Antonio Bagioli - Famous Son-in-law

Famous Son-in-law

In 1839 the Da Ponte household grew larger by the addition of Daniel Sickles(b 1819), a future Union general, who, at the behest of his parents George Garret Sickles and Susan Marsh Sickles, (who felt him to be " sufficiently unsettled and in need of special tutoring"), and owing in part to his friendship with Lorenzo the Younger a New York University professor, moved in to the house on Spring Street, ostensibly to study foreign languages. While boarding, Sickles made the acquaintance of Maria, the same age as he, and her daughter Teresa, who was 3 at the time. Later, as Sickles rose in prominence, rumours persistently circulated that Sickles had seduced Maria Cooke Bagioli. Whether that was true or not, Sickles did become friends with the family as part of his boarding experience, and was involved in the upbringing of Teresa, although he left after about a year when his mentor suddenly died. Sickles however maintained close ties with the family, possibly to continue the study of French and Italian.

Though Sickles possibly had known Teresa since her infancy, he made her acquaintance again in 1851, this time as an Assemblyman (and part of the Tammany Hall Democratic machine). He was thirty-three years old, she was fifteen. Sickles was quite taken with Teresa and soon proposed marriage. Despite his prominence and long connection to the family, the Bagiolis refused to consent to the marriage. Undeterred, the couple wed on September 17, 1852, in a civil ceremony. Teresa's family then relented and the couple married again, this time with John Hughes, Catholic Archbishop of New York City, presiding. Some seven months later, in 1853, their only child, Laura Buchanan Sickles, was born.