Naturalization Index
Florindo Ardolino was born in Torre le Nocelle on 12 August 1893 to Pasquale Ardolino and Maria Aurelia di Nuzzolo. He started his new life in the States working as a shoe maker. By 1917 he was in New York sculpting for the Ardolino Brothers ... a trade he likely picked up from both his maternal and paternal grandfathers - Clamanzio Ardolino and Michele Arcangelo di Nuzzolo - both sculptors.
Unfortunately things didn't turn out so well for our Florindo. I'm not quite sure what happened, and am trying not to let my imagination take me to places I really don't want to go ... so I'll just present the records and let you come to your own conclusions.
Florindo arrived in Boston on 9 September 1909. Below is his Romanic manifest.
List: 27
Line: 19
Name: Bevilacqua, Albino
Age: 40
Marital: Married
Last Residence: Torre le Nocelle
Relative: Wife Palma in Torre le Nocelle
Destination: Brother Florindo at 126 Salem St., Boston
Previous Travel: 1896-1907 in Boston
List: 27
Line: 20
Name: Bevilacqua, Agostino
Age: 35
Marital: Married
Last Residence: Torre le Nocelle
Relative: Wife Ermalinda in Torre le Nocelle
Destination: Brother-in-law Sabino Rotondi in Melrose MA
Previous Travel: 1901-1903 in Boston
List: 27
Line: 21
Name: Ardolino, Florindo
Age: 16
Marital: Single
Last Residence: Torre le Nocelle
Relative: Mother Aurelia in Torre le Nocelle
Destination: Brother Emilio at 3 Snow Hill St. Boston
Previous Travel: No
Romanic - 9 September 1909 List 27
Romanic - 9 September 1909 List 27a
The 1910 census finds him at 3 Snow Hill St. in Boston. He's living with his aunt Dorodea di Nuzzolo and her husband Angelo Michele Vitale. (Angelo was from Grottominarda)
Line 3: Vitale, Angelo, head, age 50, blacksmith in a stable
Line 4: Vitale, Dorodea, wife, age 35
Line 5: Ardolino, Emilio, nephew, age 22, single, carpenter in a factory
Line 6: Vitale, Giuseppe, son, age 16, telegram messenger
Line 7: Vitale, Pasquale, son, age 14, telegram messenger
Line 8: Vitale, Mario, son, age 7, born in MA
Line 9: Bianchino, Giovanni, nephew, age 17, single, shoe maker
Line 10: Ardolino, Florindo, nephew, age 17, single, shoe maker
Line 11: Ciampa, Paul, boarder, age 30, single, laborer
Line 12: Mele, Ciriaco, boarder, age 17, single, candy maker in a factory
Line 13: La Torella, Emilio, age 16, single, alien, laborer
1910 Boston Census
His 1917 draft registration card tells us that he's moved to New York and taken up sculpting for the Ardolino Brothers.
Date: 5 June 1917
Board: Manhattan #105
Serial #: 265
Name: "Ardilino", Florindo
Age: 23
Residence: 460 W. 23rd Street, New York City
Birth: 2 August 1893 in Torre le Nocelle, Italy
Occupation: Sculptor
Employer: Ardolino Brothers at 33rd Street East, New York City
Relative: Sister (no address)
Claims Exemption: Yes - Italian Subject
1917 Draft Registration
1919 Finds him back in Boston, where he is a soldier stationed at Camp Devens applying for U.S. citizenship.
Petition for Naturalization #50828 (or 118?)
Filed: 25 January 1919 in Boston MA
Name: Florindo Ardolino
Residence: Camp Devens, MA & 375 East Lowell St., East Boston MA
Occupation: Solder, stone carver
Birth: 12 August 1893 in Torre le Nocelle, Italy
Emigration: "Romanic" - Napoli to Boston - 7 September 1899
Declaration of Intention: Filed 1 June 1918 in Boston, MA
Marital: Single
Date of Admission: 25 January 1919
Certificate #: 1137640
Note: "Act of May 9, 1918"
Petition for Naturalization
Oath of Allegiance
Photo of Camp Devens in 1918
For you military buffs, I found a great World War I blog authored by Richard Landers.
It would appear that Florindo started to run into trouble sometime between his discharge and the 1920 census... which leads me to think something happened to him during his military service. But why was he serving in the military to begin with if he claimed exemption? Was he drafted anyway? Or did he decide he enjoyed life in America and wanted to take the quickest route to citizenship?
The 1920 census finds him in state hospital in Central Islip, New York.
Line:3
Name: Ardolino, Florindo
Relationship: Inmate
Age: 25
Marital: Single
Emigration: 1902 from Italy, naturalized
Occupation: None
1920 Census
And by 1930 he is in the neuro-psychiatric ward of the U.S. Veterans Hospital in Huntington, New York.
Line: 71
Name: Ardolino, Florindo
Relationship: Patient
Age: 36
Marital: Single
Emigration: 1909 from Italy
Citizenship: Unknown
1930 Census
From the military collection at Ancestry.com we learn that Florindo died on 1 May 1947 and is buried in the Long Island National Cemetery in New York.
Name: Florindo Ardolino
Service Info.: PVT US ARMY WORLD WAR I
Birth Date: 12 Aug 1893
Death Date: 1 May 1947
Service Start Date: 26 Jun 1918
Interment Date: 6 May 1947
Cemetery: Long Island National Cemetery
Cemetery Address: 2040 Wellwood Avenue Farmingdale, NY 11735-1211
Buried At: Section K Site 16677
This information is also confirmed at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Nationwide Gravesite Locator search engine.
Florindo came here to start a new life and, whether he knew it or not at the time he made the decision, he sacrificed his future to to protect our freedom... and for this I will forever be in his debt. So grazie, zio Florindo. Hopefully the next life has brought you the peace and happiness that you deserved in this one.
Since there are no details as to his military service, my comments are purely conjecture but they do offer a reason as to why he wound up as a patient in an institution. I have an ancestor who also fought in WWI in the European theater. He was one of many who fought in the trenches and was subjected to gassing, most likely some sort of nerve gas. He had been an inventor in his pre-war years, but after the war, he was never the same. He spent the rest of his life in an institution until he died in the 1950's.
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