Details
Title Citti, Louis F.
Alternate title Citti, Lewis F.
Date ca. 1827-ca. 1893
Description Louis F. Citti, born of Italian descent in Philadelphia about 1827, worked as a lithographer and printer in Philadelphia, Richmond, Virginia, and Jersey City, New Jersey between 1850 and 1893. Reared in Philadelphia by a family of artists, including his lithographer brothers Orelius and Theodore, Citti began his lithographic career in 1850 with partner Franklin B. Hallman with whom he worked until 1853.
By 1860, Louis relocated to Richmond, Virginia and worked as a lithographer for Charles L. Ludwig. Seven years later he returned to the print trade in Philadelphia while residing with his wife, Charlotte (a.k.a. Charlotta, b. ca. 1833), and son, John B. (b. 1852), at 335 Marriott (i.e. Montrose) Street, their residence until 1874. In 1875, Louis and son John, partnered with Herman F. Bitterlich, and set up the operations of L. F. Citti & Co. at the corner of Seventh and Market Streets. According to credit reports, the firm did a "fair trade" and had "fair credit" with an estimated worth of $3000. In the same year, the family moved their residence to 3412 North Eleventh Street. Citti lived and worked in Philadelphia until about 1888, when he established a residence in Jersey City, New Jersey and worked for Williams Citti & Co. in New York City. He died about 1893 (his last listing in the Jersey City directory with a concurrent Philadelphia directory listing for his wife as a widow).
Is part of Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
References See Citti, Orelius and Hallman, Franklin B.
Call number Philadelphia on Stone Biographical Dictionary of Lithographers
Bibliographic citation Census 1860, 1870, 1880 and 1900
Groce & Wallace, 128
Jersey City Directories, 1889-1893
Pennsylvania, Vol. 147, p. 363, R.G. Dun & Co. Collection, microfilm, Hagley Museum & Library
Philadelphia City Directories, 1850-53; 1867-1887
Public Ledger, June 5, 1860
Juliani, Building Little Italy: Philadelphia's Italians Before Mass Migration (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998)
WWWAA, 649