That's No Stranger in Your Relative's House

When I got interested in genealogy, my husband gave me an Ancestry.com subscription. The census records seemed like a great place to start. I enjoyed going page-by-page through my family's Bronx, New York, neighborhood. Most of the last names on those pages rang a bell. Some were my cousins, and some were family friends whose names I've known all my life.

A bit of genealogy research into the boarders in your relative's home can yield crucial results for your family tree.

Over time I found that many people in this neighborhood came from the same part of Italy. My father's side of the family came from Colle Sannita, Italy. There are lots of Colle Sannita families in these buildings.

I noticed that many families in these Bronx apartments had one or more boarders living with them. They all seemed to be Italian immigrants. But I've spent very little time trying to research these boarders. Were they related to the head of household, or were they just a paesan?

Note: A boarder may be listed in a census as a roomer or a lodger.

Today I looked at the records I have for one of my Bronx relatives. He was my 2nd great uncle, Giuseppe Antonio Iamarino, born in Colle Sannita in 1871. When my father was a little boy, his family moved from Girard, Ohio (where he was born) to the Bronx. He told me his family lived with his Uncle Joe at 275 East 151st Street until they got their own apartment.

Thinking about this, I wondered when Uncle Joe first moved into that address. I know my father left Ohio in 1935 or 1936, and his family lived in their own place by the 1940 census. Can I make those facts line up with the documents? Here are Uncle Joe's documented facts:

• 1871 born in Colle Sannita, Italy
• 1900 immigration to the United States (per the 1905 New York census; ship manifest never found)
• 1905 lived at 464 East 151st Street with his first wife and their son and daughter
• 1910 lived at 275 East 151st Street with his first wife and their daughter
• 1915 lived at 302 East 150th Street with his first wife and their son and daughter
• 1920 lived at 302 East 150th Street with his first wife and their son
• 1928 lived at 300 East 150th Street when he married his second wife
• 1930–1938 lived at 275 East 151st Street again with his second wife

Who are those boarders, roomers, or lodgers in your relative's house on the census? Do the research and you may place them in your family tree.

He died at that address on 9 Jan 1938. These dates and the 275 address do line up with my father's recollection. It's the 1930 census where Uncle Joe has 3 boarders living with his second wife and himself. They are:

• Frank Pauluchio, age 30, born in Italy, single
• George DeGrosso, age 33, born in Italy, married
• Marces DeOffrio, age 19, born in Italy, single

I guarantee the census taker misspelled these names. If you get familiar with the names from your ancestors' towns, you can see past misspellings. I'm positive "Frank Pauluchio" is Francesco Paolucci and "George DeGrosso" is Giorgio DelGrosso. The third boarder's last name might be D'Onofrio. But that name isn't found in Colle Sannita, so I'll put him aside for now.

The first boarder, Francesco Paolucci, is of particular interest to me. Why? Because Uncle Joe's second wife is Filomena Paolucci from Colle Sannita. I searched for anyone named Francesco Paolucci born in Colle Sannita in about 1900. There were 2 possibilities, both of whom are in my family tree.

I hit the jackpot on the first try. Francesco Paolucci, born on 30 Aug 1900, has a ton of documents in my family tree. They tell me he lived at 275 East 151st Street when he married his first wife on 18 Nov 1922. He's also there in the 1925 New York State census, but not with Uncle Joe. He's with his first wife's family from Colle Sannita.

It turns out I had never found Francesco Paolucci in the 1930 census. That's because he's listed as Frank Pauluchio and living with my Uncle Joe! The census says he's single, but he was a widower.

Francesco (or Frank) is the 1st cousin once removed of Uncle Joe's second wife, Filomena.

It gets better. Frank's 2nd wife is Costanza Paolucci, whose father was born in Colle Sannita. Uncle Joe's wife Filomena is Costanza's aunt and Frank's 1st cousin once removed. That's a surprise.

But wait! There's more. Costanza and Frank Paolucci had one child called Johnny when they lived at 275 East 151st Street. Johnny and my father were lifelong best friends! I'm sure my father never knew his best friend Johnny's father had lived with Uncle Joe like he did.

Add this to the long list of interesting genealogy side-projects to explore:

• Research the boarders living with your relatives in the census sheets. You never know what you might discover.