52 Ancestors Week 3: Nickname

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 3:

The theme for Week 3 is “Nickname.” Nicknames can hint to a person’s personality, occupation, or appearance. But be careful to not always take them literally! (Think of all the burly guys nicknamed “Tiny!”) Sometimes they have an “origin story” – like “Coco,” a classmate of mine. She got the nickname because her little brother couldn’t pronounce her real name (Colleen). Which of your ancestors had a nickname? Do you know how they got it?

Other nicknames might include "Bluestreak".

    Nicknames are a fun part of life and I've had quite a few of them myself. A couple of them ended up being a screenname on various message boards across the Internet. Don't bother looking for them. Those sites are long gone. Though, you might find me as "Cferra" in a few places. Yes, my screenname was my first initial and the first five letters of my last name. I didn't say they were original!  Google it. You won't find anything crazy, I promise. At least screennames can be different from nicknames and back in the day our ancestors had quite a few nicknames that could easily be a screenname on YouTube if YouTube was around.

Epic pipe is epic.

    If you've been reading my blog for a long time, then you'd know how my grandfather Robert Hamel was in the U.S. Air Force for decades.  What you might not know is that he even HE had a nickname given to him by his friends in the service and that name lasted until the day he passed away.

    Sadly, the name wasn't anything like "Maverick" or "Iceman" from the "Top Gun" movies. He didn't even have any of the nicknames from the "Iron Eagle" movies! Nope. His name was.....

The Grey Eagle!

    If that doesn't sound like a superhero from the "Golden Age" of comics, I don't know what does. Maybe if he was wearing a star-spangled outfit or something. I mean....that is a patriotic nickname isn't it? Growing up, I always likened him to "Captain America". But, that's a pretty cool nickname, too. "Grey Eagle" just sounds so awesome when you say it out loud, doesn't it? It's a great nickname and I'm really glad it stuck!

   Right. So, how did my grandfather start soaring through the clouds with that epic name? Well, the best I can figure is that he's had it since his Air Force days. Was his plane grey? I honestly have no idea. It's not like you can tell in black and white photos. I've seen the kinds of planes he flew. Just not the color. And they weren't silver F-15s, either. Bit too early for those screaming eagles, right? And no that wasn't the name of his squadron, either.

    Nicknames are often given to someone by friends or family. No one ever says "Call me "Rocket Man!" and expects that name to stick. Fun fact. That bit from "The Big Bang Theory" about the name "Rocket Man" was actually based on a story the astronauts heard once or twice. No one makes up a nickname for a reason. Only colossal idiots make up their own nicknames. If you do, you get another nickname and trust me it would not be pleasant!

The eagle has landed.

    With that in mind, it's obvious that my grandfather's friends in the Air Force gave him the name "Grey Eagle". I had no idea why. By the time I came around his hair was greying and when I first heard the name I thought it was because of his grey hair.  Hey! Give me a break! I was a kid. I didn't know any better. I don't think I ever told him that. He'd have given me a smirk and shook his head if I did! Even though I was a wiseass I had to pick my moments with surgical precision.

    Naturally, my grandfather told me about the name and how friends in the Air Force gave it to him like I said earlier. I just wish I knew if the plane was grey or not. Maybe it doesn't matter. It's a cool nickname for a very cool person.

    After the Air Force, Grandpa Bob used the name "Grey Eagle" for his own e-mail address. Sometimes he even signed my birthday cards from him as "Grey Eagle". It definitely caught on with friends and family and I don't think I've ever called him that name directly.

    That didn't stop my mother and her siblings, though! Whenever my grandparents visited someone would often text one of the other siblings and say that "The grey eagle has landed!". 

    And that's the story of how my grandfather got the name "Grey Eagle". It's not a terribly long one, I'll admit. Or is it one with an epic backstory. Maybe it doesn't matter. It's a cool name and I'm glad it stuck around till his final days. For some reason it suited him. Sure he had grey hair and everything but he was pretty patriotic. Maybe that's why he took that name and let it stick for so long. Really glad our national bird was the eagle. Benjamin Franklin wanted it to be the turkey.  Not one of your best ideas, Benny. "The Grey Turkey" wouldn't sell nearly as many comics as "The Grey Eagle". 

See ya next time!
  

52 Ancestors Week 2: Favorite Photo

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 2:

Week 2’s theme is “Favorite Photo.” Yes, I’ve included this prompt in the last few years of 52 Ancestors, and for good reason: Photos capture our family history like few other things can. Besides, how can you limit yourself to one?! This week, tell the story of a favorite photo: who is in it, where and when was it taken, and – just as important – why was it taken?

It's that time again!

    It just wouldn't be 52 Ancestors without a prompt in early January asking us to talk about a favorite picture of ours. For the past five years I've had plenty of photos to share and I'm not stopping any time soon. I've still got many photos worth talking about and you can see many of them over on WikiTree. Pictures have a way of adding faces to the name and stats of someone you're adding to your family tree. They're proof that the person you're adding data and sources for were in fact flesh and blood. Though, that doesn't mean the people we couldn't possibly get photos for weren't flesh and blood. It just means that we can finally add a face to the name. Vital records help in those cases.

    Photographs of our ancestors can turn up in interesting places, though. I remember talking to my cousin Adriana about several photos she had in her collection. She shared a picture of my 2nd great-grandparents, Marco Ferraiolo and Caterina Coppola with me and since they were also her grandparents it seemed reasonable that she'd have a picture of them. What was really cool was how she also had my father's high school graduation photo in her collection! I wondered how that got there seeing as she currently lives in Rome! It's no big secret. My grandfather Marco or his father likely sent her mother Rosa a copy in the 1960s.

    As you might have guessed, the family stayed in touch despite being thousands of miles away from each other. I guess Vincenzo made it a point to keep in touch because he and several other members of my family were at his niece Caterina's wedding in 1969!

The wedding of Giuseppe Casarrubea and
Caterina Aleardi

    This is a photograph I've been wanting to talk about for a long time! The story of how I got it is pretty amazing. I was checking out DNA matches on MyHeritage in early 2021 when I got a message from a woman named Caterina Aleardi. She asked me questions about the Vincenzo Ferraiolo I had in my tree. She told me that Vincenzo was her mother Concetta's brother and we started talking. She mentioned that the last time she saw Vincenzo was at her wedding in Switzerland.

   My eyes widened when I read that message because in the back of my mind I remembered my grandma Ollie and my father talking to me about a wedding she went to in Europe with Marco, Vincenzo, Marco's sister Nicolina and others. 

    I heard the story pretty much all my life. The family flew to Rome in late 1969 and ended up going to San Pietro a Maida where my great-grandfather, great-aunt and grandfather were born. I guess they went there to see the sights and visit family there. They then took a train to Switzerland where they attended Caterina's wedding. My grandmother mentioned how she wasn't really a fan of northern Italian cuisine since her family came from the southern Italian town of Gesualdo. They had a good time and it was unfortunately the last time Vincenzo was in Italy since he passed away in the February of 1970.

   Caterina then asked me if I wanted to see pictures of the wedding and of course I said "Yes!". What I didn't count on was seeing this amazing group photo! It didn't take me long to recognize several people in the photo and right away I found my grandparents!

    I recognized my grandfather from other photographs we have of him and was able to spot him on the left of the group. He had his hand on his wife who I knew right away was grandma Ollie. The hair gave her away. =) Grandma Ollie had the same hairstyle and coloring until she passed away in the early 2000s. She originally had black hair and dyed it once she started turning grey.

    Sadly, I have no clue who the lady next to my grandma is. I assume she's a relative of Caterina's or a relative of her husband, Giuseppe.

    When I got the photo, I showed it to my brother right away to see if he could spot our grandparents and of course he was able to find them really quickly. I guess we either knew what they looked like or they had a distinctive look about them that made them more memorable. Go figure.

    At least the picture was solid proof that the family did indeed go to Switzerland for the wedding! I didn't think there was any doubt. But, it's nice that there's actual proof.

    My grandparents weren't the only people I was able to recognize!

    Toward the center of the group we find my great-grandfather standing almost at attention while the photo was being taken. I have to wonder what was going on in his mind. I like to think that he was grateful for seeing Italy again and was happy to be at the wedding. He likely had no idea it'd be his last trip. So, he was very lucky in that he got to see his homeland one last time.

    The man to his left was Walter Jans, the husband of my great-aunt Nicolina. Talk about being a fish out of water. Walter was born and raised in North Dakota and here he was in Switzerland surrounded by a bunch of Italians. I'm not sure if there was a language barrier or not. But, it seemed like he was having a great time. At least that's the impression I got from him when Nicolina told me the story of the wedding years later. And yes Nicolina is the woman to his left. I recognize that beehive anywhere.

    I wonder who the girl Nicolina is holding is. I'll have to ask Caterina because again I have no clue who some of the people are. Speaking of Caterina....

    It's easy to spot the bride and the groom in the photo! I'm not sure why they aren't front and center like in many of the other wedding pictures I've seen. Maybe it was their choice? I'm not sure.

    Either way the picture was taken to commemorate Giuseppe and Caterina's wedding and I thank my cousin for sharing the picture with me. She sent me other pictures from the event and it looked like everyone was happy. Caterina told me her brothers and sisters were all there along with her mother. In fact, I think that might be Concetta right behind the happy couple! Concetta might even be the woman behind Nicolina, too!

    It's hard to say for sure. I'll have to ask Caterina if she could tell me who's who. It's easy enough to spot my grandparents, my great-aunt and my great-uncle. But, part of me wonders who everyone else is in the picture.

    From what Caterina told me, the picture was taken in the September of 1969 and at that point in time my parents were dating. I think they were invited but they had classes. That's unfortunate because I knew my father really wanted to see Italy. But, you know if I had the choice between schoolwork and going to Europe, I'd pick Europe. I think the professors would understand! I jest. They were on track to becoming medical professionals. I can't fault them for being studious. I CAN fault them for leaving their medicals journal open for a certain eight year old boy to find. *Shudders*, I probably shouldn't have looked through them.....

    I really like this photograph because not only does it show an important moment in Giuseppe and Caterina's life. It shows my grandparents and my great-grandfather having a great time just before Vincenzo took ill. It was one last party before he passed away. He got to see his family one last time and I think that was a great gift for him. You never know what life may throw at you and that's why you should live and make every moment count because you never know what will happen in the future. That's what makes wedding photos and really any photo worth cherishing because life changes in an instant.

    This is definitely one picture I'll cherish for that reason and I thank Caterina for sharing it with me. My parents may not have been there. But, at least they heard the stories and now we have concrete proof that the story did in fact happened! You can't ask for a better ending than that!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 1: In the Beginning

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 1:

This week’s theme is “In the Beginning.” (According to “The Sound of Music,” the beginning is a very good place to start.) Who was the first person you wanted to find when you started your genealogy journey? Was there a family member who sparked your interest, maybe by giving you a bunch of genealogy “stuff”? This would be a great week to write about them!

Our whole universe was in a hot dense state....

    This year's 52 Ancestors is off to a great start and I have to thank Amy for providing a prompt which also doubles as a jumping on point for new readers. It's been a long time since I started writing this blog and this week's entry is actually my 300th blog! As a writer I know how important it can be to include a refresher so new readers can see how you got to a certain point. You see it all the time in comic books and I've been known to do a few recaps every now and then for my own webcomic. In those cases, you kind of have to repeat what has happened in the past because a reader will get lost with all the lore. And as anyone who's read the biggest comics out there know, there are decades worth of lore out there.

    Hopefully, this won't be too bad. It's a good idea to look back and see how far you've come as a genealogist and sometimes you either wince at what you did wrong or nod approvingly at some discovery you made. Looking back can be a good thing. So, let's take a minute and see just how I got to this point.

      My name is Chris and I was born in 1978 to Dr. James Ferraiolo and Diane Hamel. I'm the youngest in the family and the second oldest of ten grandchildren on my mom's side. Since I grew up in the 1980s and 1990s, you've likely seen many references to the popular culture of the era. That hasn't effected me one bit, right? Heh.....Sure it hasn't.

Dig those '70s sideburns, dad. 

     My father is, as many genealogists have said, "All Italian all the time". Basically, this means that his tree is one hundred percent Italian. Makes sense because he's the son of Italian immigrant Marco Ferraiolo and Olympia Carrabs, the daughter of two Italian immigrants named Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione.

    My mother on the other hand is a healthy mix of French-Canadian ancestry and colonial American ancestry. Her father Robert Hamel comes from a very French-Canadian family with a teeny, tiny sliver that goes to Scotland by way of my 2nd great-grandmother, Georgianna Ross. My maternal grandmother Natalie has French-Canadian roots as well. However, there's that line from my great-grandfather Austin Felker that leads to colonial New England.

    From all of that you might have gathered that I'm some sort of New England mutt. To that, I say....You're right. Millions of Italians immigrated to the United States in the early 20th century and my ancestors were no exception. The same could be said for the French-Canadians in my tree and they were on North American soil since the 1600s. The only ones who have been in New England since the 1600s have been my ancestors on the Felker side of things.

    Through some cosmic twist of fate, everyone somehow ended up in two cities in the Merrimack River valley. This would be the cities of Newburyport and Haverhill where my parents were born. In fact, this blog gets its name from the Queen Slipper City because even the people in Newburyport were in Haverhill at one point! All roads really do lead to Rome...er...Haverhill. 

    Of course the reason why people settled there couldn't have had anything to do with the shoe and textile mills opening up at the height of the Industrial Revolution. Those mills were looking for workers and they came on the boats and on the planes.

*record scratch* Yup....That's me on my grandma's
lap.

    By the time I came around many stories I would end up hearing about happened. I was one of those kids who'd ask their grandparents a million questions about where we came from and everything. Sadly, my grandfather Marco passed away when I was four and I really don't have any memory of him. There was a silver lining, though. Marco's sister, Nicolina was around and she often filled me in on the stories her brother obviously wasn't around to tell.

    She told me stories about how they were born in the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida and she told me that I had family still living there. Some family members came to America while others remained in Europe and somehow they kept in touch with the family over the years. Some even went as far away as South America!  It's very rare for Italians to keep in contact with family in Europe and my great-grandfather Vincenzo made it a point stay connected with them.

    Vincenzo even had a box full of genealogical gold confirming a great deal of information. He had guest lists, naturalization papers, documents, photos and more inside what could only be described as a black box. Meanwhile, my maternal grandparents had boxes of information and pictures as well. For information on the contents of each box, please check the blog archive.

    Not to be outdone, my grandmother Olympia and her sisters (Who I call the "Little Old Italian Ladies") had stories of their own. The sisters always talked about their parents and how they were born in the Campanian town of Gesualdo. The sisters also would talk about their uncles Rocco and Pasquale who ended up in Melrose and Everett and had huge families of their own. In addition, several relatives from the Gesualdo area ended up in America and yes stories have been told about them, too! Pictures were also shared!

Nana and Papa's 50th wedding anniversary!

        My maternal side has just as many stories as my Italian side. My grandfather Robert was a staff sergeant in the U.S. Air Force and the father of six children. My grandmother Natalie was one of six children and like Ollie she was always more than happy to talk about family history.

    She told me stories about how her father Austin had ancestors who fought in nearly every major American conflict starting with the American Revolution. She told me how her mother Henrietta Legault  was one of twelve children born to mill worker Antoine Legault and Lucie Cadran.

    I'm grateful that my grandparents indulged me with the questions. How easy would it have been had they said : "Get lost, kid"? Thankfully, they didn't1

    Fast forward to 2006. By that point both of my grandmothers had passed away and my only living grandparent was my grandfather Robert. I think it was "Papa" who encouraged me to make a family tree and at that time Ancestry.com was the only game in town for tree creation. There was no geni and WikiTree wouldn't launch for another two years. I started working on the tree after he encouraged me and I got to wondering something. Were the stories I heard growing up all true? Sure I could've asked my parents about them. But, I wanted to check things out for myself!

    My great-aunt Nicolina even chimed in and said that I should see if I could find some relatives in San Pietro who could help me out. She gave me some names and I let them sit on the backburner of my mind for many years as I had no means of contacting them. Fortunately, they found me on Facebook!

Austin and Henrietta

    To the surprise of no one, my maternal side was just as accurate as my grandparents described in the family tree they made. I worked on that side first because I knew records would be relatively easy to come by. Massachusetts keeps wicked good records, kids. Remember that. We'll discuss it over coffee at Dunkies.

    The colonial American side filled up really quickly and soon the French-Canadian side followed once I signed up for WikiTree back in 2017. Up until then I was doing genealogy off and on because I was working on my webcomic and I had my own video review show where I reviewed comic books. I still checked on Ancestry every once in a while, though.

    Once I started up again, a lady who turned out to be a distant cousin on the Carrabs side uploaded what could only be described as a treasure trove of information onto Ancestry. Her name is GesualdoGenie and as the screenname implies she researched the town of Gesualdo. She went to the town and scanned virtually every birth, death and marriage record she could find. Afterward, she compiled all that data into one big 80,000 person tree on Ancestry. Included in the tree was my grandma Ollie and her complete family tree.

Giuseppe and Clementina.

    Naturally, I messaged her and she helped me fill in the Carrabs side. It grew upwards toward the 1700s and outwards in the space of a week. Through her I learned about Antenati, the Italian government's repository for every single civil record in Italy from 1809 to the early 20th century. She assured me that the records she and Antenati had were indeed legit and I rapidly filled in the tree.

    I found that the stories about Gesualdo were all true and that my personal "three siblings who came to America" story was in fact true. Some genealogists out there have a similar story where an ancestor was one of three brothers who came to America or something and those brothers went in different directions. In this case, the story was not only true. But, it was backed up with pictures! Lots of pictures!

    To say that I was on a roll would be an understatement. Nothing could stop the wild roller coaster of genealogical  finds. There was still one last thing I had to do. I needed to spit in a tube. Gross, I know. But, there's no way to sugarcoat the desire to take a DNA test. Nicolina had done one herself and she asked my father and I if we would take one, too. 

    Genealogist Mary Tedesco even got in on the act! She and I had been talking off and on for a number of years as well ever since she found me on Ancestry. Her family and mine were both from San Pietro and to make things even more interesting her grandfather was my dad's godfather! Grandpa Marco was very close to the Tedesco family. They all lived in Woburn, Mass and often visited Marco and his family in Haverhill.

    Mary had been wondering about our connection for some time since my great-grandmother was San Pietro native Maria Tedesco, the first wife of my great-grandfather Vincenzo. I'm pleased to say that we found our connection through careful research. She is my 5th cousin! The story of my connection to the Tedesco family was proven to be true!

Vincenzo Ferraiolo and Maria Tedesco

    In doing a DNA test, the floodgates really opened for discoveries. Stories ended up being confirmed left, right and center. I found connections to virtually all of Mary's relatives including Mary herself. I found descendants of people who were at my parents' wedding. I found adoptees who were trying to find their place in my ever expanding family tree. 

    I found everything except the connections my great-aunt Nicolina asked me to find. That all changed when I went to the San Pietro a Maida Facebook group and asked them for help. They found me there and we still talk to this day. Over time even more European cousins found me as I put my AncestryDNA test on MyHeritage.

    The funny thing about MyHeritage is that I uploaded my DNA there and let it sit for ages before getting any really substantial DNA matches. That was until my Swiss relatives did their DNA tests there and confirmed yet another story. This one was about how my grandfather Marco, Ollie, my great-grandfather and my great-aunt all went to Switzerland for a wedding. Little did I know that I'd meet the lady whose wedding they all went to! 

Alfred Hamel, king of swagger.

          Caterina and I stay in touch and I do my best to keep in touch with my European cousins and cousins in South America. They've been very helpful in helping me to understand the family story beyond just photographs and information I find online.

    The funny thing is that almost all of the stories I heard growing up turned out to be true. I don't know if it's because the information was fresh in their minds or if there was no reason to really embellish the stories of those who went before us.

    Whatever the case is, I'm more than grateful to see that everything has been more or less true on my family tree. I wouldn't call it boring! Read my past blogs. It's anything but boring. You'll find that drama exists even in a fully completed tree. Trust me. 

    If anything, a complete family tree leads me to more questions and that kid who used to ask a million questions still wants answers!

    And that's the story of how I got to this point on my genealogical journey and how I became a genealogist. I just wanted to see if the stories I heard were true. Did I miss a few things? Probably. Like I said. It's a condensed history of the road I took to get to this point in early 2025. If you want all the dirty details, there are a ton of blogs here to read.  As I look back I wonder what I would have thought of all the discoveries I made if I made them back in 2006. Knowing me there'd still be a great deal of excitement. It's probably best that I made them in small bursts as I'd feel overwhelmed if everything was handed to me all at once. Some things would have gotten lost in the shuffle.

    I'm just glad people were there to help me on the journey and I'm glad I have people still helping me now from cousins in Argentina and Europe to fellow genealogists on WikiTree. Genealogy doesn't have to be a solo gig and I don't think I could have gotten as far as I have without their help and guidance. Now let's see what else we can find on this journey!

Happy 300th blog, All Roads Lead to Haverhill! Here's to many more epic tales!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 52: Resolution

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 52

The theme for Week 52 is "Resolution." This time of year, many of us make plans for what we want to accomplish. Do you have a genealogy resolution -- maybe a brick wall you want to break through or a collection of letters you want to digitize?

My first resolution should be to update this banner.

    Here we are at the end of 2024 and I don't have to tell you how much of a roller coaster the past year has been. The genealogy front saw nothing but amazing highs and all of you were here to share them with me. I couldn't be more grateful for that! Not only have I shattered the Gullo brick wall into itty bitty pieces. I met and got to know several cousins who I am proud to call friends. The cousins came from as far away as Argentina to just the next state over. Genealogy connects all of us and to be honest those connections put everything into perspective.

    So, with everything I've accomplished this year where would I go from here? There are a couple routes I could take and still so much more to learn. You're never really done your genealogical adventure. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.

    One of the things I want to resolve is finally finding the burial place of my 2nd great-grandfather Antoine Legault. I know I'm beating a dead horse with this one. But, hear me out. The dedicated users of Find a Grave have been working on Saint James Cemetery in Haverhill and have cataloged over 8,000 memorials at the time of this blog's posting. That's a lot of work and I'm not kidding when I say that the cemetery is one of the largest in the city.

    I know for a fact Antoine is buried there since it's been confirmed by his death certificate. This isn't some white whale I'm chasing. Though, I do have a sinking feeling he might be in an unmarked grave. I hope not. Time will tell and hopefully someone out there will give me the answers I seek and piece of mind.

So many Coppolas!

    On the Italian side of things, there's still much for me to explore. I'd like to fill out the descendants of my fourth great-grandfather Francesco Coppola and his wife a bit more. I'd also like to find the identity of that wife, too. That would be nice wouldn't it? I can't keep calling her "Unknown Lady" now can I?

    I'm still not sure how I would go about solving that one unless I'm on the ground in San Pietro a Maida. Speaking of San Pietro. Did you hear the news? Antenati, the Italian government's repository for all Italian births, marriages and deaths will have the births from San Pietro a Maida on their website in the not too distant future. The records from 1809 to 1861 were on FamilySearch. I only hope that they expand on those records into well...maybe the early 20th century. It couldn't hurt!

    I'm hopeful that the records will be put online in due time and that they'll be expanded upon. Perhaps asking the commune office about a marriage or two would be a great idea. The well is getting dry regarding what I could ask the commune office. They also tend to fulfill requests more of the person asking the question is a direct descendant of the person they're tasked with looking for. I suppose that makes sense. Otherwise you'd get a lot of questions from them.

Waiting for Mr. DNA Sequence
to show up.

    On the DNA side of things I figured out where many DNA matches fit in the grant scheme of things over the past year. I figured out where "Isadore" belonged and numerous other ones as well. Some were easy to place. Some were solved thanks to AncestryDNA's new comparison tools. Not bad for a year's work, right?

    As more DNA matches come in, I think there'll be more puzzles to solve. Also, you may want to keep in mind that I still have older puzzles I'd love to solve. Though, I am closer to solving one or two of them thanks to cousin connections and the new AncestryDNA tools. I seriously cannot praise them enough for rolling that out. Let's hope they send me a check.....

    As you can see there's still a lot for me to do on the genealogy front. As more questions get answered, new questions start to emerge. You never really finish your genealogical adventure because we're always looking for new questions as well as answers. The curiosity to see what's out there is the driving force for many genealogists like myself. We know part of the story. But, we want to know more. I don't think that's selfish or anything. It's just what's been driving us. We search for the truth and ways to preserve it. 

    I wonder where I'll be a year from now on my genealogical adventure. Will I have solved the puzzles I mentioned? Will I have found new ones? It's hard to say. To borrow a line from Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, the future really is the undiscovered country. 

Let's see what's out there. Engage!

52 Ancestors Week 51: Good Deeds

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 51

The theme for Week 51 is "Good Deeds." Is there someone in your family who is known for their kindness? Maybe someone who benefited from the good deed of another? (You could also think of deeds as in land records!)

First Starbolt to stick the superhero landing wins!

    

    People doing good deeds for other people seems to be a common theme in my family tree. The last time I wrote about a good deed was back in 2020 when I talked about Giovanni Coppola, the man who had brought people to Haverhill from the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida. Not only did he pay for several relatives' trips to America. He was also a grocer for the Italian community there. Sufficed it to say he was a big deal in Haverhill. Well, at least as far as the Italian community goes.

    As it turns out, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree of generosity. A while back my third cousin Melina took a trip from her home in Buenos Aires to our ancestral town of San Pietro. Naturally, I thought she was just going to look up her Astorino relatives while she was there. I had helped her build her tree up to her fourth great-grandparents, Giuseppe Astorino and Marianna Sgro. I was only able to get the basics and while she was actually on the ground in Italy she managed to get more information than I ever could by just e-mailing Italy. Then she did something truly unexpected. She looked up information for me AND managed to take pictures of the actual documents!

Hello, century old document. You
look like you're in near-mint condition.

    My jaw hit the floor. Meli didn't just take photos of Astorino records.  She took photos of the following records I needed for my tree.

* The marriage of my great-grandparents Vincenzo Ferraiolo and Maria Tedesco in 1921.

* Maria Tedesco's birth record from 1900.

* Vincenzo Ferraiolo's  birth record from 1894.

* Our second great-grandfather Marco Ferraiolo's birth record from 1868.

* Her great-grandmother Caterina Ferraiolo's birth record from 1904. 

    That's a lot of information! And this isn't including the mountain of Astorino documents she obtain the same week! Not too bad, right? To say I was happy to get all this information is a bit of an understatement. I was already happy she was in Italy. She really went above and beyond for me and I'll always be thankful for her. She didn't have to do this. And yet she did!

    The reason why I'm so excited to have the actual documents is simple. Records from San Pietro a Maida from 1862 on are not online in any way. I had to e-mail the commune office for the records and they sent back notarized copies that were transcribed from the actual document. This is as close to seeing the real thing as I can get until the fine folks at Antenati decide to upload the rest of the 19th century to the website for all to see. And maybe a little into the 20th? It couldn't hurt!

Birth of Vincenzo Ferraiolo. Note that both
grandfathers are mentioned.

    I didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth and ask her how she managed to get all these documents for me. I can take a wild guess, though. Meli is a very nice person and I'm sure this is how the scenario worked out:

    She likely explained to the clerk that she traveled very far and was wondering if he/she could help her look for some records. After doing that, she may have mentioned needing help finding other documents and it just grew from there.

    I think the trick was how she asked. If you're polite and ask the right questions in a government building, you're going to go far. If you're loud? Probably not.

    Presentation is everything and if you're a visitor from another country, you really have to be on your best behavior. We've all heard the stories about the tourist who carved his initials in the Roman Colosseum of all things! Oh, did that make my blood boil. The guy didn't think it was that old. Did he....not see the ruins?! I mean.... 

I digress. Back to the blog before I write a rant about that fool.

Birth of Maria Tedesco.

    As you might have guessed I was very happy Meli got this information for me. Generosity works both ways. I did something nice for her and in turn she provided me with pictures of the actual documents! This is genealogical gold right here! Meli has proven that she's good at genealogy. There's no doubt about it!

    I did wonder if she was going to get our second great-grandmother Caterina Coppola's birth record. I was going to ask her about it. But, she was leaving San Pietro when she showed me the record and honestly it might have been a moot point since I have a record of the record in a toolbox in my basement along with her sister Concetta's record. I really didn't want to push it and if someone gives you a gift you really shouldn't ask for more.

    You really should be modest when someone gives you genealogical gold like this. It would make it more likely that people would help you out in the future. Should I have asked for Caterina's details? Nah. Meli did enough for me. She got her documents. She got mine. She took pictures at the town cemetery. She rocks. It's really that simple. And to think this all started when the Boston Celtics won the NBA finals in June. Maybe that was a sign? I'm taking it as such!

    As you can see good deeds happen a lot when you're on your genealogical adventure. Like I said before. She didn't have to go through all the trouble. And yet she did. I had to thank her over and over again. Over on WikiTree it's pretty common for people to help others out. And with all the vitriol elsewhere on the Internet (And lord knows there's a ton of it), it's refreshing to have a cousin help another cousin out despite not seeing each other face to face. Perhaps that'll happen some day. Until then I just have to thank Meli for all of her hard work. She definitely made the second half of 2024 memorable. What's next? Who can say, true believers? But, you know....like the man himself once said. "I guess one person can make a difference. 'Nuff said."

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 50: Chosen Family

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 50

The theme for Week 50 is "Chosen Family." Family isn't just those you are genetically related to. What about the special family friends who become "Aunt" and "Uncle"? Who was chosen to be part of your family?

Italian or Italian by association.

    I can't believe it's been four years since the last time I wrote about a chosen family member or two. Back in 2020, I wrote about the couple who used to take care of my brother and I when we were little. Their names were Peter and Mary Matorian. They were a great Armenian couple who often took my brother and I shopping (Or as Pete called it "The Cleaners". I think you can figure out why.) among other things. Mary was a great cook and it's honestly a wonder we didn't gain weight from eating her cookies that were like 90% lard. They were an amazing couple and I miss them dearly. However, they were far from the only chosen family member we had!

    Longtime readers of the blog will remember me writing about the marina I went to with my family every summer growing up. It was a lot of fun and this week I thought I'd share some memories and stories about some of the people there who definitely made every summer more enjoyable than the last!

Formally known as "Dawn Mari-Na".

        I've already already written about Marina Schell, the woman who got me into writing and helped me sort out the first version of my Starbolts story. She was an avid comic reader like me and we'd spend a while talking about various comic book characters and the latest movie/television show. She was a huge fan of Spider-Man. So, you know I made friends with her very easily!

    Marina and her husband Peter were just two members of the group my parents dubbed "The Ancient Mariners". Though, that title didn't really catch on until maybe the early 2000s for obvious reasons.

  The ancient mariners were a fun group. Everyone was from various towns in and around the Merrimack Valley.  We'd all go fishing together either at the mouth of the Merrimack or we'd take to the high seas. Though, I think we've only ever gone as far east as the Isle of Shoals and maybe Maine if the weather was nice. Sometimes we'd all be in the same boat and sometimes we'd even tie our boats together and make a raft in the middle of the ocean. That was fun to do. Though, I can imagine it was an interesting sight for passing boaters.

    Now, you might be wondering "Chris, didn't you have anyone around your age to hang around with?" I did. There were always children at the marina when I was growing up. These were the sons and daughters of the "ancient mariners". Wow. Way to make it sound epic. My earliest memories were of two kids named Tara and and Eddie whose parents had a boat across the dock from us. They moved away early on so I don't know what happened to them. I don't even know if they continued boating and to date I haven't been able to find them. There were other children, too. But, they were around my brother's age and of course he spent time with them and they had their own adventures cruising around the river and going to the arcade at Salisbury Beach.

What a couple of troublemakers.

    When Tara and Eddie moved away, I wasn't alone for long. I was quickly introduced to my friend Matthew who was the son of my parents' friends Bob and Edie Jones. They had a boat called "Mi Casa" and Matthew and I spent a lot of time there.....mainly because his television was able to pick up the signal better than ours. We often used their set to either play various Sega or Nintendo games or watch a movie. That wasn't our fault. Our boat was docked at the outer docks and the Mi Casa was docked  a little bit closer to land. It was probably for the best because we watched a LOT of  "R" rated movies. 

    Of course that wasn't the only thing we did.

    Matt and I wouldn't laze about the boat all day. This was the late '80s and early to mid 1990s. We were outside a lot and when we were outside we got into plenty of trouble. I remember getting some fish heads from various other boaters to put in Matthew's crab traps. We uhh..."accidentally" left one of the heads out of the traps and left it on the dock once. You can imagine the smell. It stunk from the top of the dock to where my boat was.  At least we got a lot of river crabs? Right? Right?! Don't worry. We released them back into the wild.

    The funny thing is we never really got in trouble for any of the things we did. I guess our parents thought Matthew and I were just being kids and that's a fair point. We were just goofing around and the fish thing was an accident. We still had a great time.

    The two of us also often went across the river to Newburyport to buy comics and explore the flea market. I swear that was our go-to spot for thrift. I found some cool stuff there and came home with various old toys and even some small Lego sets. 

Less obvious troublemakers.

    Accompanying us on our trips every once in a while was the son of Sam and Charlene Fragala. His name was Ryan and he had two older siblings who were more my brothers' friends than mine. So, naturally we hit it off. 

    Ryan is like the polar opposite of Matthew. He didn't get any trouble at all really. In fact, most of our adventures involved fishing and hanging out.  His father Sam on the other hand was the one who'd always pinch my cheeks whenever he saw me. It wasn't all bad. 

    His mom made the best brownies ever. So, sometimes you have to suffer before having a treat. That's life, I guess. Or maybe a little Pavlovian. I don't know. It didn't matter as long as we got some brownies. I just hope Ryan got the recipe written down! 

     Like me Ryan is half-Italian. His mother's side is Irish. So, Ryan and I connected over the usual Italian stuff and how our fathers had the same attitude on life.  The Fragalas came from Sicily and I've yet to figure out where in Sicily they came from. When I asked Sam about it he said he wasn't sure. He thinks his grandfather came from Palermo. More research is clearly needed.

Sam on the far left with Carl, Al and my dad.
The Grumpy Old Italian Men.

   Boating season wasn't the only time we ever saw our ancient mariner friends or their kids. Every once in a while they came over our house during the off season. Usually it was for Christmas Eve or a random gathering. I think we even did New Year's Eve at the Fragalas' house once.

    Sometimes, I even went to Matt's house and watch those "R" rated movies properly without any static and interference. We would also play various video games. The Sega games stayed at my house, though. He and a few other friends had both Sega and Nintendo games. Thanks to him I got to play many of the Nintendo classics like Mario and Zelda.  The console war was no joke. Ironically, now you can play both Sega and classic Nintendo games on current consoles like the Nintendo Switch. I guess Sega lost the war.

    I digress. Matt and Ryan along with their parents were chosen family. They were like cousins to me and their parents were like aunts and uncles. Uncle Sam still punches my cheeks like it was 1993, by the way. He hasn't lost his touch!  I'm just glad he never did it when I had my wisdom teeth removed.

    These days both Matt and Ryan are married with children of their own and every once in a while I get together with both of them every chance I get. Sadly, our adventures aren't nearly as entertaining as they once were.  That doesn't mean we've forgotten how to party. They were and still are good friends. Our lives may have changed and we have grown up. But, we'll always remember the good times we had at the marina under the ever watchful eyes of the ancient mariners. 

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 49: Handed Down

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 49

The theme for Week 49 is "Handed Down." Do you have something that has been handed down to you, whether it's an item, a story, or even a name? This week is a good time to write about it!

   I said it before and I'll say it again. My house is like a museum. We have a ton of things here from both sides of the family and every item we have has a story behind it. What our ancestors leave behind is something memorable to them and to preserve the memories they pass it down to the next generation. Sometimes it's a sword like the one I talked about in this blog from 2020. Other times it's a VHS copy of "Golf's Funniest Moments" your grandfather left you. Look. Not everything handed down by our ancestors are going to be winners.

    Don't get me wrong. We have some literal gold here. I've talked at great length about the swords, the canes, the coffee table, the clocks and even a pair of candlesticks. That stuff is great. But, so are the stories that have been told. Don't forget those can be handed down from generation to generation along with various belongings. You always have to be careful with them, though. Some stories are true and some can turn out to be false.

Nicolina, Vincenzo and Cathie

   When my parents and I visited my great-aunt Nicolina in 2004, she had a lot of stories to tell us. Some stories backed up the stories my grandmother Ollie and my father told me back in the day. This included the story of when everyone went to Switzerland to attend my cousin Caterina's wedding in 1969. It's always good to have someone back up a story or two and thankfully people have been honest about the tales they've told.  They didn't need to be fact-checked or anything and I'm very grateful for that. I just wish I got the photographic evidence of the wedding in Switzerland a lot sooner. My grandmother would have loved to have seen the group picture she was in!

    Nicolina handed down a couple other stories during that stay. One of them was likely to be true given the time period. The other seemed a little sketchy. I'll share both of the stories with you all and at the end we can decide which one was true and which one isn't. Sound good? Well, you made it this far. So, you can stick around for the rest of the ride.

Vincenzo and Maria

    When Nicolina and my grandfather Marco were little, they didn't speak much English. They were both born in San Pietro a Maida in the 1920s and came to Haverhill with their mother Maria Tedesco in 1929.  I naturally wanted to learn everything I could about her since Nicolina was the only one around who actually knew her. 

    She told me all she could about her mother and handed down some stories about her and growing up in Haverhill in the 1930s. Nicolina and Marco's mother was a kind woman from what I've been told. Everyone was often taken aback by her looks, too. I guess Vincenzo had an eye for beauty, huh?

    Anyway, her parents went out and left Marco and Nicolina to their own devices. I think they had a babysitter. I'm not sure. I would hope they did! I think a family friend might have watched the two while they were out. Marco and Nicolina didn't have much other than a few games to play and a few friends to play with in the neighborhood. One of Haverhill's finest saw the kids playing in the yard and watched them as they went back into the house. A few minutes later the cop knocked on their door. 

    She and Marco didn't know what to do. They realized he was a policeman judging by the uniform. They didn't know if they did something wrong or what. All they did was play in the yard and that was it. As far as Nicolina and Marco were concerned they were innocent. The cop continued to knock while the kids were freaking out. After several knocks, Nicolina finally answered the door since the person who was watching them was napping. How she slept through the knocking is beyond me.

    The officer asked where their parents were and Nicolina just talked to him in Italian. I have no idea what she said. But, the cop was so startled that he backed off and ran away. In hindsight, I guess the cop didn't know what neighborhood he was in or didn't know how to react to two Italian kids. Either way, I think he learned a valuable lesson. Don't follow random kids to their house and knock on their door! 

    Right out of the gate this next story Nicolina handed down is going to seem less than plausible because we've heard it a million times in genealogy circles. It doesn't matter where you come from. Someone somewhere will always say "My family descended from royalty."

    While that's certainly true for many people (Particularly those of English descent), it seems really unlikely for someone of Italian descent to say "Yeah. We descend from the Prince of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies". I think you can see where this is going.

    My great-aunt told me that the Ferraiolo line descended from royalty and that we had a castle in the San Pietro a Maida area or something. I asked her a bit more about it but she said she didn't know all of the details. So, all I could do was smile and nod. What else could I do? It was 2004. I didn't have access to the Internet. 

    I think it's safe to say that the first story is true. It seems the most plausible because cops will randomly patrol neighborhoods immigrants lived in. I'm just glad the cop had the sense to walk away after hearing the kids talk. He must have filled out an interesting report at the station. I guess the man was just surprised that the kids were seemingly home alone when they obviously weren't.

    
    The story about being connected to Italian royalty was easily disproven once I started doing genealogy. Actually, no. It was disproven once I had access to the Internet  and looked up San Pietro a Maida. I didn't find a castle anywhere in the vicinity. I might still be connected to royalty on my father's side. However, it seems unlikely. For now it's best to take that story with a grain of salt the size of Pluto.

    At least most of the stories Nicolina told us turned out to be true. She told us about the Astorinos and how they moved to Argentina. The only thing is she made it sound like many of Vincenzo's sisters went to Buenos Aires when it was really just Caterina. I couldn't blame her for that mistake. She was 81 years old at that point and a lot of things get jumbled in the old noggin. She was still sharp. Don't get me wrong. But, mistakes happen and when they do you just smile and nod.

    It was a fantastic visit and I don't regret seeing her and her little yappy dog. She may have missed a few details here and there. At least she handed down some stories that later got strengthened down the road and that's what's important. I like to think that Nicolina handed down a rough draft or an outline of how things played out. Over time the actual story gets filled in and more details emerge. You should still be careful. You never know which stories are true and which ones aren't unless you do a genealogical deep dive into the records or get information backed up by other sources.

See ya next time!

P.S. What AM I going to do with that VHS tape? It's not like I have a device to play it on....