The Case for Tofani

I first began doubting my Fazio roots a few years ago.  After taking multiple DNA tests and speaking with a few descendants from Serrastretta I realized that I did not match any of their DNA. This seemed unlikely as Serrastretta is a very small, closed knit mountain community where almost all of the inhabitants share about a dozen or so surnames.  If they all matched each other, I should match them as well.

The second clue I received was when my third cousin (Laurie Anne Marasco Disinger) told me that she and her dad (Frank Marasco) had their DNA done on 23&Me. Having my own 23&Me DNA kit, I did a lookup to see if we matched.  No match!  At the third cousin level (and second cousin once removed in Frank's case) there should be a very strong match, but alas there was none.  This all but confirmed that I was not a Fazio (and as it turned out neither was my mom or her father).

So if not a Fazio, then who was my great grandfather? We will get to that in a bit, but first let me say that my DNA matches to other Fazios has been confirmed as long as they descended from my great grandmother (Maria Antoinette Luponio). I have more than a dozen matches that confirm that I am related to her, but nothing confirming a link to her husband Raffaele Fazio.  My confirmed Luponio matches as of this date are as follows:

• Joseph Fazio (1st cousin) - My Uncle Joe's son
• Anthony DiFilippo (1st cousin once removed) - My Aunt Helen's (grandpa's sister) son
• Crista Rothe (2nd cousin once removed) - My Uncle Nick Fazio's great granddaughter
• Gail Gray (4th cousin) - confirms match back to Crescenzo Luponio/Maria Emmanuela Angelillo
• Rene Collingsworth (3rd cousin) - confirms that Grandma Luponio and her sister Concetta Luponio Barone were indeed sisters. Rene is Concetta's great granddaughter.
• Stephen Paravati (3rd cousin) - confirms match with Grandma Luponio's other sister Emma Luponio Borselli.
• Joseph Alfano (3rd cousin once removed) - also confirms match back to Crescenzo Luponio/Maria Emmanuela Angelillo

There are several other more distant matches that also link us to the Luponio line however these matches could not be placed in the family tree yet.  With more than twenty Luponio matches and no direct Fazio matches who could be our paternal Italian link?

There is a strong DNA case for our paternal Italian great grandfather being a Tofani.  If that name sounds familiar it should. Alfredo Tofani was married to grandpa Joe's oldest sister Jennie. They were married in 1914. Her marriage record says she was 17 at the time, but her tombstone says that she was born in 1899 so it is more likely that she was 15 at the time of her marriage (and 18 when grandpa was born).

I first began suspecting that a Tofani was an ancestor when I received a DNA match on ancestry.com for Kylee Tofani Lewis. Kylee is showing as 4th - 6th cousin match with high confidence (2 segments, 34cm).  Kylee's family is not from central NY nor have they ever been in central NY. Her family is  from Greenville PA.  I traced her family tree back to Giacomo Tofani from Alatri Italy. The same hometown of Alfredo Tofani.  Were they cousins?

The next two Tofani DNA hits were also from the same family (descendants of Giacomo Tofani) and living in (or near) Greenville PA.  Their names were M. Clavin and Terri Kimmy.  M.Clavin's mother was Frances Tofani (daughter of Giacomo).  Terri Kimmy is also a granddaughter of Giacomo Tofani. Her mother was Maria Tofani (daughter of Giacomo).

The last Tofani hit confirmed that we were in all likelihood descended from a Tofani. This hit was discovered in June 2017 when a match with Gabrielle Tofani was discovered. Gabrielle is a descendant of Alfredo Tofani, but is not related to Jennie Fazio. Gabrielle descends from Alfredo's 3rd wife (Anna Stellato).  Alfredo had two sons with Anna (John and Alfred). Gabrielle descends from Alfred through his daughter Greta Tofani.

So the obvious question is ... was Alfredo Tofani our great grandfather? The DNA definitely confirms that we are descended from a Tofani. Alfredo lived in the house with great grandpa and grandma Fazio during the time-frame when grandpa Fazio was born (1917) and is still living in the house in 1920 (two years after Jennie had died).  Reference the 1915 New York State Census and the 1920 Federal Census.  The family is living on Fifth Street in both censuses.  So the opportunity was definitely there to have an affair with his mother-in-law.  The only other alternative was that another Tofani relative of Alfredo got great grandma Fazio pregnant. There were other Tofanis living in Rome NY at the time.  It is possible that one of them is the father although Occam's Razor tells us that the simplest explanation is often the correct one ... Alfred Tofani is our great grandfather.

Three additional thoughts pertaining to this story.

1.  The Tofani matches mentioned above also match Anthony DiFilippo. This means that Aunt Helen was also a Tofani.

2. Mom always insisted that she had northern Italian blood.  Alatri is right outside of Rome Italy so she was closer than we originally thought (Fazios are from Serrastretta, Calabria).

3.  Mom once told me that Aunt Sheila told her that great grandma Fazio was promiscuous and had sex with her boarders as her husband was old and blind.  She may have been onto something.  I wonder if the other children (Jenny, Nick, George, Albert and Emma) were Raffaele's children.  A DNA test comparing one of their descendants with Laurie Anne Marasco's test would confirm/deny this theory.

Here is a photo of Alfred Tofani (far right) with grandpa Fazio (second from right) ...

    

Update: Received another Tofani match (Sheryl Mohr) on 9/30/ 2017.  Sheryl is the sister of Terri Kimmy. Her and I have a stronger DNA connection (38 cms on 4 segments) than with Terri (25.3 cm on 2 segments).

Update #2: In 2019, found another strong Tofani match to Alfred Tofani. This is either our great grandfathers son (born 1942) or his grandson.  The connection is 142cm across 10 segments. At this level it is probably the grandson, but it all but confirms that Alfred (wife of Jennie) is our great grandfather.