Wenzel, Lanzaro and LaMura Photo

That's Fred Wenzel on the left with his two children behind the couch, Donnie and Eileen Wenzel. Seated on the couch, from left to right, are Fred's wife Rose Kostak Wenzel, Alma Lanzaro, Joe LaMura Sr., and Maria (Mary) Bellavigna Lanzaro, Alma's mother. The setting is Fred and Rose's home in Matawan. Joe LaMura's granddaugher, Joene, thinks the date of the photo is the early 1950's. If the photo was taken in, say 1953, then Maria was 71, Joe LaMura 65, and Alma 45. Fred would be 44, Rose 43, Donnie 11, and Eileen 13.

Joe LaMura was born in Castellammare di Stabia in 1888. He arrived in America with his parents in 1893. He met and married Leona Emma Blanck in Brooklyn in 1917. Leona was the daughter of German immigrants, Eugene and Emma (Behren) Blanck. Before she met Joseph, Leona had been married before, in 1907 when she was 16 years old, to Frederick Wenzel, and had two sons by him, Victor J. Wenzel and Frederick G. Wenzel. Frederick the son is the Fred in the photo. He was born in 1909.

The photo, provided by Joene's sister, Marlene LaMura, is actually a "Realist" stereo slide. Her family viewed the slides through a hand held slide viewer. She took a picture of the slide, holding it against the light. There is some speculation that Alma's brother, Dominick Lanzaro, took the picture.

LANZARA-LANZARO FAMILY HISTORY