Laurel Hill

By 1930, virtually everyone significant in my childhood had migrated to Laurel Hill, a little-known and largely forgotten neighborhood in Southwestern Queens.  According to Forgotten NY, a blog at http://forgotten-ny.com, :

"Laurel Hill today is known as West Maspeth, and, like Blissville, it is a small, isolated little village, with heavy industry dotted with ancient one-family houses. It’s hemmed in by Calvary Cemetery/Brooklyn Queens Expressway in the west, the Long Island Rail Road to the south, the Long Island Expressway to the north, and pedal-to-the metal 58th Street, a main truck route, to its east. Its original name is remembered by Laurel Hill Boulevard, which buddies up with the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway for most of its route from the old Penny Bridge Long Island Rail Road stop northeast to Queens Boulevard."

Brooklyn Eagle, 1898

Although Laurel Hill was named because of an abundance of Laurel trees, it was and continues to be a heavily commercial area dotted with ancient houses.  Laurel Hill has, however, majestic views of the Manhattan Skyline and the Kos





My father was living with Vito and Columbia Longobardo and their children at 46th Street and 54th Avenue.  The story of how my father came to live with the Longobardos as their "stepgrandchild", as noted in the 1930 Census, as I was told, was that sometime in the mid-1920's, my Resti grandparents, separated and/or divorced and that my grandmother, Mary Resti nee Palermo, subsequently became engaged to one of the Longobardo sons and moved in with the family.  She died in about 1929 and my father continued to live with and be cared for by the Longobardos, particularly Columbia, who he called his grandmother.  My grandfather, Andrea Resta (as he was called in the 1930 Census, was living at 53 Orchard Street ion the Lower East Side with his other sons, Frank, who was 15 and Joe, who was 14.  His occupation was listed as a Pushcart Peddler.

53 Orchard Street Today


Pushcart Peddler, circa 1900

My mother, now Constance Kessler, age 8, was living with at 52-13 43rd Street with Edward Kessler, my grandmother (Munsey Kessler in the 1930 Census), her siblings, Cappy 6, Larry, 4 1/2, Edward, 1 1/2, and John, who was 5 months old.  Thomas Munsey, my grandmother's brother, who was 19, also lived with them.

The Colemans lived at 54-20 44th Street at the time.  James Coleman subsequently married my Aunt Cappy, and had three children: Todd, Lee Michael and Karen  John Coleman, his older brother, married Agnes Gonnoud, whose family lived at 44-40 54th Road.  They had four children: Jack, Maryellen, Denise and Eileen, who we always considered our cousins.  Agnes sister, Mary, married Joe Pahl, whose family also lived in Laurel Hill on 47th Street.  My Uncle Edward married Dolores Anello, who lived at 45-13 Laurel Hill Blvd, and had five children:  my cousins Barbara, Diane, Linda, Edward and Charles. My Uncle Larry also married Monia, who lived near the Gonnouds.  They had four children: Frances, John, Joseph and Joan-Marie.

Not only did this neighborhood yield most of the marriages in my family, but created lasting family relationships that survive to this day.  We spent all of our holidays with our cousins and frequently vacationed with them in Equinunk.   As the oldest grandson, I often stayed with my Aunts and Uncles as well as with the Colemans and the Pahls after they moved to Suffolk County.  My friendship with the Colemans and the Pahls continued into my adult life.

This industrial neighborhood in Southwestern Queens was the catalyst for many happy marriages and families.  Incredibly, all of the marriages that I noted above were intact until the death of one or the other partner.  And my grandmother, Kate Munsey, was the center of all of this.

Andrea Reste and Maria Palermo



Occasionally In trying to research our family history, I come across a breakthrough in information which adds a tremendous amount of information to the mix.  This happened this week when I received the marriage certificates of my paternal grandparents, Andrea Reste and Maria Palermo.  Note that I said marriage certificates-Andrea Reste and Maria Palermo were married twice:  On February 5, 1913 at City Hall in Manhattan and on May 11, 1913 in the Church of the Transfiguration on Mott Street.  The groom, who was 25, resided at 38 Baxter Street, an address of some significance in his origin;  The bride was 16 and lived at 45 Madison Street, a few blocks away.
The groom was apparently also illiterate, since he signed both marriage certificates by making "his mark", an X.

The Church of the Transfiguration was in Little Italy in 1913.  Now Mott Street and the surrounding blocks have become part of Chinatown and Transfiguration is now Chinese, offering services and activities in both Mandarin and English.  The school is composed of mostly Chinese students.








circa 1900

Transfiguration today

There was an Italian Funeral Home around the corner on Mulberry Street called Bacciagalupe's, which was famous for having a band of Italian musicians who followed the hearse playing traditional Italian music.  I was there once in the early 70's for the funeral of my Aunt Julia, who was the sister of my grandmother, Maria Palermo.  In any event, a Chinese proprietor bought Bacciagalupe's in the 1980's but kept the Italian musicians who continued to follow the hearse playing traditional Italian songs notwithstanding that the person in the hearse was Chinese.

 

In any event, in 1913, the area was essentially an Italian-American ghetto, particularly Baxter Street, where Andrea Reste settled after his arrived in the United States about 1906.  He came from a Commune and town called Craco, in the Province of Matera in Southern Italy.  This region is called Basilicata, and is located at about the instep of the boot that is Southern Italy. 

 

Craco dates back to the Eighth Century, but is now a ghost town, having been abandoned in the mid-Twentieth Century due to earthquakes, landslides and a lack of fertile land for farming.  The last resident of Craco was relocated in 1963.  It is a wild and beautiful place, sitting on the top of a hill overlooking the surrounding area and was a strategic stronghold in the Middle Ages.  Many films have been shot here, including The Passion of The Christ by Mel Gibson and Saving Grace by Robert Young.



 

About 1,300  Crachesi emigrated to the United States between 1892 and 1912.  Andrea Reste was among these immigrants, arriving in about 1906.  Incredibly, the majority of these immigrants from Craco settled on Baxter Street, particularly 38, 42 and 44 Baxter.  The conditions were horrific, with one block being called "Lung Alley" because of the prevalence of tuberculosis.  It was in this neighborhood that Andrea Reste, at age 18, settled. An excellent history of the immigration to the United States from Craco is maintained by the Craco Society, http://thecracosociety.org.





 

Because there were so many former residents of Craco, Andrea surely saw many familiar faces upon his arrival in the United States.  In fact, the witnesses to the weddings were Vincenzo and Isabella Serrafico, Gaetano Giuseppe and Paloma Santalucia, all of whom lived on Baxter Street and all immigrants from Craco.  Curiously, none of the relatives of Maria Palermo were witnesses.

 

I also learned from the marriage certificates the identities of my great-grandparents on both the Reste and Palermo sides.  Andrea Reste's parents were Pasquale Reste (who was apparently my father's namesake) and Porzia Russo Simonetti Reste, both residents of Craco.  Maria Palermo's parents were Giuseppe Palermo and Carmella Pascarella Palermo. Hence, the Resti family tree now dates back to about 1850.

 

There are two more anomalies in the marriage certificates.  First, in the Transfiguration Church Certificate, the bride is identified as Mary Paleramo (rather than Palermo) and she signed her name as such.  The City Hall document lists her name as Maria Palermo and she signs as Mary Palermo.  I suspect that the Transfiguration document was a misspelling of her last name and she affixed her signature with the same misspelling. The other is the issue of my surname:  Resti, Reste or Resta.  All three names are used in different historical documents but I am coming to believe that the correct name is Resta.  Both the 1920 and 1930 census list our surname as Resta as does my grandfather's World War I Draft registration Card.  I also researched the genealogy records of  the Craco Society and found that a Pasquale Resta lived in Craco and died in 1909.  This probably was my great-grandfather.  Have we been using the wrong name all of these years?

 

 

 



Kessler Family Follow-Up

After my last post about my grandmother, Michael Ferrone and Edward Kessler, my cousin, Barbara Kessler D'Asti provided the following information:

Edward Charles Kessler, born November 27, 1928, was baptised by Rev. Gerald King at St. Teresa's Church, Woodside, NY on February 27, 1929. His parents are listed as Catherine Munsey and Edward J. Kessler. The sponsors were Albert Frahmur and Margaret Baninelli (spelling for last name of the sponsors might be off). I have was appears to be a duplicate certificate of baptism dated October 4, 1946 and signed by Henry J. McCloud, Asst. Pastor.

Her sister, Linda Kessler, reported that my mother had confirmed to her that Michael Ferrone was the father of her, Cappie and Larry and that Edward and John's father was Edward Kessler.  I would appreciate any other information that anyone has.

Munsey Family Secrets

Catherine Munsey, my grandmother

The chief keepers of secrets on the Munsey side were my maternal grandmother, Catherine Munsey Ferrone Kessler, born on November 25, 1901, and her sister, Susan Munsey Rose Garamone, two years her senior, born in September of 1899..  Both were the children of  James P. Munsey and  Delia Cashin Munsey, who were married on December 11, 1898 in Manhattan. They were the first and second of five children:  Patrick, John and Thomas followed in 1906, 1908 and 1910. 

The Munsey family lived on the East Side in Manhattan.  In the 1900 Census, James and Delia lived with his mother, Susan Munsey, at 621 East 34th Street, who rented furnished rooms at that address. Susan Munsey was born in 1850 and emigrated to the United States about 1865. In addition to James and Delia, Susan Munsey had four other roomers in the house in 1900:  Richard Cashin, 18, apparently Delia's brother, who had just emigrated to the United States from Ireland, John O'Brien, 55, a watchman, John Harrigan, 35, a baker, and Thomas Bolan, 40. 

My grandmother and Aunt Susie were incredibly connected, seeing each other at least twice a week for their entire lives.  In fact, family legend is that Frank Garamone, who married Susie in on October 2, 1925 in the Bronx, first dated my grandmother and ended up marrying her sister. Since I never knew my maternal grandfather, Frank Garamone, who we always called Uncle Gary, was as close a patriarch as we had in our family.

Bingo and secrets were the bonds of the Munsey sisters.  Their routine, as I remember it as a child, was that my grandmother would travel to Manhattan from the Crinkle Cup factory in Long Island City where she worked, on Tuesdays and Fridays to play Bingo.  On Tuesdays she came home after Bingo to her house in St. Albans, and on Fridays she stayed with Aunt Susie and Uncle Gary on 21st Street in Manhattan.  They would all come to Queens regularly on Saturday, where Aunt Susie and Uncle Gary would spend the weekend. 

I never knew my maternal grandfather, or even who he was.  As a child I surmised that his name was Edward Kessler, because my grandmother was Catherine Kessler and her five children, including my mother, had that name, but he was never spoken of - there were no pictures of him or information about him.  He was never mentioned.  I found this odd and off-setting, feeling as if I was missing a part of my history.  Although we believed that we were half Italian and half Irish, I remember thinking that Kessler wasn't an Irish name and that I must be part German, or whatever Edward Kessler was.

After my grandmother died in 1979, I was going through her papers and found my mother's Baptismal Certificate from St. Ann's Church on 110th Street, and was shocked to find that her father's name was Michael Ferrone, someone I had never heard of before.  When I questioned my mother about it, she was evasive but finally admitted that my grandmother had been "married before"  This unknown ancestor, my grandfather actually, became the focus of my genealogical research.

My grandmother married Michele Ferrone at St. Ann's Church on June 20, 1920.  She was 19 at the time and the groom 20.  The witnesses were Dominick and Katherine Ferrone.  The bride's parents are listed as James Munsey and Brigit Cashin (not Delia) and the groom's parents as Michele Ferrone and Costanza Celestino.  Apparently my mother, Constance Delia Resti, was named after both of her grandmothers.

In the 1925 City Census, Michael and Catherine Ferrone are living at 618 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn with Constance, age 3 and Catherine, Age 1.  My grandmothers brother, John Munsey, who was 18 also lived with them.  But five years later, in the 1930 Federal Census, My grandmother is living at 52-13 43rd Street in Queens with Edward Kessler, age 31 and Constance, Catherine, Lawrence, Edward and John, all of whom now bear the surname Kessler.  My grandmother's other brother, Thomas Munsey, who is 19, also lived with them.  In the 1940 Federal Census, the family (Without Edward Kessler) ism living at 46-06 Borden Avenue in Queens, and all continue using the surname Kessler.

I could find no record of a marriage between Catherine Munsey and Edward Kessler, nor do I have the birth certificates for Lawrence, Edward or John to determine their paternity.  The 1930 Census includes the information that Edward Kessler was married at age 21, which was the same year that my grandmother married Michele Ferrone. 

I do have a baptismal certificate for my Aunt Cappy, Catherine Margaret Ferrone, who was born on April 17, 1924 and baptized on May 28, 1924 at St. Ann's Church.  Her godmother was Susie Rose, which raised another secret.  This was actually my Aunt Susie, who was married on February 26, 1923 to Francis F. Rose.  Shewas also married two years later (hopefully after a divorce) to Frank J. Garamone, our Uncle Gary.  The 1930 Census, conducted 5 years after their marriage, shows that they had three children living with them:  James, who was 11 (and whose birth pre-dated either marriage), Francis, 3 and Rocco, 1.  Apparently my grandmother wasn't the only Munsey sister with a secret.

This exposition raises more questions than it answers.  Are my Kessler cousins really Kesslers or are they actually Ferrones?  Who are our ancestors and what were there lives like?  What I have learned is that  my grandmother was a tough, resilient woman who, notwithstanding the confusion in her marital and domestic states, raised five children, all of whom had stable and long-lasting relationships, and produced 19 grandchildren.  She was the only grandparent that I had and I believe I was fortunate in that regard.