Maria (Morello) Lima (1872 - 1926)

Born 28 Feb 1872 in Corleone, Palermo, Italy

Ancestors

Wife of Gioachino Lima — married before 17 Sep 1893 (to before 1922) in New York City, New York, United States

Descendants

Died 17 Dec 1926 at age 54 in Manhattan, New York, New York, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Vivian Lima [send private message]

Biography

Maria Morello is born on 28 February 1872 in Corleone, the daughter of Calogero Morello and Angelina Piazza.^[1] She is named after her paternal grandmother.

Maria is baptized on the 29th. She is recorded as the daughter of Calogero Morello and Agata Piazza. (Her mother’s name is Angela.) Maria’s godparents are Bernardo Cusimano and Emanuela di Miceli, a married couple.^[2]

Her father, Calogero, dies in May of that year. Her mother, Angelina, remarries a year later to Bernardo Terranova, a member of the local mafia in Corleone.

In 1892, Maria's brother, Giuseppe, immigrates to New York. Six months later, in March 1893, Maria, her mother and stepfather, and her half-siblings Lucia (the oldest, at age 16), Salvatrice, and Rosalia (the youngest, born the previous year), Vincenzo, Ciro, and Nicolo', join him there.^[3] Giuseppe and her half-brothers found the Morello crime family in Italian Harlem, in New York City..^[4][5]

Maria marries Gioachino Lima (b. 1870 - d. 1922), a cart driver who vanished from Corleone in 1892 with Maria's brother, Giuseppe, when an arrest warrant was issued for him in the death of Antonino Di Miceli.

The couple marry in New York on 17 September 1893 at the Chiesa della Madonna del Carmine on E. 115th St.^[6]

Gioachino and Maria have six known children: two daughters named Margherita/Margaret (1895 and 1898), Vincenzo/Vincent (1902), two daughters named Angela Giovanna (1900 and 1904), and Calogero/Carlo (1907).

Maria and Gioachino stand as godparents in New York on 1 July 1899 to Giuseppe Leoluca Gensardi.^[7]

On the SS Sardegna, departing Genoa and arriving in New York on 23 September 1903, these passengers from Corleone appear together:

1. Marietta Morello, age 29 (b. 1874), married, joining her husband Gioachino Lima at 337 106th St.

2. Lucia Terranova, 26 (b. 1877), single, joining her father (name not legible)

3. Margherita Lima, 5 (b. 1898), joining the same person

4. Francescina Salemi, 23 (b. 1880), single, joining her cousin Sebastiano di Palermo at 337 115th St. (They are not close relations through descent or marriage.)

5. Nicolina Salemi, 20 (b. 1883), single, joining the same person

All are bound for New York.^[8]

In the 1905 New York state census, taken 1 June, Giacomo Lima, 33 (b. 1872), a plasterer, heads a household on East 106th St in New York with his wife Maria, 29 (b. 1876), and children Margaret, 7 (b. 1898), Vincent, 2.5 (b. 1902), and Angelina, 9 months (b. 1904). Giacomo and his wife were born in Italy, and their children in the US.^[9]

Gioachino becomes a naturalized citizen on 13 November 1911. He is 41 years old (b. 1870). He lives at with his wife, Maria, 39 (b. 1872), and children Margherita, 13, yrs (b. 1898), Vincenzo, 8 yrs (b. 1903), Angelina, 6 yrs (b. 1905), and Calagero, 4 yrs (b. 1906), at 216 East 105th St. in New York City.^[10]

Death of Maria

She dies at the age of 54 on 17 December 1926. Her address at the time of her death is listed as 300 East 125th Street in Manhattan. She is buried on 19 December 1926 in Calvary Cemetery.^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Estratto riassuntivo dal registro degli atti di nascita, record no. 151, part I, 1872. Received 5 August 1997 by Vivian Lima from the Comune di Corleone. A color copy with municipal seal received by Justin Cascio on 1 September 2016.
2. ↑ Baptism of Mariam Morello. (1872, February 29). "Italia, Palermo, Diocesi di Monreale, Registri Parrocchiali, 1531-1998," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DYMQ-YVJ?cc=2046915&wc=MG37-K6D%3A351041801%2C351041802%2C351142201 : 20 May 2014), Corleone > San Martino > Battesimi 1872-1877 > image 69 of 419; Archivio di Arcidiocesi di Palermo (Palermo ArchDiocese Archives, Palermo).
3. ↑ "New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-L1D7-SGF?cc=1368704&wc=4FMB-785%3A1600262352 : 25 January 2018), Roll 603, 13 Feb 1893-13 Mar 1893 > image 595 of 795; citing NARA microfilm publication T715 and M237 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
4. ↑ Critchley, David. The Origin of Organized Crime in America: The New York City Mafia, 1891-1931. Routledge: New York, 2009.
5. ↑ Wikipedia entry: Morello crime family. Accessed 17 November 2014.
6. ↑ Marriage of Gioacchino Lima and Marietta Morello. (1893, September 17). Chiesa della Madonna del Carmine, E. 115th St., New York. Image of original certificate in Italian, received 21 April 2020 from Vivian Lima Spae.
7. ↑ "Italia, Palermo, Diocesi di Monreale, Registri Parrocchiali, 1531-1998," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12350-70351-97?cc=2046915 : accessed 22 November 2015), Corleone > San Martino > Battesimi 1895-1899 > image 309 of 309; Archivio di Arcidiocesi di Palermo (Palermo ArchDiocese Archives, Palermo).
8. ↑ Manifest of the Sardegna retrieved 18 May 2020 from the Ellis Island website via Steve Morse gold search.
9. ↑ "New York State Census, 1905," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YSR9-GSZ?cc=1463113&wc=WHBW-LZF%3A42719801%2C43004401%2C44869201 : 22 September 2016), New York > Manhattan > A.D. 32, E.D. 21 > image 66 of 78; county offices, New York.
10. ↑ Certificate of Naturalization No. 222814. Petition Volume 43, page 169, Sub Volume 8927, p. 14. Image of original certificate received 21 April 2020 from Vivian Lima Spae.
11. ↑ "New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WBW-G7N : accessed 16 February 2016), Mary Lima, 17 Dec 1926; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,048,156.