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Marriage and Migration, 1888 to 1903

Alexandro married Filomena Giugliano at Sarno on 21 January 1888. She was the daughter of Luigi Giugliano and Antonia Costabile. Her birth act was made on 27 September 1865, when her father, Luigi, the son of Felice, about 30, a shoemaker (a doubtful reading), declared a daughter born to his wife, Antonia, about 35. Luigi signed the act. It is almost certainly Filomena’s, and she was probably born on 25 September 1865, the day her death certificate gives; the day in the act is hard to read.

The marriage act describes Alexandro as a bachelor of 26 and Filomena as a spinster of 22, a weaver (a doubtful reading), both born and living at Sarno. The witnesses were Leopoldo [Funchi?] and Pietro Cipriano (a doubtful reading), a municipal guard. Filomena signed her name. All four parents were entered as living at Sarno. The groom of 1888 is almost certainly the Alexandro of the American records. The 1900 Sarno births of his twin sons name him and Filomena Giugliano as their parents, and his son Raffaele’s marriage in Philadelphia in 1913 names Alessandro and Filomena.

Masonry ran through the family. Alexandro’s father and Maria Grazia Orza’s father were masons, and so, by his children’s birth acts of 1891, 1895 and 1898, was Alexandro himself. The conscription list (lista di leva) for the men born in 1862 enters him as a farm worker (contadino), and his death certificate calls him a stone mason. The list for the class of 1891 probably enters his son Raffaele as a mason as well. By 1895 the family lived in Via S. Matteo, where Emil (born Emilio), Giuseppe and the twins were born.

Alexandro and Filomena had eight children, six born at Sarno and two at Philadelphia.

ChildBirthDeathMarried
Maria Grazia18 November 1888, Italy14 May 1953, Bryn Mawr HospitalRaffaele Pizzi, 21 August 1906
Raffaele (Ralph)27 May 1891, Sarno12 September 1956, PhiladelphiaAlessandra (“Santa”) Varrenti, 15 December 1913; Philomena Martino, 10 May 1915; probably Viola Marie Tasca, 1929
Emilio (Emil)24 September 1895, Sarno17 August 1966, PhiladelphiaRose Ross, about 1917 or 1918; Lucy Pitetti, September 1937
Giuseppe (Joseph Aloysius)20 January 1898, SarnoMay 1979, Delaware Countya first wife, about 1920 to 1922; Anna Di Piero, 19 September 1942
Luigi (twin)4 June 1900, Sarno9 October 1900, Sarno, aged four months
Salvatore (twin)4 June 1900, SarnoNovember 1974, Montgomery CountyCatherine Albero, 29 September 1924
Philomena24 October 1903, PhiladelphiaSeptember 1973Michael Capriola
Luigi (Louis)7 March 1907, PhiladelphiaDecember 1968Rose

The children’s birth acts fill in the details. Raffaele’s was declared by Alexandro, a mason, with the witnesses Ezechiele Orza (a doubtful reading), a mason, and Michele Pellegrino; the day of the month is hard to read. Emil’s was declared on 24 September 1895. Alexandro declared Giuseppe’s the day after the birth and signed it. The twins Luigi and Salvatore were declared by a physician on 7 June 1900, three days after they were born. No Sarno birth act is known for Maria Grazia; her birth date comes from her death certificate.

The names follow the old Italian pattern. The first daughter took her father’s mother’s name, Maria Grazia; the first son his father’s father’s, Raffaele; and the twins took their mother’s father’s name, Luigi. When the twin Luigi died, his name was given again to the son born in Philadelphia in 1907. The pattern only supports the family’s parentage. The Philadelphia Luigi does not rest on it, since his city birth return names his parents and he is a son in the household in 1910 and 1920.

Alexandro went to America more than once before the family settled there. An Alessandro Squitiere, 31, of Sarno, a mason bound for Philadelphia, landed at New York on 13 May 1893 from Marseilles on the Cheribon. Near him on the list was an Alfonso Squitieri, 24, a shoemaker, whom nothing links to the family. On 9 October 1894 an Alexandro Squitiere of 389½ South Clark Street, Chicago, was naturalized in the Circuit Court of Cook County, with Antonio Swanno of 122 Pacific Avenue as his witness. The card is marked “Minor,” which possibly means that he was naturalized under the rule for men who had arrived under eighteen. He is probably Alexandro. Emil was born at Sarno in September 1895 and Giuseppe in January 1898, so their father was home by about December 1894 and again by about April 1897. On 4 April 1900 an Alessandro “Squitiesi,” 38, a laborer whose home is indexed as “Saino,” sailed from Naples on the Patria for New York. The twins were born two months later. The arrivals of 1893 and 1900 are almost certainly his, by name, age and home town, though men of the same name were common. Going and coming back was usual for southern Italians in these years, when half or more of those who went to the United States returned.

One other candidate is possibly a relative. A Giuseppe Squitiere, 39, a laborer born about 1857, reached New York from Naples on the Alsatia on 11 May 1896, meaning to stay in New York. His age puts him in Alexandro’s generation, and Naples was the port that Sarno’s emigrants used. But the list of 1896 gives no home town and no relative to join, he named New York rather than Pennsylvania, and nothing ties him to the family.

The family made its last crossing together. On 11 September 1903 the S.S. Roma from Naples reached New York with four of them aboard. Emil, entered as “Emilio Squitieri,” 8, of Sarno, was born in 1895. A boy of 5, born in 1898, is read as Giuseppe. A child of 3 has a name that is hard to read but appears to be “Sabatore,” possibly Salvatore. With them was a woman of about 38, going to her husband, Alessandro, at 1702 Carpenter Street, Philadelphia. She was entered under her own surname, transcribed “Gugliano,” because Italian civil records keep a married woman’s maiden name. She was Filomena Giugliano. Emil’s naturalization papers give the same date of arrival. The family’s handwritten chart remembers the crossing as 1904, but the manifest and the naturalization record agree on 1903.

References

  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X793-V7WH. Sarno marriage, 21 Jan. 1888, cert. 6 (Alessandro Squitieri and Filomena Giugliano; parents Raffaele Squitieri and Grazia Orza, Luigi Giugliano and Antonia Costabile). Index only; image not read.
  • Antenati, Archivio di Stato di Salerno, Stato civile italiano, Sarno, Nati 1865 (an_ua1965335, seg. 5879), index p. 16 and act 384, p. 421, the birth of Filomena Giugliano, September 1865. Read on the image.
  • Pennsylvania death certificates, Ancestry, “Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates”: Alexander Squitierie, file 114968 (1930); Filomena G. Squitiere, file 88569 (1944); Ralph Squitieri, file 83767 (1956); Mary Pizzi, file 45457 (1953). Read on the images.
  • Antenati, Archivio di Stato di Salerno, Stato civile italiano, Sarno, Matrimoni 1888 (an_ua263152, seg. 4416), act 6, 21 January 1888, Alessandro Squitieri and Filomena Giugliano. Read on the image.
  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQDZ-LPDB and XQDZ-LPD5. Sarno birth of Luigi Squitieri, 4 June 1900. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQDZ-LP6N and XQDZ-LP6Z. Sarno birth of Salvatore Squitieri, 4 June 1900. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, Civil Marriages, 1677-1950.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29M-DNG1 (Raffaele Squitieri and Santa Varrenti, Philadelphia, 15 Dec. 1913) and Q29M-KPLV (Maria G. Squitieri, 21 Aug. 1906). Index only.
  • Antenati. Archivio di Stato di Salerno, Sarno, Stato civile della restaurazione. Matrimoni, processetti 1837 (an_ua1964892, seg. 5833), images 1281–1284: processetto 87, promise of Alessandro Squitieri and Giuseppa Graziano, 11 Nov. 1837, church ceremony 5 Dec. 1837, with the list of documents produced. Matrimoni 1860 (an_ua1965066, seg. 5868), images 232–233, act 109, Raffaele Squitieri and Maria Grazia Orza, 11 Nov. 1860 (church 17 Nov.), and images 240–241, act 115, Antonio Squillante and Filomena Squitieri, 21 Nov. 1860 (church 1 Dec.). Matrimoni 1862 (an_ua1965071, seg. 5871), images 235–236, act 108, Gaetano Squitieri and Angela Pastore, 15 Sept. 1862 (church 28 Sept.). antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12657/. Images read 24 Sept. 2026. The first page of the 1837 file is filed as; the browser’s download limit stopped the other pages from being saved. Read the record
  • Antenati, Archivio di Stato di Salerno, Stato civile italiano, Sarno, Nati 1891 (an_ua263254), act 266, Raffaele Squitieri; Nati 1895 (an_ua263257), act 470, Emilio Squitieri; Nati 1898 (an_ua263260), act 51, Giuseppe Squitieri; Nati 1900 (an_ua263262), acts 264 and 265, Luigi and Salvatore Squitieri. Read on the images.
  • Archivio di Stato di Salerno, “Liste leva” database (assa.beniculturali.it/vistadb/listeleva.php), search “Squitieri.” Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQDS-1HLM and XQDS-1H21. Sarno birth of Raffaele Squitieri, 27 May 1891. Index only.
  • FamilySearch indexes, Ralph (Raffaele) Squitieri: “United States, Census, 1940,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQXC-JPX; World War II draft registration, 1:1:VQN8-3Z9; NUMIDENT, 1:1:6K9P-P99D and 1:1:6K9P-Y22J; “United States, Census, 1950,” 1:1:6XB2-G65K; Find a Grave Index, 1:1:CVJW-2RW2; “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Marriage Indexes, 1885–1951,” 1:1:ZWSV-RC6Z, and index image 3:1:S3HY-6XTW-DY8 (license 578171, 1929); “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809–1949,” 1:1:XQDS-1H21 (Raffaele Squitieri, 27 May 1891, certificate 266). Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, Civil Marriages, 1677-1950,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29S-KZF2 and 1:1:Q29S-KZLM. Raffael Squitieri and Philomena Martino, Philadelphia, 10 May 1915; parents Allesandro and Filomena Giviano. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6YZM-TXGC. Sarno birth of Emilio Squitieri, 24 Sept. 1895, cert. 470. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, Eastern District Naturalization Records, 1795-1952,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGB1-LJBK (Emilio Squitiere, born 24 Sept. 1895, Sarno; 16 July 1919, certificate 32771); “New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1925,” 1:1:JFTK-P62 (11 Sept. 1903); “United States, Social Security Death Index,” 1:1:JP8N-5N1 (died Aug. 1966); Find a Grave Index, 1:1:X7B8-YLT6. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “United States, Census, 1930,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHW2-5C8. Emil Squitiere, 34, Rose, 27, Anthony, 9, and Gloria, 8, 2226 Pierce Street, Philadelphia, sheet 23A, lines 35–38 (image 1069). Image read 24 Sept. 2026: owned home, tailor in a shop, ages at first marriage 22 and 15. Original. Image filed as Read the record
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q28P-PPQT (Emilio Squitiere and Lucy Barlafante, 10 Sept. 1937; parents Alexander Squitiere and Philomena Juliano, and Vincent Pitetti and Theresa Rossi) and 1:1:Q28P-PG5C (18 Sept. 1937). Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6BSQ-RDHL. Sarno birth of Giuseppe Squitieri, 20 Jan. 1898. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. Social Security Death Index entries for Joseph Squitiere (1:1:JY3F-QM7, born 20 Jan. 1898, died May 1979), Salvatore Squitiere (1:1:JYSZ-54H, born 1 June 1900, died Nov. 1974), Louis Squitiere (1:1:JB16-FQ7, born 7 Mar. 1907, died Dec. 1968), Rose Squitiere (1:1:J2SZ-GPD, born 15 Apr. 1911, died 7 June 1999), Anna Squitiere (1:1:JBHG-NZ6, born 10 Mar. 1909, died 12 Oct. 2005) and Ralph A. Squitiere (1:1:J521-3ZF, born 3 Nov. 1914, died 17 Oct. 2007); and “United States, Census, 1930,” 1:1:XH4G-ZRL (Salvatore, Catherine and Philomena Squitiere, Philadelphia). Index only.
  • Marriage license application and certificate, Joseph Squitiere and Anna Di Piero, Philadelphia, September 1942 (certificate 758139), family archive transcript Read the record
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q28P-Z1QJ (Joseph Squitiere and Anna Di Piero, Philadelphia, 16 Sept. 1942; parents Alexander Squitiere and Philomena Castordo, Frank Di Piero and Rose Torrente Di Piero) and 1:1:Q28P-ZBB6 (19 Sept. 1942). Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Italia, Salerno, Stato Civile (Archivio di Stato), 1809-1949.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQRN-LPC8 and XQRN-LPCC. Sarno death of Luigi Squitieri, 9 Oct. 1900. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2Z4-3JG5. Salvatore Squitiere and Catherine Albero, 29 Sept. 1924; mother Philima Squitiere; bride’s parents Micheal and Josephine Albero. Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, City Births, 1860-1915,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VB1Q-5B7 (Filomena Sequitiere, born 24 Oct. 1903; parents Alexandro Sequitiere and Filomenina) and 1:1:QPH4-81TV (Luigi Sgutieri, born 7 Mar. 1907; parents Allesandro Sgutieri and Filomena Yuiglina); “Pennsylvania, Births and Christenings, 1709-1950,” 1:1:HHLL-D53Z (Luigi Sgutieri, 2 Mar. 1907; mother Filomena Guigrina). Index only.
  • FamilySearch indexes: Social Security Death Index, Philomena Capriolo (born 29 October 1903, died September 1973); “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, City Births, 1860–1915,” Filomena Sequitiere, 24 October 1903, source “bk 1903 p 233” (image viewable only at a FamilySearch center); Find a Grave Index, familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XQ4T-7V9S (Mary G Pizzi, 1888–1953, Calvary Cemetery, West Conshohocken). Index only.
  • FamilySearch. Capriolo/Capriola household entries: “United States, Census, 1930” (Micheal and Philomena Capriolo with five sons, Radnor); “United States, Census, 1940” (St. Davids, Radnor Township, eight children); “United States, Census, 1950” (Tredyffrin Township, Chester Co.); “United States, Social Security Death Index” (Michael Capriolo, born 7 May 1896, died Nov. 1964); “United States, Veterans Administration Master Index, 1917-1940” and “United States, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942” (Michael Capriolo, born 17 May 1896, Wayne); “United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, Births, and Marriages, 1980-2015” (obituary of Michael J. Capriola Jr., 21 July 2009, naming parents Michael Capriola and Philomena Squiterie Capriola and his siblings; obituary of Daniel Capriolo naming his mother Philomena Squitieri Capriolo). Index only.
  • FamilySearch. “United States, Census, 1940,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQHN-4D2 (household of Joseph Squitiere, with Philomena, Louis, Rose, Florence and Alexander), Radnor Township, Delaware County, Pa., ED 23-142 (Wayne–Strafford), sheet 8A, lines 36–41. Index only. Image filed as Read the record
  • FamilySearch Family Tree. Alessandro Squitieri GZML-WNW; Raffaele Squitieri GZML-K6Y; Maria Grace Squitieri G5CV-CJB (spouse Raffaele Victor Pizzi GC11-48N and five sons); Philomena Squitiere GZML-JYD (spouse Michael Capriola GLY9-W3V and eight children). User-contributed tree; leads only. Also “Pennsylvania, Civil Marriages, 1677-1950,” Raffaele Pizzi and Maria G. Squitieri, 21 Aug. 1906, and “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, City Births, 1860-1915,” a birth to Raffaelo Pizzi and Mariagrazie Squitieri. Index only.
  • FamilySearch Wiki. “Italy Naming Customs.” Naming pattern for first sons and daughters and repeated names of dead children. [reference]
  • FamilySearch. “United States, Census, 1910,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MG7C-X6D. Alexander Squidieri, 48, with Philomena and children Ralph, Emilian, Joseph, Salvatore, Philomena and Luigi, Philadelphia Ward 26, ED 575, sheet 8B. Index only; image not viewed. Image filed as Read the record
  • FamilySearch. “United States, Census, 1920,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M6B1-YFR (household of Alexander and Filomena Squitiere) and 1:1:M6B1-YNS (Louis Squitiere), Delaware County, Pa., ED 190, sheet 19B, lines 57–66, household 342. Index only; image not read. Image filed as Read the record
  • FamilySearch. “New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1925.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J6Y5-73T. Alessandro Squitieri, aged 31, residence Sarno, ship Cheribon from Marseilles, 13 May 1893; NARA M237, roll 608, p. 673. Also “Illinois, Northern District Naturalization Index, 1840-1950,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XKG1-QNB, Alexandro Squitiere, 1894 (soundex M1285, film 156). Index only.
  • Passenger list, Cheribon, Marseilles to New York, 13 May 1893, Alessandro Squitieri, family archive transcript Read the record
  • FamilySearch, “Illinois, Northern District Naturalization Index, 1840–1950” (NARA M1285), Soundex card S-360, Alexandro Squitiere, 389½ South Clark Street, naturalized 9 October 1894, Circuit Court of Cook County, record R 47, p. 572. Read on the image.
  • Naturalization index card, Alexandro Squitiere, Illinois Northern District (Chicago), 1894, family archive transcript Read the record
  • FamilySearch. “United States, Italians to America Index, 1855-1900.” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KD4R-D1C. Alessandro Squitiesi, aged 38, laborer, residence “Saino,” Naples to New York on the Patria, 4 Apr. 1900. Index only.
  • “Italian diaspora,” “Expedition of the Thousand” and “Brigandage in Southern Italy.” Wikipedia; VIVIT. [reference] General context and return-migration figure; replace with scholarly sources before print.
  • sortedbyname.com — a Social Security Death Master File/vital-records aggregator, genealogy printout supplied and consulted 8 August 2026.
  • Statue of Liberty–Ellis Island Foundation, passenger database, “Guiseppe Squitiere,” Alsatia, 11 May 1896, record JX7R-3PK; manifest image M237-0658-740 (image 740 of 889), his line read at the free viewer’s zoom.
  • Research passes conducted for this document (5, 8, and 15 August 2026) — free/public-record searches across Find A Grave, Social Security indexes, newspaper obituaries, Ancestry.com index pages, the 1950 U.S. Federal Census, the Ellis Island passenger-manifest database, Irish parish registers, and NARA/Fold3 military records; cited here for analysis and negative-result findings not tied to a single record.
  • Ellis Island passenger-manifest database (statueofliberty.org).
  • Ancestry.com LifeStory printout, Emil Squitiere (paywalled; cited as record location), family archive scan.