Giovanni Cusumano was Married to Antonina "Lena" Mazzola, she too was born in 1857. I visited the grave site of Giovanni Cusumano in Detroit Michigan. I could not find a headstone for him, but I was told the cemetery often used to flood and that it could be possible that his headstone was washed away. It could also be possible that he doesn’t have one, or that it was sunk into the ground. (Edit, based on new information and family story Giovanni was not a very good family man. He and Antonina eventually separated and he lived in a room above the bakery or garage. He was said to be quite a womanizer and may have contracted syphilis which may have lead to his death. I'm told its very likely he didnt have a headstone because he didnt have a great relationship with his kids as a result of this behavior, and they washed their hands of him when he died.)

Cousin Nina Giovanni's grand daughter said that Giovanni did not have a great relationship with his sons Chris and John when he passed. When Giovanni Died he owned a bakery on woodbridge street in Detroit. It is no longer there as it was demolished to build the Detroit Renaissance Center. When he died Chris and John didnt want anything to do with the bakery. It is said that Joseph "Uno" Zerilli approached Chris and offered to purchase the bakery for $500 and Chris accepted. Joe Zerilli was the head of the Detroit Mafia called the Detroit Partnership. He was also born in Terrasini and immigrated to the united states around the same time as our family.

Cousin Nina said that Joe Zerilli showed up to her father's funeral to offer his condolences and he told her that her grandfather Giovanni was not an honorable man, but that her father Chris was a good man and he was respected by Zerilli.

It is said by Aunt Mary that she remembers mafia guys coming around to the bakery for payments. It is unsure whether this was to repay a debt of Giovanni's that he received from the Mafia to purchase the bakery or if it was in fact "The black hand" and they were paying for "protection" or the privilege of doing business in Italian controlled areas in Detroit.

There is ship manifest from Ellis Island showing an Antonina Mazzola coming to the us with a son Christofaro in 1909. Also they were coming to the US to stay with "brother in law" Graziano Cusumano and father(Giovanni). Also I found her death cert and her husbands name was Giovanni and father Cristofaro, same as her son. I've located ship manifest from 1903 which show a Graziano Gusmano coming with a 7 year old boy Giovanni Gusmano(same age as Giovanni Jr, to see brother Giovanni Gusmano, in Detroit). I also see them again in 1912 coming back. It looks like they may have went back and forth to Italy several times.

Any ways here is the timeline I have put together

1901 Giovanni Cusumano Sr. came to the United States in 1901,

1903 Giovanni Jr (John Cusumano Cusman) with his uncle Graziano Gusmano.

1909 Antonina "Lena" Mazzola and Cristofaro came over

1912 Giovanni Jr and Uncle Graziano Cusumano came over again so they must have left and came back

1914 Graziano came over again so he must have gone back a 3rd time

Antonina Lean Mazzola was born to Cristifaro Mazzola and Lorenza Vitale

From Lee Bothwell

"This was a common pattern among Italians. The father would come over and establish himself first, and then send for the rest of the family as money allowed. Sometimes the father would go back and accompany the wife and younger children, but often children came on their own, after they were about 10 years old. Rosalia was married before she came over (in 1905) - she joined her husband in New York."

Giovanni and Antonina Lena Cusumano had 4 children.

1. Mary Assunta born in 1883- She married Graziano Serra and had six children: John, Sam, Sarah, Rosie, Lena and Nick

2. Rosalia (Rose) born in 1885- She married a cousin (Paul Cusmano) and had eight children Anna, Lena, Phillip, John, Frances, Mary, Joseph and Loretta - the last two died young

3. Giovanni Jr aka John (My Great Grand Father) born August 9 1895- He married Ruth Stanton and had six children: Delores, Betty, Mary, Dorothy Shirley, Johnny and Jerry.

4. Cristofaro (Christopher) born April 29 1899- He married Rosie. They had two children, John, who became a priest, and Nina.”

From Cousin Lee Bothwell

"The Mafia started in Sicily in 1870. We don’t know what effect this had on our people. Our great grandfather Giovanni was only born in 1860, so it would have been his parents who were affected. It is possible that our people were bourgeois - if two Cusmanos had become priests, they must have been fairly well-off. And if the family ancestral home was near the central plaza, then they must have been neither fisherman (who lived in Favoratta, near the sea), nor peasants (who lived on the land). Giovanni himself was a baker, so?"

"For a long time I had the wrong ship for Giovanni, because it never occurred to me to look for GUSMANO instead of Cusmano (and variants thereof). I had found a fairly close match on the ship Archimede (Giovanni Cusimano from Terrasini, no occupation other than industrious, and 46 instead of 41) and was satisfied with that. However, when I finally found Grandpa Jack "Giovanni Jr" listed as Gusmano, I went back looking for Giovanni, and here is what I found:

Name                        Gusmano, Giovanni

age                            41

sex                            male

marital status            married

occupation                baker

read/write?                yes

ethnicity Italian

last place of res        Terrasini

landing                      New York

final destination        New York

ticket to final dest?    No

paid for by                 himself

how much money?    $10

in US before?            no

going to someone?   pretty unreadable - maybe cousin S Olando

their address?           Union St

ever in almshouse?   no

polygamist?               no

under contract?         no

health?                      good

deformed?                 no - blind in one eye (maybe - diffy to read)"

The fellow next to him on the list was also going to cousin S Orlando, 78 Union St - his name was Sebastian Mercantile, age 26, laborer - but I can’t read what town he was from, whether Terrasini or Mazzara.

The ship was the Karamania, Naples to New York, arrival 25 Nov 1901

It is possible that Giovanni did stay in New York for a while. He does not appear in the Detroit City Directory until 1904, when he is listed as John Cusumano, a baker, living at 262 Woodbridge. He apparently owned (or was buying) the house, and there was a Joseph Cusumano (Maybe Graziano's American Name?), another baker, boarding with him. He is in the city directory for the next 4 years, although his address changes! In 1905, it was 362 Woodbridge (a typo?), in 1906 back to 262, in 1907 he was boarding at 260 Woodbridge, and in 1908 he was back to owning - at 362 Woodbridge.

His occupation is listed as "baker" in each case. [Another odd thing about the address is, that both Grandpa Jack and Chris say the address the were going to was Lain street (or avenue) - I’m wondering if that was where the bakery was???

He is not in the 1909 City Directory, which originally made me wonder if he went back to accompany Lena and Chris. But finally in the 1910 census, the family is all together at 262 Woodbridge (which he owns). Phew. [Well, not the girls, who are married by then.

(Meanwhile, Joseph Cusumano, who was boarding with him in 1904, disappears from the directories for a couple of years, and then from 1907 on there are at least 2 Josephs. One was born 1865, one 1870; one was a laborer, one an autoworker.)

From 1920 on, they (our Cusmanos) lived at 262 Woodbridge, although in 1920/21 the street numbering was changed, so it became 978 Woodbridge. This was apparently a big house - for several years there were 2 other families living there too, although G-Grandpa was the one that owned it. Chris was still single and living with them in 1935, which is the last City Directory I looked at. Grandpa Jack and Grandma Ruth got married in 1921, but Grandpa Jack is listed as living at 978 Woodbridge until at least 1923. (By 1930 they had moved to 9338 Woodlawn, which they owned.)

Aunt Betty remembers G-Grandpa living on Fort Street, so they must have moved sometime after 1935

Grandpa kept a bakery in his garage at Fort Street. He was separated from Grandma Lena. Grandma Lena and Chris slept in the basement of the house and Grandpa slept over the garage. The building was an old Police Station that had been turned into apartments. Grandpa was quite a womanizer! I remember his yellow white hair and his droopy moustache. He had an eye that crossed. Grandpa wore vests and spats, stickpins and watchchains. He got the largest platter of spaghetti when he ate at our house on Woodlawn. I was in awe of him.

We don’t know of any connection to the Mafia, speculation aside, except for one of Giovanni’s granddaughters who was married to a Mafioso.(Anthony Cusenza-see his tumbstone at the bottom of the page, also buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery) However Aunt Mary remembers overhearing the adults talk about one time having to mortgage the bakery - some fellows came around and told them to do it. We assume it was a Mafia guy in need of some quick cash. And we wonder if that means Giovanni was helped to buy his property by a Mafioso. Also it was said that Giovanni Jr (John Cusman) used to play a lot of chess and checkers with the old Italian man in the neighborhood. When asked why he spent so much time with the man he was said to have replied "He is my Godfather, I must show him respect"

Antonina died on June 1st 1937. Giovanni Sr. died on February 25, 1943 and they are both buried at Mt. Olivet Cemetery (6-Mile and Dequindre). .. I found a cemetery listing for Mt Olivet online (this is a link to their search page),"