NOTE: LAST UPDATED 12 MARCH 2023
The Cipolla and D'Agrosa families traveled from their respective hometowns of Muro Lucano and Marsico Nuovo and began arriving in Philadelphia in the late 1800s. Over time they would flourish under the names Cipollo and Lagrosa (and several varied spellings of that name!). Below you will find information about the voyages that brought them to America. Hopefully more details reveal themselves in future, so check back for updates.
PARTS OF THE PUZZLE WE SOLVED
S.S. ALESIA
Departure: Naples (24 Apr 1893)
Arrival: New York (14 May 1893)
Who: Felice Cipolla (age 16); Rosamaria (née Cipolla) Crusco (age 19); Vincenzo Crusco (age 24)
About the travelers: For details there is a separate blog post written about this journey. The short story is that this is the voyage that first brought the Cipolla (now Cipollo) family to America. It was a perilous journey as several people died from small pox. Felice Cipolla (soon to become Felix Cipollo) joined his sister Rosamaria and her husband Vincenzo for the journey. There were other people traveling from Muro Lucano as well, but any family ties are unclear. Vincenzo had been to Philadelphia before with his father, but this time he would be starting a family in his adopted country with his new bride, Rosamaria.
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About the travelers: For context, Michele Cipolla (Michael Cipolla) was a younger brother of Felix Cipolla. The passenger list captures him as a 15 year-old "carpenter" who purchased his own ticket to visit "brother Felice Cipolla" in Philadelphia. Among the hundreds of passengers, only four are coming from Muro Lucano and of them, only two are headed to Philadelphia. There isn't any evidence that Michael traveled with anyone else since he is found pages apart from in the log, but given that he was only 15, it also seems strange (at least by modern standards) that he would journey alone.
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S.S. WERRA
Departure: Naples
Arrival: New York (05/1900)
Who: Rosamaria (née Cipolla) Crusco; Michael Crusco; Maria Vincenza (née Trotta) Cipolla
About the travelers: Maria Vincenza was the mother of Rosamaria and Felice Cipolla (Felix Cipollo). She was the grandmother of Michael Crusco. Rosamaria originally arrived in the US in 1893. Her son Michael was born in the US. This was the first trip to the US for Maria Vincenza. It appears Rosamaria returned to her native Muro Lucano to bring her mother to the United States. All of them would permanently reside in Philadelphia.
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Domenica"Minnie" (née Lagrosa) (born D'Agrosa) Cipollo is listed as arriving in the US at various dates according to US census records including 1882 (~age 1), 1891 (~age 10), and 1893 (~ age12). No documentation has been found to support any of those dates.
Augustina (née Lagrosa) (born D'Agrosa) Fortunato reported in her Declaration of Naturalization documentation that she arrived on June 4, 1887 in New York, from Naples under the name DiGrossa. She would have been 12 years old. Searches of ship manifests for ships arriving around that time (June 4: Adriatic, City of Chester, EMS, Gellert) (June 6: Australia, Britannia) have not yielded any positive results. In various US census records Augustina's arrival in the US is identified identified as 1887, 1888, and 1889.
Guiseppina "Jospehine" (née Lagrosa) (born D'Agrosa) Cianciarulo is listed as arriving in the US at various dates according to US census records including 1886 (~age 10), 1887 (~age 11), and 1888 (~ age12). No documentation has been found to support any of these dates. She is mentioned in an 1893 news article when her father was trying to force her to marry someone she didn't want to marry, so we know for certain she was present in Philadelphia by that time.
Carmela "Millie" Lagrosa (born D'Agrosa) recorded in her Naturalization records that she arrived in New York on December 12, 1892 on the "S.S. Guerra". She would have been 5 years old. Speculation is that the "S.S. Guerra" was actually the "S.S. Werra". That ship arrived on December 6, 1892, but nobody fitting Carmela's profile is found. One interesting note is that she says the last place she lived before arriving in the US was St. Leo, though she acknowledges being born in Marsico Nuovo. The only St. Leo I have found in Italy is considerably further north from Marsico Nuovo. Carmela's connection to that town is another mystery. In various US census records Carmela's arrival in the US is identified identified as 1887, 1889 and 1894.
Annunziata"Nunzie" (née Votta) D'Agrosa (later Lagrosa), is the mother of daughter's Minnie, Augustina, Josphephine, Millie who immigrated to the US. She is also the mother of two sons (Donato and Gianuario) who do not appear to have immigrated to the US. There are several different arrival dates reported in US Census records for her including 1880, 1882, 1888, 1894. There are no official records to support any of these dates. There are a few things to ponder. Her daughter Minnie was born in Italy in 1881 and her daughter Millie was born in Italy in 1887. So, if she arrived in the US 1880 or 1882 she must have returned to Italy before finally settling in the US.
Francesco Saverio (born D'Agrosa) Lagrosa is the father of Minnie, Augustina and Millie. There are several different arrival dates reported in US Census records for him including 1875, 1882 and 1888. We can can be confident that he traveled between the US and Italy multiple times. The earliest Philadelphia residence record found for him so far is1890.
There is an interesting adjacent plot. There is a Francesco Saverio D'Agrosa traveling from Marsico Nuovo traveled on the S.S. California in 1898 and was headed to 833 Montrose St. in Philadelphia. This is a known address for our "Lagrosa" family. In the S.S. California manifest it says he is going the home of his "daughter Grazia Maria" while his traveling companion Rosaria Fortunato, is going to join "husband Fiore Antonio". He is identified as a 67 year-old widow while she is listed as 53. Contrary to my initial thinking and despite all the similarities, research suggests that this Saverio D'Agrosa is NOT the father of Domenica Cipolla (nee Lagrosa). This Saverio is found living with his daughter Maria Grazia and her husband, Agostale Lauria at 641 Washington Ave. in the 1900 census. He would die later that year, but seemingly not before marrying a woman named Rosaria. Interesting. Regardless, it seems likely that this Saverio was related to "our" Saverio meaning that the D'Agrosa family that we know, likely had relatives living in their Philadelphia neighborhood. So our extended family today is probably even larger than we might have originally suspected.
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