Ampilia & Nino

My great grandmother Ampilia (L0ngoni) D'Angeli.

Ann was my paternal grandmother, Irma's, mother.

The little boy is "Nino" and though it is uncertain,
he may be the child of Ampilia's son (my Grandmother Irma's brother) Andrew,
and is believed to have died in childhood.
The picture is dated June 1928.

Ampilila (Longoni) D'Angeli

My great grandmother Ampilila (Longoni) D'Angeli, at her home in Oakland, CA,

probably around 1930.  Ann was my paternal grandmother, Irma's, mother.

 She was a "mail-order" bride whom my Great Grandfather, Pietro, sent for
after after establishing himself in the US.  Ann was born in Italy, in 1881.

Despite the somewhat severe expression on her face in this and other photos,
my father tells me she was a very soft, warm, loving person.

Pietro D'Angeli

My great grandfather Pietro D'Angeli, at his home in Oakland, CA,
probably around 1930.  Pietro was my paternal grandmother, Irma's, father.

Born in Italy in 1877, family lore has it that, as a young man, Great Grandpa D'Angeli worked smuggling chocolate and stamps from Switzerland into Italy. In the early 1900s, when it came time for him to enter the mandatory military service, he was afraid they would arrest him so he immigrated (illegally) to the US by way of South America. He landed in San Francisco the day before the great earthquake of 1906. After the earthquake they gave him a rifle and told him to guard a part of the city. Instead, he threw down the rifle and "escaped" to Oakland, vowing to never return to San Francisco, which he deemed "too dangerous."  He worked as a street-car mechanic, on College Avenue, in Oakland, for most of his life, building a home for his family there, in the Rockridge district.  He proudly walked to and from work daily, and each evening carried home the family's supply of wood for the wood-burning stove in their kitchen.

The D'Angeli Family

A formal portrait of the D'Angeli family,

probably taken about the time my grandmother, Irma,
was in her mid- to late-teens (1928-1931).

From left to right: Irma Rita D'Angeli, her sister Madeline, her brother Andrew,

her mother Ampilia and her father Pietro.

Irma D'Angeli's Third Grade Class

My paternal grandmother, Irma Rita D'Angeli.

(front row, sixth from the right)

and her third grade class,

Rockridge Elementary School, Oakland, CA, 1922.

The D'Angeli Children

My paternal grandmother, Irma Rita D'Angeli (bottom left),
with her sister Madeline (bottom right) and her brother, Andrew (top).
Irma was born in Oakland, CA, in 1913, to immigrant parents,
Pietro D'Angeli and Ampilia (Longoni), from Como, Italy.