The Tragic Flood of 1863
One of the stories that my dad felt compelled to tell me over and over again was about his great uncle Giovanni D'Elia. I believe he thought that this bit of information could only be kept alive, and thus the memory of his great uncle, if he told the story to his own children.
Dad always told it the same way. He would start by describing how his grandfather (Giambattista) walked from his home (Piscioni) down to where the Cotugni path met the Paola-Fuscaldo road to give his brother, Giovanni, a haircut. By the time he had finished cutting his brother's hair, the light rain turned into a severe downpour with powerful gusting winds. Giovanni asked Giambattista to spend the night, but Giambattista decided to chance it in the heavy rain. Sometime in the early morning hours, the river Laponte, on whose banks rested the stone house of Giovanni, became a raging torrent, and dislodged the foundation of the house. When it was all over, the house was washed away with Giovanni and his nine children. All were lost to the angry river, except his wife, Rosa.
This was all dad knew, except that the surviving Rosa was shunned by the local folks who could not accept her survival as a miracle. Instead, Rosa was irrationally held accountable for the tragic event. Dad said that her hair was cut off, short to her scalp, perhaps by the "mob"and that this was enforced for some time. Later, she remarried.
I can't tell you how many times I had heard this story from the 1950's to the 1980's. Then, in the Spring of 1999, on a trip to Fuscaldo with my brother Frank, his two daughters, Donna and Mary, and my sister Rose, I was given a book by the Scarcelli priest, Don Carlo. The book was entitled, Fuscaldo: Antiche Memorie, and on page 153, I found this "death notice" under the family heading of Elia. Note the part contained in parenthesis.
ELIA
Vedi DE ALIA - Elia Gaspare morto il 1700, abitazione "SOTTO IL TORRIONE" - {Elia Joannes di anni 55, Aloisius di anni 19, Concepta di anni 18, Franciscus di anni 17, Maria Josepha di anni 16, Paschalina di anni 15, Philumena di anni 14, Rosina di anni 13, Magdalena di anni 11, Marta di anni 10, tutti con abitazione "FIUME DELLA PONTE" morti il 17 ottobre 1863.}
I was stunned by the words, and had to read it over several times.
The names in the death notice are in Latin. It tells of a man, Giovanni Elia, and his nine children (complete with names and ages) who died on October 17, 1863. It tells of a house being lost and names the river Laponte. No mention is made of a dead spouse who appears to have survived.
In addition, as shown in this citation and in others, it became clear to me that our name, D'Elia has been spelled, De Alia, Di Alia, De Elia, and Elia. These variants appear to have co-existed among our ancestors who lived at the same time, but never realized the differences in their legally recorded names as they were illiterate. Whoever recorded births, deaths, baptisms and marriages wrote the name as he heard it pronounced. There was no double checking. For example, What's your name? My name is Joe Smith. The person hears and writes . . .Chow Smid.
As my father did with me, I will tell my children this story, and I will include the new information I have found.
