Marriages & Families - Nick and Mary Ambruso

Nicola (Nick) Ambruso was born in Salandra in 1895.  He came to America with his widowed mother and two younger sisters in 1922.  He first lived in Garfield, NJ and was employed as a textile worker in Paterson, NJ.  In about 1929, he bought a house near the elevated train route in Jackson Heights, Queens, NY.  According to the 1930 US Census, he was living at this house with his mother, Pasquarosa (Rose), and his sisters Helen and Tina.  His sister Silvia and her husband Anthony and daughter Carmela (Millie) were also living with him.  In March of 1931, Nick married Mary Valentino in Manhattan.  Mary was born in Laurenzana in 1900 and came to the USA with her mother in 1904.  She was the oldest of six children.  Her father Rocco was in New York since 1902 establishing his business.  He was a hair dresser. 

Shortly after Nick and Mary got married, they moved to a large house with four separate apartments in Astoria, Queens, NY.  They had two children: a daughter, Esther, born in 1932, and a son Rocco born in 1934.  According to the 1940 US Census, the house was pretty crowded.  The Ambruso’s lived in one apartment and the other three were rented out to tenants.   Living in the large Ambruso apartment were Nick and Mary, the two children, Esther and Rocco, grandmother Pasquarosa, Helen and Diana.  A lot of Ambruso’s.  As odd as it may sound, records show that in 1942 Nick was still working in the silk mill in Paterson, NJ and commuting daily.  His daughter Esther said he had some sort of car pool arrangement.

Garfield, NJ may have been the center of activity for this branch of the Ambruso family for the first few decades of the 1900’s; but Astoria quickly took over as the family center, even after the matriarch, Pasquarosa, passed away in 1948.  There were always Ambruso’s living at or visiting at Uncle Nick’s.  What memories do you have of Uncle Nick’s house in Astoria?  Write a comment below.

Marriages & Families - Anthony and Sylvia Saraco



Silvia (Sylvia) Ambruso married Antonio (Anthony) Saraco at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church in Garfield, NJ in November, 1923.  The church record mentions that they were also married in a civil ceremony about a month earlier.  Sylvia was born in Salandra in 1893.  She arrived in America in 1913 with her older brother and sister, Michael and Felicia.  Anthony was born in 1891 or 1893 in Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy.

They lived on Farnham Avenue in Garfield, just behind Felicia and Lawrence.  Their first child, Carmela (Millie) was born in Garfield in 1925.  A few years later, when Sylvia’s brother Nick bought a house in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York, the family moved there.  They were living there in 1930 according to the census records.  Anthony worked in a doll making factory in New York.  It was probably the Horsman Doll Company.  In 1933 Horsman was acquired by Regal Doll Company of Trenton, NJ and some of the manufacturing operation was moved to Trenton.  The family moved to Trenton when Anthony started working for Regal Doll.  Anthony is listed as a doll maker in the 1931 Trenton City Directory and living at 147 Cummings Ave.  It would seem that Anthony moved to Trenton by himself, at first, until he found a house and brought the family there.   In the 1933 Directory he is listed as living on Adeline Avenue, where the family finally settled.  Dante, their next child, was born in Trenton in August of 1933.  Then Esther Rose was born in 1936.

Mystery Photo Contest !!

 

Name the people in the photo and win an all expense paid trip to Salandra, Italy!   Whoa, whoa wait a minute…scrap that.  We don’t have any budget for trips to Italy.  As a matter of fact, I’m not sure how we would determine the winner anyway, since we don’t know the correct answer in the first place, so I guess we can’t really have a contest.  But we can sure have some fun.  Let me explain. 

My Aunt Millie (Ambruso Weimer) has all sorts of old family photos.  Her son Glen Weimer has digitalized most of them.  The photo above has created some disagreement concerning who the people are in the picture.  We thought it would be fun to have the family tell us who they think are in the photo.  Is the lady Silvia or Felicia or someone else?  Is the young girl Tessie or Rose or someone else?  When and where was the photograph taken?  Why is the young girl wearing a white dress?

Take a close look at the photo.  Tell us who you think the woman and the young girl are.  Use the comments section below to register your guess.  It's simple.  Just click on the word "comments" directly below this post.   Then use the drop down menu.  If you don’t have a Google or TypePad account, simply chose “anonymous”, but then don't forget to put your name in the text.  When you are finished typing your comment just click on "Publish".  Anyone can do this.  Go ahead, give it a try.  

 

Mancini Photos

I don't have a dignified wedding photo of Felicia and Lorenzo Mancini, so I decided to to go a completely different route, showing more of their personality.  The photo on the left appears to be Felicia joining son Rocco for a costumed event.  The photo on the right is my only photo of Lorenzo (Lawrence).  It is from a newspaper article in the Herald News that appeared two months before his death in December 1970.  The article focused on his self-taught artwork which he only picked up after retirement.

If you have additional photos of Felicia and Lawrence please post them here!  If you don't have the capability to digitize your photos, I would be happy to scan any family photos to preserve and share these treasures.  I've scanned boxes of my mom's old photos which I will continue to post.  Lastly, I would love to hear the story behind the photo in the left.  I'm hoping one of you can shine some light on this fun and quirky image.

Marriages & Families - Lawrence and Felicia Mancini

Felicia Ambruso and Lorenzo (Lawrence) Mancini were married at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church in Garfield in April, 1920.  Felicia, born in 1891, was the second daughter of Rocco and Pasquarosa.  Following Italian naming customs, she was named after her mother's mother, Felicia Isabella Cristalli.  In 1913, Felicia came to the USA with her brother Michael and sister Sylvia.  Lorenzo was born in 1893 in San Severo, a town in the Foggia Province of Italy.  He came to the USA in 1915 and taught himself how to read and write in English. 

Lawrence joined the US Army in 1918, near the end of WWI, and was automatically naturalized as a US citizen.  He was a bricklayer and stone mason, and built a simple but beautiful brick house at 74 Harrison Avenue in Garfield, just up the street from the Bonelli's. He also built a brick garage to match the house. Which is interesting, since he never owned a car.  House and garage still stand proudly to this day.  Lawrence was also an amateur artist and sculptor.  He painted many oil paintings and the fireplace he designed and built for his house is a unique work of art. 

Felicia was small in stature, but had enormous energy and zest for life.  She took pride in the cleanliness of her home.  Her granddaughter tells the story that she even washed the unfinished floorboards in the attic.

Felicia and Lawrence had two sons, Michael and Rocco, who both went on to have families of their own. 

Michael & Jenny Ambruso Family

Here are two photos of Michael Ambruso's family.  Left Photo: ca 1927 of Jenny and Michael with daughter Esther and son Roxy.  Right Photo:  ca. 1935 of Esther, Mildred and Roxy Ambruso.

Marriages & Families - Michael and Jennie Ambruso

Wedding photo of Michael Ambruso and Jennie Lammard - 1920

Michele Antonio (Mike) Ambruso married Vincenza (Jennie) Lammard (originally: Lammardo) at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church in Garfield in February 1920. The best man and bridesmaid were Lawrence Mancini and Felicia Ambruso, Mike's sister.  Lawrence and Felicia were engaged at the time and got married themselves two months later.  Michael and Jennie lived with Mary and Patsy Bonelli at 139 Harrison Avenue in Garfield for the first few years of their marriage.  Their first child, Esther Rose, was born in 1921, when they were still living there.  A few years later, they bought their own house at 586 Midland Avenue.  The house was built by Jennie’s father Antonio Lammardo.  Tony was a local entrepreneur who owned a convenience store.  He was also a construction contractor and a local fireman. 

Their first son was born in 1925.  By proper naming convention, he should have been named Rocco after his grandfather.  However, Jennie was very Americanized.  She preferred a less Italian-sounding name, so he was named Roxy.  Their next child was a girl born in 1931.  Sticking to convention, she was baptized Domenica in honor of Jennie’s mother; but she was always called “Millie”. 

Michael first worked at the woolen mill but was unemployed for most of the Great Depression.  The family had to sell the house on Midland Avenue and move to a rented apartment in Wallington, NJ.  Mike found a job as a laborer at Midwest Pipe Co. where he worked for over 25 years doing hard manual labor. Mike and Jennie remained in Wallington for the rest of their lives.

Bonelli Family Photo

Bonelli Family photo ca. 1940. [Back Row: Patsy & Maria (Ambruso) Bonelli, Rose (Bonelli) Melfi with baby (Mike?), Esther Ambruso (Casteline), Felicia (Ambruso) Mancini. Front Row: Rocky Bonelli, Tina (Ambruso) Angiulli, and Tessie Bonelli.].  

Marriages and Families – Patsy and Mary Bonelli

1907 Salandra Marriage Document for Pasquale Bonelli and Maria Giuseppa Ambruso

In this post and several to follow, I will talk about each individual child of Rocco Ambruso and Pasquarosa Corrado focusing on their spouses, their children and their early family life.  I will start with Maria Giuseppa (Mary) Ambruso and her husband Pasquale (Patsy) Bonelli.  If I have missed any important facts, or have said anything in error, I encourage you to use the comments section at the end of the post to add your two cents.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Patsy was born in Salandra in 1881 and came to America in 1902.  He headed to Garfield, NJ where jobs were plentiful in the textile mills.  He then returned to Salandra and married Mary Ambruso in October 1907. (see Marriage Document above) One year later, their first child Teresa (Tessie) was born.  By naming tradition, she was named after Patsy’s mother.  In 1909 Patsy came back to Garfield.  Mary and baby Tessie came a few months later.  At first, they lived with Patsy’s uncle Domenico and his family at 92 Westminster Place.  Within a few years, Patsy bought a new house at 139 Harrison Avenue, which became the center of Ambruso activity in America for many years. 

Mary’s nine brothers and sisters all came to America, and they all came to Garfield before settling in other places.  139 Harrison Avenue was a two family house.  Patsy and Mary lived upstairs, because it had a better view.  (In those days there were still empty lots in Garfield.)  At first, they had renters downstairs, but before long Ambruso’s were occupying the downstairs flat.  My grandfather told stories of home-made wine in the basement and bocce tournaments in the side yard on Sunday afternoons.

In January 1911 Patsy and Mary had a second child.  Her baptismal name was Rose Pasqua, honoring her maternal grandmother, Pasquarosa.   The next child was a boy born in July 1914. By naming convention, he should have been named Giovanni after Patsy’s father.  However, for some reason, he was named Rocco after Mary’s father.  Rose and Rocco were baptized at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church which was just 2 blocks away from where they lived.  Rose married Michael Melfi in 1937 and their family lived in the house at 139 Harrison Avenue for decades to follow. 

Sunday Family Dinners at Nick Ambruso's

This video clip is from an 8mm movie, shot by Roxy Ambruso ca. 1954 at Nick and Mary Ambruso's home in Queens, NY.  It was typical for the Ambruso brothers and sisters and their families to gather weekly for Sunday dinners in the early afternoon.  The various branches of the family would travel by car or bus from different parts of NY and NJ to Queens each week which forged family bonds out through the extended relations.  A makeshift banquet table on horses accommodated everyone in the basement where huge pots of pasta and sauce were lowered from the upstairs apartment on a dumbwaiter.

On this particular Sunday Nick, Mary, son Rocco, daughter Esther and sister Helen Ambruso were joined by Tina (Ambruso), husband Vincent Angiulli and young son Johnny; Justine (Ambruso), husband Tony Graziadei with daughters Isabella and Rose and Rose's husband Mark Trail; as well as Michael Ambruso, daughter Millie, son Roxy (mostly filming) and wife Eleanor.

This film was one of our favorites when I was growing up.  We found it hilariously funny to see the family emerge from basement bulkhead and paraded for the camera.  It enabled me to get a sense of relatives, many of whom I never actually got to meet.  I could tell this was a family that knew how to have fun and really enjoyed each other's company.  I can recall my mom narrating the film, saying things like "that was your Aunt Helen.  She never left the house, that was the only time I ever saw her outside".  Now in hindsight she thinks that Helen may possibly have been suffering from something like Chronic Fatigue, Crohn's Disease or the like, but in those days a lot of those conditions were unknown and uncommon.  Helen remained unmarried and lived with brother Nick her whole life — first in Garfield, NJ then Queens, as he eventually married and had a family.

The tradition of extended family dinners depicted here was likely a continuation of a custom carried over from Salandra.  It continued throughout my childhood, not every week but in holiday family gatherings which alternated among my mom's siblings.  I recall numerous additional gatherings especially those in my Aunt Esher (Ambruso) and Uncle John Casteline's basement in Wallington, NJ.  This tradition lives on today in the form of holiday get-togethers, reenforcing those extended family bonds for generations to come.

Editor's Note:  I dated this film ca. 1954 based on where it fell among other footage in Roxy and Eleanor's Home Movies as well as the apparent age of Johnny Angiulli and and others.  Music:  Percussion Storm by Manu Dibango.