Luigia Teresa (Ferrari) Tamanini (1864 - 1927)

Born 14 Mar 1864 in San Giorgio Parish, Vigolo Vattaro, Tirolo, Austria

Wife of Andrea Tamanini — married 14 Sep 1887 in Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania

Descendants

Died 30 Aug 1927 at age 63 in Vineland, Cumberland County, NJ

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Beverly Tamanini [send private message]

Biography

Luigia Teresa Ferrari was born in San Giorgio Parish, Vigolo Vattaro, Trient, Tirolo, Austria on 14 March 1864. She was the 8th or 9th child and the 5th or 6th girl born to Giovanni Battista Ferrari and Lucia Cattarina Biasioni. There were 16 children born in this family! It is interesting to note that her husband was the 9th child and 5th boy in his family. Today, Vigolo Vattaro is located in what is now called Trentino Alto-Adige, Italy, having changed countries after World War I. It was customary for the children to be brought to the parish church by the midwife as soon after birth as possible for baptism and secular registry (the parish priest serving both functions). The parish records are quite stunning in the amount of detail they give and the originals have been put on microfilm. For this reason, I have kept Louisa's birth year as 1864. Her tombstone records her birth as 1865 but this was chosen without the written record at their disposal.

Luigia appears to have always gone by the name Louisa in the United States except Luigia appears on her tombstone. She is not known to have used her middle name. She was likely named after her mother. According to census records, she did not learn to speak English. This would not likely have created any problems for her in her community which primarily spoke the dialect, Tirolese.

Louisa emigrated from her small hometown to the United States likely in 1886. Her brother, Santo Ferrarie, had already settled in the Mt. Carmel area and this is where Louisa also settled. It is unknown when she met her future husband, Andrea Tamanini. He came from the same town in Austria and also settled in the Mt. Carmel area shortly before her. Louisa's brother, Santo, married Andrea's sister, Domenica, at about the same time as Louisa married Andrea. They were married in Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania on 14 September 1887. Louisa and Andrea were both living in the town of Strong at the time, just outside Mt. Carmel. Their first child, Mary, was born there in 1888 or 1889 as were the next 2 children, Louis and Emilio. They moved to E. Vineland, then called Landis Township, when Emilio was 2 months old, in September 1892. They settled in a farmhouse at the corner of Panther Road and Italia Ave. and were eventually near neighbors to Andrea's siblings, Domenica, Antonio, Saverio and John and also Louisa's brother as well as other relatives. The remaining 5 children were born there. Louisa reports that all of the children she gave birth to lived into adulthood.

All of Louisa's children carried the name of one of her siblings except Emilio and Enrichetta. However, with 15 siblings, she had a lot to choose from!

There is much documentation of Andrea's brother Antonio's lung problems, resulting weakness and likely early death from "miner's lung" as a result of his work in the mines and it appears as if Andrea also suffered. They both moved with their young families at about the same time to take up farming in Vineland, NJ. Also, the children in both families did not seem to get as much schooling as their cousins and it is likely that the fathers' impaired health necessitated the children doing more work on the family farm. In this area, the women also did a lot of farm work. Often, young children were left to care for even younger children so the mothers could work out in the fields. Andrea died just two weeks shy of his 47th birthday, on 15 May 1909. The oldest girl was already married and out of the family home but the remaining 7 children were ages 6 to 18. Louisa would have had a lot of work to keep up with family and farm. Luckily she had 3 teenagers who would have carried a large burden.

Louisa died on 30 August 1927 at age 63. It is unknown if she was still at the family farm or living with a relative at the time. She is buried at St. Mary's Church Cemetery. She shares a tombstone with her husband and her youngest son who died at age 26, two years after Louisa's passing.

Sources

• "Nati in Trentino" [Born in Trentino (Tyrol, Austria/Italy)] database for the birth record of Luigia Teresa Ferrari.

• First-hand information from nephew Dominic Tamanini's wife, Edna Battistini Tamanini (Battistini-1).

• First-hand information from niece Lena Tamanini Yore (Tamanini-21) in a letter written in 1983 to Beverly Tamanini (Tamanini-1).

• Family Search "Pennsylvania County Marriages, 1885 - 1950" for Andrew Tamanini and Louisa Farrari (sic).

• Family Search, "NJ Births and Christenings 1660-1980" for son Victorio Tamanini.

• Family Search, "US Census 1900" Landis Township, Cumberland County, NJ.

• Family Search, "1905 State Census" of Landis Township, Cumberland County, NJ.

• Family Search, "US Census 1910" Landis Township, Cumberland County, NJ.

• Saint Mary's Church, Vineland, NJ records from 1909-1910 as transcribed by Rev. George DeMarco, O.S.A. in 1983.

• Tombstone at the St. Mary's Cemetery, Vineland, Cumberland County, NJ, as recorded by Beverly Tamanini in the late 1970's or early 1980's.

• Vineland Times Journal in undated obituary for son Emilio (Miller) Tamanini who died 24 September 1973. It reports the family's move from PA to E. Vineland when he was 2 months old.

Beverly Tamanini. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Beverly and others.