Maria Carmela Russo
born 23 May 1839, Laurenzana, Provincia di Potenza, Basilicata, Italy
died 11 June 1898, Chicago
There isn’t much to find out about Maria Carmela as she died in that census gap after 1880 and prior to the 1900 census (which is really quite a good one for fact-checking other records because it asked such useful questions).
It appears she may have come to the US prior to 1880, and if that census appearance was her, she had at least two daughters and was married to a man name Pascal, but that’s impossible to be sure about. We’re left with none of the usual fact-checking tools, too, as she was buried alone so no other names can be triangulated to pinpoint her.
I love this little headstone. The design is so simple and the carving so sharp even after all these years. The cutouts add something special to the whole design.
RIP Maria Carmela