Meet Ida Tordone

Early in April this year, I was browsing one of my saved auctioneers' websites when I came across a collection of WWII-era letters and photographs; around 100 letters in envelopes and over 300 photos, in an album and loose. Zooming in on the auction photos showed that the vast majority of the letters were addressed to "Miss Ida Tordone" of Haverford Ave., Philadelphia. The return addresses identified male correspondents all with Italian last names. The descendant of Philly-area Italians myself, I was intrigued; sure enough, web research showed that Haverford Avenue was firmly in the Haddington area of West Philadelphia, west of 60th Street, in the heart the Italian community.

Prior to the sale, and because I can't resist an archival rabbit hole, I decided to find out what I could about Ida. According to the 1940 census, Ida was, at age 15, the youngest daughter of Alfred Tordone and the baby sister of Leontina (26), Alfred Jr.

(22), Leonard (19), and Tina (17). Alfred is listed as having been born in Italy and working as a laborer in a fireworks factory. And the Tordones lived on the same street as the Amorosos, the DeAngelos, the Sachettis, the Fenettis, the Napolitanos, and the Marchiones.

So by the time the Pearl Harbor attacks happened, Ida would have been 16 or 17 years old.

Further Ancestry.com research revealed more details.

Ida and Camillo, 1953

Ida's parents were Candelora DiPanfilo (1880-1933) and Alfredo Tordone (1887-1942), immigrants from Abruzzo. Ida (also known as "Aida") married Camillo Fala Jr. in 1953, and they had three children. And...jackpot! A wedding picture. Now we know what she looked like.

That sounds like a pretty short story. The bare bones of an ordinary life, accessible within minutes thanks to abundant digitized and networked resources.

But then I bought the archive....