-2009)

2010-01-16T12:11:00.001-05:00

We apologize for this late posting, but we here at the Squirrel Run Blog would like to pay homage to a fellow Squirrel Run descendant whom we lost on August 8, 2009: Joseph Patrick Carozzo.

I recently met Joseph's nephew, Augustine V. "Gus" Carozzo, for the first time, and in preparation for our meeting, Gus brought with him some family photos and information. One of the photos was of his uncle, Joseph Carozzo, who had passed away in August of 2009. Joseph was one of 3 of Gus' uncles, the others being Victor and John Carozzo. Gus mentioned that he was already familiar with our Squirrel Run blog, and that he was so happy to see that in one of our prior 2009 postings, we'd highlighted another of his uncles, Victor. The posting on Victor can be found here:

http://giusvalla.blogspot.com/2009/08/old-wwii-scrapbook-reveals-squirrel.html

At this time it is not known who the woman is in the photo with Joseph that is attached to this article. We are hoping that someone in our reader community may be able to help us out once more with identifying who the person is. The photo apparently comes from a wedding where Joseph and this woman were a part of the bridal party.

Along with this photo of his uncle, Gus provided me with a wonderful amount of additional information that I will highlight in future posts here at 'Run Squirrel Run'. However, with the recent passing of Joseph, I felt that an honorarium to him would be the ideal place to start. The obituary for Joseph can be found at the following link:

http://www.tributes.com/show/Joseph-Carozzo-86530230

The Helper.

2010-01-05T19:52:00.000-05:00

On Easter weekend of 1966 (or a year close to it), my father received a phone call from my Grandpop Salvo- Grandpop was working his shift at Granogue that weekend, and when it was time for him to head home, he was experiencing some car trouble.

My father drove up to the estate to see what was wrong with the car. At the time, my grandfather was driving a 1960 Corvair. My father pulled up to the car, and popped the trunk (Corvair engines are in the back) to see if he could diagnose the problem. Sure enough, while looking it over, he found the cause: the fan belt had managed to come loose from the cooling fan. In those cars, the fan belt is placed horizontally over top of the cooling fan, so it’s constantly fighting gravity. The slightest stretch of the belt or shift from the pulley, and it would come off.

As my father located the source of the problem, and began to work in the engine compartment of the car, he noticed under the car that another pair of feet appeared next to those of my grandfather’s. When he stood up to see who the newest spectator was, it was none other than Irenee DuPont Jr. himself. “Need some help?” he asked...

According to my father, Irenee had a 1949 Volkswagen that he maintained completely by himself. The DuPont’s of that era were no strangers to physical labor. It is for reasons like this example (among many others) that families like my Grandpop Salvo's had the greatest respect for the DuPont family.

Ur tóŕa ed Natòl a Giusvalla

2009-12-22T21:43:00.002-05:00

The holiday feast in Giusvalla includes many culinary delights that are familiar to those of us who grew up “vijìn ài nóshtri ráìje giusvallìni.”

Following are a few items that are typical of the holiday table in Giusvalla (and in some of our homes as well!):

Antipasti
Stuffed eggs (similar to our “deviled eggs”)
Insalata russo “Russian salad” (includes peas, potatoes, carrots, etc. and a dressing of homemade mayonnaise with tuna “tonnata”)
Smoked Salmon
Slices of boiled veal (served with the above mentioned cream colored tonnata)
Patè of homemade butter with local prosciutto and lemon

Primi Piatti
Homemade tortellini in broth
Ur raviùre (meat ravioli alla ragù bolognese)

Secondi Piatti
Faraona (guinea hen) with Ligurian olives
Pork and roasted potatoes
Flan of spinach and chard
Various preparations of fish

Dolci
Dates, walnuts, hazelnuts
Dried figs and candied fruit
Bignè alla crema (cream puffs)
Pears cooked in red wine and cloves

All enjoyed with a variety of delicious local red and white wines … Barbera, Nebbiolo, Barbaresco, Cinque Terre, Pigato, Vermentino … just to name a few. Also dessert wines such as Recioto di Soave, Moscato and Freisa are served.

au tóŕa giusvallìn ù’s mangia bèn ….

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all the descendants and friends of Giusvalla.

Bun Natòl a tùcci vuici!

Ra shtoria d’ur straninome ed Giusvalla

2009-12-19T16:46:00.002-05:00

The tradition of “ur straninome” (soprannome) goes back centuries in Giusvalla. Historical research among the ecclesiastical records of the parish church of Giusvalla reveals that the use of “ur straninome” was widespread at least as far back as the late 17th century. My ancestor Pietro Perrone, for example, is recorded with his straninome “detto Pallardino” (Palardèn in the Giusvalla dialect) among the baptismal records of his children in the first decade of the 19th century.

Many of the straninomi were derived from the individual’s given name (Gaspare/Gashpèn, Caterina/Catarinìn, etc.), but they could also be descriptive of some individual character trait (Erchetto, Volpèn, etc.) or allude to the geographical origin of the individual (Brucìn, Mutèn, etc.). The nicknames could also be mulit-generational, for example "Fortunato, son of Santino" could be known as “Furtinìn ed Tzentòn.”

The tradition was still very common in the era during which our immigrant ancestors came from Giusvalla to the United States, so many of us remember (or at least recall hearing about) our older family members who were referred to by these nicknames. As I wrote in an earlier post, my great-grandfather Francesco Rosaio was known to his fellow Giusvallèn as “Franceschèn.” This nickname came down another three generations in my family; my grandfather Frank, my uncle Frank and then I - we were all called “Franceschèn” by our family while we were growing up.

We have carried the tradition down to the next generation in my family, my dear cousin Enzo came all the way from Giusvalla recently to be the godfather (ur parrèn) of my new son - and bestowed upon him an appropriate Giusvalla straninome - “Tunèn ed Barbiella” - in honor of our paternal ancestor “Tunòn ed Barbiella,” who sired my great-grandfather - the first in my family to come from Giusvalla to the United States.

A’summa tanci cuntenti, me cör cuggèn Enzo, at ringraz per tuccì quesht’shmana …. am men‘nan vag a deshmentiemie mai ciü .... a presht!

In the picture: Our patriarch, Tunòn ed Barbiella

Advice from a Giusvalla mother-in-law

2009-11-18T20:33:00.001-05:00

My cousin Susan once told me a story that was handed down from her grandmother, Secondina (Brondo) Camoirano …. real advice from a “séùjia giusvallìna.”

Known in my family as “Lalla Secondina,” Secondina Brondo was born in Giusvalla in 1889, the eldest child of Andrea Vincenzo Brondo and Maria Serafina Perrone. She married at the age of 19 to Giovanni Camoirano, known by his family and friends as "Beciancìn." After their marriage, Secondina moved into her husband's family home "Cà 'd Becìancia," just northwest of the center of Giusvalla.

As a young wife, Secondina had many responsibilities, she had to help her mother-in-law with all the cooking, cleaning and other household chores, there was always a lot to be done. Secondina's mother-in-law gave her the following advice:

"Cook for your husband and before you serve him his dinner, eat a little. If your husband is in a good mood, then sit with him and eat a little more. If your husband is in a bad mood you have already had something to eat and you don't have to eat with your grumpy husband!"

Lalla Secondina followed her husband to America and arrived with her oldest child, Alfredo, in 1913. Two additional children were born here in the U.S. - Pauline and Anne. Both daughters were born at Squirrel Run. The family later moved to Toughkenamon and went into the mushroom business.

Lalla Secondina was an expert in the kitchen, she was known for the wonderful meals she could whip up at the drop of a hat. She was a sweet, gentle soul and is remembered with great fondness by my family and all those who knew her.

In the picture: Giovanni "John" & Secondina (Brondo) Camoirano (courtesy of my cousin Susan)

The 12 Days of Citrus...

2009-11-16T07:56:00.001-05:00

As a little boy, I can remember that when my Grandpop Salvo was still alive, every year around this time a big white box would appear (sometimes more than 1) out of nowhere, containing the biggest grapefruits I’d ever seen. If there were multiple boxes present, the additional ones would contain oranges or possibly even the “Clementines”. This same event would happen at the home of my Angelone and Ghione relatives as well.

The arrival of these large quantities of citrus fruits are always more of a Holiday kickoff symbol for me than any Black Friday ad, TV commercial, or anything else you can think of.

This past weekend, we had a family gathering at my house, and among the offerings on the table pre- and post-dinner were: 2 crates of clementines.. The Italian Holiday season has officially begun!

From Frank R.: The boxes of oranges and grapefruits and crates of clementines were a holiday time tradition in my family as well. My grandmother would get her boxes of fruit every year, and the family would take their share as they would stop by to visit. When they were kids, my father and his six siblings could also expect to find a big orange or grapefruit in the "toes" of their Christmas stockings every year!

Squirrel Run’s Rehoboth: White Crystal Beach

2009-11-10T15:52:00.000-05:00

In my time doing research on the Squirrel Run history, the topic of White Crystal Beach has come up many times, with many different people. I personally have not been there [yet], but many of my family members have, specifically on the Salvo side.

My Grandpop Salvo really enjoyed going to the beach in general, and even in his later years in life, I can remember going with him to “Lum’s Pond” on route 896 in DE (while it was still safe to swim there).

As mentioned, many folks of the Squirrel Run lineage have memories of visiting this beach. I am not certain if it is because of its locale, its prices, or simply because it was a nice beach that maybe wasn’t as crowded as Rehoboth or even the Jersey beaches. But I have seen pictures, and even heard tales, about the trips to that beach. The best one I have heard yet was while my mother, Marianne (Salvo) Brady, was headed to White Crystal Beach with my Aunt Alma (Tambourelli) MacCallum. Mom was behind the wheel, driving in my Uncle Ernie Salvo’s 1960 Impala. The trip was going to be a highlight of the girls’ summer, until an unforeseen event happened: while cruising down route 40 in MD, a large rock came up from behind a truck, and smashed into the windshield of my uncle’s car…. It came right up in front of the driver’s side, where my mother was behind the wheel. Mom said it hit the windshield so hard that not only did it crack the glass all of the way across, a section of the glass actually came inward, breaking away and falling onto the dashboard!

Knowing my mother, she was probably wishing the rock had taken her life, rather than having to turn back home and tell her brother what just happened to his car! Nevertheless, that particular trip to White Crystal Beach was suddenly postponed..

If your family has any memories of White Crystal Beach that you would like to share, please email Frank or myself, or you can add it right to the comments section below this post.

The Hideaway

2009-11-09T17:08:00.001-05:00

My great-grandparents, Francesco and Josephine Rosaio, were the original proprietors of “The Hideaway Lounge,” a local pub in Brandywine Hundred that was, remarkably, an offshoot of my great-grandfather’s mushroom business. The history of the Hideaway begins in the early 1930s, when a fire destroyed the majority of my great-grandfather’s mushroom houses. By this time, he was already in his 50s and ready for something a little less labor intensive. So, during the waning years of Prohibition, my great-grandparents converted their one remaining mushroom house (which was attached to their home) and opened the “Pointe Breeze Bocce Club,” so-named to disguise its true identity as a local watering hole.

After Prohibition ended, there was no reason to maintain the façade, so the name was changed to “The Hideaway Lounge,” known to locals simply as “the Hideaway.” It became a popular gathering place for the neighborhood folk, as popular in fact for my great-grandmother Lalla Pina’s sandwiches and snacks as it was for its libations. Cousin Dave Baccino helped tend bar and as my great-grandfather Rosaio grew older, he became a fixture at the same small table near the bar.

After my great-grandfather’s death in 1954, my great-grandmother continued to run the Hideaway for almost 30 years. In 1981, when she was nearly 90 years old, she finally sold the Hideaway, which continues to operate as a neighborhood bar to this very day.

The old-time locals still talk about “Lalla Pina” and the Hideaway. I spent many happy childhood days in the parking lot of the Hideaway, riding bikes on the vast stretch of asphalt with my sister and friends, stopping into Grandmom’s house for “cakies” and a chat with Aunt Anne or Aunt Elsie, a run around Grandmom’s yard with her collie Teddy, or searching for wild kittens that seemed in abundant supply every spring underneath the wooden steps that led into the kitchen around the back of the Hideaway.

If you sit on the back porch of my father’s home, and look through the thicket of the row of pine trees that now separate the neighbor’s property, you can still barely see Lalla Pina’s house and the Hideaway, looking just as they did for as long as I can remember. Maybe you’ll take the walk “across the field” and stop in for a drink. If you do, have one in memory of Lalla Pina.

In the picture: View of Lalla Pina's house and the adjoining Hideaway (June 2008)

ur cuggène ‘merican

2009-11-03T10:19:00.000-05:00

In our parents and grandparents generation, it was a common event for the extended family to get together to visit or celebrate. The cousins all knew one another and were always willing to lend a hand when a family member was in need. The Giusvalla group that came to the U.S. was large, but everyone was “family.”

The first generation of Giusvalla immigrants would send packages back home, containing simple essentials they knew their families needed. My father always thought it was funny that his grandmother would send boxes of store bought dry pasta to the family …. in Italy!

Grandmom Rosaio returned to Giusvalla to visit several times over the years. During the years around the World Wars, things were particularly difficult in Giusvalla. The families that had remained there were very poor, at times it was difficult to get the bare essentials. Things got a little better in the 1950s, but Grandmom continued to send her packages. Her last trip to Giusvalla was in 1963, and in the weeks before her arrival, the cousins in Giusvalla received a package from Grandmom with a note that said “set this box aside for me.” The cousins were surprised and a little confused when they saw that the box was full of toilet paper.

When Grandmom arrived in Giusvalla, they gave her the box and asked her why she had sent a box of toilet paper over for herself. She told them, “Well, last time I was here, you didn’t have any!” Grandmom had gotten used to certain comforts during her years in the U.S., and she didn’t want to take any chances!

The number of Giusvalla descendants that have traveled to visit our ancestral village over the years is impressive and undoubtedly an indication of the pride that has been passed down through the generations. The Giusvalla folk have become accustomed the comings and goings of “ur cuggène ‘merican.”

Though we are Americans and proud of our native country, by remembering the origins of our immigrant grandparents, we honor not only the sacrifices they made for us, but also their unwavering commitment to family and friends, those here and the ones they left behind. In a generation that has perhaps become accustomed to disregarding what is not of immediate use, we can certainly learn from their example.

In the picture – the American cousins visit Giusvalla, summer 1937

Ra Lalla Carlotta

2009-11-01T18:57:00.001-05:00

Lalla Carlotta Bazzano was the youngest sister of our “Mumà Granda,” Francesca (Becco) Pesce. She was also the matriarch of the Bazzano family of Squirrel Run. Her two sons, Pietro “Pietrìn” and Amedeo “Medevo,” came to Delaware as young men, settling in the Squirrel Run community at the DuPont powder mills.

Lalla Carlotta was born June 12, 1861 and she married Giovanni Callisto Bazzano in Giusvalla on September 8, 1882. She enjoyed a relatively comfortable life in Giusvalla. Her husband held the important position of town postmaster for many years, and they raised their family in a large and comfortable home on the “strada provinciale.” Their granddaughter Anna still lives in and beautifully maintains the family home.

Lalla Carlotta traveled to the United States in 1931 to visit her sons and their families. The picture above was taken during her visit in front of the Kennett Square home of her son, Peter Bazzano. Lalla Carlotta returned to Giusvalla, where she died in 1943.

Giuseppe e Wanda Pavese: Quaranta Anni!

2009-10-28T13:32:00.000-04:00

Please join me in congratulating my cousin Wanda(Reggio)Pavese and her husband, Giuseppe Pavese of Canelli, Italy, for their 40th Wedding Anniversary! They celebrated the event this past weekend, and my cousin Roberta (Pavese) Schellino just advised me of it last night.

The picture shows Wanda and Giuseppe today, with 2 of their grandchildren.

In today's society, simply hitting the 10-year marker seems to be an accomplishment in itself, so we are very happy to honor them at this special time. Anniversario Felice!!

"I'm From Squirrel Run!!!"

2009-10-26T10:27:00.000-04:00

When my grandparents, Ernest and Marian (Ghione) Salvo, were married in June of 1939, their Honeymoon took them on the open road to New York. I was already aware that one of their stops during the trip was the World’s Fair, which in 1939, took place in NY. But at a family gathering this past weekend, a story that I’d heard in my youth was recounted (and expanded) over dinner, making the tale of my grandparents’ Honeymoon even more memorable.

Apparently, the Honeymoon trip appears to have included much of my grandparents’ wedding party, as well as family, in addition to the newlyweds. Some included on the trip were my godmother, Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone, and my great uncle, Paul Ghione (one of the brothers of the bride). But another interesting piece to this event is that the agenda included another notable stop along the way: Niagra Falls.

The group, while visiting Niagra Falls, not only saw the New York side, but also ventured over the border into Canada to view the natural wonder from that location as well. It is presumed that since my grandfather was of the gardening profession, that they may also have gone to the Canadian side of the Falls to see some of the different horticultural parks and sights there, which are apparently found there as well as on the U.S. side. It is here that the story gets interesting..

After spending time on the Canadian side of the Falls, the family was required to stop at the border checkpoint and validate their citizenship to return into the U.S. The Customs agent did their regular check of the vehicle and the passengers, followed by asking each of them where in the States they were from. All of the members in the group provided replies which indicated their places of origin. For my grandparents, they indicated without hesitation that they were from Wilmington, DE. However, my godmother Theresa, for whatever reason, apparently replied “I’m from Squirrel Run!” The routine, uneventful check that the Customs agents were performing had now been escalated to the next level, since they had never heard of any Squirrel Run in the United States!

So the story goes, a few more questions, and the display of a valid birth certificate, allowed my godmother the opportunity to continue on with her life as an American.. However, none of the others present for the event ever forgot it. Remember that some of the folks on this trip had already had enough “fun” with Customs for one lifetime, when first coming to the U.S. from Italy. My Grandpop Salvo was one of them!

The impact of that Niagra event was so significant, that here it was, still being discussed at a family dinner some 70 years later. We still love and miss you, Aunt Theresa…

(thanks goes out to Rich Ghione, Paul Ghione, Marianne (Salvo) Brady, and Jim Brady Jr. for preserving this wonderful story)

Flashback: The Kennett Bowling Team

2009-10-25T20:18:00.000-04:00

This is a little off-topic from our regular postings, but I thought our readers would appreciate this picture simply because of its nostalgia. My (Great) Uncle Paul Ghione is in the far upper right corner of the photo.

We'd love to hear who all of you might recognize in this image! I also currently do not know the year, but would love to know that as well.

Thanks goes out to my cousin Rich Ghione for providing this treasure!

The Del-Penn Gardeners Association

2009-10-24T14:26:00.000-04:00

About 2 weeks ago, my father gave me a pin that belonged to my Grandpop Salvo. As shown in the attached image, the pin reads "DEL-PENN GARDENERS". As has been mentioned in past postings on this site, my Grandpop Salvo worked virtually his entire adult career at Granogue.

I wanted to post a picture of this pin, not only to share with our reader community, but to actually gather some more information on this organization as well. It is the first time I ever recall hearing of this association, so I am curious to see how many other members still exist today.

The pin is almost the exact diameter of a penny, and is painted green on its face.

Happy Birthday Fran Rizzo, ‘90’!

2009-10-23T08:14:00.000-04:00

In August of this year, cousin Frank and I started receiving emails from a gentleman by the name of Fran Rizzo of Wilmington, Delaware. I had posted an article here on the blog regarding my Grandpop Salvo’s employment at Granogue at that time. Fran came across the site while doing some searches on Granogue history and VOILA! He found us. We are also especially lucky to have Fran as a part of our online community, as he just got his first PC only 6 years ago!

Fran’s grandparents came to the States in 1893 from Sorianello, Calabria. His grandfather worked at Granogue his entire career, just like my Grandpop Salvo. My cousin Frank helped Fran trace his family roots even further with his superhuman genealogy skills that many of our readers know he excels at, so I will let him speak in more detail on his finds regarding Fran’s family.

One of Fran’s current goals is to get back to visit Italy with one of his sons. It seems like all of us carrying Italian blood share this desire to get back to our native soil at least once.

Fran is celebrating his 90th birthday today, and we hope all of our readers can take a moment to post a comment in response to this blog entry, wishing Fran well. Fran has 3 children and 7 grandchildren, all of whom I am sure are helping him to celebrate on this special day! Fran has had some recent doctor visits that made him question whether or not he would be here today to celebrate with us, but I am very happy to say he made it! BUON COMPLEANNO, FRAN!!!!

From Frank R: Happy Birthday Fran! What a pleasure it has been getting to know you through email these past few months. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to join you on your journey into your family history. It was exciting for me to be able to help you determine your grandfather's origins in Italy.

As you mark this milestone birthday, I wish you good health and much happiness .... and hope that you are able to visit Italy again in the near future!

Tanti auguri per un buonissimo compleanno!

Ra feshta ed cashtagne

2009-10-16T16:13:00.001-04:00

On Sunday, October 11, Giusvalla celebrated its 62nd annual “Festa delle Castagne.” The event was marked by the typical gastronomical merriment, with the beloved chestnut as the main attraction (and ingredient!) of course.

The day included games for the children, and the local Scacciapensieri Folk orchestra provided the music and dance inspiration. The event also offered the perfect platform for my cousin Dialma to debut her new memoir, “Il profumo delle caldarroste/Racconti di Giusvalla di ieri e di oggi,” a collection of Dialma’s personal recollection of growing up in Giusvalla, and her reckoning of the various stories she heard along the way.

For those of us who grew up close to ra cashtagne, we share in our cousins’ fondness for this funny fruit!

In the picture: I caldarroste ed Giusvalla - In Giusvalla, they still roast their chestnuts the same way they have for generations; in a cast iron kettle over an open fire.

The Packet.

2009-10-05T11:37:00.001-04:00

For the past 20 years or so, a packet of paperwork has been circulating around in our family; paperwork from when my great uncle, Paul Ghione, took a trip to Italy in search of our family’s roots.

In 1982, Paul Ghione was given a special gift for his 63rd birthday: a trip to Italy paid for in full by his 4 children. With that rare opportunity, Paul got on a plane, and in no time at all was on his way back to the land where his parents had departed from 70 years prior. Their destination was: the United Sates.

Paul was advised by another older relative at the time that the Ghione family originated from the town of Canelli, near Asti. The relative also had some brief contact details for remaining family in Canelli, so Paul got started right away in reaching out to them upon arrival. In no time at all he found our family’s descendants of the Reggio family (his mother’s family). Once he met them in person, they told him to check out of his hotel; they told him he was staying with them for the remainder of the trip!

While with his newfound cousins, Paul was quickly brought up to speed on many stories regarding the family history. He was also taken around to many locations to see not only where the family had lived during their time in Canelli, but also to where some of the family had emigrated (ie Nice, France).

Paul returned home to the States with a certain feeling of accomplishment from this trip, and shortly after, received yet another surprise: a wedding invitation from the family with whom he’d stayed. Their son was to be married in 1984. So, in 1984, Paul had a special opportunity to return back to Italy a second time, and continue to strengthen the international bond between Canelli and America.

Sadly, much of the link between the families in the US and Canelli came to an abrupt halt when Paul died in 1991. 2 of his children attempted to continue contact with the family back in Canelli, but with obstacles like language barriers and slow international mail, the line of communication eventually closed down.

In July of this year, I was enlightened to the existence of this packet of documentation that had been left behind by my Great Uncle Paul. It was revealed to me by my cousin, Vince Ghione. We’d been meeting up regularly to discuss family genealogy through the Summer, and on this particular meeting he brought these documents with him. The packet contained pages of names and addresses, photocopies of the letters that Paul had received from Canelli relatives, even maps showing the layouts of where all of the relatives where as of 1984. Vince was happy to share the information, but unfortunately only had one copy of the packet at the time. So, for the time being I would have to wait to obtain my own personal copy of this packet.

I mentioned to my father not long after, that I had seen this packet of information that Vince possessed from Great Uncle Paul. Upon mentioning it, my father dug out a large bag that he keeps all of his genealogy paperwork in. He began removing the contents from the bag and started sorting them. He eventually took out 2 packets of paperwork, matching exactly to the packet that Vince had shown to me. He handed me one of the 2 packets that he had and said “There you go. Now you have your own copy”. I could not wait to start dissecting the contents of this packet.

In the midst of working with this old cluster of documents, I was also able to reconnect with another cousin of mine here in the States, Rich Ghione (son of Paul Ghione). Rich was invaluable in helping to fill in a lot of the holes that I had concerning the packet of data. Following in Paul’s footsteps, Rich was one of the 2 children who had tried to continue keeping the line of communication open between the families. However, as mentioned earlier, time, language barriers, and slow mail contributed to the slowing of contact.

Determined to find a way to reconnect with these people in Canelli, I started assessing different ways as to how I could make it happen. I speak some Italian, but not quite enough to start cold-calling houses in Italy and telling strangers I was the great-nephew of a man who came to visit 20 years earlier! Therefore, I needed to use a more strategic approach: I knew that one of the relatives did speak some English, and I had proof right in this packet of papers. There was a copy of a letter to my Great Uncle Paul from her, and it was in English. Her name was Rita. Her family was also the family that Paul had stayed with during at least one of his two visits. Using the internet, I did a search of the address we had for this woman’s family, and looked to see if there were any neighboring businesses in the community that might have internet and email access. Sure enough, I came across information for a bed and breakfast called the Hotel Asti.

The B and B is approximately 2 blocks away from the last address we had for Rita and her family, so I took a gamble and emailed the address listed for the Hotel Asti. It is well-known that the Italian community is very eager to help one another out with various tasks, so I was hoping that this tradition would continue to be upheld by the staff at Hotel Asti.. Sure enough, within 2 days, I received an email back from the staff at the Hotel Asti. Not only had they received my email, but they also knew our Reggio family very well, and were already responding back to me with a phone number that would put me in direct contact with Rita! The beauty of this connection was, Rita now knew that I would be calling, so a rough introduction had already been made. It was wonderful to know that the staff at the Hotel Asti had gone out of their way to perform a small miracle for me. I was honored to know that I would soon be able to re-launch communication between family members that had gone dormant for almost 20 years.

On September 20th at 11:30AM EST, I dialed the phone number that had been provided to me by Andrea at the Hotel Asti. After a few rings, my cousin Rita, who I’d never met before in my life, answered the phone. It was a truly exciting moment for me. I learned very quickly during the initial part of the conversation that Rita had excellent English-speaking skills, but she warned me very early on to “speak slowly please”. After speaking some in English, I began to use the Italian that I knew, and that seemed to ease the speed of the communication a bit. While speaking to her in Italian, I also mentioned “io parlo italiano e io parlo francese anche”, as I am fluent in French. As soon as I spoke these words, Rita switched immediately to French, and from there, the language barrier disappeared completely.

We spoke for about 15 minutes, at which time we exchanged email addresses and said our goodbyes. I made sure that she knew that this was only the beginning of her hearing from me and the rest of the family here in the States. She was very happy to know that, once again, her family was in contact with relatives of Paul Ghione: the man who served as Ambassador of the Ghione family in Italy from 1982 to 1991.

This article has been posted in honor of Paul Ghione, Vince Ghione, Rich Ghione, Jim Brady Jr., and Andrea Scarsi of the Hotel Asti in Canelli. Without the invaluable input from all of these individuals, this event could not have taken place.

More exciting chapters in regard to this story will be coming in future updates.

When Squirrel Runners Collide

2009-10-03T21:29:00.000-04:00

So what do you get when you combine members from 3 or 4 separate Squirrel Run families under one roof? A boatload of classic photographs, overlapping conversations, and most of all, great company..

In a gathering that's been on the books for almost 2 months, Jim Brady (descendant of Cirio's, Ghione's, Reggio's, Salvo's), met today with cousin Vince Ghione and Jane (Perrone) Bazzano to talk an ever-popular topic: Squirrel Run family history.

It was a great event, and after a few hours of "my mother's brother was your cousin's grandfather", we closed out the night at "Attilio's" on Lancaster Pike in Wilmington. The meal was excellent.

Jim went home with yet another stack of documents to scan and archive, Jane went home with a small container full of "Doro's" famous whiskey cherries, and Vince went home with a smile on his face and a whole new helping of Squirrel Run data to process! We're bringing him up to speed very fast!

In closing, a question for our readers: would YOU like to be a part of a future Squirrel Run gathering like this one? If so, please drop Frank Rosaio (fjrosaio@msn.com) or myself an email (jmbiii@yahoo.com), and we'll see what we can do about putting a gathering together that includes you!

L'öxé giòn 'd Sann’a (L’uccello giallo di Savona)

2009-09-30T20:10:00.001-04:00

Dedicated with love to my cousin, Franca Perrone of Giusvalla

My cousin Franca was a young girl when her family moved from Giusvalla to Savona, where her father Lorenzo “Picciòn” had taken a job on the shipyard. Franca and her mother Anna “Palèn” went to work cleaning for families in the city.

Though Savona is just a few short miles from Giusvalla, Franca missed her friends from school and cousins back home. Her father didn’t like seeing his daughter so sad, so one day he arrived home with a surprise for Franca. It was a small yellow bird in a wire cage, and it sang sweetly as Franca removed the cloth covering the cage.

Franca talked to her little bird every day when she arrived home from work. The bird became accustomed to Franca’s voice and would sing gleefully when she would come into the room.

The morning of August 12, 1944 started like any other for Franca and her family. Franca and her parents departed early in the morning for work. As was her custom, Franca bid her little bird goodbye before heading out the door. Later that same morning, World War II greeted the Italian Riviera swiftly and violently when the city of Savona was bombed by the Germans. Franca’s home by the port was hit directly.

Franca and her family arrived home after the attack to a pile of rubble. Poor Franca cried out for her little bird, her fear and grief overwhelming her. At that very moment, from beneath a section of the rubble, Franca and her family heard the little bird begin to sing sweetly. When her father lifted some broken pieces of wood, Franca was astonished to see her bird in its cage sitting there amid the devastation, completely unharmed.

So began the story of “l'öxé giòn 'd Sann’a ,” that miraculous little yellow bird that showed my cousin Franca that she too could survive life's most difficult trials. And she has.

At mand un bashén con tant piashi, Franca, at vöj ben!

In the picture: View of the port of Savona (April 2009), near the location of Franca’s home in 1944.

Ra feshta ed San Matè

2009-09-20T21:12:00.001-04:00

September 21st is a day of great celebration in Giusvalla, it marks the feast day of the town’s patron, “St. Matthew the Apostle.” The event is marked exuberantly each year with a special Mass followed by a procession from the parish church, where the statue of St. Matthew is carried through the center of town.

Other merriment includes military displays by the town’s veteran “Alpini,” and indulgence in all the traditional foods of the area …. roasted chestnuts (er cashtagne), local mushrooms, polenta and wild boar are just a few local specialties that make the menu.

The year also marks the second annual “Bonifacio d’Oro” award, where two Giusvalla residents (one man and one woman) are honored for their service and contributions to the town over the years. Last year’s award recipients were Sergio Salvo and Ivonne Bonifacino.

Me cor Giusvalla …. ti tel só at vöj ben e at vöj ben sempre ciü!

In the picture: Procession celebrating the feast of St. Matthew in Giusvalla (photo courtesy of my cousin Enzo)

The 14th Annual Hagley Car Show

2009-09-20T15:00:00.001-04:00

Today was a picture perfect day for the 14th Annual Hagley Car Show. The turnout was great, and the weather was spectacular- you couldn't ask for much better. For those who have never attended this event, the cars are lined up in proximity of the library.

In the past, attendees would park at Barley Mill Plaza on rt. 141, and a school bus would bring them up to the Hagley grounds. To help in reducing expenses this year, the bus routing was eliminated, and those attending the event parked right on the Hagley grounds. Making room for parking seems to have eliminated some of the area where cars were registered for display, however the turnout was still more than worthwhile.

Hopefully some of our readers were able to make it to today's event.

Mushroom Festival 2009

2009-09-12T20:10:00.001-04:00

It rained off and on today, but it takes more than rain to stop the Kennett Mushroom Festival! As seen in the pics, locals were still out in full support of the event, regardless of weather! The picture of the woman with the baby in the stroller is of Marianne (Salvo) Brady, and Jim Brady IV, one of the newest Squirrel Run descendants.

If you didn't make it to the Festival today, the event runs through tomorrow.. So brave that weather and get on out there! It will be Winter before you know it!!

Squirrel Run Hunter Safety Course?

2009-09-12T09:39:00.000-04:00

This picture is of my grandfather, Ernest Salvo (left), learning some hunting tips from another Squirrel Runner in Wagoner's Row. They must have been checking the gun sight alignment in this image. Either that or somebody's wine bottles were missing..

Old WWII Scrapbook Reveals Squirrel Runner Article

2009-08-29T11:14:00.000-04:00

At the beginning of the month of August, I noticed an ad online from a person who was offering up an old WWII scrapbook, free to a good home. It contained newspaper article clippings on soldiers from the Montchanin, Talleyville, and surrounding Wilmington areas. I knew that some of the families who resided at Squirrel Run had migrated to these areas after the Gunpowder Mills were dismantled, and I was pretty sure there would be some articles in the book relating to descendants of those families. I contacted the owner to see if it was still available, and explained why I was interested in having it. The owner replied and asked me for my mailing address, and said she would be happy to see me have it.

The package arrived in the mail this past week, and as I opened it I found a note from the sender of the book. It read, "my grandmother who compiled this scrapbook was Mary Keating of Rockland. Her husband was a millworker at the Doeskin Mill." I was glad to see that the sender of the book (whom we'll simply refer to as "Jody") provided the name of the actual creator of the scrapbook, so that we could credit her accordingly. After reading that note, I began to look at the articles in the scrapbook- right on the first page was a Squirrel Run-related article. The clipping is shown with this posting, and details the death of Sergeant Victor J. Carozzo (click on the article clipping to see the full-size image).

Victor was the son of John Carozzo, and was born on June 25, 1921. He can be seen in the Tutti I Giusvallini picture on the far left, being held by his father, John (for those who have the numbered version of the picture, Victor is #137).

The newspaper clipping does not have the date of death present, however thanks to Frank Rosaio's Rootsweb site (link found in the right column of this site), we know that Victor died on July 17th, 1943. This article was obviously drafted at some point in the following week.

I was happy to find this article in the scrapbook, since it not only provides information on Victor's death, but also includes a photo of him in his young adult life.

A very special thanks goes out to "Jody" and her grandmother for taking the time to compile such a valuable piece of Delaware (and surrounding area) history. In a world where so many are quick to move to a "paperless" environment, treasures like these are becoming more and more scarce.

Remnants of Frizzell's Store

2009-08-27T15:25:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I made a trip up to Hagley with my cousin, Vince Ghione, to appreciate the remaining landmarks of what was once Squirrel Run and the surrounding area. In-hand I had with me a series of notes and pictures that I keep all together, regarding all that I know to date about Squirrel Run. One of the pictures I had with me was an old photo of Sam Frizzell's store, which is shown in the picture attached to this posting (the black and white photo is courtesy of Hagley Museum).

The store was originally located at the base of Breck's Lane, directly across from Breck's Mill, which is still in existence today. However, Frizzell's store was not as lucky. As shown in the attached photo, all that remains of the original store is a rectangular impression in the ground, backing up to a hill. At the back of the location, one can still make out a small stone wall, built into the dirt, that would have been to prevent erosion.

As the years roll on, many landmarks still exist which point out the past layout of Squirrel Run and Walker's Banks. We just have to be a little bit more curious today to see them..

The Passing of Lucille (Juliano) Catalino

2009-08-27T14:54:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday of this week, Lucille E. (Juliano) Catalino, wife of Thomas J. Catalino Jr., passed away at the age of 96. Her husband was a fellow "Squirrel Runner", and a very close friend of my grandfather, Ernest Salvo. The obituary in the Wilmington News Journal reads as follows:

"Mrs. Lucille E. (Juliano) Catalino, age 96 of Wilmington, DE, passed away on August 25, 2009.

Lucille was born in Bridgeton, NJ on August 14, 1913, daughter of the late Thomas and Elizabeth (Ruggerio) Juliano. She was a lifelong member of St. Anthony of Padua Parish. A loving and adoring homemaker, she was endlessly devoted to her loved ones.

Lucille was predeceased by her husband of 41 years, Thomas J. Catalino Jr., in 1981; and 12 siblings, including her twin sister, Clementine "Tina" Betts, and Pauline Miller. She is survived by her daughters, Mary Lu Catalino Roberts, with whom she lived, and Angela DeMaio; son, Thomas J. Catalino, III (Eileen); grandchildren, Jody Gould (Eric), Joseph Roberts (Kerri), Scott Roberts (Robyn), Christy DeMaio, Heather Catalino, and Amy Keeler (Tim); great-grandchildren, Adam and Emma Gould, Lorelai Roberts, Cecelia Roberts, and Evan DeMaio; and numerous nieces and nephews, including Kathleen Catalino, whom along with grandson, Scott Roberts, served as primary caregiver.

The family extends their deepest gratitude to the nurses, aides, and volunteers from Blessed Home and Delaware Hospice for their attentive and compassionate care of Lucille.

A Funeral Service will be held at the CHARLES P. ARCARO FUNERAL HOME, 2309 Lancaster Ave. in Wilmington, on Friday morning, August 28, at 11:30 am. Interment will follow in Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington. Family and friends may call at the funeral home on Friday morning, prior to service, from 10-11:30 am.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer's Association of Delaware, 2306 Kirkwood Hwy, Wilmington, DE 19805 or to Delaware Hospice, 3515 Silverside Rd., Wilmington, DE 19810.

To send online condolences

please visit

www.arcarofuneralhome.com

302-658-9095"

If any of our readers have a photo of Mrs. Catalino that we can include with this posting, please let me know.

Crossin' the Creek

2009-08-23T12:53:00.001-04:00

Work in the DuPont powder mills along the Brandywine was a dangerous undertaking. Accidents and explosions were common and there were many work-related deaths on the grounds of the powder mill.

The powder houses built along the Brandywine were constructed to minimize the fatalities in the event of an explosion. Three thick stone walls with a weak wooden fourth wall which faced the Brandywine ensured that if there was an explosion in the powder house the contents (including the unfortunate powder worker) would be blown out over the creek, and not into the yard where other workers could be injured. Workers who died in this way were said to have “crossed the creek.”

Explosions in the yard were more deadly, because there were no protective walls to minimize the damage. Our Lalla Delaide told a story about one such explosion, which was caused by a spark made when a horse drawn carriage crossed the trolley tracks in the yard. The explosion was so great that the houses in Squirrel Run shook violently. Giusvalla native Giovanni Abete perished in that explosion, along with many other men who were in the yard that day.

Edoardo Zunino was rushed to University Hospital in Philadelphia in September 1925 after inhaling toxic fumes while at work in the powder mill. He wasn’t able to recover from the poisonous fumes and died at the hospital. Joseph Pesce became very ill from breathing in the same fumes that killed Edoardo Zunino, but recovered and was back to work within a few days.

The quiet, idyllic beauty at the Hagley Museum today is a pale reminder of the hustle and bustle in the powder yards during the days of our grandparents and great-grandparents. But if you stand beside the restored powder houses along the Brandywine and listen patiently as the river trickles by …. perhaps you can still hear the voices from the yard and those who crossed the creek so many years ago.

In the picture: Hagley’s restored powder houses along the Brandywine

"The Tortarolo Code"

2009-08-19T13:42:00.002-04:00

I always knew that my Aunt Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone was a blood-relative of mine “somehow,” but once someone explains how you are so-and-so’s sister’s cousin’s aunt’s roommate etc., you unfortunately tend to lose your way off the comprehension path...

The same thing happened to me when Frank advised me that we were distantly related. My immediate reaction was “great!,” but then came the inevitable question of “how?” He’d told me during a few different conversations that this person in his family was my great-grandfather’s second cousin, and that his family adopted my Aunt Theresa’s brother and sister when their parents died in 1918. But usually these points of linkage would be mentioned in passing, and I’d never get a chance to sit down and actually map it out to understand the big picture. Well, last night I did just that.

Attached is a graphic representation of what I like to call, “The Tortarolo Code” (modeled after the famous film starring Tom Hanks). In the graphic, it is much more clear to see not only how Frank and I are blood-related, but also how the relation of my Aunt Theresa’s family comes into play. Click on the image to see the full-size view.

Be sure to peruse our earlier posts on this site as well, for more details and pictures pertaining to Theresa, Egidio, and Josephine Tortarolo.

Update from Frank R.: My family is also related to the Tortarolo children – Egidio, Theresa & Josephine – through my great-grandfather, Francesco Rosaio, so they were our "double" cousins. The mother of the Tortarolo children was Luigia Maria Perrone, who was my great-grandfather Rosaio’s 1st cousin.

It was my great-grandfather Rosaio who took in and raised Gidio and Josephine after their parents died in 1918. They grew up on his farm up on Ebright Road.

Little Theresa Tortarolo went to live with a relative of her father's, Giovanni Battista "John" Salvo.

The "Goodfellas" of Squirrel Run

2009-08-13T09:54:00.000-04:00

Just as it happens today, when kids and cameras are combined, it makes for some truly memorable and funny photos. In this picture we see Ernest Salvo (far left), Paul Pesce, Adolpho Pesce, and most likely, Edgar Carozzo. His face is shaded by the thumb of who is most likely Tom Catalino taking the picture (multiple family photos reveal these guys as one of the Squirrel Run “brat packs” of the time).

The picture was taken in the Winter time, as can be seen by the heavy coats, the snow on the ground behind them, and the leafless trees. When compared to other pictures of the same locale, it appears that this photo was taken at Wagoner’s Row.

As I have said many times with other photos I have posted here, it is so great to see these historic shots out in the light again. They spent decades in boxes. Frank and I both have received feedback from many who follow this site and have enjoyed viewing these old memories. Rest assured that both Frank and I will keep these pictures coming for as long as we have them to share! And speaking of which, do you have boxes of these old pictures that you would like to share with the Squirrel Run community as well? If so, feel free to contact either Frank or myself, and we’ll do what we can to get them uploaded onto this site for you. These memories have gone forgotten for too long!

The 24th Annual Mushroom Festival

2009-08-10T18:28:00.000-04:00

Virtually all of we Delaware Valley Giusvallèn are connected in some way to the mushroom business. Many of those who left the powder mills in the early 1920s went directly into the cultivation of mushrooms. It came naturally to our first generation forefathers, because mushrooms were a big business back home in Giusvalla (and other areas of northern Italy).

What better way to celebrate our heritage next month than heading to Kennett Square, “The Mushroom Capital of the World,” for the 24th Annual Mushroom Festival? The food alone is reason enough to stop by (don’t forget to try the mushroom soup!).

If you want to make a day out of it, there’s plenty for everyone: antique & classic car show, games and activities for the kids, live entertainment, local vendor, parades and lots more. The festival will be held this year on September 12-13.

You might even bump into a cousin or two!

For more information on the Mushroom Festival, go to:

http://www.mushroomfestival.org/

"Grace"

2009-08-09T20:33:00.002-04:00

We are all probably familiar with Eric Enstrom’s famous painting “Grace,” which depicts the bearded elderly gentleman deep in prayer at his kitchen table. I’m sure many of us grew up with a replica hanging on the wall of our parents’ or grandparents’ home.

In the mid 1980s my father’s sister Marina took this picture of my great-grandmother Rosaio at her dining room table, using the Enstrom painting as her inspiration.

Grandmom Rosaio loved having her picture taken, we have dozens and dozens of pictures of her taken in various propped poses from the time she was a young girl. This particular picture was taken when Grandmom was in her 90s, and is a family favorite!

Don't Mess With Mutèn......

2009-08-07T11:20:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, my Uncle Paul Salvo and his wife Rita (Devlin) Salvo were at our home to visit for my daughter's birthday party. After the mayhem subsided a bit, I pulled him aside and asked him if he would mind recounting some memories about his grandfather, John "Mutèn" Salvo..

One of the memories that he shared was one that I had never heard before: as was the case with many Italian communities, there would be times when friends would come to the Salvo house to drink, sing, and be merry together. My Uncle Paul shared that at one specific gathering, the celebrating apparently went on into the wee hours of the night. Mutèn finally decided that he would retire for the evening. He said Buona Notte to everyone, and headed up for bed. One would think that when the head of the household retires for the night, it might be time to pack it in and close down the party.. However, in this instance, that did not take place.

Mutèn had headed up to bed, but the "party" continued without him. The drinking and the singing persisted. After some time of it, Mutèn apparently made an encore appearance.. But this time, it was while sporting a SHOTGUN. Thankfully, the gun was never aimed and fired, but without even squeezing the trigger once, its message was conveyed without question: "THE PARTY'S OVER!!"

The Cavallo Bianco

2009-08-07T10:58:00.002-04:00

Those of us who grew up close to the history of our family in Giusvalla (especially we members of the Pesce family) are familiar with the “Cavallo Bianco.” The history of the “Cavallo Bianco” goes back to the early years of the 20th century, when it was known as the “Locanda Cavallo Bianco” (White Horse Inn). At that time, it also served as a stopping point for travelers to change their horses. Adjoining the inn and beyond the archway that leads to the “port ed Tzentòn,” there were stables where the horses were kept. The original proprietors of the inn were our dear Lalla Francìşcha and the infamous Borba Tzentòn.

At the “port ed Tzentòn” was a large oven, where Lalla Francìşcha prepared bread to sell to the weary travelers. These were busy years for our Lalla, running the restaurant, inn, keeping the stables up, baking the bread and managing her brood of six children. Borba Tzentòn was frequently away pursuing some new business venture, so Lalla was often left alone to bear the heavy load on her small shoulders.

Lalla Francìşcha’s son, Vittorio and his wife Gemma, eventually took over the running of the restaurant, which became known simply as the “Cavallo Bianco.” Vittorio and Gemma’s daughters, Francesca and Nanda grew up in the kitchen of the Cavallo Bianco, helping their parents with every little task from cleaning, to cooking, to baking the bread in the big oven in the “port ed Tzentòn.”

Today Nanda and her husband Angelo run the restaurant, and their son Massimo who is an architectural engineer in Genoa sometimes lends a hand. The stables and great oven are gone, but the rooms upstairs have been beautifully restored and are ready once again to receive guests and travelers.

I had the great pleasure of celebrating my birthday at the Cavallo Bianco this past year with 25 of my dear cousins in Giusvalla, many of whom are grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the restaurant’s original proprietress, Lalla Francìşcha. An vüj di ciü che, tante grazie a tucci … ashper purrej turné prasht!

In the picture: At the Cavallo Bianco in 1963 – Meme, Pina (my great-grandmother), Teresita, Francesco, Bastianèn, Gigèn

A’summa parenti? Are we related?

2009-08-06T20:29:00.000-04:00

The short answer to this question is yes, if your family came from Giusvalla, then you are probably related in some way to other people whose family came from there. Giusvalla has always been a small town, with just a handful of nuclear families intermarrying generation after generation, it is a mathematical probability that if we go back far enough into our family history, all we Giusvallèn will discover a common ancestry in at least one branch of our family.

However, it would be inaccurate to simply assume that all Baccino, Bonifacino or Perrone families sprung from the same ancestral patriarch. For example, it is well-known in Giusvalla that the various Bonifacino families are descended from the soldiers of “Bonifacio il Vasto,” a 13th century nobleman from the Aleramici family.

Families in Giusvalla distinguished themselves from other unrelated families with the same surname by associating themselves with their ancestral frazione (neighborhood), for example there were the Perrone della Colla, Perrone dei Dogli, Perrone della Casùrera and Giusvalla’s noble family, Perrone dell'avvocato. It was the same with all the large old families in Giusvalla.

At the time of the 1645 census in the town of Giusvalla, the following families were living in Giusvalla:

Bonifacino - 36 families
Perrone - 30 families
Baccino - 27 families
Beltrame - 25 families
Pizzorno - 14 families
Buschiazzo - 10 families
Tessore & Rabellino - 5 families
Bazzano & Brondo - 4 families
Doglio & Porro - 3 families
Astisano, Bistolfi, Ferraro, Iardino, Rapetti, Siri, Scarrone & Zuffo - 2 families
Biale, Bagnasco, Ivaldi, Laidi, Marchisio, Marenco, Richebuono, Salvo, Salvagno, Tortarolo - 1 family

As record-keeping as we know it was just beginning to develop following the Council of Trent a century before, we can perhaps consider this list an accurate representation of the earliest documented residents of our ancestral village of Giusvalla.

Some of these family names disappeared from Giusvalla over the subsequent centuries, while other families moved into Giusvalla from other towns nearby (Carozzo, Camoirano, Manzino, Pesce, Rosaio, Zunino, etc.).

Of course, you’ll only know for certain if you are related to someone by carefully documenting each generation of your family history. The rule of thumb with genealogical research is to start with yourself, obtaining documentation such as birth, marriage and death records for each vital event in every generation, which (with luck) will lead you to a starting point for researching the previous generation.

Interested in your Giusvalla family history? I started my search over 20 years ago and over the years have obtained copies of many of the original records from the Giusvalla town hall, as well as the older ecclesiastical records from the registers of Giusvalla’s parish, the church of San Matteo. If you’d like a hand getting things going with your own “family tree,” I am more than happy to share whatever I have, or get you started on your search!

In the picture: Marriage Act of Lorenzo Antonio Perrone & Maria Luigia Perrone - from the marriage registers of the parish church of San Matteo, Giusvalla

The Death of Gidio Tortarolo

2009-08-03T10:10:00.003-04:00

Growing up, I knew very little about the family of my Godmother, Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone. I knew her parents were buried at St. Joe’s on the Brandywine, because my father would point out their headstone whenever we went to visit the family graves. However, I’d never once seen a picture of them, or heard anything about them. I knew they had died from the 1918 influenza, and I knew that as a result, my Aunt Theresa had come to live with my Grandpop Salvo’s family. I’d also heard briefly that she had a brother and sister, but I’d never met them or seen a picture of them either. Years went by and the topic came up somewhere again that she’d had a brother and a sister- so, I finally asked to know who and where they were. After all, if we visited Aunt Theresa regularly, why couldn’t we see her siblings too?? It never made any sense to me as a kid.

My parents explained to me that both had died early in life, and that her sister’s name was Josephine, and her brother’s name was Gidio (spelled as Egidio on the family headstone). And this is where things got interesting: I remember my father telling me that Gidio was killed “in a hot air balloon accident”. At this point I was a kid growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s- at that time, I knew people died when airplanes crashed. I knew people died in car accidents. But a hot air balloon?? Come on. I really thought my father had gotten a bad translation from Italian to English on that one.. Yes, I knew balloons go up high and all, but really- how many people did you ever hear about who died from hot air balloon fatalities?! It just sounded nuts.

Of course my father had no other information to go on, and really had no way to verify the story. The info most likely came from Aunt Theresa herself, or her husband (Art Angelone), and I’m sure it was upsetting for Aunt Theresa to discuss. So, I doubt she went into much detail about it. Either that or, she simply did not know all of the details surrounding the death. After all, it happened in MD in 1930. We had no obituary for Gidio, and there was nothing called an “internet” yet, so without any clues there was little more research that could be done. At that point in my life, the given explanation had to suffice, even as vague and odd as it was..

Interestingly enough, in another household in the tri-State area at that time, a similar question had been asked, and an equally-interesting response had been provided: Frank Rosaio had been told by the sister of his grandfather (Francesco Rosaio) that Gidio had met his death in a motorcycle stunt. Frank’s family recalls Gidio riding his motorcycle all over the place on the Rosaio family farm. But once again, as was the case with my family, no one really knew for sure what took Gidio’s life so early on.

Fast-forward about 25 years- my father signed up for an account with ancestry.com, and started doing research on the Brady, Salvo, and Angelone lineages. While working on the Angelone tree, he was doing obituary searches, and lo and behold, found the obit for Gidio Tortarolo posted on Frank Rosaio's genealogy site (which is how I first met Frank)! It had his last name misspelled, but it was definitely him. It read as follows:

From the "Wilmington Morning News," 8 Oct 1930, p. 2:

"Body of Balloon Victim To Be Buried Here

The body of Egidio Torgarolo, who was killed in Whitehall, Baltimore county, Md., on Saturday afternoon by falling from a balloon, was brought to this city yesterday. The funeral will take place from Krienan Brothers' undertaking parlors at 400 Broom street. tomorrow morning. Requiem mass will be held in St. Joseph's Church, on the Brandywine, at 9:30 o'clock, and interment will be made in the adjoining cemetery.

The young man was 23 years old and formerly lived in this city, but lately had been traveling and giving balloon ascensions. He has two sisters living in Wilmington. The young man was substituting as parachute jumper for Captain John Smith, and was known as Ernest or "Steve" Carinalio."

The obit confirmed the story my father had heard and passed down to me.. But even though it provided more insight, it in turn raised even more questions: where in MD did this happen? Were there witnesses? I felt compelled to find out the whole story, as grim as it may be.

I posted inquiries to a few online sources, explaining the details of the incident (brief but confirmed), along with when Gidio had died (October 4, 1930). Within 24 hours an email came back stating that an article regarding the accident had been found in the Baltimore Sun newspaper. It recounted the death of a man at the White Hall Fair, by the name of Ernest Carinalio (Gidio’s stage name, which appeared in the obituary my father had discovered). The posting of the article was October 5, 1930 (pg. 3, column 6). I requested to have a copy of the article emailed to me, and received it 3 days later. The article (which has been attached with this posting, click on it to view full-size) indicated that Gidio was in fact on a hot air balloon, but that he was actually scheduled to jump from the balloon wearing a parachute, as part of a stunt show. Somehow while preparing for the event, Gidio’s parachute pack got tangled up in the ropes of the balloon, and while trying to get it free, Gidio fell. He was only 50 feet from off of the ground, which would not have been enough time to deploy the chute. As a result he fell to his death, and according to the article, the tragedy took place while 1000 fair-goers were watching.

From what we know about Gidio, he spent his life as a thrill-seeker. Family members can remember him riding his motorcycle all over the place as a young man, and the career he selected at the time of his death further reveals his interest in such activities. I feel in a strange sense that some piece of Gidio carries on in me, as I am an avid motorcycle rider and enthusiast, and I am the only one in the Tortarolo-Salvo-Ghione-Brady lineage who seems to have that gene.

Another interesting point of curiosity about Gidio has been in regard to the stage name he selected, “Ernest” or “Steve Carinalio”. In trying to determine why he chose that name, our family couldn’t help but wonder if the “Ernest” came in some way from my grandfather, Ernest Salvo. But recently, another subtle fact has revealed itself: in the Tutti pic at the top of this site, you can see Gidio standing with his right arm around his little sister, Theresa. And his left arm is around a pal at that time: Ernie (Ernest) Camoirano.. That sure sounds a lot like Ernest Carinalio to me.

Laundry Day

2009-07-31T08:40:00.001-04:00

This image highlights a common activity at Squirrel Run: doing laundry by hand. In the image is Albina (Piuma) Salvo and, just recently discovered, Mary (Mazzoni) Perrone, (wife of Edward Perrone). Edward and Mary (along with daughter, Emma) temporarily shared a home with the Salvos while getting themselves situated here in the States.

The picture is another random shot of everyday life at Squirrel Run, captured by my Grandpop Salvo’s camera.

Thanks goes out to Frank J. Rosaio once more, for his assistance in identifying the person sharing the laundry water with my great-grandmother!

New Site Feature: "Run Squirrel Run!" Forums

2009-07-26T13:10:00.000-04:00

For our reader community who has been wanting to see who else is viewing the site, and hoping to get in contact with others from the Squirrel Run and Tutti I Giusvallini communities, this update is for you:

Today we have launched the "Run Squirrel Run!" Forums, which can be viewed at the following link:

http://squirrelrun.createmybb3.com

Be sure to add this new addition to your favorites, and get registered so we can help get you back in contact!

A Lazy Day For A Kid At Squirrel Run

2009-07-26T10:11:00.001-04:00

I'm sure it was rare when children at Squirrel Run didn't have anything to do. There are countless records of parents always finding something needing to be done to keep the kids busy- helping with wash, sweeping the floor in the home, helping to cook meals, etc. However, once in a while, a free moment would present itself where the kids at Squirrel Run could play and dream, just like the kids of today. These pictures capture one of those exact moments.

At some point in his youth, my Grandpop Salvo had a camera, and took many of the pictures that you see throughout this site. I am continually thankful that these photos have survived both the test of time, as well as regular relocations to multiple homes over the years. These specific pictures have travelled from Squirrel Run, to West 6th St. in Wilmington, DE, to Pike Creek, DE, to Bridgeville, DE, and have now landed in Elkton, MD. The journey has spanned over 90 years. And now, they've been copied into digital format, which hopefully will preserve their existence for the up and coming 90 years.

The pictures are random shots on the Squirrel Run premises, taken by a young boy eager to experiment with a relatively new hobby for that time: photography. We hope our readers will enjoy them as much as we do. (click on the photos to see them full-size)

Giusvalla nel flusso .... Giusvalla in flux

2009-07-24T20:21:00.003-04:00

Our ancestral town of Giusvalla has always been small, the population peaking somewhere during the first quarter of the 19th century at around 1200 souls. Today there are somewhere around 450 residents, including a sizable and growing contingent of Romanian immigrants. Mass in Giusvalla is now celebrated just once a week, and not by a local Italian priest, but rather by the affable Fr. Remigio Hyun, the new Korean pastor who tends the dwindling flock at Giusvalla’s parish church of San Matteo and splits his time between several local parishes.

Giusvalla, like the world around it, is changing ….

My Pesce ancestors lived in a little village within Giusvalla called “Taranco,” land that had come down to my great-grandmother’s family by way of her maternal grandmother, Margherita Tortarolo. The Tortarolo family, in fact, had already lived on the land at Taranco for generations before my great-grandmother‘s time.

Other families that came over to Squirrel Run were associated with different villages or neighborhoods in Giusvalla …. Bonifacino of Cavanna; Baccino of Cianpè; Rosaio of Vicoŕi; Ferraro of Zerbi; Camoirano of Becìancia; Perrone of Casùrera, Collà and Dogli ….

Many of the homes in these old neighborhoods now sit empty, our contemporary Giusvalla cousins having left the family homestead in favor of an apartment and better job opportunities in the big cities of Savona or Genoa. Simultaneously, the idea of the “country home” has caught on in Italy … attracting wealthy city folk to little villages like Giusvalla … driving the cost of real estate through the roof and further pushing out the native farmer‘s son.

The future of Giusvalla seems uncertain, with a shrinking native population being replaced by a growing immigrant population, the astronomical cost of real estate in the area and natural and geographic factors that lend themselves to the dreaded “bedroom community” designation … one wonders what the next generation in Giusvalla will look like.

My cousin Dialma, who still lives on the old family land at Taranco, wistfully lamented to me recently “Giusvalla is dying, drying up like an autumn leaf …” We, the children and grandchildren of the old generation of giusvallini will one day perhaps be all that remains of them, the fate of their traditions, their dialect and the memory of old Giusvalla rests in our hands … it is a formidable patrimony.

Sperumma ben ….

In the picture: località Taranco, April 2009

The "Other" Theresa Ghione

2009-07-21T09:48:00.000-04:00

My Grandpop Salvo married Marian (Ghione) Salvo, whose mother was Teresa (Reggio) Ghione. In the mix of other families at Squirrel Run was another lineage of Ghione’s, who as I understand it today were not directly related to my great-grandparents, Joseph and Teresa. However, because of the same last name, apparently the families were familiar with one another. This particular family consisted of Carlo Ghione and his wife, Mary. They actually lived next door (according to the 1920 census) to my Aunt Kitty (Robino) Salvo’s grandparents at Squirrel Run, and Carlo is listed as a laborer at that time.

Because of the knowledge of the 2 Ghione families, my Grandmom Marian apparently became friends with one of the children from the other Ghione family, Theresa. These pictures are of her. She was apparently born in 1918, the same year of the dreaded Influenza that Frank cited in a prior post.

After Squirrel Run was dismantled in 1923, it shows on the 1930 census that Theresa’s family moved out to Woodlawn Avenue in Wilmington. If anyone happens to know Theresa or her family today, we’d love to hear from them.

Musings of a post-modern Giusvallèn

2009-07-16T18:06:00.000-04:00

My grandfather was Frank John Rosaio, known in the family simply as “Junior.” He was the baby of the family, born in 1930 when his mother was 38 and his father was 51. He grew up on the family farm off Ebright Road in north Wilmington. His father cultivated mushrooms and his mother would take the mushrooms and other produce grown on the farm to sell at the old farmer’s market on King Street in the city.

Times were a lot different. Ebright Road was just a little dirt road in the country, there were no street addresses … the scattering of homes in the area were simply known by their “rural route.” Naamans Road was two narrow lanes flanked on either side by open farmland, forest and fields (one of which was used as a landing strip for small airplanes). Route 202 north of Blue Ball was more like a drive through the country than the traffic-clogged, uninterrupted stretch of strip malls, restaurants and corporate plazas that it is today. Old families with names like Husbands, Mousley and Grubb still owned vast plots of land that had been handed down through generations, legacies from Quaker forbearers who had cleared the land two hundred years before.

This was the world that my grandfather Rosaio knew. His parents had both come from Giusvalla to Squirrel Run as young adults; his father first came in 1904, but returned to Giusvalla for a few years before coming back permanently in 1910. His mother came in 1909. At the time of my grandfather’s birth, his household included his parents; his three older siblings Elsie, Anne and John; his maternal grandmother; and two teenaged orphans, Gidio and Josephine Tortarolo, whose mother had been a close cousin of my grandfather’s father.

After my grandfather graduated from high school (Salesianum '49), he went into the carpentry trade. Within a couple years, he opened his own construction company and converted the old red barn behind his parents’ house into his office, and became very well-known in the area. He married my grandmother in 1951 and they settled into the family farmhouse. My father was the second of the seven children that would be born into the family, when he was three years old the family moved “across the field” into their newly constructed home, one of the first to line Ebright Road.

By the time my father was growing up in the 50s and 60s, little had changed. Ebright Road was still just a narrow stretch through the country. “Fairfax” seemed like the big city and 202 north of the city was still pretty much a ride through the country. A right turn off 202 onto Naamans Road brought you to the new raceway, but after that the rural road resumed. The old landing strip had given way to a new high school.

I grew up on Ebright Road, but by the time I came along in the early 70s, there were some changes. Ebright Road had been paved (though still lacked any painted lines) and every house had a number. When I was four or five years old, my great-grandmother Rosaio sold a large portion of the farm to a developer who put in a housing tract called “Brandywine Forge.” Naamans Road was still just two narrow lanes (and would remain so until the mid 80s), but the old farmers had been busy selling their family land and so several new large housing developments flanked either side of the road from just past Ebright Road down to the intersection of Naamans and Foulk roads.

Route 202 had seen the birth of the Concord Mall, a couple hotels, the beginnings of a couple strip malls and a tall white office building built by the Rollins brothers, which seemed to stretch high into the sky …. If he had still been living, my grandfather Rosaio might have begun to have trouble recognizing parts of 202 by then. The wheels of progress were in full motion by the time the 80s arrived, the credit card companies had moved in and things were changing quickly ….

The old Quaker families are long gone now, their vast farms sold to developers, divided and sub-divided to make way for the endless housing tracts and strip malls that have become the new face of north Delaware’s landscape. My father, in turn, has become the legacy holder, living on the land that his Giusvalla-born grandfather purchased from a Quaker named Talley almost one hundred years ago ….

In the picture: View across the field to Grandmom’s house, circa 1975

John "Mutèn" Salvo

2009-07-14T13:21:00.000-04:00

John "Mutèn" Salvo was my great-grandfather, and came to this country in 1910. His family (Albina, Ernest, and Esther) followed in 1913.

Mutèn was a hard working man who, as was the case with many others highlighted on this site, was a laborer at Squirrel Run.

The attached picture shows him alongside of his daughter-in-law, Marian (Ghione) Salvo, on her wedding day to his son, Ernest. It took place on June 15, 1939, at St. Patrick's Church in Kennett Square, PA. The day of the marriage apparently had an "interesting" atmosphere to it, as it has been told to me by my mother that sometime before this picture was taken, Marian gave Mutèn a kiss. At that point he openly referred to it as "the kiss of death". He'd stated that because he felt that she was taking his only son away from him, and without Ernest to care for him, he would not survive long. His daughter, Esther, had passed away in 1920, from a strain of the flu that Frank highlighted earlier on this site.

Little did Mutèn know that Marian would become one of the best people he could have had in his life, as she not only ended up caring for Ernest, but for Mutèn himself, as well as his brother-in-law, Teodoro (Doro) Piuma! Mutèn had not only lost his daughter in 1920, but also lost his wife, Albina, in 1937.

Mutèn and his family moved to 2903 W. 6th St. when Squirrel Run was dismantled in 1923. The home would later become where my Grandmom and Grandpop Salvo would reside and raise their three children as well.

My mother was only 5 years old when Mutèn passed away, but she does still have a few precious memories of him. For example, she recalls when he and Doro would return from a visit to the local tavern, he would bring her back a small bag of Planter's Peanuts for a treat. She also remembers bringing his lunch up to his room, during the final stages of his life when he had become bed-ridden. He would always respond to her with a polite "thank you". Sadly, my mother was not taught to speak Italian, so she did not get to communicate much with Mutèn before he passed. However, I believe that his accomplishments, and all that he'd experienced over the course of his life, had said more than enough for him.

Dilwyne Farm

2009-07-09T11:20:00.000-04:00

These pictures show my Godfather, Arthur Angelone (husband of Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone), enjoying a warm day with his buddies, one of whom was employed by Dilwyne Farm (as per the huckster truck in the background). Arthur is the man to the right with the brown hair and short-sleeved shirt. The Dilwyne employee and friend's identity is not known at this time. If you happen to recall this individual, please post a comment below the article, as we would be interested in knowing his name. Clicking on the photo will allow it to be seen at its full size.

Dilwyne Farm is one of the Estates in proximity to Squirrel Run, that was owned by R.R.M. Carpenter, an heir of the DuPont family.

These pictures were taken by my grandfather, Ernest Salvo.

Lalla Marì

2009-07-08T19:51:00.001-04:00

Maria Manzino came from Giusvalla to Squirrel Run in 1913 at the age of 27. She was a younger half-sister of my great-grandfather Rosaio and was married to my great-grandmother Rosaio’s nephew, Fortunato Salvo.

Lalla Marì had a little girl, Celsina, who was left behind with her relatives in Giusvalla. The intention was to send for little Celsina after they had settled into life at Squirrel Run, however within just a few months of her arrival, Lalla Marì started experiencing abdominal pains and was soon gravely ill.

Poor Lalla Marì never got to see little Celsina again. Just a year after her arrival, she died of an abdominal infection. She was 28 years old at the time of her death, and was laid to rest in St. Joseph's-on-the-Brandywine cemetery.

Fortunato Salvo returned to Giusvalla, where he remarried and had three children by his second wife.

The Great Influenza Epidemic of 1918

2009-07-06T17:30:00.000-04:00

The Great Influenza epidemic (also known as “Spanish Flu”) hit the Philadelphia area in the fall of 1918 with the velocity of a freight train at full throttle. Hospitals were quickly inundated with the sick and dying. Whole families were decimated as the flu quickly infiltrated the cities, neighborhoods and countryside. Mortuaries and cemeteries could not keep up with the dead, family members were often buried together in a single grave, unembalmed and one on top of another.

Squirrel Run was hard hit during the flu epidemic, which overtook the area the first week of October. Following is a list of those unfortunate Giusvallìn who succumbed to the flu during that fateful fall of 1918:

Flaminia (Briccotto) Pesce, died 6 Oct (age 26)
Luigia (Perrone) Baccino, died 8 Oct (age 23)
Paolo Rocco Pesce, died 10 Oct (age 70)
Charles Bazzano, died 13 Oct (age 3)
John Carozzo, died 13 Oct (age 40)
Frances Carozzo, died 13 Oct (age 1½)
Peter Bazzano, died 17 Oct (age 1)
Onofrio Baccino, died 18 Oct (age 1)
Valentino Tortarolo, died 20 Oct (age 40)
Luigia (Perrone) Tortarolo, died 20 Oct (age 34)
Adelina (Sicco) Baccino, died 21 Oct (age 22)
Giuseppe Marenco, died 30 Oct (age 2)

These poor souls were buried at St. Joseph-on-the-Brandywine Cemetery, each carrying their own sad story with them to the grave.

Adelina (Sicco) Baccino was pregnant at the time of her death. She spent her last days tending to her flu-sick parents-in-law. She nursed them until she too became ill and was no longer able to leave her bed.

Little Onofrio Baccino died just 10 days after his mother Luigia (Perrone) Baccino, leaving a childless widower, and little Francie Carozzo died the same day as her father, John. They were buried together on the same day.

Mary (Baldo) Bazzano was ill with the flu at the time she lost her two sons, Charles and Peter, who died within four days of one another. She didn’t know of their passing until after she recovered.

Husband and wife, Valentino and Luigia (Perrone) Tortarolo died within just a couple hours of one another, leaving three young children to the care of their relatives.

Allura, an vüj di ciü …. ch’am mem’nan and'umma a desh'mentiemie mai ciü!

The Ghione Family

2009-07-04T21:49:00.001-04:00

Although they were not from Giusvalla, the Ghione family (from which my Grandmom Salvo comes) was still associated with Squirrel Run. The attached picture shows the complete family, before tragedy began to fall upon them. In the upper row are Marian (my grandmother), Teresa (Reggio) Ghione, Joseph Ghione, and Joseph Ghione Jr.- in the front row are Paul Ghione (left), and William Ghione (right) (photo courtesy of Vince and JoAnn Ghione).

As the years passed on, Joseph Ghione was killed in a freak hunting accident (December 15, 1930), as was Joseph Ghione Jr., who died apparently from being kicked by a horse. As a result, Teresa was forced to raise her family alone, and her children in turn were required to become adults much earlier than expected. It is yet another example of the hard lives our ancestors experienced when trying to gain a strong foothold in their new homeland.

Teresa and Joseph Ghione were from Alessandria, Italy.

St. Patrick's Church, Kennett Square, PA

2009-07-01T12:28:00.001-04:00

If you are doing any genealogy searches on your Squirrel Run or Tutti I Giusvallini family, and don't have many leads, you may want to check out this church for any wedding, baptismal, or funerary records for your ancestors. This church has been (and continues to be) a place of worship for many of the families who resided at Squirrel Run. My Salvo grandparents were married at this church on June 15, 1939. Many of their friends were as well (including the Carozzo's, whose family wedding photo can be found in an earlier post in this blog).

For more information regarding the church, you can go to this link.

An Informative Yet Mysterious Document - The 1920 New Castle County Census

2009-06-30T08:38:00.001-04:00

This document was a great find from a genealogical perspective, however it also prompts new questions that my family is now trying to find the answers to. The Census was recorded on March 9th, 1920, the time that my family was associated with Squirrel Run (which was not dismantled until Fall 1923). Down the side of the document it reads "Kennett Pike Road", known today as Route 52. The document accounts for many of the families whose names are posted throughout the contents of this site, including the Salvo's, Ghione's, Pesce's, Perrone's, Ferrero's, Robino's, and others.

So why does this document prompt so many questions for my family? Well, for starters, Squirrel Run was not situated on 52, at least as I understand it. If anything, 141 or 100 would be more appropriate descriptions of the location where the Census was taken. Unless of course, this document ISN'T of data that was captured at the actual Squirrel Run location. But if it wasn't, where were all of these people living at that time?

Secondly, this document has a slight impact on the story we were told, regarding how my Grandpop Salvo met my Grandmom (Ghione) Salvo. I was told by my parents, that my grandfather met her because she worked at an office that my grandfather would frequent because of his job. We never thought anything differently of the story, until of course this document was found. Upon reviewing the document, it shows the Ghione family (Marian's parents) living 3 doors down from my Grandpop Salvo's parents at that time! Is it possible that these families did not speak to each other at that time? Sure, why not. But anyone who knows anything about these families that resided at Squirrel Run, knows that they all for the most part acted like one BIG family. They had pictures taken together in groups (many shown on this site). They were in each other's weddings. Long story short, everybody knew everybody. So, seeing now that my grandparents' families lived so close to one another early on, one can't help but wonder if there's more to the story regarding my grandparents' introduction.

As with the other posts on this site, comments in response to this post are welcomed, especially if it helps solve some of the mysteries associated with this document. And as always, clicking on the image above will provide an enlarged copy of the document to review.

one of our mystery pics

2009-06-29T20:02:00.000-04:00

Since Frank and I seem to have quite a few of these unidentified images readily available to us, I figured I would post this one and see what happens. If noone knows who this person is, I'm sure the picture will still be appreciated for not only the time that it was photographed, but also because of the interesting apparel the woman is wearing (I have never seen gloves like that before in my life). It will be nice to hear what people observe regarding this image, even if they cannot identify her.

This photo was in the same box as the others I have been posting throughout this site, which means this woman could be associated with either the Salvo OR Ghione side of my family. Enjoy!

Grandmom-across-the-field

2009-06-28T16:34:00.000-04:00

My great-grandmother Josephine Rosaio was a tough lady, I don’t think she was afraid of anything or anyone. Lots of people still remember her old fashioned work ethic, colorful vocabulary and wild driving habits. As I’ve been preparing my little blog blurbs these past couple weeks, Grandmom has been on my mind a lot. I often wondered about this tough lady who buried two husbands and her three sons, parents, all of her siblings and friends - yet remained stoic in the face of it all.

Last fall my father and I went to the cemetery to clean the interior of the Rosaio family mausoleum. In the process of cleaning the little framed picture of my grandfather Rosaio that sits on the marble altar, I noticed something just barely sticking out of the bottom of the frame. It was a letter, folded tightly and tucked behind my grandfather’s picture. You can imagine our surprise, when we opened the frame and saw that the letter was written by Grandmom Rosaio forty some years ago, after her son - my grandfather Rosaio - had died suddenly at the age of 31. The grief expressed by Grandmom Rosaio - in Italian - was palpable, her tough exterior shattered by the sorrowful words she wrote in an attempt to understand her grief.

I’ll never forget the words in that letter, nor the way that Grandmom Rosaio never let her personal sorrow make her forget about life. This is the stock that we Giusvallìn come from, this endless perseverance and vivacity for life. Their blood flows in our veins - and we are stronger.

In the picture: Grandmom Rosaio; my younger sister Angela; my father Michael

Arthur and Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone

2009-06-28T09:46:00.000-04:00

The attached pic is of my Godparents, Arthur and Theresa (Tortarolo) Angelone. Theresa appears in the Tutti I Giusvallini pic, all of the way over on the far right. She married Arthur Angelone, whose family was also associated with Squirrel Run. His family does not appear in the Tutti pic however, as the Angelones were not from Giusvalla.

Girls In The Greenhouse

2009-06-27T17:09:00.002-04:00

I don't know who these 2 ladies are, or who took the picture (although I have a pretty good idea). All I know is, neither one of them is my Grandmom Salvo! Nevertheless, I thought that it would be great to include the pictures out here, since they coincide with the location and timeframe that this site's details are founded on. Someone will most likely chime in with their identities eventually.

I'm sure that things back then were much like they are now in respect to these pictures: what HAPPENS in the greenhouse, STAYS in the greenhouse! :)

UPDATE: after giving this more thought, these shots were most likely taken at one of the greenhouses at GRANOGUE, the DuPont estate. That is where my Grandpop Salvo worked his entire life.

The Marenco Brothers

2009-06-27T16:43:00.001-04:00

Here is a picture that Frank Rosaio and his family helped identify as of yesterday. In the top row we have Tom Catalino (far left), Paul Pesce (center), and Ernest Salvo (my grandfather, right).

In the front row are Victor Marenco (left) and his brother Frederico Marenco (right).

My grandfather was very fortunate to be in so many photos during this time.

All Work And No Play....

2009-06-26T10:38:00.000-04:00

... makes Squirrel Runners take funny pictures! Here is a picture from my Grandpop Salvo's personal collection of "on the job" satire. These people worked long hours, in extreme hot and cold weather, so there had to be some time to blow off steam. This snapshot in time is one of those moments.

I can only imagine how happy my grandfather would be, to know that his treasured memories continue on, still to be appreciated by others. Enjoy-

PS: if anyone can identify any of the gentlemen in this picture, we would greatly appreciate it

Ra Mumà Granda

2009-06-25T20:58:00.001-04:00

Our Mumà Granda was Francesca (Becco) Pesce, who with her husband Paolo Rocco Pesce, came over from Giusvalla and settled in Squirrel Run in 1910. She was 59 years old at the time of her arrival and was the oldest woman to ever come to the United States from Giusvalla.

After her husband Paolo died and the Squirrel Run community dispersed following the closing of the powder mills, Francesca lived with the family of her youngest daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Frank Rosaio, on their mushroom farm up on Ebright Road, north Wilmington.

My aunts fondly remember the Mumà Granda saying her prayers every night before bed, in her nightgown with her long gray hair hanging loose all the way down to her hips. She died at home in 1940, at the age of 89.

In the picture (left to right): Josephine (Pesce) (Perrone) Rosaio & Francesca (Becco) Pesce, circa 1919