di Tota Genealogy & Family History

Welcome! The pages of this site discuss the genealogy and family history of the di Tota family originating from Campobasso, Molise, Italy and especially those who eventually emigrated to the United States and settled in the Greater Waterbury region in the early part of the 20th century, taking the Americanized surname Ditoto.

During the process of conducting research over more than two decades, the author of this site has gathered a great deal of additional information regarding other Italian families that either married into the di Tota line or were in other ways closely connected with this family. In many cases, these families also have ties to the province or region of Italy that was originally home for many Italian immigrants who came to America in search of new opportunities.

This story is being shared via the Internet, but has been centuries in the making. Thus far, our research along the di Tota line takes us back nearly 300 years to Giorgio di Tota, born about 1712 at Campobasso. The authors great great grandfather, Clemente di Tota is believed to be the first in his family to come to America. Clemente was born 28 May 1853 in the comune of Campobasso (now in the province of Campobasso, region of Molise). He was the son of Pasquale di Tota (1818+1877) and Anna Maria Villano (1816+?). Pasquale was the son of Vincenzo di Tota (1775+1847) and Maria Giuseppa di Zinno (1787+1841) of Campobasso. Vincenzo was the son of Costanza di Tota (ABT 1745+1806) and Rosa del Colle (ABT 1747+1829).

Listed as a peasant without the ability to read or write, Clemente arrived in America on 9 May 1896 through the Port of New York at Ellis Island. Clemente and about 1,000 others had left the Port of Naples on the ship S.S. Chandernagor and is listed as a 43 year old male on line 511 of page 10 — one of 18 such pages that ship personnel provided to the authorities at Ellis Island upon their arrival in New York Harbor.

You can view additional details about Clemente di Tota, as well as others through the pages of this site. The menu (above left) organizes information into logical groups. As you select a major content area, links to additional pages will become visible. Many words appearing in bold are links to more detailed pages. In some cases, the pages have not yet been created so simply hover your cursor over a word — if the word or phrase turns red, then click for more detail.

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If you're on this site, chances are you have some connection to one or more of the family names mentioned on these pages or a connection to the geographic areas where these families came from or traveled to. Please contact us to share whatever story, date, news clipping, document, photograph or other item you may have.

Please be sure to read about our goals for this site. With the help of descendants worldwide, we can work to document the migration and history of these Italian families throughout the world.