The Marchisas emigrated to the US in the very early 1900’s from Northern Italy via the French Ports of Le Havre and Nice . Alessandro, (birth name Flavio), Marchisa, (1883 – 1937), was born in Fubine , Italy as were his parents. Anna Angela (Peracchio) Marchisa “Lena”, (1889 – 1973), was born in Torino, Italy but her parents were born in Fubine, Italy. Alessandro Marchisa left Italy in 1900 and Angelina Peracchio left in early 1907. They were married in NYC in August 1907.
Sunday September 18, 2022
The Tomans emigrated to the US in the very early 1900’s from Northern Ireland via the Port of Londonderry on Ireland’s northern coast. Samuel John Toman, (1886 – 1961), was born in Ballydougan, County Down, and Ellen (Byrne) Toman, (1892 – 1979), was born in Lurgan, County Armagh. These two towns were just a few miles apart. Samuel Toman left Ireland in 1911 and Ellen Byrne left in 1914. They married in Manchester Connecticut 3 weeks after Ellen arrived in 1914.
1907 Private Messaging Technology…Look in the Mirror!
In June of 2022 I discovered 11 more Italian postcards, the majority of them sent in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I scanned them and added them to this website. View the top (11) in the “All Italian Postcards” gallery by clicking HERE. One of the more interesting postcards was one sent by Alessandro Marchisa to his betrothed, Lena Peracchio, in New York , sometime in the spring of 1907. The genealogy detective in me has arrived at the following:
Lena was living in Manhattan with her Uncle Serafino Rosasco and Serafino’s family. Since there was nothing private about a postcard, (the message was there for all to see), Alex and Lena communicated by using Delmonicos Restaurant on 44th St in Manhattan as a “drop box”. Alex would put the postcard in front of a mirror and write his message and address the postcard to Lena Peracchio at Hotel Delmonico, (He meant Delmonicos Restaurant). Before Alex put the stamp on the postcard, he would write an additional message that the stamp would cover up. I suspect that Alex dropped it off as it doesn’t appear to have a Post Mark. Lena would then walk a few blocks from her Uncle’s to the Restaurant and pickup the postcard. When she got home, she would place it in front of a mirror in order to read it and then remove the stamp to see the additional brief message there. I have no idea how common or uncommon this was in the early 1900s.
Every Sunday in the 1950’s through the early 1960’s would be spent first at Granda Lena’s house on Hebron Ave. in Glastonbury for lunch. After lunch we would take 1 of 2 routes, (the 2 west routes in map), to get to Gramma and Grandpa Toman’s house on 19 St. Lawrence St. in Manchester.