Angelina Bongiovi's Death Certificate

Today's mail brought a death certificate I ordered at the end of January, the death certificate for my Great-Great Grandmother Angelina (Gaurdino) Bongiovi, who died in 1950. It does extend my known family history one generation by giving the names of her parents: Albert Gaudino and Frances Crafanzano. I also now knowwhere she is buried: Calvary Cemetery in Queens. Angelina is one of my "at the shore" ancestors -- she immigrated to the United States with her husband Guiseppe Bongiovi in 1890.

Found the Bongiovi's in 1900

I took on finding my great grandfather and his parents in the 1900 census last night. Once again, a simple Ancestry.com search for "Albert Bongiovi" or his parents Giuseppe (Joseph) or Angelina (Angela) did not return anything. So, much like my 1910 search, I decided to see if they were listed at the same address.

Once again, I turned to the excellent Brooklyn Genealogy web site I found. Particularly useful was this map of Ward 26 and this list of the 1900 census enumeration districts.

After a few turns of Ancestry's online images for enumeration district 457, I had them: Joseph Bongiove, his wife Angela, and four of their children (Josephine, Lilly, Francis, and Albert). Here's the detail from the image.



This is the part I like about family history research -- locating your ancestors in the distant past!

Got 'em!

As I was preparing for my trip to New York, I was reminded that my trail back to my Great-Grandfather, Albert Bongiovi, and his parents, Giuseppe (Joseph) Bongiovi and Angelina Guardino skips about 30 years from the 1920 U.S. Census and Albert's WW I draft and enlistment records back to 1890, when his parents arrived in America (as I discuss in this link).

I remember, back in the day, doing a Soundex search in the 1910 census, but no luck. With my new fangled Ancestry.com account, I tried to search the 1910 U.S. census, but again, no Giuseppe, Angelina, or Albert. They all should have been alive and should have been together.

So, I decided to take the dive into a manual scan of the census images on Ancestry. But, as they lived in Brooklyn, NY, I thought it might be a big project. Luckily, I had a flash of brilliance (or just common sense) and decided to start at the address listed in Albert's World War I documents and in the 1920 Census (where Albert is living alone with his mother Angelina). A quick google search turned up this site, that returns the Enumeration District given a set of cross streets. Unfortunately, my 1899 map of Brooklyn was not very easy to read and some of the road names have changed, so my first attempt was a few blocks to the east of the address I was looking for. But, I found what looks to be a great Brooklyn Genealogy site that had some better maps. With a better set of cross streets, I went right to ED 756 and very quickly found them at the same address!

What happened that they weren't indexed? Well, they were listed as Bonheor instead of Bongiovi (see the clipping below). But, the similarities are too great: Joseph (Giuseppe), Lena (Angelina), and Albert all living at the same address as in 1917 and 1920, with the correct birth years and immigration year. As an added bonus, found 4 new siblings (or my Great-Great-Great Aunts and Uncles) that I can discuss with my Grandfather. Now, I wouldn't call this a slam dunk source, but it sure helps me find some!

Also, I found something else out: using the same techniques I used in the small towns of Wisconsin when researching my wife's family works in the "big city" of Brooklyn. What a great lesson!

Found another trail to the shore...

My goal is to trace back to the immigration point for all of my family's branches. I found one more this week! By using Ancestry.com's New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, I found my great-great grandfather and grandmother's entry in the passenger list for the S/S Iniziative, travelling from Italy (Naples and Palermo) to New York, arriving 30 Jul 1890. They were travelling with a son as well (a new great-great-great uncle!). Very lucky - the entry was on a very clear part of the page!