52 Ancestors, Week 3….. Roberto aka Umberto aka Alberto Petrini

 

Umberto Petrini - May 1930
photo from the collection of Susie Petrini
digitized by KM Kolk Feb 2017

It’s week 3 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge and this week I want to introduce you to Umberto Alberto Petrini — or is it Roberto Petrini? My great-grandfather was a man of many names! I have a birth record and a marriage record that both refer to him as ‘Roberto’ Petrini. His death record refers to him as ‘Umbeto Alberto’ Petrini, while his obituary refers to him as ‘Umberto’ Petrini, His son’s birth record from Italy records his name as ‘Amberto’ Petrini and the same son’s death certificate lists his father as ‘Albert’ Petrini, the name he is enumerated under in 1920 census the 1930 census, and the 1940 census. I never met him, but the story I’ve been told is that his name was Umberto in Italy “which is Italian for Albert” so when he got the the United States, he became ‘Albert’. I don’t know when or why he became Umberto and later Albert, but I am convinced that all of these records refer to the same man!

However you choose to refer to him, Roberto Petrini was born August 18, 1873, in the small hamlet of Compito Sant' Andrea, just outside of Capannori in the Lucca region of Tuscany, Italy. He was the son of Bartolomeo Petrini and Maria Eufrosina Pineschi. 

While still in Compito San’t Andrea he married Maria Aurelia Guglielma Orsi, the daughter of Innocenzo Orsi and Maria Domenico di Menco, on May 12, 1894, where they were both farmers.  Umberto immigrated to the United States prior to the arrival of Aurelia and their children October 1907. I have found more than one record on the Ellis Island website for an Umberto Petrini, but have not yet verified that this is my great-grandfather. It is possible he traveled back and forth between the countries more than once. I need to do more research about this.

Umberto may have been lived in Chicago at some point, and he was in Alton, Madison County, Illinios, when his family joined him, but eventually the family settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where Umberto worked as a cook in a restaurant. He is listed in the 1930 census  as the proprietor of a restaurant. I will do a separate post on this at another time when I have my information more organized. 

Umberto and Aurelia had three children.

1. Ida aka Chena/China (ca1899-1928) 
2. Frank (1901-1976) 
3. Giovanni Olivi Adelindo aka William (1904-1948)

Umberto died November 7, 1953 in St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 80. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

There are some questions I have that I need to research more including:

1. When did Umberto arrive in the US?
2. Where was Umberto’s restaurant in St. Louis?
3. When and why did Roberto become Alberto?

You can view the family group sheet for the family of Umberto Petrini and Aurelia Orsi here.

 

Sources

• “1930 U.S. Census,” PETRINI, Albert household, St. Louis City, MO, Ward 26, ED 194, 2 Apr 1930, NARA microfilm, T626, FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22813-7745-88?cc=1810731, image 1 of 44, accessed 11 Jul 2016.
• “1920 U.S. Census,” PETRINI, Albert Family, St. Louis, Missouri, Ward 5, ED 89, 16 Jan 1920, NARA Microfilm, T625, FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-23020-17174-54?cc=1488411, image 22 of 24, accessed 11 Jul 2016.
• PETRINI, William, “Death Certificate,” File #67924, St. Louis, Missouri, 28 July 1948, Bureau of Vital Records, St. Louis, Missouri.​
• PETRINI, Umberto, “Death Certificate,” File #40992, St. Louis City, Missouri, 7 Nov 1953, Missouri State Archives, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/, accessed 5 Mar 2007.
• PETRINI, Giovani Olivio Adelindo, Birth Certificate, Capannori, Italy, 19 Feb 1904, Commune di Capannori.
• PETRINI, Roberto, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 18 Aug 1873, Family Search, familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-32553-2775-86?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-468:349802601,350153701,350154001, accessed 11 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Roberto - ORSI, Aurelia, “Marriage Record,” Lucca, Italy, 5 Mar 1885, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-32572-1873-82?cc=2043811, 30 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Umberto, “obituary,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, 10 Nov 1953, pg 37, Newspapers.com, accessed 9 Jul 2016.
• PETRINI, Frank L, “obituary,” Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1 Jun 1976, pg 23, Newspapers.com, 17 Jul 2016.