My Italian Grandma

Anna Copozzi Salerno

“The best cook I ever knew!” Grandma Salerno is from
Santeramo in Colle: Apulia Region (Puglia),
10 Miles south of Bari, Italy.
Here is a google map of Santeramo in Colle.

She worked in a sewing factory. A very hard worker like my grandfather.
She taught me the love for food and family.

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Luigi Ruggierio Salerno

“Kindest, most gentle man I ever knew!”
Grandpa Salerno is also from Bisceglie, Italy.

He was a “Core Maker”.
That’s where you poor red hot liquid metal into molds all day long.
Not an easy job at all! He worked hard and poured out his life for his kids

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Anna Capozzi was born in: Sannicandro di Bari, Italy, but grew up in Santeramo in Colle, Italy before moving to United States. When they moved to the states, they lived in the town of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. A suburb of Worcester. There are a lot of Italian in Worcester! I grew up in Springfield, MA and I spent a lot of time at my grandparents house on the weekend in Shrewsbury and learned a lot about cooking there. Mainly the love of Italian food and making it for the ones you love.

Here is a nice video of Southern Italy Puglia region in Italy

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…and here is their wedding photo 🙂
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Grandma and Grandpa Salerno
…with my brother Phillip and I and my Mom
(Left to right: Grandpa Salerno, Brother Phillip,
Grandma Salerno, me with the Bow Tie and my Mom)
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Grandma and I in the kitchen
I just LOVE this photo!
This was taken somewhere in the mid 80’s in South Florida
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Francesca Sette Capozzi
(My grandmother’s Mom)
(Died when Anna was a baby)
No photo yet 😦

Philipo Capozzi
(My grandmother’s Dad)

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Great grandma and grandpa Salerno
(on my mom’s side – my grandfather’s parents)

Giovanni Salerno (Panon)
(My grandfather’s Dad)
No photo yet 😦

Raffaela Salerno (Nannon)
(My grandfather’s Mom)

Before we dive into my family tree information. Check this out!!!

This is amazing! Sometimes for me, figuring out an official name of a relative in regards to relation is like doing higher math! This is incredible. If you go to: http://www.wolframalpha.com/ and just type in a relation in plain English it will give you a graphic tree with the relation name. For example, I put in this for my search:
“my aunts son’s daughters daughter” and it gave me this answer in graphic family tree format! Amazing!

The Family Tree
(on my grandma Salerno’s side)


More detailed family tree information below

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Peter and Ann Capozzi (Daughter and Son of Philipo Capozzi)
(This is a photo of my grandma Salerno and her brother Peter)


Rev. Francis Clement Capozzi
(Francis is Philipo Capozzi’s brother – My great uncle)

Click here to read an article written by Francis C Capozzi called:
Where I Found God.
(Be patient it’s a 2.6mb PDF file)

A really BIG thanks goes out to Scott (Never late for an Italian meal)
Benlevi who is a Capozzi cousin of mine of whom sent me the
copy of the article and the nice photo above of Francis in uniform 🙂

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Francis also was the author of these books:

Protestantism and the Latin Soul” (1918)

Dante” (1921)

Immortality in the light of modern thought …” (1925)

One World and One God” (1945)

God’s fool: A new portrait of St.Francis of Assisi.” (1956)

Where I Found God (Date unknown)

Information on these books can be found here.

Full text of Protestantism and the Latin Soul” (1918)

Also found this article:
“Francis C Capozzi – The Horatian Pilgrimage and Apulia” (1935)
Text for this is here.

Francis C Capozzi’s books on Amazon

A big thank you to my cousin David Seaman (Francis Copozzi’s Grandson)
for letting me borrow these books!

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Here are two special articles about Francis Capozzi I found along the way during my research. They are in PDF format.

The Rev. Francis Clement Capozzi
Priest and Schalor
Mrs. Hazel Copozzi Wife and Parish Worker
rev-francis-capozzi-priest-and-scholar

Excerpts from
Reminiscences and Musings of
A Retiring Episcopal Missionary
The Rev. Francis C. Capozi
rev-francis-episcopal-missionary

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Here is a special email correspondence I received from fr. michael di gregorio, o.s.a., an Augustinian friar, American, stationed in Rome, doing research on their friars who emigrated to the U.S. at the very start of the 20th Century to minister to the Italian immigrants especially in Philadelphia.

Dear Anthony, Here below is a bit of information which I’ve collected, apart from what you already know and have on your website.

Fr. Clemente was a friar, a member of the Order of Saint Augustine (Augustinians)(www.osanet.org). As such he professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a member of the community, and was also, as you already know, later ordained a priest. At the end of the 19th Century, our friars in Italy undertook a special mission to follow the immigrants from that country to the United Sates, especially in Philadelphia where a special request had been made by the Archbishop for assistance. Over the course of the years about 40 friars became part of that initiative and established parishes in Philadelphia, South Jersey and New York. Some also served, as did Fr. Clemente, in Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Fr. Clemente arrived in the U.S. aboard the “America” sailing from Naples, together with another friar, Fr. Aurelio Marini, on December 22, 1910. Fr. Clemente’s destination was Holy Rosary Parish in Lawrence, Massachusetts where there was a large Italian immigrant population. Holy Rosary was a parish under the care of the Augustinian friars.

Sometime thereafter he was assigned to Buon Consiglio Parish in South Philadelphia. This, too, was a parish under the care of the Augustinians, established in 1899 by friars who had come to the U.S. from Italy expressly to minister to the new immigrants arriving from Southern Italy. At some point he also spent time in one of our communities in Mechanicville, New York, though probably not for very long.

The cousin he mentions in the article “Where I found God” is Fr. Carmelo Capozzi, also a friar of our Order, who was born on October 28, 1874. He was professed as an Augustinian in 1891 and was ordained a priest in 1897. He served in various places in Italy, including Savona and Pomigliano and held positions of leadership in the Order.

I have found some additional photos of Rev. Francis Capozzi on the website of St. Joseph Episcopal Church in West Bangor. (www.saintjosephpenargyl.webs.com/)

Best wishes, Fr. Michael

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More family tree documentation and stories
(Compliments of my cousin Gus (August C. Bolino). Anna Salerno was Gus’s Aunt)

My cousin Gus wrote this wonderful book documenting Ellis island. Many Italians immigrated to America first coming through Ellis Island. My grandma Salerno and her brothers and sisters came through this island. Documentation below. Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, was at one time the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For more information on Ellis Island this is a good place to start.

Fortunately, cousin Gus also wrote a private book just for his family documenting a lot of the history of the Copozzi line. As part of the graphic of the inside back binding, is a copy of a ships manifest that my grandma Salerno was on. Details of that are below along with many valuable bits of history about our family that I am very grateful to have thanks to my uncle Johnny Salerno mailing me a copy of this wonderful book that I had no idea existed! 🙂

Below I have placed just some special items from the book, valuable family tree information that helps me keep all the family straight and stories as well. EnJoY!

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Ellis Island Plaques
(Official certificate of registration)

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The S.S. Casrrta Ships Manifest Sailing From Napoli
(December 19th, 1919)
Circled in red below on the manifest are the names of Anna Capozzi and her brothers and sisters:
Rose Capozzi, Lucia Capozzi, Pietre Capozzi, and Guiseppi Capozzi.
All sailing alone without their parents to America! Anna was 6 years old at this time.

(Blowup of circled area)

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The Capozzi-Salerno Branch Story
(Note: This is written from the viewpoint of cousin Gus, so where he says something
like Aunt Anna, he’s talking about my grandmother. Gus is the first person speaking in this story)

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The Capozzi / Salerno / Sette / Marsico Family Trees
(All of these family trees are in some way shape and form part of my family
with Salerno and Copozzi being the closest in line)

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Nicholas Bolino’s Recipe and Notes on Making Wine
(Typical of Italian recipes from the old country, this is a little vague on the details!
For example: “Continue fermentation until the boiling stops– about two weeks”
Is it just me or might there be some important steps missing here?)

More to come…

Some old family photos

…and here is a little online family photo gallery from my childhood. Among these photos are my brother Phillip, Mom, Dad, my grandparents on both sides and Aunts and Uncles. My mom’s parents where the Italian ones. My Dad’s parents (The Baker side) where the English/Irish and my Mom’s parents (The Salerno side) were Italian.

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