Looking for Colaianni

[JLGSW]

I have started doing some genealogy for my wifes family and have gotten stuck. We have traced it back to Filiberte Colaianni and wife Filamina of Denver, Co. Can anyone help? Thanks.

[vj]

Welcome to the Forum!
So we don't duplicate your research, what records have you already found?
Do you have a town of origin in Italy?
Just for reference, do these records belong to your family?
Thank you, Valarie

from the Denver Public Library
http://history.denverlibrary.org/resear ... index.html

Denver Public Library William P. Horan Burial Records Index
Colaianni Filiberto 1940 252 68 years White
Colaianni Thelomena 1937 199 65 years White

Denver Public Library 1937 Obituary Index Rocky Mountain News
Colaianni Thelma 09 Aug 1937 27 DP
Colaianni Thelma 10 Aug 1937 14 RMN
Colaianni Thelma 10 Aug 1937 28 DP
Colaianni Thelma 11 Aug 1937 14 RMN
Colainni Thelma 09 Aug 1937 13 RMN

[JLGSW]

Yes, we believe Thelma and Filoberto ( we have found many different spellings for both) are my wifes great great grandparents. So far we have census records form 1900-1930 linking them to her grandfather. WE believe that Filiberto is Phillip (and sometimes Felix) Colaianni on the census records. WE can't find any immigration records and don't know for sure where they came from in Italy. WE found some info that Colaianni was a poppular sur name in San Pietro Avellano. I think that is where we are at right now. THanks for your Help!
Josh

[vj]

Hey Josh
Thank you for your update
Since Italian records are kept at the town (comune) of origin in Italy, you'll need to find a US record with that information.
Just a few ideas:
The ship manifests may be too early to include a town, but an obituary may help.
Have you located a marriage record for Filiberto and Thelma in Arapahoe County?
Do any of the children's records have Thelma's maiden name?
Her ship manifest from abt 1891(?) will be under her maiden name.
Perhaps relatives from Italy visited the family? Later manifests do include last residence and after abt 1907 include the town of birth...
Valarie

for everyone's reference, one of your census records

from ancestry. com
1900 census
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3725/1900v.jpg
next page
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/263/190001.jpg

Home in 1900: Denver, Arapahoe, Colorado

Household Members:
Name Age
Alberto Col***Uo 37
Filomena Col***Uo 28
Andrico Col***Uo 8
Rosina Col***Uo 6
Toni Col***Uo 4
Domenica Col***Uo 2
Desiderio Col?Ano 1

[vj]

Does this marriage record from ancestry. com look correct?
Colorado Marriages, 1859-1900

Name: Filiberto Colaianna
Spouse: Fulamano Fratzino (possibly Filomena Frazzini?)
Marriage Date: 11 Jul 1891
County: Arapahoe
State: CO

===

... We found some info that Colaianni was a popular sur name in San Pietro Avellano...

So is the surname Frazzini

San Pietro Avellana, Province of Isernia, Molise region
---

note:
I sent member suanj a PM to ask her opinion,
suanj lives in the Molise region

[JLGSW]

Valarie

I appologize I am at work so can't access Ancestory.com right now.
The census records you put on the last post are none we have seen yet. Here is the path we followed to get to Flilberte and Filomena.
My wifes grandfather Daniel Colaianni found on 1930 census as son of Agnes and Andrew Colaianni.

Andrew Colaianni found as son to Philip or felix Colaianni and Felma or Thelma Colaianni. The names change depending on what year census you look at but the address, ages, and children all match up.

We then found Andrews grave sight and went to get some pictures. While we were there we found a head stone for Filiberte and Filomena Colaianni just a few head stones away from Andrews. The dates of birth matched the info that we had for both Phillip and Felma from the census. WE are not sure but think that these could possibly be there real names and the Philip and Felma possibly nicknames.

As far as info from the family nobody knows anything about it. When we started we didn't even know Andrews name. We have been trying to peice it all together. WE havn't been able to find Marrage license or Maiden name for Filomina. We are hoping to go to the Denver Public Library this week to look up Obituaries. I hope this helps explain how we got to where we are now. Thanks again for all of you help.
Josh and Loni

[vj]

Thank you so much for taking the time to bring us all up to date.
Fingers crossed that you can find some helpful obituaries!
Valarie

[vj]

with suanj's permission, here is her response to my PM
Thank you suanj !

Hi suanj
If you get a minute, could you look at this post?
http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... 19985.html
Do you think the wife's surname Frazzini(?) could be correct?
Is San Pietro Avellana a good possibility, or is there a better one?
Thank you! Valarie

Dear Valarie,
if Filomena coming from San Pietro Avellana, for sure is the main possibility that the right surname was Frazzini!
San Pietro Avellana is a very good possibility; in Colorado was also Adelmo Colaianni of San Pietro Avellana also.. however the large part of Colaiannis emigrated coming from San Pietro Avellana.. and it is possible that the Filiberto and Filomena marriage was pre-arranged in Italy
and after she going in USA for the wedding; in 1900 census the Filomena imm. year is 1891; but I believe that Filomena arrived in 1890, because the marriage record show the date 11 jul 1891, so if she imm. in 1891 and in july married as it is possible that the first son was born in aug 1891?
no Filomena arrived before of 1891.. it is possible that was a prearranged marriage, and both the spouses coming from same italian town...
However the main possibility for italian town is San pietro Avellana, and for the surname Frazzini sound right!
Hugs,
suanj

[JLGSW]

Valarie, Thanks again for all the help. We didn't get to the library today and it looks like they are closed tomorrow and this weekend for the new year. Hopefully next week. We'll keep you posted. Have a great New Year.
Josh and Loni

[MarkDiVecchio]

My mother's family is Frazzini from San Pietro Avellana and I've been doing research on that town for about 10 years. In looking through what you posted and my notes, there is a Pasquale Filiberto Colaianni born on 31 Jul 1860 (which matches the age in 3/4 of the census). There is a Filomena Frazzini born in 1871 which matches her age. I've been able to trace your wife's Colaianni line back to the mid 1700's. For Filomena, there is another problem - 1871 birth records have been lost. All that remains is an index where she appears as number 59.

I believe that I've found the US arrival of Filiberto on the Ferdinand de Lesseps on 14 Feb 1882.
http://www.silogic.com/genealogy/1882%2 ... sseps.html

Your best next step is to get the obituaries of both Filiberto and Filomena from the Denver papers.

My family web site is at:
http://www.silogic.com/genealogy/frazzini.htm

We also have a group on Yahoo! where we talk about San Pietro Avellana genealogy:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SanPietroAvellana

ciao.
Mark
markd@silogic.com

[JLGSW]

Mark,

Thank you so much. I have actually been on your website alot this weekend. I was able to give my Grandfather the names of his Grandparents yesterday. He never knew where he was from. His father left when he was a baby, so the Colaianni side of the family has been lost since. With the help of your website, we have been able to give him some pictures and more information about his Grandparents!! Needless to say it was a great belated Christmas present.

We are hoping to get to the library next Sunday to look for the obituaries, and hopefully have some more concrete information then. Also my Grandfather has what we believe are Filiberto's naturalization papers. He is going to find them and get them to me here soon.

Is the information you have traced into the 1700's on the Colaianni family accessible on your website??

Thank you again for your help. And we have truly enjoyed your pictures of SPA!!

ciao
Loni
joshandloni@hotmail.com

[JLGSW]

Valerie,

We finally made it to the library. We found a few records about Filomena. Wanted to know if you or, maybe your friend Suanj may know any info about her maiden name. Filomena's maiden name on her marriage license is Fratzino (I am requesting the origianl copy to look for myself). But according to multiple burial/death records for both Filomena and several of her children her maiden name is Yannacito. We did find a birth date for her of March 15, 1872 to Father Emidio Yannacito and Mother Lovucadio Yannacito. According to the records that we found she immigrated to the states in 1886. Again we are requesting the origianl copy of the marriage license, so we can look at the hand written last name ourselves. But for now it appears that Yannacito is her maiden name. Just trying to place where in Italy she may have come from.

Thanks for any help!!

Josh and Loni

[vj]

Hi Josh and Loni
You may be looking for Iannacito or something similar

Here a neat tool for checking surnames
http://www.gens.labo.net/it/cognomi/genera.html
type surname in 'Cognome' box

If you can narrow it down to a region, this tool will help with comunes
You can search with only a few letters:
http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/cognomi/cognomi.html

Valarie

[MarkDiVecchio]

Since "Y" is rare in Italian, I think Iannacito is a good name. I checked on Ellis Island and found 15 Iannacito and 1 Yannacito. They were from Vastogirardi and Roccasicura. Both of those towns are not far (a few miles) from San Pietro Avellana.

I checked on ancestry.com which has older ship manifests but could not find anyone with the name Iannacito arriving in the 1880's. Also nothing found on Castle Garden.

Ancestry.com does show Yannacito as a fairly common name in Denver.

The 1891 marriage certificate is still puzzling.

We'll keep on looking.
Mark

[azcathyyb]

Hi,
Mark clued me in about this quest and I might have a few hints about Iannacito folks in North Denver.

Back in the mid-1950's, my Mom and Dad rented a basement apartment from Sam (Salvatore) and Caroline Iannacito. This was the house where I lived as a newborn and until I was about 2. Sam and Caroline's house with within sight of St. Catherine's Catholic Church and I might have pictures from my grandmother's album but not sure they show the house - just the yard and street in front of the house. Anyway...

My grandmother, Jean (Carleno) Madonna kept obits for folks she knew and she kept one for Sam. I shared it with Mark and it is on his website - you can access it at - http://www.silogic.com/genealogy/Carlino-Mariani.html - just scroll down the page since it is a .jpg.

If these folks are of interest, I did a quick search at Ellis and found that Sam (Salvatore) Iannacito arrived at Ellis Island on 17 Nov 1909 from Vastogirardi. He was going to his sister, Maria, in Denver, and his father, Giacinto was in Vastogirardi. He may have been travelling with family members.

I also found a 'Family Tree' on the Rootsweb.com page (look for Family Trees, Ray Melchiorrre - yes, I did the double-take and it is 3 "r"s in Melchiorrre - This family tree leads me to believe that Sam's sister, Maria, who he was going to in Denver, was married to Luigi Lombardi.

I did call my Mom, who rented from the Iannacito's, and surprisingly, she actually had a few insights. Both Sam and Caroline (who was an Iacovetto by birth) spoke heavily accented English and were retired by the time Mom and Dad rented. My Mom said they may have been related to the Joe (Guiseppe) DiLorenzo family who lived on Clay Street across from my g-grandparents, Tony and Lucia (Mariani) Carleno/Carlino, who came from San Pietro Avellana. My g-grandmother, Lucia (Mariana) Carleno/Carlino, was a first cousin to Joe DiLorenzo -- but if there is a relationship between all of them as my Mom says, it might be through Caroline, the wife of Sam (Salvatore) Iannacito or through the wife of Guiseppe (Joe) DiLorenzo.

I am not sure if any of this will help but it might give you some places to look or to not look. Either can be useful and might be a stepping stone to where you want to be. I am interested in knowing what you find and will help if I can.

Ciao,
Cathy (Madonna) Youngblood