Manzelli Mausoleum

Thanks to Angela's generosity and skeleton key skills, we were able to find and get inside the Manzelli mausoleum recently.  It is, as Marilyn told me, "a very special place" and I'm very glad I was able to be part of the field trip out there for a visit. 

I remember wondering out loud about how the mausoluem came to be built as the patricarchs were barbers, junk dealers and priests.  So I went back and re-read Marilyn's letters and this is what she had to say:  "...when the ill mother came to America Fr. Pasquale took care of her at St. Joseph's Rectory in New Rochelle.  In the meantime the three brothers decided to build a family mauseleum at Calvary Cemetery where the whold family could be buried.  It is a marble chapel with 4 tombs on each side and an altar and stained glass window of St. Joseph.  Underneath the floor there are 4 tombs on each side and then 4 more fit in the middle.  Then there are 18 graves outside in the dirts.  When Marguerite died the mauseleum was finished and she was buried there.  ....When I was in Pietraroia I visited the cemetery where Andrew and his daughter Marguerite are buried.  I picked up some pebbles and brought them to the altar at Calvary."  The three brothers she refers to must be your great grandfather Joseph, his brother the barber Giacomo (who lived with Joseph and his family) and the priest Pasquale.  They certainly built a fine family remembrance. 

Some of us were wondering about some of the names listed there as they were unfamiliar, especially Delorise Manzelli

Of course I could not resist doing a little bit of research into this after I came home.  And it is developing into an intriguing story--maybe.  Delorise might be the daughter of a 4th Manzelli brother Michael (or Michelangelo).  The 1930 census lists a Michael Manzelli family in Queens with mother Amelia and children Marguerite, Deloris and sister in law Adela (Amelia's sister).  Deloris is listed as 21 years old; immigrated in 1913 and working on some sort of shoe machines (presumably in a factory).  If this is the same Delorise, I'm assuming for now that she never married.  Delorise Manzelli has some kind of tie to Sayville!  Her Social Security Death record lists Sayville as the address her last payment went to.  City directories indicate she lived in Long Island City for a time in the 1990s. 

There is also a Delorinda Manzelli arriving Ellis Island with family mother Amelia, sister Marguerite, brother Vittorio, another sister (escapes me right now) heading to 469 Hamilton St--the Manzelli homestead.  However, Delorinda is listed at 12 years old in 1911 so there's a significant age discrepancy if this is the same family. 

Long story short, it's still a mystery but the Sayville connection intrigues me.  If anyone living close to the Sayville Public Library cares to go and see if there's an obituary for Delorise Manzelli Sept 25 2004 perhaps some of the mystery can be cleared up!