1920 Ambruso Wedding Photograph

 

 

 

 

Isn’t this a great old photo?  Of course I’m a bit biased since it is the wedding photograph of my grandparents: Michael Ambruso (b. 1889, son of Rocco) and Vincenza “Jennie” Lammardo.  They were married in Mt. Virgin Church in Garfield, NJ on 15 Feb 1920.  The maid of honor was Michael’s sister, Felicia (front row, far left).  The best man was Felicia’s fiancé, Lorenzo Mancini (front row, far right).  They were married at Mt. Virgin Church two months later. 

I am almost certain that there is another Ambruso directly behind the bride.   It looks exactly like Michael Ambruso (b. 1891) son of Giuseppe, from Philadelphia.  He was the groom’s first cousin.  They grew up together as young boys in Salandra.  He traveled all the way to Garfield, NJ to be in his cousin’s wedding party.  I wonder how many other Ambruso’s from Philadelphia came with him for the wedding celebration.   Viva la familia!

If you have any old Ambruso wedding photos where you can identify Ambruso relatives, please send them to me via email (jmcast@rcn.com).  I'll be sure to post them.

 

 

Marriages & Families - Ottavia and Nicholas Sassano

Lucia Ottavia Francesca Ambruso was born in Salandra in 1903.  She came to America with her brother, sisters and mother in 1923 and went to the Bonelli house in Garfield, NJ.  She married Nicola (Nicholas) Sassano at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church in Garfield in July of 1925.  The church record mentions that they were also married in a civil ceremony about a month earlier.  Nicholas was born in Salandra in 1904, and came to the USA in 1920.  He must have known Ottavia from Salandra.  Nicholas was living in Queens, New York at the time, so they moved there after the wedding.  He worked as a cabinetmaker.  They never had any children.



Marriages & Families - John and Angelina Iula

 

Angelina Ambruso was born in Salandra in 1900.  She came to the United States with her brother Nick, three sisters and her mother in 1922.  She married John Iula at Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church in Garfield in September of 1925.  John was also from Salandra.  He was born there in 1897.  It is reasonable to believe that he knew Angelina in Salandra, since the village was so small.  John came to the United States in 1920, returned to Italy and then came back to the USA in 1924.  John was a tailor and was residing in Camden, NJ.  The Iula’s moved to Camden after they got married.  In 1926 they had a son named Frank after John’s father.  Then a daughter was born in 1928 who was named Angela after John’s mother.  In 1931, Angelina and John had a third child they named Esther after Angelina’s mother. 

Angelina died young in 1934.  John, now a widower, returned to Salandra and married a woman named Elena Pira.  She came to the United States in 1937, and had a child with John that they named Theresa. 

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.

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.

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. 

Garfield, NJ

The construction of the Dundee Dam on the Passaic River near Garfield, NJ in the 1860’s, provided water power to the growing number of textile factories that lined the river.  The Passaic/Garfield area became a major center for worsted and wool fabric production in the United States.  Companies such as Samuel Hird, New Jersey Worsted, Gera Mills and Forstmann Mills started in the first decade of the 20^th century.  These mills offered an abundance of work for common laborers with job titles such as mill hand, spinner, weaver, dyer, and twister.  The main industry was textiles, but there were also a few rubber mills and chemical factories. 

The plentiful job opportunities in these industrial plants drew unskilled immigrant laborers from European countries such as Hungary, Russia, Poland, Slovakia and Italy...especially Italy.  The Third Ward in Garfield, a wedge between Passaic St. and Midland Avenue, up to about Leonard St., was populated almost entirely by Italian immigrants in the early 1900’s.  Right in the middle of this wedge was Our Lady of Mount Virgin Roman Catholic Church a parish formed in 1903 to serve the growing number of Italian immigrants.  “Mount Virgin” or “de Monte Vergine” was the religious and cultural center of the Italian community in Garfield.  Nine of Rocco Vincenzo Ambruso’s ten children were married.  Five of them were married at Mt. Virgin.

In 1902, Pasquale Bonelli, a young shoemaker from Salandra, came to America.  Eventually, he went to live with his uncle Domenico in Garfield, NJ where there were lots of jobs in the booming textile factories.  He got a job as a spinner in one of the worsted mills.  He must have done well because he went back to Salandra, married Maria Giuseppa Ambruso, the oldest daughter of Rocco Ambruso, in 1907 and then came back to America in March 1909 and returned to a job in the worsted mills.  Later that year, in September 1909, Maria and their 11 month old daughter, Teresa, came to America.  Maria was the first of Rocco’s children to come to America. 

The 1910 U.S. Census shows Pasquale, Maria and little Teresa lived with his uncle Domenico on Westminster Place.  The same census shows that in 1910, Garfield was not a very big community.  There were only 10,213 residents.  Most of the houses were surrounded by empty lots, but new houses were being built rapidly.  Pasquale and Maria purchased a new house at 139 Harrison Ave., in the heart of the growing Italian neighborhood.  Patsy and Mary’s home on Harrison Ave. was to become an important part of Ambruso family history.  It became the United States destination and the original hub of activity for all the members of my grandfather’s branch of the Ambruso family in America.  We will talk more about activities at the Bonelli house on Harrison Avenue in future posts, so send me any stories or photos you might have.