Theresa Davidson and Oswaldo De Zuliani
OSWALDO DE ZULIANI was born January 13, 1880 in Venice, Italy.
He married THERESA DAVIDSON on September 29, 1911 in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa,3320 daughter of IDA ELEANOR FRANCK and BENJAMIN DAVIDSON. She was born April 21, 1889 in Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa.
Children of THERESA DAVIDSON and OSWALDO DE ZULIANI:
- CATHERINE DE ZULIANI, b. March 28, 1912, Salvo, Italy.3320
- Son
Marriage Announcements and News
Sioux City Journal, October 1, 191111375
TESS DAVIDSON BECOMES BRIDE
SHE IS WEDDED TO SIGNOR OSVALDO DE ZULIANI
GROOM AN ITALIAN NOBLEMAN
ONLY IMMEDIATE RELATIVES WITNESS CEREMONY
MAYOR A. A. SMITH OFFICIATES
Simplicity Marks Nuptials—Reception to Be Given Some Evening This Week—Couple Will Remain in Sioux City for a Short Time and Then Depart for Italy.
Simplicity marked the nuptials last evening of Miss Tess Davidson, and Signor Osvaldo de Zuliani, of Venice, Italy. Although it is the first time that a Sioux City girl has linked her fortune with a member of European nobility, the ceremony at the home of the bride's father, 1915 Jackson street, at 8 o'clock, was witnessed only be immediate relatives.
The ceremony, which was a civil one, was performed by A. A. Smith, mayor of Sioux City. The bride was given away by her father. Signor de Zuliani was attended by his brother, Giuseppe de Zuliani. There were no other attendants. The marriage took place in a corner of the library, which was banked by a profusion of ferns and palms. American Beauty roses completed the floral decoration of the room.
Preceding the marriage a dinner was served, which was partaken of by twelve persons, including the bride and groom, the latter's brother, and members of the families of Ben Davidson, Dave Davidson, Abe Davidson and Leonard Frank.
Wedding Gifts Were Elaborate
The bride wore a simple lavender dress cut decollete and trimmed with pink roses. She carried a hand bouquet of pink roses and wore a beautiful pearl necklace, a gift of the groom, which is an heirloom in his family. The wedding gifts were elaborate and costly.
A reception to the friends of the family will be held some evening this week.
The guests included the families of Mr. and Mrs. Dave Davidson, Mr. and Mrs. Abe Davidson, Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Frank, Mr. and Mrs. A. Asher, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Baldwin, Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Martin, Mr. and Mrs. L. Schwimmer, Mr. and Mrs. Abe Levi and Mr. and Mrs. A. A. Smith.
To Reside In Italy
Signor de Zuliani and his bride will remain in Sioux City for a week or ten days, when they will leave for New York and sail shortly thereafter for Italy, where they will reside.
The count owns five castles in the province of Venice, all of them being located in the Carnic Alps, which form the northeastern boundary line between Italy and Austria-Hungary. He now is building upon the Piave river at Noventa di Piave, below Piave di Cardore, a modern house, according to his bride's desires—"a little place," Signor de Zuliani calls it. The house will contain fifteen rooms.
Signor de Zuliani and Miss Davidson arrived in Sioux City yesterday morning from Chicago, accompanied by Miss Davidson's father, who had gone on there to meet them.
Brother Accompanies Party
The signor is accompanied to Sioux City by his younger brother, Giuseppe de Zuliani, and it was he who answered most of the questions put to him by newspaper men.
The two brothers are clean cut and manly in appearance. Both speak French and English in addition to their native tongue. Giuseppe, pointing to his brother, who seemed very happy by the side of his radiant fiancee and her aunt, Mrs. Dave Davidson, in the private office of Davidson Bros. company, said: "My brother is the oldest child. He is 21. Our mother died ten years ago and our father died four years ago, leaving my brother, my sister and myself."
The family has lived for centuries in the province of Venice, and the relatives are numerous. The family owns large forest tracts and many vineyards. Superintendents manage the vineyards. The sons of the family never have been actively engaged in business.
Deprecate Publicity
These statements were brought out in conversation through leading questions, and were not volunteered. The brothers are modest and deprecated the publicity, but laughingly said it was all right, after they had been assured that the questions were being asked in a spirit of entire friendliness and because the people of Sioux City had known the bride since infancy and had been interested in her career, and that now these friends and neighbors were equally interested in knowing something about the man who was going to take her away from them.
Continuing the conversation, Giuseppe told of the old castles on the estate of the Zuliani family. On one of the pieces of ground, consisting of 1,200 acres, which is valued at 5, 000 francs per acre, there stands a grand old castle containing eighty-two rooms. None of these old places is exactly like the kind which the brother wishes for a home for his American bride. He thought something more modern would please her, so this new place on the Piave river is being built after a design of Miss Davidson's. The house will be reached by a forty-five minute ride by train from the city of Venice.
First Trip to America
This is the first trip either of the brothers has made to the United States. They have caught the fever of American business and Giuseppe declared that he was going to get into it. He said Mr. Davidson had kindly consented to allow him to remain with him for a while and he was going to stay in Sioux City a few weeks studying our business ways.
The brothers have investments in Italian industries and not one of them pays more than 2 per cent. Giuseppe said the money which was being made in business in the United States on the same amount of capital invested in Italy was astounding.
Giuseppe said he and his brother thought New York and Chicago were wonderful cities and that the United States with all its vastness, was indeed the marvel of all time. Their admiration for the country was unbounded, he said, and the people, all they had met, were splendid.
THEY DODGED THE CAMERA
Photographer Snaps Wrong "Groom" at Northwestern Depot
When the Davidson wedding party stepped from the west entrance to the Nebraska street station, shortly after eight o'clock yesterday morning, a newspaper photographer was just unlimbering his camera to snap a picture of the bride and groom to be.
Members of the Davidson family surrounded the principals, and an assistant to the photographer in some hast halted Ben Davidson and asked if it would be possible to get a picture of Signor de Zuliani.
"Not here, not here," answered Mr. Davidson.
But the photographer was not so easily dismissed. His machine in position for a flash, he sought the signor anxiously.
"Is that the groom to be?" asked the photographer's handy man of one member of the wedding party. The questioner pointed to a small man who was engaged in superintending the placing of distinctly European luggage in a waiting motor car.
"It is," was the smiling answer.
The information given, way was cleared for the camera man. But the supposed groom to be persisted in keeping his back turned. A light tap on the shoulder directed the attention of the man to the camera. There was a click. Horses drawing another cab pranced off in the rain and the photographer was just ready to smile when Leonard Frank cried:
"Well, you missed them, boys."
"Not much," replied the photographer. "We snapped the groom there."
A chorus of laughter greeted the remark.
"He isn't the groom," Mr. Davidson explained between smiles. "The groom's gone with the girls in that cab that just left."
COUNT DODGES ILL LUCK
Insists on Paying Fee to Marriage License Clerk
The marriage license issued to Signor Osvaldo de Zuliani and Miss Tess Davidson at the county clerk's office yesterday was the second issued to a nobleman in Woodbury county within the memory of J. A. Johnson, clerk of the courts. The young Italian, with his fiancee, secured their license at 11:30 o'clock.
The other license with a tinge of royalty connected was issued by Mr. Johnson about ten years ago to a titled Frenchman who married a woman from Chicago.
After Frank J. Tripp, Cupid's official penman, had made the entry in the record book Ben Davidson, father of the bride and witness to the granting of the license, offered to pay the fee. The Italian objected in his native tongue. Miss Davidson, who acted as interpreter for her father, explained that Signor de Zuliani considered it a harbinger of ill luck for anyone but the intended husband to pay for the license.
The clerk of the courts will be required to send a certified copy of Mayor A. A. Smith's affidavit of the marriage to the Italian authorities before the union will be recognized in Italy
Newspaper Articles
Eldora Ledger, March 16, 19113324
Dave Davidson of Sioux City received a cablegram which announced the successful debut of his niece, Miss Tessie Davidson, as a grand opera prima donna in the famous opera at Venice.
November 7, 191711374
ST. KATHARINE'S GIRL FUGITIVE IN NORTHERN ITALY
SIGNORA DE ZUILIANI, FORMERLY TESSIE DAVIDSON, FLEES BEFORE ENEMY
Press dispatches from Rome tell of the flight before the advancing Austro-German armies in Northern Italy of Signora De Zuliani and her two little children. Signora De Zuliani was formerly Miss Tessie Davidson of Sioux City, daughter of Ben Davidson, a prominent merchant. She attended school at St. Katherine's in Davenport about eight years ago and is remembered by many young women, who were students at the school at the same time.
The dispatch dated August 5, says, "A flood of human wreckage borne forward on the tidal wave of the German-Austrian advance into northern Italy, reached Rome today, with harrowing tales of suffering and despair.
"Signora De Zuliani, formerly Miss Davidson of Sioux City, Ia., with her two children, both under 4, arrived safely from her home in the northern provinces, exhausted by the flight. She told a vivid story of day and night hurrying ahead of the enemy, of the ranks of the Italian troops steadily tramping backward as others heroically fought back the advancing hordes. Soldiers refused to abandon the wounded, and Signora De Zuliani told of hundreds of cases where three and four bandaged men were lashed to each gun carriage and hauled along with the precious artillery."
Waterloo Evening Courier, March 22, 19243321
Iowa Girl Wins Fame in Paris as Operatic Soprano
(By United Press)
Paris, March 22 — Tess Davidson, Countess de Zuliani, former Sioux City, Ia., girl, is demonstrating to French audiences that an American singer can succeed without the aid of great wealth.
She was offered a contract here today for next season which she probably will accept. She is anxious to build up an indisputable reputation here before appearing in the United States.
Critics predict a brillian career for the American singer, lauding her high soprano and pointing out she is one of the first Americans to achieve "legitimate" success in Paris opera in many years.
Had Many Obstacles.
Miss Davidson had many obstacles to overcome, they agree, chiefly local antipathy towards rich women who have practically bribed theatres to permit them to appear.
"I am not buying my way," Miss Davidson said, "I'm working on the same salary basis as the French singers, which is barely enough to pay my taxi fares and tips. I have not solicited special consideration nor sacrificed myself for my career."
Shuns Gay Life.
The former Sioux City girl shuns the gay life of the French capital.
"It takes the freshness out of the voice, as well as from the face," she volunteered.
Miss Davidson has refused to bob her attractive blonde hair. She is the wife of Count Aldo de Zuliani and the mother of two children.
Census Records
| Date | Location | Enumerated Names |
|---|---|---|
| January 1, 18953270 | Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa |
|
| June 1, 19003296 | Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa |
|
| 19053310 | Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa | |
| April 20, 19103303 | Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa |
|
| January 12, 19203271 | Sioux City, Woodbury, Iowa |
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