Mezzojuso Heritage Pages

	Discovering Our Mezzojuso Ancestry & Heritage
	Article 1 by Salvatore Joseph Lagattuta

Music: "Balliamo" - by Antonello Venditti

Salvatore Joseph Lagattuta - - - E-mail: slagattu@gte.net

	"My Family History from Mezzojuso"
	My Relatives in Mezzojuso, Sicily (Italy)
	and in Garfield, New Jersey (U.S.A.)
	written on 8 October 1999

 

Although I was born in Mezzojuso in 1952 and lived there until I was nearly three years old, while all four of my grandparents (paternal: Salvatore La Gattuta and Concetta Zito; maternal: Nicoló La Barbera and Giacoma "Giuseppina" Ginetti) resided there, I have no definite recollections of any of them, nor of my parents or of other paternal or maternal relatives, in Mezzojuso at that time -- neither do I consciously recall anything at all about my early infancy in Mezzojuso.

My maternal grandfather, nonno Cola (Nicoló La Barbera), would die exactly on his 83rd birthday (1 January 1968). He is the only one of my four grandparents of whom I have no clear memories, and I never had the chance to meet with him or get to know him personally before he died.

Both of my parents, Mario La Gattuta and Domenica La Barbera, were born in Mezzojuso, respectively in 1923 and 1925, and they were married there in 1951. I was born in Mezzojuso in 1952, and my younger brother Nicoló was also born there in 1953.

 

 

9 September 1954, in Mezzojuso:

My younger brother Nicoló (Nicola) and me Salvatore (Salvuccio)

 

 

In April 1955, traveling aboard the ship "S.S. Cristoforo Colombo", my parents (with me and my younger brother Nicoló) moved to the United States of America. We were following the recent return back to the U.S.A. by my paternal aunt Nicolina (La Gattuta) Brancato and my paternal uncle Salvatore Lagattuta and their families; my aunt Lina and uncle Sal had actually been born in Chicago. Then in 1957, my paternal grandparents (Salvatore La Gattuta and Concetta Zito) also returned to the United States.

"S.S. Cristoforo Colombo" - constructed in 1953 - Italia Line

In March 1912, my paternal grandparents (having traveled aboard the steamship "S.S. San Giorgio") emigrated from Mezzojuso to Chicago, where their first four children were born : in November 1912 a daughter Nicolina; in 1916 a son Antonino, who later died as a teenager in Mezzojuso; in December 1918 a son Salvatore; and in 1921 a son Mario, deceased soon after birth in Chicago. After residing for ten years in Chicago, my paternal grandparents along with their three children (Nicolina, Antonino and Salvatore) returned to Mezzojuso in 1922. My paternal grandparents then had two other Mezzojuso-born sons (including another son Mario, my father; and a son Vincenzo, deceased as a small boy in Mezzojuso).

 

 

"S.S. San Giorgio" - constructed in 1886 - Sicilia Americana Line

During March 1912, aboard this ship traveled my paternal grandparents (Salvatore La Gattuta and Concetta Zito).

So, during 1952 to 1957, all my close paternal family members -- my aunt (zia Lina) and my uncle (zio Salvatore) and my father Mario and their families, as well as my paternal grandparents (nonno Turiddu and nonna Concetta) -- all moved from Mezzojuso to Garfield, New Jersey, in the United States. All my maternal relatives remained in or near to Mezzojuso, in the Palermo province of Sicily.

 

 

Our Family in March 1955, shortly before we traveled together to the USA

Therefore, I grew up knowing very well my paternal relatives in Garfield, but only vaguely comprehending my maternal relatives in Mezzojuso.

As a child, growing up in Garfield, New Jersey, I had the good fortune to have close family relationships with my paternal grandparents, nonno Turiddu (Salvatore La Gattuta) and nonna Concetta (Concetta Zito), as well as my paternal relatives. I was actually named after my paternal grandfather (Salvatore), and my younger sister was named after our paternal grandmother (Concetta); my younger brother was named after our maternal grandfather (Nicoló), and my youngest brother was named after our paternal great-grandfather (Antonino). My youngest brother Anthony and my much younger sister Concetta were born in the United States, respectively in 1957 and 1966.

Even though they were far away, I often heard about my maternal relatives in Mezzojuso, and sometimes we would receive mail or photos from them, and we would mail them letters and photos too. My mother regularly sent many "pachi", large packages of clothes and other goods, to her family members still residing at Mezzojuso. After my maternal grandfather Nicoló La Barbera died in 1968, my parents planned for us to visit my mother's relatives in and around Mezzojuso, during the summer of 1969.

Our Family in June 1969, shortly before we traveled together to Mezzojuso

Standing: my parents, Mario La Gattuta and Domenica (Mimidda) La Barbera, my younger brother Nicoló (Nicola, Nicholas, Nicky)

Sitting: me Salvatore (Salvuccio, Sal), my much younger sister Concetta (Cettina, Connie), my youngest brother Anthony (Nino, Tony)

 

 

I would finally meet my maternal grandmother, nonna "Giuseppina" (Giacoma Ginetti La Barbera), and my maternal relatives during the summer of 1969 in Mezzojuso, when my parents (Mario Lagattuta and Domenica La Barbera) and I and my siblings (my younger brothers Nicky and Tony, and my much younger sister Connie) visited Mezzojuso and some nearby villages and Palermo. I became acquainted with my maternal relatives. I would also see some of them during their subsequent visits to the United States, and I kept in touch with them periodically by telephone and by mail.

Nearly 30 years after I had visited my relatives during the summer of 1969 in Sicily, during 29-30 May 1998 and 24 September to 8 October 1998, I was fortunate indeed to travel for vacation twice in Sicily and to visit there with many of my maternal relatives and some of my paternal relatives, in Mezzojuso and Palermo and Palazzo Adriano and Villafrati, most of whom I had not seen in almost three decades (since 1969) and some of whom I had not yet even met at all because they were born after 1969.

These were terrific visits with them, in 1998!!! I was really happy to be in my ancestral home-town of Mezzojuso and its vicinity, where numerous people there remembered my parents and siblings and me. I profoundly sensed my very deep family roots in Mezzojuso, where both my paternal and maternal ancestors had lived for centuries.

 

 

 

I now feel more complete -- having connections not only with my paternal relatives here in the United States, but also with my maternal relatives there in Italy.

Tanti Beddi Cosi a Tutti!!!

Salvuccio (Salvatore Joseph Lagattuta)

Descendants of My Maternal Grandparents: Nicoló La Barbera (1885-1968) and Giacoma Ginetti (1890-1980)

Discovering Our Mezzojuso Ancestry & Heritage

 

Blackburn, Mollye Bilao - - - "A Little of My Family History, and My Visit to Mezzojuso"; written on 20 April 1997. - - - "Cucidate: Fig Cookies for Christmas, A Mezzojuso Recipe"; written on 15 December 1997.

Briggs, Thomas - - - "My Family and I Visit Mezzojuso (during July, 1990)"; written shortly after the visit, and updated on 26 October 1997.

Cusimano, John - - - "My Trip to Mezzojuso (in the Province of Palermo)"; written on 7 November 1994.

De Angelo, Thomas - - - "My 'Discovery' of Mezzojuso"; written on 29 November 1999.

Di Stefano, Richard - - - "My Mezzojuso Immigrant Ancestors (Who Arrived in the U.S.A. in 1890)"; written on 1 November 1997.

Dunne, Laura Cutaia - - - "Genealogical Research on My Family from Campofelice di Fitalia"; written on 25 March 1999.

Frasca, Anthony - - - "Our Mezzojuso Reunion"; written on 10 May 1999.

Gallo, Frank - - - "Coincidence or Destiny? An Amazing Surprise during My Mezzojuso Research"; written on 29 April 1998.

Lagattuta, Salvatore Joseph - - - "My Family History from Mezzojuso"; written on 8 October 1999.

Lagattuta, Salvatore Joseph - - - "Remembrance of Visiting Mezzojuso (during the Summer of 1969)"; written on 26 April 1997.

Schiró, Anthony - - - "Mezzojuso Memories: Researching My Ancestry"; written on 26 October 1997.

Tavolacci, Giovanni - - - "I Soldati Garibaldini da Mezzojuso nel 1860" - "Garibaldi's Soldiers from Mezzojuso in 1860"; written on 12 April 1999. - - - "Campofelice di Fitalia e Mezzojuso" - "Campofelice di Fitalia and Mezzojuso"; written on 12 April 1999.

 

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