[TI] To J LaNasa/ Early Immigration /Baltimore/ Rosa Geraci Vicari

[Ken Geraci]

Dear J,

I'm just now reading your fascinating posting from
March 24th (I've been out on the road for the past 2-3
weeks). Wow, you have posted some great information on
Baltimore! 

You mentioned St. Vincent de Paul church as being the
parish of choice for Termini families. Do you know if
this parish is still in existence today? One of my
grandfather's sisters, Francis (Francesca) Geraci was
born in Baltimore around 1888 or 1889 on July 14th and
was presumably baptized shortly thereafter. From your
posting, this church sounds like a good place to look
for a baptismal certificate.

Also, you mention Rosa Geraci Vicari being born in
Baltimore around 1854. Do you know who her parents
were? I don't have my charts in front of me and I
can't remember whether I have her on my chart but this
sounds interesting.

Good to hear from you and sorry it took me so long to
respond.

Ken

--- J Lanasa <jlanasa at webtv.net> wrote:

> Ken,
> 
> Glad you enjoyed your visit to Baltimore and
> Little Italy, in particular.  Perhaps I can explain
> the absence of Sicilians in Little Italy.
> 
> Little Italy was settled by Genoese sailors in the
> 1810's  (the Cuneo's, Bacigalupo's, Passagno)
> and populated by Italians from the very north of
> Italy until the 1880's.  Then it became over-
> whelmingly settled by the Abruzzese.  Nancy
> (D'Alessandro) Pelosi, our current Speaker ofthe
> House, was born and
> raised there.  Her
> grandfather and her brother were mayors of
> Baltimore,   and decendants of Abruzzi.
> 
> Termini immigrants lived in the 800 block of 
> East Pratt St., directly across the street from
> St. Leo's Church.  However, they were almost
> always baptized, married and buried from the
> St. Vincent de Paul church, about 2 blocks north of
> Little Italy.
> During the 1880's, the 800
> block of Pratt St. had the names of Gentile,
> Palmisano, La Nasa, Catanzaro and Bisesi.
> 
> Interestingly enough, the Italians from the main-
> land were not engaged in the produce trade.
> So the Sicilians quickly scattered to one or more of
> the seven city
> markets.  The Camden
> Market. site of present day Camden Yards
> baseball stadium on the western edge of the
> harbor, was mostly Termitani. Giuseppe Cat-
> anzro and his wife Lena Russo, were there
> by 1881, followed by his brother Agostino and
> his wife Anna Purpura.  The largest city market
> was the Lexinton Market, and to this day, most
> of the names there are from Cefalu.
> 
> The La Nasa family was the first Italians at the
> Cross St. Market, on the south side of the har-
> bor, in historic Federal Hll.  They were soon
> followed by the families of Patti, Scalia, Bal-
> samo, Gentile, Russo , Palmisano and San-
> sone.
> 
> The other city markets were also comprised of
> Sicilians.  So, I think this explains why you will
> find little, if any, Termitani connected to Little
> Italy.  They were there very briefly in the late
> 1800's, but there absence has been conspic-
> uous ever since.  To this day, there are very
> few Sicilians in Little Italy, and those you find
> there are from later migrations (post WWI).
> 
> One other thing, Ken, I think we talked about
> a few years ago.  The earliest Termini immi-
> rant to Balto.I have found is a sister to your
> gg-grandfather.  Her name was ROSA GERACI
> and she was born in Balto. in 1854.  She was
> married to Michele Vicari from Messina, who
> did quite well in the produce business.  They
> lived in the fashionable North End of Balto.
> 
> So don't waste your time looking for Termini
> names in Little Italy, past or present.  The
> Saint Vincent de Paul society has a wealth of
> marriage and baptiismal records for the folks
> from Termini pre-1900.
> 
> I used to have the obituary of ROSA GERACI
> VICARI, who died in 1908, I believe.  She is
> buried in New Cathredral Cemetery.  If I can
> dig it up, I will post it to the list.
> 
> J Lanasa
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> TerminiImerese mailing list
> TerminiImerese at comunesofitaly.org
>
http://comunesofitaly.org/mailman/listinfo/terminiimerese_comunesofitaly.org
> 


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com