THE PARENTS OF CHARLES CARUSO AND ACCORDING TO THE 1900 CENSUS RECORDS, ANTHONY'S MOTHER, HELEN MAPLES WERE THE FIRST OF OUR LINEAGE TO COME OVER FROM ITALY. CHARLES SPOKE FLUENT ITALIAN AND HAD A SLIGHT ACCENT WHEN HE SPOKE ENGLISH.

THE FAMILY SPECULATION THAT WE ARE RELATED TO ENRICO CARUSO THE GREAT OPERA TENOR WOULD MAKE CHARLES ENRICO'S SECOND COUSIN AND CHARLES GRANDFATHER MARCELLINO CARUSO'S BROTHER (ENRICO'S FATHER). CHARLES WAS BORN IN LOUSIANA AS WAS HIS SON ANTHONY JOSEPH AND DAUGHTER LAURA LUCILLE.

THE DOCUMENTATION BEFORE THE 1900'S IS VERY DIFFICULT TO LOCATE. THE EARLIEST I HAVE BEEN ABLE TO PICK THEM UP IS IN THE 1900 CENSUS RECORDS OF GALVESTON COUNTY, TEXAS. HE AND HIS FAMILY WERE LIVING AT 1214 B ST. IN GALVESTON.

THE CENSUS STATES THAT CHARLES PARENTS WERE BORN IN ITALY AND THAT AT THE TIME, HE WAS MARRIED TO MARY ADER SHE WAS BORN IN LOUSIANNA IN NOVEMBER OF 1870 AND HER PARENTS WERE FROM FRANCE. CHARLES AND MARY HAD BEEN MARRIED 15 YEARS BY 1900. SHE WAS TOO YOUNG TO BE ANTHONY'S MOTHER BUT THERE WAS A DAUGHTER WHO WAS 13 IN THE YEAR OF 1900 NAMED LAURA LUCILLE.

CHARLES WAS UNABLE TO READ OR WRITE HOWEVER, HE SPOKE MANY DIFFERENT LANGUAGES; ITALIAN, ENGLISH, GERMAN, SPANISH FRENCH AND PORTUGESE AMONG THEM. HE WORKED DOING DAY LABOR AND AS A FISHERMAN.

IN 1910 CHARLES AND HIS WIFE WERE LIVING WITH HIS DAUGHTER LAURA AND HER SECOND HUSBAND GROVER HEUMAN. LAURA HAD BEEN RAISING ANTHONYS SON CHARLES II FROM THE TIME HE WAS A LITTLE OVER A YEAR OLD WITH HER FIRST HUSBAND FABIOLA DELPAPA. WHEN CHARLES AND HIS WIFE LEFT THE HEUMAN HOUSEHOLD HE TOOK HIS GRANDSON CHARLES II WITH HIM.

MY FATHER TELLS ME THAT CHARLES WOULD TELL THEM STORIES OF HOW HE RODE WITH JESSE JAMES. HE TOLD THEM THAT HE WAS IN JAIL FOR CUTTING A MAN UP IN A BAR FIGHT WHEN HE MET JESSE JAMES AND WHEN THEY GOT OUT HE JOINED THE GANG. MY FATHER SAID THAT HE ALWAYS THOUGHT THEY WERE JUST STORIES HE MADE UP HOWEVER, WHEN CHARLES DIED IN TEXAS AT A VERY ADVANCED AGE FOR THAT TIME, HIS HISTORY WAS CHECKED OUT AND THE STORIES WERE IN FACT TRUE. IT SEEMED AT THE TIME THERE WERE SEVERAL CLIPPINGS CIRCULATING IN THE FAMILY AND FAMILY WHO REMEMBER READING IT BUT I HAVE YET BEEN ABLE TO LOCATE ONE.

CHARLES LIVED CLOSE TO HIS ELDEST GRANDCHILD AND NAMESAKE CHARLES (ANTHONY'S SON) AND THEN LATER HE LIVED WITH CHARLES AND HIS FAMILY UNTIL HE WAS PLACED IN A NURSING HOME.

CHARLENE CARUSO HARRISON, DAUGHTER OF CHARLES 2 REMEMBERS:
"WE CALLED HIM POPPA. HE CAME TO HOUSTON IN THE LATE 1940'S TO LIVE BESIDE CHARLES 2 IN A LITTLE TWO ROOM HOUSE/ BATHHOUSE.
HE LOVED TO GROW THINGS AND EVERYTHING HE PLANTED GREW. HE HAD A LITTLE VEGETABLE GARDEN IN THE CORNER OF OUR FRONT YARD THAT GREW SO TALL YOU COULD BARELY SEE HIM WORKING IN IT. HE GREW CORN, OKRA, BEANS, SQUASH, CUCUMBERS, AND CANTALOUPES. HE EVEN HAD CHICKENS AND RABBITS IN HIS BACK YARD.
I LEARNED ABOUT A FEW THINGS WHILE SITTING ON A BENCH BESIDE HIS GARDEN; ABOUT HOW VEGETABLES GREW AND ABOUT CHICKENS AND RABBITS. HE TOLD ME ABOUT HIS LOVE FOR FISHING. I EVEN WATCHED HIM FIX HIS FISHING NET.
HE HAD GORES GROWING IN A TREE BEHIND HIS HOUSE. HE SHOWED ME HOW HE WOULD TAKE THE INSIDE OF THE GORE AND LET IT DRY AND MAKE DISH WASH CLOTHS OUT OF THEM.
WHEN I WAS 12, A MALE FRIEND AND I WERE PLAYING ON A CYPRUS BRIDGE HE HAD ACROSS HIS DITCH. HE SAID, "YOUNG MAN COME HERE" . WHEN WE WENT TO SEE WHAT HE WANTED HE ASKED, "WHAT IS YOUR INTENTION TO THIS YOUNG LADY?" THE POOR GUY DIDN'T KNOW WHAT HE MEANT. MY OLDER SISTER HEARD HIM AND CAME TO OUR RESCUE. MOTHER SAID IT WAS BECAUSE BACK IN HIS DAYS, THE PARENTS PICKED THEIR CHILDREN'S MATES AND HE WANTED TO KNOW HOW HE INTENEDED TO SUPPORT A WIFE BEING SO YOUNG.

AFTER MY PARENTS DEATH IN 1954, POPPA WAS PUT IN A NURSING HOME IN HOUSTON. ONE DAY WHEN HE WAS 99 YEARS OLD HE GOT ON A CITY BUS AND CAME HOME. SAID HE WASN'T STAYING THERE WITH THOSE "OLD" PEOPLE. OF COURSE WE TOOK HIM BACK. I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO SINCE I WAS 16, JUST MARRIED, EXPECTING A BABY AND TOO YOUNG TO REALLY KNOW RESPONSIBLITY.

I DIDN'T KNOW WHEN HE DIED, NOR HOW, UNTIL MY MOTHER'S MOTHER SAID SHE READ ABOUT IT IN THE PAPER.
TODAY IT HURTS TO THINK HE PROBABLY DIED ALONE AND I WASN'T EVEN OF AWARE OF HIS FUNERAL UNTIL SO LATE."

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