Thursday, September 10, 2009

Lanzillottos on the 1930 Census

Wait a sec. I'm Italian?

Yes folks, I'm finally uploading some of my Italian family records. I've concentrated on the Irish for a long time, at least on this blog, and I've felt kind of bad about it. My only excuse - and it's a poor one - is that it's a lot harder to research people whose names the census takers couldn't spell.

So I'm starting to make amends now. Here is the Lanzillotto family on the 1930 Census.

The Lanzillottos are the last family listed in the first image above, and the first family in the second, below. Grandpa Lanzillotto, Charles/Charlie/Carmine/Carmino, is listed as Charles Lanzillotti, and Grandma Lanzillotto, Anna, is Hanah. They live at 351 128th St., and they own their home, which, if I'm deciphering the next column correctly, is worth $11,500. He is listed as 36 and she 30, which point to birthdates of 1894 and 1900, respectively, and I believe those are more or less accurate. They say they were first married at 25 and 20, which indicates that they wed around 1920 - also accurate, I'm almost certain. (Italians may have their names spelled wrong more often, but they were way better with dates than the Irish I'm familiar with!)

They say they immigrated in 1908 (Charles) and 1920 (Anna), which, again, is actually correct! This is crazy! Both are naturalized, and Charles is an ice dealer who owns his own business.


The family continues on the next page, with the Lanzillotto children. They're listed as Bella, 8; Joseph, 6; Angelina, 3; Laura, 2; and Teresa, 6 mos. Only Aunt Belle and Uncle Joe have attended school and know how to read.

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