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Uncle
Carmelo Croce, Aunt Rosa (Croce) Tumminia, other emigrants
From:
Patricia O'Dell Miller, daughter of Connie and Maurice (pronounced Morris)
O'Dell. I've done a lot of research on the Schiavo family and have some
information about Grandma's brother, Carmello Croce. Carmello came to the U.S.
with Grandma & Grandpa (Teresa and John [Stefano] Schiavo) in Oct. 1897. The
original handwritten ship's manifest gives his age as 25. However, on the
printed version of the manifest which appears on the Ellis Island website his
name is listed as Carmela and age as 28. Handwriting on older documents is often
difficult to decipher and obviously someone made a mistake here. Also, I have a
copy of the page from the 1900 Federal census which lists Carmelo Croce as age
27 at that time. This census also lists a person's month and year of birth and
he stated that his birth date was May 1873. He was living in lower Manhattan
with his wife Concetta. (Date of census was June 11, 1900.) Did you know that
Grandma's parents came to New York for at least one visit (I think there may
have been another later visit). On Nov. 14, 1902 Giovanni Croce and his wife
Concetta Gianfalla (she was listed under maiden name) came to NY aboard the
Trojan Prince which had sailed from Palermo. They stated that they were going to
visit their son Carmello. On June 18, 1900 Grandma's sister Rose (Rosalia Croce)
came to the U.S. She stated that she was going to the home of her brother
Carmello. Her age was listed as 16, occupation: seamstress. Rosalia later
married Paolo (Paul) Tumminia who came Mar. 11, 1903. Paul's brother Luigi
(Louis) later lived downstairs from Grandma & Grandpa for many years at 1554
Nostrand Ave., Brooklyn. From:
Suzanne Allen (daughter of Patricia Miller) Great-grandfather John Stephen
Schiavo's brother Emanuel emigrated to France. From:
Teresa (Cooper) Henry, daughter of Rosalie (Schiavo) and Vincent Cooper.
Great-Grandpa John Schiavo came to the US, one of his brothers went to South
America <<ed note: Salvatore since Emanuel went to
France??>>. Great-Grandpa lived with the priests -
schooling only until 10 years old but he learned to speak 7 languages ad to
read 5 languages. His mother left when he was a boy and lived with her
brother in Africa. TOP
Uncle
Johnny kidnapped!
Apparently
the story goes that Johnny was a very beautiful toddler - blond hair and just
simply gorgeous. Grandma and Grandpa Schiavo lived in Little Italy when they
first came to America (by the way, 240 Elizabeth Street which is listed on the
ship's manifest as to where they were coming still exists, as does their
address in Brooklyn - I'd love to get a picture of the houses today). A
neighbor decided that beautiful Italian boys belonged in Italy and kidnapped
him with the purpose to smuggle him back to Italy. The Tumminia's found Johnny
and got him returned to the Schiavos. Being such good friends, and no longer
feeling safe to live amongst the Italians, the Tumminias and the Schiavos
bought a house together in Brooklyn (1554 Nostrand Ave) where Tumminias had
downstairs and Schiavos had upstairs. I don't know the timeline of events,
whether Rosa had already married Paul Tumminia or if that was after. I'll have
to check to see if I have her marriage record. TOP
the
etymology of the Schiavo name
I
still need some work on this - look for updates on 12/16. Schiavo means
slave. Appears that the family name originated in old Hungary - the
people were slaves to the Huns. There is a very interesting story about
the origins in Sicily, but I couldn't locate my copy. Ciao
first appears in English in 1929 in Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms,
which is set in northeast Italy during World War I. It is likely that this is
where Hemingway learned the word, for ciau in Venetian dialect means
“servant, slave,” and, as a casual greeting, “I am your servant.” Ciau
corresponds to standard Italian schiavo; both words come from Medieval
Latin sclavus, “slave.”
TOP
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