2024 #52Ancestors, Week 7: Immigration

I imagine one of the most difficult parts of immigrating was having to leave behind your previous life and the comfort of your culture, but at least you had your family by your side.  Most of my ancestors, at any rate, seem to have immigrated with other members of their family (parents, spouses, siblings, etc.), but my great great grandmother, Anna (LiPira) Sapienza, left her husband behind in Italy!

Rosario Sapienza and Anna LiPira were born and married in Collesano, Sicily, and had at least 8 children.  Some family trees suggest 9, but I have not been able to confirm that.  Of the 8 I have confirmed, it seems that only one did not immigrate to America - a daughter, Maricchia, born around 1867.  As the oldest of their children, perhaps she had already settled down to raise a family and did not wish to relocate.  The remaining children and their approximate dates of immigration to the United States are as follows:

Peter Sapienza, b. 1870 (arrived 1902/1903)
Giuseppa Josephine [Sapienza] Iocolano, b. 1875 (arrived April 1903)
Thomas Sapienza, b. 1876 (arrived 1901)
Theresa [Sapienza] Gullo, b. 1882 (arrived 1907/1908)
Concettina Eva Sapienza, b. 1884 (arrived 1900)
Serafina Sapienza, b. 1887 (arrived 1903)
Joseph Guiseppe Sapienza, b. 1890 (arrived 1906)

Documentation for the family is spotty, but here's what I've been able to discern.  It seems Concettina (who went by Eva) came to the U.S. first in 1900.  When Anna immigrated in 1901, she listed Eva as the relative she was going to join.  Anna was 49 years old, and the passenger list names her as Anna LiPira, not Sapienza.  According to the 1910 census, Thomas also immigrated in 1901, but I don't have any primary sources to confirm that. Peter, Giuseppa, and Serafina all arrived between 1902 & 1903.  Serafina's passenger list cites her mother as the relative she was joining. The last two children to join their mother in the United States were Joseph and Theresa between 1906 & 1908.  By the 1915 New York Census, Anna and her children, Peter Sapienza and Theresa Gullo, appear on facing pages.  In 1920 and 1930, Anna is living with Theresa's family.  The 1920 census lists Anna as married, but the 1930 census lists her as widowed.  To me, this evidence suggests that Rosario died some time between 1920 and 1930.

I have found no explanation for why Anna chose to come to the United States without her husband.  All I have to go on is an old Ancestry query that reads, in part, "Rosario Sapienza married Anna Li Pira in Collesano. They had 9 children born in Collesano in the 1870 to 1890 era. Eight of these 9 children emigrated to NYC between 1900 and 1909...Anna Li Pira Sapienza emigrated to NYC in 1901. Rosario remained in Collesano with their remaining daughter who never emigrated. Anna died in Brooklyn in 1932 and Rosario died prior to 1930 in Collesano, never having traveled to the USA."

I'll probably never know why Anna and Rosario chose(?) to live out their old age on separate continents, but it's interesting to speculate.