The Quilietti Family

ELLEN’S short life

Ellen or Maria Domenica Quilietti was born on 10th November 1903 in the village of Castelvecchio Pascoli in Barga, Tuscany in Italy.   She was baptised the next day with her uncle Giuseppe Quilietti as the sponsor in the Church of St. Nicolo’ in Castelvecchio Pascoli.   One  year later was the start of the grand-exodus of the last of the Quilietti Clan from Italy.

The family left the villages  in stages but after the death of Leonardo in 1904 it seems that the last of the Q children were ready to spread their wings, just like their elder siblings had done two decades earlier.

Her uncle Giuseppe was her sponsor when she was born and it was with him that she was taken to Rhode Island in 1904.

But when the family returned to Providence in 1904 it was Ermenia Quilietti  and her husband [cousin] Pietro Dante who helped bring  up the child they now called Ellen as their own.   This was before the births of their own children.

The Pelligrini family from Barga

Ellen married in 1925 to a handsome Italian whose parents were from the same ancestral village as her own.  He was Louis Peter Pelligrini. They in turn had one son who they called Edward who was born on 31st August 1927.  Soon thereafter and very tragically Ellen died on 7th September 1927 we believe of a dilated heart after the birth of her son.   Ermenia Quilietti Dante was given as her mother’s name.

Louis Peter  Pelligrini was the son of Pelligrino Pelligrini who was born in Barga in the year 1860-1921  Louis’s mother was Elvira Gonnella 1865-1944 a descendant from the great Gonnella Clan also from the same area.  It seems they were first in Rhode Island in the year 1893.  I can assume that Pelligrino travelled back and forth before finally settling here.

LOUIS PELLIGRINI remarried after the death of Ellen in 1927

A couple of years later Louis re-married and Edward was brought up away from the Quilietti / Dante families in Rhode Island.   In time he had many half-siblings.   Here is a photograph of his ‘mum’ Marjorie with some of her daughters.   Edward joined the Army during the second world war and was based at Ft. Devens, Massachusetts.  His civilian profession was given as ‘Tinsmith,  Coppersmith and  sheet metal worker.

   

We can see from the above census that the Pellegrini family was very much involved in the Woollen Mills where both father and son were foremen.

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There was a great clan Pelligrino in 1910 consisting of two older brothers, sons, nieces and nephews

Pelligrino’s father was Louigi Pelligrini and he was married to another local family who were also from Castelvecchio Pascoli.   Her name was Marriane Arrighi.   The whole area is steeped in the history of these families.

It seems the family moved to Rhode Island soon after they married and some of their children were born in the USA.   The archives tell us that Louis Peter’s year of immigration was 1907.   Pelligrino’s brother Antonio Pelligrini joined the family in 1909.

It was only in 2014 after many years of searching that we have found this wonderful photograph of Ellen.  

ELLEN’S Mother Maria Domenica Quilietti

Many members of this branch of the Pelligrini family settled in Rhode Island.

In 1905 Maria Domenica Quilietti, Ellen’s natural mother,  married another Italian Alfredo Benabio and their children came along the following year. They would have been her half-siblings

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