Sylvester Stallone's maternal grandfather

Question

Sylvester's maternal grandfather, John Paul Labofish, is often described as of Russian Jewish descent, including by The Daily Mail tabloid of the UK.

Given the surname, I thought so, too, but lately I've been less sure. John's parents were Charles Schachan or Shashan Labofish (also spelled Labofisz) and Rose Ethel Lemlich (also spelled many other ways, including Lamlec, Lamletz, and Lemletz).

In American records I could find, their birthplaces are often listed as Germany, and their language is always or almost always listed as German. So I thought they might have been ethnic Germans from the Russian Empire (the name "Schachan" is also very odd).

I don't know if someone can find more information on the couple and their ancestry? Are there any documents that identify them as Jewish? (I think they may have practiced Christianity in the U.S., but they may have been born Jewish?).

Comments

"Wocky".  "Adwian, Adwian".   :D

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Vincent, I think a rodent got control of your keyboard.  Please try to banish it before it happens to write something intelligible.

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So, has anyone found anything more definitive on John Labofish's ancestry?

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A tiny bit further, but not there yet. Take a look here:

https://familysearch.org/tree/#view=ancestor&person=L85C-6C5

Showing his parents from Russia, but nothing further.

Answer 1

Hi Dee,

Thank you for offering this information.  It gives me enough to go out and find records that document enough for me to add their profiles to WikiTree, which I am now in process of doing.

Would you like to join WikiTree and add what you know to the profiles I create?  It is completely free to join and always after that, too, plus there is a wonderful community of people here and we all work together to create a single global family tree.

I hope to welcome you as a member soon!

Answer 2

http://ethnicelebs.com/sylvester-stallone

"Sylvester’s father was an Italian immigrant (from Gioia del Colle, Apulia). Sylvester’s maternal grandmother was French (with Breton ancestry).

It is not completely clear what Sylvester’s maternal grandfather’s background was; his family was German, and possibly lived in the Russian Empire. An article in The Daily Mail, a British middle-market tabloid, stated that Sylvester’s maternal grandfather was of Jewish heritage, but it is not clear if this is accurate. There are many indications that he was not Jewish, and, it appears that, at least after they moved to the United States, Sylvester’s maternal grandfather’s family were Christians.

Sylvester was raised Catholic.

Sylvester’s paternal grandparents were Silvestro Stallone (the son of Domenico Stallone and Maria Giuditta Patarino) and Pulcheria Nicastri. Silvestro was born in Gioia del Colle, Provincia di Bari Puglia, Italy. Domenico was the son of Silvestro Stallone and Pasqua Guida. Maria was the daughter of Gaudenzio Patarino and Maria Masi. Sylvester’s grandmother Pulcheria was also Italian.

Sylvester’s maternal grandfather was John Paul Labofish (the son of Charles Schachan/Shashan Labofish/Labofisz and Rose Ethel Lemlich/Lamlec/Lamletz/Lemletz). John was born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. Charles and Rose were listed as born in Germany most of the time, or in Russia, some of the time. Their language was usually listed as “German”."

 

And from Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvester_Stallone

Early life

Stallone was born in New York City, the elder son of Frank Stallone, Sr. (1919–2011), a hairdresser and beautician, andJacqueline "Jackie" Stallone (née Labofish), an astrologer, former dancer, and promoter of women's wrestling. Stallone's father was born in Gioia del Colle, Apulia, Italy, and immigrated to the United States in the 1930s.^[8][9] Stallone's mother is of half French (from Brittany) and half Ukrainian (from Odessa) descent.^[10][11][12] His younger brother is actor and musician Frank Stallone.

 

Although this info is not as complete as it might be, it seems like a step in the right direction. 

Comments

Frank - and EVERYONE - please see the profile I just entered and added a lot of sources and research notes to for John Paul Labofish, the father of Sylvester Stallone's mother.  He was American, born to German immigrants.  He married a French immigrant, who left him 3 years later and went back to France with their two infant daughters.  The older of these daughters married someone with surname of Stallone in Florida, although the marriage record appears to be somewhat fouled up.

I also added profiles for John's parents and a brother and sister.  His other brother, Louis, already has a profile here with green privacy, so I left a comment asking the manager to please connect the parents.

I plan to orphan these profiles after I finish adding all the family members I have sufficient sourced information for and add all the sources.  If anyone who is better at writing bios than I am would like to step in now that I have found lots of sources, please go for it!  By the way, I have also added all the information found in the source documents in a comment on the edit page, so be sure to look there.

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Right, well, I wrote that ethnicelebs blurb. That's why I was hoping to get you guys' input to see if we could settle the matter. :-)

Wikipedia doesn't have any additional info. This is a question that can only be settled using records at this point.

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I'm still working on finding sources of information about the entire family, Dee.  Please see the grandfather's profile (link is in my comment above) where I put a lot of information sources, as well as some notes about record anomalies.  I have now added Sylvester's mother, who I am working on right now and I will be adding his father after that.