A Visit To Salandra

 

Philip Corrigan and his sons

Ambruso cousin, Philip Corrigan, is in the U.S. Military and stationed in Italy.  He and his wife and three young sons live in Naples.  They have been there for about a year, and now that the pandemic has subsided somewhat in Italy, they decided to take a family road trip to Matera, with a stop in Salandra along the way.  Salandra is the ancestral home of four branches of the Ambruso family that came to America.  

 

Salandra, Matera, Basilicata, Italy

Philip's grandfather was Rocco Bonelli, who was the son of Maria Ambruso and Pasquale "Patsy" Bonelli from Garfield, NJ.  Maria was the oldest child of Rocco Ambruso and Pasquarosa Corrado.  She married Pasquale in Salandra and was the first of her family to come to America with Pasquale.

He sent me the pictures I have included with this post.   I'll let him describe the experience in his own words:

"The town is a hill town and the hills are all sand colored at this time of year since all of the grass is burnt out. It almost reminds me of Texas. My kids thought it looked like a desert. The road to get up to the town was an adventure - classic windy Italian road with room for 1.5 cars. We only stayed in the town a few minutes - had time to grab a frozen lemonade and take some pictures.  I think the American family in the big car walking around during riposo was quite the novelty for some of the locals."

Church of St. Rocco

Philip also sent a photo of the World War 1 memorial plaque showing the names of the local war dead.  No "Ambruso", but one "Bonelli". 

 
It is interesting to think that one family from this sleepy little Italian mountain village has multiplied into hundreds of descendants, from all walks of life, here in America.

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.