Coal miners, colorized postcards, 1910
The "13
th Census of the United States -1910 Population" establishes that Giacomo (36) and Josephine Riva (26) were living at 80 Sixth Avenue in
South Wilmington, Illinois, Grundy County, Greenfield Township. Living with them are their three young children: John four, Maggie two, and Eurelia one. Eurelia we know from other documents died not too long after this census was taken and Peter would be born the next year. This document also establishes that by 1910 Giacomo was using the Americanized version of his Italian name---James---and his occupation is listed as coal mining.
Josephine Riva with two children, circa 1905 -08
Another family of Riva's was also living
South Wilmington on Sixth Avenue: John 26 a coal miner, Minnie his wife 24 and Maggie two. We strongly believe he is related to our f
amily. He could be a brother or cousin to James. I plan to to research him and a second, older John Riva, because they both show up on the Draft Registration Records for 1918,
Putman County, Illinois. The older John I'm hoping is James' father. (We know from oral history that his name is Giovanni, Italian for John.) If it can be established that Giovanni did immigrate, the 1918
draft registration will provide us with the first name and home town of
James' grandfather, giving us yet another generation back in time. (If anyone reading this knows anything about these two John's please leave a comment.) J.Riva 2008 ©
South Wilmington is located in Grundy County at the bottom of the map. (Click to enlarge.)
Click to enlarge census
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Coal miners, colorized postcards, 1910
Josephine Riva with two children, circa 1905 -08
amily. He could be a brother or cousin to James. I plan to to research him and a second, older John Riva, because they both show up on the Draft Registration Records for 1918, 
2 comments:
Tracing my family (Riva), Giovanni Riva migrated Dec 30, 1919 (age 37)(retrieved from: Ellis Island site)with his wife, Lena Galnara Riva and their two sons, Carlo(11y) and Armando(8)(my grandfather)from Genoa onboard the Pesaro. I have limited information, but this places Giovanni at the time of Ernesto Riva's marriage to Carolina Malighetti in 1881 as one of the grandchildren to Peitro Riva (b.1882) If you have any comments, please respond to avir01@earthlink.net
Hi Richard,
Thank you for leaving the comment on my Riva-Alaria blog. I've never run into a Riva that wasn't closely related. But I don't think your Giovanni Riva and my Giovanni Riva are one in the same. If yours immigrated in 1919 at 37 years old then he would have been born only one year before my Giovanni Riva's 23 year old son---my grandfather---immigrated here.
If your Giovanni was from the Province of Genoa that's not far from the area my Giovanni came from---the Province of Turin. In the town of Pertusio, Turin, where my Giovanni lived there is a hamlet called 'Case Riva.' A hamlet, I'm told by people living near by that hamlets took the name of the original settlers from centuries ago.
What area of the U.S. did you ancestors settle in? I'll bet if we could trace our histories back far enough, we'd find a connection. But researching Italy has been tough for me. I haven't been able to get back past my great-grandfather, Giovanni. Giovanni was married to Marghertia Faletto and their known children were:
- Giacomo Riva
- Frank Riva
- Mathew Riva
- Dominick Riva
- Joseph Riva
- Margaret Riva
Do any of those names fit in your tree any where?
Thanks, again, contacting me through my blog! My niece is hoping to go to Italy some day and do some foot work in the area. I was told by people from Italy that there are only 14 Riva's in their local phone book in my ancestral hometown and that they people over there are just as curious about what happened to their families who came over here as we are curious about our family histories over there.
Jean
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