PROMPT: Origins                                                                                     January 5, 2024

When I was a little girl, I was always curious to know where in Italy my family came from.  Both grandfathers, it was said, came from beautiful sunny Sicily – my paternal grandfather from Palermo and my maternal grandfather from Siracusa.  My paternal grandmother’s family was from Milan and my maternal grandmother’s family was from Naples.  As with most of us, even today, many times when someone asks us where we are from, we tend to give them the nearest largest city.  Although I didn’t realize this in my early years, I did learn this as I was doing my family history. 

Years later, I set off on a quest to find exactly where in Naples my maternal great grandfather, Sebastiano “Steve” Rapuano was born. His date of birth was November 2, 1877.  I was armed with Grandpa Philip’s memoir, “Passaggiata”. The book painted a vivid picture of the man who would eventually become his father-in-law, Steve Rapuano. Philip tells of the time that he and his father Biagio were at the humble home of Sebastiano and Mariella Rapuano in New Haven, Connecticut for the first time. 

Philip writes, “It did not take long for the two fathers to get chummy after revealing each other’s family history. It appeared that Steve migrated from Puglianello, near Naples and landed in New Haven when he was in his early teens.”

Puglianello is a comune or municipality in the Province of Benevento in the region of Campania.  Puglianello is about 60 Km(37 miles) north of Naples. 

 

The search for a birth record for Steve started.  Antenati.cultura.gov.it, is an online treasure trove of Italian vital records.  I searched in Puglianello and in various years of birth without any luck.  This was a painstaking search that ended in disappointment. My search broadened to other comunes in the Provence of Benevento and stumbled upon Sebastiano’s birth record in a quaint village nestled in the mountains called FAICCHIO!! What a find!! Not only did it match his birthday, I learned the names of his parents! Angelantonio Rapuano and Mariantonia Friso or Freso – my great great grandparents – the people who are some of the reason I sit here today writing this story. I want to know more!

 Faicchio is 8.6 Km (5.3miles) north of Puglianello.

San Salvatore Telesino is 5.9 Km from Faicchio (3.6 miles) and 5 Km from Puglianello (3.1 miles)

Angelantonio Rapuano was 31 years old in 1877 so I took an educated guess that he was born about 1846 in Faicchio.  The search was grueling, always ending in disappointment.  As I was perusing through ancestry.com, my curiosity was piqued by a man who had a huge Rapuano/Rabuano family tree. The “p” and “b” have similar sounds and many times they are interchanged in the records. Tom was good enough to answer my messages and lo and behold, we are very distant cousins along the Rapuano line. His thorough and extensive research had me focus on a very ancient village called San Salvatore Telesino.

BINGO!! Angelantonio was born 25 September 1846 in San Salvatore Telesino to Sebastiano Rapuano and Maria Grazia di Brigida!  I am now dancing throughout the house and yelling, “I found it!” to anyone who would listen! (My poor husband Mark).

Tom’s research has led him to discover some of our oldest Rapuano/Rabuano ancestors, two of whom are Nicola and Cleto who were born in the late 1500’s.  It is unknown how they may be related, but it is likely they are our 10^th Great Grandfathers. 

Without Tom’s expert experience, I may never have found the origin of my Rapuano/Rabuano ancestors.