Pietruccia Lai
Pietruccia Lai, daughter of Francesco Lai and Maria Ledda, was born in 1859 in Ozieri and died in 1938.
In the entry registering her marriage to Giovanni Maria (Giomaria) Ruffinu, she is listed as a domestica, nubile. The names of her parents come from this document. In the report of the birth of her daughter, Antonia, the house in Nughedu on Sant’ Antonio in which Antonia was born is described as belonging to Pietruccia. Were these Lai from Nughedu? To complicate the picture, in the report of the birth of her son Giovanni, it is stated that the birth took place in Ozieri "nella casa posta in Corralzu al numero 1 da Lai Pietruccia casalinga."
According to her grandson Luigi Ruffini, Pietruccia was with her daughter Antonia Ruffini, her future daughter-in-law Maria Teresa Meloni, et al., on the crossing to America, despite her absence from the manifests I have located them on. Luigi was surprised to hear that Pietruccia’s husband, Giovanni Maria, was still alive in Nugheddu when she came to America. He said that he did not understand why he stayed and she came, and said that he did not remember anyone ever talking about it.
But strangely, she appears on the manifest of the S.S. Caberta arriving in Philadelphia from Genoa on 12 May 1921, going to her "son Tuffinu Giovanni-224 Box | S Francisco Cal," and leaving behind her brother-in-law "Felice Girolamo." Did she make two trips, or was Luigi mistaken, and she in fact came later? This is more likely to be the case.
She appears in the 1930 census as Patricia Ruffini, the mother-in-law under her daughter Antonia's husband Matteo Lai, her daughter Antonia, and Matteo's children Matea and John (Giovanni) Lai. Her estimated year of birth derives from this census entry.
Luigi says Pietruccia was a heavy drinker, and died of cirrhosis of the liver. She and her son Giovanni used to get drunk together. She used to "sit there with her jug" and tell the kids all the scary Sardinian folk stories. He remembers her also being a heavy snuff-user. He recalls that she lived with the Lai family until she could no longer take care of the kids. Then one day, according to his story, they got their grocer to take her back to the Ruffini house, where they left her propped up against the door in the back alley, and it was there that she died. Luigi remembers it being when he was around ten years old, but Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma records her (as "Pierina Ruffini") as deceased on July 21, 1938. Luigi remembers her burying cats under his father’s compost pile. He also remembers that "the kids" - him, Mary, et al. - used to tease her a lot, slide around her feet, etc.
Today, there are over 3000 attestations of the Lai name in Sardinia, 30 of which are in Ozieri: http://elenco.libero.it/elencotel/public/RicercaOmonimie.jsp
Pietruccia married Giovanni Maria (Giomaria) Ruffinu on 15 Aug 1886 in Ozieri.
