The Palladino / Pauldine Family in America

Our Family's Journey Through Time - circa 1696 to present

Palladino / Pauldine Family
Hoetjes / Hoedjes Family

Surnames

Welcome to our newly revised and updated genealogy site!

First select your language tab; English, Italian, Dutch.

We're so pleased you dropped in to visit our site. We've worked for over 30 years on this family and its connections to our ancestors. Since the First Edition of The Palladino Family in America book was first published in 2004 we uncovered a treasure trove of new information relating to the Palladino / Pauldine family genealogy and have now traced and factually documented the family tree all the way back to the late 1600’s and have added hundreds of additional family members. Thus the 1st edition is now woefully out-of-date and no longer in print. Inasmuch as family history research is a rather open-ended task that is never really completed the 2nd Edition of The Palladino Family in America, was published and may be ordered at Barnes & Noble bookstores or on Amazon.com. The book is a whopping 436 pages beginning with our ancestors in the feudal Kingdom of Naples and Two Sicilies. Italy was not yet a country.

Due to space limitations the 2nd Edition contains only the direct descendants of Michele Palladino, circa 1695. There are several thousand documented sources and hundreds of newspaper clippings of births, engagements, weddings, obituaries, funerals, and photographs that because of their sheer volume were not included in the book but may be found and downloaded from this Palladino / Pauldine family website.

You may wonder why the Hoetjes family link tab in the upper right is included in this Palladino family tree website. The website author Peter Hoetjes married into the Palladino clan and fell in love not only with his wife, but also with her entire colorful Italian family. My genealogical research for both families has been a labor of love.


The Chosen

We are the chosen. In each family there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. To put flesh on their bones and make them live again. To tell the family story and to feel that somehow they know and approve. Doing genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, instead, breathing life into all who have gone before. We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have one. We have been called, as it were, by our genes. Those who have gone before cry out to us: Tell our story. So, we do. In finding them, we somehow find ourselves. How many graves have we stood before now and cried? I have lost count. How many times have we told the ancestors, "You have a wonderful family; you would be proud of us.". How many times have we walked up to a grave and felt somehow there was love there for us? We cannot say. It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to who I am, and why I do the things I do. The photo is the sanctuary of the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore in Campobasso, Italy where many of our oldest Palladino family forefathers were christened, married, and worshiped. This ancient parish church is located within the medieval walls of the old city and on the same hill dominated by the Monforte castle.

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Family Name Origin

photo: Salvatore C. Pauldine & Florence Lyda Pero Wedding 1936

The family surname is directly derived from the Italian first name "Paladino" and its French language counterpart “Paladin”. The first recorded Paladino was a medieval knight and the nephew to the Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, 742 – 814 AD. Paladin was one of the twelve knights in attendance on Charlemagne.

The original family name back in Italy was Palladino. Following the immigration of numerous Palladino's to America late in the nineteenth and early twentieth century the name for those that emigrated to Oswego, New York evolved to Pauldine. It was thought by many that government officials at Ellis Island changed many last names because of difficulties in proper surname pronunciation. That however was rarely the case. Many of the immigrants themselves, in their struggle to adapt, moderated their Italian identity and changed their names to more American-sounding ones. We surmise, that in this circumstance, that local Oswego employers, following the new immigrants employment in their new jobs in America, altered and anglicized the family surname to Pauldine.

Other related Palladino family from the Campobasso Italy region retained their original family name and settled in Elmira and Syracuse, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Cumberland, Wisconsin areas. There are numerous included names of Paladino's spelled with one L although we have not yet uncovered any direct relationship to those spelled with two L's.

I hope that The Palladino Family in America website and family book will be the object of conversation at family reunions, holidays, weddings and other gatherings.

Family updates, histories, and photo's are welcomed and may be sent to: Peter A. Hoetjes, 61 New Milford Road East, Bridgewater, Connecticut 06752-1122 E-mail: TheBizWriter@yahoo.com

Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me: I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Emma Lazarus. 19th century American poet. “The New Colossus” Printed on the base of the Statue of Liberty

Meet Our Ancestors

Click on the tabs below to reveal the contents of the tab.

Giambatista Palladino 1848 - 1918 Italia Passport photo

Giambatista Palladino 1848 - 1918 Italia Passport photo

His Story

Rachele Palladino (born IadIano) 1857 - 1925

Rachele Iadiano Palladino 1857 - 1925 Italia Passport photo

Her Story

Gianbaptist "John" Palladino 1878 - 1952

Gianbaptist "John" Palladino (1878 - 1952) emigrated to the USA in 1907 and settled in Elmira, NY a little over 100 miles south of Oswego. NY where his first cousin Giambattista Palladino (1848 – 1918) lived.

See Gianbaptist

Pauldine Siblings, 1937, Oswego, NY

Love Birds - Easter 1937

See Sam Pauldine

Gianbaptist "John" Palladino 1878 - 1952

Gianbaptist "John" Palladino and his bride Lucia Picciano wedding picture 11 Oct 1901 in Campobasso six years before they emigrated to America.

See Gianbaptist

The Beginnings - Campobasso, Kingdom of Naples and Two Sicilies

Campobasso, birthplace of many of our ancestors, sits high in the Appenines. The old medieval city tumbles down a severely sloped hill, capped by the imposing Castello Monforte at 2588 feet above sea level.

Campobasso's known history has its beginning some 1300 years ago as a village that sat at the intersection of three important "tratturi" - ancient pathways used by cattle herders, traders and others moving through the area.

Palladino / DeSantis Wedding 1904

Giovanni "John" Alessandro Palladino and Guiseppa Marie "Josephine" DeSantis wedding 23 Apr 1904 Oswego, NY

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Discover Our Family - Riviting Recountings

Giambattista Palladino 1848 - 1918

Jimmy Stassi tells the distressing story about Giambattista Palladino’s first attempt to emigrate from Italy. Giambattista, his wife Rachele, their 18-year-old daughter Rosa (Rosina), and their 26-year-old son Libero (Albert) were about to depart from Naples on October 2, 1916 onboard the ship Regina d’Italia. His sister, Marianine was listed on the official papers as his nearest relative to be left behind in Italy. Alas, their son Libero, who was mentally handicapped, caused a major ruckus. When Italian officials asked Libero if he wished to leave Italy, he decidedly and emphatically responded “No!” His now distraught father then even tried to bribe the official civil authorities to permit them to board the vessel, but they would not budge. They were thus all turned away and Giambattista and family returned to Campobasso, no doubt in low spirits. Ellis Island records show that the Regina d’Italia sailed from Naples that day bound for New York without them.

The Regina d’Italia ship manifest reveals that Giambattista and family were originally traveling with Annita diTota, age 22. They all had listed in their official papers that their final destination was to be 171 Liberty Street in Oswego, New York, their nephew Nunzio diTota’s home. Annita listed Nunzio as her uncle and that she had left behind a brother, Giovanni.

We must assume that Annita continued her journey without the Giambattista Palladino family when they were denied passage as the three Palladino family members had had their names prominently crossed out on the ship’s manifest while hers was not.

Giambattista and Rachele, now back in Campobasso, probably then considered and ultimately decided to leave Libero behind in Italy and arranged with one of his daughters, either Marianna (Petrarca) or Concetta (Ciarlariello) to care for him. Some six weeks later, in November 1916, now sailing on the ship San Gugliemo, Giambattista, Rachele and Rosa arrived on November 29, 1916 at Ellis Island in New York harbor in the United States. Under their ethnicity was written “Southern Italian”. Once again they had listed their destination as Oswego, but this time they indicated that they were traveling to their son Giovanni’s home located at 191 Liberty Street in Oswego, New York. They now stated that their nearest relative left behind in Campobasso, Italy was their son Libero.

So you see. Jimmy’s story was true and factually authenticated!

Rachele Iadiano 1857 - 1925

According to Dominic “Donny” Santore, grandson of Giambattista and Rachele, his grandparents owned a bakery in Italy. They would send their children, including Dominic’s mother Giuseppina (Josephine), to deliver the fresh baked bread.

According to Jimmy Stassi, the homestead, which was somewhere outside Campobasso has been torn down. Giambattista and Rachele were originally from Ferrazzano, a small picturesque hilltop town (population today, about 3,000) a mile or two south of Campobasso.

At Ellis Island, Rachele’s surname was corrected in heavy print to Iadiano. The records at St Joseph’s R.C. Church in Oswego, NY, which were written in Italian, show that at the marriage of her son Raffaele Palladino, she is listed as Rachele Adiano, but at the marriage of Michele Palladino her name is given as Alliano.

Nothing surpasses seeing an actual historical record made at the time of the event or viewing the data given by the person himself. Seeing many of these same spellings in the original indexes also helps to confirm spellings which can be hard to decipher in the original cursive. Many of us that have researched the family history believe that Rachele's surname was properly spelled Iadiano. To further bolster our reasoning, historical archives have listed other Iadiano people coming from Ferrazzano in official U.S. immigration records as well as official Italian civil records. The most compelling proof however, viewed from the original Ellis Island immigration record for Rachele, shows very clearly and distinctly that the record taker made an initial mistake in the surname spelling and then actually corrected it with heavy lettering which now definitively reveals the proper I-a-d-i-a-n-o spelling. It is believed that the Alliano, Adiano, and other similar misspellings came from English speakers trying to decipher Italian speakers.

Rachele Iadiano stated she was born in Ferrazzano, Italy on her Ellis Island immigration record. Jeanne DeSantis’ husband Tom's grandfather Michaele Palladino/Pauldine always told her that he was from Ferrazzano, and not Campobasso. Michaele's wife Lucia was a Ciarlariello whose father Raffaele was originally from another hilltop town near Campobasso named Fossalto. Rachele Iadiano’s mother, Mariegiuseppa Notartomaso may also have immigrated to America. Italian women often gave their maiden name upon entering the country. On April 3, 1899 a woman with this name passed through Ellis Island going to live with her sons Giuseppe Carmine Iadiano and Luigi Iadiano, both of New York City. Other records reveal that Rachele had two brothers with the identical names.

Gianbaptist "John" Palladino

1878 - 1952

Giambattista Palladino (1848 – 1918) emigrated from Campobasso and went to live with his son Giovanni in Oswego, NY. His first cousin Gianbaptist "John" Palladino emigrated to the USA in 1907 and settled in Elmira, NY a little over 100 miles south of Oswego.

Ship travel to America

Giovanni Alessandro Palladino immigrated to America aboard this ship. Built by John Elder & Company, Glasgow, Scotland, 1882. 4,920 gross tons; 418 feet long; 50 feet wide. Steam triple expansion engine, single screw. Service speed 16 knots. 1,313 passengers (90 first class, 1,223 third class). Built in 1882 and originally named the Stirling Castle. Thomas Skinner & Company, British flag service. Sold to Italian owners in 1883 and renamed Nord America. The vessel was scrapped in 1911.

Lucia Ciarlariello

Lucia, age twenty-eight, left Naples aboard the vessel Citta di Napoli. She arrived at Ellis Island on December 3, 1903. Lucia Ciarlariello was sent to America with her brother Michaele. Both families back in Italy had arranged her soon-to-be marriage to Michaele Palladino. In her official immigration record she states that she is "affianced" to Michaele! Those were the days! Years later when a grandson asked her what it was like to marry a man you didn't know she just said, "Well, that's just how it was done, and nobody thought anything about it."

There are two Ciarlariello - Palladino marriages: Lucia “Lucy” Ciarlariello and Michele “Mike” Palladino in Oswego, and Mike's sister Concetta Palladino and Dominico Ciarlariello back in Italy.

Constanzo "Thomas" DeSantis 1854 - 1951

While still in Italy he had been writing to a friend in America when he decided to come to America himself to check it out. Following his arrival and obtaining a job he saved up enough money and in time returned to Campobasso to get his wife and two children and then returned to the U. S. He finally settled permanently in Oswego, NY in the early 1890's and worked, like many of his friends, for the railroad. He thought Oswego seemed a lot like Campobasso . . . little did he know then about Oswego's record snowfalls! Later his older brother Domenic DeSantis followed him, as did his good friend Giambattista Palladino, and several of Giambattista’s children.

Constanza's brother, Domenico “Dominick” DeSantis married Lucia “Lucy” Palladino in the mid- 1890's in Italy, one of the older children of Giambattista Palladino and Rachele Iadiano.

Constanza's daughter Guiseppa “Josephine” married Giovanni “John” Palladino, a son of Giambattista and Rachele “Rachel” in 1904 in Oswego.

Constanza's grandson Francis DeSantis married Florine Pauldine who is Giambattista and Rachele's granddaughter. Bear in mind now that her uncle married his aunt!

Jeanne DeSantis once stated “You don't even want me to tell you about all the intermarriages I found in the records back in Italy! With all this going on I begin to worry about my children's health, mental and otherwise.”






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