This photo is of my mother, Filomena Palumbo (b. 1922 d. 2016), as a baby. She is the daughter of Angelo Palumbo (b. 1895 d. 1959) and Adelaide “Lily” Autorino. In this photo, she is being held by her mother, Adelaide “Lily” Autorino (b. 1900 d. 1987). One of my grandmother’s sisters (probably Josephine) stands behind them. Of all my families, the Autorino family is the one I knew the least about when I started my genealogic journey to uncover the lost past of my family.

Since we spent most of our time with my father’s family, I rarely saw anyone on my mother’s side beside my grandmother and my mother’s sister, Gloria, Gloria’s husband and daughter. Very occasionally, I saw my mother’s sister Pauline and her family and my mother’s brother, Angelo “Chick” and his family. (I also occasionally saw my mother’s Palumbo cousins, Mikey Palumbo and Carmela Palumbo. Only in Christmas card photos did I see Mikey and Carmela’s brother Angelo, and his family of twelve children.) In 1970, I got a glimpse of how large the Autorino family really was when my father bought a lime green Dodge Dart and wanted to take a drive to show it off. We drove to visit a bunch of my mother’s cousins on both the Palumbo and Autorino sides of her family. On the Autorino side, we visited my mother’s cousin, Larry Gitto, with his wife, Betty, and children, Bobby and Debbie. We visited my mother’s cousin (and Larry’s half brother), Benjamin Sudano, with his wife, Miriam, and their daughter, Cindy. Both men were the sons of my grandmother’s sister, Josephine. We also visited my mother’s cousin, Anne, with her husband, Rudy, and their children, Christopher and Lucille. Anne was the daughter of my grandmother’s brother, Ralph. I was eleven years old, but I remember the visit distinctly. We also visited my mother’s cousins on the Palumbo side, Mikey and his family, his sister, Carmela, and for the first time I met their brother, Angelo, but didn’t meet his children until 1988 when I moved to Sayville, their hometown. All of these families lived on Long Island, mostly within a half hour of our home.

It wasn’t until many many years later, through exhaustive genealogical research, that I found the history behind this family. I have tried to collect the cousins who are left, to tell them the story of their lineage in order to save it for our future generations. Through all the research, I could not help but feel a sense of loss as well. With the exception of a few treasured memories from 1970, the Autorino family was a family I had never known. So here it is for those who care.

The Autorino family was from a town near the volcano, Vesuvius, not far from Pompei. Records go back to the 1600s. Before that time, Poggiomarino was part of Ottaviano, also known as, San Giuseppe Vesuviano. My great grandfather was Salvatore Autorino (b. 1857 d. 1926). He was a shoemaker, a humble but honest profession. On March 31, 1890, he arrived in New York with his father, Francesco (b. 1827 d. 1905) and his older brother, Antonio (b. 1850 d. ?). Francesco’s occupations are listed as a Farmer, and later, as a Weaver in Poggiomarino. Although Francesco returned to Italy and ultimately died in Poggiomarino in 1905, Antonio, appears to have made his life in Buffalo, New York. My tracking of Antonio ends in 1917 where he is listed as a laborer in Buffalo. If he died there, returned to Italy, or ever had a family, remains a mystery to me. My great grandfather, Salvatore, returned to Italy and then brought his wife, Paolina DeLuggo/DeLuca (photo below), and their children to New York in 1898 and made his home in New York City.

Salvatore’s younger brothers, Alfonso (b. 1869 d. 1946) and Carmine (b. 1872 d. 1943) also came to America. Like Salvatore, his brothers, Alfonso (photo below) and Carmine, were shoemakers. Carmine arrived in New York in 1894 and Alfonso arrived in New York in 1899. There were seven other siblings who never came to America, many of them most likely died as children. But at least two sisters lived to be adults and remained in Poggiomarino, their names were: Rosa (b. 1855 d. 1917) and Autilia, also known as Amelia (b. 1866 d. 1949). We know that Amelia married a man whose surname was Longo. That is all that we know about her.

Francesco, my great great grandfather, who returned to Italy, had a younger brother, Antonio Autorino (b. 1833 d. 1917 in Poggiomarino). Antonio had a son, Carmine (b. 1868 d. 1943). Carmine (photo below) emigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina, sometime between the births of two of his sons in 1891 and 1894. Sadly, Carmine died from suicide, but from him, there is an extensive family that are my cousins who currently live in Argentina. I am thankful to have connected with many of them and hope, one day, to visit and meet them in person.

Back to my story, my grandmother, Adelaide, was the only one of the living children who was born in America. Her older siblings who survived childhood were: Frank (b. 1884 d. 1970), Ralph (b. 1886 d. 1968), Antonia, also known as Andora (b. 1889 d. 1979), Carmela (b. 1892 d. 1955), Josephine (b. 1894 d. 1955), and Salvatore (b. 1896 d. 1942). Although Carmela, Josephine, and Salvatore died earlier, the remaining siblings of my grandmother, Frank, Ralph, and Andora, (see photo below with family sitting around the table. Andora is at the head) did see each other over the years of my childhood, but I never met any of them. However, several times, later in my mother’s life, I brought my mother and my Aunt Gloria (b. 1928 d. 2021) to visit Frank’s youngest daughter, Franny (b. 1918 d. 2015). They told me about their childhood and how they used to put on shows for the children in their Brooklyn neighborhood. The three of them stood up, linked arms, and started to show me a kick line while singing a song. Mind you, both my mother and Franny were in their 90s at this time! They told me that their cousin, Catherine (b. 1919 d. 2018), daughter of Carmela, had also been part of their shows. In later years, I spoke with Catherine many times on the phone so that my mother could talk to her cousin who had moved to Canada. I am now in touch with Catherine’s daughter, Carole, and enjoy knowing that this connection continues.

The years went by and in May of 1920, I found Lucille on Facebook. I hadn’t seen her since 1970. Fifty years had passed in-between. In June of 1920, Lucille responded to a message I had sent her on Facebook Messenger. Although she did not remember meeting me when she was seven years old in 1970, it seems that she was overjoyed to find out that someone in our family was looking for her. I didn’t know that her life took a turn after her mother, Anne, daughter of my great-uncle, Ralph, had passed away in 1972. Her father remarried and she was taken away from the big Autorino family she had been lucky enough to grow up with. Her grandfather, Ralph, had died in 1968, and her Great-Uncle Frank had died in 1970. With out going into detail, I will just say that Lucille grew up pretty much alone.

It wasn’t long before we realized that although Lucille lived in New Jersey, she spent her summers working on Fire Island and taking a ferry every week that was only a few blocks from where I lived in Sayville on Long Island. We took the chance to meet. We were family, instantly.

Lucille and me (2024)

Lucille has a wonderful husband, Charlie, who gets along fabulously with my husband, Rob. She has a son and and daughter who became immediate friends of my daughter and son. She showed me photos of people in my family I had never seen. She told me stories of family gatherings and the jokes between her grandfather, Ralph, and his brother, Frank. She remembered my grandmother, Adelaide, who was called Lily by her family. With photos strewn across my dining room table, I came to know my family.

Ralph Autorino, brother of my grandmother.

Frank Autorino, brother of my grandmother, is standing on the far left. Lucille’s mother, Anne, is seated in front with a little girl. Franny has the big smile and is seated in the center.

I have found more grandchildren of my grandmother’s brother, Frank, and am in touch with several of them. I have found more grandchildren of my grandmother’s sister, Josephine, including the children of her son, Benjamin, and an entire first family of her son, Larry, that I never knew existed and was only able to find through DNA! I had only known about his wife, Betty, and their children, until I found cousins who matched my DNA with the last name of Gitto, and I was amazed to find out that he had had a family with a first wife, Angelina, and that this was apparently a family secret. Through DNA, I have found a grandchild and great grandchildren of my grandmother’s brother, Salvatore. I have the names of the grandchildren of my grandmother’s sister, Andora. And of course, as I have mentioned, I’m in touch with the grandchildren of both my grandmother’s sister, Carmela, and her brother, Ralph.

I also want to add that although I did not grow up with them, I have also found the children of my mother’s sister, Pauline (b. 1924 d. 1974), and my mother’s brother, Angelo, known as Chick, (b. 1935 d. 1990). Once again, I found most of them through DNA and Facebook.

Even without shared memories, we are family because we share DNA. Our common ancestors reach back into history, and through research, we now know who they were. Today, we can know each other because of the inventions of DNA testing and the Internet. I am so grateful to have found them all.

My grandmother, Adelaide Autorino Palumbo.