As mentioned in my previous post on the
De Luca family's immigration records, Peter and Clementina (Trillo) De Luca arrived at Ellis Island in Sep 1907. Their final destination was St. Louis, Missouri, where Peter's brother, Marco, lived.
The next record I've found of the De Luca family is in the 1910 US Census in St. Louis. They lived at 225 Elm Street in Ward 6. Searching for 225 Elm Street on present-day Google maps does not yield any close results. Therefore, I did a little research by Googling Ward 6 and looking for some of the other streets mentioned on the pages before and after the De Luca family in the 1910 census. I noticed South Second and South Third Streets, as well as Walnut and Market Streets. I then found an old
map of St. Louis dated 1870 from a website called
Genealogy in St. Louis. By zooming into the map, you can see that Elm Street ran east-west between Spruce and Walnut Streets (part of Ward 5 in 1870). Looking at a present-day map at Google Maps, it appears that Walnut and Spruce Streets still exist, but Elm Street appears to have been built over by the
Deloitte Building and the Millenium Hotel. Notice that this present-day picture shows the famous Gateway Arch in the background. However, the Arch was not built until the 1960s. I have a feeling this whole area looked very different in 1910. Below is an image of the De Luca family as enumerated in the 1910 US census.
Pietro Deluca, head, male, white, age 32, married for seven years (first marriage), born in Italy, both parents born in Italy, immigrated 1893, naturalization in progress, speaks English, laborer for the railroad, wage earner, not at work on 15 Apr 1910, out of work for 10 weeks in 1909, able to read and write, rents house
Clementina Deluca, wife, female, white , age 24, married for seven years (first marriage), mother of 3 children, 3 children still living, born in Italy, both parents born in Italy, immigrated 1893, speaks English, grocery storekeeper, works on own account, able to read and write
Mary Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 5, born in Italy, both parents born in Italy, immigrated 1893
Louisa Deluca, daughter, female, white, age 1 0/12, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy
Julian Deluca, son, male, white, age 5/12, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy
Paul Runcini, lodger, male, white, age 54, widowed, born in Italy, both parents born in Italy, immigrated in 1890, naturalized, speaks English, laborer for the railroad, wage earner, was at work on 15 Apr 1910, out of work for 16 weeks in 1909, able to read and write
Lawrence C. Runcini, lodger, male, white, age 15, born in Missouri, both parents born in Italy, speaks English, newsboy on the street, works on own account
According to the census record, Peter and Clementina rented their home at 225 Elm Street. Peter was called Pietro, as he was on the ship passenger list. It seems that he had not Americanized his name yet. He was age 32, again suggesting a birth date of 1877-1878, which is in line with the ship passenger list. His birthplace, as well as both of his parents' birthplaces, is given as Italy. He and Clementina had been married seven years, which suggests a marriage date of 1902-1903. It says he immigrated in 1893, but the ship passenger list gives his immigration year as 1907 (though we know he was in and out of the US prior to that). His naturalization status is given as Pa, which means he had filed his first set of papers for naturalization. He was a railroad worker who was out of work at the time of the census in April 1910. He could speak English and could now read and write, at least according to the census record.
Clementina was age 24, suggesting a birth date of 1885-1886. Her and her parents' birthplaces are given as Italy. She had given birth to three children, three of whom were still living, and who all appear to be enumerated here. It looks like Clementina ran the family-owned grocery store. This is one of the few times I've seen a married woman given an occupation title on a census record. This gives me the idea to look up the 1910 and surrounding years St. Louis City Directory, available from the FHL in Salt Lake City, to see if I can find the De Luca's store listed.
Daughter Mary is listed as age 5, suggesting a birth date of 1904-1905. Her birthplace is given as Italy, which agrees with the ship passenger list. It looks like her name was Americanized from Maria to Mary.
There are two new children, daughter Louisa (aka Elizabeth), age 1 year and 11 months, and son Julian (aka Julius), age 5 months. Louisa's age suggests a birth date of April or May 1908, and Julian's age suggests a birth date of September or October 1909. Both children were born in Missouri. It is important to note here that the official census day in 1910 was 15 Apr 1910, so everyone's age was supposed to be as of that date, though sometimes the age was given as of the actual date of the census taker's visit. It looks like the actual date of this visit was 16 Apr 1910, so there should not be large variance there.
The De Luca family seems to live in a neighborhood of lodging houses or hotels because their neighbors have several lodgers, and they have two, Paul and Lawrence Runcini. No relation to the Runcini's has yet been determined. It looks like Paul may have worked on the railroad with Peter. Paul was also an Italian immigrant.
As a reminder, it is always best to take information found in a census record with a grain of salt, especially if it does not seem to match up with other records. You never know who the informant was. It could have been a family member, but it may just as well have been a neighbor who was making his best guesses as to the relationships, names, and ages of the people next door. Perhaps the census taker had been to the home three times before and could not find anyone home and feeling pressured to have his enumeration complete by a certain date, asked the neighbor for information. In this case, everything matches pretty closely to other records, except the immigration year. This makes me wonder if it is slightly possible that Peter did come over in 1893 (he would have been about 16) and then returned to Italy. We know he was here in the US in 1905 when his brother, Marco, came to meet him. He then returned to Italy sometime before 1907, when he came back to the US with Clementina and Mary. What we don't know is how long he was here prior to 1905, though Steve Zulpo says he married Clementina about 1902 in Italy. It's possible he went back and forth several times between 1893 and 1907. I just haven't found any other passenger records yet.
Stay tuned for Peter's WWI draft registration card, which will be the topic of the next post.
Links to other posts in this series:De Luca Family: IntroDe Luca Family: Immigration RecordsDe Luca Family: WWI Draft RegistrationDe Luca Family: 1920 US CensusDe Luca Family: 1930 US CensusDe Luca Family: Death Records
This draft registration card gives Peter's birthday as 4 Oct 1875, which conflicts with what we've found so far in the 1910 US census and in the ship passenger list. These both suggested he was born in either 1877 or 1878. Was he trying to appear older in order to avoid the draft? Another important item to note is that it says he was a citizen of Italy. This means he had not been naturalized yet, though the 1910 census did say he had filed his first set of papers. Peter is now working as a self-employed farmer, and Clementina is listed as his closest living relative.
