52 Ancestors, Week 8: Josie Weiss

 I'm already 8 weeks into my  52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge and it seems to be going ok. This week I am switching things up and taking a break from my Petrini family. Instead I am going to talk about my Weiss line.

This past weekend I spent some time on the updated California County Marriages database at Family Search and quickly found several marriage records I didn’t already have. These were all for descendants of Josie L Weiss, one of my favorite ancestors. I’m not really sure why she is one of my favorite. I’ve never met her and I really don’t know a lot about her, but I’ve always enjoyed getting to know her.

The first reference I have for Josie is an 1880 census record which shows four-year-old Josephine L Weiss living with her parents and older brother in Shipman Township, Macoupin County, Illinois. This is the only document I have which refers to her as Josephine. All other records refer to her as Josie. I assume once she was old enough to voice a preference she let it be known that she preferred Josie to Josephine — I know I would have!

Josie was the daughter of John Adam Weiss and Catherine F. Yaraum, born in Kansas 17 Jan 1876. At some point after her birth, but before she was 5, the family moved back to Macoupin County, Illinois, where John and Catherine had married. With no 1890 census, it is difficult to track the family, but John and Catherine are back in Kansas, in Marion County, for the 1900 census with their younger sons. Josie is not with them, but she may be in Kansas. Josie was married to Ralph J. Shirk, possibly 30 May 1900. I have a source, a tree prepared by another researcher, but I am not certain it is reliable. However, this is just before the 1900 census was taken, and it’s possible Josie and her new husband will be found nearby. I need to look for Josie and Ralph in the 1900 census. They are found near her parents in Marion County, Kansas in the 1910 census.

By the 1920 census Josie and Ralph and their four children are in Ontario Township, San Bernardino County, California, where Ralph if farming an orange grove. Ten years later, Ralph is farming his own farm in La Verne, Los Angeles County, California. When Clay Justin Weiss, Josie’s older brother, died in 1925, his obituary stated that Jossie (sic) was a resident of Labura, California; this is probably La Verne. Ralph and Josie were still in La Verne at the time of the 1940 census.

Josie and Ralph had four children.

• Mina M (1903-1964)
• Olive Frances (1905-1990)
• Verna Elizabeth (1907-1994)
• Dwight Weiss (1909-1993)
  

Josie died 12 Mar 1958 in Los Angeles County, California. She is buried alongside Ralph in La Verne Cemetry, La Verne, Los Angeles County, California.

You can view the family group sheet for the family of Ralph Shirk and Josie Weiss here.

Sources

• “1880 U.S. Census,” WEISS, John A. and William H.  families, Shipman Township, Macoupin County, Illinois, 25 Jun 1880, FamilySearch, 27 May 2015.
• WEISS, Clay J, “obituary,” received by email, 20 Aug 2003.
• “1920 U.S. Census,” SHIRK, Ralph Household, Ontario, San Bernadino County, California, 19 Jan 1920, Heritage Quest Online, 7 Feb 2005.
• “1930 U.S. Census,” SHIRK, Ralph Household, La Verne, Los Angeles County,  California, 5 Apr 1930, Heritage Quest Online, 7 Feb 2005.
• SHIRK, Josie; Ralph; Dwight, “California Death Index, 1940-1997,” Ancestry.com, Feb 2005.
• “SSDI,” SHIRK in CA, Feb 2005, ancestry.com.
• SHIRK, Ralph, “Family Data Collection,” Edmund West, Ancestry.com, 7 Feb 2005.
• “CADI,” Mina FORD, 17 Jul 2006, ancestry.com.
• SHIRK, Josie Weiss, “Memorial,” # 20468780, Find A Grave, merridancer, accessed 22 Feb 2017.
• “1910 U.S. Census,” SHIRK, R J  household, Colfax, Marion County, Kansas, Ward 20, ED 96-476, 14 May 1910, NARA microfilm, T624, FamilySearch, image 14 of 18, accessed 22 Feb 2017.
• “1940 U.S. Census,” SHIRK, Ralph J  household, La Verne, Los Angeles, California, ED 19-716, 26 Apr 1940, NARA microfilm, T627, FamilySearch, image 14 of 18, accessed 22 Feb 2017.

California County Marriages at Family Search

 It's been awhile since I've worked on my WEISS line, but that changed this weekend. I've been pretty focused on my Italian ancestors for the past year or two, but thanks to a hint found on Michael John Neill's Genealogy Search Tips blog, I took a small detour this weekend. Michael reported that the California County Marriages, 1850-1952 database on Family Search has been updated.

A very quick search turned up five marriage records for my Weiss family that I did not previously have! ​Now I am taking a short break from my Italian research to process the new information I have. I plan to do a more thorough search to see what other records will show up in the database when I need another quick break. It was a very productive weekend!

52 Ancestors, Week 7: Fara Gallacci

 It's already Week 7 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge! This week I want to tell you about Fara Gallacci. There isn’t much to tell as she was only two months old when she died. I only have two records for Fara; a death certificate [1043] and a burial permit notice [1061]. I’m a little uncertain of her name. In the newspaper listing of burial permits, the name is spelled as Fora. The death certificate is handwritten and appears to be written over, so the ‘a’ could be an ‘o’. There may even be an ‘l’ before the vowel, meaning her name could be ‘Fara’ or ‘Fora’ or even ‘Flora’ like her mother.

Fara was born April 11, 1918 in St. Louis, Missouri and died just two months later on June 14, 1918. The death certificate states her cause of death as “marassmus-bottle feeding”, or malnutrition. This is of interest because Flora (aka Fravolina) Gallacci, her mother, died of pneumonia just one week after the birth of Fara Gallacci [1040].

I believe Fara was the daughter of Fravolina Orsi and Elpidio Gallacci. I had to make some assumptions and connections to get to this conclusion, but I believe they are logical assumptions. The birth certificate states the mother’s name is Fravonela Orrosi. It’s easy to believe this is a misspelling or mispronunciation of Fravolina Orsi.    Knowing that Fara was bottle fed also makes sense if her mother died when the baby was only a week old, as Fravolina did.The harder discrepancy to explain is the father’s name, Tarquinio Gallacci. Obviously, Gallacci is easy, but substituting Tarquinio for Elpidio is a bit more problematic.

Though I have no direct evidence that Elpidio and Tarquinie are the same person and the father of Fara, I do have supporting evidence. Fara died at 908 High Street in St. Louis. Elpidia Gallaccio resided at 910A High Street [1045] in the 1917 St. Louis directory. Peter Gallacci resided at 1308 High Street [1047] in the 1920 directory. In addition, Ambado Petrinni is shown living at 908 High [1060] in the 1916 directory. This is almost certainly Umberto Petrini, the brother-in-law of Fravolina Orsi Gallacci. No other directory listing has been found for “Tarquinie” Gallacci and or Ambado Petrinni. The families have been shown living with or near each other at various times, so it is logical that Elpidio and Umberto would be found at the same address. Until I find a listing for ‘Tarquinie’ Gallacci, I will assume listing on Fara’s death certificate is a mistake.

There are a few records I could search for to confirm her parents’ names.

• Birth Certificate from St. Louis city
• Cemetery Record from Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis
• Burial Permit from St. Louis city
• Baptismal Record from the St. Louis Archdiocese
• Funeral Home record ​
  

I will probably delay searching for these both because Fara is not part of my direct family, and because she has no descendants to follow. At this point she is only and interesting side story for me. You can read more about the Gallacci family in this blog post. 

Here is a copy of Fara's death certificate, obtained from the Missouri State Archives online database. You can view the full-size copy on the Missouri State Archive website here.

Sources

• GALLACCI, Flora, "Death Certificate," File Number 15285, 18 Apr 1918, St. Louis City, Missouri,  digital image at Missouri State Archives, Missouri Secretary of State, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/d downloaded 10 Jul 2016
• GALLACCI, Fara, "Death Certificate," File Number 21659, 14 Jun 1918, St. Louis City, Missouri,  digital image at Missouri State Archives, Missouri Secretary of State, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/ downloaded 10 Jul 2016
• GALLACCIO, Elipidia, “City Directories for St. Louis, Missouri,” Gould St Louis City Directory, St. Louis, Missouri, 1917, pg 799, Fold3, www.fold3.com/image/135257192, accessed 21 Nov 2016.
• GALLACCIO, Peter, “City Directories for St. Louis, Missouri,” Polk-Gould Directory Co, St. Louis, Missouri, 1920, pg 1268, Fold3, www.fold3.com/image/153624625, accessed 21 Nov 2016.
• PETRINI, Umberto (Ambado Petrinni) , “U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line],” Gould Directory Co, St. Louis, Missouri, 1916, pg 1715, HeritageQuest.com, http://interactive.ancestryheritagequest.com, Image 854 of 1512, accessed 15 Feb 2017.
• GALLACCI, Fora, “burial permit,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, 18 Jun 1918, pg 7, ProQuest Historical Newspapers: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, accessed 10 Jun 2016.​

52 Ancestors, Week 6: Maria Fravolina Orsi Gallacci

 It's Week 6 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 Challenge, and so far I'm keeping up! This week I am going to tell you what I know about Maria Fravolina Orsi, the sister of Maria Aurelia Guglielma Orsi.

Maria Fravolina Orsi was the daughter of Innocenzo Orsi and Maria Domenica di Menco. She was born February 13, 1882 in Compito Sant’ Andrea, Capannori, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy.

Fravolina arrived in the United States aboard the SS Duca degli Abbruzi on August 8, 1909 [1041], about a year after her sister Aurelia immigrated. Interestingly, they both list the same sister, Carola Orsi, as their nearest relative back in Compito Sant’ Andrea.  The ship manifest shows that when she was asked for the name of the friend of relative that she intended to join in the U.S. Fravolina gives the name Vincenzo Miciletti of Chicago, with the notation ‘promised’. I don’t know how to interpret ‘promised’. It may indicate a ‘promise’ of marriage, but it could also mean he promised to help her get started in the U.S. Whatever it means, we do know that Fravolina was married to a different man less than two years later.

 

Clip from ship manifest showin the arrival of Fravolina Orsi to the United States
8 Aug 1909

 The ship manifest shows that Fravolina was traveling to Chicago to join Vincenzo Nicoletti. 

What does 'promised' mean?

Fravolina is found in the 1910 Alton (Illinois) City Directory living at 211 W 13th in Alton. Her brother-in-law, Umberto Petrini, is found living at this same address in the 1910-1911 directory.
Fravolina married Elpidio Gallaccio/Gallaccia in St. Louis, Missouri on February 20, 1912.  At some point, Fravolina adopted the name of Flora, and Epidio became Peter Gallacci. They had at least three, and possibly four children together. I am working to confirm the parentage of the fourth child, but at this time I’m 90% convinced that he is a child of Fravolina and Elpidio.

• Emma (1914-1945)
• Vincent B (1915-1969)
• Fara (1918)
• Francesco/Frances*
  

       *parentage not yet proven

Fravolina died in St. Louis City Hospital from lobar pneumonia at age 36 on April 18, 1918, just one week after the birth of her daughter Fara. [1040] She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri.

Sources

• GALLACCI, Vincent B, “Obituary,” Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois, 15 Jul 1969, B4, NewspaperArchive.com, 14 Apr 2013, JPEG, Petrini binder, 115948486.pdf; GALLACCI_Vincent_obit.jpg.
• SHORT, Emma, “Death Certificate,” St. Louis City, Missouri, File #42513, 20 Dec 1945, Missouri Digital Heritage, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/deathcertificates/, 2 April 2015.
• ORSI, Maria Anastasia Fravolina, “Birth Record,” Cappannori, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, 13 Feb 1882, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-32554-13698-37?cc=2043811, accessed 25 Oct 2015.
• GALLACCI, Flora, "Death Certificate," File Number 15285, 18 Apr 1918, St. Louis City, Missouri,  digital image at Missouri State Archives, Missouri Secretary of State, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/d downloaded 10 Jul 2016
• ORSI, Fravolina, “Ship Manifest,” New York, New York, 8 Aug 1909, microfilm, The Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation, http://www.libertyellisfoundation.org/ Passenger ID #101653050169, accessed 13 Nov 2016.
• ORSI, Fravolina - GALLACCIA, Elpidir, “Marriage Record,” St. Louis City Marriage Records, Vol. 76, pg 535, License No. 171023, St. Louis City, Missouri, 20 Feb 1912, Family Search, accessed 14 Nov 2016.
• GALLACCI, Fara, "Death Certificate," File Number 21659, 14 Jun 1918, St. Louis City, Missouri,  digital image at Missouri State Archives, Missouri Secretary of State, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/resources/ downloaded 10 Jul 2016
• GALLACCIO, Elpidio - ORSI, Fravolina, “Marriage - Church Record,” 20 Feb 1920, St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, St. Louis, Missouri, “St. Louis Archdiocesan Parish Records”, St. Louis County Library, St. Louis, Missouri, Roll 50, FHL microfilm 1870931, 24 Jan 2017.

52 Ancestors, Week 5: Ida Petrini Orsolini, also known as China

China "Ida" Petrini Orsolini
photo from the collection of Susie Petrini
digitized by KM Kolk - Jan 2017

Welcome to week 5 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge.  Today I want to tell you a little about Ida Petrini Orsolini. There is not much to tell based on fact because I know very little about her. I DO know that she is the sister-in-law mentioned in last week’s story who took pity on my Grandma and told her the ‘secret ingredient’ for the family sauce. I owe you one, Ida!

Ida came to the United State with her mother and brothers in 1907, when she was 11 years old, according to the ship manifest from Ellis Island. This would put her birthdate sometime around 1896. The 1920 census shows her living with her parents in St. Louis, Missouri and gives her age as 21.[26] This would put her birth year around 1899. I’ve not been able to find a birth record for her yet, though I still hope to do so. I will look in Capannori because to the best of my knowledge, that is the only place her parents lived until they came to the U.S.

Ida was married to Dan Orsolini, and died in Chicago, Illinois on July 5. 1928.[1022] There are no children listed in her obituary and I’ve never heard any mention of her having children. She is buried with her parents, Umberto Petrini and Aurelia Orsi, in the family plot in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

That is everything I know about Ida and have documentation for. There are some family stories that I have no evidence for, but are fun to tell anyway. Though she is listed as Ida on the ship manifest and in her obituary, I’ve been told she was ‘China Petrini’ before she came to the United States. That is ‘China’, “spelled like the country, China, but pronounced like ‘Keen-uh’”.

There is also a family story that she had an affair with Rudolph Valentino, the famous Italian silent movie star. There is another story that she was poisoned by her husband, a result of his jealousy. I don’t remember being told those two facts were connected, but, maybe….  Do I think these stories are true? Well, probably not, but as former St. Louis Cardinal pitcher Joaquin Andujar would have said, “You never know!”

 

Sources

• “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.
• ORSOLINI, Ida, “obituary,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, 8 Jul 1928, pg 71, Newspapers.com, accessed 12 Jul 2016.