52 Ancestors Week 15: DNA

Hey, everyone!

For two years in a row I've participated in Amy Johnson Crow's #52ancestors. The goal is to write something about an ancestor of yours for every week of the year. She usually gives everyone a topic and everyone participating responds. Last year, I responded to questions in Wikitree's g2g forum and I didn't answer all of them as I was unsure of what to say for a few weeks here and there. This year is different because I'm making a concerted effort to respond to every week's prompts.

For details on how you can participate, check out http://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com

With that out of the way here is the discussion for this week!

#52Ancestors Week 15 DNA: "What ancestor have you identified using DNA? Which one would you like to find? Or be creative -- perhaps an ancestor with the initials of D.N.A. You decide!"

This week I'll be talking about my 3x great-grandparents, Paolo Coppola and his wife, Rosa Suverato and how I used DNA to confirm and identify those two.

When I started doing genealogy, I didn't have any idea who those two were. The only thing I knew was that my 2x great-grandmother's name was Caterina Coppola. That name was on my great-grandfather Vincenzo's passport from when he left Haverhill to visit his parents back in San Pietro a Maida to get married to a woman named Maria Tedesco, the lady who eventually became my great-grandmother.

My great-aunt told me about her great-aunt, Concetta and her huge family. She used to call her "Aunt Zia". Zia being Italian for "aunt". She also told me that there were also three other Coppolas living in Haverhill at the sane time as Concetta and their names were Paolo, Giovanni and Rosa. She told me that they were Concetta's brothers and sister. This was later confirmed by the "Italians in Haverhill" book by Patricia Trainor O'Malley and by DNA matching later on.

That was great! Fantastic information! However, there was one small problem! I didn't have anything to connect everyone together into one family until I took a DNA test. Once I did, I saw a DNA match pop up. She shared DNA with me, my father and my great-aunt. I checked out her tree and I saw that she had Concetta Coppola as an ancestor. To say that I was excited would be an understatement. I contacted her to see if she knew who her parents were. I also said that I was related via Concetta's sister Caterina and that she most likely stayed in Italy while her siblings came to America. She said their parents were probably a couple named Paolo Coppola and Rosa Suverato. She heard that story from her family and it was passed down the line.

I had a clue to their identity. The next step of course was confirming everything. So, I looked up information on Concetta and found her naturalization papers. In it I saw her birthday and an idea popped in my head. I had been in contact with the commune office at San Pietro a Maida. They helped me with my research. Could they help me figure out Concetta's parents? The short answer is "Yes."

I talked to a friend who worked there. I told him Concetta's birth date and he looked it up for me and got back to be a few days later. I was very grateful! He said that Concetta's parents were indeed Paolo Coppola and Rosa Suverato. He went one step beyond and provided me with information on Rosa's birth in the town and not much else. That was okay for now. I wasn't going to push it. After all you don't want to come across as pushy when you're talking to people an ocean away who offered to help you. You just don't. It's impolite.

Over time, descendants of other Coppola children appeared as DNA matches on Ancestry and MyHeritage. The names, dates, people and places all matched what was in O'Malley's book. She did a great job with that book as it has pictures and everything. If you check out the Wikitree profiles I linked, you will see a few that I scanned. I found two of the siblings living together in the 1920 census and listed as such. That further sealed the deal to me. This is why it's a good idea to build a tree out as far as you can. It helps you out and helps out others.

What ended up proving everything of course was my great-aunt's connection to the matches as well as the censuses, the book and the naturalization paper. Being in an older generation, she would have a larger amount of DNA shared with the match. It really helps to also test the oldest people in the family.

As for a person I'd like to find via DNA, I'd want to find parents for my brick wall, Domenica Gullo. I talked about her last week on Wikitree. Finding out her parents is a goal of mine and I hope to find out who they are via DNA or good old fashioned research. Hopefully something happens sooner or later.

Links to all previous answers:

Week 1: First
Week 2: Challenge
Week 3: Unusual Name
Week 4: I'd Like to Meet
Week 5: At the Library
Week 6: Surprise
Week 7: Love
Week 8: Family Photo
Week 9: At the Courthouse
Week 10: Bachelor Uncle
Week 11: Large Family
Week 12: 12
Week 13: In the Paper
Week 14: Brick Wall

Still interesting to me that Caterina stayed in Italy while her siblings went to America. I have a feeling I would find more of her story there if I dig. Perhaps there are other Coppola siblings. It's funny how solving one puzzle can lead to more waiting to be solved. At least the puzzle of how the Coppola siblings my great-aunt talked about and how they all connected to Paolo Coppola and Rosa Suverato was solved.

See you next time!

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.