"Edith Caroline Gustafson"
was born March 8, 1899 in PA to Charles Gustafson and Selma Johnson. Charles and Selma came to America from Sweden.
Charles in 1885 and Selma in 1891. They married about 1893 in PA.
In 1910 they lived
in Cowanshonoch Twp, Armstrong County, PA, just northeast of Allegheny County.
Charles was a Coal Cutter
in the Coal Mines. Living with the family in 1910 was Charles' father Gustavia J. Gustafson, born in 1841 in Sweden and coming
here about 1885. He was a widower in the 1910 census so it is unknown whether his wife came to the U.S. with him.
By the 1920 Edith had married
Joseph Lee Lanza, an immigrant from Sicily in 1905. They lived in Ingram, Allegheny Co., PA.
They lost their first born
son, Joseph Jr. while living there, about 1917.
Their second son, Louis L.
Lanza was born on October 7, 1919.
Edith and Joseph Lanza
had another addition to their family, another son, in 1921, Charles J., born in McKees Rocks, PA.
About 1922 Edith and Joseph moved to Warren,
OH where daughter, Lena Bernadette was born on July 22nd of 1923 and Samuel Edward in 1926.
By 1930 Edith was living alone
in Warren, Trumbull Co., OH with all 4 children. Sam, the youngest,
was only 4 years old. Not sure what happened but Edith and Joseph split up and the family was torn apart.
Later the children went to live
with Joseph and his second wife, Minnie Manna Lombardi. Many years would go by without the children seeing their mother.
As proof that good things can come out of any
bad situation, Edith was finally able to be reunited with her children and their relationships renewed with her.
By 1930 Edith's parents, Charles and Selma had moved to
Stowe Twp., Allegheny Co., PA and then to McKees Rocks, Allegheny Co., PA.
Charles was working as a laborer in the building trades
in 1930.
Charles died in 1964 at the age of 94 and Selma in 1966
at the age of 86, in McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, PA and are buried in the Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church Cemetery, McKees
Rocks, PA
Many of their other 8 children stayed in the McKees Rocks
area of PA.
Edith remarried many years later, in 1954,
to Andrew March in Warren, Ohio, (affectionately known as "Uncle Andy" to Edith's children and grandchildren).
Edith and Andy lived in Warren, Ohio from 1954 until her
death in 1977.
Edith Gustafson Lanza March died September
6, 1977, in Warren, OH and is buried in All Souls Cemetery, Bazetta Twp., Trumbull Co., OH.
"Uncle Andy" died May 1987 and is buried next to her.
At this time Samuel Lanza Sr. is the only one
of Edith's children still alive.
If anyone has corrections or additions for
this story please send it to me and I will be happy to include it.
Some of my sources for my information came
from family knowledge and from researching census records and cemetery records in PA and OH.
