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.
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