Help Reading a Surname

[thedipumas]

I need help reading the maiden name of Michaelangelo Giuseppe Santoro's mother. I see her first name is Maria, but I cannot make out her surname. I know she was Italian. I have included the copy of their marriage record as well to try and cross reference. Anyone able to help?

[rlw254]

I would read this as Oletto. If you let us know the years and town name it may be possible to find other records with her name written out.

[rlw254]

I spent a bit of time on this family last night and their records are a total mess.

The biggest problem is that the names on the records you've provided don't match the surname for this mother found on other records. Here it is written as Oletto (or similar) but even on the license itself the surname looks pretty different. The familysearch page for the family has them with a few other children:
1. Vito - I don't think this is actually one of their children as his death record provides both parents' names different.
2. Michael - "Oletto" on marriage record #1, "Sacco" on marriage record #2
3. Rose - "Fosca" on marriage record
4. Concetta - "Tosca" on marriage record, "Iocca" on death record. I think the latter is in error as this was her own married name.
5. James/Vincenzo - "Sosea" on marriage record. I think this is a mis-transcription for the same name Tosca written above.

Someone on familysearch had previously linked the mother to a Maria Tasca, born 21 June 1860 in Casalnuovo Monterotaro to parents Luigi Tasca and Maria Giuseppa Caputo, but I'm not exactly sure how this conclusion was reached. What's interesting about this town is that it has the surnames Santoro, Tasca (presumed actual spelling of above Tosca/Fosca/Sosea etc.), and even "Olitto" from your original record, which I would consider to be more than a coincidence. I can't, however, find any evidence of a Santoro-Tasca or Santoro-Olitto marriage in the 1860s or 1870s here, and I also don't see evidence of a Giuseppe Santoro being born here in the 1840s-1850s. First one is in 1860, which may be too young to be this family.

To move forward with this we'll need reliable death records for Giuseppe or his wife Maria. These may be tricky to find with poor transcription. As Maria appears on the 1900 census but not with her husband on the 1915 census, she probably died in this time. I can find a Maria (Ianio) Santre that died in Brooklyn 6 Oct 1907 born around 1855, but this provides yet another surname for the mix and we can't reliably connect her to Giuseppe. Giuseppe originally had a death date of 1924 on familysearch but this is incorrect as I tracked down this individual based on the parents' names and he was married to a different woman having children at the same time in Italy so it most likely is not the same person.

A lot of this info may be on ancestry but I don't currently have a subscription. Perhaps someone else might be able to provide some more detail.

[thedipumas]

Thank you for this. It's been a mystery plaguing my genealogical research for over 10 years. I had given up on it to focus on other areas of the tree, but recently returned to focus on it. The constant spelling changes have been a real obstacle for me. I'll pursue the last name Olitto and see what I can find.

[rlw254]

You should find this interesting:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=779416
24 June 1869 marriage in Castelmezzano
Giuseppe Santoro, 27, born 5 Dec 1842 (per pubblicazioni) to parents Vito Nicola Santoro (deceased) and Teresa Dianò
Maria Filomena Iosco, 23, born 5 Feb 1846 (per pubblicazioni) to parents Giuseppe Iosco (deceased) and Marianna Lauletta (deceased)

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=779416
Vito Nicola Santoro born 3 Nov 1870 in Castelmezzano to parents Giuseppe Santoro, son of deceased Vito Nicola, 28, and his wife Maria Iosco, daughter of deceased Giuseppe

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=779416
Rocco Antonio Santoro born 22 Feb 1873 in Castelmezzano to parents Giuseppe Santoro, son of deceased Vito Nicola, 26, and his wife Maria Iosco, daughter of deceased Giuseppe

This couple can no longer be found in the birth records of this town after 1873, potentially coinciding with their arrival in America and birth of the children starting with Michael. Neither parent nor their two documented children here died in this town in the 10 years following the records.

Notice the similarity of Maria's mother's name Lauletta to 'Verletti' as written on the 1907 death transcription as well as 'Oletto' provided on Michael's marriage. Possibly some confusion here. Rocco very well may have Anglicized his name to William on arrival.

[rlw254]

Sorry, I missed this but can no longer edit - that child Rocco did die later the next year on 28 Mar 1874:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=779416

I'm inclined to believe that "William" is actually the above Vito Nicola, considering the 1900 census gives his birth month as November. The Vito that was previously linked to this family is most likely incorrect given the completely different parents' names on his 1932 death record, as I indicated above.

I threw the majority of this together for reference but did not link it just yet. Someone else had done some preliminary work on the older Iosco lines.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedig ... t/GY1Z-1XS

[thedipumas]

This is fascinating and would explain a lot! Thank you so much for your incredibly fast work! I truly appreciate your willingness to help.