By Bob Piros
All of the information found for this story was found at familysearch.org & other online searches. Also thanks to others who knew some of the local history.
Giuseppe (Joseph) Scaramuzzino was born December 6, 1883 in Fossalto Italy.
Fossalto Italy is a municipality in the Province of Campolasse in Southern Italy. Agriculture is the main economy. From 1880-1924, 4 million Italians emigrated to the USA fleeing grinding rural poverty. Many were farm laborers who would work year- round for 16-30 cents a day.
Joseph’s father was Antonio who was born in 1845 & died in 1939. His wife was
Angela Scaramuzzino (Pansera)-Unknown birth & death.
Antonio’s parents were Giuseppe & Caterina Scaramuzzino (Britti).
Joseph arrived in the USA through the Port of New York on July 13, 1902 on the ship St. George.
His brother was Ambrogio, born October 7, 1885 in Fossalto Italy.
He arrived in the USA in 1906 through the Port of New York on the ship Indiana.
Both brothers started out working for the B & O Railroad as laborers.
This railroad company was the first common carrier & the oldest in the US.
In the early 1900s the railroad started its goal of building 10,000 miles of
track to reach 13 states. The hub city for most Italian families was Philadelphia PA.
This is the site: https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/italians-and-italy/.
The B & O Railroad Company started apprentice programs to train the workers
In the fields of machinists, painters, carpenters & construction in order for them
to be able to earn a higher wage. Trackmen in 1902 were paid $1.25 a day, by
1907 they were paid $1.46 a day. Carpenters were paid $1.71 a day in 1902 &
$1.92 in 1907. Machinists were paid $2.36 in 1902 & $2.87 in 1907.
Joseph married Mary Catina (Reali) on February 17, 1913 in Piedmont, WV.
Mary was born November 16, 1884 in Italy.
Piedmont was where the B & O Railroad needed flat land for a train switching-yard, so they located it in Keyer, WV a few miles from Piedmont. It also had a train repair facility. In the same year Ambrogio was working in Cumberland,
Maryland at a train repair facility. He was 25 miles from Piedmont.
Sometime in late 1913 the Scaramuzzino family members moved to Mt. Gay, WV.
Joseph & Ambrogio went into the grocery store business in Mt. Gay.
About 1929 Ambrogio became the manager of the Washington Hotel located at 13 White St. in Logan, WV. He died December 12, 1969 in Logan.
Also in 1929 Joseph built a 4 story building in Mt. Gay. He named it
Joe S. Grocery. In the bottom part he sold grocery products, clothes, shoes, furniture & other items that the Mt. Gay Coal miners needed.
The two middle floors were used for storage & his family lived on the top floor.
As his business interest grew & he became well known in the area people started calling him S. Joe & he did sign his name as such.
The store building in Mt. Gay was almost straight across the tracks from the
Mt. Gay Post Office & Mt.G ay Company Store. It was located close to the
7Up Bottling Company, run by George & Josie Vance, Barnes Motors run by
Ray Barnes. There was also a Gulf Bulk Oil Plant there.
Also in the area was a small store run by the Venci family. They sold baked
bread, butter rolls, cracker barrel cheese at 10 cents. They also sold beer,
herbal tea & sodas.
The Piccirillo family had a grocery store that faced the Mountain State Packing Company. There was also a Mount’s Hardware & Feed store in the area
& an Ice Plant Building nearby.
In the 1930s the C & O Railroad put in a railroad siding to bring freight cars into supply the many businesses in the area.
During the war years 1942-1945 people in the area who had flat roofs had a
Victory Garden & they grew tomatoes, peppers, onions, potatoes & corn.
After S. Joe closed his store in 1960, a Dale Carroll (1933- 2006) opened a Mining Machine Shop & sold mining equipment.
During their life together Joseph & Mary Scaramuzzino had these children:
Angelina (Bigler)-1913- 1997.
Connie (Moran)-1915-1996.
Theresa (Jacobs) – 1916- 1995.
Angelichina-1918-1922- she died from burns in a fire in Mt. Gay.
Angelica (Sobus)-1922-1979.
Katherine (Shuler)- 1922-1972.
Antoinette (Nutter) – 1924-2006.
Mary died May 10, 1950 in Mt. Gay.
Joseph died September 1, 1970 in Charleston, WV.
As a Memorial to Joseph there is the S. Joe Alley in Mt. Gay.
Farm Photos
Regarding the two farm photos on this page, Joseph (S. Joe) Scaramuzzino might have
bought the land as a memory of his native Italy where crops were grown.
My Dad, Joe Piros Sr. rented this farm of 250 plus acres from S. Joe from 1950-1955.
This farm was located on Raccoon Creek Rd. about two miles of gravel road from the town of Vinton, Ohio. It is now named Scenic Rd. The river is named
Raccoon & it’s used for boating events. The farm is no longer there but there are
a lot of houses in the area.
The property had a two story primitive white & brown wooden house with covered
front & back porches. There were lots of tall trees in the front yard. It had an outhouse,
where one had to watch out for snakes. The house had a chimney & a stove where we
burned coal & wood and used a large metal tub for baths.
There was a barn, tractor, chicken houses, hogs, & two horses on the property.
Every summer after school was out, my family would go down to the farm to work
by planting seeds for crops of cabbage, corn, beans, tomatoes & potatoes.
After working, we were allowed to go swimming in the river.
We also pitched horseshoes, shot marbles & rode our bicycles.
After all of the crops were harvested, my Dad would haul the produce back into
W.V. & sell them to S. Joe for use in his store in Mt. Gay.
This is such a neat article about my great-grandfather! It’s so cool knowing that I come from a family with such a rich history. I don’t live in Logan anymore, but I would always grin every time I passed S. Joe Alley in Mount Gay. Thank you for this article!
Rachel, you’re welcome.
Is there any chance that you might
have a photo of him & his store?
Helen Starr stated that she was
going to post his photo to this website
but she never has.
Hi Bob,
Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of him and his store. If I ever come across any, I’d be happy to share them here! I love the photos you posted of his farm land in Ohio. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen those photos before.
Thanks again for such a great article.
Rachel, you’re welcome.
If you would like to have some of the
farm photos, please post your e-mail
address & I’ll send them to you.
Hello. My family is from Logan and I just found a photograph in our old family photos marked as “S. Joe Daughters” so I asked my family if they knew who S.Joe was, and my sister found that there had been a store in Mt. Gay. I would love to post the photo and see if you could tell me anything about it. Can I post a photo here someway?
You can email it to the admin at loganwv.us@gmail.com.
Just saw the email from Jan Barlow. I’m wondering if she is a second or third cousin or possibly someone in her family was close friends with the Scaramuzzino sisters. I am just now getting into sorting and researching old photos that I have. When I can I’ll send some for posting. My grandfather, S. Joe, was around 5’ 3” tall. He was partially bald with white hair from the early 1950s. However I do have photos of his younger days and he had a very thick head of black hair. The photo of him like that was taken in the 1930s or early 1940s. He was very stocky built.
Mr Piros, my name is Antoinette Rutledge. S Joe was my grandfather. I was astounded to run across this website’s historical information. I have a ton of pictures of the grocery store in Mount Gay. My email address is bacardi151@suddenlink.net
I would be happy to dig up some pics and email them to you.
I enjoyed reading the above article. Many things I could add. I remember the name Mr. Cottone who was a good friend to my grandfather, playing in the elevator, my grandfather helped many people when times were hard, my Dad taking pumps to Mt Gay to get the flood waters out of the basement and walking across the railroad tressel and reaching my hand down and touching the flood waters. It was very scary and hard to believe the water was so deep.
I remember the Chirico Store just across the tracks from my grandfather’s store. We spent nearly every Christmas holiday there celebrating like huge Italian families used to do. I was there for weeks every summer. At 10 years old it was a big deal to ride the bus from Charleston to Logan. My mother put me on the bus and I was not to move until I saw my Grandfather at the end of the trip. The bus drivers always watched after me. It’s the little things. 2023 and that wouldn’t happen!
I live in Charleston WV
Helen Starr and I stay in touch and I know she was doing a lot of back tracking with the family tree. She and I are the oldest two living relatives of the Scaramuzzino family. Other cousins in WV are in Logan and Jackson Counties.
One person not listed was Tommy Putney, who died a couple of years ago. No one ever mentioned or listed him anywhere. He was born and raised in South Charleston. Born 1947 maybe 1948 to Angelica Scaramuzzino and was given up to be raised by his father. He was really into genealogy and we did a little tracing.
I see where Rachel Hicks says she is SS Joe’s granddaughter. Wonder if her mother’s name is Kathy?? I would love to know who her parents are. We all so easily lose touch.
After we sold the grocery store in Mt Gay and I knew the DOT would be tearing it down it was a long time before I could revisit the area and it was so strange to drive directly over it once the project was completed.
The last time I was there I moved several caskets and the remains from our family crypt in Holden near Mt Carmel Church to Memorial Gardens just West of Logan. It was a very sad experience to see the condition of the old cemetery but most of those families have all passed on.
Please feel free to reach out. I usually check email every couple of weeks.
Finally, is there any way to print any of these comments for my family history albums?
THANK YOU ALL FOR TAKING THE TIME, THIS IS A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF WORK AND MUCH APPRECIATED!!!
Hello Antoinette, I thank you for your nice comments about the story. You can send your photos to the Admin at Loganwv.us@gmail.com. Franklin Thompson is the owner of this website and he will post the photos for you. You can type the comments into your computer for use in your family albums.
My family was very close with S Joe. I am glad to learn what happened to his family. we used to visit s Joe all the time. I remember going up the elevator , and playing with toys on some of the floors. In those days I was mello cotton. I later put the e back on my name as it is on my birth certificate .I like to hear from the family.
Mel Cottone, what years did you visit? I remember your name and remember my grandfather and my mother and aunts mentioning the Cottone name. I was born in 1942 and lived with my grandfather in the big building until 1957 when we moved into one of his houses there. And yes, the elevator ! I remember when Nonno allowed us kids to use it on our own! He let us use the third floor to ride roller skates and for a while we even had a bicycle there.
Mel, I recall going up the elevator when I was
about 8 years old. My Dad Joe had business
dealings with S.Joe.
Do you recall what S. Joe looked like as far
as height, weight? I think he had black hair.
Also do you recall if the store had glass
windows on the bottom? He sold his
products there.
Seems like the roof was flat & had some
kind of designs on the four corners.
Helen says she has a photo of her &
her sisters standing out in front of
the building that she is going to
post on this website.
I would believe my grandfather before I would believe records that could have been mistaken. He went back to Italy to bring his brother back here. IveI found records of his coming back a second time. And yes, he was drafted in Italy. He told me these things himself. I doubt he was lying. i know for a fact his birthplace and his family lived in Reggio Calabria. He told me his dad was similar to what a Mayor of a town is here. He had at least one sister there, possibly two, I can’t remember. I do remember helping to box clothes and shoes from the store and sending them over after world war II was over. I was probably 4 or 5. One of his sisters married into a family that raised olives and processed and sold olive oil. They used to send cases of olive oil to us. I also have a couple of letters from a sister I believe. Its in Italian and only having studied latin I’m guessing at some of the words. As I dig through the pictures, etc. that I have I’ll post more things. Is it just curiosity, that you’re so interested in my family?
Helen, thanks for your Grandfather’s Joseph story update.
I did his story due to him being part of Mt. Gay History.
Please post any photos of him & his family on this website.
The old letters that you have you can get help online that
will show you how to translate them. This would be a
really wonderful project for your family to do.
I’m glad that I had the Vinton farm photos to share with you.
Helen, do hope that you have found S.Joe’s store
photo & will post it.
Shannon Rainwater Davant, I’m Angelina”s daughter, Angelica” niece, your mother’s cousin. And so I would be your second cousin. I knew your mother had passed away, but had no information on her brothers or sisters and wasn’t aware of any children to any of my cousins. I tried a couple of times to search but had no luck. I will happy to give you any information I have. I also have a few pictures that I can send copies of to you, if you’re interested.
Angelica Scaramuzzino (Sobus) was my grandmother. I’m the daughter of Katherine Sobus. I was two years old when she passed away, and don’t remember her very well. Thank you for sharing this information about my family. I know my father’s side of my family very well, but my mothers side has always been somewhat of a mystery. I never even meet my grandfather. S. Joe would be my great grandfather. I was in Italy a few years ago, but didn’t have enough information to look anyone up.
Shannan, I’m glad that you enjoyed the S.Joe story.
Do hope that you can find remaining relatives in Italy.
Hope that Helen will be able to help you find them.
Shannan, I am Antoinette Rutledge. Your grandmother was so pretty. Actually a knockout and she didn’t even have to try. I have a ton of pictures of her. If you get this and we connect I would be happy to share some of them if you are interested.
This is a wonderful family history. I always enjoy so much. Thank you for sharing.
I am the eldest grandchild of Joseph/Guiseppe Scaramuzzino. He was born in Reggio, Calabria, a province of southern Italy. My grandmother, Maria Catina was born in Sicily. This was told to me by my grandparents. My grandfather returned to Italy to bring his brother back to America and was drafted into the army by Italy. He fought in WWI, until he was wounded. He lost a lung due to injuries. when he recovered, he returned to the United States. He and my grandmother were then married. He began working with the railroad as a laborer, eventually becoming a crew leader. Connie’s name was actually Concetta, Connie for short. There was also a son , Joseph, or Guiseppe, who died when he was three years old. The daughter, whose name was Angelichina, caught he clothes on fire on an open heater, and started running trying to get away from the fire. She burned to death as a result. My Mom, whowwitnessed it, had nightmares about it for several years. My grandfather closed the store in theearly 1950s, a few years after my grandmother died He owned a lot across the road from from the building and had a garden there. He also had some chickens in a corner of that lot. He owned three or four houses and a garage on the alley, which he rented out. Two of the houses were large two story with two apartments on each level. Mingrones lived next door to us on one side. They were from New York, lived next door for several years, then moved back to New York state. There was also the Chirico family that had a grocery store across the tracks. And also Vito Espisito and his family had a grocery store at the end of the alley. Fortuna’s Produce was also near by. My grandfather purchased several pieces of property. I was never aware of why they were bought. Besides the farm in Ohio, he had property in Lakeland, Florida. ImI not sure anymore about the other locations. He also owned some property down the tracks and across the trestle, near Black Bottom.
Two of my aunts Katherine (Kat) and Antoinette (Nina), worked for the Gulf Oil Company that had a storage and distribution center close by. My sisters and I attended Mt Gay Grade School, then Logan Central Jr. High. I attended Logan High School until the end of my Junior year, when we moved to Ohio. That was in June 1960. A lot of wonderful memories were made there. It saddens me that the building and that area have been destroyed. I know the highway was needed but I think it ruined Mt Gay.
Helen, records show a different story about your Grandfather S.Joe.
WWI started in 1915 at that time Italy was pushed into the war.
Yes its possible that S.Joe was drafted into the Italian Army in
1901 & served a few months before arriving into the US. in 1902.
His brother arrived in 1906. S. Joe was married in 1913.
His draft cards in 1917 & 1942 don’t say anything about a lung problem
or serving in the Italian Army.
In what year was Joseph born & died at the age of 3?
Also Helen you are righr about the destruction of the buildings
in Mt.Gay. Maybe you can research that with the County of Logan
to see if someone took photos of the buildings before destroying them.
Helen it would so wonderful to hear back from you.
i always enjoy the history of Logan, WV