Confused by Vincenzo's "uncle" Pietro Puliterri. Please help

+9 votes
195 views
Hi all,

I hope your Holy Week is going well if you celebrate it! Either way, just the other day, I was looking at my great-grandpa, Vincenzo Trizzino's, New York passenger record from 1911 on board the Luisiana where he appears to have traveled with his older brother, Nicola, and now a cousin, Roca Clemente. I knew that he was with his brother but I never realized that Roca was their cousin until I looked closer at page 2 and discovered that all 3 of them (Vincenzo, Nicola , and Roca) were all going to the same house: 12 Syracuse St, Rochester, New York to see their uncle Pietro Pilliterri.

Deciding to see which side of the family, Pietro was from I found him in two United States Census Records:

1910 with his wife, children, and inlaws at 12 Syracuse St, Rochester: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RJP-QYZ?mode=g&i=18&wc=QZZ7-ZQT%3A133641301%2C137529401%2C142683301%2C1589090026%3Fcc%3D1727033&cc=1727033

1920 again with his wife, children, and inlaws:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRNF-11Q?mode=g&i=50&wc=QZJY-9ZV%3A1036473601%2C1036813301%2C1040085301%2C1589332834%3Fcc%3D1488411&cc=1488411

The questions then were twofold: how could Pietro be their uncle when he was just a few years older than them? Well, a few years older than Nicola and Roca, anyway. Also, how could he be their uncle when neither he nor his wife shared the last names of Trizzino, Pecoraro, or Clemente from birth. I started to look into the possibility of Pietro or Carmella being the aunt and uncle of Nicola and Vincenzo's parents but then I realized that that would make Vincenzo and Pietro cousins not nephew and uncle.

 

Did they ever use the word uncle and cousin interchangeably in passenger lists? Does anyone have any idea of what to try next?

 

Thank you,

Mike
WikiTree profile: Vincent Trizzino
in Genealogy Help by Michael Hruska G2G6 Mach 5 (56.9k points)

2 Answers

+4 votes
he could be the younger sibling of a large family and his nephews and nieces were old enough to travel without their parents, I would look into other possible older siblings that did not travel
by E G G2G6 (7.4k points)
+3 votes
Families were much larger in the past than they are now. Also women married earlier, and, if they survived childbirth, produced children regularly for a long time. One of my ancestresses (not Italian BTW) married at age 15. She had her first child the same year as her mother had her last. So, essentially uncle and nephew were the same age. It is very easy for uncles//aunts to be around the same age as their nephews/nieces, therefore. It is even possible for uncles/aunts to be younger than their nephews/nieces. I know a family where this happened!
by Susan Scarcella G2G6 Mach 7 (78.8k points)

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