Giovanni Arena

The tree gives his birth as 1870. Act 230 of 1892 makes him thirty-three in October 1892, so he was born about 1859 — eleven years earlier. His trade, which the tree does not record, is pescatore. HIS OWN BIRTH IS NOT AT SCILLA. The Tavola for 1857, 1858, 1859 and 1860 has been read in full -- four consecutive years, two either side of the window his son's act allows -- and there is no Giovanni Arena born in any of them. The next move is his marriage to Concetta Russo, which would name his comune of birth.

THE ACT THAT SETTLES HIM. He is thirty-one, a marinaro, born at Scilla, FIGLIO DI ANTONIO E DI SERAFINA ARLOTTA — so Rocco Arena's own brother, and born about 1854. This archive had him as three separate men and searched 1857–1860 for a birth that was never going to be there: he was born on 30 APRIL 1854, act 76. The 'thirty-three' in his son's act of 1892 is three years out.

ROCCO ARENA'S ELDER BROTHER. His birth act names his father ANTONIO ARENA, thirty-four -- Francesco Antonio, born 25 November 1819, is exactly thirty-four in April 1854 -- and his mother SERAFINA ARLOTTA, and it was declared by his maternal grandfather GIOVANNI ARLOTTA, who gave the boy his own name. This is the Giovanni Arena who sails in 1899 to join 'brother Rocco' and enters six-year-old Anna as his NIECE. HE IS IN THE FAMILY TREE, and this archive said for a time that he was not: the tree's Giovanni Arena, husband of Concetta Russo, IS this man, dated 1870 there and born in fact on 30 April 1854. What the act adds is sixteen years and two parents, not a person.

Birth year — Born about 1859. He is thirty-three in his son's birth act of October 1892.

Trade -- missing entirely — PESCATORE, a fisherman. Living at Via Grotte 75, Scilla, in 1892.

Brother -- missing entirely — The Ellis Island manifest of 23 May 1899 states it outright: Giovanni Arena, 45, a sailor, sails to join 'BROTHER ROCCO, N. YORK, MULBERRY ST', and the six-year-old on the next line is entered not by surname but as 'NIECE, Anna Arena'. So Giovanni is Rocco Arena's brother and Anna is Rocco's daughter -- both stated on the document. HE IS IN THE TREE, and this row once said he was not: he is the Giovanni Arena the tree marries to Concetta Russo and dates to 1870. The missing people are his PARENTS. THE INDEX LINE AND THE ACT DISAGREE, AND THE DISAGREEMENT IS SETTLED. The 1854 Tavola reads «Arena Giovanni di Antonio e Arlotta ROSA, 20 April», and this archive repeated it and drew the wrong conclusion from it -- a ROSA Arlotta would be Serafina's sister, which would make the boy Rocco's COUSIN rather than his brother. The act itself, act 76, says SERAFINA and says the THIRTIETH of April, and the ages close it: Francesco Antonio was thirty-four in April 1854 to the month. The index is wrong. It is recorded here because an index this archive trusted produced a false relationship, and the next one might too.

Birth date — ROCCO ARENA'S ELDER BROTHER, born 30 APRIL 1854 at Scilla, act 76 -- SIXTEEN YEARS before the tree's date. Son of FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA, 34, marinaro, and SERAFINA ARLOTTA, 22. Declared by his maternal grandfather GIOVANNI ARLOTTA, who gave the boy his own name. This is the Giovanni Arena who sails in 1899 to join 'brother Rocco'. This archive filed him for a time among the people the tree lacks. That was wrong -- the tree has him, as Concetta Russo's husband; what it lacks is his date and his parents.

Birth date — BORN 30 APRIL 1854 at Scilla, act 76 -- SIXTEEN YEARS earlier than the tree says. This archive previously corrected him to 'about 1859' from his son's birth act of 1892, which makes him thirty-three. His MARRIAGE act of 1885 makes him THIRTY-ONE, which is 1854, and his own birth act of 1854 gives the day. The 1892 age is three years out; the birth act is the authority.

Death -- missing entirely — DIED AT SCILLA ON 31 MARCH 1936, «Padre Antonio, Madre Serafina Arlotta, Coniuge Concetta Russo». He sailed for New York in May 1899 to join his brother Rocco and he came home. This is the second half of the sojourning argument: he baptised no child in America because his wife never left Scilla, and neither did he, finally.

Trade -- missing entirely — MARINAIO. His brother Rocco is «pescatore» on his own act of 1932 -- one a mariner, one a fisherman, which is a real distinction in a town like Scilla and not a scribal variant.

Death -- missing entirely — DIED AT NINE IN THE MORNING ON 31 MARCH 1936, AT VIA GROTTE 72, SCILLA. «e morto ARENA GIOVANNI, di anni OTTANTUNO, marinaio, residente in Scilla, nato in Scilla, dal fu ANTONIO e dalla fu ARLOTTA SERAFINA, MARITO DI RUSSO CONCETTA.» THE AGE IS EXACTLY RIGHT: born 30 April 1854, he was eighty-one and a month short of eighty-two. His wife CONCETTA RUSSO was still living, which is why she never appears in the Scilla death index -- she outlived the indexed span or died under a spelling not yet found.

Where the two disagree, the chart above still draws the tree as it stands. This archive does not silently rewrite what it was given — the acts are here.