A Privitera Timeline: 1859-1905

Alfio

When Alfred Privitera was born on February 11, 1859, his father, Francesco Privitera, was 33 and his mother, Dominica Barbagallo, was 28. He married Maria Zappala on May 7, 1882. They had 13 children in 21 years. He died on November 30, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 77.

Alfio Privitera and his family were from La Punta, and the church of San Giovanni Battista la Punta.

We visited this church at night, so it's not that great of a picture!

Maria

Maria Zappala was born on November 26, 1862, the daughter of Rose Rizzo and Joseph Zappala. She married Alfred Privitera and had 13 children in 21 years. She died on January 9, 1932, in Brooklyn, New York, at the age of 69.

So somehow, they met (I might have to look into that sometime) and then they were married in Pedara, Sicily, at the church called Santa Caterina di Alessandria. Maria Zappala and her family have long standing roots in Pedara. This was about an hour and a half's walk away from Alfio's home church. It was traditional for the groom to marry in the bride's church, and for the family to settle there.

Notice in the picture: Mt. Etna in the background and her black lava rocks used to adorn the church.

Here I am with my mom on our first day in Sicily, standing on the steps of this same church, the one we read about in every family record! Every birth was recorded here. Our ancestors could have stood in this exact spot holding my mom's grandmother as a baby!

Their Children

It was in Pedara that Alfio and Maria started their family.

Domenica was the oldest. When Domenica Privitera was born on March 15, 1883, her father, Alfio, was 24, and her mother, Maria, was 20.

Rose, born on August 16, 1884.

Domenica and Rose are a big part of Zina's story. I will share more about them in future posts!

Concetta and Grace, twins, were born on May 25, 1886. Grace passed away on June 2 that year.

Francesco, born on October 15, 1887,

Grace, or Grazia, born on May 16, 1889,

Agatha, born on April 24, 1892,

Joseph, born on September 21, 1893,

Santina, also called Sarah, born on July 19, 1895,

Stella, born on February 21, 1897.

October 19, 1899, Alfia was born and died the same day - in Regalbuto.

So sometime after Stella was born and before Alfia, the family moved from Pedara to Regalbuto. This must not have been an easy move, since the towns were almost a ten hour walk away from each other. Why the family decided to up and move is a mystery. I imagined they would only do so if they needed to start over for some reason. It must have been a very stressful time.

Here is Alfia's birth/death record. "Senza vita" means she was born without life, so sad.

Then, Mary was born on April 24, 1901.

The family began their plans to leave for America, starting in 1903.

Giovanna, the goodbye baby, was born in 1904 but passed away six months later.

When Giovanna was born, Alfio was already in NY. Interestingly, the records actually state this! I'm sure the birth was an embarrassment to Maria, needing to explain that she did indeed have a husband because that fact had to be confirmed and recorded!

This is the surviving family when they made it to New York after travelling in 1903, 1904 and twice in 1905 to get the entire family across the ocean. This picture was taken in NY probably shortly after Domenica was married, in 1905. I will share more about this in my next post.

Thank you for visiting!