Marriage License for Viola and Vincenza

I received the marriage license in the mail from Winnebago County for Mr. Violle Manina and Miss Gutona Vincenza.  I am 90% sure that this is our couple with a misspelling of both of their names.  They must of had some thick Sicilian accents!  The couple on this certificate were married in Rockford, Illinois on April 18, 1921.  The groom was 27 years old - putting his birth year around 1894. This is well within a reasonable range of the other documents stating birth years between 1890 and 1894.  His birth record from Italy is 1890. His naturalization record states 1893. His ship record states 1891.  In that era, precise birth records were  not a common household necessity.  So the birth year for the groom matches our ancestor.  The name, Violle Manina, is not a very common name - and one that we have seen with our man in various spellings, Viola, Violes, Violle - so the groom's name is also strong evidence that this certificate matches our ancestors. 

The bride's name here says Gutona Vincenza.  Well, we know her name was Vincenza Fontana, and I am trying to imagine hearing that name with a thick Sicilian accent.  Seems reasonable to me that they may have confused first name and last name, and simply made a mistake in writing down the name.  Violle and Vincenza in all likelihood were illiterate and would not have had the ability to correct a misspelling.  The bride's age is listed as 19, which gives us a birth year of around 1902. This matches the 1940 census record and the ship record that I have which may be hers. The ship record has her arrival as Jan 1921 - so she would have been fresh off the boat when she got married. 

The other reason I believe this is our couple is, of course, the location of Rockford, Illinois.  We know for sure that they resided in Illinois and three of their children were born in Rockford.

Below are the images.

Gregorio Mannino Death Certificate

So the last post was a bombshell - our last name was originally Mandina. I know some of you may have your doubts and I realized I have not shared the death certificate that will bring all of my findings together, AND, this is the first document that I see that contains the name MANNINO. Could it be that his death certificate was the document that changed our name from Mannina to Mannino??

Here are the images:

Here we have the names of Gregorio's parents. Antonino and mother's name Angela Loria.This is without doubt the right man because we know the address was 37 Starr Street in Brooklyn.  We also have the signature of his wife who was going by Jennie Mannino. He was buried on January 3, 1946. His principal cause of death was lobar pneumonia.

Gregorio Mandina Birth Record

Remember Microfilm?

 I had the pleasure of receiving microfilm of birth records from Salaparutta, Sicily from the years 1866-1899. It also includes death records from 1866-1872 and general records from 1861-1900.  The records are not indexed, meaning you cannot search for a specific name or even date - you simply must scroll through the images one by one.  I ordered this microfilm from the Family History Library who then sent it to my local library and the library once it was received contacted me and I was able to go to the library to view the microfilm.   The rental period is 90 days and I will have the option to renew for another small fee if desired. 

I went to the library and was taken to a back room containing microfilm viewing machines which provide varying levels of magnification to view the records.  These particular records are handwritten in Italian.  As stated above the records span approximately 40 years of births, about 8 years of deaths and 40 years of miscellaneous records.  While they are not indexed in a searchable manner, each year of records were written in a book and at the end of each book is a handwritten in Italian an index of names that are included in that year with the record number next to each name. Some of the years are in alphabetical order, some are in order of date.  If you have seen microfilm - it is in a reel and the machine can fast forward or rewind either rapidly or slowly.  There is a small space between each year of records, so I was able to slowly fast forward through and view each index page to see the names that were contained. A bit of serendipity was involved and I quickly came across the record of birth for Gregorio Mandina.  Remember that name? This is the name on the ship record that I am confident belongs to our ancestor.  There is a common myth that at Ellis Island names were changed. In fact, the ship records were written at departure in the country of origin by a native speaker of the language, and therefore are the most accurate. Name changes came later - in census records and other records in the new world.

I was always told that our name used to be different. No one knew exactly what the original name was. I think we may have finally unearthed our original surname - Mandina.

On the ship record it states the Gregorio's mother's name is Angela Loria.  The birth record that I found contains this name. The birth record states that the father's name is Antonino Mandina. We know that Gregorio and Vincenza's first born son was named Anthony -which could be in tribute to Gregorio's father.  My grandfather's name is Angelo - perhaps named after Gregorio's mother.

The year of the birth record is 1890. This does not match the other records - but there has been variation between all of them - some say 1892, some 1893, some 1894.  It is common to find inconsistencies in birth years and even days in early records. There are varying reasons - but I am not too concerned - if the date is within 5 years it is very close. The names and town do match the ship record. The ship name and date were mentioned by Gregorio in his naturalization and immigration documents - so I am quite confident that this is our man. The names are family names that were passed on.

Here are the records. I do not read Italian very well. But I am familiar with what the birth records contain and the general order so I can make out some of the basic information. I will post the images below and hope to also find a translator at the Italian Genealogical Society that can translate the entire document word for word.  The quality of the image is not the best - there are limitations to the microfilm - especially for these early handwritten documents.

The bottom half of the page contains the beginning of the birth record. This is the entire page. 

Here is a cropped view. He was born in the comune of Salaparuta and presented by Antonino Mandina. Mother's name is Angela Loria. I believe the date says 21 of December. It is a bit difficult to make out. His other records in the US state December 19 - but as stated early discrepancies in date are very common. 

This is the complete second page. Gregorio's record ends at the top. Note the signature of Antonino Mandina. I find that the signature looks very much like the way Gregorio signed his last name in future documents.

cropped second page where you can see the signature of Antonino Mandina. To me it looks like Mannina. 

I can also corroborate the parents name by the death record of Gregorio. On the death certificate in the NYC Municipal archives it lists:

Name: Gregorio Or Violes Mannino Event Type: Death Event Date: 30 Dec 1945 Event Place: Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United States Address: 37 Starr St Residence Place: Brooklyn, Kings, New York Gender: Male Age: 52 Marital Status: Married Race: White Occupation: Labor Birth Date: 19 Dec 1893 Birthplace: Italy Burial Date: 03 Jan 1946 Cemetery: St. John's Father's Name: Antonnio Father's Birthplace: Italy Mother's Name: Angela Loria Mother's Birthplace: Italy Spouse's Name: Jennie BIRTH 19 Dec 1893 Salaparuta, Italy DEATH 30 Dec 1945 Kings, New York, USA Gregorio Viola Mannino LKS9-54M SPOUSE Vincenza `Jenny` Fontana 1902 - 1966 • LKS9-5CD x 5/30/2015 Person Details for Gregorio Or Violes Mannino, "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795­1949" — FamilySearch.org Reference ID: cn 225 , GS Film Number: 2167310 Citing this Record "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2W2C-PXT : accessed 30 May 2015), Gregorio Or Violes Mannino, 30 Dec 1945; citing Death, Brooklyn, Kings, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm .

Gregorio Mannina A-file Part 3: INS and FBI Investigation

If you have not yet read the last two posts I would suggest reading those first.  This is the last post in the series about the A-file. In post one, I discussed the Alien Registration Form, a World War II era program to register all immigrants. In post two, I discussed the Application for Certificate of Identification, both of which were used by Gregorio to register.

In this post, you will see a glimpse into the investigations that were done on immigrants who registered. The timeline in the file is as follows:

Nov 7 1940: Alien Registration Form filed
Feb 11, 1942: Application for Certificate of Identification
December 16, 1942: Request for Copy of Alien Registration Record (Form CA-140)
December 30, 1932 FBI Record furnished (Form T2)
July 20, 1943 Letter requesting re-check of FBI Records
Aug 3, 1943 FBI Record Furnished
Aug 14 1943 Criminal Record Received by INS Field Office

Not included in the A-file, but relevant is the US Naturalization Record issued on Feb 26, 1945 on which date, Gregorio ultimately became a Naturalized Citizen.

On the first letter below you will see stamped ENEMY ALIEN. This is a WWII designation on all immigrants who were from enemy nations. Read about it at this link.

 Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamations 2525, 2526, and 2527 to authorize the United States to detain allegedly potentially dangerous enemy aliens. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies arrested thousands of suspected enemy aliens, mostly individuals of German, Italian, or Japanese ancestry, living throughout the United States.

Above you see there are two names associated with the same fingerprint. This established as fact, that our ancestor was using both Viola and Gregorio as first names.

Something must have made the field office second guess the file. They requested an additional search into his background.  On the Alien Registration Form someone also circled the statement made by Gregorio that he entered the United States under the same name and has not been known by any other names. I wonder if he was questioned in person about it. I imagine so. I would love to locate a copy of his actual arrest record.

Another copy of the fingerprint records - identical to the one above which was perhaps originally misplaced?

This is the index showing that ultimately he was granted citizenship. At the time the INS kept these in separate files at field offices. In the 1950's all naturalization documentation was centralized into the A-file system.

Gregorio Mannina A-file: Part 2 Application for Certificate of Identification

Also included in Gregorio's A-file (see last post for information on the A file) is an Application for Certificate of Identification (Aliens of Enemy Nationalities). The Application is form AR-AE-22. It was submitted on Feb 11, 1942 to the United States Department of Justice Brooklyn, NY location. The Alien Registration receipt number is 3552191 - this is the number associated with all of Gregorio Mannina's A-file documents.  On the application his name is listed as Gregorio Mannina. His address: 37 Starr St Brooklyn, NY. His employment is listed as "unemployed for a number of years". His date of Birth is 12-19-1894 and he is a citizen of Italy.  Relatives living in the United States are Jennie Mannina, Wife, Address 37 Starr St. Anthony Mannina, son, James Mannina, son, Angelo Mannina, son,  Michael Mannina, son, and Joseph Mannina, son.   Relatives living outside the United States, Mary Mannina, sister address: Italy. This is a new name. I have not before heard of a sister, so I was excited to see this.  He has not applied for or recieved citizenship papers since August 27, 1940 and has never been refused naturalization.  He has never taken an oath or allegiance to a country, state or nation other than the United States.  He has never read a summary of the provisions of Presidential Proclamations and Regulations concerning the conduct of aliens of enemy nationalities.  He is not affiliated with any clubs, organizations or societies.

He is 5 feet 2 inches, weighs 152 lbs, has brown eyes, mixed gray hair, and a dark complexion.  Distinctive Marks: beauty mark on right cheek.

One copy of this Application was sent to the Alien Registration Division, and a duplicate sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation office in NY, NY. His photo, fingerprint and signature are included.

Gregorio Mannina A-file: Part 1 Alien Registration Form

Several weeks ago, a hint popped up on Gregorio Mannino on my FamilySearch online tree. I use both FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com because both have unique algorithms for searching and produce varying results.  The particular hint that popped up was for a record in the "United States Index to Alien Case Files, 1940-2003." The hint lead me to the website of the National Archives, where I submitted a request for a copy of the file, mailed a check for $20, and a week later had a 9 page document in my possession that are the contents of my great grandfathers A-file.

An A-file, or Alien File, is a file containing a unique A-number which identifies non-citizens of the United States and was put into use by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in 1940. You can learn more about it by clicking on the above hyperlink.

Included in Gregrio's A File are the following documents:

1. Alien Registration Form dated Nov 7, 1940,
2.  An Application for Certificate of Identification dated Feb 11, 1942
3.  A request for a copy of Alien Registration Record to the US Department of Justice from INS dated December 16 1942 and returned Dec 30, 1942 with FBI records for Viola Mannina and Gregorio Mannina
4.  Letter to US Department of Justice requesting a criminal check of FBI records dated July 20, 1943 and returned with FBI fingerprint records on Aug 14, 1943

#1. Alien Registration Form was submitted to the United States Department of Justice Immigration and Naturalization Service and was assigned the number 3552191. This is Gregorio's A-number. According to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) website:

Alien Registration Forms ("AR-2s") document the presence of non-citizens in the United States during the Second World War. The Immigration and Naturalization Service ("INS") used the Form AR-2 to make a record of all aliens residing in or entering the country between August 1940 and March 31, 1944. Although stamped with an Alien Registration Number ("A-number"), AR-2s are a distinct records series and are not Alien Files ("A-Files").

 From this document I was able to confirm that Gregorio did arrive on the S.S. Principe di Piemonte on October 30, 1913. If you read my last post, I detailed the record I located for "Gregorio Mandino".  He states on the form that his name is Gregorio Mannina, he entered the United States under the same name and has not been known by any other name. I emphasize the last part because this comes into play later in the file.
His address is 37 Starr St in Brooklyn, and his birthdate is listed as December 19, 1892 (Note - there is variation in the records I have seen from 1892-1894). He was born in Salaparuta, Trapani, Italy and is a citizen of Italy. He is a married, white, male, 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 150 lbs, had black-grey hair, and brown eyes. He arrived at Ellis Island on Oct 30, 1913 on the S.S. Principe di Piemonte. He came as a passenger and entered the United States as a permanent resident. He has lived in the United States for 27 years and expects to remain permanently. His usual occupation is laborer and present occupation is unemployed.  He is a member of the Wyckoff Heights Democratic Club, 53 Irving Avenue since September 1940. He has no military service. He has applied for first citizenship papers in the United States on April 15, 1940. He has the following relatives in the United States: wife, and 4 children. He has been arrested for the offense of "Sullivan Law" in 1938 in the 83rd precinct and his case was dismissed. In the past 5 years he has not been affiliated with or active in political activities of a foreign government. The form was signed on November 7, 1940 and the registering official that signed and took his fingerprint was Charles McCarthy.

Lots of information to soak in!  So - what is the Sullivan Law, you may ask yourself.  You can read all about it at the link, but here is a summary: It was a law passed in 1911 in New York City requiring licenses for New Yorkers to carry firearms small enough to conceal. What I found particularly interesting was the following:

Many believe the act was to discriminate against immigrants in New York, particularly Italians, as the first person convicted under the law was an Italian immigrant named Marino Rossi who was travelling to a job interview and carrying a revolver for fear of the "Black Hand".^[10] At sentencing the judge declared: "It is unfortunate that this is the custom with you and your kind, and that fact, combined with your irascible nature, furnishes much of the criminal business in this country".^[11] Prior to Marino's arrest, others had been arrested under the new law but were released without charges.^[12] Whether this was part of the law's intent, it was passed on a wave of anti-immigrant rhetoric as a measure to disarm an alleged criminal element.^[13] The police department who granted the licenses could easily discriminate against "undesirable" elements.^[13] Days before the law took effect the New York Times published an article saying "Low-browed foreigners bargained for weapons of every description and gloated over their good fortune in hearing of the drop in the gun market before it was too late".^[14] After Rossi's conviction the New York Times called this "warning to the Italian community" both "timely and exemplary".^[15]

Below are images of the Alien Registration Form. Stay tuned for future posts regarding the rest o fthe documents contained in his A-file.

Gregorio Mandino

So - if you read my last post - I had been reading through over 2000 names on a ship manifest and thought I may have found our ancestor - turns out I just had to keep on reading. I believe now I have definitely found our man. Below is the Ship Mainfest for the Principe di Piemonte sailing from Palermo. It departed Palermo on 16th October, 1913 and arrived in New York Harbor on October 31, 1913. Line 24 lists Gregorio Mandino, age 22, married male labourer from the Province of Trapani, Sicily. His nearest relative is his mother Loria, Angela located in Salaparutta, Sicily. His destination is Raceland, Louisiana.

On the next page of the manifest, his record continues - also line 24. He had a ticket to his final destination, which he paid for himself. He was in possession of $25. he had never before entered the United States. He was heading to meet his Uncle Lorenzo (cannot read the last name) in Raceland, Louisiana. He was never in prison, is not an anarchist or a polygamist. He is in good health with no deformities, is 5 feet 2 inches with a fair complexion and brown hair and eyes. His place of birth: Salaparutta, Sicily.

So - the moral of the story - never give up! Even though the last post was fun to imagine - and I could convince myself it might make sense - it was not adding up so I continued to pore through all of the 2000 plus names on the ship until I found him. I am now positive that this is our man. The age, place of birth, name and supporting details all match up to the immigration documents that I located.  New information is that he had an Uncle in Louisiana.  I will now try to decipher the last name of the Uncle. Here is a zoomed in clip of the name and address. Maybe you have some ideas...

Another detail that I noticed - on this record he is going by Gregorio.  And the last name is listed as Mandino - just a misspelling - or is this the original name??

Thanks for reading.  I also updated the layout of the site a bit and added links above to the ancestry and family search trees. Hope you like the changes. - Nicole