Family Tree of the Bondono (my Father's) side of the family, compiled by Roland Bondono
Family tree of the Fogoros (my Mother's) side of the family, compiled by Roland Bondono
I am relying on the accuracy of a family tree which was created by my Father, Roland Bondono, as the starting point for this family history. His family tree is reproduced below. (Please be sure to click or touch the images on this page to enlarge them. Clicking an enlarged photo puts it back to its original size and position. While enlarged, you can drag a photo so you can see what it might have covered, and you can use the right and left arrow keys to enlarge the next or the previous photo on the page you're viewing.)
The part of my family history that I know of begins in Italy and Romania, around 1850 or 1860. On my Father's side, in Italy,
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(Males are shown in blue, females in pink. Lines represent parent-to-child relationships. Names right beside each other or directly on top of each other represent marriages or significant relationships.)
I know very little of my paternal great grandparents: Joseppe Bondonno, Lepora Domenica, Domenica Verdelli or Giovanna Perdoni. As far as I know, they lived their entire lives in Italy, and they most likely had many children beside my grandfather and grandmother. According to my Father, Domenica Verdelli and Giovanna Perdoni were born in Lugniano D'Arda, but this town doesn't appear in Google Maps. It might be Lugagnano Val d'Arda, a town 50 miles southeast of Milan, which agrees with the my Father telling me that his family came from Northern Italy.
Batista (AKA Baltista, AKA Battista) Bondonno, my paternal grandfather, was born in Alice Castello, Italy in 1887 (I calculate this year based on the supposition that the manifest of "The France", below, is correct and that he was 25 years old in 1912, and also that his gravestone states birth in 1887). Alice Castello is in the far northwest of Italy, between Turin and Milan. Batista was a cook. Teresa Verdelli Bondono (and later Beny), my paternal grandmother (Grandma Teresa) was born on January 6, 1890. According to the manifest of "The France", below, she was born in Legaguauo. This place doesn't appear in Google Maps or anywhere in a Google search; perhaps this was a misspelling of Lugagnano Val d'Arda? I don't know when the double-n in Batista's name was changed to a single-n. Batista and Teresa married while in Italy; their last permanent address in Italy was in Alice Castello. They apparently moved to London, England for some time, perhaps only passing through, but gave birth to their first child, Joseph, while in London. They took Joseph back to Italy for Giovanna Perdoni to look after until they could come and retrieve him after they were settled into their new life, then emigrated to the United States on the ship "The France" which departed Le Havre, France, with 2026 passengers on 9/28/1912 and arrived at Ellis Island (New York City) seven days later on 10/4/1912.
Information about the ship and this voyage can be found by searching for "Baltista Bondonno" at Ellis Island; the relevant pages of the two-page-wide manifest (see lines 15 and 16) are shown below. They travelled in "steerage" class, which is described here, along with many other web pages which can be found by searching for "Steerage Class Ellis Island". They apparently travelled with the passenger in line 17 of the manifest, 16-year-old Mario Amianto, also from Alice Castello, and all three claimed they'd be staying with a friend, Bilone Ougusto, in New York. Teresa was two-months pregnant during this journey. 7 days on a ship with morning sickness in steerage class; what a picnic that must have been for Grandma Teresa. And once they arrived in New York, she gave birth to Lena in New York City, then Emma a year later in Indianapolis, Indiana, then my father, Roland Bondono, nine years later in Chicago, and eventually settled down in Cleveland, Ohio. This was a woman on the move!
Grandma Teresa was a housewife. I remember going with my family to visit her every few weeks when I was quite young. She always prepared an extensive Italian meal for us, and encouraged us to eat as much as humanly possible. During her middle age, she cooked for big bands which passed through Cleveland. She and Grandpa Beny ran a restaurant on Vincent Street which they'd keep open late to feed the entertainers after their shows finished. She was an enthusiastic basement winemaker. She loved to care for her flower beds in her later years and was very proud of her extensive rose collection.
Photographs of Batista and Grandma Teresa are below. The color photograph of Grandma Teresa is as I remember her as a child; she died a few years after this photo was taken.
Batista died on 6/10/1958 and is buried at Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland Ohio, Section 47 Lot 32A, near GPS coordinates 41.51734, -81.58602. His gravesite is well off the road, right at the edge of some woods at the top of a hill. Teresa died on 1/11/1972 in Cleveland Ohio and is buried in Lakeview Cemetary in Cleveland Ohio, Section 22, Lot 1154-A, near GPS coordinates 41.51061, -81.59414, just off the road by couple rows of gravestones. Her second husband, Desire Beny, is buried two graves away.
Batista and Teresa had four children together. Their first, Joseph, died at the age of 10 months from a fall in Italy before they had a chance to go back to bring him to the United States. And about six months after arriving in the United States, their second baby, Lena, was born in New York City. Batista and Teresa's immediate family is below:
Roland Bondono, above, is my father. Interestingly enough, on Roland's birth certificate, Batista and Teresa claimed their ages to still be 25 and 22 years old; they hadn't aged at all in the past eleven years! I have many photos of this family, these are some of the best:
Something happened to end the marriage between Batista and Teresa; I assume they divorced. But Teresa remarried at some point before 1935 to Desire Beny, who was born in Italy in 1885 (his gravestone states May 21, 1887) with the name Desiderio Benanchietti, which he changed after emigrating to the United States. They had one child, my Uncle Bob, who married my Aunt Cathy and had four children together, my cousins. He died on September 26, 1940.
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Desire Beny was buried in Lakeview Cemetary in Cleveland Ohio, Section 22, Lot 1154-C. Robert P. Beny (my Uncle Bob) is buried in Sunset Memorial Cemetery. Several years after Uncle Bob died in a boating accident, Aunt Cathy married Miller Land, who already had four children. They had no more children together. Terry Beny named her first daughter, Leigh, after my Mom, Olivia Bondono, who everyone called Lee Bondono. Her second daughter, Emma, was named after Emma Bondono, Terry's and my Aunt Emma (in the second photo below, third photo above, and several in the next section). Here are a few photos of this family:
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So now all my Aunts and Uncles on my Father's side have been introduced, and some details should be filled-in. First of all, the tree of Lena Bondono Klienhenz (pictured in the second row above), who lived in Cleveland, Ohio...
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Next Emma Bondono Smith, the aunt that I saw the most while growing up, and who was Aunt Emma to me. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived most of her married life in North Olmstead, Ohio, with her husband Frank C. Smith. Uncle Frank took me fishing on Lake Erie several times when I was young. Frank's father was Earl Smith, and his mother was Marie Smith. Frank worked for the Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. Frank and Emma moved to Sarasota, Florida during their retirement, where Frank enjoyed fishing the shoreline of the nearby bays in the Gulf of Mexico and Emma enjoyed cooking them! Frank died in 1998 and Emma in the early 2000s.
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That leaves one other child of Batista and Teresa Bondono, my father, Roland Bondono. On January 3rd 1948 he married Olivia Fogoros, whose ancestry will follow. Roland and Olivia's part of the family tree is:
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Roland was born in Chicago, Illinois but moved to Cleveland as a young child, and Olivia was born in Bedford, Ohio with the aid of a midwife in the house shown below. Olivia was always proud that she was a Charter Member of the National Honor Society at Bedford High School, as proven by the certificate below. She was an executive secretary before having children, took 15 years off to raise her children, then worked as a secretary for Maple Heights Schools. She was married very briefly in 1941 to a man named Merle Cross. Roland was quite a singer and upright bass player in the Hal Lynn Orchestra, but earned his living as a tool-and-die-maker turned supervisor. He continued enjoying music by singing in the Bedford First United Methodist Church and the Solon Community Church. When they first were married they lived in an apartment above Olivia's father's A&P store, then they lived in Maple Heights, Ohio and Solon, Ohio (both outside of Cleveland) before living their last few years in Macomb, Michigan. They are buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Twinsburg, Ohio, at I-480 & Rt91, in Section 4, Lot 100, Graves 3 and 4.
So we've travelled down the Italian family tree through Roland Bondono and his children and grandchildren, and now it's time to follow the other side of my family, that of Olivia Fogoros Bondono, of which I have very little family history. Michael Fogoros Sr and Helen Lutean grew up and were married in Romania. They emigrated to the United States but I can't find any information about that at Ellis Island. I believe some brothers and sisters of theirs emigrated as well, either at the same or different times, but I can't pin down which people in the old pictures I have are related to which. Michael Fogoros was a machinist, and Helen was a housewife. Michael and Helen's family tree is:
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Emil was a star athlete and was quite popular in high school. He got into a car accident, while steering wheels were solid unforgiving metal and seat belts weren't even thought of yet. He complained of abdominal pain but was checked out at the hospital where they found nothing wrong and sent him home. The pain worsened and he died of a perforated bowel; an injury from the accident. Life Lesson: You know when something's wrong, persevere even if the Doctors don't find anything wrong, your health is your own responsibility.
Matilda Fogoros, my Aunt Tillie, was always very kind to me.
I remember visiting Uncle Mike (Michael Fogoros Jr) and his family many times at his house outside of Toledo Ohio. He sold insurance, and was active in Toastmasters International. He had two daughters, and his family tree is shown below.
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Here are some photos of the Fogoros family. The first picture below shows Anna Popa Lutean, Helen Lutean's mother, my maternal Great Grandmother, on the right with the white scarf. I unfortunately have no information at all about Michael Fogoros Sr's parents. The second photo shows Michael and Helen's wedding, in Romania. The third photo is their best family photo. The fourth photo shows the family store: Grandpa Fogoros was the butcher in an A&P in a building which he had built in Bedford, Ohio. His name is on the inscription above the center upstairs window. The last photo is an interior shot of the lunch counter in the store.
Photos of Grandma and Grandpa Fogoros as I remember them as a child are:
The photos below are of Michael Sr and Helen's children.
The last photo is my Mother, so you can follow her family tree here.
Here is the family tree of my children from their Mother's side:
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My wife since 2007 is Paulette Farrugia Pusz Bondono. Her family tree is shown below, first her Mother's side:
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Benedict and Antonette were born in Poland, probably in the 1850's. Adam was born in the town of Chełchy Iłowe in the commune of Karniewo, the Maków district of the Łomża gubernia (now the Warsaw province), Poland. After the death of his parents, none of Adam's immediate family remained in Poland. He travelled from Poland to Belgium by rail, then sailed on the SS Gothland from Antwerp, Belgium, arriving in New York on March 3, 1914. He might have travelled with his sister Józefa (Josepha), and if you have any information about her I'd appreciate you to email it to me so I can pass it on to her family in Poland.
Adam Kazmierski's ancestors can be seen in detail by clicking this image 
which shows Adam and his siblings in the top row, and his ancestors going back to 1720 in progressive rows going downward.
Alexander and Katharine were born in Powierz, Germany. Bernice was born in Detroit, Michigan, and is my wife's grandmother.
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Adam and Bernice were married on 1/29/1919 at St. Alburtus Church on Canfield at St. Aubin, in Detroit, Michigan.
Knowledge about my wife's Father's side doesn't go back beyond her grandfather, since the family lived in Malta until his generation:
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Anthony and Gus were born in Malta before the family emigrated to the United States.
That brings us to my wife's parents and sister:
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Here is my wife's first marriage and her children:
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