Second in a series on my Italian-American great grandaunt Rose Curcio of Gloversville, Fulton County, New York, who died 15 years ago this month at the age of 105.

On 11 Oct. 2001, a family friend sent my mother an non-sourced obituary of my great grandaunt Rose Curcio. It’s not long, as obituaries go — a bit longer than the Schenectady Sunday Gazette version I found online — but its few paragraphs describe a life unusual for a woman born in the late 1800s. What more could I find out about her?

Miss Rose Curcio, 105, formerly of Gloversville, died Saturday morning [4 Oct. 2001] at the Fulton County Residential Health Care Facility, where she resided since 1989. Born in Gloversville on July 23, 1896, the daughter of Antonio and Antoinette (Del Negro) Curcio, she was one of 15 children.

The Curcio family in 1900

Aunt Rosie was a younger sister of my great grandmother Mary “Mamie” (Curcio) Laurence — who was known as “Little Grandma” in our family because, like Rosie, she stood barely five feet tall.

Little Grandma was the oldest, and Aunt Rosie was part of a younger group of siblings. Rosie, at age 4, was listed for the first time with the Curcio family in the 1900 U.S. Census for Gloversville, Fulton County, N.Y., which is excerpted below.

1900 U.S. Census : Curcio Household at 128 East Fulton Street, Gloversville, Fulton County, N.Y.       Source: FamilySearch
Person No.	Name	Role	Gender	Age	Birthplace
78	A [Antonio] Curcio	Head	M	35	Italy
79	Anthontia Curcio [Antoinette]	Wife	F	38	Italy
80	Mamie Curcio	Dau	F	16	New York
81	Mike Curcio	Son	M	15	New York
82	Julia Curcio	Dau	F	13	New York
83	Millie Curcio	Dau	F	10	New York
84	Angel Curcio	Dau	F	7	New York
85	Jennie Curcio	Dau	F	5	New York
86	Rosie Curcio	Dau	F	4	New York
87	Annie Curcio	Dau	F	1	New York

Born in 1896 to parents who had survived a brief residence in Manhattan’s notorious Five Points area, Rose was a young child at the dawn of the 20th Century — a girl to whom new possibilities would open as she reached young adulthood.

She went on to lead a far different life than Little Grandma, her oldest sister. More on this in the next post.

© 2016 Molly Charboneau. All rights reserved.

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