The information published here was collected by Liz Petrangelo, based on conversations with family, ancestry research, various documents, and visits to Italy. It’s as accurate as it has been possible to make it, given the passage of time and people.
Known in the United States as Anthony Petrangelo, the patriarch of the Petrangelo family was born Cesidio Antonio Pietrangelo in 1879 in Roccamorice, Italy. Roccamorice is a small town in the mountains of the Abruzzo region, 550 meters above sea level (about 1,700 feet). Immigrants to the US often refer to Roccamorice by its shorter nickname “La Rocca” or just “La Rocc.”
He married Maria Dinardo, also of Roccamorice, and supported the family as a subsistence farmer in the local hills. With their first child, Maria, already born, Cesidio left Roccamorice with other men from the village to seek a way to make a living in the new world. He came to the United States and returned to Italy more than once. One of those arrivals was in 1902 as a passenger on the La Touraine, which departed from Naples and arrived in New York. Maria arrived in New York in 1905 via the Cretic, with two small children in tow.
for use in subsistence farming. This is where Cesidio grew vegetables for his family.
By 1910, Cesidio and Maria are listed on the US Census as living in Cumberland, Wisconsin. By 1920, the growing family had relocated to Minneapolis, where Cesidio worked on a city crew. Over time, his name continued to evolve. Upon entry into the country, he lost the “i” in Pietrangelo, and it just became Petrangelo. His early co-workers called him Jesse, most likely a mispronunciation of Chessie. Eventually, he became Tony, and the name listed on his death certificate is Anthony.
He is in the second row, second from the right.
Anthony and Maria had 11 children, nine of whom survived into adulthood — Mary, Assunta (Susan), Albert, Louis, Anna, Rosa, Joseph, Ernest, and Nicholas. Their children’s children and grand-children and great-grandchildren now number in the hundreds and are the immigrant story of this country made real.
Second row, from left: Louis, Mary, Sue, Albert.