Part 1
Nocera Inferiore
Part 2
Castellammare di Stabia
Part 3 - Brooklyn
Frank & Elizabeth
Lanzara Ancestral Chart
Giuseppe
Francesco
Cemeteries
Causes of Death
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LANZARA-LANZARO-LAMURA FAMILY WEBPAGE
Frank Grossetto
Last update 10/9/2024
For many years, my research on Frank was hampered by my father's pronunciation of his surname. According to Dad, he was Frank Crosetti. During the course of my research, I have come across the following spellings: Corsetti, Crosetti, Crossito, Crosseto, Crossitto, Crosit, Grosset, Grossette, Grosito, Grosseto, Grosetto, and Grossetto. Most of the documents that I have found use variations of Grossetto. Therefore, for the sake of this narrative, I have chosen to adopt the Grossetto spelling.
After the sudden death of their newborn baby Rosa in 1871, Giuseppe and Petronilla seemed unable to produce any more children. As we stated before, Petronilla may have been experiencing trauma after losing the baby, or there were complications with the birth. In any case, fearing they were no longer able to have children, they turned to adoption. By this time, the Catholic Church had instituted a program for saving illegitimate or unwanted babies and offering them to married couples who were unable to have children of their own.
In some cases, children were abandoned because their parents were too poor to care for them, but the majority of abandoned children were the result of illegitimate births. Social and political policies made it difficult for a pregnant, unmarried woman to keep and raise an illegitimate child. Not only did this situation bring shame to her, but also to her family, even to the point of making it difficult for her or her siblings to find suitable marriages.
One way to "deal" with these unwanted babies was to leave them on the side of the road, in a remote area, or throw them into the sea. In the 16th and 17th centuries, infanticide was reaching an all-time high and the Catholic church's concern for the souls of these babies played a large role in the development of foundling homes, which offered another option to unwed mothers. This was not only a phenomenon in Italy but other Catholic countries such as France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Ireland, and Austria.
In order to allow the anonymity of the mother, and thus keep her and her family from being disgraced, the ruota dei proietti or "foundling wheel" was instituted. The foundling wheel was a wooden, cylindrical box that was installed in the outer wall of a hospital, church, or in smaller communities, a midwife's home, into which a newborn could be placed.
The wheel was then turned, so that the baby went inside, without anyone being able to see (from the inside) who placed the baby on the wheel. The person leaving the baby then pulled a bell that was near the wheel, notifying the attendant inside that a foundling had arrived.
These attendants, usually midwives, served as "keepers of the wheel," and had the responsibility of taking the baby to the town hall to have the birth registered, and then to the parish church for its baptism. They also had the responsibility of finding a wet-nurse to feed the baby. As these wet-nurses were given a small compensation for their services, in some instances the mother of the baby would seek to become the baby's wet-nurse herself, and have the opportunity of bonding with her baby, even if it was anonymously.
So, according to our family lore, Giuseppe and Petronilla went to a convent or church in Castellammare di Stabia, went up to the foundling wheel and rang a bell. The attendants placed a baby in the wheel, and turned the wheel so that Giuseppe and Petronilla could take it from the outside.
The baby was named Francesco (Frank) Grossetto. Grossetto was probably the name of the mother who offered the baby for adoption. It was customary for the adopting parents to also adopt the last name of the mother. Frank's name and date of birth was recorded in Castellammare di Stabia as September of 1872.
Thankfully, Petronilla went on to give birth again. Salvatore in 1874, Marianna in 1876, and Ciro in 1879. Again, tragedy struck when Marianna and Ciro died at age 2. But Petronilla persevered and gave birth to her final child, my grandfather Ciro Eugene Lanzaro in 1881. And if it wasn't for the fact that Petronilla recovered her ability to give birth after adopting Frank, then I and many of my cousins would never have existed.
When Giuseppe's brother Francesco died in Brooklyn in January of 1892, Giuseppe came to America several months later, on July 14, 1892. He was not alone on the voyage. For whatever reason, he brought along his adopted son Francesco who was nearly 20 years old. Francesco's occupation is listed on the ship's manifest as "husbandman", an old term for farmer. Like his brother, Giuseppe became a barber in Brooklyn, a vocation he appears to have had in Italy, inferred by the ship's manifest stating he was a "hair dresser." A year later in 1893, Petronilla, Ciro, Carmela and her husband Catello LaMura arrived.
More about Dad's recollection of Frank. He remembers that they called him by a name that is pronounced "chi-CHEEL", but doesn't know why. Frank worked on the docks and married a woman named Pennella. They had 3 boys and 1 girl. One of the boys was Toto (pronounced TAH-toe), who at one time was in the Navy. There may have been another son named Joe. Dad lost track of the family many years ago. As it turns out, Dad's recollections were for the most part true.
The 1900 Census is the first document showing 27-year-old Frank working as a longshoreman and living in a tenement at 147 Conover Street, along with Carmela (Lanzaro) and Catello LaMura. This was in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, just up the street from Giuseppe and Petronilla who lived at 135 Conover Street. Frank is now married, to Maria Giuseppina "Josephine" Mauro. Dad's recollection that her name was Pennella doesn't match here. Josephine was born in Italy on October 10, 1872 and came to America in 1894, just one year before she married Frank in 1895. Although they would eventually have nine children, only four would reach adulthood, three boys and one girl, just as Dad recalled. I have no idea which of the boys was called Toto, but there was a Joe. In fact, new-born baby Joseph was living with Frank and Josephine at 147 Conover Street in 1900. And, I have no idea why Frank was called "chi-CHEEL".
1. Anna Grossetto
Frank and Josephine's first child was born in Brooklyn on February 28, 1898. Her birth certificate recorded her name as Anna Crossito. They were living in a small tenement at 104 President Street and that is where little Annie was born. This was also in Red Hook, about a dozen blocks north of 147 Conover Street where they moved shortly after Annie's birth. Of the nine children born to Frank and Josephine, five of them did not live into adulthood. Little Annie was one of them. A few weeks before her first birthday, she contracted a severe case of bronchial pneumonia and her little heart gave out. She died at home on February 11, 1899. She was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn. The name entered on her death certificate was Annie Grosset.
2. Joseph Grossetto
Exactly one year after the death of little Annie, Frank and Josephine welcomed baby number two. This was Giuseppe "Joseph" Grossetto, born on February 6, 1900 at 147 Conover Street. Joe dropped out of school after completing the sixth grade and appears to have found work as a longshoreman, like his father. By 1918, the family was living at 114 43rd Street in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, just a few blocks from the Brooklyn Marine Terminal where Frank and Joe may have worked. The building where they lived was no longer standing in 1940. Waterfront areas like Red Hook became infamous in the 1920's for bootlegging, as ships offloaded contraband, especially liquor which had been banned by the 18th Amendment, for distribution throughout the city.
Joe was 22 years old when he signed aboard the S. S. Patria as one of the crew to pay his way across the Atlantic in May of 1922 to Meta, Italy to "visit relatives". Meta is a town about 9 miles southwest of Castellammare di Stabia. We can easily conjecture that Meta was the home town of his birth mother and her family, thus the entry on his passport that he was going there to "visit relatives." Of course, we may never know.
Joe stood 5' 7" tall, weighed about 180 pounds, with brown eyes and dark brown hair, and a light brown complexion. He had a tattoo of a cross on his right arm.
Joe found himself trapped in Italy when he realized he did not have enough money to sail back to New York. While there, however, he met a young woman named Laura Russo. She was born in Meta on October 15, 1902. They were married in Meta on May 31, 1923. They appear to be living at Laura's home where her father Massimo Russo lived, at 23 Via Cristoforo Colombo in Meta. On March 19, 1924 they welcomed their first child, Francesco "Frank" Grossetto, while still in Meta. Joe was finally able to raise enough money to sail back to America, then sent for Laura and Frank who arrived aboard the S. S. President Wilson on June 16, 1924.
After settling down with his new family in Brooklyn, Joe returned to being a longshoreman. They moved around a great deal before finally ending up at 57 Claremont Avenue in West Babylon, out on Long Island. Along the way, they had five children.
As we already stated, the first child was Francesco "Frank" Joseph Grossetto, born in Meta, Italy on March 19, 1924. He began working at an early age as a printer's apprentice and compositor (typesetter) at the Sterlip Press advertising company in Manhattan. He was around six feet tall, weighed about 170 pounds, with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a ruddy complexion. He was 19 years old when he enlisted in the U. S. Navy on January 26, 1943. He was still serving in the Navy when he married Demetra "May" Panagakos, the daughter of Greek immigrants Nickolas Panagakos and Kate Monavisitis. May was born in Manhattan on May 13, 1924. The marriage took place at Saint Thomas Church in Brooklyn on New Year's Eve of 1943.
If you'll recall that my father told me one of the Grossetto boys was called Toto (pronounced TAH-toe), who at one time was in the Navy. Of all the Grossetto men in this narrative, I have found evidence that only Frank was in the Navy. If the family called him Toto, I have no record of it.
Frank was honorably discharged from the Navy right after Christmas on December 26, 1945. He continued working at Sterlip Press, while May worked in bookkeeping and accounting. By 1950, they had a daughter and a son and were living at 373 Pulaski Avenue on Staten Island.
Over the years, the family frequently went camping in places like the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. They also enjoyed hiking, hunting, and fishing. At some point Frank and May decided to sell their home on Staten Island and move to a tree farm. Around 1960 they were looking for land on the New York side of the Delaware River in the area around a small village called Long Eddy, close to the border with Pennsylvania. They found a property they liked but ran into trouble with the title. A real estate agent then drove them to a site in Damascus, about 15 miles south of Long Eddy and just across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. They were told the 82-acre property had a spring that never ran dry. Frank immediately spotted a herd of deer and convinced May that this was the place for them. They purchased the land in 1964 and spent years getting it into shape as a tree farm, with the help and advice of several state and local conservation groups.
One of the first things they did was to construct a pond to attract more wildlife. In the beginning they camped on the property since there were no buildings on it. This gave them a first-hand experience in identifying existing problems with the land, such as poor soil and drainage. It was a drastic change from living in "the city" all their lives. Slowly, they worked improvements on the land and built a 2-bedroom, single bathroom home so they could move into it by 1971. Eventually, they expanded the farm to 92 acres and named it "Rambling Acres". As of April 2024, the house and the entire 92 acres was listed for $289,719.
To support themselves while trying to restore the farm to a profitable state, Frank found work in the Damascus area as a carpenter and May worked at the Wayne County Courthouse. They then set about building 2500 feet of fire roads for easier access to all parts of the property, and ensuring better protection from forest fires. One of the trails was dedicated to Frank's mother Laura and named "Laura's Point".
They also developed a drainage system to control rain water erosion. While the idea was to profit from selling the trees, they soon realized the best trees had already been removed before they bought the property, and the only trees still there were either diseased or deformed and simply couldn't be sold. It took them years to transform the poor tree farm to a healthy one.
Between 1974 and 1977, Frank returned to his old job back in Manhattan. They lived in an apartment in the city during the week and returned to work the farm on weekends. Unfortunately, Frank died in 1977, but May carried on and by 1979 she became a certified Tree Farmer. A quote from May: "We are all tenants of the land and it is everyone's responsibility to preserve our environment. Becoming a tree farmer has made me aware of all our natural resources that are just taken for granted. It is a great privilege to enjoy the wildlife in their natural habitat, plant a seedling to grow to maturity and share Rambling Acres with my children, grandchildren, relatives and friends.
May was declared the 1988 Northeastern Regional Outstanding Tree Farmer by the American Forest Council. Her farm was judged the best of 8700 tree farms in eight eastern states. When Congress passed a bipartisan capital gains tax break proposal in 1989 that met the needs of tree growers large and small, President Goerge H. W. Bush saw a great opportunity to show off the benefits of the new law by inviting several small tree farmers, including May, to the White House to witness his signing of the bill. May explained to him that she was a fixed-income retiree on Social Security who was growing trees to pay for her granddaughter's education and didn't expect to make money from them until the next century.
May was a member and volunteer of the Forest Stewardship Program, American Forest Council and Soil Conservation Service. She was also a member of Saint Joseph's Church in nearby Rileyville and president of its Altar Society. In 1995, she was again declared Northeastern Regional Outstanding Tree Farmer by the American Forest Council. As if she didn't have enough to keep her busy, May was also a volunteer with the Ambulance Corps.
As stated above, Frank died in 1977, on March 9 of that year. He was only 52 years old. He was buried at Pinelawn Memorial Park in East Farmingdale, Long Island, New York. May lived a long life before passing at the age of 92 on April 22, 2017, forty years after Frank. She was buried with Frank at Pinelawn Memorial Park.
Joe and Laura's second child was Josephine Marie Grossetto. She was born in Brooklyn on November 8, 1925, a year after Laura arrived from Italy with baby Frank. Around 1942, the family moved to 748 39th Street in Brooklyn. Josephine was 19 years old when she married 20-year-old Michael Vittorioso on September 30, 1945. Since the age of consent in New York at that time was 21, both Josephine and Michael had to have the signed consent of their parents in order to be married. Michael was born in Manhattan on November 6, 1924, almost exactly one year before Josephine. His parents were Salvatore Vittorioso and Michelina "Mary" Ponticello. Michael's mother Michelina died when he was only 2 years old. She died while giving birth and suffering from tuberculosis and severe bronchitis. The baby, Anna Ponticello was born June 26, 1927, the same day Michelina died. Baby Anna inherited tuberculosis from her mother and died six months later. It should be noted that during the same time period this terrible disease claimed the lives of several members of our Leier/Nowasky ancestors, including that of Louisa (Leier) Lanzaro, the wife of Ciro Eugene Lanzaro.
At the time of the marriage, Michael was employed as a truck driver. He was 5' 6" tall, weighed about 160 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, and a dark complexion. In 1950, they were living at 349 37th Street in Brooklyn. Michael was unemployed and Josephine was supporting them by working at a textile factory. They do not appear to have had children.
Josephine died a week after her 84th birthday on November 14, 2009. Michael followed her a few months later, on February 19, 2010. He was 85. They are interred together in the Hillside Mausoleum in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
Child number three for Joe and Laura was Martin John Grossetto, born in Brooklyn on January 4, 1928. He was working as a sewing machine operator for a ladies coat factory when he married Rose J. Giordano, on April 5, 1952. They lived at 1369 East 28th Street in Brooklyn. Years later, in 2005, they bought a home at 15 Harbor Town Way in Monroe, New Jersey. Barely a year later, Martin died on November 6, 2006. He was 77 years old. A little more than a year after Martin's passing, Rose died in Far Rockaway in Queens, New York. They are buried together at Saint Charles Cemetery on Long Island.
Mary Rose Grossetto became the fourth child born to Joe and Laura. She was born in Brooklyn on September 29, 1929. She was 19 years old and working as an "office girl" when she married an elevator operator named Giorgio "George" Joseph Venuto in Brooklyn on November 28, 1948. George was 5' 9" tall, weighed about 130 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes, and a dark complexion. He was born in Brooklyn on September 3, 1926, the son of Rocco Venuto and Louisa Figiolia.
Mary and George lived most of their lives on Long Island. First at 39 Rodney Avenue, Islip Terrace, then 443 Windmill Avenue, West Babylon. They were living in West Babylon when George died on July 20, 1997. He was 70 years old. Many years later, on July 3, 2015, Mary was 85 when she died. She and George are interred together in a mausoleum at Pinelawn Memorial Park and Arboretum, East Farmingdale, Long Island.
We have a little information about the fifth child, Joseph P. Grossetto, the youngest and last child born to Joe and Laura. He was born on September 16, 1939. After Joe and Laura and the children moved to the town of Babylon on Long Island, Joseph appears to have dropped out of Babylon High School after his junior year. A few years later, he married Arlene Graff on May 6, 1961. Arlene was born August 6, 1940. Her parents were Harry J. Graff and Ann DeBello. Joseph and Arlene had at least two children. They had just celebrated 53 years of marriage when Joseph died on May 17, 2014. He was 74 years old. He was buried at Saint Charles Cemetery on Long Island.
Joe and Laura were still living in Babylon on Long Island when Joe died on March 11, 1982. He was 82 years old. He was buried at Saint Charles Cemetery. Ten years later, Laura died, on September 23, 1992. She was buried next to Joe at Saint Charles Cemetery. The family name carved on their headstone is spelled Grosseto. This is true of all their male children. At the time of her death at the age of 89, Laura had 16 grandchildren and 19 great-grandchildren.
3. Nunziata Grossetto
Frank and Josephine would now have three more children that would not live beyond infancy. A daughter, Nunziata Grosti, according to her birth certificate, was born May 17, 1901. Fifteen months later, the baby was suffering from a severe case of chronic bronchitis when she died of exhaustion on August 18, 1902. Her death certificate spelled her surname Grosseto. She was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn.
4. Gregorio Grossetto
Fifteen months after the death of baby Nunziata, Josephine gave birth to Gregorio Grosseto on November 17, 1903. This one lasted nine months before dying from "tabes mesenterica", a disease usually accompanied by extreme diarrhea and sometimes associated with tuberculosis. His death certificate also attributed his death to "cardiac paralysis". He was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in the same unmarked grave as that of Frank's adopted father Giuseppe Lanzaro. Baby Nunziata was buried in another plot nearby.
5. Carmela Grosseto
Her birth certificate shows that Carmela Crosseto was born at 145 Conover Street on July 3, 1905 to Frank and Josephine. Although we can find no other evidence of her existence, we do have a death certificate for a 25-day-old female named what appears to be Miles Crosit on a death certificate that shows the parents to be Frank Crosit and Josephine Mauro, residing at 145 Conover Street in Brooklyn. If "Miles" is in fact Carmela, then she would be 15 days old when she died, not 25. Pretty close, and as far as I'm concerned, close enough. This also solves another mystery we've had for many years. The Holy Cross Cemetery record for Giuseppe Lanzara, Frank's adoptive father, lists several infants buried with him in the unmarked grave. One of them was Gregorio Grosito, Frank and Josephine's baby son who died one year before in 1904. There is another baby listed as 25-day-old "Miles Ciost". This has to be Carmela, and that is what I have decided to accept. Carmela was born July 3, 1905, died 15 days later on July 18, and buried with her grandfather at Holy Cross Cemetery.
How did baby Carmela die? The death certificate appears to state "Enterocolitis", or inflammation of the intestine. It's usually caused by a viral, bacterial or parasitic infection (food poisoning, stomach bug or the stomach flu).
6. Salvatore Grossetto
Finally, another child, number six, who would live well into adulthood. Although his birth certificate says his name was Salvatore Grossette, it was Salvatore "Sal" Grossetto, born in Brooklyn on September 18, 1906 and, like his father, he became a longshoreman. He did not go beyond eighth grade in school. He was 38 years old when he married 39-year-old Lucia "Lucy" Flosaria Virgilio on June 17, 1944. Lucy was born in New York City on June 16, 1905 (the marriage took place one day after her 39th birthday). Her parents were Italian immigrants from Naples, Giovanni Virgilio and Maria Milio. Lucy's father was an "engraver in glass".
Referring again back to my father's recollection that one of Franks' sons was called Toto, there is a possibility that Sal is the one. Toto is an Italian nickname for Salvatore. There was also a famous Italian actor around the 1920's and 30's whose stage name was Toto.
Although this was Sal's first marriage, it was Lucy's second. She did not continue beyond eighth grade in school and was barely 16 years old when she married a 22-year-old Italian immigrant named Cristofaro "Christopher" Eugene Matthew Scalone at the Church of Sacred Hearts in Manhattan on August 21, 1921. Christopher was born in Ponticelli, Italy, a suburb of Naples, on September 21, 1898. He was the son of Soccorso Scalone and Teresa Fiumellino. His parents brought him to America when he was 9 years old. He dropped out of high school after his sophomore year. Christopher was a machine operator for the Edison Storage Battery Company in West Orange, New Jersey. He was 5' 6" tall, weighed a slim if not skinny 120 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion.
Lucy and Christopher had two children, Robert Scalone and Mildred Scalone. Somewhere along the way, Lucy and Christopher separated, then divorced. At first, the children went with Christopher when he moved back to his parents' home at 150 Hillside Terrace in Irvington, New Jersey.
In 1940, Christopher was still living with his parents when they moved to Newark and he was working for the Lionel Corporation in Irvington. Robert and Matilda were no longer with him. They were, in fact, living with their mother Lucy at an apartment she had at 162 Allen Street in Manhattan. She supported herself and the children by working as an operator for a yarn factory.
In 1943, Christopher moved from Newark to Madison, New Jersey. He was 45 years old when he married for a second time in 1944, to 20-year-old Assunta "Sue" Sylvestre. It was the same year that Lucy married Sal. Assunta, or Sue, was born in Madison on August 3, 1923. She was the daughter of Italian immigrants Antonio Sylvestre and Antoinette Maresca.
Christopher was working as a set-up man for Atlas Sound in Parsippany. Later, he operated a machine at a toy manufacturer. Sue also worked at Atlas Sound, as a spot welder. She worked there for 19 years, retiring in 1988. Christopher died on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1981, at Morris View Nursing Home in Madison after a long illness. He was 83. He was buried at Saint Vincent Cemetery in Madison. Sue died nearly 20 years later on November 1, 1999 and was buried with Christopher at Saint Vincent Cemetery.
In 1940, Sal lived with his parents at 126 35th Street. This was in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn, just south of Red Hook. Between 1940 and 1944, he was constantly on the move. On his World War II Draft Registration card, there are three other Sunset Park residence addresses written and crossed out between his parents' home and where he finally ended up, in Sunset Park at 435 43rd Street, where he was living when he married Lucy in 1944.
Sal was a rather tall man at 5' 11" and weighing about 165 pounds. He had brown hair, gray eyes, and a light complexion. On one arm he sported a tattoo, and on the other arm was a noticeable birth mark. By 1950, He and Lucy had moved to a two-story home in Queens, New York and appear to have changed the spelling of their surname to Grosette. They lived in the downstairs portion of the house at 5414 153 Street. While Sal still worked as a longshoreman, Lucy was a machine operator at a blouse factory. Lucy's unemployed 27-year-old son Robert Scalone lived with them.
Robert S. Scalone, Lucy and Christopher's son, was born in New York City on June 30, 1922. While attending Brooklyn College he pledged the Alpha Phi Delta fraternity. The fraternity was established at Syracuse University in 1914 as an Italian-heritage fraternity that did not begin accepting all ethnic backgrounds until 1965.
Shortly after graduating, Robert joined the Army Air Force, on July 25, 1942. He served honorably as a Staff Sargeant until his discharge at the end of World War II on September 25, 1945. He was 5' 9" tall, weighed about 145 pounds, with brown hair and eyes, and a ruddy complexion. He joined the New York City Fire Department and attained the rank of Battalion Captain.
On January 13, 1951, Robert married Dorothy Baretti. They lived on Long Island and had two sons and a daughter. Robert retired from the Fire Department after 32 years and he and Dorothy moved to The Villages retirement complex in Florida. Robert belonged to the community's computer club and language classes. He enjoyed gardening and reading. He died on July 30, 2010 at the age of 88. He had a burial with full military honors at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.
Mildred Nancy Scalone was born in New York City on September 27, 1925. A month before her twenty-first birthday, on August 24, 1946, she married Sebastian George Russo, the son of James Russo and Louise Romano. Sebastian worked in the maintenance department of the New York City Housing Authority. He was short in stature, with brown hair and eyes, and a light complexion. He was born in New York City on October 2, 1924. Sebastian was a World War II Army veteran who served for three years from March 8, 1943 to March 31, 1946. Five months after his honorable discharge, he married Mildred. They had one son and two daughters.
Sebastian was 75 years old when he died on May 4, 2000. He was buried at Calverton National Cemetery with full military honors. Mildred was 86 when she died on November 24, 2011. She was buried next to Sebastian at Calverton National Cemetery.
Sal died in March of 1980 at the age of 73 years. He was buried at Mount Saint Mary Cemetery in Flushing, Queens, New York. Not long after his death, Lucy moved to the city of North Port, near the western coast of Florida. She was 92 years old when she died there on January 21, 1998. She was buried at Gulf Pines Memorial Park in Englewood, Florida.
Ironically, Lucy and Assunta (Sue) died one year apart (1998 and 1999), and so did Sal and Christopher (1980 and 1981).
7. John Grossetto
He was born John Corsetti in Brooklyn in 1910, the seventh of Frank and Josephine's nine children. He was destined to bring more heartbreak to the family. The night of June 17 in 1919 was hot and humid. Nine-year-old John and another young companion decided to walk down to the docks to go swimming in the bay, just a few blocks from John's home at 114 43rd Street. When they got there they were pushed away by several older boys, then they made their way over to 40th Street between First and Second Avenue. There they discovered a large three-foot deep pool of water and splashed into it.
As they were wading through the water, they unknowingly stepped into a 25-foot shaft connected to the sewer below the street. The sewer had overflowed and hid the shaft from the boys. Neither of them could swim and they both drowned. John was only nine years old. A doctor tried vainly to save them but finally had to pronounce each of them dead. Their bodies were then carried back to their homes. It is difficult to imagine the anguish this must have brought to their families. John was buried at Saint John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens. His death certificate records his surname as Corsetti.
8. Anna Grossetto
By the time young John was nearly 4 years old, his sister Anna Grossetto was born, on March 26, 1914. Frank and Josephine had already lost four children by the time she was born (John would die in 1919). Two others were still alive besides John: 14-year-old Joe and 7-year-old Sal. We can only guess they were taking a chance naming this baby after the first Anna who died in 1899, but this one was destined to live until the age of 85.
Anna was living with her family at 126 35th Street in Brooklyn and working as a "candy packer" when she married Gaetano Neil Monico, a millinery worker who was born in Brooklyn on March 20, 1911. The marriage took place at Saint Michael's Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn. Gaetano was the fourth of twelve children. His parents were Louis Monico and Carmela Cuomo. Louis and his son Gaetano both worked as milliners in the same hat shop in Brooklyn. Specifically, Gaetano's expertise was "blocking". He was one of the skilled workers who could successfully form the hats into a desirable shape.
Anna and Gaetano had at least two children, a son and a daughter. Gaetano was 73 years old when he died in January of 1985. Anna followed many years later on August 29, 1999. She was 85. They are buried together at Saint Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale, on Long Island.
9. Catello Grossetto
At last we come to the ninth and last child born to Frank and Josephine. This was Catello "Charlie" Louis Grossetto. He was born in Brooklyn on September 11, 1915. He was known to the family as Charlie. His public education ended after the eighth grade. On February 25, 1938 he married Elizabeth Quercia. Their son Frank Charles Grossetto was born on June 9, 1938. On May 7, 1942 Charlie enlisted in the U. S. Army. A month later, he and Elizabeth divorced on June 9, 1942. Shortly after, he married Assunta "Susie" Calzolaio on July 30, 1942.
Susie had been married before to a tailor named Diego "Dick" Cutaia on March 11, 1933. Dick was born in Agrigente (also spelled Agrigento), a hilltop city on Sicily's southwest shore on January 14, 1909. He was 5' 6" tall, weighed about 180 pounds, with black hair, brown eyes and a dark complexion. His parents were Joseph Cutaia and Caroline Lauriello. Susie and Dick had a son named Joseph who was born on July 23, 1937. That marriage ended in divorce and Charlie adopted Susie's son as Joseph Grossetto when he married her.
Susie was six years older than Charlie. She was born on August 14, 1909 in Tocco Caudio, a village in the province of Benevento, in the Campania region of southern Italy. The village was located about 50 miles north of Castellammare di Stabia. The old town was abandoned after a series of earthquakes in 1980 and 1981. Her parents were Cosimo Calzolaio and Rosaria Pedicino.
Susie was 15 years old when she traveled from Italy to New York, arriving aboard the "Conte Verde" on August 11, 1924. According to the ship's manifest, she was 5' 1" tall with chestnut colored hair and eyes. In Italy, she had been living with her aunt, Maria Perillo, and was going to meet her mother and father in Hoboken, New Jersey. Eventually, the family moved to Brooklyn. There is some evidence the family originally arrived from Italy several years before.
Charlie was discharged from the Army on July 21, 1945 after serving the duration of the war. Ironically, Diego "Dick" Cutaia died three days later on July 25, 1945. He had been living in Islip, out on Long Island and was only 35 years old. Charlie's first wife Elizabeth married Joseph Rizzo on July 22, 1946. On March 10, 1948, Charlie and Susie welcomed a son, John Grossetto.
By 1950, Charlie, Susie, Joseph, and John were living at 8740 25th Avenue in Brooklyn, down near Coney Island. Susie worked in a dress factory. Charlie was still a longshoreman, the same form of employement held by his father and brothers Joe and Sal. In the 1950s, the New York-New Jersey ports employed more than 55,000 longshore workers. By 2024, thanks to advances in automation, that number had dwindled down to around 4,000.
Charlie's son with Elizabeth, Frank Charles Grossetto, would be 12 years old in 1950, but he does not appear in any of the census records. He eventually shows up in August of 1956 as an 18-year-old "leather-jacketed motorcycle hot-rodder" who received traffic tickets three times in six weeks by the police for "buzzing Brooklyn streets" without a driver's license and other traffic offenses. He was finally arrested and paid a fine of $200 in exchange for not going to jail for 70 days.
Frank shows up again in 1965 when he married Zoraida Cruz in Brooklyn. Next, we find him in California without Zoraida where he was working as a warehouse foreman for the Jarvis Electric Supply Company in Los Angeles. Even though he still appeared to be married to Zoraida back in New York, he ended up marrying Zoa Lopez in Las Vegas in 1976. This prompted Zoraida to divorce him back in New York in 1980. Then, Zoa did the same thing to him in Los Angeles in 1984. Finally, in 1988, Frank married Maricella Ann Vera in Las Vegas.
Frank was 59 years old and living in Van Nuys, California when he died on September 26, 1997. He was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Very little is known about Charlie's other two children. His adopted son Joseph Grossetto was born in 1937, and his son John Grossetto in 1948. That is all we have been able to determine about them.
Charlie and Susie moved out of Brooklyn, perhaps in the 1950s, to the Long Island town of Lindenhurst, located along the southern coast of Long Island. It was there that they opened a gas station/garage and motel. JGrossetto posted this photo of the motel on Ancestry.com. On August 27, 1955, a suspicious fire destroyed the gas station.
They were still living in Lindenhurst when Charlie died on September 24, 1989. He was 73 years old. Nearly eight years later to the day, Susie died on September 22, 1997 at the age of 88.
Frank and Josephine
After my grandfather moved the family from Brooklyn to the farm in Morganville, New Jersey, Petronilla would make trips back to the city 2 or 3 times a year. She would stop at Frank's house and he would have raw coffee beans that he gave to her. He got the coffee beans from the docks where he worked by "accidentally" bumping into the coffee sacks with his cart, then stuffing the loose beans in his pockets. Petronilla would bring the beans home, grind them and make coffee brewed in a makeshift pot made from an old coffee-can. The used grounds would go back in with the next batch of fresh grounds and the result was stronger and stronger coffee until she eventually threw the grounds out. This way she could stretch the beans to last much longer.
Frank would come down to the farm to visit with a suitcase of wine. He would take the trolley in Brooklyn and the ferry to Manhattan, then the train to Morganville. He would stay as long as the wine lasted, which he offered to no one else.
When Frank and Josephine were living at 126 35th Street in Brooklyn, Frank was suffering from diabetes. Eventually, he developed an enlarged prostate. He entered Kings County Hospital on September 14, 1940 for treatment, but after two weeks developed pneumonia and died on October 3, 1940. He was 68 years old. He was buried next to his son John at Saint John Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens. His death certificate recorded his surname as Corsetti. Josephine was the informant for the certificate and signed her name as Crosetti.
Less than five years later, Josephine was living with her son Sal at 802 44th Street in Brooklyn. Sal had recently married Lucy Scalone in 1944. Josephine developed coronary sclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and died at home on January 13, 1945. She was 72 years old. She was buried with Frank and their son John at Saint John Cemetery.
