Pasquale Ursino -- Pedigree and Family Members

Pasquale Ursino from Catania, Sicily

During the Thanksgiving break, I was able to research my Sicilian family history and fill in more dates, and add more people to my great-grandfather's family group.

So far I have found that my great-grandfather had nine brothers and sisters.  He was also married twice and had at least two children with his first wife and at least five with his second wife.  He ended his years with my great-grandmother who he was unable to marry because she was not allowed to obtain a divorce from her husband.  My great-grandparents had four children together, and one can see they gave their children the surname belonging to my great-grandmother's husband in order to make them "legitimate" (see picture of immediate family below).  This was a secret my grandmother guarded very carefully for many years -- Sicilian society was very strict in her day.  My great-grandmother had also had four children (one died young) with her husband before living with my great-grandfather.

Overall, my great-grandfather had several children that died young.  In fact, I was quite sad to see he lost three children with his second wife and that they had died 1-3 years after birth.  He had also lost one child with his first wife.  Also sad was the loss of his first wife -- she was only 27 years old.  I was not able to learn the cause of her death.

I also learned that before marrying his first wife, my great-grandfather was in the navy or merchant marine.  His father had been a career sailor as had his grandfather, so this must have seemed a logical career for him as well. However, my great-grandfather was no longer a sailor when he married his first wife and is listed in many records as "industrioso," "magazziniere," and other similar descriptions. 

Finally, I was also able to add a generation to my tree by finding two sets of his great-grandparents (fourth great-grandparents to me), and I found several death dates to add to the profiles of his family members as well.

My great-grandfather's pedigree

Pasquale's immediate family

Street Addresses for Pasquale Ursino

Strada Cutelli (1863)

Strada della Statua (Largo Statua, 36) (1865-1877)

Via Sorrentino (1881)

Via Cutelli (1883)

Via DiGiuliano (1889)

Via DiStefano, 70 (1891)

Via DiStefano, 37 (1892)

Via Misterbianco, 43 (1897)

Via Fischetti, 57 (1899)

Via Ventimiglia, 157 (1902)

Via Opificio, 25 (1907)

Via Celeste, 110 (1909)

Via Consolazione, 81 (1914)

Some of the addresses above still exist today, but some streets seem to have been renamed.

Happy Birthday Nonna and Dad



My nonna, Giuseppa Napoli, born in Catania, Sicily, June 11, 1914; below, Dad, same day of birth, different year



Pasquale Ursino's Brother, Giuseppe

Now that my son is out of school for the summer, I have more time to research my family history!  In anticipation of the free time, I ordered 7 new microfilms of Italian records via my local family history library about two weeks ago.  Four microfilms arrived Thursday, and this morning I went to see what I could find. 

One of my goals was to find the birth record for my great-grandmother, Francesca Scuderi, so I can learn about her parents; but that film had not arrived yet.  Out of the 4 that did, one was a microfilm of marriage records from Catania, Sicily, spanning 1888 to 1893.  The story told to me was that my great-grandmother married very young -- perhaps as young as sixteen.  This would mean she may have married in 1892; however, I did not find a record for her through 1893, and I checked the earlier years, too.  It looked like I would have to order marriage records starting in 1894 and that she probably married young but not as young as sixteen.  However, I did take the time to see what else I could find in the records.  After all, my great-grandfather Pasquale was widowed twice before he lived with my great-grandmother, and one of his marriages could have occurred between 1888 and 1893. 

Again, no such luck, but I did find a marriage record for a brother of his I did not know -- Giuseppe Ursino.  Finding a great-uncle was quite exciting because it told me a few things.  For one, Giuseppe was nine years younger than Pasquale, which means there must be more siblings.  It also gives me a later date as a starting point to find out when Pasquale and Giuseppe's parents may have died.

Giuseppe Ursino may have married a cousin since his bride's name is Carmela Ursino.  The marriage record shows Giuseppe's father and mother to be Orazio Ursino and Maria Stabile (as expected) and Carmela's father and mother are Giuseppe Ursino and Rosaria D'Arrigo.  I will have to dig into the records and see if Orazio had a brother named Giuseppe.

Michele is a brother I have heard may have existed but I have yet to find.  Giuseppe Ursino is a new brother I
 discovered today. Pasquale Ursino is my great-grandfather on my maternal side from Catania in Sicily.

A rough piecing together of the marriage record I found telling of the marriage between Giuseppe Ursino and Carmela Ursino.  The marriage took place 18 June 1892.  Click on picture to enlarge.

My Nonna and Her Half-Sister

Left: Innocenza Napoli (called Zenna), probably born before or around 1900.  I was lucky to meet her once in the early 80's but too young to think to ask the right questions.  Right: My grandmother, Giuseppa Napoli, or as I called her, Nonna Pina, born June 11, 1914.  She was half-sister to Zenna, but as I have explained before, she carried the surname of her mother's legal husband.  There was no divorce in those days, so my great-grandparents managed to get the legal husband to claim the children (I believe they paid him).  Her father was Pasquale Ursino.  Both sisters were born and lived in Catania, Sicily.

Tombstone Tuesday -- Pasquale Ursino's Wall

Until this past summer, no one in my family knew where my great-grandfather, Pasquale Ursino, was buried.  My mother found her grandfather when she visited the town hall in Catania, Sicily.  The cemetery is like a city, so there would have been no way to walk around and look for it.  For background on the grave's history, read here.

My great-grandfather is on the top row, second one from the right.



The epitaph says he is 80 years old and died the 27th of February 1944. 
Thanks to Kathy Kirkpatrick, who went to Sicily in November and sent me these photos.



Nonna and Nonno

Nonna Pina and Nonno Enzo -- my maternal grandparents. 
I believe this picture was taken when they lived in Rome, circa 1960.

Tombstone Tuesday -- Giuseppa Napoli

My grandmother, Giuseppa Napoli, born in Catania, Sicily.  Her father
was Pasquale Ursino and her mother was Francesca Scuderi.  She
liked to be called Pina and hated Giuseppa.

Wordless Wednesday -- Giuseppa Napoli and Sister

My grandmother, Giuseppa Napoli (1914 - 1998) and her sister
Angelina.  My grandmother is the younger of the two. 
She was born in Catania, Sicily.

Wordless Wednesday -- Nonna Pina

Giuseppa Napoli, June 11, 1914 - February 25, 1998

My grandmother, born in Catania, Sicily, Italy to mother, Francesca Scuderi, and father, Pasquale Ursino

Picture: Age 16

Wordless Wednesday -- Pasquale Ursino

Pasquale Ursino, 1861? - 1947?, born in Catania, Sicily, Italy.

Pasquale is my great-grandfather, and all I know is that he was a gentleman, well-educated, and twice-widowed.  He and my great-grandmother had 5 children.  They were never married because my great-grandmother was unable to divorce the abusive husband she left -- the Catholic church did not allow divorce back then.  All their children had to carry the name of her husband -- Napoli rather than Ursino -- or be "illegitimate" in the eyes of society.  A lot of secrecy surrounded this situation, and when he died, my grandmother and siblings probably knew where he was buried but did not tell their children.  Otherwise they would have to explain why the surname on his grave did not match theirs.  It was a long time before my mother and her siblings knew the true circumstances of my grandmother's birth because she was embarrassed by it, as was normal for those days.  I hope to find his grave the next time I visit Sicily.

Sentimental Sunday

My mother married my father and left her home in Rome for New York City in 1962.  Soon after a street artist drew a portrait of her using colored pencils, and my mother sent it back to her mother in Sicily. You can see it in this picture, hanging on the wall of my grandmother's house circa 1984.  My grandmother is standing beneath the picture.  After she died, my mother received the drawing, and a few years ago she passed it on to me.

Wordless Wednesday

Above: My favorite picture of my Italian grandmother, Giuseppa Napoli (June 11, 1914 - Feb 25, 1998).  The above picture was taken on her wedding day, April 1933.  I think she looks like Greta Garbo.