Thriller Thursday - Granny was a Bootlegger

Giovanna "Jennie" Trunzo nee Ferraro

Prohibition in the United States. It was called "The Noble Experiment" and many prohibitionists believed that banning the manufacture, purchase, and sale of alcohol would lower crime rates and boost the economy, but they found the opposite to be true. Gangsters profited greatly from the manufacture and sale of illegal alcohol. People suffered and died from drinking unsafe and unregulated liquor/spirits. Unemployment spiked as businesses that sold or manufactured alcohol closed. Is it any wonder why granny would bootleg liquor for some cash when it was so profitable for others? Of course granny was more likely than not to be the one to get busted for it. The big guys knew what they were doing.

My mom told me that some of her great-aunts bootlegged during Prohibition, but isn't that a typical family history story? Everyone had a bootlegger in the family. Not much by way of proof generally turns up though. That doesn't mean they weren't bootlegging it just means that we haven't proven it. I'm sure there were plenty of people that were ignoring that particular amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In the case of my step-dad's grandmother though we have proof.

The Indiana Gazette, 10JUN1930, pg 14

"The case of Jennie Trunzo, of Beyer, charged with selling and possessing intoxicating liquor was before the court when court adjourned at 5:45 o'clock and testimony was still being heard when court convened at 9:00 o'clock this morning."

Now I perused a page on Prohibition via History.com and learned a few things I didn't know. I didn't know that this movement had been underway for a very long time. There were states that had prohibition laws in place well before the 18th amendment passed and after the 21st amendment repealed the 18th there were some states that held on to their prohibition laws until the 1960s! I also didn't realize that the law didn't actually ban the consumption of alcohol. That was technically still legal. You just couldn't purchase, sell, or manufacture it.

The first article on granny Jennie (Giovanna Trunzo nee Ferraro) talks of her being in court for her prohibition violation. The second article gave me a chuckle at how light her punishment was. It almost wasn't worth the court's time...

The Indiana Progress, 09JUN1930, pg 1

"Jennie Trunzo, violation of the liquor laws - sentence suspended on payment of the costs."

Granny didn't get much punishment for her crime. The dates are correct on them both. Note that they are from different publications but the one that shows her punishment was printed a day prior to the newspaper that reported on her merely being in court. I guess it took the Gazette a bit to get that small story together.

Did everyone get off so easily? The other crimes listed on that page of the Progress showed assaults, destruction of property, and another liquor law violation. Jennie got off easily...no jail time. The others got time in the county jail ranging from 60 days to 6 months (three months for the other liquor violation). Why the difference in sentencing? Was it simply because she was a woman? Were there no facilities in the county jail for a woman? Did they take pity on her because her husband was no longer in America and she was taking care of her family alone? All of their children were grown, but I know that my step-dad would be living with her before the end of that decade. Whatever the reason what these liquor laws did was turn people that would have normally been law-abiding citizens into criminals.

Leader-Times, Kittanning, PA
09OCT1964, pg 17

What was the result on Granny Jennie's reputation? I doubt she was looked on as much of a hardened, dangerous criminal. She was buried on church grounds in St. Bernard's Cemetery and had more than one priest assisting in her burial mass. Not exactly a hushed up ceremony either. Good for granny though. She did what she had to do. I've posted her obituary previously, but I thought I'd share her funeral notice and FindAGrave memorial along with her court appearances.

"TRUNZO - Solemn requiem high mass for Mrs. Jennie Trunzo, Sagamore, who died Wednesday (Oct. 7, 1964) in Armstrong County Memorial Hospital will be intoned at 10 a.m. Monday by the rev. Carl P. Milano in Sacred Heart RC Church, Saxonburg. He will be assisted by the Rev. John Kavanaugh and the Rev. Nicholas Mitolo. Burial will follow in St. Bernard Cemetery, Indiana.* Friends are being received from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. at the Bowser Funeral home, Plumville."

*Indiana referring to Indiana town/city in Indiana county in Pennsylvania...not Indiana.

Happy Veterans Day to All Those Who Served

(This is a repost from previous years to thank those that have served in the military and to remember those veterans in my family as well. New to the annual post is my step-father, James Trunzo!)

I want to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who has served honorably in our Armed Forces.  Without our service members past and present our country would not be where it is today. We would not have gained our independence, we would not have unified a divided country, we would not have stopped the atrocities of 2 World Wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. There are many conflicts not mentioned which do not make light of the sacrifices that servicemen and women made in them. Sometimes the sacrifice was in time away from family and long hours. At times it was witnessing the horrors of those wars or even succumbing valiantly to them.

Not everyone serves their country as a Veteran does and not everyone can or should. You are unique, respected and given a burden that many would not be able to bear. Whether you served many months or many years in our Armed Forces makes no difference. You served. Thank you!

I'd like to now pay tribute to my family members who have served (I hope I didn't miss any!).

SGT James E Trunzo - USA

  

Sunday's Obituary - Be Careful What You Say

John Trunzo

This is actually a very sad story.  John Trunzo was the 6th of 8 known children of Raffaele and Giovanna Trunzo nee Ferraro.  He was also my step-father's father.

The news article below doesn't tell all the details of the story.  It mentions a heart ailment that John was suffering from, but my step-father believes that his lungs were also affected.  He told me his memories of the event...what he may have remembered and what had been told to him by his mother later.  His father worked at the Royal Battery Company, and I'm told that he never wore his protective mask at work, which means that he was exposed to all the chemicals in the air at the factory.  My step-father recalls that this is what caused his hospitalization.

I had been concerned that he had been scalded with battery acid or something along those lines, but I was told that all of his injuries were internal.  He looked fine on the outside and my step-father remembers visiting his father in the hospital.

What caused John to jump?  Was it really that his recovery was going too slowly?  Family history leads us to believe that it was something else.  John's parents were immigrants from Italy and they spoke Italian at home.  As a result John and his siblings also spoke/understood Italian.  So when some of the other men were standing in the hospital, perhaps in what they believed to be out of earshot, and began speaking about John's condition in Italian, he not only heard them, but he understood them.

John Trunzo and unknown woman

What were they talking about?  What did they say? According to my step-father they talked about how hopeless his condition was.  How he would never be the same and how he'd be scarred for life.  Do you know any Italian men?  I do.  The thought of being "scarred" or somehow "weak" or permanently disabled is a pride-crippling thought. And John apparently felt that this was the only way to restore that pride. To take his own life rather than wither away and perhaps not be able to support his family.  So he jumped.  He died.

It makes me sad...pride.  Had it not been for pride and the stupidity of those gentlemen standing around talking, my step-father may have had a much longer time with his father.  My baby sister may have known her grandfather.

Everything happens for a reason though.  John's wife, Frances, did remarry and she had many more sons and daughters for my step-dad to grow up with and enjoy his adult years.  I wish I could have had the opportunity to meet John as well, but I am grateful for the wonderful step-family that I have and I love them all.

Life.  Sometimes things absolutely suck but without it, we'd be different people.  Without it there never would have been those other children.  We're in pretty good hands after all.  Rest in peace John Trunzo.

Unknown NJ newspaper

"Hospital Patient Jumps to Death

John Trunzo, 29, Sick in St. Peter's 3 Months; Dies Instantly [hand-dated Dec. 17, 1939]


Despondent over his slow recovery from a heart ailment, John Trunzo, 29, of 23 Hardenbergh street, jumped to his death from the second floor of St. Peter's Hospital early last evening.

Trunzo has been a patient at the hospital since early in September.

Early last evening he was administered oxygen and given a cup of tea by a nurse.  She left the ward for the chart room and upon her return, she found a wind open and Trunzo missing from his bed.

The nurse peered out the window and saw the body of Trunzo on the concrete pavement below.  She spread the alarm and hospital attaches rushed to the aid of the patient.

Death Instantaneous

Carried into the hospital, Trunzo was pronounced dead.  It was announced that death was instantaneous.  Mrs. Trunzo was summoned shortly after the accident.

Coroner William H. Jaqui was called and after an investigation, he removed the body to his morgue.

Detectives Charles Reilly and James McCormick of the local police and Detective James Bates of the prosecutor's office made an investigation.  Statements were taken from the hospital attaches and ward patients who saw Trunzo leap to his death.

Death was officially given as suicide.

Trunzo had been a resident of this city for the past few years and before his illness was employed by the Royal Battery Company.

Besides his wife, he is survived by a three [crossed out and hand-written in four]-year-old son, James.

No arrangements have been made for the funeral."

Sunday's Obituary - John Thomas Sonni

John and Rose Sonni nee Trunzo are my step-father's uncle and aunt.  As the obituary says, he was born in Italy and married Rose in 1918.  He was about 25 years her senior and had his first child with Rose when he was around 48 years old!

Indiana Evening Gazette (Pennsylvania)

According to the 1930 US Census (which was difficult to find them in since the enumerator spelled their surname as "Sowni".  Luckily, Plumville is only 13 pages long so they were easy to search for) John came to America in 1912 and Rose came in 1898.

Always good to note that Indiana (as mentioned in the obituaries) is in Pennsylvania.

"John Thomas Sonni, a resident of Plumville and vicinity for the past 37 years, died at 2:25 a.m. today in the Indiana Hospital where he had been a patient for several weeks.

Born in Italy June 24, 1871, he was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Sonni.  He was a member of the Sacred Heart Church of Sagamore; member of the Indiana Lodge Sons of Italy since 1918; member of UMW of A Local 473, Sagamore.

He married Rose Trunzo in 1918, who survives with these children:  Mrs. Kenneth (Kathryn) Clements of Harrisburg;  Rudolph Sonni of Hummelstown; Mrs. William (Eleanora) Zentner of Lucernemines; Samuel and Eugene Sonni of Plumville.  Nine grandchildren also survive.

Friends will be received at his late home in Plumville after 11 a.m. Friday, March 11.

Funeral arrangements, in charge of Bowser Funeral Home, Plumville, are incomplete at this time."

Indiana Evening Gazette 12MAR1955

"John Thomas Sonni, a resident of Plumville and vicinity for the past 37 years, died at 2:25 a.m. today in the Indiana Hospital where he had been a patient for several weeks.

Friends are being received at his late home in Plumville.

Requiem High Mass will be celebrated in the Sacred Heart Church of Sagamore at 9:30 a.m. Monday, March 14, sung by the Rev. John Cavanaugh.  Interment will follow in St. Bernards cemetery, Indiana.

The Rosary will be recited at the home at 9:30 p.m. Sunday.

Bowser Funeral Home, Plumville, is caring for arrangements."

Military Monday - Benjamin Trunzo Jr.

Benjamin Trunzo Jr. was the son of Benjamin and Candus Trunzo nee Perry.  He married Edith Gay Boulanger on August 12, 1972 in Riverside, California (California Marriage Index 1960-1985).  They divorced ten years later (California Divorce Index 1966-1984).  I don't know if they had any children.  Benjamin is my step-father's 1st cousin and was most likely named for his father, Benjamin (naturally) and for their great grandfather, Beniamino Trunzo.

"NAVY ENLISTEES - Two local area men enlisted in the United States Navy it was announced today by Chief Petty Officer John O. Brown, local Navy Recruiter.  Kenneth Eugene Raymond, Penn Run R.D. 1,  enlisted in the seaman field under the High School Graduates Choice program.  Raymond is a graduate of Penns Manor Joint High School, Class of 1957.  Benjamin Trunzo, Jr., Beyer, enlisted as a seaman and is a graduate of Marion Center Joint High School class of 1961.  Both young men are currently attending recruit training at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Ill., after which they will receive 14 days leave before reporting to one of the many Navy technical schools or fleet assignment."

[Published in the Indiana Evening Gazette, Thursday, Nov. 2, 1961, pg 12]

Sunday's Obituary - Jennie Trunzo nee Ferraro

Giovanni Trunzo nee Ferraro

Jennie (Giovanni) Trunzo nee Ferraro is my step-father's paternal grandmother.  She was born in Calabria, Italy where she married Ralph Trunzo on November 13, 1895 and gave birth to her first daughter, Rose on November 15, 1897.  I still haven't found when they immigrated to America. Different sources have different dates, which may or may not be true.  The conflict lies in Ralph coming to America 10 years before his wife.  I'm not really sure that happened and I'm more inclined to think it was an error in the record.  That's not to say he couldn't have and then made a trip (or two) back to get his wife and daughter.  Still, I'll keep looking for that immigration record.

My step-father's Italian side is a joy to research.  Ancestry has a database devoted to Calabria, Italy, and the birth marriage and death records always have the woman's maiden name.  Even their death certificates list their maiden names.  Yeah, I know other death certificates show a maiden name, but the death certificates here list people solely by their maiden names.  In order to find out who their spouse is, you have to read farther into the death certificates.  It really makes it useful to ensure you're looking for the right person!  I will have to make sure to do a post on what I've discovered using that database sometime soon.  Until then, this post is for my baby sister and step-dad.  I don't post on his side of the family nearly enough!

The Indiana Gazette, 08OCT1964, pg 6

"Mrs. Jennie (Giovanni) Trunzo, 88, of Sagamore, passed away at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, October 7, 1964, at Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, Kittanning.

Born July 26, 1876 in Italy, she was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Ferraro.

She was the widow of Ralph Trunzo.

Mrs. Trunzo had resided in Beyer for 29 years prior to moving to Sagamore where she has lived for the past 33 years.

She was a member of Sacred Heart Church, Sagamore, and the church Rosary Society.

Survivors include the following sons and daughters:  Mrs. Rose Sonni, Plumville; Mrs. Louis (Mary) Russell, New Brunswick, N.J.; Benjamin, Beyer; Jim, Phoneix [sic], Ariz.; 18 grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren.

Friends will be received at the Donald S. Bowser Funeral Home, Plumville, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Funeral arrangements are incomplete.

The Rosary will be recited at 9 p.m. Saturday at the funeral home."

It's a bit disappointing that the obituary doesn't list anyone that predeceased her (apart from her husband that is).  My step-dad's father, John Trunzo, died before her and isn't listed in the obituary.  In fact there are a number of children missing (Samuel, Raffale Jr, John, and Nathle), but I haven't tracked down when they died yet (apart from John), so I can only imagine that they died before Jennie.

Wordless Wednesday - Fine Scratches Removed and Edges Repaired

Before

After

Another picture that I scanned from my step-father's (James Trunzo) side of the family.  I really need to identify the people in the pictures that I scanned though!

Wordless Wednesday - A Repaired Photo of Two Children

After

Before

This was a photo I scanned and repaired last summer.  It is two children in my step-father's (James Trunzo) family.  I just need to figure out who they are!

Sorting Saturday - Digital Surname Sorting

I've heard lots of recommendations as to how to sort your files.  The bottom line is, that it has to be something that works for you...not someone else.  You need to be able to find your files when you need them.  This is how I sort mine...

Currently I'm researching 2 family trees.  My step-father's (Trunzo) and my children's (Cayemberg).  I have a "Tree" folder for each tree I'm conducting research on.  I could have split them further...one for my side of the family and one for my husband's, but when I'm entering people into my family tree program I'm entering both sides so it makes more sense to keep them under one.

Those "Tree" folders are broken down into surname folders.  Then under each surname folder I break them down a bit more into specific records/events. There are folders for Birth, Census Records, Death, Education, Immigration & Naturalization, Marriage, Military, Newspaper, Pictures, Probate, Property, and Tombstones.  Outside those folders I have miscellaneous items that don't really have a specific home.  I could create a Misc folder, but as a matter of personal preference don't.  I like seeing them floating around without a home so when I notice that I'm starting to acquire multiple records that can be grouped together I then create a new folder.  If I created that "Misc Folder" I know myself and just wouldn't check it often enough to see if things were ready for a new grouping.  Also in the free space I've got a surname "Research Log".  When I conduct research on a specific surname, in the log it goes.  It's also a great place for surname "To-Do" lists.

I use the PAF program for my family tree, but I have to admit that I'm eyeing the Legacy software after attending some of Legacy's webinars.  I like what I'm seeing.  I just haven't made the commitment yet.  More research is needed to see how flawlessly my tree will transfer.  Anyway, before I get distracted talking about a genealogical wish list...I was going to mention that in the PAF program I ensure that I've got people being assigned MRINs (Marriage Record Identification Numbers).  I'm sure the majority of programs can assign MRINs.

What this means (if you didn't know) is that people are assigned a specific number when they get married.  Documents in my binders are filed by Family Group Records and since the basis of those family groups are marriages, if someone got married their records go to that MRIN not under their parents.  Since my binder filing system already does that, my digital system mirrors it.  I don't place multiple copies under different surnames.  They go with their married surname.  So what do you do when you've got several marriages for an individual?  Well, that's really up to you.  I usually put them with the last marriage's MRIN, but you may have your own system.

The PAF program (and I'm sure most others as well) can print out a report that gives you the MRIN along with the couples they belong to.  It makes a perfect index when you can't remember what someone's married name was.  But I digress...that is more helpful with binder/paper files and that's another Sorting Saturday!