52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Custode Iacobucci George

I continued to be surprised at how many people are into genealogy and the number of creative and informative blogs available for people trying to capture their family history.  This post is in response to an idea posted on a blog entitled “No Story Too Small” that encourages other bloggers to post a story each week about an ancestor. In my case it might only be 37 ancestors since I’m not starting until April 21st but that’s still a good start.

Custode Iacobucci, my husband’s great grandmother, seems like a good person to start with. She was born in Italy on May 27, 1880 and immigrated to western Pennsylvania in 1897. She lived in Pittsburgh with her older brother Vincenzo Iacobucci, who signed the consent to marriage form when she married Adriano Giorgio on February 14, 1899.

Wedding Photo 1899

Sometime before December 1901, Custode and Adrian moved to Dunbar PA with their young son Frederick William George, where their second son, Luigino Anthony George, “Gene” was born on December 19, 1901. They had six more children and all but one of them, Lydia Lucia, lived to adulthood. Lydia died of scarlet fever in 1916 when she was 7 years old and is buried in the St. Aloysius church cemetery in Dunbar.

After the 1910 US Census when Adriano was listed as head of household in Dunbar with Custode, their children and Custode’s sister Rose Buzzella, Adriano, who sometimes went by Andy, disappeared. Custode George shows up in Dunbar in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 US Census reports but Adriano is not on the list. To make it more complicated, in the 1920 and 1940 Census Reports, Custode is identified as widowed, but in the 1930 census she is listed as married.

In May 2013, my husband found a third cousin when he had his DNA tested (her great grandfather was Adriano’s brother, Pasquale). We visited her in July 2013 and met other relatives, including one of Custode’s granddaughters who remembers visiting her in Dunbar although she knew her as Christine. We knew we were on the right track but there were still so many mysteries.

The last stop on our week-long ancestry trip to western PA was the courthouse in Uniontown, county seat for Fayette County, where Dunbar is located. Since two of Custode’s and Adrian’s daughters lived to adulthood and married, we were able to find their marriage licenses and that was how we finally discovered Custode’s maiden name – Iacobucci. All references to Custode before these used the last name of George. We also found Custode’s will, which provided information about the property she owned and the names of her children. The will was made in 1966, just one year before she died.

Perhaps the most interesting find in the Uniontown Courthouse was the record of a 1912 lawsuit that Custode brought against Adriano in an effort to keep their house after he abandoned her. Adriano and Custode ran a grocery/general store in Dunbar. They also owned property, one piece in her name, one piece in his name and one piece in both their names. According to Custode’s testimony, in February 1912 Adriano forced her to sign over her interest in the properties to him so that he was the sole owner. Custode testified that Adriano threatened to kill her if she refused. In May 1912, Adriano disappeared from Dunbar and we’ve found nothing to suggest that he ever returned.

Before he left the country, although it is not clear when, Adriano made a note payable to his brother Pasquale for $3,000.  A court in New Castle, PA, which is located in Lawrence County, entered a judgment note in favor of Pasquale to collect $3,000 that Adrian “owed” him. (Coincidentally the value of the three properties just happened to be $3,000.) The Lawrence County court issued an order to the sheriff in Fayette County to force the sale of Adriano’s properties to satisfy the note. This would have forced Custode and her children out of their home but brought a countersuit to stop the forced sale. She claimed the note that Adriano issued Pasquale was fraudulent and that Pasquale had never lent any money to Adriano. Although she lost the case on a technical point (the court in one county doesn’t have the right to issue an order to the sheriff in another county) she ultimately prevailed.

In the bankruptcy action, Adriano’s creditors tried to foreclose on the properties he owned in Dunbar. Since this action was in the county where Custode lived she was finally able to have her day in court and got to keep two of the three properties. Family stories suggest that Adriano may have gone to Argentina and started a new family there. Other accounts indicate that he returned to Italy and died there around 1950.

Although the reasons for his departure are not known, Custode testified that he may have left town because some people wanted to do him harm. This account meshes with one told by the daughters of Joseph Lloyd George, who told them that their grandfather escaped out the back door of the store while members of the local “Black Hand” were coming in the front.

Proof Positive!

As college acceptance time winds down, I’m sure there are still a few people waiting to see if their envelope is thick or thin. I was happy to get a THICK envelope yesterday from the Department of Court Records Allegheny County, Pittsburgh PA.  About a week ago I submitted an online search request for Adriano’s and Custode’s marriage license. Yesterday it arrived.

No matter how many times I find confirmation of birth dates, marriage dates or other personal details about someone, there’s nothing quite like seeing the original document (or in this case a copy of it) that provides the proof.  Seeing Custode’s and Adriano’s signatures somehow makes them more real to me.  And of course there are always a few tidbits of new information in such documents.

First of all – Custode has beautiful handwriting – although the “I” in Iacobucci looks more like a “G” so the name looks like “Gacobucci.”  Adriano’s writing looks a bit more practiced, but is also very clear and legible.  Adriano’s name on the marriage license is spelled “Adriano Giorgio.”  He lists his occupation as laborer and he notes that his earlier marriage (no names given) was dissolved by death. Their address is listed as 37 Washington Street, Pittsburgh, PA.

The license also provides birth dates for Adriano and Custode.  True – this is their report of their birth dates so not as good as the original birth record from Italy would be but good enough for our purposes.  Adriano was born on 27 December 1872 and Custode was born on 27 May 1881. So when they married, Adrian was 26 and Custode was 17.  Other records I’ve seen suggest that Custode was born in 1880 not 1881 but I don’t have her birth record from Castel di Sangro. Interestingly, Custode died on 27 December 1967 – Adriano’s birthday.

Included with the record was a document entitled “Consent to the Marriage of a Child or Ward” and it was signed by Vincenzo Iacobucci. The relationship between Custode and Vincenzo is not stated but we know he was her older brother. Later marriage licenses provided more details including the names of the bride’s and groom’s parents but in 1899 the form did not have as much detail.

St. Peter’s Church, Pittsburgh, PA

And finally, as we prepare to celebrate Easter, it is fitting that the last document in the file is the certificate signed by the priest who performed their marriage ceremony on February 14, 1899 at St. Peter’s Church in Pittsburgh. His handwriting is a bit hard to read but I think it is Rev Tittus Lagoria.

So there we have it – not that we had much doubt. Proof positive that Adriano Giorgio and Custode Iacobucci began their married life in Pittsburgh PA on February 14, 1899.

 

Custode Iacobucci George

---

One “truth” about ancestry research is that it’s easy to get pulled in a lot of different directions and hard to stay focused on one ancestor’s story. A key purpose of the blog format, other than to encourage regular writing, is to get family stories and accumulated research on paper – or whatever equates to paper in today’s online world.

Research is important to make sure you’re telling YOUR family story and not somebody else’s but without compelling details our ancestors tend to be just another name on a page. When there’s a bit of intrigue so much the better. So with that in mind, let’s find out about Custode Iacobucci George.

Rick found Custode’s name on the WWI draft registration card of Frederick William George, her first son and Rick’s grandfather. The card was dated September 1917 and listed Custode George at 128 Connellsville Street, Dunbar, PA as Fred’s nearest relative. Once he found the draft card on Ancestry.com, he Googled “Custode George” and found a summary of the lawsuit from 1912 in which Custode fought to prevent Adriano’s creditors from seizing the house she and her children lived in. It took us awhile to learn of her maiden name since none of her grandchildren knew it, but we learned it was Iacobucci (sometimes spelled Yacobucci) in the marriage records for her daughters Lena and Philomena when we visited the Fayette County courthouse in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in July 2013.

Custode’s early life will remain a mystery for now but we do know she married Adriano George on February 14, 1899 in Pittsburgh, PA. She was busy having children from about 1899 to 1912 and according to her testimony in the 1912 lawsuit – she and Adriano had eight children. One daughter – Lydia Lucia – died in 1916 at age seven and is buried at St. Aloysius Cemetery in Dunbar.

In addition to taking care of her children, Custode helped Adriano in their grocery store in Dunbar up until 1912 when he left town and declared bankruptcy. If you’ve been to Dunbar lately, it might be hard to believe that in the early 1900’s it was a thriving town. There were several hotels,  banks, two railroad depots and coke furnaces that provided work for the burgeoning immigrant community.

In every Census report after 1910, when she was listed as “Andrew’s” wife, Custode is listed as the head of household. She owned the house she lived in, which ranged in value from $2,500 in 1930 to $800 in 1940. Custode never listed her occupation or income in any of the Census reports. It is possible that her children supported her in her later years. Her second oldest son Gene and daughter Lena lived with her into the 1930s but by 1940, she was living alone in the house that she stayed in until her death in 1967.

An interesting article appeared in the February 4, 1931 Connellsville Daily Courier.  The article announces funeral services for V “Jimmy” Versace, a section foreman on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad who was killed when struck by passenger train number 69 a little south of Dunbar. From the 1930 Census report we know that the V stands for Vincenzo, which is the Italian name for James. The connection to Custode appears in the last paragraph (newspaper article not printed here):

“The body was taken from the J.E. Sims funeral home to the residence of Mrs. Custode George, in Dunbar, where Mr. Versace had made his home for 18 years.”

In another article (printed here) Jimmy was “not married and lived alone in a little house on the property of Mrs. Custode George at Dunbar.” I suspect this is the house on what is now High Street located just up the hill behind Custode’s house which faces Connellsville Street. Her daughter Philomena lived their with her husband Anthony Galand and their three sons, William, Harold and Richard.

There is no one alive to confirm the relationship between Custode and Jimmy Versace. Some of her grandchildren report hearing rumors that at least one of her children may not have been Adriano’s and perhaps was the child of a boarder. It is easy to make an assumption that perhaps that boarder was Jimmy Versace, but these are only assumptions. The only evidence lending some credence to this assumption is the way the names of Custode’s children appear in the 1930 Census.

On lines 7 – 10 near the top of the page living at 128 Connellsville Street we find these names:

Custode George – Head of Household – age 49 – married – no occupation
Jean L. George – son – age 28 – single – Pharmacist
Joseph V. George – son – age 26 – single – Laborer in a wire plant
Lena A. George – daughter – age 23 – single – no occupation

Further down the page on lines 46 and 47 – originally listed at 108 Connellsville Street (but then marked with a line through those numbers) we find:

George, Francis, son, age 17, no occupation and immediately below his name
Versace, James, lodger, age 44, Section Foreman, steam railroad.

Just above these names is the family of Frank Ruffano living at 108 Connellsville Street, which would suggest that Jimmy Versace was a lodger with the Ruffano family but we know from newspaper reports at the time of his death in 1931 that he lived on the property of Custode George. Adding to the confusion is the designation “son” beside Francis George’s name directly below the Ruffano family. We know that Francis George was Custode George’s son, but it appears he was living in a separate house with Jimmy Versace in 1930.

Where’d They Go Wednesday – Adriano Giorgio

I’ve noticed other blogs have a theme for their posts that provide structure for both the writer and the reader so I’m going to give it try. Wednesday’s theme is — Where’d They Go?

It is fitting that the first mystery involves Adriano Giorgio (1871 – ?). We don’t know when he died because after showing up in the 1910 Census in Dunbar, Pennsylvania, he never appears on any subsequent US Census Reports. This would suggest he was no longer living in the US and left some time after the 1910 Census and before the 1920 Census.

Here’s what we know about Adriano:

1. He has brothers who came to the US in the late 1800s or early 1900s. Ciro, his older brother, came before him or with him and his younger brothers, Pasquale and Romualdo, came later. The four Giorgio brothers who came from San Vito Chietino, Italy to America ended up in Pennsylvania.  With the exception of Adriano, they all settled and stayed in New Castle, PA.  Their names and birth and death dates are:     Ciro (1865-1926), Pasquale (1878-1958) and Romulado (1881 – 1941).

2. His first wife, Marianna Frattura, died a week after giving birth to their only child, Nicola Vitus Giorgio, in Castel di Sangro, Italy in the fall of 1896. Sometime between fall of 1896 (or possibly earlier) and February 1899 Adriano came to the US and met and married Custode Iacobucci. They ran a grocery store and owned property in Dunbar, PA, located in Fayette County in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania.

3. In May 1912, Adriano left Dunbar, abandoning Custode and their 8 children. There is no evidence to suggest that he ever returned. This information (the date and the number of children) comes from Custode’s affidavit in a 1912 lawsuit that she brought to avoid being evicted from the home that she and the children lived in. Before leaving town, Adriano declared bankruptcy and the bank was seeking to liquidate his assets to satisfy his creditors.

4. There is some suggestion (both from the lawsuit and from what living relatives remember) that Adriano went to South America when he left Dunbar in 1912. While that may be true, he didn’t stay long because there is a record of him marrying a woman named Maria Flamminio in San Vito Chietino on June 1, 1913. In the town records that show his marriages to Marianna Frattura and Maria Flamminio, there is no mention of his marriage to Custode Iacobucci and their children born in Pennsylvania between 1899 and 1913.

5. He probably died in Italy sometime in the early 1950s. This is based on Irene Veri’s recollection that her father (Nick George) was going to take her to Italy to meet her grandfather when she was about 15 years old. They never made the trip because they got word that Adriano had died.

That’s what we know – so where did he go?