In 1871, Maria Concetta Mascara (Concetta) married Gabriele Fragale, in her home village of Accaria, a locality of the Town of Serrastretta, in the province of Catanzaro, the governing province of the region of Italy called Calabria. Concetta was the oldest of five known children, all born in Accaria, to Michele Mascaro and Caterina Citino. The others were named Felice Antonio, Rachela, Giovanni and Palma. Gabriele Fragale and his parents Angelo Fragale and Maria Lucia lived in the neighborhood called Quinzi, or Accaria Palmatico, less than a mile from Accaria itself. Gabriele had at least one brother, and I think that the children of that brother make up some of the Fragale cousins scattered around Pennsylvania. Help, anyone?

Due to overpopulation, and, especially in southern Italy, poverty, there was a massive exodus of Italians to places like America, Argentina and Brazil, beginning about 1880 and lasting several decades. A majority of these were men, and most stated a desire to return to Italy with money earned overseas. In reality, less than half ever returned to Italy permanently. Many sent for their wives and children after getting established.

Gabriele and Concetta Fragale had eight children that I know of, and all of those eventually came to America. My great aunt Irene thinks there were more, as many as twelve, and I would hope that at least someone stayed in Italy near the parents. They all departed from Naples, about 150 miles from home, and I assume that they travelled to the nearest town that had a railroad station, and took the train. Accaria is a few dozen miles, by road, from the sea, and I wonder how many of them had ever seen the Mediterranean Sea before their departure, much less Naples. After a journey of three weeks or so, most arrived in New York.

I have not yet found an Ellis Island record of my great grandfather Mike's voyage, but if he made the trip in 1900, then he was about sixteen years old. I think he travelled alone, with his possessions in a wooden chest which I now own. He would probably have met his brother Angelo in America. If he made the trip two years later, as one census document indicates, he would still have been a teenager, but by then he had two brothers in America, Angelo and Antonio, along with his sister Maria Francesca (Mary) and her husband Serafino.

Serafino worked in a quarry until 1903, and then as a rail inspector for the Pennsylvania Railroad. During this time he purchased a farm near Rosedale. The family, eventually with seven children, grew various crops, including mushrooms, which would soon involve many other family members. Serafino helped other immigrants while getting on their feet in the new world. The 1910 census lists four of the Fragale brothers living on the farm: Frank, railroad worker, Antonio, trolly worker, Jerrado, trolly worker and Louie, greenhouse worker. That 1910 census also lists an Angelo Fragale as a two year old son, but it seems that the boy referred to was really Charles Leo.

Many of these facts come from Melania Ruggieri Eapen's Early History of the Serafino Leo Family / Personal Memories.

Angelo Fragale was born Francesco Fragale, but there was a dispute of some sort and his mother decided to call him Angelo. In 1897, he came to America and might have stayed with his cousin John near Manistique, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. He worked for a lumber company while there. Francesco Fragale (Angelo) arrived again in America, accompanied by his cousin Pasquale Citino, on April 24, 1906, on the ship Louisiana. His destination was Kennett Square, to meet up with his brother Antonio. He is listed as "non immigrant alien", and the manifest says that he had been in America before, in 1897. He lived with the Serafino Leo family in 1910 (see above). According to his daughter Dolly, he returned to Italy in 1912 to marry her mother, Maria Aiello.

Angelo returned to America in 1913, according to the 1920 census. His 1918 draft card says that he worked for Yeatman's, a grower of roses in Kennett Square. His wife Maria and daughter Concetta arrived from Italy on December 5, 1919, on the ship Patria. Eventually Angelo and Maria had four more children. According to Dolly, the family always lived in Kennett Square, for many years in a house on Cypress Street.

Josephine Fragale married Pietro Citino. According to the 1930 census, Pietro (Peter) arrived in America in 1901, and Josephine in 1907 or 1908. According to Peter and Josephine's daughter Helen, her parents were friends back in Italy. Peter settled in Kennett Square, and when Josephine arrived in America, through New York, they were married in a cathedral in Philadelphia. They moved to Leominster, Massachusetts, where they had friends, and their first three children were born there. Helen said that they used to say that their father "helped build the roads in Leominster." The family then relocated to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, where the other two children were born. Peter worked in a greenhouse for a while, and then bought a farm on Rosedale Road, just further out of Kennett Square than the Leo Farm. Eventually he went into the mushroom business until he retired. Helen still lives in the farmhouse, as of 2010. A letter she wrote to me desrcibes growing up on the Citino Family Farm.

Antonio Fragale accompanied his sister Mary Leo to America, arriving February 9, 1901 on the Furst Bismarck. The ship's manifest lists him as having "poor physique", and he is identified as Serafino Leo's brother-in-law. He is listed along with three other brothers in the 1910 census, living on the Leo farm and working on the "trolley road". The manifest of the ship SS Canada, arriving in New York on September 11, 1908, lists an Antonio Fragale, 23 years old, and his wife Angela, 20 years old. He is travelling to meet up with Serafino Leo. The birth years for Antonio do not match up well, and this is probably another one for the "cousins" list. When Giuseppe Fragale arrived in America in 1920 (see below), the manifest shows a relative in the old country was his brother Antonio. Antonio had returned to Italy by then, and when he could not find work there, he moved his family to Argentina, where I assume he lived out the remainder of his life.

Michele Fragale (Mike Fragile, my great grandfather) arrived in America in either 1900 or 1902, depending on which census document you read, but Pennsylvania was not in the cards for him. I don't know how much time he spent in Chester County, but he wound up near Manistique, Upper Michigan, staying with his cousin, John Fragale. That didn't work out, and Mike moved fifty miles southwest to Escanaba, Michigan. He lived there the rest of his life, marrying Emma Leisner and having three daughters. He worked until his retirement for the railroad on the Escanaba ore docks. You can read the big story here: The Fragale Family in Escanaba.

Geraldo Fragale had a common law marriage with a Scottish woman named Agnes. His name might have been Jerrado, Gerardo, Gerando or Geraldo, but in America he was Jerry. He arrived in America on March 1, 1905 on the Citta del Torino to meet up with Antonio Fragale in Kennett Square. Jerry is one of the four brothers living on the Leo farm in the 1910 census. On June 29, 1913 he arrived in America again on the SS Louisiana. The manifest lists his mother as Concetta, his destination as Kennett Square and his brother Angelo as his contact in the US. He lived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a time, and registered for the draft there in 1918. The 1920 census form says he worked in a paper mill. and lived in a boarding house in Milwaukee's third ward. By 1930, however, the census shows him back in Kennett Township, listed right after the Serafino Leo family.

Luigi Fragale (Louis, Louie) married Catherine Fernandes in the early 1920s. They had two children, Mary (Nina) and Louis Jr., and lived in a farmhouse between the Leo farm and the Citino farm on Rosedale Road. By 1930, however, Louis was a widower, and eventually Nina was raised by the Leo family, while Louis Jr. went to live with Fernandes relatives. Louis spent some time in California, and at one point worked as a gardener for Hollywood star Jimmy Durante. He eventually returned to Pennsylvania, and married a woman named Mary Candelora. They lived in a bungalow across the road from the Leo farm. Louis grew roses in an attached greenhouse. In 1942, his draft card lists his employer as P.J. Yeatman, Birch Street. This might be the greenhouse where he lived, but Yeatman's had several locations, and this might one closer to town, or in it. What is called Rosedale Road outside of Kennett Square is called Birch Street in town. Angelo's daughter Dolly says that Angelo and Joseph owned the greenhouses out near the Leo farm, and they sold them to Yeatman's. They didn't know much about growing roses, but growing roses was the Yeatman's specialty.

Giuseppe Fragale arrived in America on October 4, 1220, on the ship SS Canada. The ship's manifest lists a relative in the old country, his brother Antonio. He went to Kennett Square and moved in with his brother Angelo, intending to start one of the first mushroom farms in the United States. He contacted a family acquaintance from the old country, John Fazio, interested in marring one of his four daughters. John offered Rose Fazio to him , and they were married in 1927. Married, Giuseppe bought a property with a small house on Hillendale Road. He added to the house, and three of his four children were born there. That house survived until 2015, when it almost completely burned to the ground.

More Fragales and a few Citinos

In Michigan, John had a second family with a French-Canadian woman named Agnes (2-19-1881 to 10-5-1973). They had seven children: Irene, Albert, Mary, Amelia, Gladys, Rose and Lloyd.

Later in life, upon learning of his Italian wife's death, John made his marriage to Agnes official.

John was described as a cousin to my great grandfather Mike Fragale, which would mean that his father was a brother to Gabriele Fragale. What drew him to Michigan we may never know, but we do know that Angelo Fragale worked nearby for a while, perhaps living with him, and later Mike Fragale stayed there, before moving on to Escanaba.

Mary Fragale, John's daughter, came to America with her son Giovanni Citino on the same voyage as Angelo's wife Maria and daughter Concetta, in 1919. Mary was married to Pasquale Citino, who was a brother to Peter Citino, Josephine Fragale's husband. Pasquale had arrived in 1906 with his cousin Angelo Fragale (Francesco). Mary and Pasquale (Pat) settled in Cleveland, Ohio, along with two more of Peter's brothers from Italy, Antonio Citino (Tony) and Michele Citino (Mike).

There is a different Francesco Fragale listed in the 1910 census, living in Norristown, Pennslyvania. I'm putting him on the list of "cousins".

Filippino Fragale (born 9/20/1885) is another one for the cousins list. He's on ship's manifests in both 1922 and 1932, heading to Warren, Pennsylvania. His 1942 draft card lists him as a Kennett Square resident, employed by P.J. Yeatman, Birch Street. Louis's 1942 draft card shows the same employer and address, so they worked together.

Help Anyone????????