Newspapers.com contains history of Figueroa and Cavaletto families

Estella Levy’s family has been in Arizona since 1909. She said her mother’s full name is Maria Catalina Figueroa, but she went by Catalina Figueroa, later Cavaletto. Her parents were Francisco F. Figueroa and Jesusita Del La Villegas. Levy’s father’s name is Angelo C. Cavaletto and his parents were Giuseppe A. Cavaletto and Maria Trejo.

This is what we learned from birth announcements and funeral notices in a half hour of searching on newspapers.com:

Levy’s parents had a daughter Oct. 19, 1944, at St. Mary’s Hospital. Catalina Cavaletto’s obituary names four children, three of them daughters. We know this wasn’t Levy’s sister Patricia, because her obituary gives a different birth date, so it was either Estella or Angelina.

Levy’s grandfather, Francisco, passed away in 1968. We believe we have the correct man since the obituary lists a daughter named Catalina Cavaletto. However, his wife’s name is given as Gregoria, which is not Levy’s grandmother’s name. This leads to the conclusion that Gregoria is Francisco’s second wife, unless this Francisco is not Levy’s grandfather.

Levy’s father, Angelo Cavaletto, passed away in 1969, leaving his wife Catalina, daughters, a son and several siblings. These names would provide more material for a search.

Levy’s mother, Catalina, passed away in 2001, days after her 92nd birthday. At this time, she was the matriarch of a large family. Levy’s sister, Patricia, died in 2016, and sadly, her son, Lewis, died in 1998, at age 37.

The next steps might be to search for Jesusita Figueroa, Catalina’s mother. Since Catalina was born in Mexico, that might require searching newspapers outside of the United States. Angelo Cavaletto’s siblings names may also provide more of his family information.