My family history begins with a love affair.  This love affair not only is the spark that contributed to the growth of the Orlando family, but also a contributing factor that brought my mother’s side of the family into the United States. The love affair began in Sicily, Italy in late 1880’s.  My great grandpa’s mother, Mary Cutri, was part of a wealthy family that resided in Sicily. My great grandpa’s father, Joseph Orlando, worked for the Cutri family as a gardener. When the two met there apparently was an immediate attraction, and thus a secret affair between the two began.  When the affair went from fun to serious the couple decided to make the relationship known to the Cutri family. However, the news of Joseph and Mary’s relationship was not well received by the Cutri family.  Even though the family disapproved Mary and Joseph continued to see each other.  Feeling ashamed of the daughter the Cutri family disowned their daughter wanting nothing to do with her as long as she loved “the gardener.” 

Mary and Joseph immigrated to the United States in the in the late 1800’s.  Shortly after their arrival to the states Mary and Joseph eloped at St. Anthony Church in Buffalo, New York.  They eventually settled in Westfield, New York. There are many factors that could have contributed to their decision to come over to the United States, one of them being their motivation to start a new life in a place that was far away from Mary’s side of the family. Also in the late 1800’s as many as 300,000 Italians immigrated to the United States for economic reasons, so this could also be a contributing factor that made Mary and Joseph immigrate to the United States.  Once in Westfield they gave birth to a baby boy, my grandfather, Salvador Orlando in 1890. My great grandfather was the first of the Orlando family to be an American citizen. 

However, Salvador’s eventual spouse and my great grandmother, Angeline Miserandino (pictured left) was not born in America.  She was born in Montemaggiore, which is a small village within Sicily, in 1895 and immigrated to the United States with her sister, Giacoma Miserandino, in 1904 at the age of 9.  She departed from a port in Naples and travelled to the United States on a ship named the Calabria.  When she came to the United States through Ellis Island she changed her name to Miserantino instead of Miserandino. The reason is unknown besides the assumption that her name was recorded wrong in the records as this was a common occurance back then.  She met with family in New York, and it is unknown if she met her parents here, or if she met other relatives, I tried to look her family up in the New York census and in the Ellis Island records but all that came up was her sister and her.  Like Salvador she too  grew up in westfield, New York. Angeline never recieved a formal education and remained illiterate throughout the remainder of her life.

According to my relatives, many of whom still reside in Westfield, New York to this day, Westfield is a relatively small town, it was not hard for Angeline and Joseph to meet.  They were married in 1913 at a very young age not too long after they had initially met.  At the time Angeline would have been at least 13 years old, and Salvador would have been 18 years old.  Within a year of their marriage Angeline and Salvador had their first child, my grandmother, Mary Orlando. From 1914 through 1935 Angeline and Salvador manage to conceive nine more children, Mildred (1915), Joseph (1916), Frances (1918), Grace (1920), George (1922), Anthony (1924), Salvador (1926), John (1932), and Ann Marie (1935). (Pictured right are some of the brothers and sisters of the Orlando family).  The marriage between Angeline and Salvador was not rock solid,  Salvador would  often cheat on her, and they eventually divorced after having their last child Ann Marie.  According to family, Salvador asked   Angeline to sign some documents for him,  because Angeline could  not read she had unknowingly signed the divorce papers  between her and Salvador. From that point on Salvador was an estranged father to their ten children leaving the older siblings to help fill in his role bread winner and care giver.

Being the oldest of the siblings my grandmother, Mary Orlando, stayed in Westfield, New York to help care for her younger siblings. In 1948 she met my grandfather, John Murphy through a family friend.  They were married in 1952 and had one child, my mother in 1955. After giving birth to my mother, Mary became ill and was clinical diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1963. Her diagnoses put a strain on the marriage between my grandparents and they eventually had to divorce for fear that my grandmother was a physical threat to the lives of my grandfather and mother. My mother and grandparents resided in New York until my grandparents divorced which prompted my mother and my grandfather to move from New York to Aurora, Illinois which is the place of my birth and where my parents reside to this day.