52 Ancestors Week 32: Sister

From Amy Johnson Crow: 
Week 32: This week, it's the sisters' turn. Like we did last week with "Brother," feel free to consider other ways of interpreting "sister."

The Carrabs sisters and my grandmother.

Before we get to the prompt this week, a big shout-out goes to @_StoryWhisperer on Twitter for correctly guessing when the picture of my brother and I was taken. The picture was taken Christmas morning 1986. I actually had a discussion with my family about the picture last Thanksgiving. I told them that the Transformer was a clue. I even went to the Transformers Wikia for confirmation. The Transformer is an Autobot named Superion who was actually five Autobot jets who could combine to form a huge robot. The team was called the Aerialbots and starting that Christmas, they were being sold in a gift set. To make it even more interesting and a segue into this week's entry my aunt was living with us at the time and she lovingly put the decals on many robots in disguise including Superion. My brother and I will forever be thankful. =)

This week we're talking about sisters and my family has a lot of them. Today I am going to focus on two of my great-aunts. Both have been a veritable fountain of information and have helped me a lot in my genealogical adventure in ways both small and large.

We start with my paternal grandmother's sister, Louise and by extension all of the Carrabs sisters. Louise was born in December of 1918 in Haverhill, Mass and was Giuseppe and Clementina's fifth child. She was only two years older than my grandma, Ollie. That was okay. The sisters all did everything together. They would go to the same hairdresser, the same grocery store and even lived in apartments above each other. They also owned a house in Florida.

They were basically the "Little old Italian" ladies you hear about. Louise, especially. Out of all the sisters she had the most stories about her parents including the story about how they, along with their oldest sister,  Jennie  made the trip from Gesualdo to Ellis Island and ultimately Haverhill. I can remember walking into the house and finding them looking at pictures. I'd ask "Who was this guy with the bushy Mario-like mustache?" That was their uncle Rocco. From there it was story time over some of the finest biscotti you have EVER eaten in your life.

My grandmother told me stories, too. But, if all the sisters were around one table. Forget it. You get the entire saga. Half of the time it was like "Okay. Slow down. Rocco lived where? Melrose? Okay. And he built all the houses on Windsor Street. He didn't speak English? Huh..." There were times that I wish I had a notepad or a tape recorder because some of the stories were hilarious.

At least we got to see some home movies of them and documents were spread around my father's cousins. Their sister, Josie  kept a family tree and I used that as a basis for my genealogy when I started making a tree in 2006.

By then Louise was the only Carrabs sister still around. I remember my parents and I taking her to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut and having a great time. We were walking up to the casino and she took me aside and this conversation happened:

Louise: Christopher?
Me: Yes?
Louise: We're getting close to the casino. Stick with me, okay.
Me: Sure. Of course.
Louise: If anyone asks, you're my grandson. Capiche?
Me: Capiche.

Cookies, anyone?

I looked over at my parents and they were just laughing. That's who my great-aunt Louise was. She was warm, feisty and a really, really good cook. I swear she made the best cookies ever. The picture to your left is of "Italian Wedding" cookies. Those were just some of the ones she made.

She also made these chocolate and coconut cookies that were so good. She called them icicles and she made them every Christmas Eve. It was funny. My grandmother made the meals. Louise made the desserts. As a kid I couldn't argue with that or results. Why would you? It's free Italian food. Come on.

Still, I do like that the Carrabs sisters basically got me started on this genealogical adventure. Without the stories, what would you have? What was really funny was watching them contradict each other with the facts. It would go something like this:

"Did it really happen like that? I don't remember!"
"You were too young. Don't worry about it."
"Christopher, don't listen to a word Ellie says."
"Hey!"

Sadly, Louise passed away in 2010 and left behind two sons and a legacy that continues to this day. Her cookies, stories and her warm personality is greatly missed by all who knew her. All of the Carrabs sisters were amazing in their own way. Louise, I think, had the most fun telling my brother and I stories and I think I will always remember and cherish them. I could even write them in a blog like this one if I wanted to. Although, I kind of just did. =)

Father and daughter: Vincenzo and Nicolina

At the time of this blog post, I have two great-aunts left. My great-aunt, Nicolina, was my paternal grandfather's sister. As she is still around, I can't really go into any personal information about her. I will say this, though. Much like my grandmother's sisters, she also provided me with much information about Italy as she was born in San Pietro a Maida. She also cooked a lot of goodies and spoiled my brother and I rotten with presents and letters I have somewhere in my house. She was and still is a great person to talk to about family history. I treasure the time spent with her even though she lives far away. I keep in regular contact with her and off and on we discuss family history through her daughter, my first cousin once removed.

Her stories about growing up in Haverhill as an Italian immigrant were interesting. She would talk about the time men came to the door looking for her dad and she and my grandfather didn't know English very well. So they tried to talk to the man in broken English. I always had the feeling the guy got annoyed at two Italian immigrant children and just walked away because I never heard how the story ended. One of these days I will have to ask her. Before it's too late, you know.

In many ways, Nicolina played the role my grandpa Marco would have had he been alive to see my brother and I grow up. She talked to us, give us information about San Pietro a Maida and so much more. When I started doing genealogy, she was really excited and encouraged me to keep on going. It took her a while, but she gave me a TON of pictures over last year's Thanksgiving. One of which I will always treasure would be the picture of the family from 1929 after they arrived in America. She gave me that pic and several others I posted in the blog already. She is a wealth of information and is still pretty sharp at her age. I have to admit. I'm grateful to her and to all of my great-aunts.

The moral of the story here, dear readers, is to always, ALWAYS get the stories from the older generation before they are gone. You'll never know what kinds of information they have, how funny the stories are, how dramatic they are and just how awesome they can be. The oldest generation is a veritable fountain of knowledge. Learn from them when you do your genealogy. Guaranteed you will laugh and have as good a time as I did around the little old Italian ladies.

Let this be a lesson to you. Now go out there and listen. And mangia! Those cookies look delicious and she spent all day cooking those so you better take one or ten before you leave!