Birth

Antonio Agazio was born on January 7 in 1884, 1885 or 1886.  His World War 1 draft registration says the year of birth was 1884.  The census pages I’ve found indicate years of birth as 1886 in the 1910 census; 1886 in the 1920 census; and 1885 in the 1930 census.  His birth record from San Giovanni in Fiore shows he was born in 1885. His death certificate says he was 63 at the time of his death in 1949 which would make his birth year 1886.   I don’t know why there is such a difference in dates, but I’m going to go with the birth record.  Since he left Italy at such a young age, it’s possible he didn’t know the exact year of his birth.

Italian Family

Antonio’s parents were Domenico Aggazio and Teresa Barberio.  Domenico was married three times.  His first wife was Caterina Cimino.  According to the San Giovanni in Fiore civil records they had 4 children – 3 boys and one girl (this is Maria Aggazio whose letter is on the link to the left).  Caterina died in 1881 and a few years after that (in 1883), Domenico married Teresa Barberio.  Together it appears they had at least 3 children and maybe 4 (3 boys and possibly 1 girl).  Antonio was the oldest of this batch.  Teresa died on September 2, 1890 – less than a month after her last son, Giovanni, who was born on August 7, 1890.  Two years after Teresa died, Domenico married Rosa Romano (in 1892).  At the time of their marriage, Rosa appears to have been 22 years old and Domenico was 48.  They had 3 girls with the youngest possibly dying as a child.  In total, Domenico was married 3 times and had 10 (maybe 11) children.  From looking at the civil records that were transcribed for me, it appears that at least two of those children died at an early age and possibly a third.  I don’t have death dates on the others so I don’t know how many actually reached adulthood.

Spelling of the Last Name 

I guess I should take a moment and discuss the difference in the spelling of the last name.  In every document I have that was generated in the United States, Antonio spelled the last name as Agazio.  However for most of the family in Italy, according to the San Giovanni civil records, the name was spelled Aggazio.  The person who transcribed those records for me said the spelling went back and forth.  Domenico’s birth record showed it as Aggazio, but on Antonio’s birth record it was spelled Agazio for both of them.  I have only seen the transcription, and not the actual record, so I can’t state that with certainty.  The birth records for Domenico’s children from his third wife, Rosa, all show Aggazio.  When I recently talked with the grand daughter of one of these children, I was told the name is definitely spelled Aggazio.  In addition, if you look at the letter from Antonio’s older sister Maria (see the link to the left) she spells the name Aggazio.  I have to conclude that the original spelling was Aggazio, and for some reason Antonio dropped a “G” when he came to this country.  So far, I haven’t been able to locate Antonio’s Canadian immigration records or the records generated when he crossed the border into the United States, but it would be interesting to see how it’s spelled there.

Leaving Home

The stories passed down through the family say that Antonio did not get along with his new stepmother, Rosa Romano.  One family member remembers him calling her a “witch”.  Apparently, because these two did not get along, Domenico encouraged Antonio to immigrate since the situation was so bad.  According to the 1910 census, and the Declaration of Intention for citizenship, Antonio, who was somewhere between 13 and 16 years old,  left his home in San Giovanni in Fiore with a slightly older cousin sometime in 1900 for the trip to Canada, and eventually to the United States.

Entry into Canada, the US and on to Colorado