Ella Catherine Abbott
Ella Abbott, Antoinette and Jameson Abbott's ninth child, was born on February 27, 1925.1 According to church records, Ella was baptized in St. Luke's Church on March 15, 1925.2 Witnesses were two of Ella's first cousins, Charles Abbott and Evelyn Ziesse.3 St. Luke's Church, where several Abbott children were baptized and where the children attended services, is located at 623 East 138th Street in the Bronx, NY. The church is located only a few blocks from the Abbott family home on East 132nd Street where six of the eleven Abbott children, including Ella, were born.
Although named Ella Catherine Abbott at birth, one document presents some information about another name she appears to have used. When Ella applied for a Social Security number in 1942 at the age of 17, she filled out a Form SS-5 on which she listed her name at birth as Ella Catherine Abbott, but indicated that she would use Ella Loretta Abbott as her name when employed.4 However, on the line indicating the name she intended to use with employers, the middle name is scratched out and Catherine is written above the scratched out middle name. She initially signed the form as "Ella Loretta Abbott," but the "Loretta" portion of the signature is scratched out and a the letter "C" is written in above it. The application appears to be in her own handwriting, which would seem to indicate that Ella supplied the middle name of Loretta. It would appear that some other individual, perhaps somebody who was processing the application, changed the information that Ella had initially supplied. It is possible that Ella took Loretta as her confirmation name and was using it in place of her legal middle name given at birth. This is, of course, speculation on my part, but there is some reason to believe that is what might have happened based on a similar situation with her brother, Harold Abbott. Although family members believe he was named Harold Francis Abbott, he used Donald as his middle name, having chosen it as his confirmation name.5
When Ella applied for her Social Security number, she was unemployed and living at 23 Locustwood Boulevard in Elmont, New York. Ella was living at the time with her sister and brother-in-law, Florence Elizabeth (Abbott) Siconolfi and Frank William Siconolfi. Curiously, she indicated that she had been born in "New York City," which is incorrect, rather than the Bronx.
Ella married Edward W. Siconolfi. Ella's sister Florence was married to one of Edward's brothers, Frank William Siconolfi. Ella and Eddie Siconolfi had two children: Nancy Siconolfi and Donna Siconolfi.
Ella and Eddie Siconolfi owned a small grocery store, possibly in Scarsdale, New York, and later they were in a partnerhsip with Eddie's brother, John Siconolfi, in a lawn furniture business.6
Ella (Abbott) Siconolfi died in March of 1989 in Edgewater, Florida, and is interred next to her husband at the Edgewater New Smyrna Cemetery.7
1 This is the date listed in the Social Security Death Index. Ella's birth certificate is not currently (2010) available, except to direct descendents, due to privacy restrictions associated with NYC records after 1908. Records prior to 1909 are located at the Municipal Archives in NYC, but later records have not yet been relaeased by the Department of Health to the Municipal Archives.
2 Her sister, Dorothy Eleanor (Abbott) Delaney, obtained the information from St. Luke's Church.
3 Charles Abbott was one of the children of John J. Abbott and Mary (Mulhern) Abbott. John J. Abbott, was a brother of Ella's father, Jameson Francis Abbott. Evelyn Ziesse was one of Ella's cousins on her mother's side of the family. Evelyn was the daughter of Antoinette (Schreiber) Abbott's sister, Lena (Schreiber) Ziesse, and Lena's husband William Henry Ziesse.
4 Application for Social Security Number, Form SS-5, Treasury Department, Internal Revenue Service, signed by Ella on September 23, 1942.
5 Information about Harold Abbott's use of Donald as his middle name, and the origin of that usage, was supplied by his brother, Richard Joseph Abbott, in a telephone conversation with Robert F. Delaney.
6 Conversations between Dorothy Eleanor (Abbott) Delaney, Ella's sister, and Robert F. Delaney..
7 Interred at Unit 2 South, Edgewater New Smyrna Cemetery, Edgewater, Florida.
Page created: January 18, 2010