Information about the Modica family has been gathered from various sources including memories of my father, Domenico Colloraffi, my grandmother, Maria Modica Colloraffi, other family members, the civil records of Sant' Agata Di Militello from 1820 to 1910, Ellis Island web site, and the help of a distant cousin, Franco Realbuto of Georgia. We also thank my father's cousins and my mother, Mildred Colloraffi, for their help in putting together the information in this section.

Researching the family history of the Lucia Regalbuto and Ignazio Modica half of my Colloraffi heritage was one of the most informative and interesting paths, of the many that I have taken on this journey of finding out more about my Sicilian heritage.

Following is the information that I have been able to gather on these lines of my family.

This is provided through the genealogy reports of the Regalbutto and Modica families, with a great deal of gratitude to Franco Realbuto, whose great grandfather was the brother of my great grandmother, Lucia. He has spent many hundreds of hours combing the civil records of both Sant' Agata Di Militello and the small mountain town of San Fratello, where we first find our Lucia's ancestors in the 1700's.

Our quest begins with Luigi Regalbuto, who died before 1824. and his wife, Maria. Their son, Salvatore, who is the namesake of one of my grandmother's twin brothers, was born in 1798 in this mountain town. He married Maria Pupora (for whom my grandmother, Maria Modica, was named) in Sant' Agata Di Militello. Pupora is the Sicilian version of the word for a puppeter - one who works puppets. Sicilian puppets are a traditional way of teaching Sicilian history. The majority of the plays are a recreation of the Norman invastion and only men and boys were taught these lessons of history until the puppet shows started to make a come back as a Sicilian folk art, in the past 20 years. So, somewhere in our history, we find a puppeter.

We know that Maria Pupora is from the area of Termini Imerese and died in Sant' Agata Di Militello May 18, 1881. Maria's father was Salvatore Pupora and her mother Rosa Schiavo. I am also related to them through Maria's sister, who married Salvatore Zingales Botta. Rosa's heritage may have been what is known as Arabesh, as the name Schiavo seems to be one that would be recognized in that community. The Arabesh people were a group of Albanian Christians that were primarily herders and noted to be fierce fighters. They were also a clannish group and kept to themselves with customs and dress as recently as 100 years ago, and were known to live in the mountains around Termini Imerese, as well as other places in Sicily. Their heritage is that of Albania, which they left for Greece during the Turk invasions. Then, when the Turks invaded Greece, many moved to Sicily, to continue their folk ways. This migration primarily occured during the 14th to 16th centuries.

The town of San Fratello itself is a very intereting one as you can read in the family genealogy listing. It actually fell down in a mud slide around the year 1800, leaving only the church. This may be one reason that the Regalbutto's decided to go down from the mountains and settle in nearby Sant' Agata Di Militello. San Fratello is also remembered as being an isolated French/Norman community with people being tall and blonde, some with blue or green eyes, and they spoke a form of French dialect as recently as 1800.

Finding this ancestor also settled a discussion in our own family about my grandmother's "real name". Following the Sicilian tradition, she would have been named for her mother's mother, "Maria Pupora". However, on her confirmation record her name was spelled differently but my father could not remember what it was, and could not find the document. Her grandmother, though Maria, on her wedding record, had her name recorded as "Mariachia" on her death certificate. It means "little Maria" and is a term of endearment. So, my grandmother was also called by the name of "Mariachia". It is interesting that this "chia" ending shows the Greek influence in the North East area of Sicilia, that our family lived. The "chia" ending is from the Greek ending "kia" meaning small.

I have heard that this "chia" and "chio" is still used in this generation, in Sant' Agata Di Militello, as it has been for a thousand years since the Greeks inhabited the beautiful island of Sicilia.

The name Regalbutto itself is an interesting one and probably denotes the origins of this family in the province of Enna - close to the fires of Mt. Etna, and at the very navel of Sicilia itself. As discussed earlier, in the chapter on the possible meaning of the Colloraffi name, many Sicilian surnames are derived from the area that a family came from, as surnames were uncommon until the 17th century. There is also more information of this in the Regalbuto Chapter of this book.

In a similar fashion, the surname Modica reflects the beautiful town where part of the movie, The Godfather was filmed. The town of Modica was actually named for the French barron that was the land owner in the traditional feudal system. Are we related to him? We do not know. It is possible. However, whether we are related to Baroni Modica, or not, our Modica family most likely lived in this town at some time or other in history.

We have record of Domenico Modica, age 21 years, departing from the port of Palermo, Sicily, Italy and arriving in New York Habor on August 23, 1899 on the ship - the California. His new wife, Bernadetta, comes to New York within the year with his father and sister.

The Ellis Island records have Ignazio Modica, age 47, arriving from Palermo on the Marco Minghetti on April 19, 2001 at 9:57 AM. There is no picture available of this ship. His oldest daughter, Giuseppa, age 18 is with him, as is his new 17 year old daughter in law, Bernadetta. Giuseppa is listed as being married. This may or may not be a mistake, as there are many mistakes in there Ellis Island records. His new daughter in law travels with them. His profession is given as a mason.

Next come the 14 year old twins, Salvatore and Luigi Modica arrive in New York on October 18, 1901 on the ship, Sicilia, departing from Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

The family is finally reunited when Lucia Regalbutto, 48 years old, wife of Ignazio Modica, arrives from Sant' Agata Di Militello with the two youngest children, Maria, age 12 and Antonino age 8. It is most likely that the young children, Maria and Antonio did not need a passport and went under their mother's immigration records and pass port. They arrived in New York on August 18, 1902 from Naples, Campania, Italy on the ship Roma. This was a brand new ship. My grandmother, Maria, remembers that Antonio was all dressed up for the trip but played in the mud at the dock and got quite dirty before they got on board.

For my grandmother, Maria Modica, her first experience with the "new world" was a humiliating one. Her mother dressed her up to go to school. Poor Maria, who had been a bright and promising student in Sant' Agata Di Militello, was put in a class for 5 and 6 year olds at the new school. She could not speak English and perhaps this was the way that immigrant children were to learn the language. However she never returned to school and always remembered that one experience with education in New York as a very sad and shameful one.
Instead of continuing with her education, she went to work in the garment industry.

Her first job, at the age of 12, was taking out basting stitches. However, she progressed and became an excellent seamstress, even working through the Great Depression in the $5. a day dress industry. The family seemed to have done very well for themselves, as indicated by the family portrait taken in about the year 1907. In 1908, Maria married a young man who had come to the Bronx, from her own town in Sicilia, Vincenzo Colloraffi. Vincenzo was a tailor by trade and worked on fine clothing for wealthy families of the east. He was proud of his skill and during the depression, would not agree to work in the garment industry factory sewing rooms, as my grandmother did all of her life.

Because Maria lived and worked in environments where Italian was the primary language, she did not have to learn or speak English. The children were raised much the same way that they would have been in Sicilia. As babies they were fed pasta. Older children ate fresh rolls, hot from the Italian bakery, dipped in coffee for breakfast. Sicilian dishes were prepared for the family. Festivities were celebrated with others from Sant' Agata Di Militello. Wine was made, and drunk, by the family. Family members helped each other to get better jobs, housing, material goods. There was always a cousin who did something, or knew someone, who could get a good price.

Sometime, perhaps in the early 1920's Lucia and Ignazio Modica, moved with their sons, to the large Italian section of Cleveland where they worked in the plaster trade. Many descendants continue to live in that area of the United States. It seems that the daughters, Giuseppa and Maria, and their husbands and families remained in New York.

Maria and Vincenzo had three children: Domenico, born in 1910, Josephine (named for her grandmother, Giuseppa Zingales Botta -mother of Vincenzo) and Lucy (named for hher maternal grandmother, Lucia Regalbuto). My father remembers that he started school without knowing a word of English. Because his father was a tailor, he made him two new outfits for school. One was in red velvet and the other in blue velvet, with a ruffled shirt. My dad said that he was dressed up like a little prince, as "Little Lord Fauntleroy" would have been dressed. He said that he had to learn to fight because the other emigrant boys thought that he looked pretentious and like a sissy. He hated those outfits and did not want to go to school where the teacher could not understand him. After that, my dad insisted that his sisters speak and learn English before they started school. There is more information about my father and sisters in the Vincenzo Colloraffi part of the chapter about the Colloraffi family from Sant' Agata Di Militello.

Now that I am older, I am very proud of my grandmother, Maria Modica. She was a woman of definite principals and values. Among these were hard work. She worked all of her life in the garment industry in New York. She made sure that her apartment was always neat and tiddy. She was a very independent woman, who put money aside for her retirement and was alway grateful for her union and very proud of the $65. each month that she received as part of her union benefit. She stayed in the Bronx until her retirement at age 65 and then she moved to Detroit to be near her children.

Sadly, my cousins, sisters and I do not know very much about her because of the language barrier. As my cousin Joyce said, " Grandma talked about a lot of things with my mother, but it was always in Italian "(Sicilian). The same was true for me. When we visited her in Detroit, she would give us orange juice and Italian anise flavored biscotti and then would talk with my dad in Italian. These were usually very animated discussions and I always wished that I could understand what was being talked about.

I remember that I was frightened by her behavior when my cousin Eleanor died, a day after having a baby. My grandmother, Maria, was so upset that she kept kissing her repeatedly while Eleanor was in her coffin. In the past few years, as I read about Sicilian traditions, I know that grandmother had grown up in a time and place that this type of mouring was not only expected, but the norm. However, I also know that it broke her heart to have both of her daughters and her beloved Eleanor die before she did. She could not understand this and lived in pain because of it.

Another tradition was that of being chaste and beyond moral reproach. My grandmother attended my cousin Geraldine's wedding shower. She became tired and wanted to go home but was worried what others would think when Geraldine's young husband-to-be drove her home without a chaperone. Then, when he got to her apartment, she asked him to come in and make sure that no man had broken in while they were gone. Gerri laughed as she told how she made her husband to be look under the bed, in closets, and so forth.

There is a Sicilian tradition of "The Evil Eye" that got grandma in trouble. My father received a phone call - grandma was going to be kicked out of her senior building and my dad would have to find another place for her. When he questioned the apartment manager, he was told that she had spit on a woman! I can just hear my dad say "Hold your horses!" as he asked for time to discuss this untypical behavior with Maria, his mother. It turned out that she had thought that the other woman had "Put the evil eye" on her. The Sicilian antidote for such behavior, is to spit on the person. Thus, grandmother spit on the other woman. My dad was able to placate the manager with the promise that my grandmother would "spit no more!"

I make sure that I now have an "evil eye" omen in my kitchen window, which we purchased on a trip to Turkey, just so that I don't have to spit on people. I also carry a small one in my purse with me.

Maria Modica Colloraffi was a very brave woman. When she was about 80 years old, she went to the bank with her friend Inez, and then they were going shopping at the neighborhood grocery store. On the way, two young punks attacked them and grabbed Inez's purse. Maria would not let go of hers and fought them off. The end product was that she had two broken hips. They were repaired with surgery and she went to a rehabilitation center/nursing home to recover. She liked it so much there that she gave up her apartment to stay there. Furthermore, several years latter, when some of the staff got jobs at another facility, grandmother decided to move there too, and made arrangements with her Medicaid worker to move with them. She learned more English in the last 7 years of her life than she had in the first 70.

When my husband, children and I visited her, she loved to talk about her twin brothers - "Louie and Sam", born Luigi and Salvatore. Our twins, Robert and Eric reminded her of all of the fun she had had with her "naughty" twin brothers. My father told the story that his great-grandfather had 7 children and no twins, yet each child had a set of twins. I don't know if this is true or not. However, as you can see by this picture, there were 3 sets of twins in the Modica Family Reunion help in Ohio in 1987.

My grandmother is most remembered by me and my sisters as greeting us by pinching our cheek (hard) and excitedly saying "Yous a soo cute!" My sister gives this greeting to the inner city black children in her kindergarden class and tells them affectionately that it is a "Grandma Colloraffi" greeting.

As some of these photos will show, Maria lived with her daughter, Jose and her family in the Bronx in a large apartment of Fleley Street. Her daughter, Lucy and family lived in an identical apartment a few blocks away on the same street. My parents, Domenico and Mildred, took their four year old daughter, Patricia, to the 1939 World's Fair in New York and to visit with her cousins and grandparents and my mom told me a little about life in the Bronx for Maria Modica Colloraffi.

Each morning, before leaving for her job as a garmet worker, her oldest grand daughter would go to the Italian bakery and purchase fresh, hot rolls. This would be the family breakfast - dipped into coffee. Even children would have coffee with rolls. Grandma would go to work as would her son-in-law, Joe Sindonne, a butcher,whose family was also from Sant' Agata Di Militello. When her morning chores were done, daughter Lucy would take the two children downstairs and sit on the "stoop" or in chairs left at the sidewalk. There the young Sicilian women would visit with friends and family members, the children would play together - with supervision, gossip exchanged and vendors would sell merchandise such as fruit, vegetables, meat, eggs and so forth. Perhaps her sister, Jose, and her children would walk over with the baby carriage or maybe Lucy would take her children the few blocks down Ftley Street to visit her. When Lucy and her family eventually moved to Detroit, where her husband was able to get a butcher job with his uncle, she missed the life in the Bronx so much, and felt so isolated in a flat - without a stoop and sidewalk exchanges - that she moved back for awhile.

There is another story about my grandmother that my father told me and I wanted to record here. The family had a little white spitz dog named, "Queenie". The poor thing had some sort of injury or stroke and could not use it's hind legs. Maria found someone to make a little wooded platform on wheels which was fastened to Queenie so that she could move around the apartment and she did quite well for awhile, until she had another stroke and had to be put to sleep. I was told that my grandmother cried and cried when Queenie died. I was glad to hear about this sensitive side of Maria, because, being an animal lover, a story that she used to tell me from her chilhood used to bother me. She said that one time, when her twin brothers were young, they both wanted to hold a kitten and had a fight about it with each pulling on one end of the kitten until they killed it. My grandmother used to tell this with a big smile. Perhaps, she was just remembering her life in Sicilia and with her family with love.

If only I could speak with my grandmother, now. There would be so much to talk about. I would have many questions for her about her life and her family. I am trying to put little pieces of her back together. I wrote to the achives of New York and purchased pictures of the places that she lived in. Our Modica/Colloraffi family have found a few pictures to add to her life story, and here are some of them.

This was a very emotional time for my father and he had tears in his eyes as he was told about his other cousins and their families from the daughters of his Uncle Louie (born Luigi). We visited with Louie's daughters, Lucy, Edith, Ann and Yulonda and they volunteered to put together a Modica Famiglia reunion.

We came back to Ohio, this time not only with our parents, but with our children, sisters, and nephew and had a wonderful time. My father wept with joy at seeing his cousins again. Of the 60 people, of all ages who attended, one elderly gentleman, came up to me and said, "Excuse me, who are you with the eyes of my Aunt Mary?" Of course, he was one of my father's cousins and the Aunt Mary was my grandmother, Maria Modica Colloraffi. I will never forget that!

It was a wonderful day and we went back to Michigan with our hearts brimming over with love. One of my father's cousins reminded me so much of one of my sisters in actions and interests, more than looks. My father's cousin, Edith - one of the daughters of his Uncle Louie (Luigi) had been to Sant' Agata Di Militello, and had also been working on the family history. She had a wonderful display, including pictures of various family members and had traced our Modica family back to about 1820. Sadly, since that wonderful July day in 1987, the majority of the grandchildren of Lucia and Ignazio have gone to join their ancestors in eternal rest. However, those of us descended from them continue to remember the brave family that crossed the ocean in small ships so that all of us could experience the benefits of life in the United States of America.

Domenico Modica, oldest son of Ignazio Modica and Lucia Regalbuto was born December 19, 1878 in Sant' Agata Di Militello. He married Benedetta Lo Paso on July 26, 1899 in Sant' Agata Di Militello. She was born in 1882 in S.A. Di M. and was the daughter of Basilio LoPaso and Rosa Touaselle. Her huband must have left for New York immediately after their wedding, as he arrived there on August 23, 1899. As we mentioned earlier, Benedetta joined him shortly afterwards. She came to the United States with her new sister in law, Giuseppa Modica and her father in law, Ignazio. Information about this is in an earlier section on the Modica immegration to New York.
At this time, we only have the names of three sons, which come from my mother, Mildred Colloraffi's memory: Domenico, Al, and Joe. We know that Domenico moved to the Cleveland area and worked as a successful contracter, often with other cousins and nephews.

I think that everyone must have loved "Sam", as Salvatore Modica was called after he came to America. Both my grandmother, father and cousin told me stories about "Sam". I wish that I had known him. In the Sicilian tradition, Salvatore was named for an older brother who had died at the age of one month. My grandmother, Maria, was named in a similar way for an older sister who had died as a baby. Salvatore was born on May 6, 1887 - as was his twin brother Luigi - in Sant' Agata Di Militello. How happy their parents must have been to have twin sons a little over one year after the first Salvatore Modica had died. The story that I heard, after I had twins, was the the parents of Ignazio Modica had seven children and none of them were twins - but each of their seven children had a set of twins. I did find one set of twins in the Modica family, who would be cousins of Salvatore and Luigi, who were born in Sant' Agata Di Militello and it is possible that there were five other sets.
Salvatore married Rosalia ? in New York, New York. She died in 1953 in Cleveland, Ohio. They had the following children, which are remembered in the family, Ignatius (Robert) Modica; Lucia (Lucille) Modica; Joseph (Joel) Modica; Guido (Bill) Modica; and Umberto (Bert) Modica.

In the Ellis Island records you have read how Salvatore (Sam) and his twin brother Luigi (Louie) came to New York at the age of 14, without any money. Of course, their father met them in New York, and perhaps they did have a few lira, or even dollars that their father, Ignazio had sent - hidden in their socks with instructions to "Not to tell anyone you have any money" and that would include the ship's secretary or emigration officials who would have asked.

Whenever my grandmother or my father talked about Sam, they would have a smile on their face. My grandmother, their sister Maria, especially after I had my twin sons - Robert and Eric, would tell of the mischief that her brothers would get it. They were very handsome, and charming and knew it, and could get away with a great deal. My parents visited Sam when he lived in California. He had moved from New York to Cleveland and there the Modica family were very hard working and worked in the construction trade. While in Sant' Agata Di Militello, their father, Ignazio, listed his employment as a brick mason - but that trade would also include plaster/cement work since the buildings ther are built of brick and then plastered over on the inside, and cemented over on the outside. Sam and his brothers learned the trade of plasterer. The story that I was told by my parents is that Sam was told that he only had six months to live. He loved movies and of course, being from Sicily, longed for better weather than the harsh winters of Cleveland, Ohio, had to offer so off he went to Hollywood, California to spend the last six months of his life. Well, six months went by, and Sam was still feeling pretty good and he started to get a little bored. He loved the movies so he went to a movie stuidio to look for work. Yes, they could use a good plasterer.

So, Sam went to work making things like plaster rocks for cow boy movies, which were popular at the time and in doing so met many stars. He had many wonderful stories to tell my parents when they visited him in California after my dad retired.
The most memorable story happened after his twin brother, Luigi (Louie) died in Cleveland. Both Louie and Sam were very good looking and had girlfriends after they were widowed. They were also great jokers. My dad said that Sam went to Cleveland for his brother, Louie's funeral and he knocked on the door of Louie's girlfriend and she fainted. The twins looked so much alike, her first thought was that Louie was at the door.

Salvatore and Rosalia had the following children:

1. Bert Modica m. Barbara.
2. Joel Modica m. Helen.
3. Lucille Modica m. ? Schroeter.

Luigi Modica was born on May 6, 1887 in Sant' Agata Di Militello and died on June 29, 1796 in Cleveland, Ohio. He married Catrina Megistro in 1909. She was born June 21, 1887 in San Fratello, Sicily, and died September 5, 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio. They had the following children:

1. Lucia Modica, b. July 19, 1910.
2. Angelina Modica, b. May 22, 1912.
3. Edith Modica, b. February 14, 1916.
4. Ignatius (Bud) Modica, b. December 21, 1917.
5. Yolanda Modica, b. September 12, 1925.

Antonio Modica, the youngest son to come to New York of Ignazio Modica and Lucia Regalbuto, was born in Sant' Agata Di Militello onSeptember 14, 1892 and died June 22, 1984. He married Giuseppa Marcellina Regalbuto on April 25, 1915. She is the daughter of his mother's brother, Giuseppe, and his wife, Angela Cerrito. Giuseppa was born on March 19, 1895 in Sant' Agata Di Militello and died September 29, 1970 in California. Her family is discussed in the Regalbuto section of this book.

Antonio, known as Tony, came to New York with his mother and sister in 1902, as discussed earlier in this chapter. However, on the ship manifest, his surname and that of his sister, Maria is give as "Regalbutto" - the same surname as his mother. Tony, liike his brothers and father, worked in the construction trade in Cleveland. My gradmother did tell one story about him as a child and that was he was all dressed up to get on the ship to come to the United States, but played in the mud at the dock and by the time that his sister, Maria and his mother boarded, he was very dirty. Antonino and Giuseppa had the following children:

1. Lucy Modica, b. April 3, 1916 in New York, New York m. to Nicholas Petralia on September 26, 1936 in Cleveland, Ohio.
2. Ignatius Modica, b. February 28, 1918.
3. Joseph Modica, b. July 24, 1922.

Giuseppa Modica was born May 1, 1881 in Sant' Agata Di Militello. She came to New York and her sister in-law, Bernadetta, on the ship March Minghetti on March 16, 1900. The mainfest states that she was married, at that time. Her husband's surname is Scafidi. My mother remembers that she had at least four sons. It seems the Giuseppa, known as Josie, stayed in New York when her brothers and parents moved to Cleveland, Ohio. However, at least one son named Ben moved to Cleveland with his wife, Mary, to work in the construction business with his uncles and his grandfather. My mother remembers visiting them several times while she was in nurse's training school in Cleveland, Ohio, in the 1930's. She also remembers a son named Luigi, who came to Michigan, where my parents lived, to try and find work in the field of refrigeration. He moved to Florida where he died.