From Scafati to Acerra to Chicago: The Ancestors of Antonio Brasile

Part Two - Generations 3 & 4

See Part One for Generations 1 & 2.

Italian Majolica vase decorated in Faenza style. Lindisfarne Castle ©National Trust Volunteer Photography Team https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/511375

Third Generation

3. MARIO BRASILE was born on 15 August 1848 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 22 February 1920 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. He married first, TERESA SARNATARO, on 20 July 1873 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. She was born on 20 July 1850 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, the daughter of Antonio Sarnataro and Palma Ambrosino, and died between 1908 and 1913, probably in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. (Teresa Sarnataro was alive when her daughter, Giovanna Brasile, married in 1908, but as divorce was not legal in Italy until 1974, she probably was deceased when her husband married in 1913.) Mario married second, GAETANA GALLO, on 9 February 1913 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. She was born on 7 August 1853 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, the daughter of Michele Gallo and Porzia d’Anna, and died on 11 September 1926 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. Gaetana was beyond normal childbearing years when she married Mario, and there is no evidence that they had any children together.¹

While Mario was a child, King Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia, unified Italy. With the support of Piedmontese government leaders, General Giuseppe Garibaldi launched an invasion of Sicily in 1860. He was met with little resistance and quickly moved to the mainland, where he again met little resistance as he marched to Naples. King Francesco II of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies left the city of Naples to rally his troops and was defeated near Capua. The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was annexed by the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia and later became part of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861, ruled by Victor Emmanuel II.²

While the Naples area was the site of the first railway, had a large manufacturing base, and was the home of the first university in Italy, the area also had the highest poverty rate in the Kingdom of Italy. Under the rule of the Bourbon Kings, southern Italy had protective tariffs and little taxation, but had been struggling economically for a long time. Southern Italy suffered from drought, erosion, outdated farming methods, and poor soil conditions; now, under the rule of Emmanuel II, free trade and taxes directed at the peasants exacerbated their poverty.³ 

With no hope of improving their lot, the peasants of southern Italy headed to the United States following the promise of wealth. “...Italy remained an overwhelmingly agricultural country, with around two-thirds of the labour force employed on the land in the 1870s and 1880s...with low investment and falling prices leading to rising unemployment and a general decline in living standards. Millions of Italians voted with their feet and emigrated.” In the 1880s, more than 300,000, most of them from southern Italy and Sicily, immigrated. By the time the exodus slowed down in 1920, more than 4 million Italians had relocated to the United States.⁴

The Brasile family of Acerra was part of that exodus. Mario’s nephew, Angelo Toscano, was living at 75 Mulberry Street in New York City, and another nephew, Angelo Brasile, the son of Cuono Vincenzo Brasile, went to join Angelo Toscano in 1903. Angelo Brasile returned to Acerra and married on 18 January 1906. He did not spend much time with his new bride and was in Chicago when his cousin Antonio Brasile, Mario’s son, came to join him at 117 Vernon Park Place in Chicago three months later. Angelo made another trip to the United States in 1909 and joined his father, Mario’s brother Cuono Vincenzo Brasile, at 117 Vernon Park Place.⁵

1910 U.S. census - Angelo Brasile, the son of Cuono Vincenzo Brasile, was living at Vernon Park Place along with many other Italian immigrants. See https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRN2-FZG

The known children of Mario Brasile and Teresa Sarnataro were:

i. ANGELO BRASILE was born on 26 October 1873 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. He married Gaetana Piscopo on 3 May 1900 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. She was born on 28 December 1878 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy.⁶

ii. MARIA RAFFAELA BRASILE was born on 4 February 1878 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 26 December 1940 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. She married Giacomo Romanelli on 11 January 1900 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. He was born on 18 November 1865 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy.⁷

iii. GIOVANNA BRASILE was born on 10 March 1879 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 19 July 1881 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy.⁸

iv. GIOVANNA BRASILE was born on 25 November 1882 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 23 December 1958 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. She married Giovanni Levita on 2 February 1908 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy. He was born about 29 April 1885 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy.⁹

v. TERESA BRASILE was born about 18 May 1885 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 16 June 1886 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy.¹⁰

+4. vi. ANTONIO BRASILE was born on 28 September 1888 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 18 January 1919 in Big Beaver, Beaver, Pennsylvania, United States. He married Carrie Scalise (born Rachela Scalise) on 21 August 1913 in Winamac, Pulaski, Indiana, United States. She was born on 3 May 1895 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, and died on 12 July 1969 in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois, United States.¹¹

Copy of Tony Brasile’s death record from Ancestry.com

vii. MARIA BRASILE was born on 7 May 1891 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 1 June 1892 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy.¹²

Fourth Generation

3. ANTONIO BRASILE was born on 28 September 1888 in Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, and died on 18 January 1919 in Big Beaver, Beaver, Pennsylvania, United States. He married CARRIE SCALISE (born Rachela Scalise) on 21 August 1913 in Winamac, Pulaski, Indiana, United States. She was born on 3 May 1895 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, the daughter of Vincenzo Scalise and Nuncia Panetta, and died on 12 July 1969 in Oak Park, Cook, Illinois, United States.¹³

Antonio Brasile, age 18, boarded the SS Prinz Adalbert and left Naples on 2 March 1906, arriving in New York on 17 March 1906. There were twenty-four other men and boys from Acerra on the same manifest page, and Antonio was one of nine who was able to read and write, and one of three who had paid for his own ticket. He had $9 on him, which was about the same as the other passengers were carrying. Except for Domenico Messina, who was going to Brooklyn, they were all headed to Chicago to join family members. Most of them were going to 117 Vernon Park Place or 116 South Clark Street, Chicago, which were probably lodging houses, as there were many in that area of town at that time.¹⁴ 

“Mostly contadini (small farmers) from dozens of towns in Italy both north and south settled around the core of the central city and in selected suburbs. They practiced campanilismo (allegiance to their town of origin), living near others from the same village or region. The core colonies were considered slums...The immigrants worked as railroad laborers, construction workers, small-scale fruit and vegetable peddlers, shoemakers, and barbers. Both men and women were engaged in the needle trades...it was unusual to find Italians employed in factories. Only a minuscule number worked in meatpacking plants.”¹⁵

There was no single Little Italy in Chicago, but the immigrants from the various towns and regions tended to settle in groups. “The Halsted and Taylor Street area contained about 25,000 (1910) one-third of the city’s Italians—a mixture of people from Naples, Salerno, Bari, Messina, Palermo, Abruzzo…For the most part this area was considered a slum in the pre-1920 era.” With so many immigrants coming to Chicago, a social service directory was published and distributed to the service providers. One provider was the Italian Christian Institute at 567 W. Taylor Street, “Estab. 1914…To promote good citizenship among immigrant Italians…evening school.”¹⁶

But while the directory contained several listings for ethnic groups such as Armenian, Jewish, German, etc., this was the only listing specifically for Italians. Italians turned to their communities, which often meant extended family from their home village, and their church for support. Our Lady of Pompeii was built in 1911, a third of a mile from where the Brasile family was living at Vernon Park Place, and said Mass in Italian each Sunday. The church added a school in 1912.¹⁷

But the Italians did not stay in the slums. As they could afford it, they moved to homes in better neighborhoods, but again, the neighbors tended to stay near each other with a Catholic church nearby. In 1917, the Brasile family was living at 1116 Vernon Park Place, but after Antonio Brasile died in 1919, his family was living at 93 Lake Street, River Forest, Cook, Illinois.¹⁸ 

Antonio Brasile was working on a project for the Pennsylvania Railroad when he was run over by a train and crushed to death. The information for the death certificate was provided by Felix L. Gizzi of Racine, Beaver, Pennsylvania, who knew very little about Antonio Brasile. Mr. Tony Brasile was white, male, married, age 31, from Italy, and his parents were from Italy. Antonio left his wife, Carrie, with three children and about seven months pregnant.¹⁹

While it was sad that Antonio Brasile did not live long enough to see his children grow, his immigration made it possible for them to have opportunities for education, employment, and homeownership that would not have been available in Italy.

D’Urso’s Italian Agency, about 1902 on Taylor Street, provided notary services, currency exchange, and international money transfers. Photo from Chicago Daily News in possession of Chicago Historical Society, Encyclopedia of Chicago (http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/11593.html).

1. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1848, record 235, Mario Brasile, 15 August 1848, with information about his marriage with Teresa Sarnataro written in the margin, 20 July 1873; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Morti, 1920, record 72, Mario Brasile, 22 February 1920; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1850, record 227, Teresa Sarnataro, 2 July 1850, with information about her marriage with Mario Brasile written in the margin, 20 July 1873; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1908, record 22, Giovanni Levita and Giovanna Brasile, 2 February 1908; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1913, record 14, Mario Brasile and Gaetana Gallo, 9 February 1913; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1853, record 258, Gaetana Gallo, 7 August 1853; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Morti, 1926, record 313, Gaetana Gallo, 11 September 1926; FamilySearch.

2. Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796 (© 2008), 194–195 & 231–232. Also, David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples (© 2011), 193–194, 200–201 & 203. And, John Hooper, The Italians (© 2015 ), 7 & 275–276.

3. David Gilmour, The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples (© 2011), 142–143. & 240. Also, John Hooper, The Italians (© 2015 ), 240–243. And, Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796 (© 2008), 265–266.

4. Christopher Duggan, The Force of Destiny: A History of Italy Since 1796 (© 2008), 264. Also, “The Great Arrival,” Library of Congress.

5. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro 114.3337 degli Atti di Nati, 1845, record 41, Filomena Brasile, 20 November 1845, with information about her marriage with Luigi Toscano written in the margin, 15 April 1871; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1838, record 39, Luigi Toscano, 2 March 1838, with information about his marriage with Filomena Brasile written in the margin, 15 April 1871; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1880, record 285, Angelo Toscano, 19 June 1880; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1875, record 54, Cuono Vincenzo Brasile and Maddalena Renella, 12 June 1875; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1880, record 524, Angelo Brasile, 7 November 1880; FamilySearch. And, Manifests of arriving aliens, United States Citizens, and crew of vessels arriving at the Port of New York, New York, on 10 April 1903, Vol. 589, manifest for the Germania from Naples, folio Q, entry 20, Angelo Brasile, age 20; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1906, record 6, Angelo Brasile and Marianna Esposito, 18 January 1906; FamilySearch. And, Manifests of arriving aliens, United States Citizens, and crew of vessels arriving at the Port of New York, New York, on 17 March 1906, Vol. 1478, manifest for the Prinz Adalbert from Naples, folio 205, entry 3, Antonio Brasile, age 18; FamilySearch. And, Manifests of arriving aliens, United States Citizens, and crew of vessels arriving at the Port of New York, New York, on 19 March 1909, Vol. 2684, manifest for the Lazio from Naples, folio 7, entry 4 Angelo Brasile, age 28; FamilySearch.

6. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1873, record 525, Angelo Brasile, 26 October 1873; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1900, record 63, Angelo Brasile and Gaetana Piscopo, 13 May 1900; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1878, record 589, Gaetana Piscopo, 28 December 1878; FamilySearch.

7. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1876, record 69, Maria Raffaela Basile, 4 February 1876, [the town clerk wrote her death information in the margin]; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1900, record 6, Giacomo Romanelli and Maria Raffaela Brasile, 11 January 1900; FamilySearch. And, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1865, record 516, Giacomo Romano, 18 November 1865, [a note written by the town clerk corrected his surname to Romanelli, which was recorded in 1896 with the court located in Santa Maria Capua Vetere]; FamilySearch.

8. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1879, record 95, Giovanna Brasile, 10 March 1879; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Morti, 1881, record 386, Giovanna Brasile, 19 July 1881; FamilySearch.

9. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1882, record 623, Giovanna Brasile, 25 November 1882, with information about her 23 December 1958 death written in the margin; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Matrimoni, 1908, record 22, Giovanni Levita and Giovanna Brasile, 2 February 1908; FamilySearch. And, Chiesa Cattolica, Parrocchia di Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, "Baptizatorum Liber 1866–1871," folio 190 back, entry 38, Giovanni Levita, 29 April 1885; FamilySearch.

10. Chiesa Cattolica, Parrocchia di Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, "Baptizatorum Liber 1866–1871," folio 191 back, entry 20, Teresa Brasile, 18 May 1885; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Morti, 1886, record 275, Teresa Brasile; FamilySearch.

11. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1888, record 464, Antonio Brasile, 28 September 1888; FamilySearch. Also, Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1919, section 4001-4150, certificate stamped 6355, Tony Brasile, 18 January 1917; Ancestry. And, Pulaski County, Indiana, Marriage Record and Applications, Book J, 236–237, Application for Marriage License, 21 August 1913, Marriage License, 21 August 1913, and Certificate of Marriage, 22 August 1913, for Tony Brasile and Carrie Scalise; FamilySearch. And, Cook County, Illinois, Birth Register, Book 31, 1895 section, 325, entry 4, Rachela Scalise, 3 May 1895; restricted to viewing at a FamilySearch or Affiliate Library, FamilySearch. And, Illinois Department of Public Health, medical certificate of death no. 69-040527 (1969), Caroline Cappilupo, 12 July 1969; Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, photocopied certificate supplied by clerk, 25 January 2022, in possession of author.

12. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1891, record 252, Maria Brasile, 7 May 1891; FamilySearch. Also, Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Morti, 1892, record 198, Maria Brasile, 1 June 1892; FamilySearch.

13. Acerra, Naples, Campania, Italy, Registro degli Atti di Nati, 1888, record 464, Antonio Brasile, 28 September 1888; FamilySearch. Also, Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1919, section 4001-4150, certificate stamped 6355, Tony Brasile, 18 January 1917; Ancestry. And, Pulaski County, Indiana, Marriage Record and Applications, Book J, 236–237, Application for Marriage License, 21 August 1913, Marriage License, 21 August 1913, and Certificate of Marriage, 22 August 1913, for Tony Brasile and Carrie Scalise; FamilySearch. And, Cook County, Illinois, Birth Register, Book 31, 1895 section, 325, entry 4, Rachela Scalise, 3 May 1895; restricted to viewing at a FamilySearch or Affiliate Library, FamilySearch. And, Illinois Department of Public Health, medical certificate of death no. 69-040527 (1969), Caroline Cappilupo, 12 July 1969; Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois, photocopied certificate supplied by clerk, 25 January 2022, in possession of author.

14. Manifests of arriving aliens, United States Citizens, and crew of vessels arriving at the Port of New York, New York, on 17 March 1906, Vol. 1478, manifest for the Prinz Adalbert from Naples, folio 205, entry 3, Antonio Brasile, age 18; FamilySearch.

15. Domenico Candeloro, “Chicago’s Italians: Immigrants, Ethnics, Achievers 1850-1985,” Illinois History Teacher vol. 6, no. 2 (1999), Illinois Periodicals Online.

16. Domenico Candeloro, “Rundown of Chicago Italian Neighborhoods and Churches: There was Never Just ONE Little Italy in Chicago,” Chicago Catholic Immigrants Conference, posted 18 September 2013, LUC Library Blogs. Also, Valaria D. McDermott and Annie Elizabeth Trotter, Chicago Social Service Directory, (© 1918), 228; Library of Congress.

17. Kathy Catrambone and Ellen Shubard, Taylor Street: Chicago’s Little Italy, Hoopla edition (© 2007), 2 & 13.

18. Domenico Candeloro, “Rundown of Chicago Italian Neighborhoods and Churches: There was Never Just ONE Little Italy in Chicago,” Chicago Catholic Immigrants Conference, posted 18 September 2013, LUC Library Blogs. Also, 1920 U.S. census, Cook County, Illinois, population schedule, River Forest, ED 205, sheet 2-A, dwelling 25, family 28, Carrie Brasile household; FamilySearch.

19. "Engine Kills Three Railroad Laborers," The Pittsburgh Press Sun (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Sunday, 19 January 1919, additional classified section p. 8, col. 6; digital images, Google News. Also, Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1919, section 4001-4150, certificate stamped 6355, Tony Brasile, 18 January 1917; Ancestry. And, 1920 U.S. census, Cook County, Illinois, population schedule, River Forest, ED 205, sheet 2-A, dwelling 25, family 28, Carrie Brasile household; FamilySearch.