Tillie Politi, best friend

Tillie Politi (lf), and Margaret Nunn
abt 1940

The foggy weather this weekend provided the perfect setting for me to stay inside and work on organizing my mother’s 1940s photo collection.  Getting set up took the most time; I organized photos by family, got acid and lignin free archive envelopes and laptop handy.  I then typed up a list that included a brief description of each numbered photo. No more pawing through boxes and envelopes to find that one photo I had in mind. 

During this process I came across several pictures of my aunt, Margaret Nunn with the same girl in the photo. My mother had identified this young lady as “Tillie Politi.”  Mom said Tillie was a neighbor of the Nunns when they lived on Cruger Street in the Bronx.

I was curious about Tillie so I checked the 1930 Census and sure enough, the Politis lived just a few houses away from the Nunns. Joseph and Ernestine Politi were both born in Italy, coming to the U.S. in 1899; they had nine children, and Matilda (Tillie) was the third from last. Joseph Poletti did plaster work.

Tillie, thanks for being Margaret’s best friend.