Cerini Family History, 10th Generation: Belloni Children
Giuseppina M. (Bellon) AbbottΔ (1891-)
173233511. Giuseppina “Josephine” M. BellonΔ was born on December 2, 1891, in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, the first of the Cerini family to be born in America. She was recorded as Giuseppina Belloni in the 1900 census and thereafter was recorded as Josephine Bellon. Josephine married Stephen C. Abbott (originally Abbotte) around 1907 or 1908.[Cen 1910] Stephen immigrated from Italy in 1889 or 1890 at around the age of 5. Josephine and Stephen had at least eight children[Cen 1930]:
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1732335111. | Casper S. Abbott | 31 Jan 1910 | (> 1968) | (> 58) |
| 1732335112. | Grace Marie Abbott | 8 Mar 1916 | 17 Apr 2002 | (86) |
| 1732335113. | Lester A. Abbott |
3 Apr 1917 | 1 Apr 1945 | (27) |
| 1732335114. | Adeline L. Abbott | (13 Jan 1921) | 5 Nov 2014 | (93 ) |
| 1732335115. | Stella S./M. Concepta Abbott | 10 Aug 1922 | 18 Aug 2015 | (93) |
| 1732335116. | Stephen S. Abbott | 26 Jan 1925 | 29 Jul 1968 | (43) |
| 1732335117. | Gloria Grace AbbottΔ | 20 Jan 1927 | 11 Jun 2011 | (84) |
| 1732335118 . | Mabel S. Abbott | (Oct) 1929 | (> 2015) | (> 85) |
Stephen's family settled at at 1019 East Locust Street in Scranton by 1900.[Cen 1900B] His father worked as a stonemason.[Cen 1900-1920] After Josephine and Stephen married, they settled next door at 1016 East Locust Street and rented together with the Anton & Louise Gress family, also Italian immigrants.[Cen 1910]
Stephen's sister Nellie (Abbott) Cernuto and her family moved in with them by 1920 and Stephen was recorded to be a clerk at a carpet store.[Cen 1920] Stephen became a department store salesman by 1930.[Cen 1930]
The family continued at 1016 East Locust Street, but interestingly Stephen's widowed mother Grazia Abbott was named as the head of household in 1940. Stephen worked in construction while daughter Grace and son Lester worked at a pants factory.[Cen 1940]
Son Lester enlisted in the U.S. Army on August 28, 1940, at Fort McPherson, Atlanta, Georgia, where he was assigned to the Philippine Department.[WWII] He was later assigned to the 100th Infantry Division (“Century Division”), 397th Infantry Regiment, which stood up in 1942 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina. The division deployed to the Meurthe-et-Moselle region in northeastern France, engaged in combat at Saint-Remy in the Vosges Mountains in November 1944, and took over for the 45th Infantry Division at Baccarat. The 100th pushed northeast to Bitche, near the German border, in December. In March 1945, the Division pushed across the Rhine River into Germany where PFC Abbott was killed in action on April 1, 1945. PFC Abbott was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart and buried at Lorraine American Cemetery and Memorial, Saint-Avold, Moselle, Lorraine, France.[Grave]
By 1950, Stephen and Josephine and Stephen's mother (still named as the head of household) were living on the upper floor of 1016 East Locust Street, along with son Stephen and daughter, Mrs. Adeline (Abbott) DeSanto; and daughter, Mrs. Grace (Abbott) Cali and her family were living on the first floor. Son Stephen worked as a storekeeper at a grocery and candy store, daughter Adeline worked as a salesgirl at a dry goods company, and son-in-law Anthony Cali worked as a spot welder at the spring manufacturing company.[Cen 1950]
Walter Michael Bellon (1893-1969)
173233512. Walter Michael Bellon was born on May 5, 1893, in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.[Draft 1917] He was first recorded as “Mose Belloni”[Cen 1900] but later records give his full name as Walter Michael Bellon. Walter moved to Analy township, Sonoma County, California, where he lived with his maternal aunt Annonziata (Cerini Pomi) Marci.[Draft 1917] He served in the U.S. Army during World War I and upon his return he married his first cousin, Annonziata's daughter, Mabel Dorothy Pomi, on August 23, 1919.[Mar 1919] They divorced in the 1930s and Walter remarried to Marguerite Amanda (Rinn) Van Auken, who had a daugher from a prior marriage. They had one daughter together:
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -- | Corrine Van Auken | -- | -- | -- |
| 1732335121. | Suzanne Bellon | -- | -- | -- |
Walter moved to Hessel Precinct in Analy township (southeast of Sebastopol along Gravenstein Highway) in Sonoma County, California, by 1917, where he farmed for his maternal aunt Annonziata (Cerini Pomi) Marci.[Draft 1917] Walter was of medium height, slender build, and had dark blue eyes and black hair.[Draft 1917]
Walter enlisted in the U.S. Army on September 20, 1917, and was assigned to Company C of the 145th Machine Gun Battalion. He was discharged as a corporal on May 23, 1919, having earned a Bronze Victory Button.[Vet, Grave]
Three months after his military discharge, Walter married his Aunt Annonziata's daughter, Mabel Dorothy Pomi, his first cousin, on August 23, 1919, at Saint Rose Catholic Church at B Street and 10th Street in Santa Rosa. They were wed by Rev. John M. Cassin.[Mar 1919] Walter and Mabel lived with Annonziata through her death in 1929, and continued to live with Mabel's stepfather through 1930.[Cen 1920,1930]
Walter and Mabel divorced sometime between 1930 and 1935, by which time Walter had moved to San Francisco and resided at the Sunny Hotel at 26 Chatham Place. There he worked as an operator at a paper board factory.[Cen 1940A] Within months, Walter moved a mile west to 1958 Sacramento Street where his point of contact was Mrs. Genevieve. Wilmarth, a boarding house manager at that address.Vote 1940, Draft 1942 He worked near the bay at 113 Townsend Street. Walter's World War II draft registration described him as 5' 5" tall, 140 pounds, with blue eyes, brown and gray hair, a ruddy complexion, and a scar on his upper lip.[Draft 1942]
Walter remarried to Marguerite (Rinn) Van Auken in the 1940s. She had worked as a nurse at the San Francisco Nusery for Homeless Children at 1350 Lake Street in San Francisco.[Cen 1940B] The blended family moved to 455 40th Avenue in San Francisco by 1950 where Walter was a foreman at a paper box factory.[Cen 1950] They later moved to 13 North Sunset Drive in Lodi where Walter worked as a saleman[City 1956] and as an agent for his father-in-law's real estate agency, the L. H. Rinn Agency.[City 1962] (Walter's father-in-law, Louis Henry Rinn (1876-1961) died the previous year.)
Walter M. Bellon died in on May 7, 1969, in Alameda County, California, just two days after his 76th birthday. He had been residing in Lodi at the time of his death and was buried at Lodi Memorial Park and Cemetery.[Grave]
Marguerite later remarried to Ernest Max Folendorf, a widower and veteran of World War I, on May 11, 1980, in Reno, Washoe County, Nevada. Ernest died on May 2, 1986, in Lodi and was also buried at Lodi Memorial Park and Cemetery.[Grave]
Marguerite Amanda (Rinn Van Auken Bellon) Folendorf died a year later on September 8, 1987, in Inyo County, California. She too was buried in Lodi Memorial Park and Cemetery.[Grave]
Cornelius Ted BellonΔ (1894-1973)
1173233513. Cornelius Ted BellonΔ was born on November 14, 1894, Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania. He married Johanna Eley, a native of South Wales, reportedly on March 24, 1917, in Scranton. He enlisted with the Army during World War I, leaving his bride pregnant with their first child. They went on to have as many as ten children, likely all born in Scranton, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania:
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11732335131. | Celester BellonΔ | 28 May 1918 | 15 Nov 1987 | (69) |
| 11732335132. | Alford Bellon | Jan 1920 | 5 Sep 1920 | (7 mos.) |
| 11732335133. | Blanche Bellon | 22 Jan 1921 | 3 Aug 1921 | (6 mos.) |
| 11732335134. | Adeline Bellon | 19 Dec 1921 | 2 Jul 1996 | (74) |
| 11732335135. | Blodwyn “Brenda” Bellon | 19 Dec 1921 | May 1980 | (57) |
| 11732335136. | Walter Bellon | 25 Oct 1922 | 8 Aug 1923 | (9 mos.) |
| 11732335137. | William F. Bellon |
27 Nov 1923 | 23 Aug 1992 | (68) |
| 11732335138. | Cornelius Bellon | 7 Jul 1925 | 29 Oct 1925 | (3 mos.) |
| 11732335139. | Catherine Bellon | -- | -- | -- |
| 1173233513A. | Julia Bellon | -- | -- | -- |
Cornelius and Johanna lived at the rear of 1413 North Sumner Avenue in Scranton when World War I broke out and Cornelius registered for the draft in June 1917[Draft 1917] through when he enlisted.[Pen 1934] At the time he worked as a plumber for W. F. Malburg and was described as being of medium height and build with dark hair and brown eyes.[Draft 1917]
Cornelius enlisted in Army at the age of 23 on December 15, 1917, in Scranton. He first served with the 307th Field Artillery, presumably at Camp Dix (now Fort Dix), New Jersey, under the 78th Infantry Division. Cornelius was reassigned to the 8th Company, [3rd] Regiment A.S.M.M. (as yet unidentified) in mid-March 1918, prior to the Division's deployment to France in May. He then transferred to the 13th Company, [3rd] Regiment M.M. (as yet unidentified) on June 1 and served there through mid-September. His burial record also named the 12th Company, 3rd Regiment as his unit.[Burial 1973] Cornelius reportedly served overseas from 1918 to 1919 and was promoted to corporal on November 2, 1918, and to sergeant in February 1919. Sergeant Bellon was honarably discharged on April 26, 1919, at Camp Mitchel Field (now Mitchel Air Force Base) on Long Island, New York. He applied for a pension in February 1934 that compensated him $160--$10 for 16 months of service.[Pen 1934]
Johanna's family (widowed mother Julia, elder brother Evan, divorced elder sister Blodwin, and nieces Olive and Lillian) lived with the Bellons at the rear of 1413 North Sumner Avenue in Scranton in 1920. Cornelius worked as a laborer at a warehouse.[Cen 1920]
Cornelius and Johanna lost four infants in the early 1920s. All were buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in nearby Dunmore, Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania.[Grave]
By 1930, the Bellons had moved about eight blocks north to 1835 Block Street where Cornelius worked as a plumber for a plumbing company.[Cen 1930] They moved to a couple blocks north to 1834 Keyser Avenue by 1934[Pen 1934] and then moved back south by 1935 to 504 Marion Street where Johanna's mother, Julia Eley, and brother Evan Eley, moved back in with them. Cornelius continued to work as a plumber, son Celester worked as a truck driver for a coal company, Evan worked as a laborer at a coal mine, and Johanna and daughter Blodwyn both worked as servants in private homes.[Cen 1940]
Cornelius registered for the draft in April 1942 and stated he worked for J.J. Hessling in Carbondale, 13 miles north of Scranton. Four months later, 18-year-old son William enlisted in the U.S. Army Coast Artillery Corps at Wilkes Barre on September 16, 1942.
Cornelius Ted Bellon died on January 23, 1973 in Scranton and was interred at Forest Hill Cemetery.[Burial 1973] He was 78 years old.