Information from Lipari records
May 2000
We all owe a debt of gratitude to Elizabeth Forkins Harano (granddaughter of Stephen Mollica, and greatgranddaughter of Antonino Mollica and Angela Fenech Mollica) for the information she gathered in Lipari, Sicily. Thanks to Elizabeth, we now have information transcribed directly from the headstones in Lipari's old cemetery!
This information is included in the Mollica Famiglia Genealogy.
Many thanks, Elizabeth...Rick
Hello, Rick and Mollica famiglia!
| Lipari was lovely, and the people were very friendly. We arrived by hydrofoil (alascafi) from Milazzo, which was the same port we couldn't get out of due to the weather during our aborted trip in '97. This time the weather was wonderful. We passed Vulcano, a starkly beautiful active volcano just south of Lipari, then came ashore at a bustling harbor overlooked by the walled fortress and Cathedral of San Bartolomeo. A cabbie took us through the winding narrow streets up to the Carasco Hotel. It was almost as nice as its website shows (www.carasco.it). |  |
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The cacti grow as tall as trees, the magnificent blue of the sea is stunning, and there are flowers growing everywhere. The beautiful young woman who checked us in exclaimed as she read my mother's passport, "Mollica, I am a Mollica!" Since we were only going to be there for one business day, we raced to the Municipal building to do some quick geneaological research. Later we toured the Cathedral, attempted to speak with the Monsignor there about the records, and wandered around the town. The next day we toured the cemetery, found the Fenech family crypt and numerous Mollica's, etc. Our tour of the island was given by an English-speaking cab driver who shared with us several pieces of our Aeolian heritage - pumice stones, obsidian rocks, capers, and Malvesia di Lipari (a delicious after dinner wine). I've attached a word document that includes our geneaological findings, some of which relate to the Fenech side of the family and others (the cemetery listings) to other Lipari Mollicas as well. The office was missing a key book recording marriages, so we'll have to try another route for some of our questions. I hope Rick can read it and perhaps make it available to la famiglia... Ciao! Elizabeth Forkins Harano (granddaughter of Stephen Mollica, and greatgranddaughter of Antonino Mollica and Angela Fenech Mollica) 773/275-4988 (home) rmharano1349@msn.com |
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Contacts
in Lipari for genealogical information: 1. Ufficio Anagrafe (first office on right in the Municipality building in Piazza Mazzini) – Signora Maria Virgona. Very little English spoken. Open to public M- F 8:30 A – Noon. This office had handwritten books of birth, marriage, and death records. 2. Ufficiale di Stato Civile (same building beyond the center courtyard, far left) Open to public M-F 9A – Noon. Did not get to this office while it was open, so don’t know how helpful they’d be. 3. Church. We went here looking for Cathedral de San Bartolomeo. They have records at the Cathedral since 1931 only. Monsignor Alfredo Adornato, in the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, is the keeper of these records, but his English is non-existent. Very nice man, he does speak a little Spanish & French. The earlier records have been sent away (I believe to Messina) because of renovations at the Cathedral. 4. Cemetery. There is a large cemetery in Lipari town, which interestingly seems to only go back as far as the 18th century. See attached list of Mollica’s and Fenech’s compiled from the cemetery grave markers. There are some newer cemeteries, such as the one we saw in the town of Piano Conti, but they are just from the 20th century. It is thought that some families had plots on their own land, but we didn’t have time to check that out. We didn’t try to speak with anyone at the cemetery itself, because it was a weekend and there were only groundskeepers about who didn’t speak English. Mysteries1. One mystery solved by the records & the cemetery was the true spelling of the Fenech name. It was consistently spelled “Fenech.” 2. One mystery was raised, however, in that a child was born to Angela Fenech and Antonino Mollica on July 16th, and then another child was born to people with the same two names on July 26th. Were there two different couples with the same names? Were the two children actually twins born on different days? Was there just some clerical error made? From Birth & Death records ( source #1 above)Father Vincenzo Fenech Father Luigi Lombardo Mother Angela Bongiornio Mother Nastasi Giuseppa
Vincenzo & Angela Had daughter??: Grazia Fenech b. 1816 d. June 5, 1893 @ 77
Luigi & Nastasi Had Son: Bartolo Fenech Had daughter: Grazia Lombardo b. 1824 b. ~1828 d. February 7, 1888 d. Dec. 31, 1898 @ 70 @ 64 years old Bartolo Fenech & Grazia Lombardo married & had: daughter: Angela Fenech b. Oct. 5, 1854 d. when?? Probably before 1855 daughter: Angela Fenech (middle name may have been Catherine) b. October 17, 1855 d. August 2, 1893 (37 years old) daughter: Giovanna Fenech b. 1859 d. September 2, 1865 (6 years old) Angelo Mollica married (when? January
29, 1871 or 1873?) Angela Rodriguez
& had Antonino Mollica (fyi: there was some reference to Giuseppa Lombardo
on this death record)
b. October 1, 1850 d. January 1, 1906 Antonino Mollica married Angela Fenech (when?). Antonino was a tax collector & he also had a cleaning/tailoring establishment. He played the organ at the Cathedral. They had a “place in the country” (farm?). We believe it was called “Diana”, although there is an area above Lipari called Diana, so could have just been the location rather than house name. Every year around August 15th festival the family went to stay at this vacation. They had: 1. Angelo Fenech (“A.F.”) Mollica b. April 5, 1877 d. ~1950 AF first married Mary Alice O’Connor. Lived in Albion, MI. AF & Mary Alice O’Connor had: Angeline, who married Fred Genge and in 1923 had Freddie Richard (who went to law school with Antonino Marchese), who married Lucille. In ~1926, they had Richard, Jr. who married Lee. In ~1927, they had Rita. 2 others AF later divorced Mary Alice and married Myrta (Marie?) Houghton (~1920). Lived in California. AF & Myrta had: Frances, who married (Mr.) Lutz John (b. about 1923), who had five children? Christine, Stephen, Philip, Margaret, Caroline, John, and “Molly”
Patricia ?
AnthonyRobert Lorraine 2. Antonino (was his middle name Frank?) was he a police officer in NYC? b. May 15, 1880 d. 1931?? (from Donna M.’s email): buried at Calvary cemetery in Queens. first marriage Margherita Schillizzi, had son Anthony “Bob” Palmiero, second marriage Mary Kaseyak Novak (from Hungary) in 1915. Had son Andrew in 1915 who died in 1985. Andrew married Mary Teskyia? in 1935 and they had five children. 3. Bartolomeo b. March 1, 1882 first married Angela Casacelli April 30, 1904 they had son Tony ~ 1908. Second marriage to ? was in Kansas City, where he was editor of Italian newspaper and very active in politics 4. Giovenni (John) b. April 7, 1884 married Maria, who was Polish. Had son John in 1923. John was a WWII and Korean war veteran who broke down after Korea, had no children. Lived on Howard Street in Niles, IL. 5. Grazia Maria Carolina (#1) b. March 15, 1886 d. ?? 6. Grazia Maria Carolina (#2) where they sisters or cousins??? b. September 7, 1888 which Grazia Maria Carolina married Giuseppe Liello? Came to USA with Stephen in 1906 via Messina. Lived in Bronx, 3 children: Tony, Anna, + ?
7. Rosaria Aurelia b. March 16, 1891 d. Dec. 19, 1893 at 2 years old. 8. Stephano (took Gregory as confirmation name, so that became middle name) b. July 16, 1893 d. 1954 emigrated via Messina in 1906 at age of 13. First went to Ellis Island, then London, Ontario, then Windsor, then Detroit, then Albion, where he went to live with older brother AF & his family. He remembers helping to pump the pipe organ for Dad when he played at Cathedral at Mass. He learned tailoring from Dad. He learned how to swim when his older brothers threw him into the water. Since he was born in 1893, some of his older brothers had to still be in Lipari til at least 1900. He graduated from high school in 1912 or 1913. Married Fern Sarah Allmand (whose father was Samuel Faye of Ann Arbor. She was a secretary, graduated from high school in 1911 at 20 years old. Fern had two older & one younger sisters. Younger sister was Jeanette for whom Fern helped pay nursing school at Ohio State U. Jeanette was a nurse for U. Michigan eye clinic for several decades, died early 1980’s. Fern met Stephen because she was dating Dr. Mancuso, another Italian doctor in Detroit allegedly connected to mafia. He dated Jeanette after Fern married Stephen.) 9. ??? Catarina Maria Mollica -- MYSTERY b. July 26, 1893??? Records list her as daughter of Antonino Mollica & Angela Fenech, but how could they have had second child 10 days after first? Could this be why mother died in early August?? Or were there two sets of parents with these names??? When did Catarina die? Antonino remarried. We think to Giuseppe Lombardo, which could have been a cousin of Angela Fenech’s? Did they have children? When? Who?
QUESTIONS: 1. When did Antonino & Angela marry? 2. Who did Antonino marry after Angela died, and when? Did they have children? 3. Who was this Catarina born 10 days after Stephano? 4. When did Stephano’s siblings die? 5. Was Antonio Palmieri Mollica “Bob” same as Antonino, son of Antonino & Angela? 6. Who was Stephano’s brother Frank who was a police officer in NYC? Same as Antonino? 7. What was name of Bartolomeo’s second wife, children.
Chronological listing of names from Lipari cemetery – May 2000 Per Ross & Elizabeth Harano FenechFamiglia B. Fenech – family crypt (was locked, no dates on outside) Eugenia Fajno ved. Fenech b. October 27, 1850 d. June 23, 1923 Bartola Fenech figlio Giuseppe b. June 19, 1870 d. February 3, 1921 Famularo Carolina ved Fenech (ved = widow) b. March 25, 1873 d. October 10, 1965 Cav. Giuseppe Fenech fu Bartolo (means Bartolo pre-deceased Giuseppe) b. January 24, 1876 d. August 4, 1923 Aricó Giovanna ved. Fenech (on wall, next to Cav. Fenech Gaetano fu Bartolo) b. November 23, 1879 d. December 12, 1962 Cav. Fenech Gaetano fu Bartolo (on wall, next to Aricó Giovanna ved. Fenech) b. December 16, 1879 d. January 10, 1937 “medico” (= doctor) Salvatore Fenech “farmacista” b. June 7, 1885 d. September 5, 1962 Eugenia Fenech Palamera b. 1894 d. 1964 Clotilde Cincotta Fenech b. July 3, 1903 d. January 26, 1913 Rosa Dantonio Fenech* Married to Giuseppe “nata a virtue a lavoro” d. April 1, 1910 Eugenia Fenech Palamara b. November 29, 1914 d. July 10, 1915 Carolina Arico nata (= born) Fenech “a soli 1953 anni” (?only a year old?) MollicaMaria Mollica At 85 years old Couldn’t read date Mollica Morsillo fu Giuseppe Couldn’t read dates Francesco Mollica (next to Caterina Mollica nata Cappadona) “uomo (= man) laroriso” “morto il 4 giugno 1909 di anni 88, I figliriconoscenti QMP” (= died June 4, 1909 at 88 years old, then something about children?) b. 1821 Anna Mollica* b. 1832 d. December 22, 1907 at 75 years old Caterina Mollica nata Cappadona (next to Francesco Mollica) “morta il 22 Marza 1903, di anni 66” (= died March 22, 1903, at 66 years old) b. 1837 Antonino Mollica fu Domenico b. May 8, 1838 d. September 16, 1936 Rosarina Mollica** b. November 6, 1854 d. January 31, 1949 Bartolomeo in Fraumenici Mollica b. March 10, 1858 d. November 22, 1931 Rosa Mollica b. January 9, 1866 d. June 1, 1939 Giuseppa Mollica Lombardo (next to Martino Mollica, with iron fence around both. Her grave had a five foot stone angel over it) b. April 13, 1861 d. April 28, 1941 Mollica Antonio fu Salvatore b. September 4, 1866 d. June 26, 1939 Giuseppe Mollica (with Francesca LaGreca) b. September 4, 1867 d. May 4, 1954 Giuseppa Mollica nata la Greca b. 1871 d. 1955 Anna Mollica in Giaguinto (on back wall) b. February 2, 1876 d. March 15, 1952 Rosalia Mollica di (= of) Gaetano b. April 18, 1889 d. June 1907 (no specific day) “I cenitori Mollica E. Giuseppa Santa La Grazca fu Bartolo” Anna Mollica** b. September 2, 1897 d. January 25, 1972 Antonino Mollica b. February 2, 1900 d. April 24, 1924 Antonio Mollica* b. June 15, 1901 d. February 18, 1997 Martino Mollica (next to Giuseppa Mollica Lombardo, with iron fence around both) b. November 11, 1901 d. January 13, 1927 Ruggiero Gaetana Mollica* b. May 3, 1904 d. July 31, 1985 Angelo Mollica* (next to Rolando Antonia) b. May 9, 1904 d. June 16, 1929 or 79? Rolando Antonia Mollica* (next to Angelo) b. July 10, 1904 d. June 3, 1982 Angela Mollica** b. August 5, 1904 d. November 2, 1986 Cav. Bartolo Mollica** b. February 23, 1905 d. December 1, 1969 Elvira Ruggero Mollica** b. September 14, 1908 d. June 5, 1971 Anna Fazio nata Mollica* d. February 26, 1909 at 70 years old Mollica Morsillo Salvatore* d. February 11, 1910 Maria Acunto Mollica** b. June 18, 1911 d. June 26, 1979 * means date didn’t indicate whether 1900 or 1800, but based on where the grave was, we think it was 1900. ** means date didn’t indicate whether 1900 or 1800, but based on where the grave was, we think it was the centuries as typed |
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