Dear Family,

Giuseppe Verdi, an Italian opera composer, once wrote, “You may have the universe if I may have Italy.” Russ and I concur, we have been a few times now, and fell in love with Italy, the people and the philosophy of “Dolce Far Niente,” the sweetness of doing nothing.

Many months ago a girlfriend and I were discussing the possibility of acquiring our Italian citizenship, a process called Jure Sanguinis or “right of blood.” Jure Sanguinis simply states, that if you can provide proof that your ancestor was Italian, and the line was never broken, then you too, are an Italian citizen, just not recognized yet.

As you can imagine, researching our genealogy, and tracking down all of the legal documents can be a painstaking process, but a rewarding one as well. Researching our Italian heritage has been interesting and immensely gratifying. Since this is your history as well as mine, I thought I would share what I know about the Capobianco family history.

Our family story began on April 21, 1884, in Palazzo San Gervasio, a small agricultural town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.

A newborn baby boy is left abandoned in a foundling wheel on the evening of the 20th or the morning of the 21st. The baby was taken in, placed in the care of a wet nurse, and given the name Giulio Montesini. This is Giulio’s original birth certificate.

After a lot of searching, and help from wonderful people on the internet, we found his second birth certificate. This one states that his father, Vito Capobianco, claimed him and gave him the name, our family name, Capobianco. The certifcate refers to him as his father “naturale” but I am unclear if he was adopted or if claimed by blood.  His mother is listed as “madre ignota (unknown mother)”.

Although I have been studying the Italian language, I am by no means fluent. And this handwriting is difficult to read, so if you can make more out of it than I could, please share what you can with me.

I wrote to this small comune in southern Italy and they sent me official copies of Giulio’s birth certificate. They also sent me Eugenia (Jennie) Sassone’s birth certificate, his future wife, and my great grandmother. Eugenia was also born in Palazzo San Gervasio on October 16th, 1885. 

Giulio and Eugenia, in Palazzo San Gervasio, the same small comune they were born, were married on May 6th 1906.  He was 21, and she was 20. This is an official copy of their marriage certificate.

In May of 1909 after only 3 years of marriage, Giulio emigrated from Italy to the USA, leaving behind his young wife and 2 year old son Salvatore, or as I remember him, Uncle Sam. I imagine Giulio, my great grandfather, young and handsome, standing on the bow of a big ship, watching as the ship goes through what is now called the Verrazano Narrows Waterway, around the point, and standing majesticly before him, Lady Liberty! I can only wonder what it would have felt like years ago for him, coming from around the world, to America, seeking freedom, opportunity and a better life for himself and our future family. He moves to Harrison, New Jersey, a suburb of Newark. If you notice the father’s name on Uncle Sam’s birth certificate is still Giulio.

In March of 1913, after almost four years, Eugenia (great grandma) and now 5 year old Uncle Sam leave Italy to join Giulio in the States. They join him Harrison, NJ. In 1914 Giulio and Eugenia have a set of twins, a son Savino (Nutch) and a daughter that I cannot find the name for.

If anyone knows her name it would be wonderful to include her name in our history.  You can see on Savino’s birth certificate it states that “number of children in the marriage is 3, number of children now living is 3.” I am guessing that she died some time between 1914 and the time of the 1930 census where she is not listed amongst the other 6 children. Additionally, if you look at Savino’s birth certificate it now lists the father’s name as Pasquale, NOT Giulio.  This is a huge stumbling block for me. This is the first official document that does not link him to Giulio. Does anyone know why he started using this name? Going forward he goes back and forth between Giulio/Pasquale/Pat/Patsy. I really could use any help anyone can provide here. Without this my case for dual citizenship become significantly harder, longer and more expensive.

In 1918 Marie is born.  In 1919 they move our growing family to Newark, NJ.  Angelina is born in 1920 followed by Teresina in 1922 and Pietro in 1925.

The 1930 census was tricky to find. And, if you take a closer look the census taker wrote the last name as Beanco. Apparently, Capobianco was too difficult to spell. In 1930 the family, including Uncle Sam, his wife Katie and his daughter Jeanie were living at 191 Newark St.

In 1940 the family is still at 191 Newark St, at least they got the last name right on the census this time. Giulio is listed as Patsy. The family consist of Patsy, Jennie all six living kids and two grandkids, Jeanie and Patsy Jr.  There is no mention of Katie, Uncle Sam’s wife. Can someone tell me what happened here?

In February 1940 Giulio files a Declaration of Intention and a Petition for Natualization.  He uses his birth name, Giulio, on this document, lists all his children and his address at 191 Newark St.  This is all I have that ties Giulio Capobianco to the Pasquale Capobianco listed on Savino’s birth certificate, showing a relationship that he is my great grandfather.

Five years later in February 1945 Giulio becomes a Citizen of the the USA.  If anyone is interested in dual citizenship, this date is very important. All of his children were born before this date.  That means all of his children would be considered Italian citizens as well as all of their children and so on.  

Savino (Nutch) marries Filomena (Fay, Fanny) Tozzo on February 26, 1944. Nutch and Fay change their name from Capobianco to Whitehead at Uncle Sam’s urging.

Nutch and Fay have two children Vincent and Janet. Janet has two children, April and Day.

Giulio passes away May 25th, 1961. On his death certificate he is listed as Pasquale. Eugenia (Jennie) Sassone/Capobianco passes away April 1974.

The older the grape vine, the deeper the roots. The deeper the roots, the more mature and complex the wine is. Our roots are deep in Italian history and heritage because of Giulio and Eugenia. I hope you all have enjoyed this post, and if anyone has more information or pictures they like to share, I would love to add more to our story.

“La Famiglia e Tutto” translated means “The Family is Everything.”

Love Day and Russell