Julietta Maria Massoletti

Julietta Marie Massoletti and John C Metcalf 

Julietta Maria Massoletti was born November 1826 in Washington, DC, the daughter of Vincent S and Sarah M. Massoletti. She was most likely taught to embroider by her mother and grandmother. An embroidery attributed to Julietta exists today and has been featured in Columbia’s Daughters Girlhood Embroidery from the District of Columbia by Gloria Seaman Allen. It is silk and silk chenille on a silk ground and was most likely done from 1835-1840. J.M.M is inscribed in pencil on the back of the frame. 

Julietta was raised in a family with an interest in music. They had a piano and her brother, Captain Joseph Massoletti, was the distinguished leader of the Washington Light Infantry’s band and leader of the Massoletti Brass Band. Julietta had a bound book of contemporary sheet music from the 1800s, some autographed. The book is engraved with Julietta Massoletti’s name and the book remains in the family to this day.

She married John C. Metcalf June 3, 1851 at the age of 24 in Washington DC. This was about 1 1/2 years after the death of her father. They were married in Christ Church, Washington Parish, Washington, DC by Reverend Hodges.

John C. Metcalf was a clerk at the Interior Department in Washington DC and one can assume that is where he and Julietta met. He was born in Ohio and lived in Ohio and Chester County, Pennsylvania in his youth. His nephew, James T. Metcalf compiled the book, Genealogy and Family History of the Metcalf Family for Five Generations from 1700 to 1910. It is a goldmine for our family as he gives first hand descriptions of his aunt and uncle, John C. and Julietta Metcalf.

He writes of his uncle, John C: “In early life he was fortunate enough to acquire a fine education, having been a graduate of the Christiana (Del.) College, and a student of other schools. He was a teacher, later a student of medicine, and for many years a teller and bookkeeper in banks at Janesville, Wis. He was gifted with a fine mind, and his tastes were in the direction of the highest and best in literature, so that he was a scholarly and cultivated man”

He goes on to write that John C and Julietta traveled by stagecoach from Washington, DC to Putnam, Ohio where they had purchased a farm. They remained there for several years and then moved to Janesville, Wisconsin where they lived the rest of their lives. John entered military service as a lieutenant of Company M, 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry, subsequently becoming Quartermaster until he resigned for poor health. He returned to Washington, DC for a period as a clerk in the Paymaster General’s office. When he resigned that position, he returned to Janesville where he was an official with a bank at Janesville for 20 years. He then entered the tobacco business, made a lot of money only to lose it all when the tobacco boom ended. He went into insurance business and regretted that he had not entered this fields at a younger age. He suffered from stomach issues and died of stomach cancer on November 30, 1895.

James T Metcalf writes: “In appearance he was a man of handsome mien, dignified, quiet, an reticent. His superior mental strength and training at once impressed itself upon anyone who met him. He was erect, with sharp, piercing black eyes, very conspicuous because of the force of character they portrayed. In the community where he resided, he was respected as a sincere, honest man of great energy, whose associates were the very best people, and who invariably took a stand upon the side of right and was the avowed foe of wrong. He was an ideal man and those who knew him best regarded him as such. “

“Uncle John was an inveterate tease; his eyes would fairly dance with fun as he would purposely say or do something he intended to shock my aunt, who was prim and dignified at such times, but on other occasions her fat, short body shook with fun and intense good humor. When uncle would vex her, she looked daggers: the rest of us could not possibly avoid smiling as he was irresistible as a mimic. In like manner she could tell a story in such a inimitable manner that every one laughed most heartily. She had a keen sense of the ridiculous in everything and could mimic anyone very successfully“