The Maiuolo's and Scrugli's

My grandmother was Caterina Maiuolo. She was the daughter of Giuseppe Maiuolo and Natalina Scrugli and was born in Cortale. Although we know the Maiuolo's came from Cortale, we do not know for certain where the Scrugli's came from. We know they were not born in Cortale and that their father held some sort of political office that moved the family to Cortale before the Scrugli sisters married. My grandmother and all her siblings were born in Cortale and all the Scrugli's married Cortale citizens.

My grandmother left Cortale as a child with her mother, Natalina Scrugli, her brother Francesco and her sister Maria. I had a difficult time finding the ship manifest for my grandmother. There are 2 reasons for this. The first reason is Ellis Island mis-spelled their last name on their database. The second reason is I was looking for their married names. What I did not know was Italian women never took their husband's surnames - the name they were born with was the name they died with. To this day Italian women only use their husband's names in social settings. A women on a genealogy board was kind enough to point this out and find my grandmother's ship manifest for me.

This is the ship manifest of Natalina Scrugli (my great grandmother), Caterina Maiuolo (my grandmother), Maria Maiuolo (my great aunt) and Domenico Maiuolo (my great uncle who I knew as Uncle Chich - we all thought his name was Frank). This is the ship manifest of Natalina Scrugli (my great grandmother), Caterina Maiuolo (my grandmother), Maria Maiuolo (my great aunt) and Domenico Maiuolo (my great uncle who I knew as Uncle Chich - we all thought his name was Frank).

My Grandmother arrived at Ellis Island on Thanksgiving Day.

The Maiuolo Family

My great grandfather was born on May 13, 1854 in Cortale to Maria Frontera and Domenico Maiuolo. Not much information about him has survived other than he held a politial office in the town and died young. By 1905 he had died.

The Story of Three Sisters

Once upon a time their were 3 sisters who were very close, Carmela, Maria and Natalina Scrugli. These sisters all became widows within a year or 2. A few years earlier their brother Gaetano, a widower, had left Cortale for America with his children. He settled in Chicago's "little Italy" section and befriended a tavern owner named Teodoro Bertuca. Teodoro, a recent widower with a teenaged son, was looking for a new wife. So, Gaetano thought of his sisters back in Cortale and began negotiating the marriage of his youngest sister Maria to Teodoro. But, Maria would not leave Cortale without her sisters. So Teodoro sent passage for all 3 sisters and their children to come to Chicago. That is how the story went...

The Real Story

My research revealed a slightly different story that noone knew. Here is the real story. There were, indeed 3 widowed sisters. But Gaetano was not a widower and he did not come with his children to Chicago. They came later alone as adults. Gaetano probably did negotiate the marriage of his sister Maria to Teodoro Bertuca, but the three sisters did not come together. Maria Scrugli, her daughter Francesca and Maria's sister Carmela sailed on the ship "Columbia" and arrived in New York on April 16, 1904. But wait, what is Maria's daughter's name? Francesca, as we all thought? Francescina, her nickname (which means "little" Francis in Italian)? No, her name on the ship manifest was Caterina Mungo. And where was the third sister - my great grandmother Natalina? Not on this ship.

The Journey To America

Natalina travelled on the Sicilia which arrived in New York on Thanksgiving day, 1905. Natalina and her children travelled all alone. Her trip must have been very different from her sisters. On her sister's ship were many cousins and neighbors from Cortale. They all travelled together. They would have felt much safer than Natalina who travelled alone with her children. We will never know why Natalina and her children came so much later than her sisters. It could be Natalina stayed behind to complete family business. They owned property in "Upper" Cortale. Perhaps she stayed behind to sell the property. Perhaps Natalina was not yet a widow. Another possibility is Natalina wanted to stay in Cortale. I find it interesting that she left Italy just 3 months after a huge earthquake that effected Cortale. Natalina's eldest child was the 23 year old Maria. Poor Maria was sick during the entire voyage on The Sicilia. When the ship docked, the passengers were told they could not disemark because it was a holiday - Thanksgiving. They had to spend an extra night on the ship. The seasick Maria was quite upset about this. None of them could understand why the Americans had a holiday for a chicken.

Read more about the family and their genealogy on these pages:

• Natalina Scrugli
• Carmela Scrugli
• Maria Scrugli
• Gaetano Scrugli and His Children
• Immigration From Cortale

Family surnames from Cortale: Maiuolo, Scrugli, Frontera, Bertuca, Mungo, Savino and more.