Surname Saturday - Nardozza / Nardozzi

A recent wedding on my husband's side of the family has prompted me to share one of his surnames this week. When I first expressed an interest in his family genealogy his sisters told me what they knew and I was given a copy of a privately published genealogy, Fedele - Capadano - Nardozzi, as prepared by Phylis Fedele Fiorica.

My husband's mother was Florence Nardozzi 1919-1968. I learned from both my sister-in-law and Mrs. Fiorica's work that Florence was the daughter of Generino Nardozzi and that after moving to the United States he went by John Nardozzi. It turns out that this information was only partly correct. An uncle mentioned to me that the family name had originally been Nardozza and that the name had been changed "during the war." With that hint things finally started to fall into place and I determined that my husband's immigrant ancestor was Gennaro Nardozza and at some point he did start spelling his name with an i rather than an a. Gennaro had a brother, Antonio Nardozza and his descendants seem to have retained the original spelling however I have found instances of Nardozzi in their line too.

Michele Nardozza and Filomena Capadano lived in Rionero in Vulture, Province of Potenza, Basilicata Region, Italy. The Nardozza surname is quite common there. I have the following six children for them, however they may have had more.

1. Gennaro "John" Nardozza / Nardozzi. 1880-1968. Immigrated 1904. Lived briefly in Canandaigua and Auburn, New York before settling in Syracuse, New York where he married Angeline Taddeo and raised eight children.
2. Carmella Nardozza. I know very little about her other than that she married a man with the surname Saldicco and had at least one child.
3. Antonio "Anthony" Nardozza. 1886-1954. Immigrated 1906. He settled in Rochester, New York and married Theodosia Degosta and they had at least three children. Sometime after 1930 they moved to Los Angeles, California.
4. Angelina Maria Nardozza. 1890-1936. Immigrated 1906. She married Philip Fedele and they lived in Auburn, Canadaigua and Rochester, New York. I believe they had a total of 15 children.
5. Madeline "Lena" Nardozza. 1893-1962. Immigrated 1906. She married Antonio "Anthony" Furfaro and lived in Newark and Rochester, New York. They had at least nine children.
6. Louisa Nardozza. I know very little about her other than she married Carmello Bocchetti and moved to Massachusetts were they had at least five children.

It was through the Nardozza line that I was able to spark a little interest in my children and grandchildren when I discovered that they have a famous cousin, Michael Richards. 

I would like to thank Steve Danko for the help he has given me on this line.


Links

A blog in Italian about Rionero by Francesco.

Rionero in Vulture at Wikipedia


Commune di Rionero in Vulture an Italian web page with history and photos.

Rionero in Vulture on Flickr


Previous posts

Angelina Taddeo Nardozzi - photo

Fannie Cardella 1914-2008

Florence Nardozzi - photo

Florence Nardozzi Grabowski - photo

John Nardozzi 1933-2010

Mary Nardozzi Mere - photo

Nardozzi Genealogy

True Love - Gennaro & Angelina newspaper clipping

Nardozzi Genealogy

Researching my husband's ancestry has been tough. The initial stumbling block was a lack of interest by any other member of the family. I interviewed both of my sisters-in-law and both were 100% certain that their grandfather was Generino Nardozzi so I had a starting point.

I entered what they had given me and since it wasn't my line I just let it sit for a long time. My sister-in-law found her copy of Fedele - Capadano - Nardozzi, As prepared by Phylis Fedele Fiorica (1991, Privately Published) and it confirmed what they had told me. I did a lot more data entry, found some census records but struck out at the Ellis Island site. Both the 1930 census and the SSDI gave his name as Gennaro Nardozzi.

Then one of the Uncles mentioned that the name had originally been Nardozza. He said that the named was changed during "the war" so it wouldn't appear that the family was from the wrong part of Italy. I searched for Gennaro Nardozza and found - too many! Based on Mrs. Fiorica's work he must have arrived 1906 or earlier which left three possible entries. Of the three, one was joining his Uncle - Leonardo Capadano (his mother's brother). I have now found most of the US records for this branch of the family.

I know that the family came from Rionero in Vulture, Province of Potenza, Basilicata Region, Italy. I don't speak or read Italian and really have no idea where to go from here so it will probably sit on the shelf until I find some motivation to dig deeper. I certainly have enough other projects to keep me busy for years!