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Triangle Shirtwaist Fire — Frances and Bettina Maiale

Two Maiale sisters died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, 25 March 1911. Cornell names their parents Nicholas Maiale and Teresa Bello. The Red Cross case is the source of Nicolò’s 1911 age 49.

On Saturday 25 March 1911, fire tore through the Triangle Waist Company on the eighth, ninth, and tenth floors of the Asch Building at Washington Place and Greene Street, Greenwich Village. One hundred forty-six garment workers died — most of them young Italian and Jewish immigrant women. Two of them were Maiale sisters from 135 Sullivan Street.

This is the first solid American paper on the Mazara household. It is also why Nicolò’s age in 1911 is given as 49.

The sisters

🟢 Documented Both names sit on the Kheel Center / Cornell ILR victim list compiled by Michael Hirsch, and on the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition roll.

Frances Maiale Bettina Maiale
Age at the fire 21 18
Address 135 Sullivan Street, New York 135 Sullivan Street, New York
Born Italy Italy
Years in the U.S. (Cornell) 5 9
Buried Calvary Cemetery, 27 March 1911 Calvary Cemetery, 26 March 1911
Identified by Uncle Pietro Dalio Brother Joseph (Giuseppe), by her ring
Cause in contemporary lists asphyxiation / burns multiple injuries (jump)

Cornell’s victim pages, drawn from the death certificates: both are listed as single, Catholic, daughters of Nicholas Maiale and Teresa Bello. Hirsch’s notes on those pages: mother’s maiden name is given when the certificate is legible.

Newspapers of 27–28 March 1911 printed the surname Miale. David von Drehle’s victim appendix keeps that spelling and adds “Name also given as Maiale.” Cornell and the Coalition use Maiale. Same two women.

Tree dates (not yet matched to Italian nati): Frances 17 December 1891, Bettina 12 December 1893. Those ages fit 21 and 18 in March 1911.

The household — Red Cross Case 53

🟢 Documented April 1912 *Final Report of the Red Cross Emergency Relief Committee*, Case **#53**:

Two girls, 21 and 18 years old, were killed. They had been earning together $27.00 a week. Their father, able-bodied and 49 years old, considers himself too old to work. The mother is an invalid. There are two sons, 26 and 22 years of age, also able-bodied, and a boy of 12 or 13. There was life insurance amounting to $500.00.

The committee paid $500 on 7 April 1911, then another $500 on the Italian Consul General’s urging. In January the father asked for more; the report says neither he nor the sons had looked for work, and they had lived on the $1,000 plus the $500 insurance.

That household of seven is the 1911 snapshot:

Person Age in 1911 (Red Cross) Match on this tree
Father 49 Nicolò / Nicholas Maiale — this is the source of “age 49 in 1911,” so birth nearer 1862 than 1864
Mother invalid Tree: Theresa Morriano. Death certificates: Teresa Bello. Do not collapse those surnames without the marriage act.
Son 26 Francesco
Son 22 Giuseppe (Joseph), who identified Bettina
Daughter 21 Frances — killed
Daughter 18 Bettina — killed
Boy 12 or 13 🟡 Mario (~1897) would be about 13–14 in March 1911. Same count of seven, same names. Not a proof by itself.

Uncle Pietro Dalio identifying Frances is in the contemporary press / von Drehle appendix. He is not yet placed on the Italian side. Working map of Mazara households and how Dalio might fit: Majale cluster.

What this does for Mazara

The Red Cross line is why the 1864 Born hunt is a side door. A man of 49 in March 1911 was born ~1861–1862. His 1926 death and ~1884–1886 marriage in Mazara stato civile italiano still name the father and settle Bello vs Morriano. Details of that hunt: Mazara 1864.

Mario’s later “birds of passage” crossings (1913, 1923) sit after this fire. The sisters did not live to see them.

Sources