The Moscati’s appear to share ancestral ties with the Ursitti family, as does my own line. Filomena Ursitti is my 2nd great grandmother. Michele’s grandmother’s maiden name was Ursitti. Additional research into my Ursitti ancestry is needed before I can connect our dots. 

Ron wrote: “Michele and Carmina Moscati emigrated from Italy around 1901, likely leaving from Naples aboard a ship to New York City. They lived in NYC for about 15 years and the family received citizenship on May 16,1910. 

In 1915 the Moscati family moved to a farm near Silver Creek, N.Y. outside of Buffalo. The farm was owned by Carmina Leone’s family. They eventually left the farm and bought some property which included a large building with two stores and an upstairs apartment in Niagara Falls on Main Street near Ontario Ave.

There for many years they operated the stores which included a music store where they sold piano player roles, records, etc. The second store was a tobacco and grocery store which was connected to the music store by a two step passageway inside.

Michele was a very generous and likable man who became a padrone for the many immigrants arriving in Niagara Falls. Padrone in Italian means owner or in slang “the top guy”.

He did well in business but hit the “jackpot” when the railroad that went across the Whirlpool Rapids Bridge to Canada was forced to buy his property that stood near the tracks. There had been many deaths of people trying to walk across the tracks and public opinion made the railroad decide to build a viaduct at this crossing. Today that viaduct is located on what was the original Moscati property.

Michele then moved his family and opened two stores on Highland Ave. in Niagara Falls. The family lived above the stores until he built a large stone house on Grove Ave., off of Highland Ave. Today that old stone house, two and a half stories high and boarded up, still sits abandoned on Grove Ave off of Highland Ave.

The family was prospering now and Michele became even more generous to the Italian immigrants living in the area. He loaned and gave money outright to those that needed help. He trusted the people and had faith in that they would repay what he would give them.Unfortunately, the great depression came along in the 1930’s and he lost most of his fortune when the people he helped were unable to pay back the money he had loaned them. He ended up having a stroke in 1932 that left him without speech and with a shuffle to his walk. He died from a second stroke in 1935.

Antonette and Leonora told of walking across Niagara Falls trying to collect the debts owed to the family, but with little success. Eventually the children went their own ways with their families. Carmina went to live with her daughter Lenna’s family who stayed in Niagara Falls along with Leo and Lucio’s families. Tony, Antonette, and Leonora lived in New York City with their families. The sisters had all married the children of fellow immigrants from the Abruzzi region of Italy.”

Ron is no longer with us but he was very invested in genealogy. Ron pointed me to a document by Graham Millar found in the digital records at Buffalo State University titled “Edison Street Baptist Church, The First Italian Baptist Church In The United States“.  You can download the PDF to read the document. In part Graham discusses the origins of Pescasseroli and Opi, how the village came to be divided into two groups—Roman Catholics and Protestants as well as why so many Italians immigrated to the United States. You’ll see many of our family names in his document. 

One last document you might find interesting is a newspaper article I found from the Buffalo Courier Express 1908. You will need to enlarge the PDF to read the article. A whole page is dedicated Italian immigrants living in Buffalo, among them a large community from the town with “the musical name” of Pescasseroli. The article tells a story of how Pescasseroli’s name originated. Of course, it began with a love story. The first immigrant to the area in 1881 was Cesidio Saltarelli. The next year several other families joined him: Ursitti, Gentile, Notarantonio, Finamore, Sabatin and Daddario. In the Buffalo 1912 directory Cesidio was living at 50 Roma Ave and was a laborer. 

Thank you to the Moscati family for their story and photos.