Family of Michele Ambruso (b. 1847) and Antonia Maria Lauria

1872 Salandra Marriage Document
 for Michele Ambruso and Antonia Maria Lauria.
Difficult to read because of the old script and the slightly out of focus microfilm.
(click on photo to enlarge)

Michele Ambruso was the second son of Michelarcangelo Ambruso and Maria Giuseppa Iula.  He was born in Salandra in 1847.  He married Antonia Maria Lauria in Salandra in May 1872.  They had five children.  The first child, a girl named Maria Giuseppa after her maternal grandmother, was born in April 1874.  She married Rocco Querrieri in 1891, and then, later on in life in 1919 after Rocco passed away, she married Leonardo Gagliardi.

The second child was born in 1880.  Following naming customs, she was named Angela Maria after her maternal grandmother.  She married Nicola Castellano in 1896.  The third child was also a girl, born in 1887.  She was named Rosa Maria.  Rosa married Rocco Belmonte in May of 1903.  There is no indication that any of the daughters of Michele and Antonia, or their husbands, ever came to the United States. 

The fourth child was a boy, their first son.  He was born on 31 Aug 1890. They named him Michele after his paternal grandfather.  For some unknown reason, as I mentioned in the previous post, Michele was also the name of his father.  Michele (b. 1890) married Angela Maria Onorati in Salandra in 1872.  Michele and Angela and their family came to the United States and settled in Hartford, Connecticut. 

Michele (b. 1847) and Antonia had a fifth child, Domenico, in 1893.  Domenico married Rosaria Albanese in 1913, and later married Margherita Saponara in November 1919.  Michele died in Salandra in 1909.

Michele, son of Michele, son of Michelarcangelo

In Salandra, in 1847, Maria Giuseppa Iula, wife of Michelarcangelo Ambruso, gave birth to their second child.  Their first child, a boy was named Francesco Domenico after Michelarcangelo’s father.  This second child was also a boy, the second son.  By the naming customs of the time (see my post dated May 17, 2013), this second son should have been named after his mother’s father.  Maria’s father’s name was Francescantonio, but they couldn’t name the child Francesco.  They already had a Francesco.  They could have named him Antonio, but for some unknown reason which we will never know, they named him Michele, the same name as his father.
 
The naming customs in Basilicata at that time were normally followed very strictly.  As a matter of fact, in later years after Italy was unified, it was against the law to name a child after his father, because of possible confusion of records.  In any case, the second son of Michelarcangelo and Maria Giuseppe was named Michele, with no middle name.  This has been verified by record extracts directly from the town clerk in Salandra.

This Michele Ambruso (b. 1847) had a first son who was born in Salandra in 1890.  Unlike his father, he did follow the naming customs and named this first son Michele, which was the name of his grandfather …but also the name of his father.   But guess what, that Michele (b. 1890) named his first son Antonio, the name his father’s father should have had, the “second” name of his great grandfather Francesantonio Iula. 

Michele Ambruso born in Salandra in 1890 was one of "the four Michaels" I talked about in an earlier post (see my post dated May 10, 2013).  He and his family eventually settled in Hartford Connecticut.  To avoid confusion with the other Michael’s, I have labeled him “Hartford Mike”.   We will talk more about Harford Mike and his family in the next few postings. 

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. 

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.

The Four Michaels

From my research I have found that Michelarcangelo Ambruso and Maria Giuseppa Iula were not originally from Salandra.  Actually they both grew up in the nearby village of Laurenzana where they were married in 1843.  For some reason, shortly after they were married, they moved to Salandra which is about 18 miles away.  From examining records from Salandra, I can safely say that their family was the only Ambruso family living in Salandra during the second half of the 19^th century.  All the Ambruso’s from Salandra were descendants of Michelarcangelo and Maria.

Over the course of 13 years, they had four sons and two daughters: Francesco Domenico, Michele, Angela, Anna Maria, Giuseppe Maria, and Rocco Vincenzo.  As would be expected, they followed the naming customs of the time, so the first son of each son of Michelarcangelo was named Michele.  (More on naming customs in a future post.)  These first sons were all named after their grandfather. There were four grandsons named Michele and all four of them came to America, forming four separate branches of the Ambruso family in the United States.  One branch settled in Harford, CT; one in northern NJ and New York City, and two branches settled in the Philadelphia. 

On this blog we will talk about all four of these family lines and invite stories and comments from members of all four clans.

There were many other people with the Ambruso surname who also came to America.  Nearly all were from other nearby villages in Basilicata.  Most were from Laurenzana, but a few Ambruso’s also came from villages such as Grassano, Ferrandino, Stigliano, and San Mauro Forte.  On this blog we will only cover the history of the Ambruso families from Salandra, the descendants of Michelarcangelo and Maria Giuseppa. 

J.M.C.