Paul Francis Cascio (1922 - 1984)

Born 7 Feb 1922 in New York City, New York, United States

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 13 Dec 1984 at age 62 in Dix Hills, Huntington, Suffolk, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Justin Cascio [send private message]

Biography

According to family lore (and his death record), Paul Cascio was born January 31, 1922^[1] in New York, at the home of his parents, Louis (born Leoluca) Cascio and Lucy (born Antonina Soldano). Louis and Lucy both immigrated from Corleone, Sicily. Paul gives his own birth date as 7 February, in his 1941 marriage record. This is a match for the birth of Paolo C. E. Cascio in Manhattan.^[2]

In 1930, the Cascio family is living in Manhattan. Louis Cascio is 42 (b. 1888), and he married at age 31. His wife, Lucy, is 37 (b. 1893)and was 25 at marriage. Both born in Italy, Louis immigrated in 1913, and Lucy in 1916. Louis is a laborer in a laundry. He is not a military veteran. Their rent is $40 a month. The children at home are Joseph, 10, Paul, 8, Angelo, 4, Mary, fourteen months. The children were all born in New York.^[3]

In the 1940 census, Paul is listed as "Pauline," a daughter in the household of Louis and Lucy Cascio, and their other children.^[4] Louis Cascio, age 45, wife Lucy, age 40, son Joseph, age 21, "daughter Pauline, age 17," son Angelo, age 14, and Mary, age 11. This matches the birth order given to Michelle by uncle Joseph.^[5]

According to a census record, Paul had three years of high school education.

According to my grandmother, Paul and Dottie were a "love match," and secretly married by a Justice of the Peace at age 16. Paul appears at age 17 in 1940, still in his parents' household. Again, according to Dorothy, when they were 18, they were married again, by the Catholic Church, and their union accepted by both families. Cascio-10 17:19, 16 February 2016 (EST)

On the affidavit for their license to marry, it says that a civil ceremony was performed on 23 June 1939 at Easton, Pennsylvania, by John R. Chidsey. Typed perpendicular to the form and up the middle it says “SECOND CEREMONY.”^[6]

Paul Cascio and Dorothy Anna Longo, both of Manhattan, are licensed by the New York State Department of Health to marry (for the second time) on 21 February 1941. Paul Cascio lives at 172 E. 107th St., NYC. He is 19 , born on 7 February 1922 in NYC. Occupation, Grinder. Father is Louis Cascio, and mother is Lucy Soldano, both born in Italy.

Dorothy Anna Longo lives at 215 E. 107th St., NYC. She is 18, born 22 August 1922 in Brooklyn, New York. Occupation, clerk. Father is Joseph Longo, and mother is Rosalia Dagostino, both born in Italy.

They are married on 20 April 1941 at St. Cecilia’s. Witnesses Joseph Cascio and Mary Cascio, Paul's brother and sister.^[7]

There is a certificate of consent which says that Paul Cascio, age 19, born 7 February 1922, shall marry Dorothy Anna Longo. Signed 8 February 1941 by Lucy Cascio and Leoluca Cascio. Filed 29 March 1943 with the NY County Clerk’s Office. There is no corresponding form here for Dorothy.^[6]

Dorothy and Paul had four living children: Louis (1943), Robert (1950), Debra (1957), and Kurt (1962). Their first child was stillborn.

Paul worked as a musician. He could play any instrument; I most remember him playing the piano and the accordion. He was a big band leader and music teacher; according to Dottie, my grandmother, Tommy Dorsey played in my grandfather's orchestra before leading his own. On the corner of Lexington Avenue, Paul was a private music school teacher during his twenties.

Though family lore claims Paul did not come from a musical family, his youngest maternal uncle, Tony, worked for a mandolin and guitar maker in 1917. He was later a butcher who owned his own business.

Paul Fred Cascio registers for the draft for WWII on 30 June 1942. His address has been changed twice. First it’s 2059 First Av., NYC. Then 183 E. 104th St., and 225 East 105th St., Apt 9. Paul is 20, born in New York, NY on 1 February 1922. HIs nearest contact is Lewis Cascio at 172 East 107th St., NYC. He is employed by American Perfit Crystal Co. 653 11th Av. Paul is 5’11” and 136# with blue eyes, black hair, and a light complexion. He has a small scar on right wrist.^[8]

In 1944, at age 22, Paul was enlisted in the US Army, "for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law" as an optician lens grinder.^[9] This helps to explain, possibly, what kind of grinder he was employed at in 1941.

In the 1950 federal census of New York County, New York, taken 6 April, Paul Cascio, 28 (b. 1922), heads a household at 225 East 105th St. Apt #9, with his wife, Dorothy, 27 (b. 1923), and sons Luis, 6 (b. 1944), and Robert, born in February (b. 1950). All were born in New York. Paul is a grinder in a glass factory.

At the same address in apartment #15, Rose Longo, 43 (b. 1907), separated, born in Italy, lives alone. She is a machine operator in a dress factory.^[10]

Paul and Dorothy lived in Astoria, Queens, in what Dottie called a "garden apartment," of which she told me stories about their early married life there. It was a mixed neighborhood, where they had Italian, Jewish, and African American friends.

Dorothy and Paul visit Corleone in 1956. (Dorothy, my grandmother, told me about this trip when I was a child. Cascio-10 20:42, 4 March 2021 (UTC))

Departing from New York on Scandinavian Airlines on 5 October 1956, bound for Hamburg, Germany:

22. Paul Cascio

23. Dorothy Cascio^[11]

A manifest 17 October 1956 shows Paul and Dorothy Cascio flying from Copenhagen to New York; this might be their return trip. She would have been pregnant with Debra.

Around this time, according to my recollections of her stories, Paul and Dottie moved their family from Astoria, Queens, to Dix Hills (very close to Commack) on Long Island, in New York. This is the home where I lived with them very briefly, with my parents, in 1977-78, and where my aunt Debbie's family continues to reside. Cascio-10 17:00, 16 February 2016 (EST)

A lifelong cigarette smoker, Paul died of lung cancer that metastasized to his brain. He died at his home in Dix Hills on 13 December 1984.

The SSDI records Paul's death on 17 December 1984.^[1]

He is interred at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Coram, New York.^[12]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JPWK-16L : 21 August 2020), Paul Cascio, Dec 1984; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
2. ↑ Ancestry.com. New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1910-1965 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-22773-16362-34?cc=1810731 : accessed 10 April 2016), New York > New York > Manhattan (Districts 0751-1000) > ED 826 > image 37 of 44; citing NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002).
4. ↑ 1940 Census FamilySearch record, "United States Census, 1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KQS5-KXH : accessed 09 Mar 2014), Pauline Cascio in household of Louis Cascio, Assembly District 18, Manhattan, New York City, New York, New York, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 31-1619, sheet 12A, family 224, NARA digital publication of T627, roll 2662.
5. ↑ 1940 Census original image, "United States Census, 1940," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-27839-17019-95?cc=2000219 : accessed 16 Mar 2014), New York > New York > New York City, Manhattan, Assembly District 18 > 31-1619 New York City, Manhattan Borough Assembly District 18 (Tract 172 - part) > image 23 of 29; citing NARA digital publication of T627.
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Borough of Manhattan Marriage License No. 2690 (1941). Retrieved 29 March 2022 from https://a860-historicalvitalrecords.nyc.gov/view/13276140
7. ↑ The City of New York Office of the City Clerk Marriage License Bureau, Certificate of Marriage Registration. Lic. Reg. No. 2690.
8. ↑ Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
9. ↑ Military Enlistment, 18 May 1944, "United States World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K85D-6D2 : accessed 03 Feb 2014), Paul F Cascio, 18 May 1944.
10. ↑ Retrieved 4 April 2022 from https://1950census.archives.gov/search/?name=Paul%20Cascio&page=1&state=NY
11. ↑ The National Archives at Washington, D.C.; Washington, D.C.; Series Title: Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels and Airplanes Departing from New York, New York, 07/01/1948-12/31/1956; NAI Number: 3335533; Record Group Title: Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1787-2004; Record Group Number: 85; Series Number: A4169; NARA Roll Number: 407 Roll Number: 407 Ancestry.com. U.S., Departing Passenger and Crew Lists, 1914-1966 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
12. ↑ Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 04 November 2020), memorial page for Paul F. Cascio (unknown–17 Dec 1984), Find a Grave Memorial no. 167961361, citing Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Coram, Suffolk County, New York, USA ; Maintained by James Bailey Conklin, Jr. (contributor 47018040) .

Family lore

• Personal interview with Joseph Cascio, October 2001. Conducted by Michelle Cascio.

• Personal recollections of Justin Cascio, 26 March 2014.