LaRosa Children Grow Up in Colorado

The School census for Las Animas County in 1915 for the town of Aguilar lists LaRosa children: Frances, no age, “Rosia”, age 14, “Asper” (Gaspare), age 6, and Sam, age 10. Then the 1917 census shows the LaRosa children living in Hastings, Colorado.

Salvatore, (Sam) worked in the coal mines, leaving school after the 7th grade, which was typical. Sons were expected to work to help the family financially. My father, Gaspare, known as “Jasper” to his friends in Aguilar, went to school through the 8th grade (skipping the 7th). I don’t know if my father worked in the coal mines or in his father’s shoe shop, although his later skill as an upholsterer may have been discovered while stretching leather for shoes.

Ignazio,”Esperino” (Gaspare/Gasparino) and Francesca LaRosa received the sacrament of Confirmation in Segundo, CO in 1917 according to Holy Trinity Catholic Church records. I’ve been told that there was a traveling priest from Holy Trinity Church who went around to the small towns and mining camps for baptisms, confirmation and weddings.

The Segundo camp was not far from Valdez where my aunt Rosa LaRosa, Raffaele’s oldest child, married Gaspare Cuca, also from San Biagion Platani, in 1917, in Valdez, CO.

They had three children: Vincenzo (James) born on Sept. 12, 1920 in Valdez: Crucifina (Clara) born on July 17, 1922 in Aguilar (Rosa probably went to her mother’s house in Aguilar to have her baby): Raffaele (Ralph) born May 12, 1924 in Valdez.

Gaspare Cuca is listed, along with his brother Frank Cuca, and his cousin James Cuca, as miners in the 1924 -25 Polk Directory for Valdez. St. Anthony’s Catholic Church cemetery in Aguilar shows a gravesite for another of Gaspare’s brothers - Joe Cuca, who died Dec. 9, 1922.

The 1920 school census shows the LaRosa family living in Aguilar again. Francesca LaRosa died in Aguilar of diphtheria, on Nov. 6, 1920.