Katherine Torchia/Domenico Cicco

[Biff83]

Ciao a tutti!

I've been helping a friend of mine, Dominick Cicco, locate information on his grandparents but have hit a wall on locating his grandfather's WWII Draft card and his grandmother's ship manifest. For reference, I've posted their 1930 census record as well as his ship manifest. In 1921 Domenico emigrated from San Mango d'Aquino, the same town as my grandfather, and would eventually settle in Carbondale PA, the same town where my grandfather lived. Dom lived around the corner from us so Dom and I are not only fellow Coal Cracker Carbondaleans we're also paesani.

Just an educated guess on my part but I believe that Katherine was also from San Mango. If you check the 1930 census below, you'll see that the Cicco's were living at the same address as the Joseph Torch(ia) family. I'm waiting to hear from my friend to see what if any relationship there was between Joseph Torch(ia) and Katherine Torchia. The section of Scranton where all were living was heavily settled by people from San Mango. I've also found naturalization records for Domenico and one of the witnesses was another sanmanghese, Carmine Puteri, who is also on the 1930 census page. I've located Joseph Torch(ia)'s WWII draft card which shows him at the same address and his place of birth as San Mango d'Aquino.

1930 Cicco Census lines 11 and following. Listed incorrectly as Cichi.

1921 Cicco ship manifest, page 1 line 28 travelling with line 27

Cicco manifest page 2

One note on his destination. I believe it should have been recorded as 181 Belmont St, Carbondale PA, not New York, NY.

Thanks,
Biff

[vj]

Hey Biff!
Dom's manifest indicates his birthday was 1 Dec 1907?
If he served in WWII, his card won't be on ancestry...
(28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897)
Valarie

[Biff83]

Hey Biff!
Dom's manifest indicates his birthday was 1 Dec 1907?
If he served in WWII, his card won't be on ancestry...
(28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897)
Valarie

Hello Valarie,

There's a bit of confusion as to his birthday. His naturalization papers from the Middle District of PA show his birthdate as 4 March 1903. Wife Kathryn (sic) as 17 July 1908. I don't believe he served in WWII due to his age, number of independents and occupation. Wouldn't he have still had to register though?

Baci ed abbracci
Biff

[vj]

Yes, but not on ancestry (privacy laws)
If he enlisted there are other databases .

[Essgee]

Was he divorced?

[Biff83]

Yes, but not on ancestry (privacy laws)
If he enlisted there are other databases .

Ah, the Privacy Police. Guess I can stop looking for a few other records also. Should have read the notes for these records.

Thanks,
Biff

[Biff83]

Was he divorced?

Hi Essgee,

The grandfather Domenico was never divorced. My friend, Dom, his grandson was and is.

Biff

[vj]

If you haven't checked out the World Vital Records site lately...
They have added quick links to WWII Registration records &
Find A Grave.
Also, newly added databases are free for the 1st 10 days.
I believe they've added quite a few census records to their
database.
Valarie

[BillieDeKid]

Was Katherine your friends grandmother? Do you know her maiden name?

The manifest shows Domenico as 17 and single in 1921 which puts his birth year abt 1904, the 1930 census lists him as 25 and Katherine as 21 with ages at time of marriage being 21 for him and 17 for her so puts her birth year abt 1908 and that puts the marriage abt 1925. Can your friend get a copy of their marriage certificate? I assume they were married in the States and not Italy. The marriage certificate will show her full name and where she was born. A death certificate for his grandmother will show the same information.

Elizabeth

[Biff83]

Hi Elizabeth.

Her maiden name was Torchia and her first name was K(C)atherine which I guess would have been Caterina in Italian. Or possibly Maria Caterina. Although I don't have any documentation, I have a strong suspicion that she was born in San Mango d'Aquino also. Her birth date on husband Domenico's Petition for Naturalization is shown as 17 July 1908. I tried to save the image of this record on Image Shack so I could link here but was unable to do so, possibly because of its size.

I've been trying to locate her ship manifest and despite trying a number of combinations, wild card searches etc on Steve Morse and Ancestry have thus far come up blank. As always, my thanks for everyone's help in finding this record.

Best,
Biff

[Essgee]

Well, that eliminated the Domenico I found because he was listed as divorced in the WWII records.

Also, there is a Domenico Cicco arriving in 1931 born 1903... He has been in the country before as it lists his naturalization, etc.. on his arrival papers. In Scranton, PA...any chance this could be him? Not familiar with where everything is in PA>

[Biff83]

Also, there is a Domenico Cicco arriving in 1931 born 1903... He has been in the country before as it lists his naturalization, etc.. on his arrival papers. In Scranton, PA...any chance this could be him? Not familiar with where everything is in PA>

That's a possible second manifest for him. Can you post a link to the image? Thanks.

Edited to add--I located the manifest on Ancestry and that is him. The address in Scranton and the naturalization notes match. He's travelling with a Fedele Costanzo.

1931 Manifest found by Essgee line 10

Biff

[Biff83]

Joseph and Mary Torch in the 1930 census are indeed Katherine's parents. I have located a 1920 manifest for Giuseppe in which his nearest relative in San Mango d'Aquino is Mary Bonani (at least that's what it looks like to me). Assuming that Caterina and her mother traveled together to join Giuseppe, they would have emigrated sometime subsequent to Giuseppe's arrival and Caterina's marriage to Domenico Cicco in 1927. Even with this information, I'm still striking out locating a manifest for Caterina and/or Maria. Here's Giuseppe's 1920 manifest for reference.

1920 manifest for Giuseppe Torchia, page 1 line 4
Page 2

The manifest states he was previously in the US and I have also located that 1909 manifest but it contains no further clues.

Edited to add: Missed this before but on the 1930 census Joe and Maria's son Pasquale, age 10, shows place of birth as Pennsylvania. If correct that means, Maria and likely Caterina's immigration year is 1920 or 1921.

Biff