• General Notes

  It is an official document issued by the Italian Consulate in Pittsburgh , PA , USA dated August 3, 1912. The man who signed the document (can’t read the name) is somebody running the Consulate but is not the Consul because the King (we had a King at that time, wish we could go back…) had not nominated one and this guy was ‘holding’ the position in behalf of the King.
  
  The matter of the document is a result of the medical inspection Mr. Tarquini, Abele, son of Eustachio (father) and Tocci, Cesaria (mum), born on April 10, 1892 in Tocci, which is a small village nearby Pescara. This man has been rejected from the call on duty for that year, andput in the list for the next year 1913 (and this is ridiculous, you will notice later). The handwriting goes ‘insufficient thoracic circumference’ as the motivation for rejection. This is what in the wider right part of the form. The left side carries some physical data. The guywas 1.66 meter (5.462 feet), thoracic circumference 77 centimetres (30.315 inches), brown hair, brown eyes, skin colour regular (mean that he wasn’t black, you would say Caucasian), set of teeth regular, eyebrow brown, front regular (means that he wasn’t a monster, ah ah ah).
  
  Abele was born in Tocco Da Casauria, Italy and immigrated to the U.S. at age 16. He left Napoli on July 23, 1907 on the ship SS Florida.
  He went to Jeannette, Pennsylvania where his brother Agapito had come a few years earlier.
  Abele was able to find work at the Window House Glass Factory. He worked here for many years until he was drafted to serve in the Army in World War 1.
  In 1912 Abele received a waiver from serving in the Italian army. This waiver was received from the Italian Consulate in Pittsburgh dated August 3, 1912. and stated:
  The matter of the document is a result of the medical inspection Mr. Tarquini, Abele, son of Eustachio (father) and Tocci, Cesaria (mother), born on April 10, 1892 in Tocco, which is a small village nearby Pescara. This man has been rejected from the call on duty for that year, andput in the list for the next year 1913. The handwriting goes ‘insufficient thoracic circumference’ as the motivation for rejection. This is what in the wider right part of the form. The left side carries some physical data. The guywas 1.66 meter (5.462 feet), thoracic circumference 77 centimetres (30.315 inches), brown hair, brown eyes, skin colour regular (Caucasian), set of teeth regular, eyebrow brown, front regular (normal looking).
  Abele served in Company A, 121st Machine Gunners Battalion.
  World War 1 had many atriocities, the most prevalent being chemical warfare. Abele was subjected to Mustard Gas, and as a result was disabled the remainder of his life. He received a pension from the army for this.
  A few years after his return from the war he met Assunta Rega at a party. They were married a year later.
  Abele and Assunta had 5 children over a 9 year period, starting with Amadeus in 1924.
  In 1936 he was returning from Mt Pleasant in a car driven by his brother in law Patsy Rega, when they crashed.
  The crash resulted in the death of Abele and Patsy, as well as Abele’s young daughter Vita.
  

Details of Abele's family with Assunta Rega