Sunday, April 18, 2010

Who was Regina Santucci?

In 1912 my grandfather John "Chico" Ciccolella came to America.  He was a teenager at the time.  It took him a few years, however, about 1919 he married Regina Santucci.  Born May 2, 1902 in Italy, she was the daughter of Luigi Santucci and Filomena Federico.  Her father Luigi was born in Pettorano sul Gizio, Italy, so I assume Regina was also born there.  This is also the city John Ciccolella was born and raised before leaving to the US.  Regina was the first child of the couple who had another son Daniel and a daughter Mary.  This may be news to some family members, because we all think of John Ciccolella being wed to Christina Lamonica, which he was, but let's get back to the story.  The young couple (John and Regina) were living in Steubenville, Ohio and on July 20, 1920 welcomed Margaret Ciccolella.  Not a lot is known about the next few years, we assume the family was doing well thriving in the early 1920s with lots of other Italians from the Abruzzi area.  Unfortunately, Regina santucci Ciccolella died on December 3, 1925.  She died in Steubenville, Ohio and was buried at Mt. Calvary.  A photo of her tomb stone accompanies this blog.  Some say that she died in child birth but I have not found a tomb stone for a child in the same cemetery.  The couples only child - Aunt Margaret went on to move to Baltimore, Maryland, marry Tony Trotta, and well the rest is history.  Her father John went on to marry my grandmother Christina Lamonica a few years later in 1934 and thus, started the second branch of our family tree. 

No comments: