Thank you, Sean, for finding the 1910, 1920, 1930, and 1940 Census records for the Santomassimo family!
Below you'll find the information for Giovanni, Antonetta, Antonio, "Ita" (Ida), and Rosina. As you can see from the original document at the bottom of this post, the typing and the handwriting is very small. I've broken the long line of information up into three sections so that it's easier to read. This document tells us many things. It tells us that Giovanni arrived here in 1901, and Antonetta arrived in 1903. It tells us that Giovanni was not naturalized. Some of the family may already know this, but I was surprised and delighted to find out that both Giovanni AND Antonetta could read and write when they came to this country. I can't imagine that was a small feat for that time, especially if you were a woman. In the coming weeks I'll be posting the other Census records. The nature of these records is that they will often conflict with each other. Census takers were not always thorough, and sometimes handwriting is hard to make out. Still, it's worth poring over these documents to see what they can tell us. Is there anything about this Census you find interesting? Please share in the comments!
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This city directory from 1902 tells us that very soon after Giovanni arrived in the United States (according to census records, he arrived sometime between 1900 & 1901), he and his brothers Angelo and Vincenzo had employment at Sargent and Company in New Haven.
A little bit about the Sargent company, a wholesale hardware business in New Haven, can be found below; "SARGENT’s original New Haven location was along Water Street on land now occupied by the Teletrack Theatre and The Maritime Building(s) with a portion of the plant bordering Wallace and Hamilton Street. Prior to the Sargent brothers acquiring this property, it was owned by such historical names as colonial patriot Jesse Leavenworth (1760), Benedict Arnold (1778), Eli Whitney (1807), and the Fulton Steamboat Company (1817). The original plant started out with a series of five-story brick buildings, storage sheds, and, as the business grew, other buildings were added. Connecting these various structures were “catwalks” or bridges, often spanning busy city streets. By 1914, the SARGENT product catalog listed some 60,000 different items, making it one of the largest hardware manufacturing plants in the United States." If you'd like to learn more, click here. |