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?
Map of Gloversville, Fulton County, N.Y. (1868).Click here to enlarge.As my Italian and German immigrant ancestors arrived to work in the glove and leather industry, the surnames on this map changed. The Curcio family lived on East Fulton Street near the corner of Wells Street, on the right side of this map. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection
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.
