QUILIETTI Maria Domenica or Eletta 1903-1927 Ellen Pellegrini.
Maria Domenica Quilietti was born in Castelvecchio Pascoli on 10 February 1903. Her birth caused a stir in the village as her mother Maria Alfonsa Domenica Quilietti was not married. Her uncle Giuseppe Quilietti was her sponsor and he brought her to Rhode Island with her mother soon after her birth. In Rhode Island her aunt Ermenia Quilietti adopted her. She and her husband Peter Dante [also first cousins from Castelvecchio Pascoli] adopted her as their own. She always knew her natural mother was Maria. Maria later married Alfredo Benabio and their descendants are still resident in the area.
Louis and Maria shared line. Guiliano Conti and Maria G Giovanelli making them second cousins x 1 removed.
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 village 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 Pellegrini family from Barga and surrounding Hamlets
Thanking Walt Gustafson for updated information January 2025
Ellen Quilietti Dante married in Rhode Island in the year 1925 to a handsome Italian whose parents were from the nearby ancestral village as her own, Barga. He was Louis Peter Pellegrini. They in turn had one son who they called Edward who was born on 31st August 1927 in Rhode Island. 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 on her recorded Death.
Louis Peter Pellegrini was the son of Pellegrino Pellegrini who was born in Barga in the year 1860. He died in Rhode Island in 1921. Louis’s mother was Elvira Gonnella 1865-1944 a descendant from the great Gonnella Clan also from the same area.
They married in the year 1891 in Barga. In the USA Census of 1900 it is recorded that he had first arrived in 1892 . The ship manifest shows Pellegrino and Elvira arriving in 1893. Their son Alberto was born in March 1893 therefore Pellegrino must have arrived back in Italy in the summer of 1892. All the rest of Pellegrino and Elvira’s children were born in Rhode Island.
Pellegrino’s father was Louigi Pellegrini and his wife was Marriann Arrighi, family who were also from Barga, Castelvecchio and surrounding hamlets.
1910 – family recorded in Rhode Island
Pellegrino’s brother Antonio arrived in the year 1909 and joined his brother, nieces and nephews. With him was his wife Umile Gonnella to whom he had been married for 32 years. She was perhaps the sister of Assunta. Three daughters Marianna, Lena and Carolina [Carrie] travelled with them. Their sons John emigrated in 1902, Luigi in 1907 and daughter Amelia Marganti in 1903. All of Antonio’s childrens were born in Italy.
The 1910 census gives us an insight into the immigration into America and the dates when they arrived. It seems Pellegrino and Elvira arrived in 1893. This census tells us they had been married for 17 years making their year of marriage also 1893. They had 5 children of which 4 remained alive in 1910. Pellegrino. At this time the family were living in Cato Avenue in Providence, Pawtucket Ward 3.
The Cato Hill Historic District is a residential historic area in central Woonsocket, Rhode Island. It consists of about 2-1/2 blocks of Church and Cato Streets, as well as the streets crossing them (Clarkin Lane and Boyden Street). The area, located on a hill just above Woonsocket’s downtown area, is a densely populated area built primarily between 1838 and 1875, during Woonsocket’s growth as a major textile processing center. Cato Hill is named for Cato Aldrich, an African American who purchased the land from the Arnolds who founded Woonsocket. The houses of the district exhibit vernacular forms of the architectural styles popular in the mid-19th century.
1920 sees the family Pellegrini still residing in Cato Avenue. Pellegrini was described as a print maker and son Louis was now a clerk in the Steel Mill.
He married in Ellen in the year 1922. She died in 1927 and was buried at Mount St. Helen’s Cemetery in Pawtucket.
LOUIS PELLEGRINI remarried after the death of Ellen in 1927
By the year 1930 he had married again and here we find them still in Cato Avenue, No. 36 with son Edward who was the only child of Louis and Ellen. He was now a foreman in a Metal Company.
His new wife was Marjorie Roberta Mason 1909-2000. She was born on 18 Oct 1909 Pawtucket, Rhode Island and died on 28 February 2000 in Stuart, Florida. Her family were embedded in America, her Mason ancestors arriving in the 1650s from Bolton in Lancashire, England. – probably the religious upheavels in England at that time.
They had four children, half siblings to older brother Edward – Janice, Meredith, Adrienne and Elaine.
By 1940 the family still in No 36 Cato Avenue with Albert Pellegrino next door at No.38. Both foremen in the Steel Mill. Albert earning 3100 dollars and Louis 2300. Daughter Elaine age 4 on the next page.
EDWARD PELLEGRINI – Son of Louis and Ellen
Then Army days age 18
Edward joined the Army after the second world war when he was only 18.
Edward married Barbara Mae Oswell when he was but a Student. You can see below lived in Dighton, Massachusetts in Wyola Road. Described as Students but now married already. They in due time had three daughters, Judy, Karen and Sandra.
1950
BROTHER – Albert Pellegrini and his wife Marianna Gonnella Pellegrini. He was a Foreman in the Steel Mill at this time. Their daughter Grace Pellegrini Paine and her husband George Paine.
Sister Nellie Pellegrini – unmarried who was a winder at the textile Mill
Also Louis Peter Pellegrini, age 47 also a Foreman at the Steel Mill. with his wife Marjorie and their four daughters, Adrienne, Elaine, Meredith and Janice. – This Louis Peter was Ellen’s Quilietti Dante’s husband
Meanwhile son Edward with wife Barbara and eldest daughter aJudith. Edward age 22 was a refrigerator repairman
1956 – Pellegrini clan gathering
Elaine, Janice, Sandra, Eddie, Meredith, Barbara, Judy, Karen, Robert Newton, Laurie Newton, Marjorie, Adrienne, Louis Peter Pelligrini
Photos also sent over with grateful thanks by Walt Gustafson who is Meredith’s husband,
The three girls at front are Sandra, Judy and Karen Pellegrini, the daughters of Edward Pellegrini.
Middle Row – Adrienne with Laurie. Barbara who was Edward or Eddie’s wife. Marjorie who was Louis’ wife. Eddie’s sister Meredith, WALT’S WIFE, sisters Elaine and Janice.
Back row Edward and Louis Pellegrini and Adrienne’s husband Robert Newton.
| Name | Edward Robert Pellegrini |
|---|---|
| Death Date | 29 Oct 2016 |
| Cemetery | Forest Chapel Cemetery |
| Burial or Cremation Place | Barrington, Bristol County, Rhode Island, United States of America |
| Edward was age 89 when he died |
1900 photo of Pellegrini Clan
This is an old image of Pellegrino’s Brother – Antonio Pellegrini, Carolina (Carrie), Umile Gonnella (Antonio’s wife) and Luigi (Luis or Gigi). – FRONT ROW
BACK ROW – Joseph, Emilia, John and Marriana Pellegrini. – photo forwarded from Walt Gustafson’
PAWTUCKET CEMETERY
1999 FAMILY WEDDING
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Photographed at Louis’ grandaughter Pamela’s wedding in November 1999 is Louis’ second wife Marjorie with their daugters and Eddie’s four half sisters, Janice, Meredith, Adrienne and Elaine.
IN MEMORY OF ELLEN QUILIETTI and her son EDWARD PELLEGRINI
It was only in 2014 after many years of searching that we have found this wonderful photograph of Ellen.
They in turn had three daughters Judy, Karen and Sandra.
Barbara with Eddie and a young Barbara from the Yearbooks
Edward’s second wife Joyce E Dunnigan
Joyce E. (Dunnigan) Pellegrini, 83, of Barrington, RI, passed away Saturday, October 8, 2022, at home.
She was the wife of the late Edward Robert Pellegrini.
Born in Fall River, MA, she was the daughter of the late Robert and Muriel (Boyce) Dunnigan.
Mrs. Pellegrini had worked as an administrative assistant for NE Telephone for over 30 years, retiring in 1988. She was a member of the Coast Guard Auxillary. She enjoyed golfing, knitting and boating.
She is survived by a nephew, Marc Saucier and his wife Catherine of Dracut, MA, two nieces, Laurie Pereira and her husband Joseph of Fall River, MA, and Lynn Nuttall and her husband Casey of Hingham, MA, five great nephews, four great nieces, and three step-daughters, Judith Nappi of Riverside, RI, Karen Johnson of Riverside, RI, and Sandra Bagwell of Bristol, RI. She was also the sister of the late Karen Dunnigan.
BARGA and CASTELVECCHIO and surrounding hamlets
ELLEN’S Natural Mother Maria Domenica Quilietti
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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