Charles Delicci
When Charles was born in Salerno, Italy, his given name was Angelo DiLisi. He and his parents, Domenico and Giuseppa, and younger brother, Carmine, changed their names when they arrived…
Read MoreHenry Augustus Creitz
Aniline Village is a little neighborhood in Claymont, New Castle County, Delaware and within shouting distance of the Pennsylvania state line. That was Henry’s official place of birth but within…
Read MoreRobert Joseph Valentine
Everybody called him Bobby, the youngest of five children whose father was Anthony Valentine, a firefighter for the city of Camden, New Jersey. Anthony and his first wife had three…
Read MoreThomas John Burns
There were three Burns boys growing up in the 1930s in a Philadelphia neighborhood called Southwark, and they attended Southwark School. The name dates back to the colonial era when…
Read MoreAlfred Herman Behnke, Jr.
Americans of German ethnicity faced various kinds of discrimination in the first half of the 20th century, which is why many of them changed their names. This family did not.…
Read MoreWilliam John Smith, Jr.
Bill’s parents were William Sr., born in 1887, and Mary Glasgow, born in 1893. Not much more is known about them other than Mary’s brief but prior marriage. She had…
Read MoreJohn Harold Austin
Three generations of this Philadelphia clan were named John H. Austin. The first was in the Civil War and belonged to two veterans organizations, the Grand Army of the Republic…
Read MoreHarold Burgess Taylor
Boston was the original home of the Taylor family but after Harold was born they moved south to the suburb of Quincy. By the 20th century, shipbuilding had replaced granite…
Read MoreFrederick Sinclair Wallace
Fred’s parents had been married 19 years with three teenagers by the time he was born. He was the last of nine children, but two boys who were twins only…
Read MoreEleanor Alice Bennett Pilcher
Joshua Bennett was Eleanor’s father, a carpenter specializing in repairs. After marrying Alice Carver in 1905, three children were born, of which Eleanor was the oldest. Her brother Clarence arrived…
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