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Ownership of Property by DeSantis Family, 1929-1998 (69 years) <br />As described above, Rocco DeSantis in 1930 purchased a house located at the Gorham Mine in <br />Marshall and had it moved to a parcel that he had purchased in 1929 and that included what is <br />now 1200 Jefferson. <br />Rocco DeSantis (1904-1997) was born in Italy and came to the United States in about 1920 <br />(according to his 1930 census record). He worked as a coal miner and carpenter in the Louisville <br />area, then as a locksmith. He married Rose DiPietro (1884-1966) in 1927. She was born in <br />Louisville to Italian -born parents. Rocco and Rose DeSantis had three children: Carmen (1927- <br />1998), Carmelita (1930-2004), and Virginia (born 1935). <br />In the mid-1930s, with a growing family, Rocco began to construct a house at 1208 Jefferson, <br />just to the north of 1200 Jefferson. The family then moved into 1208 Jefferson. In 1943, Rocco <br />transferred ownership of the overall parcel he owned to both himself and Rose as joint owners. <br />By 1944, they also acquired Lot 41, which became part of 1208 Jefferson. <br />According to Rocco and Rose's daughter, Virginia, a few different people then rented the house <br />at 1200 Jefferson, which was still the original four -room house, but it continued to be owned by <br />the DeSantis family. <br />If there was a 1948 County Assessor card done for this building as was done for most other <br />properties in Louisville, it could not be located among the digitized cards from the Carnegie <br />Library for Local History in Boulder. <br />In 1952, the DeSantis family had a house built to the back of 1200 Jefferson. This now has the <br />address of 713 Caledonia. It was built so that more DeSantis family members, such as son <br />Carmen and, later, daughter Carmelita, could live close by. (713 Caledonia has the following <br />legal description: the East %2 of Lots 37 & 38 and East % of Lot 39 less the north 11 feet, Block 2, <br />Nicola Di Giacomo Addition.) <br />Daughter Virginia DeSantis married Richard Milano in August 1953. They then lived at 1200 <br />Jefferson, which Virginia's parents still owned, for two years, until about 1955. At that time, the <br />house still consisted of the original four -room, approximately 24' x 24' house that had been <br />relocated from Marshall. Virginia recalls that it didn't have an indoor bathroom, so she and her <br />husband would use the bathroom in her parents' house next door at 1208 Jefferson. She <br />remembers it as being a "darling" house that consisted of a front room, kitchen, and two <br />bedrooms. <br />According to Virginia, her father then worked on 1200 Jefferson to add an addition to it in <br />about 1956. He added to the east and southeast of the original house. In a phone interview, <br />3 <br />