Joseph Whitaker married Tina Scalia and the couple built Villa Malfitano in Palermo. His wife was General Scalia Alfonso's daughter who had traveled to Palermo few years before Risorgimento. One of their two daughters married General Antonio Giogio who was a War minister in Italy and is remembered for fighting the First and Second Wars in Abyssinia. This indicates the family's deep roots in the upper ranks of Italian culture.