Americans of Italian decent who signed Declaration of Independence, Caesar Rodney and William Paca

[JohnSmith]

Caesar Rodney cast the deciding vote for independence in the continental congress. William Paca and Caesar Rodney both were Governors. One of Delaware the other for Maryland.

William Paca:
http://d2r9eam2djp126.cloudfront.net/images/Attachments//William-Paca.jpg

Caesar Rodney:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Rodneycaesara3.jpg/220px-Rodneycaesara3.jpg

[JohnSmith]

William Paca was British and Italian. His Italian family were Waldensians that left due to prosecution. Family was originally from Chieti, Abruzzo.

https://books.google.com/books?id=VQ1zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA1247&lpg=PA1247&dq=william+paca+Waldensians&source=bl&ots=tVVRKAo33r&sig=qy257aqhSWl3ctU_u1a93s79prg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=66CpVLq5Hcu_ggSx4ICwDA&ved=0CDsQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=william%20paca%20Waldensians&f=false

http://www.abruzzomoliseheritagesociety.org/echoesofabruzzoandmolise.htm


Caesar Rodney's Italian family is from Treviso,Italy.

Among the Rodney family ancestors were the prominent Adelmare family in Treviso, Italy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Rodney

[Styrian Mujo]

They both have a central European look about them.

[Gooding]

Thank you so much for educating me about a part of Italian American history I didn't know about before! :)

[Trogdor]

Yes, I have heard of William Paca and that he had some Italian ancestry. Interesting you rarely ever heard of him.

[JohnSmith]

One was half british, the other we don't know.

His Great Grandfather was from Italy.

"It is said that his great grandfather, Robert Paca, who arrived in the Colonies in the late 1660’s, after an extended stay in England, traced his origins to Chieti, from where he had found it expedient to emigrate because of his conversion to Protestantism"

[JohnSmith]

What about his recent ancestors? If it's just that, I might as well say I am Latvian because of my dna markers.

They were British or Early American Colonial Settlers.

[JohnSmith]

Thank you so much for educating me about a part of Italian American history I didn't know about before! :)

Well even Jefferson's quote "All men are created Equal" was probably borrowed from Tuscan Philip Mazzei. He became friends with Jefferson when in 1773 an Italian delegation was sent to Virginia to teach Virginians how to cultivate grapes for Wine.

This contribution was acknowledged by John F. Kennedy in his book A Nation of Immigrants, in which he states that:[2]

“ The great doctrine 'All men are created equal'[3][4] and incorporated into the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from the writing of Philip Mazzei, an Italian-born patriot and pamphleteer, who was a close friend of Jefferson. A few alleged scholars try to discredit Mazzei as the creator of this statement and idea, saying that "there is no mention of it anywhere until after the Declaration was published". This phrase appears in Italian in Mazzei's own hand, written in Italian, several years prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei and Jefferson often exchanged ideas about true liberty and freedom. No one man can take complete credit for the ideals of American democracy.

[Ulla]

Well even Jefferson's quote "All men are created Equal" was probably borrowed from Tuscan Philip Mazzei. He became friends with Jefferson when in 1773 an Italian delegation was sent to Virginia to teach Virginians how to cultivate grapes for Wine.

This contribution was acknowledged by John F. Kennedy in his book A Nation of Immigrants, in which he states that:[2]

“ The great doctrine 'All men are created equal'[3][4] and incorporated into the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from the writing of Philip Mazzei, an Italian-born patriot and pamphleteer, who was a close friend of Jefferson. A few alleged scholars try to discredit Mazzei as the creator of this statement and idea, saying that "there is no mention of it anywhere until after the Declaration was published". This phrase appears in Italian in Mazzei's own hand, written in Italian, several years prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei and Jefferson often exchanged ideas about true liberty and freedom. No one man can take complete credit for the ideals of American democracy.

http://www.cci-italia.it/mazzei.jpg

http://adribarrcrocetti.com/main/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/Philip-Mazzei-Bust-398x600-766.jpg

[Ulla]

Giuseppe Maria Francesco Vigo (Francis Vigo)

Born and raised in Italy (Mondovì, Piedmont), Francesco Vigo came to America as a Spanish solider and later established a fur trade in St. Louis. When the Revolutionary War came to the Northwest Territory, Vigo accepted IOU’s from the American Colonel George Rogers Clark in exchange for providing Clark’s men with food, clothing, ammunition and strategic battle support.

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4151/5084561789_122d58627a_b.jpg

Pascal C.J. DeAngelis

Pascal DeAngelis who, in 1776, at age 13 became one of the first native Italians to bear arms against the British. He fought for the Americans for the remainder of the Revolutionary War.

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u95/kmessner/grave.jpg

[special]

Well even Jefferson's quote "All men are created Equal" was probably borrowed from Tuscan Philip Mazzei. He became friends with Jefferson when in 1773 an Italian delegation was sent to Virginia to teach Virginians how to cultivate grapes for Wine.

This contribution was acknowledged by John F. Kennedy in his book A Nation of Immigrants, in which he states that:[2]

“ The great doctrine 'All men are created equal'[3][4] and incorporated into the Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, was paraphrased from the writing of Philip Mazzei, an Italian-born patriot and pamphleteer, who was a close friend of Jefferson. A few alleged scholars try to discredit Mazzei as the creator of this statement and idea, saying that "there is no mention of it anywhere until after the Declaration was published". This phrase appears in Italian in Mazzei's own hand, written in Italian, several years prior to the writing of the Declaration of Independence. Mazzei and Jefferson often exchanged ideas about true liberty and freedom. No one man can take complete credit for the ideals of American democracy.

I know Mazzei coz I used to go to an ancient coffee house in Pisa, Caffè dell'Ussero, who is named after Mazzei

http://www.circolofilippomazzei.net/photogallery.asp?IDA=12