Domenico Brex - the Domino Effect

How do you piece together someone's life when all you have is a paper trail?

Domenico, or as I call him in my book, Dom, was an interesting character to write about. Zina called him "Uncle Domino" in the story, which was fitting - his actions caused a "domino effect" that shaped everyone.

When we first asked family members about him, we heard many rumors surrounding his immigration to America: why he came and how. He died in 1937, so all we had were stories from fuzzy memories, and it felt like the old game of telephone. So, my mom and I did some research to try to piece things together. Of course these pieces were only the first step, I will write more about the rumors later ;)

First piece: He was born (obviously)

When Domenico Brex was born on February 7, 1870, his father, Vitus (whose father was also named Domenico), was 30, and his mother, Guiseppa Timpanaro (whose father's name was Carmelo), was 22 years old. They were married in 1865. Here is a screenshot of that record.

Side note: the word figlio (or figlia) was commonly used in church records directly following the person's name - meaning "son of" or "daughter of." So when I mention Vitus and Guiseppa's fathers' names in parentheses here, it is actually in keeping with how records were commonly noted in Sicily - of course the records below in these screenshots are worded differently - a mix of Latin and Italian :)

Below is a screenshot of the birth record of Domenico, from Regalbuto.

The first red line on the next screenshot (below) indicates where it states "Vito Brex of thirty years, of Domenico" (his father,) the second red line indicates where it states "Guiseppa Timpanaro of twenty-two years of Carmelo" (her father.)

The third red line actually shows where he was born. Here you can see it is written, "strada Lunga". This is the street name! I'm still trying to find it on the map. It is possible that the name was changed over the years, but look at this current map of today:

This is a section of Regalbuto on Google Maps. Notice on the far right is San Basilio, that is the church in which we found many records for the Brex and Timpanaro families, online. The three dots are also interesting things to note. I will probably do another blog or two on them as we go. Two are named for historic significance- Garibaldi, and the March of the Thousand Men. The other we found in records when we researched the period when Domenica Privitera's family moved to Regalbuto. The three lines that "underline" streets are the same surnames we found in our family tree. Timpanaro, Cardaci, and Catania are ancestors, so a guess might be this is the area that the family may have lived.

Here I am standing by a sign for Via Vito Timpanaro when we visited Regalbuto in November of 2019. Was he a relative of Domenico's mother? Possibly!

Okay, I am digressing quite a bit here! So getting back on track.

Second piece: His childhood

Domenico was the first son born to Vitus and Guiseppa. They first had 2 daughters, Gratia and Maria. Gratia married Vito Marraro, had three children, and she lived to be 69. Maria married Vincent Catania and had 5 children. She died at age 63. These sisters stayed in Regalbuto as far as I know.

After Domenico was born, Vitus and Guiseppa had 6 more children. They all died in infancy. What could their parents have felt all this time? They were probably trying so hard to have their family thrive only to be struck down over and over. Was it due to poverty? Poor health and living conditions?

Josepha was born in 1872 and died in 1873.

Another Josepha was born in 1874 and died in 1875.

Vito was born in 1875 and died in 1877.

Another Vito was born in 1878 and died the same day.

Angelo was born in 1879 and died in 1881.

Carmelo was born in 1882 and died in 1883...

Note: Naming conventions were very traditional in Italy. Children were often named for other family members, so if one child died, they often would use the name again for another so that they may still have the opportunity to honor that family member - regardless of gender. The "root" name would just use a masculine or feminine suffix.

Another Angelo was born on October 22, 1884. At this time Domenico was fourteen years old.

I imagine the family was relieved at every birthday milestone this Angelo hit. In 1887 he turned three, and that was older than any of the previous six children had the chance to be.

But then, another tragedy struck. Vitus, Domenico's father, passed away on March 22, 1887, at the age of 49. Guiseppa was pregnant at the time. On May 26,1887 that baby, Vita, was born and passed away the same day.

Now, Domenico was seventeen. He had a three year old brother, and an understandably very sad mother. What would he, as a young man, be feeling about the hand he had been dealt? Did he try to be the man of the house, take care of his brother and mother? His two older sisters married and moved out before their father died, so they had their own families to tend to.

So I imagined Domenico felt a sense of responsibility. He probably felt badly for his little brother and didn't want him to grow up without a father, so he stuck around.

But his mother, Guiseppa, had an idea about that as well. She remarried. Guiseppa Timpanaro married Vincenzo DiBattista in September 1890 when she was 42 years old. Vincenzo was only 30. He was ten years older than Domenico. I imagine Domenico may have resented a stepfather so close to his age. In my book, Domenico remarked that they were closer in age than he was to his own blood brother, Angelo, and Vincenzo was to be a father figure? Right? So what were they all thinking?

Third piece: He Left for America

In my story, I felt that Domenico would have planned to leave for America right after his mother remarried. I believe he immigrated in 1895 (some say as a stowaway, some say he traveled with his brother Angelo - but we found Angelo came later in 1898 when he was thirteen.) Why wouldn't Domenico have waited until Angelo was older and travel together? It seemed Domenico was anxious to leave as soon as he could, and the rest of the reason may have been financial. Neither Domenico's mother or the man she married ever came to America, so theirs wasn't a typical family bond. Domenico left everything behind, but he made provision for his brother to leave too.

Here is a screenshot of what I believe to be Domenico's immigration record. He traveled alone, a peasant, no luggage, and his age was about right. (These things were not always accurate, often the person didn't know exactly how old they were!) He was heading to NY. We know NY was his destination because he was there when Angelo arrived - on Angelo's immigration record, but more on that in a future blog.

What was this journey like for him? How did he feel leaving his mother and young brother? Was he scared? Nervous?

I kept in mind some of those family rumors surrounding why he left Sicily while I told my story - rumors of a curse, murders, and secrets. Did you notice the difference in how his name is spelled here? Brex is now shown as Bressi. If you say them both with an Italian accent, they sound very similar. Which led me to another set of questions; was this misspelling a result of Domenico's illiteracy, poor documentation at Ellis Island, or part of an escape plan - done for protection? More on that too, later!