Part 1
Nocera Inferiore
Part 2
Castellammare di Stabia
Part 3 - Brooklyn
Frank & Elizabeth
Lanzara Ancestral Chart
Giuseppe
Francesco
Cemeteries
Causes of Death
Photos
Documents
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LANZARA-LANZARO-LAMURA FAMILY WEBPAGE
Part 2 - Castellamare di Stabia
Last update 6/24/2024
Sometime around 1795, in the ship-building town of Castellammare di Stabia, located on the eastern coast of the Bay of Naples, two men named Vincenzo were born. The first, Vincenzo Salvato, grew up to marry Carmina Criscuolo., while the other, Vincenzo Bonifacio, married Maddalena Buono. Vincent and Carmina had a daughter named Anna Maria Salvato. She was born March 30, 1818. Vincenzo and Maddalena had a son named Catello Bonifacio, born July 2, 1820.
I recently discovered additional data on the Bonifacio ancestry that takes us back further than the ones described above. To see this data, click on "Bonifacio Ancestral Chart" in the panel on the left.
On March 20, 1840, Catello Bonifacio married Anna Maria Salvato. They had 5 children: Daniele Bonifacio, born February 22, 1841; Petronilla Bonifacio, February 6, 1844; Francesco Bonifacio, February 20, 1846; Pasquale Bonifacio, January 6, 1849; and Elisabetta Bonifacio, February 26, 1851. Catello and Anna Maria seemed to have established a consistent method for creating children since all of them were born between January 6 and February 26. A Nineteenth Century version of Spring Break, perhaps? It's possible that Catello was away each winter on a work detail or military service, coming home each Spring to plant the crops, in more ways than one.
Castellammare di Stabia is 10 miles from Nocera Inferiore, home of the Lanzara brothers, Giuseppe and Francesco. I don't know how, why or when, but the brothers eventually made their way from Nocera Inferiore to Castellammare di Stabia and married the Bonifacio sisters, Petronilla and Elisabetta. Giuseppe arrives first, marrying Petronilla on August 23, 1868. He was 32 years old; she was 24. Thirteen years later, 37-year-old Francesco marries 30-year-old Elisabetta. I guess the brothers gave up trying to find someone to marry in their hometown and had to go down to the shore to find wives. Of course, they could have been married earlier, but I've found no evidence of that.
Giuseppe and Francesco's siblings followed them from Nocera Inferiore to Castellammare di Stabia. As I stated in PART 1, Diodato Lanzara and Mariarosa Auletta had six children born in Nocera Inferiore: Aniello Lanzara, July 22, 1834; Giuseppe Lanzara, April 12, 1836; Carmine Lanzara, October 11, 1838; Maria Felicia Lanzara, February 7, 1842; Francesco Lanzara, September 30, 1844; and Nicola Lanzara, February 8, 1848. Aniello and Nicola also found wives in Castellammare di Stabia and had several children each. Carmine died unmarried at the age of 24 on April 19, 1863. As far as I have been able to tell, Maria Felicia never married and eventually followed her brothers Giuseppe and Francesco to America.
Aniello Lanzara married Rosa Scicignano. Rosa was born in Castellammare di Stabia in 1846. She was 12 years younger than Aniello. Her parents were Giovanni Scicignano and Giuseppa Vitaglione. Aniello and Rosa had seven children: Diodato Lanzaro, born July 14, 1871; Carmine Lanzaro, January 25, 1874; Beatrice Lanzaro, November 19, 1876; Catarina Lanzaro, 1880; Giuseppa Lanzaro, 1883; Ausilia Lanzaro, June 17, 1885; and Speranza Lanzaro, 1892.
I have found no other information about Diodato and Beatrice other than their births. Carmine died in Castellammare di Stabia on November 27, 1937 at the age of 63. I have no evidence that he ever married and had children. Catarina married Davide Quasatino, but she died on June 18, 1921 at the age of 41. The last three children all died very young; Giuseppa on December 14, 1886, age 3; Ausilia on July 2, 1882, age 1; and Speranza shortly after birth on April 22, 1892. I have been unable to locate Aniello's death record, but Rosa was 71 when she died on July 25, 1917.
Nicola Lanzara married Filomina Sirico. Filomina was born in Castellammare di Stabia in 1860. Like Aniello's wife Rosa, Filomina was 12 years younger than Nicola. They had seven children: Rosa Lanzaro, born 1883; Maria Domenica Lanzaro, 1886; twins Catella and Carmelina Lanzaro, 1890; a second set of twins Antonio and Francesca Lanzaro, 1894; and Pietro Lanzaro, 1896. Of the seven children, only two reached adulthood. Rosa married Catello Veneroso but only reached the age of 35. Of the twins Catella and Carmelina, Catella died shortly after birth while her sister Carmelina lived to the age of 20. The other set of twins, Antonio and Francesca, were 7 years old when they and their father Nicola died within eight weeks of one another: Nicola died August 7, 1901, age 53; Francesca August 21, 1901; and Antonio October 1, 1901. Filomina died many years later on March 16, 1922 at the age of 62.
Giuseppe and Francesco were barbers by profession. According to the stories passed down by Petronilla to my father, Giuseppe also played the guitar and mandolin, working as a serenader. He would go around serenading young women for prospective suitors. One disgruntled suitor shot him in the eye following a dispute, leaving him blind in the one eye. Petronilla said he was a large (over 300 pounds) but gentle man.
Petronilla owned a cafe in Italy and in Brooklyn. My father said she spoke very little English. I know from some documents I have that she was also illiterate, placing her mark , an X , where her signature was required.
Giuseppe and Petronilla had 6 children, all born in Castellammare di Stabia. For reasons that I have never been able to explain, the children's surnames were recorded as Lanzaro instead of Lanzara. They are: Maria Carmela Lanzaro, born June 21, 1869; Rosa Luisa Lanzaro, born exactly two years after Maria, on June 21, 1871. Little Rosa lived only one day, dying on June 22, 1871; Salvatore Lanzaro, born February 2, 1874; Marianna Lanzaro, born October 29, 1876. She died two years later, on December 2, 1878; Ciro Lanzaro, born sometime in 1879. But, he also died at the age of two, on May 11, 1881. At the time of little Ciro's death, Petronilla was pregnant with what would be their last child, my grandfather, Ciro Antonio Catello Lanzaro, born November 22, 1881. Years later, Ciro would adopt the name Eugene.
After little Rosa's death in 1871, Giuseppe and Petronilla seemed unable to produce any more children. 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. They went to a convent in Italy and, as was the custom, went up to the convent wall, rang a bell, and the nuns placed a baby in a cradle attached to a revolving door in the wall, and turned it so that Giuseppe and Petronilla could take it from the outside. The baby was named Francesco (Frank) Grossetto. Grosseto 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 date of birth was recorded as September of 1872. He would eventually come to America with everyone else. For Frank's complete story, click here.
After Frank's adoption, Petronilla again started producing babies. Salvatore was born February 2, 1874, nearly three years after Rosa. He served in the 2nd Infantry Regiment in Italy. On the morning his outfit was shipped out to Liberia for a battle, he was too ill to accompany them and was left behind. The entire outfit was killed. He was discharged from the army as a corporal and worked in Naples as a blacksmith before emigrating to the U.S. in 1897.
Most of the following information about the LaMura ancestry is taken from a letter Frank LaMura (1902-1983) wrote to his niece Carmela (Mel) LaMura Pulcrano (1918-2006) in the 1970's. To view a copy of the actual letter, click here.
In 2013, Linda LaMura McFadden published a book titled "Dawn In A Timid Sky." Linda is the daughter of Frank LaMura. She used the information in his letter to create a wonderful novel that weaves a partially-historic saga about life in 19th-Century Italy. Linda was 79 years old when the book was published.
Maria Carmela Lanzara, born June 21, 1869, married Catello LaMura when she was 17 and he was 19. Catello was born in Castellammare di Stabia on October 14, 1867. They were wed in Castellammare di Stabia at La Chiesa della Madonna di Pozzo (Church of the Madonna of the Well) on January 8, 1887. Saint Catello is the patron saint of the city. Catello served in the Italian Navy and following his discharge, found work as a ship s mechanic in the shipyards. He worked on the first ships made of steel hulls. Maria Carmela eventually dropped the Maria from her name and was known by her middle name of Carmela.
Carmela and Catello had 2 children in Italy: Giuseppe LaMura, born January 2, 1888, and Concetta LaMura, born November 29, 1891.
Catello s father, Michele LaMura, was an army officer (some sources say he was a General), serving as a lancer in King Ferdinand s special guard. This was around 1859 when King Ferdinand ruled the Kingdom of Naples, just prior to the unification of the Italian states into what we know today as the nation of Italy. Michele's parents were Simone LaMura, a professor at the University of Naples, and Louisa Wagner, the daughter of a German math professor at the same university.
Michele married Rosina Minozzi, the daughter of one of the architects of the King s summer palace at Caserta, located north of Naples. Rosina's father, the architect, was Antonio Minozzi. He married Palma Gioia and in 1831 Rosina was born. Michele and Rosina's wedding took place at the newly-completed Palace. All of this occurred around the chaotic conditions involving the rebellions that eventually led to the fall of the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, and the unification of Italy.
During one battle, all the King's officers were taken prisoner, including Michele. They were brought into the prison yard and were told they could have amnesty if they would agree to serve in the new King's army at lower grades. If they refused they would be shot. Hoping King Ferdinand would soon retake the Kingdom, they refused the offer. All of them were executed by firing squad, but by some miracle, two survived. One of the survivors was Michele.
It was the custom in those days that if a man was not killed by a firing squad he should be freed because it was God's will for him not to die. Michele and Rosina lost every possession, their home, furniture, etc., but were allowed to keep a mattress!! They were able to escape starvation by fleeing to a town called Gragnano, about 15 miles east of Castellammare di Stabia where Michele s brother Giuseppe LaMura was the pastor of the church. Among his many talents, Michele was also a good musician and through his brother's help he was able to return to Castellammare and get a job playing in the municipal orchestra, eventually becoming the conductor. Note: There is another source that says Michele's brother was Antonio LaMura and he was a priest in Gragnano.
Besides Catello, Michele and Rosina had two more sons and a daughter, Francesco LaMura, Salvatore LaMura, and Rosa LaMura.
While I have never been able to locate any documentation to support the existence of Francesco, Salvatore and Rosa, I have found birth and death records of four other children born to Michele and Rosina. The first was a daughter, Vincenza LaMura, born before Catello, around 1865. Catello was born October 14, 1867. Two months later, little Vincenza died, the day after Christmas on December 26, 1867. Three years later, another son was born, Vincenzo LaMura. In 1872, another son, Giovanni LaMura, arrived. One can only imagine the tragic sadness that came upon Michele and Rosina when both of these boys died within three months of each other, Vincenzo on March 5, 1873, and Giovanni on June 3, 1873. By this time, Catello was almost six years of age. On December 1, 1874, another child, a daughter named Concetta Immacolata LaMura, was born. I have no record to show if she survived into adulthood. All of these births (and deaths) occurred in Castellammare di Stabia.
As I said above, Francesco Lanzara was also a barber in Castellammare di Stabia. He and Elisabetta had 3 children there: Giovanni Lanzaro, born August 29, 1882, Maria Lanzaro in 1884, and Grace Lanzaro, whose birth I have not documented, but probably was born in 1886. Two year old baby Maria died in Castellammare di Stabia on April 5, 1886.
Before we leave Italy, let's add to our history of Diodato and Maria Rosa Lanzara and the rest of their family. Giuseppe and Francesco's siblings followed them to Castellammare di Stabia. Young Carmine died there, unmarried, at the young age of 24 on April 19, 1863. Six months later on October 6, 1864, Diodato died in Nocera Inferiore, several days before his 64th birthday. After his death, Maria Rosa followed her children to Castellammare di Stabia.
These are our earliest ancestors. Those whose fathers in Italy had lived in the same village street for a thousand years, whose grandfathers had died in the same rooms in which they were born.
They continued living in Castellammare di Stabia for many years. Finally, Francesco and Elisabeta decided to seek their fortunes in America, arriving with their two surviving small children and settling in Brooklyn in 1887. They were followed by Giuseppe in 1892. A year later, Giuseppe sent for Petronilla, their 11-year-old son Ciro (my grandfather) and 21-year-old daughter Carmella, and Carmella's husband, Catello LaMura. They arrived in America on June 5, 1893. A few months later, Maria Rosa died in Castellammare di Stabia on October 25, 1893. She was 89. This left Maria Felicia and Nicola in Castellammare di Stabia. Nicola married Filomina Sirico, but I have no evidence that Maria Felicia ever married. On August 7, 1901, Nicola was only 53 years old when he died. Finally, at the age of 65, Maria Felicia, the last remaining member of the family, left Castellammare di Stabia and arrived in America in 1907.
We now come to the next chapter in our family history, the migration of the Lanzara/Lanzaro and LaMura families to America, where they settled in Brooklyn, New York. I have separated the story into several categories based on family groups established by Francesco and Elisabetta Lanzara (Frank & Elizabeth), Giuseppe and Petronilla Lanzara, Carmela and Catello LaMura, Salvatore and Maria Lanzaro, and Ciro and Louisa Lanzaro. Francesco and Elisabetta Lanzara were the first. For that story and the others, proceed to PART 3.
