Maria and Nicola Elia

From Eliafamily

Revision as of 16:50, 8 October 2006

Life In Sicily

Nicola's Early Years

The Provincia de Messina on the northern coast of Sicily, from which the Elias (and the Modicas and Ocellos) originated.

There is some confusing information about Nicola Elia's birth. We know he was born on July 12, 1879, but where is not exactly certain. Anthony Elia, Jr. reports that Nicola was born to Carmello Elia and Maria Calabresi in the town of Santo Domenico. There is a town in the province of Messina called Santa Domenica Vittoria, which sounds close enough to have been his birthplace. Marie Barbarossa remembers that his hometown was called something like "Acqua Calda", but no such town can be found on a map of Sicily. Very likely, Nicola was born in the Province of Messina, which is on the northeastern border of the island of Sicily. There is a town in that province named Acquedolci, which may in fact have been Nicola's birthplace.

Nicola was orphaned at a very young age. When he was just 4 years old, a tragic death befell his mother. Nicola was being teased by neighborhood boys, who were taunting and throwing stones at Nicola. His mother yelled out the window for the children to stop, when one of the kids threw a stone at Nicola's mother. The stone hit her in the head and killed her. She was about 40 at the time. Nicola's father was already dead by this time, although how is currently unkown.

Nicola was raised by a family with the last name "Scafidi", according to Ann Naccarato. Mario Modica's mother was a Scafidi who was related to the family that took in Nicola. The Scafidis and Modicas lived in the larger town of Patti, Italy, also in Messina. Whether this town was near Nicola's birthplace, or whether the family had moved to Patti before Nicola's natural mother died is unclear.

Ruins in the town of Patti, Italy, from which Nicola and Maria emigrated from in the early part of the 20th Century.

Nicola began working as soon as he was able and first worked in Patti at an olive grove. He was a laborer, picking olives, and his supervisor was Frank Modica, Mario Modica's father. Nicola met Maria Magistro, a neighbor, and married her. The date is uncertain. Interestingly (and has happened a couple of other times in our family), Nicola's brother Antonio married Maria's sister, Fransisca Magistro. Antonio had some sort of eye disease, which barred him from entry into the United States, so they emigrated to Argentina instead. Nicola and Antonio apparently lost contact after that.

Nicola emigrated to the United States sometime in the years 1903-1905. He came to America some time after the conception of (and probably birth of) Angela, his first child, who was born in November, 1903, but before Maria and Angela came over together in July of 1905. A search of the Ellis Island website revealed many Nicola Elias, a couple of Nicola Calabresis, and no Nicola Scafidis, but none of the records returned matched his probable age in the probable years (1903-1905) when he likely came to America.

There is, however, a Nicolo Scafidi, who came over in 1904 at the age of 25. This Nicolo Scafidi was listed as originating from Belmonte, which seems wrong, in Southern Italy, which is right. Furthermore the date of arrival (on the ship Perugia) of December 22, 1904 seems perfect: 6 months before his wife and daughter followed.

Maria Magistro's Early Years

The ship that carried Maria Elia and young Angela to America.

Maria Elia was born to Rosario Magistro and Mariuccia Calabresi on October 22, 1881 in Librizzi, Italy. Less is known about her childhood, except that she had at least one sister (Fransisca) who married Nicola's brother Antonio and emigrated with him to Argentina after the birth of her two sons, Rasario and Carmello.

Maria's first child was born on November 3, 1903, named Angela. Some time after this event, Nicola emigrated to the United States to get settled and get a job before sending for his wife and daughter. Those two sailed on the Prinz Adalbert and landed at Ellis Island on July 12, 1905. The ship's manifest says that Maria was 23, her daughter was 18 months old, that the two came from Librizzi, Italy, and that they were destined to meet up with her husband "Nicolo Elia" in Hoboken, New Jersey. Her occupation is listed as "homemaker". Under "Whether a Polygamist", the entry is happily entered as "no". The same negative is given for "Whether an Anarchist". She is listed as not knowing how to read or write. They were carrying $10.

As an aside, the ship they took, the Prinz Adalbert had an interesting history of its own. It was built in 1902 and could carry 1200 passengers. It was a German ship that was seized by the British in 1914 and renamed the Princetown. It was sold to the French and renamed the Alesia in 1917, but later that year, on September 6, it was torpedoed and sunk by the German navy off the coast of Ireland.

Life In America

The names of Maria Magistro and daughter Angela on the July 12, 1905 manifest of the ship Prinz Adalbert at Ellis Island, NY.

The Elias first settled in Hoboken, NJ, where their first son, Carmello, was born. (Carmello would change his name to Thomas in his teen years.) They moved next to Brown Station, NY in Ulster County (now called Shokan). They had several children while there including Rosario (Charlie), Natale (Mary), and Rose. Brown Station was a burgeoning town where hundreds of families had moved to build a dam and reservoir that still serves New York City. Nicola was again a laborer under Frank Modica's supervision.

One weekend Nicola went to New Jersey to visit friends and came home to find that his house had burned to the ground. He was frantic that his wife and children may have died, but was relieved to learn that a neighbor lady had taken them in after they escaped the burning building.

As the dam neared completion, the family moved to Norwich, NY, where it would grow to include Sam, Angelo, and Tony, the 8th child. They moved to a house on West Railroad Street (now West Midland Drive), and Nicola went to work for the railroad. Later, he ran a small coal business and grocery business. He brought migrant workers to pick peas and beans from Utica, then sell the vegetables in New york City. His son Anthony drove the truck.

The Ellis Island manifest listed this hard-to-read address in Hoboken, NJ as the destination of Maria and Angela Elia after immigrating to the United States.

Maria, meanwhile, worked in the Norwich Knitting Mill for 30 years. She was also a midwife for many years until the local doctors asked her to stop (an early symptom of America's over-medicalized child birth practices?). In fact, she delivered many babies for Italian families in Norwich, including her grandchildren Marie Barbarossa and Nicholas Elia.

Maria always spoke Italian to her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, but would speak English to those not of Italian decent, like those who married into the Elia family. Her cooking was much beloved.

Nicola Elia died of a stroke on June 14, 1965. Maria lived to see her 90th birthday, but only outlived one of her children (Angela, who died in 1951). At the birthday party, she was photographed with 5 generations, the youngest attendant being her great-great grandson, Steven St. John. She died on May 10, 1973 at the age of 91.

Photo Gallery

Maria and Nicola Elia (with daughter Mary) in Norwich, NY.

Maria Elia lived to see her 90th birthday, a milestone acheived by her children Rose (far left) and Charlie (directly behind Maria).

Nicola and Maria with some of their great grandkids (the Ocello grandkids).

Maria and Nicola congratulate granddaughter Josephine on her marriage to Frank Benedicto.

Descendants

This website is dedicated to preserving the history of Maria and Nicolo's eight children. Biographies of many of their descendants can be found on the Family Tree; this website is designed so that all family members can easily add their own biographies or update or amend biographies already posted (see information on contributing).

The eight children:

Angela Ocello, who gave rise to the Angela Ocello Lineage
Tom Elia, who gave rise to the Tom Elia Lineage
Charlie Elia, who gave rise to the Charlie Elia Lineage
Rose Modica, who gave rise to the Rose Modica Lineage
Mary Elia
Sam Elia, who gave rise to the Sam Elia Lineage
Angelo Elia, who gave rise to the Angelo Elia Lineage
Tony Elia, who gave rise to the Tony Elia Lineage