I am confident that you have all heard about how people’s last names were changed as they were processed through Ellis Island.  And you have heard the stories of European immigrants changing their first name to be more “American” as World War One was looming on the horizon.  Wilhelm became William.  Giuseppe became Joe.  Pietro became Peter.  Cherubino became…ah…well…maybe…ah…Cherubino.  No mystery to most of us.

Yet, there is one name change mystery in my very own family – my father.  Born Salvatore or Sal, he was called Sam or Sammy almost immediately.  But the bigger mystery is his middle name – Cherubino or Faust?

As a youngster, I recall seeing a picture of my dad that was labeled “Sal”.  When I questioned him, he said that he was born as Sal but Sam is what everyone called him, so he had his name legally changed.  This legal name change would have occurred after 1953.

The documentation I have is contradictory.  The oldest document is his birth certificate.

This document has his name as “Samuel Faust”, but note that this is a copy was made in 1952.  Next we have his baptism certificate.

Again, we have “Sam Faust”, but this is also a copy made in 1945.  An Interesting discovery:  his godfather is Uncle Marion and his godmother is Rose Bianco.  Rose is Aunt Lucy’s younger sister – not a blood relative to my dad.  (Do you know your parents’ godparents?  I would like to know.)

Then we have his high school diploma from 1941.

At last we find a document that shows his middle name as Cherubino.  I also have his Social Security card and that has his name as Samuel Cherubino.  His SSN was probably issued between 1937 – 1940.

The proof of his middle name change is shown below when he obtained a copy of his high school credits in 1952.

The handwritten change above is my father’s handwriting – I would recognize it anywhere.  So, sometime between 1941 and 1952 he either changed his middle name or he found out that Cherubino was not his middle name.

The two most compelling documents are his marriage certificate (1945) and the mortgage mom and dad had on our house in 1953.  Both of these documents he signed as “Salvatore Faust Sgriccia”.  (Sorry no copies have been scanned yet).

Where did the name “Faust” come from?  Uncle Marion and Aunt Lucy had a premature baby born in 1919 named “Faust Sgriccia”.  Sadly, he only lived 9 days.  And there was a family friend in Clymer named Charles E. Faust.  He worked at one of the brick plants and he also served for a period as the Registrar at Clymer City Hall.  Could one of these been the source of the name “Faust”?  I know of no other reference to the name “Faust” in our family tree.  I guess, we will never know the truth.

Salvatore or Samuel?  Cherubino or Faust?  Sal or Sam?  Growing up we never knew what to call him – so we just called him “Dad” and that seemed to work best.

 

Samuel F. Sgriccia 1924 – 1970

 

(Postscript:  I have just learned how intrusive the advertising is on this WordPress Blog Site.  So, I have upgraded to the “no outside ad” membership.  My apologizes.  As the “owner” I did not see the ads when I looked at the pages.  They really were distracting.  Please let me know if you see any advertisements on this blog in the future.)