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Maria Scrugli

zia Maria Scrugli was born in Tropea, to Antonino Scrugli and Caterina Cipollina and is the youngest of the Scrugli children that I know of. Her father was a politician who was transferred from Tropea to a political position in Cortale at some point after her birth. Records are unavailable for Maria in Italy. In Cortale she married a man with the surname Mungo. She had a daughter with him named Caterina Francesca Mungo. According to family tradition, Caterina was Mr. Mungo's mother's name and she was named after her, however, she used her middle name Francesca. She was known in my family as Francescina which means "Little Francis" in English. Maria's husband died leaving her a widow. According to the family story, Maria's brother Gaetano, who had immigrated to Chicago some years previous, had a friend in Chicago named Teodoro Bertuca. Teodoro, a recent widower himself, was looking for a wife. Gaetano began negociating the marriage of Maria to Teodoro. Teodoro paid for the ship passage for Maria, her daughter Francesca and her sister Carmela to come to America so he could marry Maria. They sailed on the ship named "Columbia" and arrived at Ellis Island on 16 April 1904. A copy of their ship manifest can be seen here.

Life In Chicago

Once they arrived in this country, the betrothed Maria married Teodoro Bertuca. She moved into his home with her daughter Francescina Mungo. Teodoro had a son a little older than Francescina named Anthony. Maria Scrugli Bertuca gave birth to a daughter and named her Rose. At some point some gossips on the block decided it was inappropriate for teenagers that were not actually blood related to live in the same house. Teodoro and Maria decided Tony and Francescina should marry. Tony and Francescina married in 1908 when Francescina was only 16 years old. They had 8 children together. Maria Scrugli Bertuca died on May 25, 1943 and is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery.






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