Steven Victor Para is so hard to grasp. I am really hoping someone will come forward with more information about him. What I have from census records has many discrepancies.
Stephen Victor Para was born in March of 1870, 1872 or 1874 in Italy to Kiacoma Para (dates unknown) and Chiarlone Maria di Steffano (Stefano) (dates unknown), both of Italy. One census gives his immigration date as 1881 and another says 1880. I am still trying to locate his parents.
And that’s only the beginning!
On December 12, 1895 Steven married Jennie Wright of Tennessee. She was 15 years old.
They show up 5 years later on the 1900 census in Memphis, Tennessee. By then they had two sons, one being my granddaddy’s stepfather, Stephen Anthony Para (1896-1984). According to the record Steven was a farmer. There is some dispute over this, however. Steven was apparently the caretaker of the Forest Hills Cemetery, Memphis, Tennessee. The family lived in a stone house at the back of the property. I wonder if he took care of the cemetery and was also a farmer? If you look just above his name on the census you can see that their neighbor was a grave digger. So it is possible that Steven was both a caretaker AND a farmer.
The next census gets even sketchier. The location of the family is on both the 1910 regular schedule (enumerated April 18-19) and also on the 1910 supplementary schedule (enumerated April 16-21). It looks on the regular census as though it had been written in that Jennie was either married or widowed, but someone had erased it and marked that she was divorced. There is something pertaining to her written in the margin, but I can’t make out what it says.
On the 1910 supplementary schedule it only lists Steven, at the same address, and he is married. Again, something is noted in the margin pertaining to him, but the only word I can make out is “wife”.
I believe that the notations in the census margins have to do with their divorce. They both appear on the court dockets for May 20, 1910 and the complaint was granted. Unfortunately it doesn’t give us any remarks.
In 1920 Steven shows up in Galveston City, Texas. According to the census he was a boarder at a house with 10 other people. It lists his marital status as widowed. I have not found any other marriage records for him.
The death of Steven Victor Para happened at 3:20pm on April 13, 1942 at Western State Mental Hospital in Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tennessee. His cause of death was cerebral hemorrhage due to arteriosclerosis. He had been at Western State for 11 years and 11 months for treatment of psychosis. I believe that his admittance to the hospital may be why I am unable to find him on the 1930 census so far.
Because of the marital status on the 1910 census, 1920 census and his death certificate (which marks him as widowed, informed by his son Dewey) I think that the break up of his marriage and death of his ex-wife may have caused his mental breakdown. Jennie married again in November of 1910 and died in 1914.
I hope someone has more information that can help fill in the gaps. I will, of course, continue to research Steven Victor Para!
UPDATE 9/1/2011: I believe that “Kiacoma”, the documented name for Steven Victor Para’s father, should actually be
Giacomo, like Casanova’s name. The di Steffano listed for his mother’s maiden surname may just describe Maria’s father. More than likely Chiarlone is associated with her surname, as in Maria Chiarlone di Steffano.
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