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Fragano

A friend of "old man Zappala"
16 January 2007

I met a friend, Maria Amaro Fragano, through the ITA-SICILY-GEN Rootsweb mailing list, when she recognized the name Zappala from a family she knew from Burbank. As far as I know, the only Zappala family from Burbank was my grandparents. It turns out that Maria's grandfather was friends with "old man Zappala", my great-grandfather, when they lived in Burbank and played Briscola together.

Maria's grandfather was Vincenzo "Enzo" Fragano, born in Siracusa in 1886, the same year my grandfather, Carmelo Zappala, was born in Linguaglossa. Vincenzo was a barber for many years in Brooklyn before moving to Burbank in 1960. Maria says that Vincenzo and Carmelo struck up a friendship and would play cards for hours.

Online Research

When Maria asked for help with Vincenzo's genealogy, I was happy to do some searching for her. The first thing I always do is check available online resources. This helps me to get to know the family better, to look for any clues about where they are from, and to fill in any blanks in what my friend knows.

Using Ancestry.com, I found a number of immigration records from when the family traveled through Ellis Island:

• Vincenzo sailed from Naples in 1911, arriving on July 3rd. Page 1 lists his age as 25, his occupation as barber, his wife as Maria Senatore, and his last permanent residence as New York. He must have come to America earlier. Page 2 says that he came previously in 1910, living in NY, and that he was born in Buscemi.
• Maria came to America in 1913 with three kids, arriving on May 7th. Page 1 lists her age as 26, her last permanent residence as Palermo, and her destination as Jersey City, NY. It aso shows that her nearest relative back in Italy is her father Carmelo, living in Palermo. The children traveling with her are Francesca (6), Vincenza (4), and Gaetano (1). Page 2 shows that the family is traveling to meet Vincenzo.
• Vincenzo must have returned to Italy, because he sailed from Palermo in 1920, arriving on May 3rd. Page 1 lists his age as 34, his occupation as barber, and his wife as Maria Senatore. His last permanent residence is given as Palermo. Page 2 says he is going to visit his brother-in-law, Eduardo Senatore, living in NY. Eduardo, Maria's brother, came to America in 1907 on February 19th. His manifest shows that he was 23, a barber from Palermo, and going to visit his cousin Federico Lo Cascio in Brooklyn, NY.
• Vincenzo traveled through Ellis Island again in 1923, arriving on January 2nd. Page 1 lists his age as 36, his occupation as barber, his last permanent residence as Buscemi, his wife as Maria Senatore (presumably back in Italy again), and his final destination as Brooklyn, NY. Page 2 shows he is going to stay with his brother-in-law Eduardo Senatore in Brooklyn.
• Vincenzo traveled to America with his family, apparently for the last time, in 1924, arriving on April 19th. Page 1 lists his age as 38 and shows that his nearest relative in Italy is his mother Francesca Leone, living in Buscemi. He is traveling with his wife, Maria, and their children Gaetano (12), Carmelo (8), Vincenzo (4), and Francesca (17). Page 2 shows the family is returning to their residence in Brooklyn, NY. It also says that Vincenzo was born in Buscemi but Maria and the children were born in Palermo.

I next looked for the Fragano family in the 1930 US Census, and found them living in Brooklyn, NY:

Vincenzo (44) and Maria (44) are living with their three children Charles (14), Vincent (10), and Mary (5). Vincenzo and Maria were married at the age of 20. Vincenzo is still a barber and is now a naturalized citizen.

Finally, I found a World War II draft registration card for Vincenzo (55), listing his birthdate as May 27, 1886 -- the same year my grandfather was born:

Civil Registration

At this point, I had documents showing the Fragano family was from Buscemi, Italy, and that Vincenzo was born on May 27, 1886. I used the civil registration microfilms for Buscemi, available at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Birth Records

I found a number of birth records for the Fragano family in Buscemi. Since I knew Vincenzo's birth date from his World War II draft registration, it was easy to find his birth certificate:

This shows that his dad is Gaetano Fragano (48 years old), and his mother is Francesca Leone. His full name at birth is Vincenzo Paolo Pietro. Page 2 shows the witnesses to the birth. I was able to find additional birth certificates for Vincenzo's brothers:

• Angelo , born 29 May 1880,
• Santi Angelo Lucio , born 1 November 1877,
• Sebastiano Giuseppe Maria , born 8 September 1874,
• Salvatore (page 2) , born 9 June 1872, and
• Gaetano Giuseppe Salvatore , born 3 January 1870.

Marriage Records

I was also able to find several marriage records for the Fragano family. Gaetano Fragano (Vincenzo's father) married Francesca Leone on 22 October 1868:

This certificate is handwritten, and extends onto a second page . This shows that Gaetano is 29 and employed as a barber. His father is Gaetano Fragano, now deceased, and his mother is Lucia Marsello. Francesca is 26 and the widow of Giuseppe Consolino. She was born in Palazzolo, likely Palazzolo Acreide, which is near Buscemi. Her parents, Vincenzo Leone and Sebastiana Infantino, are both deceased.

One of the great things about the civil registration records for Buscemi is that it includes many years of allegati. These are marriage documents that the bride and groom presented at their registration of their marriage, to prove their age and marital status. For Gaetano and Francesca, this offers a treasure trove of documents:

• a cover page for their section of the allegati,
• the first and second publications of their marriage,
• the birth certificate for the groom, Gaetano Fragano, showing he was born on 1 December 1838 to Gaetano Fragano (29) and Lucia Marsello (20),
• the birth certificate for the bride, Francesca Leone, showing she was born on 11 April 1842 to Vincenzo Leone (27) and Sebastiana Infantino (27), and
• The death certificate for Francesca's first husband, Giuseppe Consolino, who died on 28 November 1867, at the age of 36.

Finally, I was able to find a marriage certificate for Vincenzo's sister, Lucia Angela Maria Fragano, who married Sebastiano Germano on 17 September 1903. Sebastiano was 26 years old, and his parents were Giuseppe Germano and Giuseppa Frigila. Lucia was 20 years old.

Charts

To record this information, I created a pedigree chart for Vincenzo Fragano, a family group sheet for Vincenzo Fragano and Maria Senatore, and a family group sheet for Gaetano Fragano and Francesca Leone.