Say Hello to Antonio & Maria – newest members of the Sgriccia Family Tree

No – they are not newborns.  Antonio & Maria are your great-great-grandparents.

Antonio Sgriccia and Maria Allevi, we have just discovered, are the parents of Ascanio and Giusto Sgriccia and probably a few more people.

The above chart is a jpeg, so you can download and enlarge it for easier reading.  This is how the oldest known levels of the SGRICCIA Family Tree look today.  I am confident that all our readers can figure out your relationship to Antonio and Maria.  If you cannot, please drop me a line.

We need to thank our second cousin Davide Petrini (he lives in Tarquinia, Italy) for uncovering this information.  Davide is the grandson of Francesca the oldest child of Ascanio & Venanza.  The graveyard in Preci suffered a lot of damage during the last earthquake and Venanza’s tombstone was damaged.  He plans to have a new one built.  Davide contacted me for all the info I had on Ascanio & Venanza.  He was able to get more accurate information on dates and he discovered our great-great grandparents – Antonio & Maria.

We will discuss some of the names that may be strangers to you.

Giusto Sgriccia.  He was Ascanio’s younger brother.  He was also the first “Sgriccia” to leave Italy and venture to the coal mines of western Pennsylvania in 1903.  He followed his brother-in-law Enrico Arcangeli – the brother to our great-grand mother  Venanza Arcangeli.  It is unclear if Giusto was ever married and we do not know if and when he returned to Italy.  We firmly believe that he did return to Preci, although we have never located his grave.

Unknown Sgriccia Sister.  This lady married a fellow named Messi.  They had a daughter and two sons – Agostino and Domenico.  Both sons traveled to the USA and the PA coal fields.  On their immigration paperwork they stated that they were going to see their “uncle Giusto”.  So, I figure the only way he can be their uncle is that his sister is their mother.  I think both Messi boys returned to Preci in the 1900s before WWI.

Carlo & Luigi Sgriccia.  I found the graves of these two fellows in Norcia – a town less that an hour from Preci.  I have no proof – only a guess – that they are linked to our family tree.  Someday, I may find more information to establish a true connection.

I am hoping to lean on Davide Petrini with a list of questions to take to the Preci records center and perhaps we can fill in a few more blanks in the Sgriccia Family Tree in the future.