Sepia Saturday 606. Twenty-third in a photo blog series on my maternal Italian ancestors from Gloversville, Fulton Co., N.Y.
In 1911, my second great grandparents Antonio and Antoinette (Del Negro) Curcio gathered three generations of their family together in the back yard of their Gloversville, Fulton Co., N.Y., home for a group photo. Thank goodness they did!
For some of my maternal Italian ancestors and relatives, this is the only photo I have of them. And seeing their faces — captured at a collegial moment during a family gathering — makes all the difference.
Who’s who in the family photo
Thankfully, my maternal grandmother Elizabeth (Stoutner) Laurence sat down with her husband — my grandfather Tony, who is the last little boy on the right in the front row — and jotted down nearly everyone’s name. So, here is the roster as it has been handed down to me, with my direct ancestors in bold:
Front row, seated from left: Mary Ferrara, Josephine “Josie” Curcio, Joseph B. Laurence (my granduncle), Elizabeth “Lizzie” Curcio, Annie Curcio and Anthony W. Laurence [my grandfather].
Middle row, seated from left: Rose Curcio, Millie (Curcio) Somella, Julia (Curcio) Ferrara, Carl Ferrara (on Julia’s lap), Mary “Mamie” (Curcio) Laurence [my great grandmother], Antoinette (Del Negro) Curcio [my great-great grandmother], Antonio Curcio [my great-great grandfather] and an unidentified man (probably Antoniette’s brother, Michael Del Negro — a who lived with the Curcios at the time).
Back row, standing from left: Frank Somella, Peter Laurence (nee Pietro di Lorenzo) [my great-grandfather], Michael Curcio, John Curcio and an unidentified man (possibly the third brother Charles Curcio, who still lived in his parents’ home at the time).
Not shown/identified: Antimo Ferrara (Julia’s husband). He may have been the photographer as there is a space where he might have stood in the back row behind his wife – althoug no way to know for sure.
Dating the photo
Dating vintage ancestral photos is always a challenge. Sometimes clothing styles help — but there are so many in this photo, that didn’t seem like the best method.
So I decided to use the possible age of the children — an easier method. The youngest child, Carl Ferrara, seated on his mother’s lap in the second row, looks to be about a year old in the photo.
Census and other records give his birth year as 1910 — so, this photo was likely taken circa 1911. And that year fits with other information about the extended Curcio family and who was living with them around that time.
More to come
I have already written about some of the Curcio extended family — including my second great grandfather Antonio and his Junk Yard business behind the family home at 128 E. Fulton St. in Gloversville, N.Y.
I believe this photo was taken behind the Curcio home — and the wooden structure at the upper left in the first photo photo may have been one of the junk yard storage structures.
This group photo contains my only image of Antonio Curcio and also the only portrait of Antoinette’s brother Michael Del Negro — whose shoe shine career with his brother Jimmy I have chronicled in previous blogs.
Stay tuned as there will be more to come on the Curcio, Laurence and Del Negro families of Gloversville, N.Y., as I continue to work through my photo archive.
Up next, Peter and Mamie (Curcio) Laurence in the early 1940s. Meanwhile, please visit the blogs of this week’s other Sepia Saturday participants.
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