Sepia Saturday 595. Seventeenth in a photo blog series on my maternal Italian ancestors from Gloversville, Fulton Co., N.Y.
The last post introduced my Italian-American maternal grandfather, Antonio W. Laurence, at about the age of two — looking dapper in a studio photograph taken in Gloversville, Fulton Co., N.Y. In that circa 1904 studio photo, my grandfather — the first born son of Peter and Mary “Mamie” (Curcio) Laurence/di Lorenzo — posed alone.
Along comes a younger brother
In the circa 1904 studio photos, my grandfather — the first born son of Peter and Mary “Mamie” (Curcio) Laurence/di Lorenzo — posed alone.
But soon enough, he was joined by a younger brother — Joseph Bernard Laurence. And around 1909, dressed as little sailors, they traveled together to the photographer for the set of portraits shown below.
Tony and Joe appear close in age in these photos. I knew my grandfather was born on 10 May 1902. But what about Uncle Joe? So off I went to do an online search for his date of birth.
Finding Uncle Joe’s birth date
Census indexes often list Joe as born “about 1904,” based on his age when the census was enumerated. But he did not appear in the online New York State birth index for that year.
However, a WWII draft registration card gave his date of birth as 21 Oct. 1903 — information presumably provided by Joe himself.1Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line accessed 1 Nov 2021]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011, image 1620.
With this new information, I searched the 1903 index of New York State births and turned up a different day of birth for Uncle Joe — 22 Oct. 1903, one day later than what he told the draft board!
However, since there are no other Josephs listed in the 1903 birth index with a Laurence or Lawrence or Lorenzo or di Lorenzo surname who were born in Gloversville on or near that date, this is probably him.
Which means that Uncle Joe was born just 17 months after my grandfather Tony. No wonder they appear so close in age! And how handsome they look in their sailor suits and hats — the perfect picture of well-behaved sons to send to the relatives back in Italy.
Up next, the sad tale of the other two Laurence brothers. Meanwhile, please visit the blogs of this week’s other Sepia Saturday participants.
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