Marie (Di Matteo) Panella

Maria Josephine Di Matteo (possibly known as “M.J.”) was born in 1883 in the town of Roccaromano in Italy’s Caserta Province, Campania Region, a thriving agricultural area to the north of Naples. She was the daughter of Luigi Di Matteo and Rose (Di Georgio) Di Matteo and had at least three younger sisters: Giovannina “Jennie” (born 1884), Domenica “Mary” (born 1886), and Carolina (born 1896). I am guessing there were other siblings – especially in the time gap between Jennie and Carolina.

The region of southern Italy was rampant with extreme poverty and the lack of opportunity made things worse. The first mass migration of Italians began in the late 1870’s, when many uneducated rural peasants from southern Italy (initially from around the city of Naples and then from the island of Sicily) began immigrating to the United States to seek improved economic conditions. Maria was among those who sought a better life in the so-called Land of Opportunity.

Maria, at the age of 20, departed from Naples aboard the steamship Nord America on June 10, 1903, and arrived at Ellis Island in New York Harbor on June 24. She indicated that her uncle “Filippo Georgio” (Di Georgia) had paid for her passage and her destination was his residence in Mahoningtown in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Mahoningtown, with a high percentage of Italian immigrants, was an independent municipality but was later incorporated into the adjoining city of New Castle. Filippo, “Phillip” in Americanized form, was most likely the brother of Maria’s mother, Rosa (Di Georgia) Di Marco. Maria would have traveled on various trains from New York - probably via Philadelphia and Pittsburgh - to reach New Castle.

While in the Mahoningtown area Maria met an Italian man named Raffaele “Ralph” Panella, who had immigrated to the United States in May 1902 and was two years younger than her. Ralph was born in the town of Dragoni, but may have lived in Maria’s hometown of Roccaromano. Whether they or their families knew each other back in Italy is unknown but seems very possible.

Maria and Ralph were married in 1904 and made their home just south of New Castle in the small town of West Pittsburg in Taylor Township. I believe they rented a house on or near Canal Street in the shadow of the West Pittsburg bridge (over the Beaver River). Ralph worked as an “engine watchman” (or boilerman) with the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad, a job that saw him work in the yards while monitoring the boilers of various locomotives. Maria and Ralph were both very intelligent and learned to read, write, and speak English. They had a daughter named Helen born in early 1905, and two boys named John and Charles born in January 1906 and October 1907 respectively. They had another child, probably born in 1909, who died at birth or soon after.

Two of Maria’s sisters, Jennie and Mary, also followed in her footsteps. They both made their way to the New Castle area and married Italian men who were also from the region just north of Naples. Jennie, at the age of twenty-two, arrived sometime in early to mid 1906 and married Salvatore (aka Sylvester) Russo later that year in October. They made their home on South Liberty Avenue in Mahoningtown. Mary, at the age of twenty, arrived in June 1907 and married Charles DeMarc four months later. They made their home at several locations in West Pittsburg, eventually buying a house on Canal Street.

Unfortunately, Maria died not long after getting settled in her new life in western Pennsylvania. Nothing is known about the actual details, but Maria died sometime after May 1910 and probably before early 1912. I have no idea how she died or where she is buried. I do know that her widowed husband Ralph was soon remarried to an Italian woman named Martha Cifone, and they had a daughter named Josephine born in October 1913 (thereby conceived in January 1913). Four more kids followed between 1915 and 1925. Ralph was very crafty with tools and later founded his own lumber and hardware business known as the Panella Company. He also built a house just up the hill from Canal Street on Old Chewton Road.

Ralph lived a long life and died at the age of seventy-six on November 24, 1961. He was buried, along with his second wife (who died in May 1960) and some other Panella family members, in Castle View Memorial Gardens in New Castle. I suspect Maria is also interred at Castle View and I plan to explore this in the near future. Hopefully finding her death date (at a minimum) will allow me to find out more about her death in general.