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Romano

A journey to Lercara Friddi
20 December 2009

In 2005, I saw a request from Marc Thompson on the ITA-SICILY-GEN mailing list for more information on the family of Peter or Pietro Romano, born about 1858 in Lercara Friddi, Sicily, and married to Annette Carmona. Curious, I wrote to find out what he needed, and found an interesting story.

Peter Romano was said to be born July 18, 1858 in Lercara Friddi, Palermo, Sicily. He married Annette Carmona, about 1898 in Italy. She was born on June 18, 1884, also in Lercara Friddi. Their children were listed by Marc as:

• Rosalie "Lillian" Romano, born 1899 in Italy, died 1963 in New York
• Yolanda Romano, born 1902 in Italy, died 1986 in New York
• Kenneth Romano, born 1905 in Italy, died 1941 in New York, married Constance Taylor
• Angelo Romano, born 1908, died 1985, married Yolanda Tripoda
• Paul P Romano, born January 30, 1911 in Sicily, died October 6, 1981 in Queens, Queens, New York, married Kathleen Elizabeth McCabe August 21, 1933 in Office of City Clerk, Manhattan, New York
• Anthony Romano, born 1914 in Italy, died 1991 in NY
• Larry Romano, born 1915
• Livia Romano, born 1917 in New York, died 1994 in New York; married Anthony Peter Marchese

Immigration

To find this family, I started with their immigration to America through Ellis Island:

Pietro Romano (52) came to the United States with his family on 3 August 1914, sailing from Palermo, with his wife Anna Carmona (35), and children Rosalia (15), Iolanda (11), Ireneo (9), Angelo (6), Paolo (3), and Antonino (infant). His occupation is listed as trader, and his last permanent residence is Lercara. His nearest relative in Lercara Friddi is his brother, Carlo Romano.

The second page of the manifest shows that the family is traveling to Brooklyn, NY, to stay with Pietro's brother-in-law, Luigi Mavano. Interestingly, Pietro's place of birth is listed as Alia and Anna's is listed as Bronte. Using modern highways, Alia is only about 23 km from Lercara Friddi, and is also located in the province of Palermo. However, Bronte is 183 km from Lercara Friddi, and is located in the province of Catania. This is an unusual amount of mobility in Sicily for this time period.

Civil Registration and Church Records

My next step was to try to find birth certificates for Peter and Annette in Sicily. I first tried to find them in the civil registration records for Lercara Friddi , as this was where Marc thought they were born, but I did not find them there. Next, I tried looking for Peter in the civil registration records for Alia. I found a Pietro Romano, born 11 February 1860, to Antonino Romano and Grazia Furitano. I originally thought this could be a match, but recent information from Marc indicates that this is not likely. For Annette, I searched the Catholic Church records for Bronte, but was unable to locate her there.

Having met a dead-end, I decided to start with Peter and Annette's children and then work backward. I was able to find the following birth certificates in the civil registration records for Lercara Friddi:

• Rosalia Francesca Maddalena , born 14 October 1899.
• Jolanda Margherita Anna , born 26 July 1902.
• Ireneo Giuseppe , born 5 June 1905
• Angelo , born 10 March 1908

Unfortunately, the birth records for this town are not microfilmed past 1910, so I was unable to get additional records for the remaining children in the family.

These records do hold an interesting suprise, however. Rosalia's birth record refers to her as being born from a "unione naturale", or a natural union, meaning that her parents were not married. Similar phrasing is used on Jolanda's and Ireneo's birth records. By the time of Angelo's birth, however, the records refer to Annette as Pietro's wife. This information helped me to be able to find the marriage certificate for Pietro and Anna:

This shows that Pietro Giuseppe Romano married Anna Pierina Camilla Carmona on 3 August 1905 in Lercara Friddi. Pietro, 44, was born in Alia to Ireneo Romano and Vitala Felice. Anna, 27, was born in Bronte to Angelo Carmona and Marianna Quintavalle.

To be continued ...