Welcome to the Tampa's Sicilian Genealogy Blog

This is a story that began many years ago. While planning a trip to Sicily I thought it would be interesting to visit the towns of my ancestors. What began as simple research has turned into a passion for my ancestral roots. Funny, I have not yet made the trip to Sicily but nonetheless I have enjoyed the journey into my family’s past.

So let’s get to the point of this site. I have collected a lot of information over the years. Most of which has little to do with my direct lineage. For some time I thought it would be interesting to share this information. My hope is that other Tampa Sicilian’s will do the same. Tell me about your family and I will post the information to this site. Together we will put the pieces of the puzzle together and bring our rich heritage to light.

So let’s begin. At this point I have traced both sides of my family into the 1700’s. I am half Sicilian and half…well I can’t really say, my father’s side of the family predates the Revolutionary War and is more than likely of English decent. This site honors my mother, her family and the many Sicilians who left Sicily at the turn of the last century and immigrated to Tampa.

My journey started in a neighborhood of Tampa called Ybor City and leads back to two towns in Sicily located just a few miles apart. They are Santo Stefano Quisquina and Alessandria Della Rocca. As quoted in The Immigrant World of Ybor City ( a must read) “Santo Stefano Quisquina accounted for approximately 60 percent of Tampa’s Sicilian population at its height and virtually all of its earliest settlers.”¹

My Grandparents, Vincenzo (Jimmy) Castellano and Rosalia (Rose) Sciortino, were both born in Tampa in the early 1900’s. Their parents all immigrated to Ybor City about the same time. The Castellano’s from Santo Stefano and the Sciortino’s from Alessandria Della Rocca. This is where I begin….

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¹Gary R. Mormino and George E. Pozzetta, The Immigrant World of Ybor City, (Gainsville, FL: University Press of Florida)

Maria Messina Greco

Maria Messina Greco was a mid-wife in Tampa at the turn of the 20th century. What makes her work special is that she kept logs of the babies she delivered and those records were miraculously preserved. Chances are if your family is from Ybor or West Tampa, Maria touched your life in some way.

Maria Messina was born the 25th of April 1880 in Santo Stefano Quisquina, Sicily. She was the daughter of Ignazio Messina, age 40 a shoemaker and Guistina Reina age 32 a seamstress. She was from a large family at least seven siblings before her and two after. By the time Maria was 4 she had lost her father.

It is believed that Maria received a license in Midwifery from the University of Palermo. Although professionally trained perhaps her calling was passed down from one generation to the next as Maria’s own grandmother Maria Francesca Lo Presti was also a midwife.

On November 16th 1906 Maria left her native country through the port of Naples. She was accompanied by Luigi Greco her uncle through marriage and soon to be father-in-law. She arrives in the United States through Ellis Island on November 30th. The manifest indicates that she is 4’11” feet tall with a fair complexion, brown hair and eyes. She indicates that she is on her way to join brother Ignazio.

On February 1st of 1907 not more than two months after arriving in the US, Maria marries Luigi’s eldest son Salvatore. Although four years her junior and arriving in Florida seven years before her, Salvatore would be no stranger to Maria, as depicted in the chart below there were several intermarriages between the Messina, Reina and Greco families.

Salvatore Greco was born the 7th of March 1884 in Santo Stefano Quisquina. He was the first son born to Luigi and Maria Castiglia. In 1885 his mother died and his father remarries the following year. By 1899 the family with seven children makes their way to the United States. By 1900 a 16 year old Salvatore establishes himself as a cigar maker an occupation he would work at for the next ten years. Later in life Salvatore will apply for citizenship where he is described as 5’6” tall, fair complexion with brown hair and eyes.

The newlyweds would live with Luigi for the first year of their marriage. During this time there would be no recorded births by Maria. The following year the young couple would move to an apartment at 1509 ½ 9th Avenue. In the same building live Maria’s sister Angelina Messina D’Angelo and younger brother Ignazio. 

Maria would quickly establish herself as a midwife and by the end of 1909 document the birth of over 200 babies. About the same time Salvatore leaves the cigar industry to pursue a career in insurance. So successful they become that by 1910 could afford a live in cook.

In May of 1912 the couple would start their own family with the arrival Delia Greco. This would be their only child. By 1914 the family moves to 1513 9th Avenue; here they will remain for the next twenty years. During the 1930’s Maria practice will gradually wind down. Daughter Delia marries in 1931 to Dr. Joseph Spoto and by 1933 the young couple has their first child. In 1939 Maria records the last entry in her journals. At age 60 she had delivered over 6,700 babies.

In 1957 the couple will move to Redington Beach to live with daughter Delia and family. On 29th of August 1957 Salvatore Greco passes away and less than one year later on 26 June 1958 his beloved Maria will follow.

Maria’s journals are on microfilms and can be ordered at any Family History Center. They are titled Tampa, Florida, midwife records, 1908-1939. Film number 1597958 contain years 1908 to 1922 and film number 1597959 contain years 1922 through 1939. What you can expect to find in the records varies but would normally include the date, name of the child, surnames of both parents, where both parents were born, address and the fee charged.