Carmine Acquafondata

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The Story of Carmine Acquafondata

When we were in Ely, NV in June of 2005, we visited the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum. Sean, the museum curator told us the story about Carmine Acquafondata and his son Mike Fondi. Carmine is not related to me but his story is so interesting that I am going to repeat it as well as I can here. Lorry Labate helped clear up some of the details.

Acquafondata Graphical Family Tree (1.2+Mb JPG File) (Family names Fondata, Fondie, and Fondi)

For more on other Acquafondata families, click here.

Throughout this page, you will see the name Lorry Labate. Lorry was one of the first "lost" cousins that I found after beginning my genealogy research. He helped me identify many photos and connected me with many more cousins from Ely. Lorry died on 4 Apr 2008 of a heart attack at his home in Carson City, NV. Everyone from SPA will miss him.

Carmine Agostino Acquafondata was born 28 Aug 1878 in San Pietro Avellana, Italy.

Carmine came to the US in 1898. He entered via Ellis Island on 9 March at the age of 20 years. His occupation was shoemaker and he was going to Ogden, UT.

He appears in the 1900 census from Tacomo, Elko, NV. He was 21y. He was living with his father, Sabatino. Their name was listed as Fondata. Felice Frazzini, 53y, was living with them.

Carmine married Francesca Carlini who came to the US in 1910. It was an arranged marriage. They originally lived in Ogden, UT. Their first four children were born there. They are Amico Sabatino "Mike", Antonio Paolo "Anthony", Costanza Maria "Constance", and Carmela Lucia "Carmen",

In an email, Vicky (Dreitzler) Udy, granddaughter of Carmine wrote: my mother, Elena Margherita "Helen" (Carmine's fifth child), "was born in Cobre, Nevada in 1920. At this time the family lived in Cobre and Grandpa Carmine ran some sort of a boarding house to help the people that worked on the railroad. I don't know just exactly how accurate this information is."

Carmine's sixth child, Violetta Maria "Viola", was born in 1922 in Lovelock, NV.

Carmine and his family moved to Ely in 1921 to work for the Nevada Northern Railway as a laborer. You can see him listed in the 1923 NNRY pay ledger on the Ely, NV page.

About 1912 Carmine Acquafondata and Francesca Carlini.
Must be Ogden, UT.
Photo from Lorry Labate. Francesca's son with her second husband, Loreto Labate.

They had six children. Here is Carmine and sons, Mike (born in 1913) and Tony (born in 1915)..

About 1916 Carmine Acquafondata and sons Mike and Tony.
Must have been taken in Ogden, UT.
Photo from Lorry Labate

I show this original text that I had on this page. I got this information verbally from several people when I was first creating this page about 2005:

Carmine died on 15 Aug 1924 at the age of 45 from a skull fracture after being hit on the head by a claw from a crane while working on the NNRY. You can see his tombstone on the Ely Cemetery web page. At that time, there were no OSHA or disability laws. The railroad owed no obligation to his wife or children. But they did pay the family a couple of hundred dollars and hired Carmine's oldest son, Mike, who was 11 years old at the time (born in 1913). Mike started work the next day in the lowest position in the railroad office - a telegraph runner. The railroad engineers would all be sleeping in the other building awaiting their orders for that day. Mike was in charge of waking them up early in the dark hours of the morning with their daily orders. Many of the engineers would not like being awakened or their orders of the day, and would take it out on poor Mike. (Throughout Mike's railroad career, he would remember this as his worst job.)

Though Mike was forced to quit school, the teachers made it possible for him to continue his schooling at night. He was given his assignments at night and he turned them in to the teachers. He graduated from high school a few years later.

In August 2007, I visited the East Ely Railroad Depot Museum and was able to review a lot of the records of the NNRY. In the records from 1924, I found the complete account of the accident which killed Carmine. In the 1924 records there was a separate envelope which contained all the records. Here is a more correct story:

Carmine died on 15 Aug 1924 at the age of 45 after being crushed between the boiler and the deck of Clamshell No. 2 while working on the NNRY. You can see his tombstone on the Ely Cemetery web page. At that time, there were no OSHA or disability laws but the railroad generally followed the procedures of the Nevada Industrial Commision regarding disability payments. Carmine's wife sued and the Railroad settled, agreeing to pay funeral expenses of $504.25 and to pay Francesca the amount of $65 per month for seven and one-half years (Carmine was making $0.39 per hour, working 9 hour days or $3.51 per day). The final settlement was worth about $6,500 over seven years. Quite a sum of money in those days.

In 1931, Carmine's son Mike (he would have been 18 years old) started working in the lowest position in the railroad office - a telegraph runner (in the payroll records, he was listed as a Messenger). The railroad engineers would all be sleeping in the other building awaiting their orders for that day. Mike was in charge of waking them up early in the dark hours of the morning with their daily orders. Many of the engineers would not like being awakened or their orders of the day, and would take it out on poor Mike. (Throughout Mike's railroad career, he would remember this as his worst job.)

In the records for 1931, I found documents relating to the end of the payments to Carmine's widow, Francesca, and documents showing when Mike was hired by the NNRY. Francesca Carlini, his mother, had to sign a Minor's Release for her son.

After Mike graduated from high school, he went to work full time for the NNRY. He started out as a bookkeeper and worked up to be the Chief Financial Officer. You can see his name on the 1936 pay ledger that I summarized on the Ely, NV page. He worked for the NNRY for 47 years.

ca 1935-40 Mike Fondi
Photo from the album of Filiberto diIullo, sent to me by Dennis Diullo

Mike's son, also named Mike, is a former Judge (now practicing law) in Carson City, NV. You can see Carmine and Mike's tombstones on the Ely Cemetery web page. Also Mike Fondi and Tony Fondi on find-a-grave.

After Carmine's death, Francesca Carlini married again (in 1936), to Loreto Labate, Sr and had one more child, Lorry Labate, Jr. I met Lorry during a June 2005 trip to Carson City. Read about that trip on the Ely, NV web page. You can see Loreto and Francesca's tombstones on the Ely Cemetery web page.

More research about Carmine Acquafondata

Details on the Acquafondata Graphical Family Tree.

I'm interested in the Acquafondata line because Leonara Acquafondata is my 3rd great grandmother. I believe that she may be related to Carmine's ancestors. Leonara was born about 1790 to Giuseppe Acquafondata and Annamaria diGiacomo.

NOTE: A lot of this is still conjecture but I believe it to be correct.

1. There is a newspaper archive site (NewspaperARCHIVE.com) that has scans of newspapers from Reno. These newspapers covered all of northern Nevada. I've found a lot of articles about my branch of the Carlini family that lived in Ely, NV. I've searched page by page in the Reno newspapers for a week after Carmine's death on 15 Aug 1924 and I have not found a word about his death.

2. In the Ellis Island Record, Carmine Agostino Acquafondata, 20 years old, entered the US on 9 March 1898. He was going to Ogden, UT, to his father Sabatino. This record was badly transcribed into the index. It was indexed as "Aegusopucluto,Carmine Agostino di Sabatini"

3. I spent some time searching the microfilmed records at the FHC and here is what I found:

In the SPA microfilms: I looked at 28 Aug 1882, the date on Carmine's tombstone for his birth. There are no entries for that date in the birth records. I then started searching before and after that date. I searched for 10 years before and 10 years after. I found a Carmine Agostino Acquafondata born on 28 Aug 1878 to Sabatino Acquafondata and Costanza Carlino. So this most likely is him especially since the month/day is the same and it is confirmed by the age (20 years) the Ellis Island record from 1898.

In the SPA microfilms: I continued looking for Acquafondata around 1878. I found four sisters of this Carmine:

    Lucia Domenica    28 Dec 1872 (I also found her in the Ellis Island records)
    Maria Rosa            9 Aug 1868 (I also found her in the Ellis Island records)
    Maria Emiddia       1 Jun 1876
    Maria Domenica    5 Aug 1883

In the SPA microfilms, the father of Carmine:

Sabatino Acquafondata
born 6 Aug 1842
    f: Paolantonio
      m: Lucia Colaizzi

note: Found on Ellis Island record from 1905.

In the SPA microfilms, the parents of Sabatino:

    Beniamino Paolantonio Acquafondata
    born 23 Feb 1813
        f: Sabatino, 21y
        m: Rosa Quaranta, 23y

Lucia Colaizzi
born ~1819

In the SPA microfilm: brother of Paolantonio (Carmine's grand uncle):

   Giuseppe Acquafondata
   born 21 May 1819
        f: Sabatino, 28y
      m: Rosa Quaranta, 25y

note: Giuseppe married Letizia Frazzini and had four sons. Each of these sons had 5-6 children. I found dozens of people descendant from Giuseppe and Letizia. Many came to the US. Mostly to Pittsburgh, but some to Chicago, Ogden and Minnesota. Details on the Acquafondata Graphical Family Tree.

In the SPA microfilms: Carmine's Aunt (the sister of Sabatino):

  Maria Rebecca Acquafondata
    born 3 Mar 1841
        f: Paolantonio
        m: Lucia Colaizzi

In the SPA microfilms: Carmine's mother:

    Costanza Carlino
    born 18 Sep 1847
        f: Giovannantonio
        m: Angela della Croce

note: Found on Ellis Island record, 31 Mar 1909 going to Chicago, IL. She is in my GED file (but not related to me).

In the SPA microfilms. the marriage of Sabatino and Costanza:

    marriage 14 May 1864
Sabatino Acqufondata, 22y
        f: Paolantonio
        m: Lucia Colaizzi
Costanza Carlino, 17y
        f: Gianantonio
        m: Angela della Croce

Grandparents of Sabatino:

Sabatino Acquafondata
born ~1791
died 10 Sep 1819

Rosa Quaranta
born ~1794

Great Grandparents of Sabatino:

Antonio Acquafondata

Concetta Angelone

In the 1900 US Census - Carmine and his father, Sabatino:

    Elko, NV, Tacoma Precinct
    Sam Fondata, 55y, born 1844, immigrated 1883, RR Section Laborer
    Carmine Fondata, son, 21y, born 1878, immigrated 1898, RR Section Laborer

In the Ellis Island Record for the family of Sabatino Acquafondata:

    Sabatino Acquafondata: 1905, 63y, going to Chicago, to son-in-law Vincenzo Iannacchione (who married Lucia Acquafondata, Sabatino's daughter).
    Costanza Acquafondata: 1909, 61y, going to Chicago, refers to 4 children there.
    Maria Rosa Acquafondata: 1903, 34y, widow, going to Chicago, traveling with daughter Liberata diSanza, 12y.
    Lucia Acquafondata: 1899, 27y, traveling with husband, Vincenzo Iannacchione.

Vincenzo Iannacchione: 1899, 32y, traveled with wife Lucia Acquafondata.

In the Data Banks records, the father of Carmine:

Sabatino : 1883 arrived in New York (This date matches the information in the 1900 Census record from Elko.)

In the Ellis Island records, there are about a dozen other Acquafondata's from SPA. They are all cousins of Carmine.

Guess: there were two other Acquafondata families having children in the early 1800's: Benedetto (~1790) and Vincenzo (~1779). From what I can tell, there was only one Acquafondata family line so I think these men were brothers of Sabatino (~1791). I could not find their death record to verify their parents. Sabatino did have two sisters, Florenza (~1785-1817) and Domenica (~1795-1868 who married a Colarosa).

Giovanni ( ~1786-1839), Alba Maria (~1792-1874) and Leonara (~1790-1860) Acquafondata were siblings. Their parents were Giuseppe and Anna Maria Giacomo (diGiacomo). Leonara is my 3GGM. You can find her family on my family tree. They are not related to Carmine, that I can find.

In the SPA microfilms, during the period around 1860 to 1890, there were only five Acquafondata families having children. They were Carmine's parents (Sabatino and Costanza Carlino) and the four brothers; Felice, Amico, Carmine and Pasquale (sons of Giuseppe and Letizia Frazzino). The families of the four brothers ended up in St. Louis County, MN and in Pittsburgh, PA. Details on the Acquafondata Graphical Family Tree. Here is a story about Emiddio Acquafondata, son of Amico.

Observations:

Carmine's daughter, Constance, was named after her grandmother, Costanza Carlino.

Carmine's son, Mike's middle name, Sabatino, was from his grandfather and great-great-grandfather, both named Sabatino Acquafondata.

Carmine's daughter, Carmela's middle name, Lucia, was from her great grandmother Lucia Colaizzi.

Carmine's son, Tony's name, Antonio Paolo, was from his great grandfather, Paolantonio Acquafondata.

Carmine's father, Sabatino, was named for his great-grandfather, Sabatino.

Carmine's father, Sabatino, came to the US via Ellis Island in 1905 (but this must have been his second or third trip to the US).

Carmine's aunt, Lucia Acquafondata (who married Vincenzo Iannacchione) came to the US in 1899 with her husband.

Carmine's aunt Maria Rosa Acquafondata (widowed from a diSanza) came to the US (Chicago) with her daughter Liberata (12y) in 1903.

In the census and SSDI searches, I used these names: Acquafondata, Fondata, Fondi, Fondy, Fundy and Fondie.

This site prepared and maintained by Mark DiVecchio

email : markd@silogic.com

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