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. 

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.

South Mildred Street, Philadelphia

A typical narrow alley street in Philadelphia's Little Italy circa 1900

South Milred Street, Philadelphia today

 

According to the US Census, in 1900, South Mildred Street was crowded with immigrants from southern Italy.   The census also showed that one house in particular was crowded with Ambruso’s.  Francesco (Frank) Ambruso and his wife Giovanna (Jannie); Francesco’s son Michael and his wife Caterina (Kate) and their 3 month old baby, Frank, named after his grandfather; and Francesco’s second son, Leonardo with his new wife Mary, all lived in the tiny house at 712 South Mildred Street.   Just a few years later, Michael and his growing family moved next door to 710 S. Mildred.  Leonardo and Mary also moved next door, but in the other direction, to 714 S. Mildred.  And in 1912, a widow by the name of Angelina Ambruso (possibly Frank’s sister) was living at 713 S. Mildred Street.

South Mildred Street was designed before the automobile.  It was only wide enough for one cart to pass, with a small sidewalk on each side.  Today it is not wide enough to drive a vehicle through without having one wheel up on the pavement (see photo above).  It is called a street, but it is little more than an alley.  The houses haven’t changed much the last 130 years.  They are all constructed of brick, three stories with a basement, and are very narrow (only 18 to 20 feet wide) with a common wall between them.  It turns out South Mildred Street was typical of side streets in that section of Philadelphia in the late 1800’s.  Several other streets in the vicinity such as Schell St., Kenilworth, Kater and Bradford Alley all had, and still have a similar appearance.  The historic photo above could be any one of these streets.  They were all home to southern Italians who converged on Philadelphia in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

During the Ellis Island years, when passengers boarded the ship for their journey to America, they had to give the name and address of the person they were going to in the United States.  Giuseppe Ambruso and his two sons listed Francesco at 712 Mildred Street Philadelphia.  Nephews such as Michele Ambruso, who eventually settled in Hartford, CT and Domenico Daria, Ana Maria’s son, and probably several others, yet to be identified nephews, also used their Uncle Francesco’s address in Philadelphia as their official destination in America.  Tiny street…tiny house…important destination.

Around 1914, Michael and Kate bought the building at the corner of South Mildred and Bainbridge, about 100 feet up the street, and opened a grocery store.  After Michael died, Kate moved back to 712 S. Mildred St. after she had it renovated.  After Kate died, her daughter’s family moved in.  They lived there until 1996.  There were Ambruso’s living at 712 South Mildred Street in Philadelphia for 100 years.



Philadelphia...Finally!

In presenting the history of the Ambruso Family on this blog, I started with my own branch, the descendants of Rocco Vincenzo Ambruso who settled in the northern New Jersey-New York City area.  Old Rocco had 10 children, so it took a long time for me to get through the family.  It is now time to move on to the Philadelphia Ambruso’s.  As I said previously, two of the sons of Michelarcangelo Ambruso settled in Philadelphia.  Both branches have rich histories and interesting stories, all of which contributed to the wonderful Italian culture of South Philly that exists today. 

Francesco Domenico Ambruso was the oldest son of Michelarcangelo Ambruso and Maria Giuseppa Iula.  He was born in Salandra in 1845.  He was the first Salandra Ambruso to come to America.  He came in the early 1880’s.  It is believed that his wife and three children followed in the mid 1880's.  They came through New York City, but settled in Philadelphia. 

Francesco was one of over 100,000 Italians who made their way to Philadelphia between 1980 and 1930.  During that short period of time, the Italian population of the city grew from under 25,000 to well over 150,000.  A report by the Italian Commission on Emigration says that over 75% of the Italians who were living in Philadelphia in 1901 were from four regions in southern Italy:  Abruzzi, Calabria, Campania and Basilicata.  Ward 4, just south of South Street was the center of Italian immigration from about 1885 to 1910.  Eventually, Italian immigrants spread further south and west to the familiar South Philly Italian neighborhoods we know today.  But in period betwee 1890 and 1900, the Italian immigrant population of Philadelphia was centered in the neighborhood between 6^th and 10^th Streets on the east and west; and Bainbridge and Washington Streets on the north and south.  This is where Francesco lived. 

Francesco’s two sons Michele and Leonardo came to Philadelphia around 1885 with their mother and sister.  In 1898, Michele (Michael) married Caterina DiBiase in Philadelphia.  The next year, his brother Leonardo married Maria Isabella Gentile.  All three families lived on a narrow alley named South Mildred Street.  Like Harrison Avenue in Garfield, NJ, “Uncle Frank’s house” on Mildred Street was to become the destination for all the Salandra Ambruso’s coming to Philadelphia and elsewhere in America.

In October of 1900, Francesco’s brother Giuseppe Maria Ambruso came to the United Stated from Salandra with his two grown sons, Michele and Eugenio.  They stated on the ship’s manifest that they were going to Uncle Francesco’s house on Mildred St. in Philadelphia.  Giuseppe and his family started the second branch of the Ambruso clan from Salandra to settle in America.

In subsequent postings, I will present all the information I have on both Philadelphia branches of the Ambruso Family. I will start with posts on Francesco’s branch, and then move to Giuseppe’s branch.  This is an invitation for all descendants of both Philadelphia branches to send me any facts and stories you have on your Ambruso ancestors.  Now is the time to speak up.  All of us will appreciate your stories and family memories.

Children of Michelarcangelo and Maria Giuseppa

Michelarcangelo Ambruso and Maria Giuseppa Iula had six children.  Information on these children was compiled by searching microfilm town records from Salandra available through the Latter Day Saints genealogy library, and through written request directly to the town clerk in Salandra.

Francesco Domenico was the first son.  He was born in Salandra in 1845; two years after MIchele and Maria were married.  As was the custom in those days, he was named after Michele’s father, who was also named Francesco Domenico.  Francesco married Giovanna Maria Garaguso in Salandra in 1870.  Francesco, later called Frank, was the first Salandra Ambruso to come to America.  He and Giovanna, later called Jeanie or Jennie, came to America and settled in Philadelphia.  Giovanna gave birth to 9 children, but only three grew to adulthood.  Descendants of Frank and Jennie still live in the Philadelphia area today.

Records show that Michele and Maria then had a son named Michele with no middle name.  Michele Ambruso was born in Salandra in 1847.  He married Antonia Maria Lauria in 1872.  Michele had three daughters and one son.  It is not clear whether Michele ever came to the United States.  It is very unusual that this second son was named after his father and not his mother's father, as would be the naming convention at the time.  Maria's father's name was Francesco Antonio.  Perhaps they were just trying to avoid confusion since they couldn't name both sons Francesco.  But why not name him Antonio?  Did it have something to do with possible bad relations with Maria's father?  We will probably never know.

We don't know if Michele's daughters came to America, but his son, also named Michele, did come to America and settled in the Hartford area.

Michelarcangelo and Maria Giuseppa then had two daughters: Angela Maria (b:1850) and Anna Maria (b:1853), named for their grandmothers, but for some reason, in reverse order of the common naming convention (?).  Angela married Donatantonio Notarfrancesco (How’s that for a name?) in Salandra in 1870, and Anna married Francesco Daria in Salandra in 1878.  We have no indications that they ever came to the United States. 

The next child was Giuseppe Maria.  He was born in 1855.  He married Maria Giuseppa DiDeo in Salandra in 1883.  He followed his older brother to Philadelphia and all of his six children and most of their children settled in the greater Philadelphia area.

Rocco Vincenzo was the youngest child of Michele and Maria.  He was born in 1858.  He married Pasquarosa Corrado in Salandra in 1885.  They had 10 children.  They settled in New Jersey and the New York City area.

Immigration

Francesco Domenico Ambruso was the oldest son of Michelarcangelo and Maria.  He was the first Salandra Ambruso to leave his roots and venture into the new experience of America.  The date and details of his arrival are not exactly clear.  In both the 1900 and 1910 Federal Censuses he says he came in 1881.  The New York Passenger Lists have a Fsc Ambruso, born in 1846, arriving in 1882; and a Fsco Ambruso, born in 1849, arriving in 1883. Either one of these could be Francesco Domenico. 

He came by ship to New York, and was processed through the Castle Garden immigration facility at the southern tip of Manhattan Island.  Castle Garden was the precursor to Ellis Island which started operation in 1892.  For some reason, Francesco settled in Philadelphia.  It was not because of any abundance of jobs in Philadelphia since his occupation as listed in the 1907 and 1908 Philadelphia City Directory was “rags”.  He probably settled in Philadelphia because there were other Italian immigrants, friends and relatives from Salandra that he knew by name, who were already there.

Francesco’s grown children Michele, Leonardo and Felicia followed him to Philadelphia in about 1885.  Then Francesco’s brother Giuseppe came in 1900, with his two sons, Michele and Eugenio.  They also went to Philadelphia. 

All the other Ambruso’s from Salandra came through Ellis Island between 1909 and 1923.  My own grandfather Michael Anthony Ambruso came with his two sisters, Felicia and Silvia in 1913.  Their voyage took 13 days.  They came on the S.S. Cleveland, a large steam ship built in 1909 specifically for immigration.  (See a photo of the ship below.)  The Cleveland held 2,841 passengers, 2,378 of which were steerage or third class.   When they got to New York, the Statue of Liberty on the right hand side of the ship must have been a wonderful sight.   But what really must have overwhelmed them was the sight on the left hand side of the ship: a city of giant buildings, some over 30 stories high.  Keep in mind that they all came from a small village.  Before this point in their lives, the tallest building they ever saw was probably less than 5 stories high in Naples, from where they departed just two weeks before.




S.S. Cleveland brought Michael, Felicia and Silvia to America in 1913