Cataldo Marroni

Cataldo Marroni was born on June 21, 1870 in Brienza, Italy to father Felice Marroni and mother Agnese Palladino. However, some sources list Cataldo's year of birth as 1871.

The ruins of Casa Marroni can be found in the hilly farmlands between Brienza and nearby Sasso di Castalda, around 2km from the center of Brienza. According to an attorney in Brienza, one of the Marroni's was a pharmacist.

Around 1887 (according to the 1912 passenger list), Cataldo traveled to the U.S. for the first time. He would later come back to the U.S. in 1894, 1911, and 1912, at least.

On April 4, 1894, a passenger list says that a 23-year-old Cataldo Marrone from Brienza arrived in NYC aboard the S.S. Massilia, which departed from Napoli, Italy a week earlier. The ship passed through Marseilles on the way to New York. Cataldo listed Chicago as his destination.

On June 6, 1896, Cataldo Marrone, 24, married Vincenza Parella, 15, in Chicago. Vincenza was a native of Illinois. On June 9, 1896, the Chicago Tribune ran a short blurb on page 5 that read "THE COUNTY CLERK ISSUED PERMITS TO wed to the following couples yesterday...Cataldo Marrone, Virgenza Parrello." Vincenza was born in Illinois, the daughter of Mattis Parrillo and Donata Pendozzi.

On March 23, 1899, Cataldo Marrone became a U.S. citizen, signed by John A. Cook, Clerk of Circuit Court.

In the 1900 US Census, a 30-year-old Cataldo Marrone is living at 72 Ewing Street unit # 178 in Chicago with his wife, Vincenza Marrone. Ewing Street is populated by mostly Italian immigrants in 1900, including: neighbor Frank Meccio (witness on the 1899 card), 23, who lived with his wife Maria and son Vito in unit #170 which faced Clinton Street; and neighbor John Caraceiolo (witness on the 1903 baptism), 15, who lived in unit #180 with his parents and siblings. According to the 1900 census, Cataldo was a naturalized citizen who had been in the U.S. since 1890, and was working as a day laborer. Vincenza was born around October 1881, making her 18-years-old at the time.

On June 28, 1903, Cataldo and Vincenza baptized their adopted daughter, Agnese, in Chicago. Agnese's birth place was listed as 49th and Cottage Grove Avenue, which may have been the address of Billings Hospital. The address 340 S. May was also given. The baptism was "conditional." Altogether, these details imply that Agnese was abandoned as an infant, and baptized just in case she hadn't been baptized already.

At some point between 1903 and 1908, Cataldo and Vincenza were no longer married together in Chicago, and Cataldo went back to Italy. It is possible that Vincenza died. It is possible that they divorced. The whereabouts of their adopted daughter Agnese are also unknown.

On January 16, 1908, Cataldo re-married, this time to Felicia Mangano, in Brienza, Italy. He was 37 and she was 21. Shortly after their marriage, Cataldo and Felicia moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, there was a mass migration of Brienza residents to the Americas, most notably to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Chicago, in the United States. The Brienza immigrants in Argentina settled in the Mataderos (once called Nueva Chicago) neighborhood of western Buenos Aires. The Argentine community retains a cultural affinity with Brienza through Asociacion Italiana Brienza.

On December 7, 1908, Cataldo and Felicia gave birth to their first child, Felice "Felix" Marrone, in Buenos Aires.

On February 10, 1910, Cataldo and Felicia gave birth to their second child, Josefina Marrone, in Buenos Aires.

On August 2, 1911, gave birth to their third child, Michele Joseph Marrone, in Buenos Aires.

In May of 1912, Cataldo, Felicia, and their three children--Felix, Josefina, and Michael--emigrated from Argentina to Chicago on a ship named S.S. Tennysonf that entered the U.S. through Ellis Island, New York, NY. Cataldo listed his cousin, Maria Rosa Demanico, who lived at 87 Forgren Street in Chicago, as the relative he was coming to visit. He listed his brother, Giuseppi Marroni, of San Pedro F.C.P., as his contact from the country "whence alien came." Cataldo was listed as a 36-year-old "mosaic worker."

On June 16, 1913, Cataldo and Felicia gave birth to a fourth and final child, Agnesa Rita Marrone, in Cook County, IL.

On January 13, 1915, Cataldo passed away at the age of 44 at Chicago State Hospital. His cause of death was listed as "paralysis of insane." According to his death certificate, his last place of residence was 1062 West 11th Street, Chicago, which may have been the address of the hospital. He was interred on January 29, 1915 at Lot 86 Block 30 Section X at Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, the same cemetery in which Al Capone was laid to rest.

1894 passenger list
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/4000670191...
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JX9V-SZZ
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KD4V-BK3

1896 marriage
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/1230977:2556
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7F9-PLQ
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:HSXJ-XZPZ
https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/349834202/

1899 naturalization
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XKGJ-Q6H

1900 US Census
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/discoveryui-content/view/711905:7602
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSQ9-HSF

1903 baptism
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2YM-PB2X

1912 passenger list
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJR3-W3G

1915 death
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/238710802/cataldo-marrone
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M7-4SGN
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7KF-445
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N7CD-Q56
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M7-3HM8
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2HF-1TJD
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2HF-GBZ9