MARIANO IANNARINO AND PROVVIDENZA LA MANNA

Mariano Iannarino was born in Termini Imerese, Sicily, on December 8, 1891 and he died on December 28, 1954 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mariano is buried in the North Side cemetery renamed "Christ our Redeemer" in Pittsburgh. Mariano married Provvidenza La Manna, a young girl from his home town, on December 28, 1910 in Termini Imerese, Sicily.

Provvidenza La Manna was born in Termini Imerese on September 12, 1895 and she died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on November 21, 1982. Provvidenza is buried with her husband in "Christ our Redeemer" cemetery.

Mariano and Provvidenza left Sicily for the United States two weeks after their arranged marriage in Termini. The steamer, Oceania, on which they traveled, stopped at Genoa, then Naples and Palermo before sailing on to the United States. Mariano and Provvidenza boarded the steamer in Palermo. The young couple arrived at Ellis Island on January 25, 1911.

After arriving in Pittsburgh Provvidenza and Mariano took up residence with Mariano's brother Frank and his family. Mariano had been living with his brothers and/or his father Saverio since arriving in the United States several years earlier. Within a short time the young couple found an apartment of their own in the "Ward", an immigrant neighborhood close to the river. Both his brothers Frank and Thom had rental homes in the neighborhood.

Provvidenza and Mariano raised six children: Charles(Saverio), Sadie(Rosaria), Anthony(Antonio), Jennie(Concetta), Frank(Francesco), and Rose(Rosalia). They purchased a home at 1300 Sandusky Street on the Northside of Pittsburgh just prior to 1920. The cost of the home was $5000 of which Provvidenza and Mariano had saved $1000 for a down payment. The family owned the home on Sandusky Street for over forty years until the early 1960's.

To see a real estate plat map of the Sandusky Street home in 1925 click on Grandparent's home on real estate map. The map is part of the "Historic Pittsburgh" collection hosted by the University of Pittsburgh's Digital Research Library and is available thru the Carnegie Library website.

In order to expand the hospital's facilities in the 1960's, Allegheny General Hospital began to purchase properties on Sandusky Street. Mariano and Provvidenza's home was one of the properties which was purchased by the city of Pittsburgh for the hospital complex. The youngest two of their six children, Frank and Rose, had been born in the Sandusky Street home.

The photo (below right) shows the Sandusky Street home in 1936. Daughter Rose Iannarino and a friend are "playing tennis" in the street. The family home is the light brick one behind Rose on the left. The house on the right was a small grocery store in 1936. It was later purchased by Provvidenza La Manna along with the Grimaldi house behind it.

Mariano had been deceased for about ten years when the house on Sandusky Street was purchased by the city. Mariano's wife and grown daughter, Rose, purchased a two story home at 35 Ivory Avenue, about 10 miles from their original home and just a few blocks from the home of Provvidenza's son Anthony and his wife Mary. Within five years of moving to Ivory Avenue, the state of Pennsylvania sought to purchase the Ivory Avenue home. An interstate highway. IH-79, was being built nearby and the Ivory Avenue home would be in the right-of-way. Provvidenza and Rose then purchased a newer single story home a few blocks from the Ivory Avenue home. Rose continued to live in the home until her death on October 29, 2006.

Historical Records from Ellis Island

My sister Christine and I located the record on the Ellis Island website of our grandparents' journey to their new life in America. Our dad, Francesco Iannarino, had searched for the manifest document for several years, believing for a time that his parents had entered the United States through Boston when he could not find a record at Ellis Island. There was a mis-spelling of both of our grandparents' names and place of residence, making the search for their records at Ellis Island difficult.

Provvidenza's name was discovered first by searching through all of the records for individuals with the last name of La Manna -- more than 700 individuals. We reasoned that "La Manna" would be more likely to be spelled correctly. When searching for "Iannarino" there are too many variations available on the database. Once Provvidenza's name and record were found, a reading of the mainfest revealed her husband's name "Mariano Iannarino" just above hers.

The Northside of Pittsburgh had been called "Allegheny City" until it was annexed by the city of Pittsburgh in the early years of the 19th century. That information had become known to us shortly before we began the search for the missing entry records. When the place of residence on the document was listed as "Alegleny" instead of "Termini Imerese", we knew that we had found the correct record. Mariano had lived for several years in "Allegheny City" and would be bringing his new wife back to his residence there.

Mariano is listed as "Mariano Hammarino", age 22, place of residence "Alegleny", USA. Provvidenza is listed as "P...denza La Manna", age 17, place of residence "Alegleny", USA. The original manifest is hand-written. To see a copy of a text-only version of the manifest go to Ship Manifest/Text version. By registering at the Ellis Island site, you can also view and purchase a copy the original hand-written manifest. At the time of their arrival at Ellis Island after their marriage, Mariano was 20 years old and his wife Provvidenza was 15 years old. Their correct ages are different from the ages recorded on the manifest.

The ship on which Provvidenza and Mariano traveled was of Austrian registry. The discrepancies in the documents, according to information availabe on the Ellis Island website, is due to many factors. The hand written manifest was recorded as the passengers went aboard the ship. The purser or other officer who created the record often did not speak the language of the immigrant passengers. Many immigrants had no formal education and could not spell their own names, although this is not the case with our grandparents. The documents are old and many are damaged. The immigrants often altered the information which they gave the purser if they were concerned about being allowed entry into the United States.

Termini Imerese -- town of our ancestors

This street scene of Termini Imerese in the 1980's is not much different from the look of the town in the late 1800's when our ancestors began their journey to America. To see a map of present day Termini Imerese click on Map of Termini Imerese. Mariano Iannarino was born and lived on Via Giuseppe Cipri Street near the harbor. That area is highlighted on the map.

The photo just above is of a street scene in Termini Imerese taken by Frank Henry during one of his trips to Italy. The photo - below left - shows the "Immigrant Wall of Honor". The photo is provided by "the Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island Foundation. One of the most inspiring Foundation projects is The American Immigrant Wall of Honor"®". Located on the restored Ellis Island, the Wall proudly bears the names of more than half a million immigrants whose descendants memorialized them by having their names inscribed there." To see more period photographs about the immigrant experience, go to Ellis Island.

Immigrant Wall of Honor

The names of our ancestors, Mariano Iannarino and Provvidenza La Manna, are inscribed on the Immigrants Wall of Honor on Ellis Island.

Their youngest son, Frank, and his daughters provided the funds to place Mariano Iannarino and Provvidenza La Manna's names on the memorial. To see the certificate which was provided for Provvidenza, click on Provvidenza's Certificate. To see Mariano's certificate click on Mariano's Certificate.

If you would like to ask a question about any individual named in this site, or if you have information to add to my family history, please click on this link Contact me. I welcome your comments.

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©2010 Franciene McDonald