Category: Cristoforo & Lucy – 1st Gen

How does a cabinet maker from Recanati in the Italian peninsula ever end up in London England in the 1850s? Well, as I have said, it is always exciting, when one of your Greats is directly involved in historical events. And in the case of our Cristoforo , your fourth great grandfather, this is very much the case. His life intersects with some critical Italian historical events and some very famous Italian people of his time. Events and people directly involved in the unification and creation of Italy itself. Events that Cristoforo was involved in, and famous Italians he most definitely knew.

We know from family stories that Cristoforo was involved in the fight for Italy to be unified and become a democratic constitutional republic. We believe that as a result of his involvement that he was exiled from Italy. Family lore has it that he was a follower of Giuseppe Garibaldi, and was even some form of a secretary to Garibaldi. This may very well be true, and I would never doubt family lore. But, there were two famous Guiseppes involved in Italy rising again. Yes it is Garibaldi and his Red Shirts who get most of the praise and the glory for their bravery and heroics but,

there was another Giuseppe by the name of Mazzini who you might not have heard of. In fact, Giuseppe Garibaldi was originally a follower of this other Giuseppe, by the name of Giuseppe Mazzini. If Garibaldi was the man of action, Mazzini was the organizer, the brains, the intellectual behind the move to unify Italy and make it a republic. Mazzini was the true revolutionary. And when Mazzini is exiled from Italy, where does he always eventually end up? In London England, his home away from home. Mazzini ends up spending a large part of his life exiled in London. Garibaldi certainly visits London at times, but it is never his home base. Now it could be that Cristoforo works, follows, and supports both of our Giuseppes. In fact that is very likely the case , but there is no doubt that Cristoforo was a supporter of Mazzini in London. We have evidence of that. And in my opinion it is highly likely that Cristoforo ended up in London because that is where Mazzini led him. And it is highly likely Cristoforo did act as a kind of secretary to Mazzini while in London. If you haven’t heard of Mazzini before, I encourage you to please google him, or read one of his books, or a book about him. You will be impressed by this friend of your fourth great grandfather! There are academics who claim Mazzini was one of the most important thinkers of the 19th Century.

When and how does our Cristoforo come into contact with these two great Giuseppes? To date, given we have no documentation or evidence, we can only guess. My guess is that it would be around 1848 to 1849. Cristoforo is born in 1823 in Recanati. Recanati is a town in the province of Marche. Marche at that time was one of the Papal states in the centre of the Italian peninsula , just north east of Rome. As Cristoforo is born, these Papal States are under the control of the Pope and the Catholic Church. Things however are changing in Europe. Ideas of revolution and constitutions and republics are taking hold. A new Pope, Pius IX is installed in 1846. At first Pope Pius IX seems sympathetic to these new ideas, but this changes as the new Pope realizes he can’t survive the revolutions taking place. He escapes Rome just in time. Through the efforts of the two Giuseppes a new republic is formed in Rome. Giuseppe Mazzini becomes one of the leaders and administrators of this new Roman Republic. His time as the leader of this new Roman Republic, however, is short lived. The French army, under the leadership of Napolean III, comes to the aid of Pope Pius IX. Giuseppe Garibaldi and his men try valiantly to defend the new Roman Republic , but they are no match to for the much larger French army. Garibaldi is forced to retreat. First to the mountains north east of Rome, and eventually to San Marino. Pope Pius IX is then safely reinstalled in Rome.

At the time all this is taking place Cristoforo Setacci is in his idealistic mid twenties. Recanati is not far from Rome. Did Cristoforo somehow get involved with the two Guiseppes at this time? My guess is yes. Either he was involved with Garibaldi in the take over of Rome, or with Mazzini in the administration of the new republic, or with both. Either way Cristoforo would have faced exile when Pope Pius IX returned to Rome and was reinstated as leader of the Papal states .

So let’s step back and think about all this for a minute. If we are right, then your 4th Great Grandfather was involved in the Italian Revolution or as it is known in Italy as the “Risorgiomento. ” The “rising again” of Italy.

Moreover, it is highly likely he was involved somehow or other in the attempted expulsion of the Pope and the Catholic Church from Rome! (maybe best not to share that with your Catholic relatives)

To date I have no documentation on the Setacci family in Recanati. No birth, marriage or death documents. To find out more about the Setacci Family in Italy might involve hiring an Italian genealogist, or taking a trip to both London England and Recanati Italy.

Regardless, I believe Cristoforo arrived in London in the mid 1850s after this unsuccessful first stage of the Italian revolution in Rome. Like Mazzini it is highly likely that he would have had other stops along the way. Probably hiding at times in Switzerland, Germany or France before eventually making his way to London.

Cristoforo is is not involved in the Expedition of the Thousand led by Garibaldi in 1860 that would finally eventually lead to the creation of the unified constitutional monarchy of the Kingdom of Italy.

We know that because? Because , well , as much as Cristoforo might have wanted to go and join that Expedition , there was a problem. Cristoforo had become smitten with a young lady in London. Her name was Lucy Iles. It is time to meet your 4th great grandmother.

Lucy Iles is born in 1837 in Thornbury, north of Bristol, and directly west of London. She is one of seven children born to Daniel Iles (ropemaker) and Mary Dawes. You can see the entry for your three year old great great great great grandmother Lucy in the 1841 Census below.

Note she has mostly sisters but an older brother named Daniel.

All the Iles children are Baptised into the Church of England together on January 12, 1851. Lucy would have been 12 years old.

Was it common for an entire family to all be Baptised on the same day? If not , why would this have been the case for the Iles family?

And, a few months later that year we find 13 year old Lucy working as a domestic servant in the heart of London.

Yes, Lucy Iles of Thornbury is working as a servant for the Pearson’s of Halifax Yorkshire on Priest Court , St Leonard, Foster Lane, literally in the shadows of St Paul’s Cathedral. Next time you visit St. Paul’s, sneak out the back door and go visit Priest’s Court.

Yes, Lucy is only 13 years old! Her older sister Martha is also working as a servant, but back in the Thornbury area. Yes, all of Lucy’s siblings, except for her older brother Daniel, are still living with Mom and Dad back in Thornbury. So, how is it that little 13 year old Lucy ends up as a domestic servant in the big city of London? Was their some kind of family connection that brought her there? My guess is she followed her older brother Daniel to London. Daniel, was married in St John the Baptist, Hoxton in 1854 just as Lucy would be 6 years later. But who knows for sure, it could have been the other way around for all we know. Maybe older brother Daniel followed his young independent adventurous sister!

We will probably never know the exact circumstances that brought Lucy to London. We however are fortunate that this brave little girl made her way from Thornbury to the big city. For somehow, in the late 1850s in London England, Lucy meets an Italian cabinet maker by the name of Cristoforo Setacci. Or, should I say , Cristoforo somehow meets Lucy Iles. Maybe, as the song goes, “he followed her down to a bridge by a fountain where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies, somebody called him ,he answered quite slowly. The girl with the name Lucy Iles ” ? And there the Setacci to Stacey story began. And the rest, as they say, is your family history.

In the 1861 census Lucy and Cristoforo are living at 57 Moorgate Road in Coleman St Stephen Parish. Cristoforo is listed as a cabinet maker . Under place of birth he is listed as an Italian British subject. What is an Italian British subject ? Did Cristoforo have to apply for some kind of citizenship in the UK? I don’t think so, and I have yet to find any documents indicating precisely when he entered the UK – or any document showing that he became a UK citizen. I assume such records were not maintained in this time period. Lucy is listed as home keeper.

The couple start a family.

In 1862 first son Lavinio is born. ( This is the birth of your great great great grandfather!)

In 1864 another son Adriano is born.

Then it is an entire 7 years before the final child is born. And another boy who is given the name Atillio Regolos.

Given all these names are very Italian one has to think that Cristoforo just might have had a huge part in the naming of the boys. Was this normal for the male to name the children back then? Or was this unusual? And there is no attempt at this point to give the boys anglicized names to ease their entry into British society. Far from it, these are proud Italian peninsula names. Notice I keep saying “Italian peninsula” , and not Italy. That’s because Italy as a country was just in the process of being created and unified in the decade in which the sons were born. Cristoforo was maybe celebrating this creation of the new Italy when naming his sons. Now, I don’t know much Italian, but certainly the name Atillio Regolos sounds like the name of a new Roman emperor to me. One also has to wonder where these names came from. Surely not out of thin air. We assume these names contain clues to Cristoforo’s family back in Recanati, Italy. Clues that will help us once we all get to Recanati to do some more family research.

And one also has to wonder: What language were the boys spoken to in? What was the family language anyway? A little bit of both English and Italian? Interestingly Mazzini did set up a school for Italian children in London, but I don’t think the Setacci’s attended it.

The homes the Setacci family lived in during this time period are no longer around. The addresses and streets however are. . As noted above their first home is in 57 Moorgate Road. By 1871 the family had moved to 43 Howland Street. By 1881 they are at 35 Harrington Road. See below.

If you want to take a historic walk to see the locations, a possible route is shown above. The family initially live just North of the City of London but gradually move west towards Regent Park. It is the Regent Park area that becomes their neighbourhood. The above suggested walk would take you past many historic locations that would have existed in the time the Setacci family was coming of age. So, take the walk and imagine the lives they must have led and the places they would have frequented and been influenced by.

Cristoforo was not solely involved in Cabinet Making and Family activities in the mid 1860s. And it is here that leads me to believe he worked with Mazzini. While in London Mazzini started various organizations to support the Italian community there. One of Mazzini’s strategies appears to have been to create these types of organizations to lend support to the unification and democratisation of Italy from abroad. One of those organizations was the Italian Working Men’s Association of Mutual Progress. In 1864 this group had 350 members. Setacci is listed as one of the leaders of this organisation.

This is mentioned in a couple of publications but I believe the original source is at the index be here https://www.marxists.org/history/international/iwma/documents/minutes/name-index.htm

This is the index to those who participated in the formation of the International , and if you scroll down to the Ss you will find our Cristoforo.

Below is a snip of the information on him.

In 1864 an International Working Men’s Association is formed. Mazzini decides to have his group of Italian Working Men join the newly formed International Working Men. This group comes to be known famously as simply the “International”. Initially Mazzini was hoping to have some influence over this International Group. That, however was not to be, as Karl Marx became its influential leader.

The first meeting of the International was held in St Martin’s Hall in London. St Martin’s hall no longer exists, but it was very close to Covent Gardens. The scene is depicted below. One has to assume that Cristoforo is there.

As shown here in the minutes of the meeting he becomes a member of the initial general council of the International.

A poster displaying the event is shown below. ( ok – I am probably going to get into some copyright issues on some of these photos – but don’t think anyone is going to come after me on some family blog- hopefully) Note that the Italians are providing the musical band and the Germans are providing the singers or choruses.

Subsequent meetings of the International were held at 18 Greek Street in Soho. That address is now a restaurant. So, you could visit 18 Greek Street, have dinner or lunch , and imagine people like Marx, and Mazzini, and most importantly, Cristoforo Setacci meeting there.

Finally , talk about being involved in historic events with famous people, it doesn’t get much better than the below. In 1865 Karl Marx writes a letter from the International to Abraham Lincoln. This letter can be found on the internet quite easily by googling it. There is a link on wikpedia. And Setacci is the last signature of the first set of signatures on the document.

I will leave you to read the letter, and reflect upon it. Your Great is a signatory to a letter written by Marx to Lincoln congratulating him on his re-election and the death of slavery! Something to be proud of for sure. Not to mention the importance of the “International” as one of the first global organizations of working men. As an artisan cabinet maker our Cristoforo surely understood the pressures his craft and his way of life would face with the increase of furniture factories, industrialization and national governments passing laws that would support it all. The International would stand up for the rights of working men like him. And our Cristoforo is one of its founding members.

When Mazzini leaves the International – I believe due to disagreements with Marx and others on certain topics, and the overall direction of the organization ( though again I am no expert on this history) I believe Cristoforo Setacci does as well as I can’t find his name in the minutes of the meetings of the International after that point. This again supports our thesis that Setacci was heavily influenced by Mazzini.

It is the summer of 1879 and the Westminster Industrial Exhibition is on.

Cristoforo Settaci wins a silver medal for his inlaid table top.

The below snip is from the London Chronicle of Friday June 20, 1979

One has to wonder: was this a regular occurrence for Cristoforo? Did he win these medals all the time? What did the inlaid table top look like? Are there still Setacci inlaid table tops from the 1880’s n existence , out there somewhere? Is it possible ? Maybe in a museum such as the Victoria & Albert ? Or maybe on a website that sells them, such as the one below?

And what ever happened to the silver medal Cristoforo was won? Has it been kept? Does someone, somewhere, in the family still have it? Or, again, is there one out there on Ebay somewhere ? Maybe we should buy this one, just for fun! It is in Illinois, and reasonably priced.

Cristoforo passes away in 1904 at the age of 80.

Lucy lives another 10 years. At some point she moves out of the place at Harrington Road and moves up to Willesden, 18 Larch Road, Cricklewood where her sons are all close by. And for the first time we have a house that I assume is the same one that was there in 1915. ( although like most of the homes we will show, has been gentrified)

We believe she attended her Grandson Claud’s wedding in the summer of 1915 and that we may even have a photo of her there. ( see section on Claud and Martha for photo) Lucy passes 4 months after on December 1, 1915.

The Setacci’s were commemorated with a Monument at the Hendon Cemetery in North London near Willesden.

I would suggest you go visit your greats the next time you are in London, but unfortunately I don’t think that is possible. The document below indicates that their tombstones, among with many others, were moved or destroyed in 1973. It might still be worth a visit to see if we can find out why the graves were removed and where they went to. And more importantly to ensure that the removal was done properly. Otherwise, well, sometimes spirits do escape when such moves take place. And the possibility does exist that the ghosts of Cristoforo and Lucy are looking over your shoulder right now checking out their great great great great great grandchildren. At least I hope they are.

If anyone does go to the cemetery the below might help. It indicates that a non-lawn type memorial was moved or converted to lawn principle. ( whatever that means)