Giuseppe Biundo (1872-1910) and Girolama Pardo

Giuseppe Biundo

Giuseppe Biundo was born in Cinisi in 1872 to Giuseppe Biundo and Giacoma Mangiapane.

I believe his father was a shepherd. I’ll be adding that document soon. I know the Impastato’s from Cinisi were shepherds also, and several of them immigrated to New Orleans from Cinisi around the same time as Giuseppe Biundo and were likely friends, especially as one of them was a witness on his marriage license.

Below is a copy of his baptism as recorded at Santa Fara Vergine church in Cinisi, Sicilia in June of 1872. His is the one on the top left. As these records were written in Latin, it lists his father as Joseph Biundo and his mother as Jacoba Mangiapane. (Females in Italy retained their maiden names when they married.)

New Orleans

Giuseppe Biundo declared on his Declaration of Intention that he had immigrated from Sicily to New Orleans in July of 1900 on the vessel Olbia. The passenger list for that particular voyage, however, is not available anywhere online for some reason, though passenger lists of other voyages from that time are online. (There are records available for other Biundo’s who immigrated to or through New Orleans. You can view their records here.)

As there was definitely a vessel named Olbia that arrived in New Orleans from Palermo in July of 1900 (and that is what he stated on his Declaration), that is most likely the correct ship and date for him even though we don’t currently have that particular passage list.

The Voyage

There were several articles written at that time about that ship’s voyage, as well as some about what they endured after arriving. If you’re interested in knowing more about it and reading some excerpts, you can do so here. There was even a baby born on that trip!

An artist did a sketch for one of the newspapers at the time of some of the passengers that arrived on that ship. I can’t say for certain this was him, though I do think it possibly looks like a slimmer younger version of him than the photo we have of him a few years later. Including it just in case. What do you think?

I thought the nose to right eyebrow seemed similar, with the right eye also being slightly different, as his appeared in the one photo I’ve seen of him (pictured at the top of this page). The photo would have been over three years later than this sketch since it was over three years from the time he arrived to the time Girolama arrived and she is with him in the photo. Since there’s no way to know for certain (120 years later), I decided to put it here anyway since he does look at least somewhat similar and I’d consider it a possibility.

Business

According to his granddaughter Connie, Giuseppe had wanted to marry Girolama Pardo (of San Cipirello, a town near Cinisi) before he left Sicily in 1900 and immigrated to America. Her parents wanted the marriage to wait though, to see first how things turned out in the United States.

So Giuseppe immigrated alone to New Orleans in July of 1900 and started business there. There were a lot of Sicilians at that time who had recently immigrated to New Orleans, many from the same area. Most of them lived in the Quarter at the time, often within blocks of one another, similar to proximity as in their homeland. In this way, they were able to help each other feel more comfortable and protected in the new land, and also were able to help each other get started in business or help with finding work.

Macaroni

I’d heard that he worked at a macaroni factory at one point. I know that Giuseppe Impastato who’d also immigrated from Cinisi worked briefly at a macaroni factory as well (prior to opening his own place which later became Napoleon House) so if so, it’s likely they worked at the same one as someone else from their hometown of Cinisi had a factory in the same neighborhood. (You can read more about that here – link soon.)

Imports

The farm laborers who’d immigrated from Sicily longed for the comfort and taste of the food from their homeland. Giuseppe was someone who helped them meet that need as he’d take imports to the farms with a horse and wagon. Connie spoke of it, and there were also wagons in his inventory.

Store

Having arrived in July of 1900, we know that Giuseppe was at the location of 1139 – 1141 Decatur Street at least by 1902 because he is listed in the City Directory each year from 1902-1910 as being at that address. He is listed under Grocer and also under saloon. Though it’s not that common to have that combination here now, it was at the time – and it still is in Italy. In some of the years, it is listed under Lunch Counter as well.

You can see screenshots of his name listed in the City Directories here.

Strawberry Farm

Though I’m not certain when he acquired it, we do know that in addition to his business on Decatur Street, he owned a functioning strawberry farm on forty acres of land near Independence. Sixteen of those acres had strawberry plants growing on them. There was also a house there, plus mules, horses, wagons, and other farming essentials.

Girolama Pardo

As Giuseppe was soon able to prove himself and in a relatively short time become successful, Girolama’s parents sent their son Calogero (Girolama’s brother) over to work with Giuseppe before finally sending Girolama over in 1903. (Her brother Giuseppe came over in 1904, and her father came and joined them in 1906.)

Girolama arrived in New Orleans October 1903. The image below is of her passenger record. She is on line # 22.

Girolama had begun this voyage on the 17th of September, and she was arriving now in a new land not having seen her brother in some time, and not having seen Giuseppe, her fiance, in three years.

At that time, they used to print articles in the newspaper telling about each passenger ship that had come in, describing some of what the voyage was like. You can read about Girolama Pardo’s particular voyage here.

As it says on the passenger record, she was going to stay with her brother Calogero Pardo. (Her wedding would take place the next month).

Marriage

Giuseppe Biundo married Girolama Pardo in New Orleans on October 25th, 1903.

Below is a copy of their marriage license, recorded on October 13th, 1903. Father Lorente was the priest. It states that Giuseppe Biundo was 31 years old at the time, son of Giuseppe Biundo and Giacoma Mangiapane.

It looks to me as if it is saying Girolama Pardo was 24 years old at the time, and she was the daughter of Cologero Pardo and Giuseppe Leone.
(Her passenger record in the month prior had stated that she was 26, so one of those records was incorrect unless I am reading the handwriting of one of them incorrectly.)

The witnesses for Giuseppe and Girolama’s marriage license were Vito Ruffino, Giuseppe Impastato, and Calogero Pardo (Calogero was Girolama’s brother. Her father, also Calogero, immigrated later in 1906).

Below is the document that states they were married on October 25th, 1903 and again confirms their parent’s names.

Vito Ruffino and Antonino Sclafani were the witnesses on this one. They were also from Cinisi. (And Giuseppe and Girolama got their bread from Ruffino’s Bakery as shown later in their Inventory.)

Decatur Street

Though the picture below was taken much later, it is of the building they lived in at 1139-1141 Decatur. The store was the bottom floor, and they lived above. At the time, it was at the corner of Decatur and Hospital Street, though Hospital Street has since been renamed Governor Nicholls.

In 1906, Girolama’s father, Calogero Pardo immigrated and came to live with them. Likely the mother, Giuseppa Leone, had passed by then, and Calogero came to join his children who were already living in New Orleans.

1910

In this 1910 census record, Joseph (Sr) is listed as being 38 years old. It says he immigrated in 1900, spoke English, and was a retail and wholesale merchant. It says his wife, Girolama, was 32 years old and had immigrated in 1903. Their son, Joseph Jr, was a year and a half old. (Girolama was pregnant with Jacomina at that time; she was born the following December.) Girolama’s father was also listed as living with them. It says he was 60 years old, had immigrated in 1906, and was a retired merchant.

Giuseppe (Joseph) Biundo died later that year. According to his obituary (pictured below), he passed on Monday, September 19th, 1910 at 11:30 a.m. It says he was 40 years old, but he was actually 38.

The obituary also states that relatives, friends, and family as well as the Christopher Colombo Grove U.A.O.D. were invited to attend the funeral on Tuesday.

(U.A.O.D is the United Ancient Order of Druids. In my research, I found there were actually numerous Druid groups in New Orleans at that time, and druids were nothing like they are now. They were organizations for professionals who networked together, similar to how Knights of Columbus and other organizations did; however Knights of Columbus was still fairly young then.)

At the time of his death, as mentioned previously, he also owned a strawberry farm near Independence, Louisiana.

Independence

As you can see in the screenshot below, the farm was on forty acres of land, sixteen of those acres with strawberry plants growing on them.

They also had a house there, three outhouses, two mules, three horses, two wagons, plows, and more.

If you’d like to see Inventory of their store on Decatur and of their farm near Independence, you can click here.
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When Giuseppe (Joseph) Biundo died on September 19th, 1910, his son Joseph (Joe) was almost 2 years old.

His wife, Girolama, gave birth to their daughter, Jacomina, about 2 and a half months later.

Sometime after that, they moved to Independence. According to Jacomina’s daughter, Connie, they were a little further out of town at first, and Joe Jr. used to have to walk through the woods to school. But then in 1915, Girolama married John Genovese, and so at that point they moved into town to his house.

John Genovese was widowed too. Also living with them according to the 1920 census were Martin Genovese, Carleen, Cecil, Tony, Sam, Charles, and Felicie. (You can see that record here.)

Girolama passed away in May of 1968.

Note: I have put her name as Girolama here because all of her documents that I’ve seen spell it that way (marriage license, marriage record, passenger ship record, social security) and that is the way the name is spelled in Sicily. However, phonetically, Gerolama does sound the same, and as her obituary was spelled with it that way, it may have been the way she chose to spell it.