Thank you Mr. Paglia!

Some understanding finally!!!

So if you've been around a while you've seen my confusion over some Los Angeles families. Any time you find a grave with multiple surnames represented, you just have to figure it out, because living with someone can be temporary, but to be buried with someone, well that's a lot of intimacy.

I'm speaking of Calvary Catholic Cemetery , which set me off in an important direction. We have the names Fragassi, Nicassio and Paglia all together. My profound confusion is best outlined in this post, but I'll begin with how the problem began to be solved. First, I had to make darn sure of the people themselves, because there are a lot of name variants with our immigrants. Mary Fragassi was also called Angelina, and the headstone has her name spelled Marietta, which is much fancier. A man I don't know found this post and commented that Frank Fragassi was Mary's second (?) husband, hence the Nicassio name of her children, and married name combined.

I found this, which helped settle identity. Bonus that there's a photo.

I stumbled upon an Ancestry tree with some of these names in it and gave the user a shout. "Hello! I'm not certain if I've tried to contact you before, but I've done some visiting of virtual graves and found a family connection between ours... I was hoping you might have some additional knowledge or know someone?"  I didn't know if it was even an active account, so I was surprised to get a reply within a day!

...My maternal side of the family is Nicassio. Actually went Connetto di Bari and found my grandmother's birth certificate. Besides that, my grandmother remarried in her sixties to a Frank Fragassi. After her death, he moved back to Bari where he died in his late 90's.

And so it began. Mary's maiden name was DiStaso, and that might explain the Distashe misspelled young men living with Frank in 1940, who he claimed as his sons. Perhaps there were cousins all over the place? I'm still figuring it out.

Unravelling: either family relations or my brain

So a while back I posted some updates from Calvary Cemetery, some people who seemed to be related to the Fragassi's but I couldn't quite put my finger on how... We knew we had Michael Fragassi there because of his 1939 death certificate. While talking to the people at the cemetery, they mentioned they had a couple graves belonging to Frank and Mary Fragassi, which had me jumping in my seat because of the "Uncle Frank" character whom Rocky's kids got to know... sorta...

Mary Fragassi, also known as Angelina Marietta Fragasi Nicassio in the cemetery records, was born in Italy April 3, 1892- dod August 26, 1971 Social Security Death Index has spelling FRAGAS, The California Death Index has FRAGASI, MARY born 1892 04 03 FEMALE from IT died in LOS ANGELES 1971 08 26 ssn 570182702 age 79 record #3920645

This is more or less confirmed by the 1940 US census, which shows Frank Fragassi's wife to be Angelina, also confirmed by the city directories of the time. Frank and Michael's mother's name is rumored to be Angelina, so that's a coincidence his wife's name is the same...

So when did Frank die, and where is Frank buried? Not with his wife... but there are two others that are in the Fragasi-owned digs... Mike Nicassio and Mary Fragasi are in Grave 6, L-378, Section R, Charles Paglia is in Grave 5. And who are these guys? Well, if you look at the snapshot above there are two young fellas Frank claims as his sons, but they have a different last name.
Both are born in California, one presumably in 1918 and the other in 1922. CABI search using 191% (wild card for any year in the teens) and Distas% (to pick up spelling variants) yields this ->

Ok... How about the 1922ish birth? Well we have a possible match... Either Peter Destaso born May 30, 1920 to a Russo... or Peter Distashio born May 23 of 1922 to a Gasparda... I wonder what Angelina's maiden name was?... Or maybe these were kids he'd adopted.

So then I look for Charles Paglia, because he's next to Mary Fragasi... Charles was born 17 April 1911 in California, according to the California Death Index... he died 13 Feb 1983 in Los Angeles, age 71.

Mike Nicassio died in 1972 at the age of 43. He's also next to Mary. He was born Nov 27, 1928 but doggone it if the CADI does not have a mother's maiden name... I ran that birth date in the CABI with Los Angeles and start of first name MI... nuttin... ran again without the MI... meh... I don't think so, even with a lot of results...

Took off the date except the year and month and BAM!

Well THAT one is good! Crimany sakes... I'm going to have to come back to this, my head's spinning...

Another stamp...

SO curiosity is getting the better of me, and I went ahead and ordered two marriage certificates. I think I mentioned finding marriage records on Vitalsearch for Frances Lambert, first her marriage to Michele Fragassi in 1916, and then what may be a second marriage in 1939... We'd like to confirm if this is a coincidence or our same Frances. It would sure be nice to find out when and where she died, too. That will hopefully come soon.

And my apologies for not posting much recently. I can't do this at work (literally, it's blocked) and my time at home is not what it once was... I am working on really cleaning up my family files and then will search for a web host with a lot of storage space.

Till next time...

CHECK THE UPDATE AT THE LA FRAGASSI MARRIAGES POST

Check the mail, silly

I already posted today about not receiving the birth and death certificates from Los Angeles County... but later this afternoon as I was about to go off somewhere, I peeked into the mail slot and saw a fat envelope with Yoda stamps on it and my own handwriting... My SASE had arrived- the day after Christmas! Had to get it, had to read it...

Summarizing: more evidence of ignorance with spelling variances of the family name on official documents. There may be an alternate, more flowery spelling of Frances Lambert- Fragassi's first name. It may end in 'neisa, which is very pretty sounding, but it could be that the person writing Angelina's certificate got too liberal with " i's ". You'd have to see the document- which has "Informational Only" emblazoned on it...

It turns out that the mysterious little Laura is another sister of Rocky. The causes of the girls' deaths would not look good on a resume... I'll have to write about them separately.

LA Fragassi Marriages

As I was enjoying lying in bed well after sunrise (a rare treat) I thought about doing a little research today... I prayed that I would be guided to something that would shed more light on the Fragassi family's distant past. Then I started the day...

After a while I turned on the computer, to try out Mozilla's Firefox web browser recently installed, and went to Vitalsearch... I decided to look and see what was new, and found the marriage section pretty large, especially for Los Angeles county. First I tried to find a marriage date for Rocky and Lucy. They're indexed by Bride, alphabetically as best they could, so I searched 10 scanned pages of 1947... no Lucy... 42 pages in 1946... no Lucy... 10 pages of 1948... still no Lucy. Maybe they married in another county? Did they go to Vegas?

Not about to leave empty-handed, I looked for Frances Lambert Fragassi, just in case she remarried. I began searching 8 pages from 1939, on 'their' page 328 I found:

1939 - Oct 24
LAMBERT, FRANCES E to Harold J Thome or Thorne
recorded in book 1628, page 262

I'm not a hundred percent sure this is our Frances, but seeing as it's about a month after our Frances' husband died, it could be... and it certainly could be the reason her son wrote her off. So to be fair, I looked for any Fragassi... nope. I'll follow this lead later, to see if this was the name she died with...

(thankfully the certificate arrived and this was not our Frances!)

So then I thought I'd take a look around the time between 1909 when Michele came back to the US and 1918 when Angelina was born... The first reasonably searchable bit was 1916 - 1918 Los Angeles County Brides, 4 pages to search. On the first page I found:

1916 - Nov 13
LAMBERT, FRANCES to MICHELE FRAGASSI
Clerk file 5471, Book 268, page 59

Now THAT one I'd really like to see. It may have parents' names and better dates and places... maybe even witnesses... I'm going to order that one soon. Haven't gotten any of the other certificates I ordered, yet.

April 24th the certificates arrived... Frances Lambert, 18 years old, white, single, first marriage, born in Mexico to Quandos Lambert (born in France) and C. Lambert (?) also born in France! (This being a legal document drawn up by adults with their wits about them, one would hope this was more accurate than the censuses who said because Frances was born in Mexico her parents must be Mexican... Verrrry interesting... And Michele Fragassi, 26 years old, white, single, first marriage, born in Italy, occupation : Gardener, father Rocco Fragassi of Bitritto, Italy and Angela Binetti of Bitritto, Italy... Witnessed by L. J. Gutierrez of 627 Alpine Street, married by Edward H. Fitzgerald, a priest, at 167 West 36th Place, LA.

Write a check, lick a stamp...

I finally got off my hangup horse and ordered four documents from the county of Los Angeles. Birth certificates for Angelina "Frigassi" and Roccke "Fragessi", death certificates for Emalina and Laura Fragassi, both young children. I would really like some more solid information and leads for when ever we actually get down to LA. Sure we'll go to Disneyland and all that, but we have to do some field research as well.

So, we'll see what shakes out of that part of the family tree... I hope it arrives before Christmas.

Anthony Paris Fragassi

We're still looking for the 'estranged' brother- son of Patsy and Rocky. If anyone has heard hide or hair of him, send him this way.

Calvary Catholic Cemetery

Located at 4201 Whittier Blvd, Los Angeles, CA (see map) Calvary is across the street from Home of Peace Jewish Cemetery, at the junction of Hwy 72 and 19. The phone number is (323) 261-3106. Calvary is home to many 'other' famous people, take a look at Wikipedia... it is actually a 'replacement' cemetery, the Old Calvary Cemetery being under other buildings after most of the bodies were moved...

We have confirmed family members here!

AVILA, Nabor 1883-1928 in grave 76, tier 11, Lot A, Section Z. No picture yet.

FRAGASSI, Michael born in Italy May 6, 1888, died in San Francisco, California (although a Los Angeles resident) on September 30, 1939. Husband of Frances Lambert Fragassi.
He is now in Section L, Lot 356, grave 8. FRAGASSI, Frank and Maria are also represented here, precise location to be posted at week's end. Mike Nicassio and Charles Paglia are affiliated with the family somehow- perhaps the cousins we've been trying to track down.

alright- based on what I received from the Cemetery Office and from CADI and SSDI
All family members are closer to the THIRD STREET side of the grounds

Emalina Fragassi
dob March 5, 1923- dod July 11, 1923- interred July 12, 1923
Daughter of Michael and Frances Fragassi, aged 4 + months
Grave 9, L-1925, Section E ... one of the unmarked ones shown...

Laura Fragassi
dob June 16, 1927- dod June 14, 1929- interred June 17, 1929
Also daughter of Michael and Frances, she was just shy of two years old
Grave 843, L-2, Section K... unmarked, to the right of Fosselman...

Uncertain of the direct connection:
Angelina (Mary) Fragasi (in cemetery records)
dob April 3, 1892- dod August 26, 1971- interred August 30, 1971
Social Security Death Index has spelling FRAGAS, last residence Los Angeles, CA 90022
Grave 6, L-378, Section R
CADI
FRAGASI MARY 1892 04 03  FEMALE  IT  LOS ANGELES  1971 08 26

Mike Nicassio
dob November 27, 1928- dod November 5, 1972- Interred November 8, 1972
California Death Index and SSDI have name spelled NICASSIO, Last residence Covina, CA 91722
Grave 6, L-378, Section R

Michael Fragassi

Don't get the two confused, Michele (Michael) Fragassi has a Grandson bearing his name. This Mike is the one who first came from old Italia, through Ellis Island in New York, around Utah and Idaho with cousins and presumably following the railroad down to Los Angeles.

He was born May 6, 1888 in Bari, Italy. He and his French-Indian wife had three children together in Los Angeles; Angelina, Rocky, and Emmalina. He died September 30, 1939 in San Francisco, California, USA. We will soon find out how, and where he is buried...


World War I Draft - June 1917


Now, from a clean copy of this form, the information you're actually looking at is:

Name in full- Michele Fragassi
Age- 29
Home Address- 828 Cleveland St, Los Angeles, California
Date of Birth- May 6, 1888
Natural born citizen, naturalized citizen, alien, or have you declared your intention?- he put "Italy" Where were you born- Bitoritto, Bari, Italia If not a citizen, of what nation are you a citizen or subject?- Italy
What is your present trade, occupation, or office?- Gardner
By whom employed?- P. J. Howard
Have you a father, mother, wife, child under 12, or a sister or brother
under 12 solely dependent on you for support?- Wife
Married or single?- married
What military experience have you had? Rank?- none
Do you claim exemption from draft?- no
here is his signature "X"

Registrar's report:
Tall, medium, or short?- 5 ft
Slender, medium, or stout?- Med
Color of Eyes?- Brown
Color of Hair?- Black
Has person lost arm, leg, hand, foot, eye, or both eyes or is he otherwise disabled?- arm-leg [does this mean he was actually missing two limbs???]
Precinct 404 or 409 of Los Angeles, Calif
Dated 6/5/17

California Death Index shows :

Michael Fragassi (spouse initial "F") age 51, died on September 30, 1939 in San Francisco County/City. The state's record number is 63856.

About Bari

Visit Santa Clause in Italy? Yep... for real.

Our Fragassi family came from Bitritto, a part of Bari. The thumbnails below are actual photos of Bari around the time period they got on the boat.

hlotis

Bari, the Adriatic coastal city and capitol of Puglia, Italy, is known for many things. There is some evidence that it may have been inhabited as early as 1500 BCE. It has been controlled by Illyrians, Greeks, Romans, Goths, Lombards, Byzantines, Normans, and Venetians and became part of the kingdom of Naples in 1557 (I didn't know Naples was a kingdom).

In the 9th century AD it was a Moorish stronghold, but it was taken by the Byzantines in 885. Peter the Hermit preached the First Crusade there in 1096. Razed by the Sicilians in 1156, it acquired new greatness in the 13th century under Frederick II. It became an independent duchy in the 14th century, passed to the Kingdom of Naples in 1558, and became part of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

In short, it's seen a lot of action through the centuries.

It is connected by road, rail, and ship to other Adriatic ports and is now connected by road to Naples. It was badly damaged in World War II. It was called Little Pearl Harbour for the German bombing of Liberty Ships on December 2, 1943. Some more links about this disaster are as follows: Bari- The Second Pearl Harbour , and this is just an astonishing coincidence of names, but the 15th Air Force has important history in Bari, too.

Noteworthy buildings include the Romanesque basilica (1087–1197), a major place of pilgrimage, with relics of St. Nicholas of Bari (see Nicholas, Saint); the Romanesque cathedral (12th cent.); and the Hohenstaufen castle (1233). The city has a university founded in 1924.

Take a look at Wikipedia, for starters.

View a nice slideshow in beautiful color on Webshots.

This town is thriving and more things are being discovered online. Check back in a while or add your own findings- please!

http://www.ba.infn.it/bari.html
http://historic-cities.huji.ac.il/italy/bari/bari.html

Mike and Frances Fragassi

The parents of Angela, Rocky, (and Emmalina) Fragassi... Shrouded in mystery until recently.

Mike came from Southern Italy, not Sicily, and Frances was born in Mexico although her father was French.

Here are the hard facts we have on this couple so far.

1920 Federal Census January 5
Norwalk Township, Precinct 2, Los Angeles, CA- Center Street

Head of House FRAGASSI, MIKE (this is where we first discovered
his name)
Rents the home, Male, White, age 28 at last birthday, Married, Immigrated 1909, Alien, Attending School and can Read and Write. Born in Italy, mother tongue Italian. Father and mother both born in Italy. Can speak English. Occupation: Gardener at Rail Road Company for wages.

Wife of Mike: FRANCES
Female, White, age 20 at last birthday, married, Immigrated 1912 (or 02- hard to read), Alien, attending school, can read and write. Born in Mexico, mother tongue Spanish. Father born in France, mother tongue French. Mother born in Mexico, mother tongue Spanish. (Frances) can speak English.

Daughter: ANGELINE
Female, White, 1+ year old, single, born in California. Father born in Italy, Mother born in Mexico.

1930 Federal Census- April 14
Montebello Township, Los Angeles County, California-
1135 South Wilkins Avenue

Head of Household: FRAGASSI, MIKE
Owns the home, valued at $3000, the family has a radio set, it is not on a farm. Male, White, age 39, married, age 26 at first marriage, has not attended college since September 1929, Can read and write. Born in Italy, mother and father born in Italy, language spoken in home before coming to the US- Italian. Year of Immigration 1906 (?) as an alien? Can speak English. Works as a gardener doing odd jobs for wages, actually employed, not a veteran.

Wife of Mike: FRANCES
Female, Mexican, 39 years old, married, age 17 at first marriage, no college since 1929, can read and write. Born in Mexico, father from France, mother from Mexico. Spoke Mexican in home before coming to the US in 1911 as an alien. Can speak English.

Daughter: ANGELINA
Female, Mexican, age 11, single, attending school, can read and write, born in California

Son: ROCZI
Male, Mexican, age 9, single, attending school, not specified whether he can read,
born in California

We have several Ellis Island accounts with good information, but there is some confusion about trips taken in 1909. One record that does make sense states Mike's father back home is named Rocco. The rest is difficult to read.

Another interesting discovery recently was that there was another daughter born to Mike and Frances. Her name was Emalina Fragassi in the California Birth Index. She was born on March 5, 1923 in Los Angeles county. It also added to the arguement of which birth year was the right one for Rocky. He COULD NOT have been born in October of 22 if his sister was born in March of the following year. The strange thing was that she was not in the 1930 census, so that tip was set aside. Recently, in a trip to the State Library, I found in the California Death Indice that she died at the age of four months, on July 11, 1923. We have not gotten a death record on her yet, so we do not know the cause.

We're still looking for more information.

Fragassi Mysteries, pt 2

Madeline said:

There are many mysteries of the Fragassi family. Including the information regarding my grandfather Michele Fragassi, when he arrived at Ellis Island his name was not Fragassi. It was changed to Fragassi when he entered the United States. Frances Lambert his wife was born in Mexico. There are many......cousins still living in California. You can start looking for them and see what they can provide you with. Roczi Fragassi had five other children with another women when he was married to my mother Lucy Fragassi. Lucy was his wife, the other women were his mistress.

So the new questions,

1. What variant of Fragassi was ours?
2. Who changed it? Michele and his brothers/cousins or the clerk?
3. Where in Mexico was Frances born?
4. When did Frances' father come from France, and why?
5. Who are the other children Roczi fathered, do we know names?
6. Who are their mothers?
7. Do they know anything about their family history?

Is Angela Deceased?

I tried tracking down "our Aunt" Angela Fragassi, Rocky's sister. I talked with her on the phone in 2002, but for a long time afterwards when I tried to call, there was no answer, then the number was changed.

-----Original Message-----
From: Campos, Maria [mailto:mcampos@coroner.co.la.ca.us]
We have no record under this name. Call the Health Department at 213 240-7816.
-----Original Message-----
I haven't heard from our aunt Angela in a few years. Her address is 6th place, Manhattan Beach. The number has been changed, and I don't know if she passed away and we weren't notified?...

I sent her a Christmas card on the 15th of December just in case, pleading her to let bygones be bygones and help the generations of innocence to know their people. (She said herself that her parents and family were good people...) It came back with the postal sticker "Return to Sender, Not deliverable as addressed, Unable to forward" on the 21st. I got it back after Christmas. Either this is the wrong address or she has moved on...

On the 28th of December I called Forest Lawn, where her brother is buried, just in case she came there for final rest. No dice, Rocky and Dorothy are the only Fragassi's. I asked the woman there what other options I had, telling her about my call to the coroner's office. She said the only cases coming through there would be those of suspicious or otherwise messy circumstances. If someone was attended by a physician or in a hospital, they would not likely be a coroner case. I asked her then if it would be unreasonable to call the police and have a non-emergency visit to check on her... She said of course, it's called a Welfare Check.

So I called the Manhattan Beach Police department and gave them the address, her name, how old she is, my name, my phone number, and the last time I talked to her, as well as why I thought something was wrong. They said they wouldn't be able to get out there for an hour or so, I said that was nothing compared to the years of not knowing if she was allright.

So I waited...

That evening I called back, since they hadn't called me, and the dispatcher said an officer had gone out there. 506 6th Place is a vacant lot, not a house, and a long-time neighbor told the officer that she had passed away a few years ago. This was the report.

March 23, 2007

Silly me... I found a link to the Social Security Death Index which reminded me that it was there and updated FREQUENTLY!... I put in Angela Fragassi, there were some, but not ours. Then I tried her married name- though she hadn't been with him for Years... bingo!

Angela M. Emerson born on the 4th of July 1918 in California, died on the 7th of January 2003 with her last residence in Manhattan Beach, California.

Case closed...

Forest Lawn Memorial Park

Forest Lawn is another huge chain of cemeteries. The Property at 1712 South Glendale Avenue, Glendale CA 91205 is the final resting place of some Southern California family members.

FRAGASSI:
Niche 37105 of the Columbarium of Understanding
Dorothy June Fragassi died December 10, 1977, was cremated Dec 14, interred Dec 16. Age 59.
Roczi Fragassi died January 22, 1991, cremated February 4, interred Feb 8, 1991. Age 68.

Dorothy was the 3rd? wife of Rocky.

Rocky Fragassi

Let's begin with the facts, shall we?

Rocky may have been born with the name Roczi or Rocco. Most legal documents show Roczi. A Los Angeles City Directory of 1938 lists him as Rozzi.

The California Death Index has his date of birth October 14, 1922, the Social Security Death Index says he was born in 1920. The birth certificate of one of his children says 1920. His burial record says he was born in 1923, censuses imply 1921.

March of 2007 we finally found him in the California Birth Index by using wildcards for key letters in the spelling of Fragassi.

He was listed as Roccke Fragessi, born 10/14/1920.

I ordered his military records back in September 06, you can make your own requests by filling out the form online. Well, we got what we sent for! It was a little disappointing because there was nothing about Roczi's parents, but then again, I didn't realize I was only getting his separation papers, which means his discharge. You have to send away for medical and active duty service details separately.

What we now know, according to the discharge papers from the Department of the Navy, United States Government is:

Yet another birthdate, albeit more likely correct from the looks of the 1930 census. That is October 14, 1921, in Norwalk, California. He is/was a US citizen.

Caucasian, dark brown hair, brown eyes, 66.5" tall (5 foot 5 1/2), 135 pounds.

His service number was 563-27-54, was rated ET3 in the US Navy. His specialty was ET-1502-65 a Radio Mechanic II

Date of RE-enlistment was (his birthday) October 14, 1948 in Los Angeles, CA.

Home address at the time of reenlistment was 733 S. Boyle Ave, Los Angeles, he was married, with 8 years of grammar school, 4 years high school, 1 year of college. Majored in Electronics.

Discharged according to Article C-10308 BuPers Manual 1948 in USN SepAct SuBase, New London, Connecticut on September 26, 1951 after serving 2 years, 11 months, 12 days. He served 3 years, 8 months, 6 days PREVIOUSLY with 6 months foreign service/ at sea.

He had no decorations at this time.

He served mostly at the US Naval Receiving Station in Long Beach, CA. His last civilian employment, before reenlisting, was in the planning department of Western Electric Co., LA, CA- that was 1 year of employment.

His permanent address for mailing after his seperation was 1830 E. 2nd St. Los Angeles 33, California. We don't know whose address this is yet.

Little is known of him before he had children and their memories of him as an adult are too much for this blog. He had problems with monogamy, among other character flaws. We'll leave it at that for now.

Rocky and Lucy had six children together. At right is the informational part of a birth certificate for one of his children.

A few years after seperation from Lucy, he met and married Patsy Ruth Fain, having one son with her, and passing on two family names, before she left him. Anthony P. Fragassi never met his half-brother and sisters (at least, not yet) nor did he have any ties with his own father after his mother moved on with life. When adulthood reconciliations came along for most of his children, at various times, the general message was that he had moved on with his life and if they could not, he had no time for them.

Rocky met and married another woman, Dorothy Shue, who was born on the 21st of April 1918 in Missouri. She died in December of 1977, was cremated, and placed in a niche Rocky would later share with her at Glendale's Forest Lawn.

Rocky at that point only shared his home with his sister until he died. He left everything, it seems, to her. According to Angela, he said he would "take care of her".

We are looking for more information, especially positive or factual information...

Fragassi Mysteries

2005 - THE EARLIEST FRAGASSI we have record of so far is Francesco Fragassi, who came from Teramo, in the Abruzzi region of Italy, through Ellis Island in 1913. There are many other Fragassi's who came from Teramo through Ellis Island, as well. We had our suspicions that “Uncle Frank” was really Roczi’s father.

(We have since learned that, although this may still be related to our true Fragassi line, this is not close enough for us to trace right now. OUR Fragassi line first came from Bitritto, Bari in Puglia, Italy... See below.)

Let’s go backwards from Rocky, whom we definitely know. He spoke little, if anything at all, of his family. This has made things difficult, but not impossible in the research arena. Rocky’s sister, Angela, reluctantly spilled the beans in the one conversation I had with her years ago that her mother’s name was Frances and what cemetery Rocky was buried at. With those clues we were able to find his birth date and actual death date, we found him in the social security death index (10 years after the fact), and the California death index, in the 1930 census, and his US Navy records. The 1930 census led us right to Rocky’s real father, Mike Fragassi, then with that name to Ellis Island again, and to find more records. It's rather circular.

The Fragassi family history of the 20th Century is interesting to say the least. Michele "Mike" Fragassi (Rocky’s father) came to the States to stay in 1909, from the text of the 1920 and 1930 census schedules, which matches his Ellis Island records. We don’t know when exactly or how he came to California, let alone why. It can be speculated that the Railroad led him here. He worked on the Railroad as a gardener in one census. Ellis Island recorded at least two trips to the US for Michele Fragassi and the same for Francesco Fragassi, his cousin or brother. Also, one ship record names his father back home in Italy as "Rocco". Currently we're trying to figure out why there are two trips registered for apparently the same person within days of each other so as to make it seemingly impossible that he should arrive at the US once about the same time he should be leaving for another trip... Hmmm.. Verrry interesting... (See the January 1909 departure and February 1909 departure)

How did Mike meet his wife? What was their relationship like?

Mike thought enough of his father to name his son after him, and in spite of himself, in spite of what other reasons were given, Rocky named his eldest son after his father, as well.

Roczi had an “Uncle Frank” over sometimes, and played a deception that they were from Sicily and “connected” to the Mafia there. He always played the Italian card, never any other heritage.

Mike’s wife, Frances, actually respected the demand from Roczi that she have nothing to do with her own grandchildren (because her son was ashamed she was part Native American is all we can believe.) She had to be content with standing across the street to silently watch them play. How did she feel about that?

And what of all the unspeakable abuse toward spouses and children? Where did that begin?

No one seems to know what hardships were borne that created this terrible animosity toward one’s own family. Children certainly don’t ask for it, nor do they deserve it. How many generations have gone through it? Is it unique to those who immigrated to the US? Did it happen in the Old Country? Are there other lines with the same problem?

There has to be just beyond this family circle some healthy love and acceptance… This is one of the motives for research on this line, to find the part of the chain that is not corrupted.

And, going forward, don't we all have the choice of what kind of legacy to pass on to those who come after us?...

Amen.

see also Fragassi Mysteries, pt 2