www.CalabrianGenealogy - Family From Cortale

Caterina Maiuolo Napolitano

My grandmother was born in Cortale. She left Cortale as a child with her mother, Natalina Scrugli, her brother and her sister. I had a difficult time finding the ship manifest for my grandmother. There are 2 reasons for this. The first reason is Ellis Island mis-spelled their last name on their database. The second reason is I was looking for their married names. What I did not know was Italian women never took their husband's surnames - the name they were born with was the name they died with. To this day Italian women only use their husband's names in social settings. A women on a genealogy board was kind enough to point this out and find my grandmother's ship manifest for me.

This is the ship manifest of Natalina Scrugli (my great grandmother), Caterina Maiuolo (my grandmother), Maria Maiuolo (my great aunt) and Domenico Maiuolo (my great uncle who I knew as Uncle Chich - we all thought his name was Frank) You can click on the picture for a larger image.

The Story of Three Sisters - The Family Legend

The family story for my grandmother's side of the family went like this:

Once upon a time their were 3 sisters who were very close, Carmela, Maria and Natalina Scrugli. These sisters all became widows within a year or 2. A few years earlier their brother Gaetano, a widower, had left Cortale for America with his children. He settled in Chicago's "little Italy" section and befriended a tavern owner named Teodoro Bertuca. Teodoro, a recent widower with a teenaged son, was looking for a new wife. So, Gaetano thought of his sisters back in Cortale and began negotiating the marriage of his youngest sister Maria to Teodoro. But, Maria would not leave Cortale without her sisters. So Teodoro sent passage for all 3 sisters and their children to come to Chicago. That is how the story went...

The story of 3 sisters - revised by my research

My research revealed a slightly different story that noone knew. Here is the real story. There were, indeed 3 widowed sisters. But Gaetano was not a widower and he did not come with his children to Chicago. They came later alone as adults. Gaetano probably did negotiate the marriage of his sister Maria to Teodoro Bertuca, but the three sisters did not come together. Maria Scrugli, her daughter Francesca and Maria's sister Carmela sailed on the ship "Columbia" and arrived in New York on April 16, 1904. But wait, what is Maria's daughter's name? Francesca, as we all thought? Francescina, her nickname (which means "little" Francis in Italian)? No, her name on the ship manifest was Caterina Mungo. And where was the third sister - my great grandmother Natalina? Not on this ship. Natalina travelled on the Sicilia which arrived in New York on Thanksgiving day, 1905. Natalina and her children travelled all alone. Her trip must have been very different from her sisters. On her sister's ship were many cousins and neighbors from Cortale. They all travelled together. They would have felt much safer than Natalina who travelled alone with her children.

Ship manifest of my grandmother

We will never know why Natalina and her children came so much later. It could be Natalina stayed behind to complete family business. They owned property in "Upper" Cortale. Perhaps she stayed behind to sell the property. Perhaps Natalina was not yet a widow. Another possibility is Natalina wanted to stay in Cortale. I find it interesting that she left Italy just 3 months after a huge earthquake that effected Cortale.

And Gaetano? I have never found his ship records, but it seems Gaetano left his wife and children in Cortale.

Gaetano Scrugli's Children

And Gaetano's children? Antonio Scrugli, his son has 2 ship records so he must have come to America, left and come back again. His first ship record on the Nord America shows him entering Ellis Island on December 14, 1901 with another Cortale citizen, Francesco Sarcetta(?). The ship's manifest lists his age as 18, therefore he must have been born around 1883. His occupation was listed as barber. The manifest also lists him as going to Chicago to see his Uncle, Santoro Savino at 190 Taylor Street, Chicago.

His next ship record has him travelling on the Lombardia which arrived in New York on April 2, 1909. This ship record has him going to see a cousin named Antonio (I can't make out the last name). Antonio Scrugli married Rose Bucciere and they had 2 children that I know of, Emma and James. Antonio died in Chicago on September 17, 1931 from acute appendicitis.

Madiusa

Antonio had a sister, Maria Scrugli. She is known to the family as Madiusa. Madiusa arrived on December 13, 1920 on The President Wilson. Her destination was listed as her brother Antonio's at 712 Sholt Street in Chicago. There were many other passengers from Cortale on this ship.

Eventually, Madiusa married Andre (Andrew) Fattigato. She was a beloved member of my family and is now buried at Mount Carmel Cemetary with her husband.

The 3 Sisters

Maria Scrugli

Maria Scrugli was the youngest of the Scruigli's that we know of. She was born in 1871 somewhere in Calabria. At some point, she married a man with the surname of Mungo and had her daughter Caterina Francesca Mungo. Shortly after that her husband died.

Once they arrived in this country, the betrothed Maria married Teodoro Bertuca. She moved into his home with her daughter "Francescina" Mungo. Teodoro had a son a little older than Francescina named Anthony. Maria Scrugli Bertuca gave birth to a daughter and named her Rose. At some point some gossips on the block decided it was inappropriate for teenagers that were not actually blood related to live in the same house. Teodoro and Maria decided they should marry. So, Anthony and Francis Bertuca married. Evidently it worked out because they had at least 8 children together.

Maria Scrugli Bertuca died on May 25, 1943 and is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetary.

Carmela Scrugli

Carmela Scrugli is the eldest of the Scrugli's and was born in 1856. Carmela married the Italian Ambassador to Egypt whose name we do not know - yet. Nine months after they married, he died, leaving her a widow.

After immigrating to Chicago, Carmela married a Mr. Martino. Family elders tell me they had a daughter they named Susan together, but since Carmela was so old by the time she got to Chicago, I believe Susan was his daughter by a previous marriage. Carmela died on September 11, 1936. She is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetary 4 graves from her sister Natalina and about 6 graves from her brother Gaetano.

Carmela Scrugli Martino's headstone picture

Natalina Scrugli

Natalina Scrugli was born in 1866 somewhere in Calabria. We do not know where exactly but I am working on that. We do know that Gaetano, Carmela and Natalina were not born in Cortale. Their father was a politician. He was transferred to a position in Cortale at some point. The Cortale records after 1861 no longer exist but we do know from the records that Gaetano and Carmela were not born there. It is possible that they came from Tropea. I am currently researching this. At some point Natalina married Giuseppe Maiuolo. Another spelling of this name is Majuolo. Giuseppe was the son of Domenico Maiuolo and Maria Frontera and was born on May 13, 1854. He held a political post in Cortale while married to Natalina and they owned their home in Upper Cortale. Domenico and Natalina had 4 children together. They had 2 daughters named Caterina. The first born Catalina died after eating poisoned berries. Their other children were Maria born in 1887, Domenico Francesco born in 1894 and Caterina born in 1899(?). Giuseppe Maiuolo died in Cortale. In 1905 Natalina arrived in Chicago at the home of her brother in Chicago's "Little Italy" section. She bought a two flat on Loomis Street where she lived in the first floor flat with her children and rented the upper flat which provided her with an income. She ending up renting that flat to a handsome young man named Giuseppe Napolitano who would marry her daughter Catalina in 1919. Natalina died in 1932 of complications from a broken arm and cervical cancer.

Maiuolo's (changed at some point to Maiola in this country), Bertuca's, Scrugli's, Savino's, Sapone's, Mungo's and Napolitano's circa 1924 at one of their many picnics.

About The Scrugli's

Although we know the Maiuolo's came from Cortale, we do not know for certain where the Scrugli's came from. We know they were not born in Cortale and that their father held some sort of political office that moved the family to Cortale before the Scrugli sisters married. My grandmother and all her siblings were born in Cortale and all the Scrugli's married Cortale citizens.

This is a picture of a meeting of "The Cortale Club" that used to meet at different members houses in Cicero, Illinois. All members were immigrants from Cortale or children of immigrants. I am working on identifying everyone in the picture but I know there are Bilotta's, Scrugli's, Maiuolo's, Bova's and others in this picture. Bilotta is a common surname in Cortale.