In the 1900 census, the John Coffarelli family lived at 75 Fifth Street. The household included head of house John (your great grandfather) who lists himself as a laborer, his wife Rosa and children Margaret (the eldest and only born in Italy); Mary, Elizabeth, Theresa, Lena, Joseph, Phillip, Lucy and Samuel (your grandfather whom we know as James).
In the 1910 census, the same Coffarelli family lived at the same address but by now Rosa had died and the household included: John, Elizabeth, Tessie, Lena, Joseph, Phillip, Louise, Samuel, Nicholas (father to John so your great great grandfather) and cousin Michael Pinto.
I had become obsessed with tracking down your grandfather James' siblings so as to demonstrate that indeed there were (and are) lots of Coffarellis out there for you to meet. In some ways this was no small task given what this family seemed to do with first names by changing them seemingly at will. But I did pretty well.
Going up the line from James youngest to oldest, I found that Louise married Michael Barra and I met her grandson. Phillip apparently never married. Joseph married but had no children. Lena married Anthony Fierro and I do believe there are children in this family. Tessie became a nun. Elizabeth apparently never married and was known as Christine when she died. Mary (who was not in the house in 1910) had married John Orabell and had at least one child who died nearly at birth. But I was having a really hard time with the oldest Margaret.
From James' newspaper obituary I knew that Margaret was Mrs. M. Disabto. A great deal of fruitless searching for her left me frustrated but even more determined. Online I located a Disabto family Marco and Innocence and the family tree listed Innocence as Innocence Coffarelli before marriage. When I tracked that family down, I found them living at 75 Fifth Avenue IN THE SAME HOUSE as John and the remaining siblings. Look carefully at the census record and there they are right below cousin Michael Pinto.
I had overlooked that this family was living in the same house. Most maddeningly I had recognized the Disabto name and figured this was how Margaret met her husband because the families were neighbors. Duh. They ARE the family. Margaret is apparently Innocence. I sent away for the two oldest of her children's birth records. They each list a Coffarelli for the mother's maiden name but not quite the same first names: Innocentia and Enogensia--I figure that's close enough to feel comfortable in saying this Disabto family are your Coffarellis. And they were right there all the time!!! Right under my nose just waiting to be recognized.
Innocence/Margaret was Marco/Mark's second wife and it appears he died around 1923. She may have died around 1955 but this isn't confirmed yet.
This family was pretty loosey-goosey with first names it seems. It wasn't until I got the bigger picture that I realized that and can now make it part of my research strategy. I feel like I've gathered up all those siblings and got them accounted for nicely. There you go! A whole bunch of new cousins for you to consider. And they are right here in front of us just waiting to be recognized.
I remember all those last names in Mom's address book. I would get the mail for her sometimes and help open the Christmas cards and say, who is this? I haven't heard Pinto in a long time.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting that they changed first names at will. I would wonder what occured to change a name like Marguerite to Innocence? What would YOUR new name be, if you could change it? I would have to think about that for awhile...
ReplyDelete