The Story of Raffaele Carrabis

Question

Hi!

I could use a bit of help with this profile. A cousin of mine informed me of more children for Vincenzo  Carrabis and his wife, Maria Giovanna Capobianco. I'll be adding them in time. I figured I'd start with Raffaele here. His profile is bare bones, I know. The only thing I have is his birth banns.  My cousin and several other people (who are also cousins) don't have an exact date of death for this guy. BUT! This one lady on Myheritage seems to. I can't contact her but she states that he died in 1986 in Melrose, Mass on March 31st.

She also had a lady as a child of Vincenzo and Maria and well the dates did not add up. Her sources say that he was involved in the world wars and was in the 1920-1940 censuses in Boston/ I have not been able to find him. I tried every variation of Carrabs. There are three. Carrabis, Carrabs and Carrabse. All three are interchangeable.

I'm wondering if someone could help me verify this lady's claims. I am hesitant to add anything. Here's what she listed as sources:

 

New York, Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 

1920 United States Federal Census

Massachusetts, State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1798-1950

U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942

I haven't been able to find any of these on Familysearch. I hope someone can help me out so I can flesh out the profile. I am also wondering if she had confused him for someone else. Maintaining caution. Can someone help me sort this out?

Grazie!

Comments

Ancestry has a birth record for Rosina Carrabis. Mother Maria Capobianco , father Vincenzo.

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Rosina, born 1892, married November 25 1913 in Boston to Antonio Pascucci

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There are two Raffaele Carrabis. One whose father is Vincenzo and one whose father is Giuseppe. Giuseppe's son born April 1895. Both lived in Massachusetts.

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Some of Giuseppe's family morphed their name to Carabbia and were associated with the Patriarca crime family in Boston. Patriarca was a capo for Vito Genovese.

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Pasquale Carrabis, son of Vincenzo, born July 1895

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https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/73283364

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Raffaele son of Giuseppe died March 1986

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Great work Eddie. It sure looked to me like there were multiple people, but fighting a killer headache and poor campground WiFi is not conducive to researching deeply. I thought the different immigration record dates were also intriguing but didn’t delve into the images to see who he was traveling with.

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Eddie, my brother from another mother.

You are awesome! Sounds to me like the lady whose tree I saw on Myheritage confused Vincenzo's Raffaele with some other guy. The trick now is to separate the two men.  I wish I could send her a private message. Everyone else who has Vincenzo's kids does not have a death date for Raffaele.

Thanks for the birth record for Rosina. My cousin has it and I have it on her page on Ancestry. The stuff about Rosina is true. So far the only Carrabis kids we know came to America were: Giuseppe, Rocco, Pasquale and Rosina. We just need to find out what happened to this Raffaele.

The Find a Grave is for Rocco. According to my dad and my cousin, Raymalene, he spoke VERY little English. If any. I do have a lot of cousins from his side of the Carrabis line.

So, now what? We should find out what happened to Raffaele here in America. Like I said, all of my other cousins from the Carrabs line do not have any death dates for the guy.

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Check for an Americanized name like RALPH (also maybe Rafe, Ray)

For other members Vincent, Joseph, Vinnie, Joe, Joey. For PASQUALE, maybe Paul or Paulie. There  are records for SALVATORE, who morphs into Sonny and Charles/Charlie.  Census takers liked everybody to be "American".

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https://www.familytreenow.com/search/genealogy/results?last=Carrabis&citystatezip=Massachusetts&smck=emtWBQcVJJ3kK6HADpBLZw&page=2

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There are records for RALPH CARRABIA, married to Maria Mastrangelo, dying in 1943 in Youngstown Ohio. Be advised, this man was a member of the crime family and was involved in the "Mafia" wars for control of the Steelworkers Union.

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*smirks* This is gonna mess with your head. Vincenzo becomes James in the US. Don't ask me why. It just happens.

Am advised and will probably stay away from that mess. Thanks, man.

Pasquale doesn't Americanize very well. Usually if it is, it's Patrick. Paolo becomes Paul in America. Giuseppe becomes Joseph.

I know full well how the census takers liked everyone to be American. They misspelled my family name on both the 1930 and 1940 census. Took forever to find them.

cheers, man.

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It  became James because in slang Vincenzo was called cenz, which was pronounced "chains" and through heavy accent broken English sounded like James.  

Pasquale is Pat, Patsy. Gaetano is Guy or Thomas, Orazio became George or Horace.

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Yep. That's why my great-grandfather was listed as "James" a few times. Grave says Vincenzo, though.

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Other would be

Luigi to Lou, Louis. Everyone has an uncle Lou.  Luigia would be Louise or Lucy. Orazia had a few Grazia, Grace. Some they just seemed to make up. Crucifissa had nothing comparable.

The  1900, 10 and 20 census for Italians are a mess of misspellings and wrong birth years. You had people that didn't speak English, 85+% of whom were illiterate. When I do find US documents most are sgned with an X and a "his mark" next to it. My great grandfather had a brother who birth date was listed on everything including his headstone as Sep 5 1880. He was really born in Nov of 1879.  I'm just glad that all my ancestors came from small towns and not places like Palermo, Naples or Rome where I'd be digging through thousands of records.

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My ancestors from Italy came from San Pietro a Maida and Gesualdo (And surrounding towns). Those two towns are very far apart. My grandmother Olympia was born in the US like many of her other siblings. For some reason the censuses has her named "Alesia". Her birth cert from Haverhill, Mass has her as Olympia Ann Carrabs. It lists her parents as Giuseppe and Clementina. As far as I can tell they never went by Joseph and Clementine.  Perhaps the enumerators didn't hear 'em right in the census taking process.

Then you had her uncle Rocco who NEVER spoke English.  I was able to find him and the others by doing some detective work. My dad took us to the houses Vincenzo had in the 1930 and 1940 censuses since we live near Haverhill. It's the next town over. So I was able to find them that way.

I don't have an uncle Lou. But, one of my ancestors was a Luigia. I also had a cousin with the middle name Mario who lived in San Pietro. I held my tongue and avoided the obvious joke. =)

My grandma Ollie first appears in the 1920 census. Grandpa Marco in the 1930. Grandpa Marco's family already spoke decent English. They just hacked up the name a wee bit.

Lucky for me I had a 3rd cousin who comes from Rocco's side do a lot of work on the Carrabs. She shared it with me. Still working on my dad's side, though. Thankfully, I am getting some help.

Need to work on the Tedesco line.

Answer 1

same Name, different birthdate?

Massachusetts Death Index, 1970-2003," database, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZ55-MH1 : 4 December 2014), Raffaele Carrabis, 31 Mar 1986; from "Massachusetts Death Index, 1970-2003," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2005); citing Lynn, Massachusetts, death certificate number 023092, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Health Services, Boston.

United States World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V12R-99G : 9 March 2018), Raffaele Carrabis, 1942; citing NARA microfilm publication M1936, M1937, M1939, M1951, M1962, M1964, M1986, M2090, and M2097 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2361/007774548_00967?pid=1849541&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D2361%26h%3D1849541%26ssrc%3Dpt%26tid%3D120577687%26pid%3D290198081985%26usePUB%3Dtrue&ssrc=pt&treeid=120577687&personid=290198081985&hintid=&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/1665/32820_242022-00261?pid=25071&backurl=https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D1665%26h%3D25071%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3Doop5%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=oop5&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true

Comments

Interesting. I think those are the sources used on that other tree. The only problem is that the birth date does not mesh with the birth banns that I put on the site. I wonder if the lady mixed up two Raffaeles. I'll be back with a translation.

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I haven’t looked, but possible argument for multiple people 

Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1883-1945," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:23Q5-QFS : 12 March 2018), Raffaele Carrabis, 1910; citing Immigration, NARA microfilm publication T840 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,402,572.

"New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:246T-KDM : 12 March 2018), Raffaele Carrabis, 1928; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24JB-KKF : 12 March 2018), Raffaele Carrabis, 1933; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

New York, New York Passenger and Crew Lists, 1909, 1925-1957," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24JX-Z6R : 12 March 2018), Raffaele Carrabis, 1932; citing Immigration, New York, New York, United States, NARA microfilm publication T715 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

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Here's a translation of the banns:

Birth #117, recorded 3 August 1899 at 10:50 am at the town hall of Gesualdo; appeared Vincenzo Carrabs, age 40, a peasant living in Gesualdo and he said at 7:08 pm on the 31st of the preceding month at their house at Via Canopo number 3, Maria Giovanna Capobianco, his wife, a peasant, gave birth to a male infant given the name Raffaele.

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Here's the WWI Draft Registration with the April 2, 1895  Birth Date too:  he's got the same birth location as Raffaele profile

"United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images, FamilySearch(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KZNL-S2K : 13 March 2018), Raffaele Carrabs, 1917-1918; citing Boston City no 4, Massachusetts, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,684,774.

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The names and places all sync. What throws me off is the birth day. The banns said July 31st, 1899 was his birth. Vincenzo just reported it a few days later.

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I have TONS of Italian ancestors where the birth dates never match up, sometimes by years. It's very common.

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I have one or two. I just go by the birth banns usually.