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The surname given to this infant, 'Urbino',
was typical of the stigmatic names
imposed on foundlings. In
Sicilian, 'urbu' means 'blind'.
The baby may have had deep-set eyes or
have appeared blind, or perhaps he
was thought to be 'blind to the sins
of his mother'. In any case he
was given a name that meant 'little
blind one'.
However, unlike may abandoned children,
Ferdinando Urbino survived to
eventually marry Maria Saldi, as
is clear by the margin note on the
registration of his birth. The
record of their marriage on 28 August
1898 gives Ferdinando's occupation as
'bracciale' (day laborer) and states
'unknown' for the names of his father
and mother. Maria Saldi is noted
as born in 1879 in the town of Grotte, and
her parents were the late Michele Saldi
of Grotte and the living Maria Rizzo of
Serradifalco.
Neither Ferdinando nor his bride signed the
marriage record, as it was noted that
they did not know how to write.
Ferdinando not only survived to marry, but he and
Maria Venera Saldi had at four
children born in Serradifalco: Vincenza, born 29 January
1900; Ignazio, born 18 October 1902;
Mario, born 9 December 1906; and
Michele, born 18 December 1908.
Ferdinando emigrated to the U. S. on 1
September 1910 at age 39 on the SS San
Giovanni, and his wife and children
followed later. He was listed as
going to his brother Leonardo Urbino at
Rossiter, Pennsylvania, but as a
foundling, it is unexplained how he
could have had a brother with the same
surname. Ferdinando's 1913
Petition For Naturalization as a U.
S. citizen gives his alias as Ignazio
Licals, and he and his wife are
listed with the surname Licals in
the 1920 U. S. Census for California,
Pennsylvania, where they had two more
children, Maria and Rosa. "Licals"
was evidently a shortening of Licalsi,
which is a valid surname found in
Serradifalco.
Their surname, like that imposed on
their father, was Urbino, as would be
the surnames of any descendants of his
sons.
For the registration of his first two children,
Ferdinando was listed as a day laborer
unable to write, but on Mario's birth
registration in 1906 and thereafter, he
was a 'zolfataio' (sulfur miner)
and signed his name to it and the next
child's birth registration.
Of personal interest to me is that the
ricevitrice dei proietti who found
Fedinando Urbino was my first cousin
thrice removed, Concetta Digiugno. |
