The Riccia Clans
Fanell
/ Fanelli - Santella -
Ponderendolph / Pantelandolpho - Evangelisto
All
of these families were from Riccia, Campobasso,
Molise, Italy which is northeast of
Naples very near the Adriatic Sea. Domenico Fanelli
came to this country in about 1901 at the age of
sixteen. The oral history says that he was living with
his grandfather who mistreated him ( another story says
that he hit his grandfather with a hoe) so his brothers
sold a horse and sent him to America where he walked to
New Jersey and found work in a truck garden. But not
being able to speak English, he got into trouble and
left ( he may have bit the farm owners ear off is
another version). He then walked west until he came to
Crabtree, PA which is about 30 miles southeast of
Pittsburgh. Being cold and seeing the coke ovens he went
there to warm up. He heard men speaking his Italian
dialect and one of then, Joseph Santella,
took him to his farm. Since these people were from his
home town in Italy he probably knew about where they
lived. At the age of eighteen he got Joseph's oldest
daughter, Philomena
"Minnie" Santella, pregnant and my mother, Mary Fanell, was
born in 1905. Near this time Minnie's mother, Incoronate Ponderendolph,
died and Minnie who was aged thirteen and the oldest
child in the family eventually raised her three siblings
and thirteen of her own children and and later cared for
four or five grandsons, for a time, after my mother died
in 1932. Needless to say that Minnie ruled with an iron
hand until the day she died in 1981 at the age of 89.
Dominic died in 1940 at the age of 55. My Aunt
Catherine, until her death a few years ago, lived on
that part of the farm overlooking the barn where my
mother and probably my oldest brother were conceived,
and most likely several others. Antonio Evangelisto
and his daughter Mary Evangelisto were my
god parents and I did stay with them after my mothers
death until my father relocated to the nearby village of
Luxor. Tony was the husband of Anna Congette Santella,
my great aunt. Anna was the daughter of Guiseppi "Joseph" Santella
and Incoronate Pantelandolpho,
my great grand parents. - Dominic
Noel Those who are buried at St. Vincent's, Latrobe, PA are:
Riccia,
Campobasso,
Molise, Italy
Registration Europe Film Area
HISTORY
CENTER Riccia (Campobasso).
Ufficio dello stato civile.
Microfilm dei registri originali nell'Archivio di
Stato, Campobasso.
Nati 1817-1825 1331925 Nati 1826-1834 1331926 Nati 1835-1842 1331927 Nati 1843-1850 1331928 Nati 1851-1857 1331929 Nati 1857-1865 1331930 Nati 1865 1331931 Morti,
diversi
1809-1814
1422625,
item 5-6. Matrimoni,
publicazione,
processetti
1809-1816
1608423, item 4-5.
Nati
1866-1868
1761861,
item 3-4. Pubblicazioni
1866-18743
1762069
Matrimoni
1866-1881
1762072 |