The Other Ambruso Family in Philadelphia

For the last month I have been posting articles about the family of Francesco Domenico “Frank” Ambruso.  It’s time to move on to the other branch of the Ambruso family that also settled in Philadelphia. 

 

Between 1845 and 1858, Michelarcangelo Ambruso and Maria Giuseppa Iula had four sons and two daughters, all born in Salandra, Italy.  Two of those six children came to America and settled in Philadelphia.  As we learned previously, Francesco was the first son to emigrate.   He came over in about 1881.  By 1900 he was fully settled in Philadelphia.  His three children were grown and newly married, and he even had a grandson born in the USA.  By that time he was already a naturalized US citizen and was going by the name “Frank”. 

 

In that same year, Frank’s younger brother Giuseppe decided to follow his older brother and venture into the New World.  Frank may have sent him a letter urging his brother to join him in Philadelphia.  Giuseppe arrived at Ellis Island on October 17^th 1900, on the S.S. Alsatia, with his sons Michele (age 9) and Eugenio (age 7).  On the ship’s passenger manifest it says that he was headed to his brother Francesco’s house at 714 South Mildred Street in Philadelphia.  

 

Ship's Passenger Manifest  from the S.S. California showing Maria Giuseppa Di Dio Ambruso
arriving with her three children at Ellis Island on May 22, 1901

Seven months later, in May of 1901, Giuseppe’s wife Maria arrived at Ellis Island on the S.S. California, with three children:  Maria (age 6), Adelina (age 4) and Francesco (11 months).  There were a few other people from Salandra making the voyage with them and listed on same page of the ship’s manifest.  I’m sure they helped this young mother with her three small children traveling without her husband.  The next line below them on the manifest was Nicola Puzitiello, a 31 year old married man from Salandra who was going to his relative at (would you believe) 810 Bainbridge Street in Philadelphia, just around the corner from South Mildred Street.  He probably accompanied Maria and the children on their train journey from New York City to Philadelphia.

If you look at the far right side of the manifest shown above, you will notice that Maria listed that she and the children were going to her husband at 723 South Mildred Street.  So it seems that in just a few months, her husband, Giuseppe, already had a home ready for the family, just up the street from his brother Frank.  Giuseppe and Maria eventually had three more children who were born in Philadelphia, making eight children in all.  Most of the descendants of these children stayed in the Philadelphia area, southern New Jersey and northern Delaware.  There are probably over fifty direct descendants of Giuseppe and Maria alive today. 

Angelina's Grave - Connecting the Families

Angelina Iula (1899-1934)
Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon, PA

All the wonderful photos of Francesco Ambruso’s family that I have been posting were provided by his great grandson Michael, who today just happens to be living only blocks away from the old family homestead on South Mildred Street in Philadelphia.  He also sent me a number of photos of family graves stones which gave important dates and clarified family relationships.  The photos were all taken in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, PA, just west of the Philadelphia city line, where most of Francesco’s family were buried.  The photo to the right was included with the others.  Michael’s note said it was some Ambruso relative, but he wasn’t sure who it was.  When I saw the name and dates, I immediately knew who it was.  It was Angelina, my grandfather’s sister!  She was married to John Iula and lived in Camden, NJ.  But why was she buried in a cemetery in the western outskirts of Philadelphia, so far away from Camden? 

Michael told me what he knew.  It seems that Angelina’s husband couldn’t afford a burial plot, so Leonardo “John” Ambruso, gave him his own burial plot to bury Angelina, who was his first cousin, and then later bought a new plot for himself.  He also provided the grave stone.  That all made sense.  It was 1934, in the middle of the Great Depression.  Angelina died young and unexpectedly.  They probably did not have a burial plot or the money to pay for one.  Leonardo was probably doing OK financially.  His act of kindness showed how closely the two branches of the family were connected at that time.  It also explains why my grandfather would have traveled by train from northern New Jersey to Philadelphia to attend Leonardo’s funeral. 

Leonardo's Funeral Holy Picture

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Back

 

My grandfather Michael Anthony Ambruso passed away in October of 1976.  Since I was the oldest grandchild, I helped go through his belongings and papers.  I kept a few mementos like his pocket prayer book in Italian, an old riding spur, and some personal papers.  Among those papers was a holy picture, a memorial card given out at a funeral.  The funeral director had a South Philadelphia address, and the name and date on the card was: Leonardo Ambruso, died February 28, 1948.  At the time, I had no idea who Leonardo was.  I put the holy picture in a file and forgot about it.  Little did I know at the time how important this little card would be in my genealogical research linking the Ambruso families.

I knew my grandfather had relatives in Philadelphia, but I didn’t know whether these were distant relations or first cousins.  I also knew that he made trips there when he was younger.  But I don’t remember him ever making a trip to Philadelphia in the last 20 years of his life.  Yet this card in his bureau drawer must have meant that he attended the funeral in 1948, so Leonardo must have been a close relative, probably a first cousin. 

 

Unlike the name Michael, Leonardo is not a very common Italian name.  To a genealogist, the more unusual the name; the easier the search.  This search proved to be easier than most.  Using Ancestry.com, Family Search.org (the Church of Latter Day Saints genealogical database), and a letter to the town clerk in Salandra.  I managed to connect the families.  Leonardo was indeed my grandfather’s first cousin.

 

Without that one little holy picture, I would probably still be trying to make a connection.  Funny, how important such a little thing can be.

"Buon Consiglio" - Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish





As the above marriage certificate shows, Leonardo Ambruso (misspelled) married Isabella Gentile on 15 May 1899 at Parrochia Italliana di N. S. del Boun Consiglio (the Italian Parish of Our Lady of Good Counsel).  This was a parish created specifically for the growing number of southern Italian immigrants who were flocking into South Philadelphia in the 1890’s.  Actually, they already had one Italian parish, St. Mary Magdalen de Pazzi, founded by Bishop John Neumann in 1852.   St. Mary was originally created to meet the spiritual needs of Philadelphia’s early Italian immigrant community within the Irish-dominated archdiocese, but its parishioners were mostly immigrants from northern Italy.  It was east of where the new Little Italy was forming with mostly southern Italians.  So, in 1898, Our Lady of Good Counsel parish was founded.  This parish, known locally as “Buon Consiglio”, became the religious center of the Italian community.  The important events of their lives (baptisms, First Holy Communion, confirmation, weddings and funerals) all took place at this church.  Statues of saints, novenas, outdoor festas and processions were all part of their religious devotion at Buon Consiglio.
  
The cornerstone of Buon Consiglio church was laid in May 1899, the same month that Leonardo and Isabella were married.  The church was just three blocks from where the Ambruso’s lived on South Mildred Street.  Notice on the marriage certificate above, that the female witness (matron of honor) was Michael Ambruso’s new wife Caterina (Di)Biase. 

Our Lady of Good Counsel Church

In 1930, just 42 years after it was started, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced that it was eliminating Our Lady of Good Counsel parish.  It cited perpetual financial woes, old and inadequate facilities and a shrinking congregation as factors.  By this time Philadelphia’s Little Italy was moving further south and west.  The cardinal grossly underestimated the parish’s importance to the community of poor and working class Italians it served, and their fierce loyalty to their little church.  On May 3, 1930, three thousand people assembled in front of the church for an all night vigil that escalated into a full-scale protest.  Parishioners physically prevented the pastor from leaving the building and barricaded another priest inside the church.  Do you think any of our Ambruso ancestors may have been part of the protest?  The parishioners petitioned Rome, but the archdiocese and its lawyers won and the church was boarded-up.  The parish was finally dissolved in 1937 and the church, the symbol of faith and center of worship for thousands of Italian Americans, was torn down.

Leonardo "John" Ambruso

Leonadro "John" Ambruso

Leonardo Ambruso was born in Salandra in September 1876.  He was the youngest surviving child of Francesco and Giovanna.  He came to America with his mother, his brother Michele, and sister Felicia around 1885.  He was about 9 years old when he made the journey.  His birth name was Leonardo, but for some unknown reason, in America he was called “John” by almost everyone.  In census records and city directories he is listed by either name. 

In May 1899, in Philadelphia, he married Maria Isabella Gentile a woman from Accettura, Basilicata, a small mountaintop village only a few miles west of Salandra.  Leonardo and Isabella never had any children of their own, but they “took in” two orphaned Gallo girls, Elizabeth and Marie, and raised them as if they were their own.  They all lived at first on South Mildred Street, and then moved half a block up the street to the corner at 814 Bainbridge.  His brother Michael and his family lived on the opposite corner. 

Leonardo started working as a common unskilled laborer, then a rag collector.  Starting about 1913, the City Directory lists his occupation as cigar seller.  In 1925 he is listed as an interpreter.  By 1930 he was a ward leader and fully involved in the Republican Party of Philadelphia.  By all indications (including the photo above) Leonardo “John” was a very successful person.  He died in 1948.  Watch for more on Leonardo in the next few posted articles.

Marriages & Families – Felicia Ambruso and Angelo Antonio Frumento

Felicia Ambruso Frumento with husband A. Antonio Frumento and son Frank (circa 1900)

Felicia Ambruso was born in Salandra to Francesco Domenico Ambruso and Giovanna Maria Garaguso. She came to the United States with her mother and two brothers around 1885.  In the 1910 census she said she was 32 years old (born: 1878).  In the 1920 census she said she was 45 years old (born: 1875). The Philadelphia Marriage Index says she married Angelo Antonio Frumento in 1889.  This date is accurate.  However, in my research experience I have found that wives sometimes were known to shave a few years off their age when responding to census takers.  In any case, it would seem that she married at a very young age. 

Antonio was a barber.  He and Felicia lived on South Street and then on Bainbridge, but nowhere near the Little Italy section of South Philly.  The censuses show that they were the only Italian-born people living in their neighborhood. 

According to the census records, Felicia bore 3 children, but only one survived.  Frank Anthony Frumento was born in February of 1893.  Notice the proud family in the photo above.  Young Frank is dressed and posed exactly like his father.  Frank married and had three sons and one daughter.  There are many descendants of Felicia and Antonio around today.  Felicia died in 1928 and Antonio died in 1929 of diabetes.  Like many other Italian-American men, he was a member of the Order of the Sons of Italy in America, so his son received $400 in death benefits when he died. 

Marriages & Families – Michael and Catherine Ambruso

Engagement Photo
Michael and Catherine  (1897)

Michele (Michael) Ambruso was born in Salandra in 1874.  He was the first son of Francesco and Giovanna so he was named after his paternal grandfather.  So were three of his first cousins, one of which was my grandfather.  All four Michael’s traveled to the United States and settled there.  (See my blog article from May 10, 2013 entitled: “the Four Michaels”.)  According to U.S. Census records, Michael came to America with his mother, sister and younger brother in about 1885, although the actual ships’ passenger manifest is yet to be found. 

He lived with his parents at 712 South Mildred Street in Philadelphia.  He married Caterina Di Biase in Philadelphia in 1898.  On the 1900 census she gave her name as “Kate".  Michael and Catherine had a large family.  They had ten children, nine of which lived to adulthood.  The list of their children with their year of birth is as follows:  Francis “Frank” 1900, Victor “David” 1902, Leonardo “Leonard” 1904 (died 1907), Vincenzo “James” 1906, Mary Jane 1908, Leonard 1910, Frances 1912, Salvadore 1914, Carmela 1915, Michael Victor 1917.  According to the latest count, there are 45 direct descendants of Michael and Catherine alive today.

About 1917, Michael bought the property at 812 Bainbridge St. which was just up the street at the corner of South Mildred and Bainbridge, and opened a grocery store.  Michael was a grocer at that location for the rest of his life. 


“Life in the Slums” – Little Italy, Philadelphia 1893



What was everyday life like for the Ambruso ancestors in the Italian neighborhood of South Philadelphia in the 1890’s?  The following is from an 1893 Philadelphia newspaper article entitled “Life in the Slums”.  The writer had a somewhat prejudicial viewpoint regarding immigrants, which was probably typical for many people at that time:

“In these days, when the question of the restriction of immigration has come to be one of Federal legislation, a visit to the slums of Philadelphia should be sufficient to convince the Congressional investigators that some restrictive measures against the coming of the foreign hordes, who are now pouring into the land, should be enacted. The first quarter generally inspected on entering the slums is the unsavory district known as ‘Little Italy’.” 

“Within ‘Little Italy’ there reside no less than 25,000 persons.  The heart of ‘Little Italy’ is that part of the quarter comprising the purlieus of Carpenter and Spafford (today, South Marshall) Streets, Gatiny’s ‘avenue’ and the courts and alleys radiating from these localities.  There, Italian immigrant life is found at its best and worst.  There are some thoroughfares in this locality which are wholly given over to its occupancy.  The dwellings in these streets are small, a house of four or five rooms being regarded as good sized, yet a whole family will occupy one room and perhaps have several boarders.  A bed in one corner, a stove in another, a chest, a few chairs and a few bits of crockery compose the furniture.” 

“Table cloths and carpets are unknown.  The table upon which the family dines is bare and dark with use, possibly a bit of oil cloth is tacked over it to serve in lieu of linen.  Perhaps there are not enough chairs to go around and the junior members of the family take their meals standing.  Life in those apartments is bad enough in hot weather, when every door and window is left open, but it is even worse in the winter when all the stenches and disease-bearing germs are retained in the room for want of proper ventilation. “

“As soon as the immigrant lands in Philadelphia, he is found employment by his ‘padrone’, and at the first break of day in the new land he sets forth to earn his dollar.  Whether as a laborer, rag picker, organ grinder or vendor, he must work.  … Over 75 per cent of the men are laborers and the remaining 25 per cent are in business for themselves. … Small grocery stores, meat shops, street stands and other insignificant retail establishments kept by these people are to be found on every street in the colony.  They are crowded with customers whose heads almost touch the rows of moldy bologna links, strings of garlic and slabs of bacon which decorate the low ceiling, while all around the room are odd looking boxes with foreign freight and trade marks on them, piles of queer looking cheeses, blue papers full of macaroni, and jars of fruit from Tuscany and the valleys of Savoy. “  (Isn’t it ironic that this could be the description of an upscale gourmet Italian food store of today.)

“In low shops and vile cellars where it would seem no human being could survive men and boys are repairing shoes, tailors mending and making garments, women and children sorting rags from great heaps that litter the floor and mounted half way to the ceiling.”

This original newspaper article was very lengthy, much longer than what I have transcribed here, with much more detail of the filth and squalor.   But don’t think the writer was only picking on Italian immigrants.  He was equally hard, if not harder, on the Poles, Russians and “Hebrews”.  He uses words such as:  “unwholesome…degradation, filth and immorality” to describe the Poles and Russians, and says that they are not as “light-hearted and sunny in their disposition as the Italians.”

Francesco Domenico Ambruso and Giovanna Maria Garaguso

The "Atto della celebrazione del Matrinonio" document from Salandra, dated 1870, for Francesco Domenico Ambruso and Giovanna Maria Garaguso.

Francesco Domenico Ambruso was born in Salandra in May 1845.  He married Giovanna Maria  Garaguso in Salandra in 1870 (see Marriage Document above).  Francesco was the first son of Michelarcangelo Ambruso and Maria Giuseppa Iula.  He was a true “pioneer” since he was the first Ambruso from Salandra to come to America.  The records are sketchy, but it seems that he came in 1881, and then Giovanna and the children came about 1885, according to the information they provided to the U.S. Census takers.  They proably came through New York City, but settled in the Italian section of Philadelphia.  They almost certainly had friends or relatives from Salandra already living in South Philadelphia at the time. 

As any genealogist knows, census records can contain some inaccuracies.  I picture the census taker with a large book, standing at the front door asking questions and entering data in script with an ink pen.  He is probably there during the day when the man of the house is out working, so he is speaking to the wife, who in the case of many immigrant families, does not speak very good English.  The ages and dates are always questionable, but the given names written down are usually the name by which that person was commonly called.  In the 1900 U.S. Census at 712 S. Mildred Street in Philadelphia, Francesco was called “Frank”, and Giovanna was called “Jennie”.  The same census says that Frank was already a naturalized US citizen.  Sadly, it also says that Jennie had nine children, but only three were still alive. 

Many Italian immigrants of the period went back and forth between the USA and Italy.  They seemed to miss the old country and their families.  This was certainly not true for Frank.  He planted his roots in the new country and never left.  In the 1900 Philadelphia City Directory, his occupation is listed as laborer.  In subsequent City Directories his occupation is listed as “rags”.  He had a humble beginning in America, but his great grandson tells us that he eventually owned several properties in the area. 

The censuses indicate that Frank and Jennie’s three children, Felicia, Michele and Leonardo, came to America with their mother in the mid 1880’s.  Buy 1899 they were all married to Italian immigrants and living in Philadelphia. I will talk about them in articles to follow.