1899 Boston Birth Index Volume: 18 (amended) Page: 213 Entry: 16253
Name: Austria Ardolino
Birth: 7 May 1899
Residence: 17 Henchmen St.
Father: A. Raffaele Ardolino*, marble worker
Mother: Carolina de Cristoforo
*Angelo Raffaele Ardolino born 23 September 1869 in Torre le Nocelle to Angelantonio and Teodora Lombardi.
1900 Boston Birth Index Volume: 18 (amended) Page: 229 Entry: 11712
Name: Germania Ardolino
Birth: 2 September 1900
Residence: 154 Salem St.
Father: A. Raffaele Ardolino, marble worker
Mother: Carolina De Cristofori
Ever wonder how children get named after nations?
ReplyDeleteI did.
Germania and Austria's parents, Ralph and Carolina, were married 6 June 1893 in Quincy, Massachusetts.
I spoke to a niece of Germania and Austria a couple of months ago and asked her if she knew.
Here's what she said:
Carolina and her husband Ralph were living in the North End of Boston when Carolina took sick.
Instead of seeking medical help in Boston, the couple consulted with family and friends to decide what to do.
The thing to do was to go back to Italy and see a certain doctor who everyone assured Carolina was the only one who could help her.
Don't know who the doctor was, but Carolina's illness turned out to be pregnancy.
Apparently Carolina was far enough along that she decided to stay in Torre and have her baby.
When the girl was born, she was named "Italia" because she born in Italy.
Unfortunately Carolina had no documentation of her marriage so Italia's birth was registered with Carolina's surname, de Cristofaro.
When Carolina and her daughter Italia returned to Boston, Ralph liked the idea of naming a child after a country so much that the next few children were named Austria, Germania, and Americo. After Americo was born, Carolina put her foot down and the remaining children received more conventional names.
@BeardedManInAHat
ReplyDeleteI can't help but wonder what the next name would have been if Carolina hadn't put her foot down!