Hi Betsy, this is Judith Sinclair. My email is
judithscarf@me.comI'm guessing you read Maureen Jones posting on March 18,2004, where she talks about the history of the name Sbertoli. It's a great story, and would be cool if it is true that we are descendants of a Roman Senator.
My hunch about your grandpa's reason for changing his last name (if it really was him and not the immigration officer maybe?) is that it is not easy to pronounce an 's' in front of a 'b'. He probably got tired of explaining that his name starts with an 's'. Or maybe someone in immigration didn't hear the 's' and dropped it off the written name which became 'Bertoli'.
I'd love to see anything you have about your Sbertoli family! Thanks. judith