52 Ancestors Week 8: Prosperity

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 8's theme is "Prosperity." Do you have an ancestor who seemed to do well for himself? What about a family photo showing a big car or fancy dresses? How about an ancestor with a "prosperous" name like Wealthy or Fortune? Feel free to be creative with the theme!

It's fortunate to have these names in your tree.

"Prosperity" can mean many things and I've already talked about a large prosperous family before. Namely the Legaults. So, I've decided to go in a different direction. The names Fortuna and Fortunato are Italian words for "luck". The ancient Romans used the name "Fortuna" as an equivalent for the Greek goddess Tyche and as it happens both names appear twice in my family tree.

San Pietro a Maida

   Despite that, Fortunato is a very common Italian name. It's right up there with Giuseppe, Marco and Giovanni. The oldest instance of the name "Fortunato" in my tree is that it's the name of my fifth great-grandfather, Fortunato Russo. He was born around 1793 in the town of San Pietro a Maida. I don't know much about him. What I've been able to gather from various records is that he married a woman named Caterina Marduca. He passed away some time after 1819 as his daughter, Domenica, was born on February 24th, 1816.

The rest, as they say, is history. I sadly don't know much about Fortunato's life. I do know that he was most likely a farmer living in the countryside like most of the town's populace. There's not much about Fortunato out there as the records are in the commune office and Russo is a REALLY common last name. However, I do know a bit more about a woman in my tree named Fortuna who was a little bit more closer to home.

Vincenzo Ferraiolo and Fortuna Grasso

 My great-grandfather, Vincenzo Ferraiolo had a second wife after his first wife, Maria Tedesco, passed away in 1943. Her name was Fortuna Grasso and she was my father's step-grandmother. Born on October 27th, 1902 somewhere in Italy. Vincenzo married her some time in the mid 1940s. I honestly have no idea when they got married exactly. I assume it was in San Pietro a Maida only because that's where he married his first wife. From what my father and my great-aunt told me, it happened shortly after Maria's passing. That's basically all I know about her origins. She also told me that the other couple in the wedding photograph I posted in this blog are most likely her sister and her husband.

After the wedding, they returned to America and settled in the house which would one day become my grandmother's house. My father remembered her not really doing the typical Italian grandmother things like Clementina did. She wasn't really into cooking and was very quiet most of the time. I guess I can understand why. She was suddenly brought to Haverhill shortly after Maria's passing. That was probably a shock to the family still living here. Sufficed it to say, it probably raised more than a few eyebrows.

Vincenzo passed away in 1970 and left the house to my grandfather Marco  By the 1980s, she unfortunately had to be put into a nursing home where she would spend the rest of her life. She passed away on April 20th, 1991. I wish I could say I met her growing up. I never did. She was just very sick. That isn't to say my parents or my grandmother forgot her or anything. Far from it. My grandmother visited her from time to time and I would remember them talking about her around the table. I've often asked her to ask her about Vincenzo and Marco and they filled in the blanks for me. It wasn't a total loss, though.

This is probably where I got my creative streak.

See this painting? I think I've talked about it before. That masterpiece was an oil painting of Vincenzo and Fortuna. It was painted by my grandfather sometime in the 1970s and currently rests in the break room of my father's dental office.

I recently asked my parents if I should research Fortuna's family since I'm really interested in Italian genealogy. They said that I would first need a copy of Fortuna's death certificate so I could get somewhere. All I've found regarding her was her appearance in the Massachusetts death index. That's about it. The rest of her life is a complete mystery to me. If I were to research where in Italy she came from, the first thing I'd need is her death certificate. That's it.

Some day I may check it out. For now, I'm still trying to break through several other brick walls laying around. I'll keep Fortuna on the back burner for now.  One thing at a time. Fortuna's life may be a mystery. I still wish everyone buona fortuna in their research.

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.