This website, PaduliinAmerica.com, serves both to honor the first generation of Padulesi (people from Paduli) who immigrated to America between 1880 and 1930 as well as to educate the descendants of Paduli in America today about their beautiful heritage.  It has also served to create new ties between the people of Paduli today and the descendants of Paduli around the world, particularly in the United States and Australia.

The first generation of Padulesi who came to America were strong people who worked hard and saved their money to support their families back in Paduli as well as the new families they created as immigrants.  The great majority of them went abroad to earn enough money so that one day they could return to Paduli and live out their lives with their families.  But historical events, including the Great War, the Great Depression and the Second World War, intervened to make it difficult for them to return.  Also, the longer they stayed the more they grew accustomed to the opportunities available to them in America.

My grandparents, Rocco D’Angelis (our family name later morphed into “DeAngelis”) and Maria Teresa Mainiero, and their infant son, my father Alessandro, were among those who came and stayed.  They were part of one of the largest migrations in human history, the movement of people from Eastern and Southern Europe to America.  I have been able to gather over 1400 ships’ passenger manifest records of Padulesi who came to America from the 1880s through the 1920s.  This revision of the list includes first-time entries for the Mella family. These records are incorporated in the clickable, downloadable Excel file available below:

PADULESI PASSENGER LIST Feb11-2021

Alexander DeAngelis, February 11, 2021