And so begins the past …

Adriano Giorgio was born in San Vito Chietino, Chieti, Abruzzo Italy on 27 December 1871. He first came to Western PA in the mid-1890s, leaving behind a young son – Nicola Vitus – born in Castel di Sangro, L’Aquila, Italy in 1895,  to Adriano’s first wife Marianna Frattura. It’s unclear how Adriano and Marianna met, but interesting to note that his second wife, Custode Iacobucci, was also from Castel di Sangro.

Marianna died a week or so after Nicola was born. Nicola spent his first eight years in Italy before Adriano brought him to the US in 1904. Passenger logs show the two of them arriving in New York on a ship named the “Roma” on 19 December 1904. The 1910 Census shows Nick, age 13, living in Dunbar, Pennsylvania with Andrew and Christina George and seven other children, including Frederick, age 11 and Lydia, a four month old infant.  Custode’s sister “Rosa Botsella” was also in the home but her marital status was not indicated.

Custode Iacobucci was born in Castel di Sangro, Italy on 27 May 1880 and came to America with her older sister Rosallia (aka Rose, Rosa, Rosie and even Rosalba) in April 1897. Their older brother Vincenzo Iacobucci arrived in New York in 1895 and made his way to Pittsburgh and later to Derry, Pennsylvania. Vincenzo signed as Custode’s guardian when she married Adriano Giorgio on February 14, 1899 in St. Peter’s Church in Pittsburgh.

We don’t know if Adriano and Custode knew each other in Italy before they married in Pittsburgh but it is likely that Custode knew Adriano’s first wife, Marianna and may have been related to her in some way. Castel di Sangro is an isolated town in the mountains of central Italy and from the historical marriage records of that town, there are connections between the Iacobucci, Frattura and Buzelli families.

A word about names and why it can be particularly confusing with fathers and sons. Italian convention is for the first-born son to be named after his father’s father. Adriano and Marianna followed this convention in naming Nicola after Adriano’s father – Nicola Nunziato Sabio Giorgio. Because of this tradition, it is not unusual for there to be several male cousins, sometimes very close in age and living in the same location, who share the same name. This can make it confusing to sort out which Nick George you’re reading about in historical records. Thanks to Irene Veri’s first-hand knowledge of her father Nick’s cousins and uncles, it was much easier for me to determine which Nick, or Louis or Pasquale a particular record, particularly a newspaper article, was about.

We are also dealing with the Americanization of certain names, so Pasquale becomes Pat or Patsy and Adriano becomes Adrian, Andrew or even Andy. (And if misunderstood as it apparently was by the 1900 census taker in Derry Township, Westmoreland County Pennsylvania – “Henry”.)

Adriano and Custode did not follow this naming convention when they named their first son, Frederick William George, born in Blairsville, Pennsylvania (according to his youngest daughter Lynnette) on November 18, 1899. In the Census for 1900 he is identified as Foredence, which is the Italian pronunciation for Frederick.

And finally, there is an issue, especially in census reports of how the official making the record “hears” a name when spoken by a native Italian speaker.  For example, Rosallia Iacobucci, Custode’s older sister, married Peter Buzzella (or Buzzelli) but that name was spelled – Bootsaddle (in the 1900 census), Botsella (in the 1910 census) and Buzzelli in the 1930 census, when Rosy was listed as a servant in the home of William and Mary Warne in Chartiers Township in Washington County, Pennsylvania.

Adriano and Custode Giorgio – 1899

Wedding Photo 1899

Finding Family – The Search Begins

My husband Rick’s father – Frederick William George, III (Freddy) – was born in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania in 1923 and grew up in western PA.  Once he finished medical school at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid-1940s, he joined the Navy, moved away and lost touch with his father’s side of the family. George, is the Americanized version of Giorgio.

Freddy was the first child born to Frederick William George (1899-1951) and Evelyn Elizabeth Clark (1901-1981). We know from the 1930 United States Census, that Evelyn and her two sons (Freddy and Richard) lived in Santa Monica, California with Evelyn’s younger sister Grace Clark. At this same time, Evelyn’s husband Fred lived in Midland, Pennsylvania, with his brothers Victor and Hubert. Both Fred and Evelyn identified themselves as “married,” despite being separated by 2,400 miles.

Fred and Evelyn may have reconciled briefly at some point after their separation in 1930 because a third son, Jerry John, was born to Evelyn on December 8, 1931. His birth was announced in the East Liverpool newspaper and he was identified as the son of Fred & Evelyn George.  The reunion was short-lived. In November 1932, Fred George married Betty Collins in Brooke County, West Virginia. Brooke County is in the narrow strip of West Virginia that juts in between Pennsylvania and Ohio. It was in that same place, also in November, where Fred had married Evelyn just eleven years earlier.

By the 1940 United States census, Evelyn was married to Ben Williams and they were living in Hanover, Washington County, PA.  Also in the home were Ben’s son Gordon (19) and his stepsons, Freddy (17), Richard (16), and Jerry (8). This census also reveals that in 1935, Evelyn and her sons were living in Burgettstown,  Pennsylvania (presumably with her parents) while Ben and his son Gordon were living in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles away. This would suggest that Evelyn and Ben did not marry until after 1935.

The 1940 Census also shows that Fred George was married to Elizabeth (Betty) and they were living in East Liverpool, Ohio with their three children James (6), Eleanor (4) and Lynnette (2). Although my husband’s father “Freddy” never mentioned that he had half siblings, it seems hard to believe that he didn’t know about them. Burgettstown, PA,  is about 30 miles east of East Liverpool, Ohio. According to Lynnette, Fred and Betty’s youngest daughter, she was not aware that her father had children from a previous marriage when she was growing up. Her older sister Ellie says she did know about them and she thinks her father may have maintained some sort of relationship with his older sons. So it is not clear when or why the estrangement between father and sons occurred, but there is no doubt that when my father-in-law changed his name from Frederick William George, Jr. to Frederick William George, III, he was signaling a break with his past.

Fast forward to 2013 when my husband wanted a DNA test for his birthday present. Rick always wanted to know more about his father’s side of the family, but his father was always tight-lipped about his own father. The results of Rick’s 23andme test revealed a woman living in western PA who was likely to be his third cousin. Thankfully, this DNA match, Terry Colaluca, responded to Rick’s request to share information and began to fill in the missing pieces of Rick’s family puzzle.  Terry’s grandmother, Mary,  was the oldest daughter of Pasquale George who was the younger brother of Adriano George. Fred George, my husband’s grandfather, was the first son born to Adriano George and Custode Iacobucci. Mary and Fred were first generation Italian Americans – born in America to parents who immigrated from Italy.

About the Bloggers

We created this blog in March 2014 to provide a forum for sharing the ancestry work we’ve done to discover our Giorgio Italian ancestors who came from Abruzzo, Italy to western Pennsylvania in the late 1800s. Up until mid-2013 we knew very little about them. Now thanks to Ancestry.com and 23 and Me – we’re getting to know a family we never knew we had!

After a visit to New Castle PA in July of 2013 where we met several descendants of the original Giorgio brothers who immigrated in the late 1800s, our family tree has grown. We even had a family reunion in July 2016 in Scottdale PA in the building that was once a drugstore owned by Gene George (nee Luigino Antonio George). His daughter, Carole Ann George Johnson still lives in the area.

It’s now 2020, a new decade so I’ve decided to read back through the original posts on this blog and make sure they reflect the growing body of family history we’ve gathered over the past seven years. We are grateful for the input from so many family members, especially Terry Colaluca and Irene George Veri. Irene passed away in June 2018 but she was such an important source of information during the five years we knew her.  Her first hand knowledge of the extended George family in New Castle PA and her sharp memory were invaluable to the stories captured in this blog.