4.

VITO MARIA SARLI (1855-1944)
The Brother Who Stayed Behind

Before following Rocco Vincenzo Sarli's life in America, what we know of it, it would be well to mention Vito Maria Sarli, the older brother he left behind in Laurenzana. They were about two years apart in age. We have made multiple DNA connections with his posterity, providing positive proof based on appropriate centimorgan (cM) numbers for relationships. I have made written contact with a handful of them and have spoken to a couple of them.

Vito Maria Sarli shows up first in Laurenzana civil records with his birth.
familysearch: Laurenzana birth records 1855 #69
Vito Maria Sarli born 14 March 1855
son of Egidio Sarli (age 37) and Maria Carmela Marone (age 34)

Next is his first marriage:
Ancestry: Laurenzana marriage records 5 Feb 1879 #6
Vito Maria Sarli (age 23), son of deceased Egidio Sarli and deceased Maria Carmela Marone,
to Maria Vittoria Fanelli (age 24), daughter of Francescantonio Fanelli and Rosagnesa Cafarella

Children of the first marriage:
1. Rosa Maria Sarli born 3 Oct 1881, died 26 Sep 1882, both in Laurenzana
2. *Egidio Antonio Sarli born 8 July 1883 in Laurenzana, died 24 Feb 1920, Cook County, Ill.
3. Francesco Giuseppe Sarli born 19 Mar 1885, died 7 Apr 1885, both in Laurenzana
4. Rocco Carmelo Sarli born 23 Apr 1886, died 8 May 1886, both in Laurenzana
5. Maria Carmela Sarli born 30 Jan 1888, died 23 Nov 1891, both in Laurenzana
6. *Francesco Antonio Sarli born 7 Dec 1889 in Laurenzana, died 28 Mar 1933, Bloomington, Ill.
7. Maria Rocca Carmela Sarli born 27 Jan 1892, died 27 Sep 1892, both in Laurenzana

First wife Maria Vittoria Fanelli died June 20, 1892 in Laurenzana.

Next is his second marriage:
Ancestry: Laurenzana marriage records 8 Oct 1892 #30
Vito Maria Sarli (age 37), son of deceased Egidio Sarli and deceased Maria Carmela Marone,
to Angela Carmela Mastro (age 29), daughter of deceased Giambattista Mastro and Mariantonia Cirigliano

Children of the second marriage:
1. *Battista Sarli 1894, Laurenzana, died Apr 1984, Worcester, Massachusetts
2. *Maria Carmela Sarli born 15 Oct 1998, died 7 Feb 1990, both in Laurenzana
3. Rocco Carmelo Sarli born 1 Dec 1902, died 12 Aug 1904, both in Laurenzana
4. Rocca Sarli born 16 Dec 1904, died 16 Dec 1904, both in Laurenzana

* denotes survival to adulthood

Of Vito Maria's eleven children, only four of them survived childhood. Egidio Antonio, Francesco Antonio, and their half-brother Battista all emigrated to the United States, married, and had families. Maria Carmela remained in Laurenzana and married Luigi Polycarpio De Carolis August 7, 1921, in Laurenzana, where she gave birth to at least one child, a daughter named Angela on August 27, 1923. Angela died November 2, 1943 in Laurenzana.

Vito Maria Sarli's posterity is numerous. Below is a photo of his son Francesco Antonio Sarli from a 1932 Declaration of Intention for naturalization. He was 42 years of age in the photo, and was the nephew of my great-grandfather Rocco Vincenzo Sarli AKA Joseph Louis Mott.