The Stories Within the Documents

Family history is so much more than names and dates. While it is fun for me to track down the documents to verify births, deaths, and parentage, and find that next generation, it is truly the stories that matter. The mother in this photo is Antonia Mortellitti and I share a little of her immigration story here.

Farfalla family c. 1931 Antonia Mortelliti and Antonio Farfalla with 5 of their children (l to r): Joseph (b. 1904), Mary/Maria (b. 1910), Margaret/Domenica (b. 1906), Sarah/Santa (b. 1908), and Anthony (b. 1912). 

Sometimes when I’ve come across a new document (e.g., census, birth record, etc,)  I focus only on the names, dates, and vital information. Occasionally, I will take note of the witnesses as Lisa Louise Cook and others remind me how they might provide a helpful clue. (See this November 2022 webinar for more info about using witnesses). Rarely, do I take the time to mine all of the possible information. But I am learning this is where we can truly find the interesting stories and a glimpse into the lives of our ancestors!

Last week, I attended the Allen County Public Library’s weekly webinar titled “Mysterious Codes:  

What Do Those Letters and Numbers Mean?” presented by Christine Cohen. It was a fascinating hour-long presentation about the codes and notations made on the ship manifests of people traveling into the US. (I have the handout if anyone is interested.)

I have found many of the ship manifests for my ancestors and I would see “X”’s in places or check marks or random numbers and never knew there was a specific and known purpose. About a year ago, I learned about how to find the codes used on Census’--you wouldn’t be surprised to learn that they have instruction manuals for Census takers so that there was consistency. For example, here is the cover to the instruction manual for the 1860 Census. Each mark is intentional, and the instructions for what to include is purposeful. But this is a topic for another blog! What I didn’t realize is that the same was true for Immigration Manifests!

This past week, I was focusing on my Italian family, so I looked through the ship manifests for my Italian immigrant ancestors. Most of them came prior to 1906, which is when a lot of changes took place in immigration policies in the US and there was more consistency, but you can start to see the markings appear prior. 

There were no special markings on the entry for my great-grandfather, Emanuel Antonio Mazziotti or his wife, Concetta Mortelliti, but I did find some on Concetta’s sister’s manifest and it has opened a new world to me. 

Concetta (1890-1971) was the youngest of 6 children born in Scilla, Italy to Giuseppe Mortelliti (1843-1915) and Santa Morabito (1857-1945). Giuseppe traveled from Scilla to the US a couple of times, but it appears in May 1900 that this was the one that finally stuck. This was the trip, also, where his future son-in-law and my great-grandfather Emanuel Mazziotti joined him. They traveled on the ship, Tartar Prince.

Source: https://deeproots.family/up/TartarPrinceVessel.htm

A year later, in June 1901, the 5 oldest children of Giuseppe Mortelliti traveled together on the Manila, with Antonia (1877-1967) the oldest of the five at age 23 caring for them all. (I couldn’t find a photo of the Manila.) They would first arrive to the immigrant landing station. It looked like this in 1905.

(ca. 1905) Immigrant Landing Station, N.Y. New Jersey New York Ellis Island, ca. 1905. Feb. 24. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/97502077

After exiting the ship, they would have had to be documented. This is what it looked like between 1902-1913.

Source: The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1902 - 1913). The pens at Ellis Island, Registry Room (or Great Hall). These people have passed the first mental inspection. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-d778-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

This time looking at the manifest, I noticed an X in the first column before her and her sibling’s names. 

• This means that they were detained at Ellis Island!! 

• And there is a “Record of detained Alien Passengers” at the back of the ship manifest! (I have been looking at these for nearly 15 years and NEVER knew about the list of detained passengers!!)

This record provides information about why someone was detained, the disposition (information about where they will live), and which and how many meals they ate while being detained.

Antonia and her 4 siblings (2 brothers and 2 sisters) were detained for only one meal, a “supper”. According to the Ellis Island Immigrant Cookbook by Tom Bernadin and a 1906 communication it would have consisted of baked beans, stewed prunes and rye bread, tea with milk and sugar, and crackers and milk  for women and children. 

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-d817-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. (1902 - 1913). Uncle Sam, host. Immigrants being served a free meal at Ellis Island. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-d817-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99

Their father (and my great-grandfather) were living at 168 Elizabeth Street in 1901. This was in the heart of “little Italy” where there were thousands of Italian immigrants, mostly southern Italians. This was an apartment building that was built in 1900 and had 6 floors with 2 apartments per floor with a business at street level. Here’s how it looks now:

It was about 6 miles away to Ellis Island and I have no idea how Antonia would have connected with her father or how she and her siblings would have gotten to this building. I guess that’s research for another day. 

A year later, the entire family is now together, after Concetta and her mother made the journey from Scilla in July 1902 to Ellis Island on the Trave. They were not detained but the document also didn’t list what address they were going to. I guess a 46 year old mother and her 11 year old daughter heading to her husband did not raise questions.

Source: https://passengershipsandliners.fandom.com/wiki/SS_Trave

Within a year, Emanuel Mazziotti and his 1st wife, Maria Mortelliti (the older sister of my great-grandmother) would be wed in Pocantico Hills where several males of the family would be working at Rockefeller’s Estate,  Kykuit. She died along with their first born son. A few years later, Emanuel and Concetta are married. Another story for another time.

I marvel at the journey my Italian ancestors made in the 1900s traveling so very far from the only home they (and their ancestors) had known for hundreds of years. Their story inspires me and helps to put into perspective challenges in my own life.