Ciscomani family
Herminio Ciscomani Cecco
1902-1973 · Zoppola, Italy · Hermosillo, Mexico
Biography
Pioneer farmer and businessman of the Costa de Hermosillo. Born Erminio Cismaconi in Zoppola, Friuli, on 28 August 1902, son of Giovanni and Luigia Cecco. At 17 he sailed alone from Genoa on the Taormina and reached Ellis Island on 14 February 1920, bound for his brother Tomás in Nichols, California. He worked in San Francisco and settled in Hermosillo in November 1922, where he became Herminio, the Spanish form of his name.
In February 1926 he told the parish priest of Hermosillo that he came from Udine and had lived in the city for three years, and opened the Church file to marry Dolores Félix of Villa de Seris. The 1930 census found them at Villa de Seris with their first children; by 1932 they farmed at Siete Cerros, and they lost two small children, Mario Silvio in 1932 and María Armida in 1934.
He helped found early Sonora grain-growers' and credit bodies, and his land hosted the 'Fundador' deep well of 1945. Italy honoured him as Cavaliere al Merito della Repubblica. Six days after his son Jorge, Jorge's wife and three of their children died in a road accident near Benjamín Hill, he died in Hermosillo on 3 May 1973, aged 70, recorded as a farmer of Mexican nationality, and Dolores survived him.
A Hermosillo street bears his name.
Facts
- Born
- 28 August 1902, in Zoppola, Pordenone, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy
- Died
- 3 May 1973, in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico
- Also written as
- Erminio Ciscomani, Herminio Ciscomani, Herminio Cisco, Erminio Cismaconi
- Parents
- Giovanni Cismaconi (1869-1951), Luigia Cecco (1874-1952)
- Spouses
- Dolores Felix (1911-?)
- Children
- Jorge Ciscomani Felix (1930-1973), Juan Ciscomani Felix (1936-1986), Mario Silvio Ciscomani Felix (1931-1932), Maria Armida Ciscomani Felix (1932-1934)
- Siblings
- Tomás Ciscomani Cecco (1899-1978), Francisco Ciscomani, Giovana Ciscomani
Pictures from their world
Historic and present-day pictures of the places and ships in this story, from Wikimedia Commons. They do not show the person.
Sources
Ancestry.com public genealogy records page, read in a browser without logging in. Shows: born abt 1903 Zoppola; died 03 May 1971 Hermosillo; father juan ciscomani (1869-); mother Luisa Cecco Petri (-1952); spouse Dolores Felix; child Juan Ciscomani (1936-1986). Lists 13 indexed records, including Sonora Civil Registration Deaths 1862-1987, Mexico Select Church Records 1537-1966 and New York Passenger and Crew Lists 1820-1957.
Juan Antonio Ruibal Corella, Personajes de la Ciudad (Hermosillo street-name biographies), Universidad Unilider epub, file dated 2018-02-03. Chapter 'Calle Herminio Ciscomani', which states that biographical data and photograph were supplied by his son a living relative. Original print edition and date not identified.
Transcribed 1945 press item 'Proyectan perforar una serie de pozos en siete cerros': the first well 'esta perforandose en el Rancho del senor Herminio Ciscomani por cuenta de el y de los senores Tomas Ciscomani, Valentin Cecco y Alberto Giotonini'. Original newspaper not named on the page. Related chapter: https://www.historiadehermosillo.com/htdocs/HHILLO/CAP08.htm
Ignacio Lagarda Lagarda, La Chicharra, 8 Jan 2019. Names Herminio and Tomas Ciscomani among well partners and says the lottery chose Herminio's field near Siete Cerros, named El Fundador.
Profile of a third-generation grower at Campo Agricola Fundador. Says the grandfather Herminio Ciscomani Cecco founded the company in 1922 on arriving from Italy and names the father as a living relative. Living persons in it are not recorded in this file.
Ruibal Corella, Juan Antonio. Personajes de la Ciudad. Hermosillo, c. 2010-2011 (e-book edition Universidad Unilider, 2018). Entry on Herminio Ciscomani; biographical data and photograph supplied by his son a living relative.
Master's thesis, Facultad de Historia, Universidad Autonoma de Sinaloa, Culiacan, Feb 2020. Uses notarial records (AGES, Fondo Notarias). Mentions Hacienda Friuli (Tomas and Herminio Ciscomani, Miguel Fabbris, Valentin Cecco), the 2 Sep 1925 habilitacion contract, 'Erminio Ciscomani' in 1930s contracts, and the 1919-1920 Italian colonization letters. Cites Alfredo Noriega Leon, Cien anos de la costa de Hermosillo, Editorial Garabatos, 2010, p. 13.
historiadehermosillo.com, chapter VIII (document author field: Manuel de Jesus Sortillon Valenzuela). Quotes the 24 Mar 1945 El Imparcial note and states that from about the years 19 and 20 a group of Italians including the Ciscomani, Clerici, Baranzini, Cecco, Prandini and Giottonini families worked and settled in the Costa.
Transcribed on historiadehermosillo.com. First well being drilled at the Rancho of Herminio Ciscomani for himself, Tomas Ciscomani, Valentin Cecco and Alberto Giotonini; driller Jorge Morgan.
Transcribed on historiadehermosillo.com; newspaper name not shown on the page. Visit of 10 Nov 1949 to the fields of Tomas Ciscomani and Herminio Ciscomani.
States Herminio Ciscomani Cecco was among the founders of Semillas del Pacifico in 1954, citing Rocio Guadarrama, Los empresarios nortenos en la sociedad y la politica del Mexico moderno (2001).
- Ancestry tree exports supplied by the site owner (GEDCOM, 2026-10-16)
Owner-supplied Ancestry member tree exports "Ciscomani Family Tree" and "Herminio Ciscomani Family Tree".
Book: Martinez de Castro, Ma. Belen N. de. Hermosillo de mis recuerdos. Hermosillo: Casa de la Cultura de Hermosillo / Instituto de Cultura Superior de Sonora, 1994. 170 p. LCCN 95217950 (no digital edition found). Not to be confused with a later, unrelated book of the same title by Jesus Alberto Pérez Najera. Read here only second-hand: Facebook post by Martin Huva ("tras la historia de Hermosillo"), 18 Aug 2023, quoting the book. Says Tomas and Herminio Ciscomani, from Zoppola, arrived in 1922 from Los Angeles, California, bought land on the Costa de Hermosillo, and that Herminio's field gave its name to the first pumped well, "Fundador". The post's two images have no captions.
Registri dello stato civile di Zoppola (Udine), Nati 1902, act 139, registered 30 August 1902 before the mayor (the act appears to name Count Camillo Panciera di Zoppola) (FamilySearch film 008622761, image 1329; microfilm of the court copy, Tribunale di Pordenone). Giovanni Cismaconi, son of the late Tomaso, 33, farmer, domiciled in Zoppola, declares the birth of a boy named Erminio at 8 a.m. on the 28th, to his wife Luigia Cecco, daughter of Costante (reading of her father's name uncertain). The child was not presented because he was ill. The surname is written Cismaconi in the margin and the text, and the father signs 'Cismaconi Giovanni'.
NARA T715, roll 2729, line 20; both manifest pages viewed on FamilySearch. Erminio Ciscomani, 17, single, mechanic, Italian (North), from Zoppola, Udine; nearest relative his father Giovanni Ciscomani, Zoppola; passage paid by his father; 25 dollars; going to join his brother Tomaso Ciscomani in Nichols, California, intending to stay 10 years; 5 ft 2 in, chestnut hair, born in Zoppola.
- Family account of the name Erminio Cismaconi
Shared with the site by a great-grandson of Herminio on 18 October 2026: Herminio's original name was Erminio Cismaconi, his father was Giovanni Cismaconi, and Erminio became Herminio on arriving at Ellis Island around 1907. The same day the Cismaconi spelling was found in the Zoppola birth registers of 1899 and 1902.
From the Latin Herminius, the name of a Roman gens; its deeper origin is debated (Etruscan, or the Germanic ermin, 'whole, universal'). Spanish form Herminio, Portuguese Hermínio, feminine Erminia.
Exact-surname search, 7 entries, read without a subscription: Giovanni (1907, 1913), Erminio (1920, with his father Giovanni and brother Tomaso indexed on the same image as relatives named in his entry), and Herminio with a relative (1952, NARA T715 roll 8213).
Hermosillo parish, Religious Marriage Investigation Files 1925-1927, p. 24 (FamilySearch DGS 004510913, item 3, images 54-55; image https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9Q97-YS28-JPL). Opened before the parish priest Martín Portela on 2 February 1926 (the FamilySearch index reads July). Herminio Ciscomani, 23, says he is a native of Udine (Italy) who has lived in Hermosillo for three years, legitimate son of Juan Ciscomani and María Luisa Cecco (the surname is hard to read). The bride, María Dolores Félix, native and resident of Villa de Seris, single, 14, legitimate daughter of Dionisio Félix and Dolores Peraza. Witnesses declare they know of no impediment.
Civil registry of Villa de Seris, municipality of Hermosillo, deaths 1932, act 30, pp. 26-27 (FamilySearch DGS 004886316, item 2, image 17; image https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95VK-9DHY). Recorded at 11 a.m. on 26 August 1932, when Herminio Ciscomani, 30, married, farmer, native of Italy, living at Siete Cerros, brought the health office's permit to move the body of his son from Hermosillo for burial in the Villa de Seris cemetery. The entry copies the Hermosillo death act: Mario Silvio Ciscomani, 14 months, died at 7 a.m. that day at Calle Hidalgo 32, of enterocolitis, son of the declarant and of Dolores Félix de Ciscomani (the index reads 'Dolores Toledo'); witnesses Manuel E. Ruiz and Tomás Ciscomani. Tomás Ciscomani also witnessed the burial.
Registro Civil de Hermosillo, deaths April-June 1934, act 279 (FamilySearch DGS 004886296, item 5, image 28; image https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-95KM-SQR). At 2:20 p.m. on 15 May 1934 Herminio Ciscomani declared that the girl María Armida Ciscomani, one year and six months old, had died at noon that day at home on Calle Chihuahua, of gastroenteritis. First witness Tomás Ciscomani, 35, farmer, of Calle Matamoros 17, who declares himself her uncle; second witness a farmer of 38 whose signature appears to read Carlos Baranzini, one of the Costa farmers named in the 1945 well story. Burial in the municipal cemetery of Villa de Seris. The mother is not named.
Registro Civil de Hermosillo, deaths 1972-1973, act 579, p. 82 (FamilySearch DGS 004886302, item 3, image 1007). Registered at 12:30 on 4 May 1973: Herminio Ciscomani Cecco (indexed as 'Cerro'), of Mexican nationality, 70, married, farmer, died at 7 p.m. on 3 May 1973 in Hermosillo of a massive cerebral hemorrhage. Survived by his wife, Dolores Félix de Ciscomani. Burial in the municipal cemetery of Hermosillo.
FamilySearch index of the 1930 census, p. 80, place written 'Villa de Séris, San Luis, Sonora' (the index normalises it to San Luis, Tubutama): Herminio Ciscomani (indexed 'Ciscomaui'), 28, born 1902 in Italy, married both civilly and in the church; Dolores Félix, 24, born in Sonora; two daughters aged 4 and 2; a son born 1930 is on a separate index line (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M49R-BQC). Index read; the image was not viewed.