Margarita Vitrano

Despite searching genealogy records for the past 20 plus years, I have little information on Margarita Vitrano, my paternal grandmother and her life before 1900.  She was born in Lecara, Sicily, part of the province of Palermo May 19, 1873.  Her parents were Giuseppe Giusto Vitrano and Maria Campanile.  I can find no information on either parent or on Margarita’s brother Giuseppe in Lecara.  Supposedly, her parents died when she was young but there apparently are no death records for either in Lecara.

According to the Ellis Island records, she came to America in 1889.  She reported in in the 1920 census that she came in 1892.  The next record of her existence is her daughter’s birth certificate.  Rosaria Mastrosimone (Aunt Sarah) was born February 2, 1897 in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania.  Rosaria’s father was Vincenzo Mastrosimone from Villalba.  He was born October 12, 1869 and came to the US in May 1894.  According to the Punxsutawney Historical Society, there is no record of Vincenzo other than my Aunt’s birth certificate.  One would think he would be in the City Directory of 1896 or 1897.
The next record of Margarita is my father’s birth certificate. He was born in January 1900 at 240 Elizabeth Street in NYC.  His father was Pietro Lumia, born in Villalba December 16, 1863.  By the time of the 1900 Census in April, the family (all four) was living at 185 Elizabeth Street.  What happened to Vincenzo Mastrosimone is unknown.  Nor do I know how she came to NYC with Pietro.  Apparently, they met in Punxsutawney, fell in love and ran off!

Margarita and Pietro remained together until Pietro’s death in January 1926.  They had 6 children together, 3 boys and 3 girls.  They raised Rosaria, too.  (See the photo entitled "Lumia Family 1908").  They lived in NYC until 1903 or 1904 and then moved to Trenton.  They lived in a couple of homes before settling in 235 Ellis Avenue in the early 1920s.  I have a photo of Uncle Ben in the sun porch on Ellis Avenue reading the paper from about that time.  Margarita stayed in that house until her death from complications of severe asthma and right heart failure in December 1946. From her obituary, her brother Joe, survived her.

Joe Vitrano did visit Trenton in 1905.  According to Ellis Island records he came to visit his “brother-in-law, Pietro Lumia in Trenton, NJ.” This is a photo of him with his two nephews from that visit.  My father is the dapper 5 year old with the large bow tie and Uncle Ben is the baby in the white dress.

I wish I could learn more about Margarita’s life including what happened to Vincenzo, how she met Pietro Lumia, and more about her parents.  Unfortunately, the prior generation is gone and they were not forthcoming about their parents.  Family lore says that Pietro and Margarita never married, or if they did, it was on Pietro’s death bed.  Was she never married to Vincenzo either?  Did they know that he had died?  Did they just get married for appearances?  So many questions and no answers!