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Bold textAntonio Viti was born in Abruzzo, Italy in 1857. We know that his mothers' name was Magdelina, but are still researching to find his father. We know that the family had a grist mill business and that about 1864 when war was breaking out in Italy, the family decided to send seven year old Antonio to America in order to keep him safe from the fighting.
We have not been able to find ship records for him, but we know that he traveled with cousins and was being sent to family in America. We believe that he entered the United States in the port of Philadelphia, Pa. only because that was the place that we find him as an adult, as well as there being only one Viti family in Philadelphia at the time. This needs to be verified and is being explored.
We know that his mother, Magdelina emigrated to the United States in 1886, as per the 1900 census records. We show no immigration for his father. So we know that Antonio was raised by relatives whom we are trying to find the history of.
We know that he married Mary Joyce of Westport, Co. Mayo Ireland, in Philadelphia, Pa. in 1886. The couple had three daughters, Margaret, born in Philadelphia in Oct. 1887, Hannah(Anna), born in Philadelphia, Pa. in Feb. 1888, and Mary, born in Philadelphia, Pa. in Dec. 1890.
In May of 1892, Mary had a miscarriage at 5mos. pregnancy. Baby boy, buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in So. Philadelphia, Pa. On June 6, 1892, Mary died from pneumonia and septicemia following the miscarriage. Her doctor was B. F. Nicholls at 705 Spruce St., Philadelphia, Pa. The family address at the time was 743 S. Seventh St., Philadelphia, Pa. Mary is buried in the Viti family lot in Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pa.
According to decendants of the family, before she died, Mary asked her younger sister, Bridget Joyce to take care of her girls. In order to do this Bridget subsequently married Antonio Viti in 1893 in Philadelphia.
Before the marriage and after Marys' death in June of 1892, Bridget took her sisters daughters to Ireland for a visit to her parents and relatives in Co. Mayo. Ship records document their return to the United States. Records show that Antonio Viti paid for his daughters passage, and that Bridgets' brother, John Joyce paid her passage.
Also the address for Bridget shows that the Joyce family resided on So. Seventh St. which is probably how the two families met.
Also, both Antonio Viti and John Joyce were both stone masons. The 1892 Philadelphia, Pa. city directory lists Antonio Viti, 742 S. Seventh St. as being a mason. Antonio also at one time owned a confectionary store in the area and also a tavern at So. Seventh and Washington Ave. Philadelphia.
In 1889, we know from land records that Antonio bought a 300 acre farm in Franklinville, N. J. in the Janvier section of the township.
The family also had a home at 140 Ritner St. in So. Philadelphia which was bought after Antonio and Bridget married. They retained the Ritner St. home and spent the winter months there, and stayed on the farm for spring planting, summer and autumn harvesting.
The home on the farm was a large three story structure, and the family
opened the home to travelers from Philadelphia to the New Jersey beaches as a sort of bed and breakfast enterprise. Since there were no automobiles in those days, the family put up the horses and buggies as well as the visitors. The property was on the corner of Tuckahoe and Coles Mill Rds. and the roads were dirt in those days.
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