Domenico Ricciardi Providence Manifest Review - 27 April 2026

Scope

Reviewed the proposed 1920 S.S. Providence passenger manifest for Domenico Ricciardi against the image-backed naturalization records and related passenger evidence for Domenico Ricciardi and Cristina Polletta.

Question: is the Providence manifest entry the same person as the San Giuliano del Sannio/Cleveland naturalization subject, a different person, or unresolved?

Recommendation

Recommendation: same person. User accepted this identity decision on 27 April 2026.

Treat source-passenger-manifest-domenico-ricciardi-providence-1920 as the arrival manifest for person-domenico-ricciardi-1891, but do not use its conflicting S. Giovanni S. locality readings to revise Domenico's canonical birthplace. Preserve the locality conflict in source notes. Create an immigration event only as a proposed event with the one-day date discrepancy preserved.

Evidence Matrix

Evidence Match value Conflict or caution
Providence manifest, line 23 Records Ricciardi, Domenico, married, South Italian, sailing from Naples on the S.S. Providence and arriving New York/Ellis Island in October 1920. Manifest age is 28; the accepted declaration and petition imply age 29 after 29 August 1920.
Providence manifest, line 23 Final destination reads Ohio, Cleveland. A prior note had assigned Rockford, Illinois from adjacent line 22; visual review corrected this on 27 April 2026. None for destination after correction.
Providence manifest, line 23 Nearest relative in Italy is wife Cristina Polletta, tying the manifest passenger to the same spouse surname supported by Cristina's manifest and Mary's accepted records. The same line gives Cristina's locality as S. Giovanni S., not S. Giuliano.
Providence continuation, line 23 Appears to show prior U.S. residence in Ohio about 1913-1915 and an uncle Saverio Gentile/Gentili in Cleveland, Ohio. The prior-stay and uncle/address readings are legible enough for comparison, but not clean enough for canonical use without another review.
Providence continuation, line 23 Birthplace appears as Italy, S. Giovanni S.. This is the strongest conflict with the San Giuliano del Sannio evidence.
1920 declaration Accepted source records Domenico Richardi, born 29 August 1891 in a phonetic San Giuliano del Sannio reading, living at 1951 East 123rd Street in Cleveland, wife Cristina, and arrival at New York on the Providence. The attached certificate of arrival states Ricciardi, Domenico, 13 October 1920, Providence, issue no. 136107. The declaration line itself has a partly inconsistent/obscured arrival month, but the certificate of arrival on the same image states October.
1927 petition Proposed source records Domenico Ricciardi, born 29 August 1891 at Gruliano, Italy, residing at 2089 East 125th Street, Cleveland, arrived New York on 13 October 1920 on the Providence, wife Cristina, and continuous U.S. residence from 13 October 1920. The petition has separate child birthplace/year conflicts already preserved in its source notes.
Cristina Polletta 1921 manifest Proposed source records Cristina Polletta, married, last residence and birthplace S. Giuliano, Campobasso, destination Cleveland, and joining husband Ricciardi Domenico at a Cleveland address. It supports the Domenico/Cristina/Cleveland cluster but does not itself correct Domenico's S. Giovanni S. manifest readings.
1891 birth index Proposed index records Domenico Ricciardi born 29 August 1891 in San Giuliano del Sannio, Campobasso. Index-only until the original birth-register image is reviewed.

Analysis

The Providence manifest should not be treated as a different person. The combination of name, marital status, vessel, port, near-exact arrival date, Cleveland destination, wife Cristina Polletta, and a Cleveland joining contact is too specific to set aside as a same-name coincidence.

The naturalization evidence is especially important. Domenico's accepted 1920 declaration includes a certificate of arrival naming Ricciardi, Domenico, arrival date 13 October 1920, and vessel Providence. The 1927 petition repeats that arrival claim and places him continuously in the United States from 13 October 1920. Those records show that the naturalization file was built around this Providence arrival, even though the manifest image records the ship arrival as 12 October 1920.

The remaining conflict is material but not disqualifying: the manifest twice appears to say S. Giovanni S. where the naturalization and indexed birth evidence point to San Giuliano del Sannio. The safest treatment is to preserve S. Giovanni S. exactly as the manifest reading, note it as a discrepancy, and not let it override the accepted San Giuliano del Sannio canonical birthplace.

Repo Actions

  • Corrected source-passenger-manifest-domenico-ricciardi-providence-1920 so line 23's final destination is Cleveland, Ohio rather than Rockford, Illinois.
  • Added this recommendation to the Domenico/Cristina evidence trail.
  • Updated the human-input item after the user accepted the same-person decision on 27 April 2026.
  • Created proposed event private timeline item.

Follow-Up

Do not use the manifest's S. Giovanni S. readings to replace the accepted San Giuliano del Sannio birthplace without a separate source review. The best next document target remains Domenico's original San Giuliano del Sannio birth register image and/or Domenico and Cristina's Italian marriage record.