52 Ancestors Week 44: Rural

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 44:

The theme for Week 44 is “Rural.” Many, if not most, of us have ancestors who lived in a rural area. Having trouble who to choose? There’s nothing wrong with picking someone at random!

Rabbit rabbit

    Last week, I talked about how going to the big city was a big event for a lot of people in my family tree. I couldn't just pick one story about someone going into Boston because there were so many stories to be told. Boston is not that far away from Haverhill and so everyone went to the city at one point or another. Now, imagine living in a town that's roughly equidistant between two major cities. It's a town with a long and storied history stretching back hundreds of years. I am of course talking about the town of Salem. No, not the one with the witch trials and everything. Though, it does have the same name! This town is Salem, New Hampshire and it's the place where I grew up.

    Today Salem, New Hampshire is a town of over thirty thousand people and it had very humble beginnings. In the 1700s, it was the North Parish of nearby Methuen and in 1750 it was incorporated into its own town as part of the New Hampshire colony. These days it's considered to be a suburb of Manchester, New Hampshire and Boston, Massachusetts due to its proximity to both metropolitan areas.

My brother Jim and Mary Matorian

   Long before urbanization came to Salem it had farms and many of those farms were owned by either immigrants from places like Armenia or by people who have had ties to the land for hundreds of years.

    When I was growing up, an older couple used to take care of my brother and I whenever my parents were busy. Their names were Peter and Mary Matorian. I may have mentioned them a few times in the blog.

    Peter grew up on one of those farms I mentioned earlier and he often told my brother and I stories of how different Salem was when he was growing up. The way he told the story made Salem appear very different from what it is today.

    Peter's parents Garabed and Annie lived in a very rural part of town and their farm was one of many that sold produce to nearby communities like Derry, Haverhill, Methuen, Plaistow and other towns in Essex and Rockingham counties. They would travel along the main road connecting the towns and sell their goods. There was a train station near the intersection of Main Street and what we called "Route 28". From there farmers would load their produce onto the trains and they'd go all over Rockingham and Essex counties. 

    These days that same stretch of road in Salem is now two miles of gas stations, stores, malls and restaurants.  A horse track was even built to entertain visitors. To say times have changed is a bit of an understatement! It was like that when I was a kid, too. So, I always knew that road to be abuzz with activity. There's even a Wikipedia entry for it! Check it out! There's also a very old amusement park that also entertained visitors and it's not far from the action on Route 28.

Matorians in the 1930 census

    Rapid urbanization didn't stop farming in Salem. Many people held onto their farms and even today you can buy delicious produce from various nearby farm stands. One such stand is called "Pete's Farm" and sadly it has no connection to the Matorians. Though, I wish it did. Their corn is simply amazing! We get their corn every time it's in stock and they go great with hamburgers. There's something about farm raised veggies that makes them so addictive.

    The Garabedian farm also supplied produce to nearby grocery stores like Market Basket where you get "moah foh ya dollah". Gotta love that Boston accent!

    The Matorian farm just one of many farms in my area. Closer to home was the Duston farm. The owner, sadly, was not as eager to talk about their family as the Matorians were. In fact, he seemed to not appreciate having neighbors around at all! His name was Thomas Elliot Duston and he was a direct descendant of famous/infamous Hannah Duston of Haverhill. I found that connection decades after he passed away. Though, there were rumors about his connection when I was growing up.

Ye Olde Duston Farmhouse

       My parents wanted to experience rural life since they both grew up in urban settings. They moved into the area around Duston's farm in the 1970s and ever since that day Mr. Duston always kept a watchful eye on the family and anyone else who lived on his street.

    When I was a kid my brother and I would cross one of his fields in order to go to a friend's house as it was a lot safer to cut through the field than going around the block. The journey was a lot shorter, too.

    Our journey was often marred by screams and occasional chases. Duston did not want anyone on his property. The weird thing was that there was never anything actually growing in those fields. It was just weeds and dirt! And maybe some bugs!

    Duston never really talked to anyone save for a few other people who lived on his street. He may have said some words in passing to a few other people. He just kept his circle of friends small. He did live with his sister and took care of her.

    I do remember seeing his cows in the field across the street. Hearing them moo from time to time was an interesting wake-up call for my parents. Thankfully, I never heard them moo in the wee hours! His farm was about 150 acres in its heyday.

I feel a presence I've not felt since.....

    Once Duston passed away in 2006, the fields that my brother and I used to cut through rapidly became neighborhoods. The centuries old farmhouse the Duston family lived in was even torn down and whisked away like it was never there. 

    On occasion my brother and I would walk down those roads with my sister-in-law and my nephews. As I walked, I got bombarded with feelings of nostalgia and a sense that I really shouldn't be on that road. It's weird. It's been twenty years since Duston passed away and I could still feel like there's a presence there. My mind could be playing tricks on me. It's hard to say. 

    Still, it's interesting to compare and contrast two farming families who were contemporaries of each other. One family was eager to tell everyone about their farming past and offer advice on how to grow things and the other family was not as welcoming as we had hoped. To each their own, I suppose. Everyone has their own quirks and not every farmer is going to be like the Kents in Smallville. At least I got to experience both rural AND urban life growing up in Salem. When you live in a town like Salem, you get to experience both and you don't have to travel that far to see it. Will Salem become a city like its bewitching friend to the south? That's not likely. You never know. At least I got to experience both ways of life and you can't beat that!

See ya next time!

The picture of Duston farm is courtesy of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 43: Urban

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 43:

The theme for Week 43 is “Urban.” What ancestors lived in town? Any memorable trips to the big city? How about an ancestor named Urban? This is their week.

It's thirty-six miles to Boston....

    While the cities of Haverhill and Newburyport have been discussed at great length in this blog, it's important to remember that while those Massachusetts cities are cities in every sense of the word they pale in comparison with the state's capitol, Boston. Boston is only a half hour drive from those cities and it's rightfully considered to be the center of New England. It's the largest state capitol in the region after all! Where else could you go watch a Red Sox, Celtics, or Bruins game, take a tour of a museum and have fine dining all in the same day? Sure you could go all the way to New York City. The problem is that the Big Apple is four hours away. If you lived in Haverhill and Newburyport, why go all the way there when you have the big city closer to home? 

    Boston, like its rival New York City, has always been a cosmopolitan place. People from every nation made their homes there and as a result ethnic neighborhoods formed throughout the city.

    For example, the North End is famous for its Italian neighborhoods and fine Italian dining. Italians arriving in Massachusetts often settled there or went to one of the many outlying suburbs. That's exactly what my great-grandfather Giuseppe Carrabs did in September 1908.

    Curiously, Giuseppe arrived without his wife Clementina. She was mentioned on the manifest as living in Gesualdo at the time. Why did he go to Boston without her? Well, if you look at the second page of the manifest, the reason becomes very clear.

        Giuseppe went to Boston to visit his brother-in-law Pasquale Forgione who was living in Newburyport in 1908.  For my great-grandfather it was likely easier and not to mention cheaper to take the boat from Naples to Boston rather than go to New York and take a train to Newburyport. For him, Boston was a stepping stone on his travels. Of course many of his fellow passengers on the boat may have stayed in the city.

    It's interesting to note that Pasquale didn't stay in Newburyport too long. He and his family moved to Haverhill once Giuseppe returned to America in the 1910s with his own family.  Pasquale married his wife Giuseppina Pastore in Boston in 1913. I guess they realized that the Queen Slipper City would be a better place to live than Newburyport. 

    The North End historically has been a hub of activity for Italian immigrants and because it was so close to cities like Haverhill and Newburyport many Italians visited the area. With so many Italians around, it quickly became a place many Italian immigrants felt was their home away from home much like Little Italy in New York City. An immigrant in Haverhill could visit, grab some goodies and have something from Italy at home whenever they were homesick. People often say NYC's Little Italy is important. However, you can't deny that the North End is just as iconic.

    Fine Italian dining aside, Boston is home to many museums and the largest aquarium in New England. There is a lot of history to be had in Beantown along with everything else. It was one of the most important cities in the American Revolution after all.

    Ever since I was little, my family and I would make trips to Boston whether it was for a field trip to the Museum of Science and the New England Aquarium or to simply attend a Celtics game at the Garden. I should note that the stadium the Celtics and Bruins played in changed names three times since I was a kid. At least Fenway Park is still Fenway Park!

    Of course if you're a genealogist, you may want to check out the American Ancestors building on Newbury St.  I may be a little biased since a few cousins work there as well as a friend of mine! They do great work there! Check them out!

    Getting into Boston these days is considerably easier than back when my great-grandparents were around. Today, we would drive to a train station and simply take subway train into the city. Though, if you were ambitious you could always drive into Beantown. Just remember you can't pahk the cah in Hahvahd yahd. You take the "T"! At least there are shuttles that take you to and from the city in virtually every Massachusetts town and in towns in southern New Hampshire.

    In the end, Boston is just as important to me as Haverhill and Newburyport. There's just as much history and fun things to do there than there is in the cities my ancestors came from. The only difference is that Beantown is larger and while there are a lot of people there you can still easily get to the city from the various surrounding communities.

    People from those cities frequently went to the big city for travel, to take in the sights and for the Italians it was a place to feel at home even though home was thousands of miles away.

    Perhaps this is the real reason why Boston and New York have their storied rivalry. Both places have been considered cosmopolitan areas and both have a lot to offer people living in and outside the city.

    
    This week's blog certainly gushed over Beantown didn't it? I can't help it! I've been going to Boston ever since I was a kid. I first went there in grammar school and I've been going there for fun and other activities ever since. Boston really is the capitol of all six New England states and again it holds a special place in my heart because of all the trips to Boston I've heard about or personally experienced. I couldn't just pick one this week because they were all great. Boston is a city that's larger than life. If you have the means, I suggest you check the city out.

See you next time!

This blog has been paid for by the Great Boston Travel Agency. Our motto is you "Can get theyah from heyah faster than a dropped "r".".

52 Ancestors Week 42: Fire

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 42:

The theme for Week 42 is “Fire.” Whether as a source of warmth, power, or destruction, everyone’s life has been impacted by fire. This week, consider an ancestor who worked with fire or whose life (or records!) was impacted by it. 

Flame on!

    Fire really is a giver of warmth and a destroyer. You have to respect it and not play with matches! Smokey the Bear said so himself. Only YOU can prevent forest fires! Would you believe I haven't encountered many stories involving fires on my genealogical adventure? I've written about the fire at my grandfather Marco's motel on Salisbury Beach. I've also written about my great-uncle Alfred Hamel Jr who was a soldier and a firefighter.  See the story about his heroic deeds in this blog.

    There was even a small chimney fire in my house in the early to mid 1980s. I don't know much about it and there isn't a lot to tell to be honest. Obviously, it wasn't a roaring five alarm blaze that destroyed everything. No, it was an electrical fire.  As a result we never used the fireplace for anything not even for roasting marshmallows. It was probably for the best. Cleaning them is hard work.

    After finding that article about Alfred, I was left wondering if any more of his heroic exploits made the local paper. The guy was news! Though, I suspect he was very modest about what he had done. Most firefighters tend to be modest and that's good. You don't want a hero with a superiority complex. Characters like that get written out of stories really quickly if you know what I mean. So, what happened to Alfred after his heroic rescue of his family in 1947? Let's find out!

Newburyport Daily
News, 27 Jan 1960, pg 10.

    It looks like our hero got a long overdue military award in January 1960. According to the article from the Newburyport Daily News, Alfred was given the ward after almost sixteen years of service as a Marine Air Reservist. The award was his belated second award of the Navy Unit Commendation.

    Other articles I've found in the newspaper archives have painted Alfred to be quite the hero. He served with distinction during the second World War and his valor was more than well deserved. I just wonder what took so long for him to receive this prestigious award. There might have been delays, red tape and all of that bureaucratic nonsense. At least he finally received it. It's better late than never.

    While receiving military awards is awesome  I wanted to see if he received any awards for his service as a firefighter. I did find one article where his father recognized his son in a photo posted by the Boston Post in 1954. Sadly, there is no archive of the Boston Post online as far as I can tell. That's okay. At least the article explained why his photo was in the paper. Sometimes you need to take what you can get and hope that an archive shows up some day.

    It seems that our hero was one of fifteen firefighters called to the Summer Street MTA station to rescue a man who had fallen from the platform into the train pit. Two cars passed over him and miraculously he emerged slightly injured.  Wow! Lady luck was with him that day and it's a good thing Alfred and co were on the scene to lend a hand. I would love to see the article AND the photo. I hope it gets posted online at some point. Can you imagine how proud Alfred senior was when he saw his son in the paper? Pretty proud, I'd say. It seems I have many heroes in my tree. I might write about superheroes but these guys are real superheroes. 'Nuff said!

    I've tried looking for more articles about Alfred's heroic exploits in the Newburyport archives. I think if I were to look him up in Boston archives I would find a lot of information and a picture or two. Time will tell.

    Anyway, it's clear that Alfred is quite the hero. He saved his family from a fire. He saved a man who fell off of a platform in Boston. That's pretty amazing! I obviously never met the man as he passed away in 1972 at the age of fifty-two. I would have liked to have met him since my grandfather told me many stories about his brother. Here's hoping I find more adventures of this courageous firefighter!

See ya next time!

Bowties will always be cool.

52 Ancestors Week 41: Water

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 41:

The theme for Week 41 is “Water.” They say that water is life, so it’s no surprise that water features prominently in our family trees. Whether it's because of occupation, transportation, or recreation, it’s hard to find an ancestor who wasn’t somehow impacted by water. Feel free to be creative with how you interpret this prompt. (Remember, there’s no wrong way to go about it!)

This is probably one of my most favorite banners.

    If you live in the Merrimack valley, you already know how much of a role water plays in every day life. The Merrimack river obviously heavily impacted the lives of my ancestors as they were from either the city of Haverhill or Newburyport. Those Massachusetts towns grew into bustling cities in the late 19th and into the 20th centuries due to various textile mills employing immigrants from virtually every nation on the planet. Working in the mills was hard on everyone and thankfully they had places to go relax, unwind and get away from the noises of the city. Thankfully, nearby Salisbury beach and Plum Island provided just the escape people needed.

   Salisbury beach and Plum Island are two key destinations in the Merrimack valley and both can be easily reached from Newburyport. For a long time, both areas were the place to go for fishing, relaxing on the beach or just plain old having fun. The sky was the limit!

So much swagger!

    In the 1920s, my second great-grandparents Joseph Laplante and Georgianna Ross  frequently visited Salisbury beach since they lived in nearby Newburyport. As you can tell from the picture, Joseph had a lot of swagger. The pipe seals the deal!

    I'm pretty sure this picture was taken at Salisbury beach. There was nowhere else they could have gone that was close to home. Granted, they could have gone to Hampton beach in New Hampshire. However, it's extremely unlikely.

    Salisbury beach in the 1920s was a very different place than the beach I remember going to back in the day. There was no arcade. Well, no arcade that had video games at least. They did have a roller coaster that rivaled the one in Canobie Lake Park in nearby Salem New Hampshire and they even had bumper cars at one point. 

    I only wish Joseph and Georgianna could have grabbed a slice of pizza at Tripoli Pizza. Sadly, there was only one or two opened at that time. Tripoli first opened in Lawrence, Mass in early 1920s. The Tripoli Pizza at Salisbury beach didn't open until the 1950s. So, no pizza or cannoli for them!

    If you think Salisbury beach reminds you of Coney Island in New York, you aren't wrong! Despite its small size, the beach played host to various celebrities from the 1920s to the 1960s. Celebrities like Frank Sinatara, Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald frequented the area's bandstand. That alone brought tons of people in from all over the valley! While that was great and everything, they still needed a place to stay for a while. That's where Plum Island comes in.

    Plum island is a small barrier island adjacent to Newburyport and it's home to many cottages. Those cottages were the summer homes of many a Merrimack valley resident like my great-grandfather Alfred Hamel and my great-grandparents, Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault.

    Austin and Henrietta may have lived in Haverhill. However, they had a cottage on Plum Island as well. I've been told by my mother that their old cottage still stands today! I should really head down there and take a picture of it, huh?

    My mother also told me that the Felkers had a skiff they often used to go fishing on. I'm not sure if it's the same one that accidentally hit the Coast Guard ship in the mid 1930s. I would think Austin got a newer one in the 1960s. Then again we had the same boat for almost forty years ourselves so what do I know? For more on the Coast Guard incident, check out this blog. 

    Naval incidents aside, Austin was still an accomplished fisherman. He took his children and grandchildren out on many adventures. They went fishing in the Merrimack and dug for clams on Crane Beach in Ipswich, Mass.

    I honestly can't think of anyone who didn't have a home away from home on Plum Island. When I do a search on Newspapers.com for a person, I sometimes get an article about someone staying at Plum Island for a while or renting a house there. Plum island was the place to be if you wanted to relax and still have access to the fun and games in Salisbury. Of course, you could always stay at a motel.

It's still standing! Just not a motel now.

    My grandfather Marco owned the Colonial Arms Motel with his sister-in-law's husband, Arnold Villanucci in the 1960x. There, they hosted many a weary traveler looking to get away from it all. While the mills were long since closed by that point, the area was still a great vacation spot for people who wanted to relax without having to travel very far.

  You could stay a while and partake in all of the fun things the beach had to offer.

Though, I wonder if the celebrities I mentioned earlier stayed there. Hmmmm....Probably not.

    Both Salisbury beach and Plum Island held a special place for my ancestors and various friends and relatives. These days, the crowds have other options for fun in nearby towns like Salem, New Hampshire. That doesn't mean that the places aren't hopping any more. No, no. People still have homes on Plum Island and people still go to Salisbury beach. It's just that there are more options available to people than there were back in the day.

    When I was growing up, my parents would take us to Salisbury beach on a weekend and even in the '80s and '90s there were still a lot of people going to the arcade, grabbing a slice of pizza from Tripoli or some fried dough at the boardwalk. We even had family friends who rented cottages on Plum island and my mother would point out where her grandparents had stayed.

    As you can tell from the blog, water plays a huge role in life here in the Merrimack valley. Along the water's edge, you can do more than fish and dine at a restaurant. You can build memories that last a lifetime. Just ummm.....don't swim in the Merrimack river. 

See ya next time!

Life's a beach!

52 Ancestors Week 40: Cemetery

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 40:

The theme for Week 40 is “Cemetery.” (Honestly, this is one of my favorite themes!) Any memorable trips to an ancestral cemetery? Whose burial place have you searched for, but haven’t found? Any sextons in the family tree? This is their week.

Everyone's dying to get in!

    It's pretty ironic we got this prompt right at the beginning of spooky season. Halloween starts on October 1st! Don't let anyone else tell you different!

    Right. Now than that's out of the way, let's get down to business.  I've often talked about Saint Patrick's Cemetery in the blog since that's where both sets of my Italian great-grandparents and their relatives are buried. Saint Patrick's in Haverhill, Mass is basically the de facto Italian cemetery in the city. Sure there are Italians buried in nearby Linwood, Saint James and other cemeteries in Haverhill. It's Saint Patrick's that has the most people of Italian descent interred there. This week, I've decided to give everyone a tour of the stones. Don't worry. It's hard to get lost and I'm pretty sure it isn't haunted. If it was, you'd hear Italian ghosts asking you why you don't call anymore and you'd feel a pinching sensation on your cheeks.

Pic taken by MassGraver on FindaGrave.com

    Before we dive into it, here's a little backstory on Saint Patrick's that I've managed to dig up due to careful investigation or constant nagging. 

    As far as I can tell, Saint Patrick's has been in operation since the late 1800s and that makes it one of the more recent cemeteries in Haverhill. Stones there date back to 1896 whereas cemeteries in Haverhill like Maplewood have stones dating as far back as the 1700s. You won't find any soldiers of the American Revolution here. You will find Civil War soldiers at Walnut, though! Legend has it that it and nearby Hilldale cemetery are haunted. The older the cemetery, the more haunted it is. I don't make the rules!

    Over time, the cemetery was designated the Italian and Lithuanian burial grounds due to the various members of Saint Rita's Parish wishing to be buried there. Once Saint Rita's merged with other Catholic churches in the area to become All Saints Parish, people from all over the city ended up choosing this cemetery as their final resting place.

    Saint Patrick's is pretty easy to navigate as the property has rectangular sections. To make things even more helpful, the stones themselves are organized by decade of death for the most part. For example, if someone passed away in the 1980s, their stone would be among others who passed away in the same time period. Sometimes that's not the case as families have stones nearby. It may also depend on who was buried in the plot first and when they passed away.  It's still convenient! Just like access to my grandfather's stone.

    The final resting place of my grandfather, my great-grandfather Vincenzo, my great-grandmother Maria, Vincenzo's second wife Fortuna and my grandma Ollie is one of the easiest stones to find. It's along one of the main "roads" on the property and is one of the first stones I remember visiting.

    Every Christmas season and Memorial Day my dad would drive us to the cemetery to clean things up, plant flowers and decorate it. We still put wreaths and other decorations up and try to keep things looking neat and tidy. The groundskeepers do a great job of course. But, there's no harm in giving them a hand!

    Maria was obviously the first in the plot to be buried there since she passed away in 1943. I've often wondered what the stone looked like back then. For as long as I can remember the stone that's currently there was always there. I just figured the names were chiseled in over time. The plot also has memorial markers dedicated to Marco and Vincenzo's service in World War 1 and II. There's also a plaque that says "Buona Fortuna" or "Good Luck" there as well.

    When I was growing up, I didn't really venture too far from the stone. We did our work there and visited my other great-grandparents' stone to see if that needed work done. Thankfully, my dad's cousin Bob took care of the plot. In recent years, he started a tradition where he'd put a small pumpkin on the Ferraiolo and Carrabs stones. Someone on Find a Grave took a picture of the stones with the pumpkins on them, uploaded it to the site and now Bob's handiwork is forever immortalized on there and as hints on Ancestry. 

    The Carrabs plot is further down the "road" from my other great-grandparents' stone and a few rows in from the front. It's still relatively easy to get to. It's also very well maintained by Bob like I said. He makes it a point to visit the stone and his parents' stone in Linwood. 

    Bob and I used to take walks around the cemetery if I asked him if he wanted to take me there and to the library. It's been a while since I've gone there with him and when I went I always made sure to take pictures and listen to whatever stories he'd tell me about the area. He knows much more about the cemetery than I do! So, any facts I have can be attributed to him!

        Before I started my genealogical adventure, those were  the only two stones I ever visited. Lame, I know. What can I say? I didn't really feel like exploring the area and I didn't know who to look for at the time. So, imagine my surprise when I found out just how many connections I have to the cemetery! I'll try to sum it up as best I can. 

   Bob and I once did a cemetery run where we were trying to find the Coppolas and man did we find them. Most of them were connected to me in some way aside from a Coppola stone across the "street" from Vincenzo and company. I looked into it and that Coppola family hailed from Sicily.

    My second great-grandmother Caterina Coppola has family buried at Saint Patrick's. Her sister Concetta and brother Paolo are interred in different parts of the cemetery along with several members of their families.

    Listing them all would take some time. Let's just say most of their kids and their spousal units are also in Saint Patrick's save for a few people. Finding them all was like shooting fish in a barrel. The cemetery is full of Coppolas. I suppose it makes sense given how large their families were.

    I should note that I made sure  to share the picture of Concetta's stone with her grandson in San Pietro. His dad, Francesco, was sent back to Italy and as a result my cousin never met his grandmother or his aunts and uncles in America. I also shared the photos of the stones with my cousin Caterina.

    The hunt for the Coppola stones went pretty well. I mean it wasn't hard finding them all. There was still one Coppola stone I had not been able to locate and that was the stone belonging to Paolo and Concetta's cousin Giovanni. I knew Giovanni would be buried there. Where else would he have been? Imagine my surprise when I found his family's stone two stones away from the Ferraiolo plot! I honestly never noticed!

    Sigh. I know. I know. I should have been more observant! There's a reason for my lapse in judgement. I knew about the Coppola stone for ages, of course. We'd drive by it on our way to the Ferraiolo plot. I just never thought to look BEHIND the stone to see who was buried there. All I saw was "Coppola" and thought nothing of it. Coppola is a common Italian last name. It could have been anyone and my parents had no idea who was there.

    A few years back I was with my parents and we were cleaning up the Ferraiolo plot. I decided to check out who those Coppolas were once and for all.  At that point I had looked all over the cemetery for Giovanni's stone to no avail. I was beginning to think that maybe they weren't buried there at all despite all evidence pointed to that cemetery. His death certificate DID say he was buried at Saint Patrick's!

Honest mistake. Really!

    I went to the back and smiled. There they were. Giovanni, his wife Natalina, their children Frank, Mary and Angelina and their spouses. I laughed and took the picture right away. They were right there the whole time! Talk about hiding in plain sight.

    Then again it wasn't exactly like they went anywhere.

    Still, it was cool finding their stone and even cooler knowing that it was almost next door to the Ferraiolo plot! It makes me wish I checked out the cemetery more when I was younger. Sure I wouldn't have known who Giovanni was at the time. I would have asked my great-aunt Nickie or my grandmother about him and they'd have told me all about him.

    These are just a few of the stones you'd find at Saint Patrick's. Some are easy to find and some are a little hard to spot. Still, it's important to remember the people buried under the stones and honor them in the best way possible. I've done my part by having their profiles on Wikitree. Users on Find a Grave had done the same thing and created profiles for the people buried there. In time, more of those people will have profiles on WikiTree. I promise!  At the time of this blog's posting, there are 6,189 memorials there. Not bad when you consider Saint James has 9,547 memorials! No wonder I can't find Antoine there. Some day.....

    All in all, Saint Patrick's a pretty good cemetery and even though it's not as old as some of the other cemeteries in the city it still has a ton of stories to tell. The cemetery tells the story of the Italian and Lithuanian immigrant experience and their lives. It was the first cemetery I remember visiting and it's the one I have the most connections to. Sure I have relatives in Walnut and other cemeteries in the city. However, it's probably Saint Patrick's that means the most to me because my Italian grandparents and all four of my Italian great-grandparents are buried there.

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 39: Disappeared

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 39:

The theme for Week 39 is “Disappeared.” All of us have someone on our family tree who seems to have just disappeared. This is a good week to write about them. (Who knows – maybe writing about them will help you spot some gaps in your research and give you ideas on new places to look!)

Mmm....ominous

    I might be showing my age here. There was a show I used to watch called "Unsolved Mysteries" and it was hosted by a guy with the most epic voice ever. That man was Robert Stack and his show used to keep kids awake at night. Whenever I come across someone who vanished from the records, I think of his show and the ominous theme song. It's either that or the "Twilight Zone" theme. Both theme songs work. 

    Amy's right. We all have people in our family tree who have vanished without a trace and you have to wonder about them. Did they get abducted by aliens? Did they go into the witness protection program? Did they fall into a quantum singularity? Who knows? Today, I'll be presenting the strange case of a man who did vanish without a trace. Ladies, gentlemen and others, I present my third great-grandmother, Evaline Augusta Fisher.

    By all accounts Evaline had a fairly normal life. She was born in 1849 to John Sargent Fisher and Frances Frothingham. Eva had a twin brother who sadly didn't live that long. In December of 1870 she married Austin Webster Stevens and they had four children together including my 2nd great-grandmother, Gertrude Stevens.

    Seems like a sweet life, doesn't it? Unfortunately, life doesn't always work out like the way you planned. Eva and Austin eventually got divorced sometime after 1880 and she went on to marry a guy named Charles Lewis Parker in 1912.

    After that, she all but disappeared from the records. Many trees, including mine, list her death as being on December 27th, 1923. There are no sources to back up this claim and I'm honestly not even sure where I pulled that date from. I didn't make it up or anything. To tell the truth, it may have been on the family tree my grandmother Natalie made ages ago.  If she was around, I'd ask her where she got that information from because like I said there are no sources that can verify her date of death!

    All isn't completely lost. She does appear on a few other records here and there.  In the 1880 census in Malden, she was living with Austin and their children Gertrude and Arthur. In 1900, she was living with Gertrude and her second husband Walter Senter in Haverhill. (It always goes back to Haverhill.) In 1910, she was living with Walter and Getrude in Kingston, New Hampshire. Get this. She was listed as "widowed". Divorce was a taboo topic in those days, I guess because Austin passed away in 1926 in Haverhill.

Gertrude in the center of the Senters!

    The last census Eva appears in is in the 1920 census in Lynn, Mass. There, she was living with her son Arthur and again she was listed as a widow! Seriously?! I know for a fact she married Parker. It's her last name in the census. Chuck may have actually died prior to 1920. There's just no way of knowing at this time.

    After that, it's hard to say what happened to Eva. She may very well have passed away in 1923 according to the tree my grandmother made. I have no idea. Like I said, I haven't been able to find any source that can confirm her death. I've looked at the death records in Lynn since that was her last known address and came up empty.

    I even went so far as to check out Pine Grove cemetery in Lynn since that's where Arthur's final resting place is. Nothing. Arthur is buried with a sibling who died young and several unrelated people. No sign of Eva. There are three hundred women with the name Eva buried in that cemetery and none of them have the last name of "Stevens" or "Parker". 

    This is just beyond strange at this point. All records regarding my third great-grandmother seem to vanished after the 1920 census and all we have to go on is a vague death date of December 27th, 1923. I've checked newspaper obituaries in the area at that time and came up empty. What happened to her? Did she really pass away on that day? It's a big mystery. I've even checked with the cemetery in Lynn and she's not buried there! At this point I was getting a huge headache.

Arthur and Bennie's grave.

        At least we can speculate what happened to her, right? Right. Let's say for the sake of argument that she did actually pass away in 1923. Okay. Would she have been in Lynn? It's possible. She was there in 1920. Her final resting place may actually be in one of the other cemeteries in the city. It's hard to say.

    I've tried to solve this puzzle for a long time and it's one of the many genealogical puzzles that continue to vex me. I've had to put this one on the backburner because it's just so frustrating. You would think her death record would have been scanned and digitized and pop up as a hint on Ancestry or Familysearch, right? Eh, that depends. After all Haverhill newspapers aren't digitized, either.

    With no actual death record I am left wondering if she really died on that day?  I know she passed away before 1938 as that was the year Gertrude married Charles Berry and Gertie's mother was listed as deceased on that record. With all the information I have, there's really not much else I can do. The only thing I can do is play the waiting game and you all know how much I love playing that game! I think it may be best to put this on the backburner a while longer. "Stevens" and "Parker" are both fairly common last names. I'm sure something will pop up some day.

    Eva is just one person in my tree who seemingly vanished from records. There are a few other people and my third great-grandmother is clearly the one who vexes me the most because you would think there'd be records for her death online. It's been over a hundred years since she supposedly passed away! Where are the records?! I've looked everywhere and came up empty. Perhaps this blog will help illuminate the case and perhaps YOU can help solve a mystery.

Wow. That sounded like Robert Stack in my head. See ya next time!

 

52 Ancestors Week 38: Animals

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 38:

The theme for Week 38 is “Animals.” Pet lovers, farmers, birdwatchers, fishermen – this is their week. Who will you write about this week?

Cocoa judges you while you read a blog about dogs.

    Animals have always been a part of my life. This is because virtually everyone in my family has been a pet owner at one point or another. You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals if they're furry, feathered or scaly. Animals can also sense if someone's a good person or not. We've got to give them credit. Though, sometimes animals can be a little crazy. More on that in a bit.

    There are honestly way too many animals and animal lovers for me talk about this week. I've decided to narrow the list down considerably. This week we'll focus on the lady who gave my brother and I our first pet way back in the 1980s. I'm of course talking about my aunt Linda, champion dog breeder and all around awesome person. 

Could this picture be more 1970s?
Yes, it could.

        Linda's journey to becoming a champion dog breeder began fairly early in her life. The Hamel clan always had pets of some kind running around the house. In the picture we see my mother with her siblings and a collie named Princess. My aunt Linda is the one to the dog's left.

    From what I've been told, Princess behaved exactly like "Lassie" from the classic television show. I'm not sure if that's true. I'd have to go back in time and see if that dog saved anyone from a well and then maybe I'll be impressed!

    Everyone loved Princess and I'm sure she was a great dog. I mean it's a collie. They're usually good dogs to begin with. Then again all dogs can be good when they're given the chance and proper training. It's up to the person training the animal and how you treat them.

   

    Either way, Linda's experience with Princess was just the beginning of her canine journey. Soon, she was onto bigger and honestly less fuzzy things. Seriously, collies must shed like crazy. Even heroic dogs have fuzz that roll like tumbleweeds around the kitchen. Then again most dog breeds do the same thing. Let's be honest.

    In 1978,  Linda began a career as a dog handler and breeder. She specialized in Brittanys, a dog breed that originally hailed from France. Britannys are a medium sized dog that come with either an orange and white or a liver and white fur coat. Sometimes they can come in a mix of all three colors!  They're also sporting dogs and are used for hunting birds like pheasants and quails.

Gunner was best doggo.

   Without a doubt one of my aunt's favorite dogs in the early 1980s was a Britanny named Gunner. I may a bit biased here but Gunner was seriously the best dog ever. He was always by my side and since my aunt was living with my family at the time I saw a great deal of him. 

    On the dog show circuit he went by Triumphant's War Boy. He was always protective of me. But, he never really barked or anything if I recall. He was just a sweet boy and was one of the first dogs I remember playing with, For more on his story, check out his page on my aunt's website!

    Gunner became obedience and field trials champion and even had awards named after him. Talk about an awesome dog. It's a good thing he never let fame go to his head. Can you imagine?

    Of course he wasn't technically our first family dog. That honor went to two Alaskan malamutes named Naki and Toomi. Amazingly enough, the Britannys always got along well with those two. Then again, if you were a dog would you pick a fight with a dog that's five times your size? Though, even the smallest dog would try. Gotta admire the sheer chutzpah of a breed like the chihuahua.

   Gunner ended up being the father of my aunt's first litter.  Her first Brittany, Penelope, was the mother. Her first litter ignited a passion for breeding every litter since has been very special to my aunt. 

    At one point Linda decided to give my brother and I our first puppy. I forget what the circumstances were. I think we ended up just asking for a dog and we were in the vicinity of dogs for as long as we could remember at that point. I think we just wanted a dog to call our own and in 1984 we finally got one.

Mom and Tux

    Tux was born in the December of 1984 and like his grandfather Gunner he was a very gentle dog. He wasn't technically a Christmas present or anything. Don't get the wrong idea. My aunt would NEVER put a puppy underneath the Christmas tree in a box unless it was for a photoshoot or something. Tux was actually born in the middle of the month in our basement.

    We obviously called him Tux because of his liver and white fur coat. His show name was Triumphant's Formal Attire and he did very well in dog shows. In fact, he became a champion several times. I know he wasn't ever on television or anything, but, it was still quite an accomplishment. We still have his ribbons somewhere.

   Despite his training, Tux was still a typical dog and did silly dog things from time to time. I remember one time we had steak on the kitchen counter that was destined to be grilled. Tux had other plans. He reached over the counter, snatched the meat up in his jaws and ran off into the living room hoping no one would notice.

     I don't think any of us were especially mad at Tux for doing that. We were just impressed because he was usually very well behaved. The dog would go with us to the boat and sit on the back deck with me. Even my aunt got a great laugh out of the story once we told her. Yes, he likely felt bad about what he did and we did send him to his kennel. It was just funny to see a usually good dog do something a little out of character for once. I guess he really wanted steak that night! Britannys can be a handful and that moment was a sign of what was to come.

Tux was a Celtics dog. Facts.

        By the early 1990s, Tux had sired several puppies and my aunt decided to give us one of the puppies as another present. I forget what the circumstances were. I think Tux was going to have one final litter before retiring and my aunt wanted us to have one of his puppies.

   We had a choice between a boy and a girl who were in the same litter. The girl was a little nosy and the boy was very shy and a little skittish. We picked the boy as he seemed a lot like Tux in the beginning.

    We named him Tie because his tail was liver on top and white underneath. Sadly, he never made it to the dog show ring as he was very ummm....energetic. Seriously, that dog's motto in life was "Gotta go fast!" Triumphant's Black Tie still had a cool show name even though everyone agreed that it would be best for him to just be a pet.

    Not every dog is cut out to be a show dog and Linda definitely understood that. The funny thing was that Tux's grandson Travis had more of Tux's personality than Tie.

    I remember one time we were dogsitting Tie's brother Travis and his sister Lacie. Travis behaved more like Tux did in and out of the ring. He would come on command and was pretty sweet. One time we had all three dogs run around an enclosure at my aunt's house and Tie would run around like he was never outside before. He was the eternal puppy.

GOTTA GO FAST! 

    Travis looked up at me once as if he was saying "What's his problem?" I was like "Don't look at me. He's your cousin." I think Tie more or less took after his mother more than his father. His mother was a very energetic dog. Tux was always very chill. 

    I'm just honestly amazed we got him to sit still for any picture we've taken of him because he was always on the move. Nothing we could do tired him out.

    We still loved him. He was great at playing fetch and he did listen to my aunt from time to time when she watched him. The trick was to get him in the mood. He was never violent or anything. Just energetic and wanted to play more than be a show dog like the other dogs in his family tree. 

    See? Humans aren't the only ones who have relatives doing their own thing in their family tree! I just wonder what happened to the shy puppy. Ironically, Lacie went from hyper to calm like her dad. 

    If I had a phone with a camera in those days, I could have made a fortune with crazy dog videos. When Tie wasn't running around, he was also getting up on his hind legs like a meerkat and spinning around chasing his tail. He also had the tendency to try and jump on my friends. He did try to jump on grandma Ollie a few times. Grandma didn't like that much even though she did love dogs.

As soon as I let this dog go....

    By 2008 both dogs had passed away and the house that was once the bastion of dogdom became a place for cats to hang out. Thankfully, Tie did meet our first cat Cocoa. The story of how we got him will be told another time.

     It was so funny watching Tie interact with the cat. Whenever Tie got too close for comfort, Cocoa would bap him on the nose and the poor dog would run back to his bed. 

    

     Heart of a wolf, right? At least they got along for the most part. For all his faults, Tie was just a bit too curious for his own good.  And he did have his sweet moments.

    My aunt once told me that Tie just needed someone to play with and most of the time was true. All pets need to be played with even though sometimes you're the one who gets tired out first!

     My aunt's love of dogs and showing them continues to this day and joining her on the dog show circuit is my cousin Kristyn. Seeing both of them action is quite cool and I'm glad the legacy continues. Kristyn is very good at what she does and she learned from the best.  I honestly have no regrets having a hyper dog around because in the end Tux and Tie were both good dogs and that's all you ever want in man's best friend.

    I'm glad we had Tux and Tie in our lives and I wouldn't trade it for a minute. I do miss Brittanys. They're fun to play with once you get past their energetic nature. I'm glad my aunt gave my brother and I those two dogs because they often distracted me from stuff that happened during school or something. And you can't say they didn't make life interesting!

Crazy dogs!

See ya next time! For more on my aunt Linda, check out these websites:

https://www.gooddog.com/breeders/triumphant-kennels-pennsylvania#tab=overview

https://www.triumphantkennels.com/home.html

See Tux here: https://www.triumphantkennels.com/champions.html