| According to the 1881 census, there was
one person living in Windsor who was born in Italy and three of Italian origin.
That person was Michael Cauzillo, who at the time of the census was
26 years old, Catholic and married to Mary, 20, born in the U.S., Catholic
and of German origin. They had a daughter Minnie, 1 year old and born
in Ontario. His occupation was listed as a “fruit dealer”.
In the 1891, census Michael Cauzillo had five children. In the 1897/1898
Windsor Directory, Mary Cauzillo is listed as the widow of Michael.
We know
that Mary was born in the U.S. and maybe she returned to the States.
There were seven Cauzillos listed. As it turned out, they were all
grandchildren or great-grandchildren of Michael and Mary Cauzillo.
Michael Cauzillo
was born in Genoa and he came to Windsor with his sister and brother-in-law
in early 1870, at the age of 17. He died in 1896, at 42 years
old, and was buried at St. Alphonsus Cemetery. He and his wife had
8 children. After her husband's death, Mary was persuaded by her daughter,
Minnie, to sell the business and move to Detroit.
A study called "Michigan’s Italian Community: A Historical
Perspective", compiled for the Office of International Exchanges
at Wayne State University by a retired Italian consulate for
Detroit by the name of Vittorio Re, speaks of a Pasquale Palmieri.
He was
born in Naples in 1826, and in 1849 fled to France, then to England,
where he studied to be an engineer, and later to Quebec. After
touring Canada and the United States with the protestant preacher
Alessandro
Gavazzi,
he became a teacher of language in Buffalo. By 1856, he was a
photographer in Detroit after a brief stay in Windsor. Between
1868 and 1871,
he resided in Windsor with his wife Mary. He then moved back
to Detroit, but in 1910, at the age of 84, Palmieri returned
to Windsor to live with his daughter, Mrs. George Mitchell.
In looking at the 1891 census, the majority of the Italians who were living
in Windsor at that time most likely came from rural Italy. There is listed
a ditch or drain digger by the name of Joseph Maurillo (or Morillo). He had
a wife, Josephine, and 4 sons, 2 born in Italy, 1 born in Quebec, and 1 in
Michigan. The fact that the children were born in different places speaks of
their family movements prior to settling down in Windsor.
This demonstrates how in researching any community here in
Windsor, you just can’t avoid doing research in Detroit.
(Nevi Rusich. Part of the presentation given to the Ontario Genealogical
Society of Ontario/Essex County Branch in February, 1988) |
