At Marineo, a town of Sicily, situated eleven miles southeast of Palermo, Joseph Cangialosi was born, December 19, 1896, son of Joseph and Phillipi (Zucano) Cangialosi, three of whose six children died in infancy. The parents came to the United States the year following the birth of their son, Joseph (2), and since 1902, No. 183 Malcolm street, Garfield, New Jersey, has been the family home, two daughters, Catherine and Frances, with their only brother, Joseph (2), there residing with their parents, the father having retired from active pursuits. Joseph Cangialosi, the elder, served his alloted term of four years as a bugler in a cavalry regiment of the Italian army.
Joseph (2) Cangialosi was but one year old when the family came to the United States, and in Garfield, New Jersey, he obtained a public school education. His first employment after leaving school was in the Forstmann & Huffmann Worsted Mills, in Garfield, going thence to the Hamersly Manufacturing Company, of Garfield, and from that concern to the United Piece Dye Works, of Lodi. He next was with a small concern engaged in the manufacture of skirts, and during the five years that he was with that company, he became not only an expert in that particular line of manufacture, but thoroughly familiar with the business methods and trade requirement. At the end of five years he had accumulated a small capital and with that and his own experience he began the manufacture of skirts in Hackensack, New Jersey, under his own name. He remained in Hackensack for one year and was so well satisfied that his venture would prove successful that he removed to Garfield, where he erected a factory at No. 103 Somerset street and for one year occupied it for his own purposes.
In 1919 Joseph Cangialosi, father and son, joined forces and at No. 181 Malcolm street, Garfield, erected a five-story factory building in which, for about eighteen months, the younger Joseph operated as a skirt manufacturer. Since then he has run the plant as a trousers factory under contract with wholesale houses of New York City. Twenty-five skilled workers are constantly employed and the output of the factory is large.
In politics he is a Democrat, and in religious faith, a Presbyterian, belonging to the First Church of Garfield. He is a member of the Foresters of America; the Democratic Forum, and the Third Ward Citizen's Club, all of Garfield; and of the Citizen's Athletic Association, of Lodi.
From: History of Passaic and its environs: historical, biographical. By Scott, William W. Published 1922.
