52 Ancestors Week 31: Large

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 31's theme is "Large." Large family, large business, living large, larger than life...  How will you interpret this week's theme?

I wonder if the font was big enough.....

Large families are the norm for both sides of the tree. My mother has over fifty first cousins and my father has a ton of first, second and third cousins I knew about long before I ever took a DNA test. This week, in honor of a picture I discovered in one of my grandmother's albums, we will be talking about the family of Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault and their large 50th wedding anniversary party!

Austin and Henrietta in November of 1963.

Let's go back in time to the November of 1963. Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers, had just made their Marvel Comics' debut on newsstands across the country and would eventually become a box office juggernaut. Just one day after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the worldwide phenomenon the world would know as Doctor Who premiered on the BBC.

The year was definitely interesting and no doubt many of the then current events were discussed at the party. The Kennedy assassination, however, was likely not the topic of discussion as the party was held a few days before the tragic event in Dallas, Texas.

A little bit of backstory before we continue. Austin Felker and Henrietta Legault were married on November 29th, 1913 in the city of Haverhill. The couple had six children between 1914 and 1929 and had several.....SEVERAL.....grandchildren. I need a scorecard to keep track of them all because by the time of this anniversary there were twenty-two grandchildren including my mother. Christmas was likely a big deal.

In the album, I found several pictures from the event and naturally I asked my mother about them. She was fourteen at the time and she remembered quite a bit. In fact, when I colorized that picture on MyHeritage, she noticed a few glaring omissions. Firstly, Austin apparently had the bluest blue eyes ever. I doubted that until I saw pictures of him in color from my parents' wedding in the early 1970s. His eyes were VERY blue. Note to self: Use discretion on the colorizer.

Back to the party. It was clear by the pictures that many of Henrietta's siblings were there. My mother was quick to point out her aunt Matilda and a few other relatives. From the looks of things, everyone had a great time. You can tell just by looking at the picture above that the happy couple were all too thrilled to have their family gathered at the event.

Sadly, I had to crop out the cake after I scanned the photo. There were bits of tape all over the photo as it had been ripped due to time and being stored for ages. It happens. Luckily, I happen to be a master of the fine art of jiggery-pokery. After scanning, I edited the photo in my paint program by brightening it and removing ink spots on Austin's jacket. I thought I did a good job. I think, if I print it out on glossy paper, it would be as good as the original. Isn't modern technology amazing? =D

Back to the story. My mother remembered the party as there were quite a few relatives she hadn't seen in ages because she was living in California at the time. Everyone had a great time and I think it really set the stage for what was to come in the future. Every once in a while the Hamel and Felker clan would throw large parties so people could catch up. Think of them as family reunions or an excuse to have some fun and a lot of food! It happened quite a bit while I was growing up in the '80s and '90s.

Grandpa Hamel and eight out of ten grandkids.

My grandpa Hamel's ninetieth birthday in 2013 was another one of those events that brought the entire family together. Some of the people who were at the party fifty years prior to that were there and obviously several people were gone by that point. Notably my grandmother.

That is life,. People come and go and you have to document everything at these large events. And that's exactly what I did! By 2013, I was in my third year of making videos on YouTube. I decided to take it upon myself to record what I could of the event on my camera. Yes, people were taking pictures. However, I was one of the few people with a small camcorder!!

His 90th birthday party was supposed to be a surprise party. Hiding a small camera was an interesting feat. Still, we had a great time and I managed to get a few bits of genealogical information from the people there. Recorded? Eh....Not really? Don't worry. I got the important stuff.

I guess this brings me up to my final point. Large parties, like dinners with your great-aunts, can yield a ton of genealogical information if you know what to ask. I did ask several questions. Parties are great places to do that because 1. How often do you see these people? and 2. They won't feel too pressured in a social setting. Sometimes people don't like being interviewed.

I do wish I was a fly on the wall at my great-grandparents' 50th. I remember my grandparents' 50th in 1998 pretty well and I wish I had asked questions then. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that. For now at least, I have these amazing pictures of my great-grandparents' 50th. They put faces to the names and dates on my tree and actually makes them come to life again. The pictures mean that much to me and maybe somehow they were at the same events I was at in spirit. Who knows? I like to think they were.

52 Ancestors Week 30: The Old Country

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 30's theme is "The Old Country." There are lots of ways you could approach this prompt. An immigrant ancestor. A trip back to the old country. A family tale or an heirloom that they brought with them... maybe a favorite recipe that made its way across the border?

Forza Italia!

You knew this was coming. Every other week I alternate between talking about my mother's side of the family tree and my father's side. This week happened to fall on the Italian side of things. So, we're going to talk about Italy! It's the one "old country" I've never been to as I went to Canada with my parents years and years ago for a dental convention. Canada was nice. Montreal is a very nice and very clean city. Sadly, my stay there wasn't very long. I'd have liked to have seen the place the Legaults called home because they were from the area. Still, going to Montreal felt like I was going home. I bet if I were to go to Italy, I'd feel the same way. In fact, it's probably a sure thing!

Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione.

Where would I go exactly? I'm not about to go to the cities of Rome, Venice or even Naples. No, I'd really rather go some place more meaningful to me. Yes, those places are cool. Don't get me wrong! Naples is the pizza capital of the world. Florence was the birthplace of the Renaissance. The canals of Venice are so cool. The list goes on. Italy, like all of Europe, has centuries and centuries of history behind it. The country itself was even the center of the Roman Empire!

I just want to go somewhere else. It's that simple.

 Looking at the header, I have two options starred on Google Maps. I could go to the Gesualdo area where my great-grandparents, Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione were born. A few cousins of mine on that side have been to to that town and have told me how nice the people were. It's a mountainous town just outside of Naples and taking a walk around there on Google Maps Street view proved to be pretty fascinating. Seriously, they have a castle right in the middle of town. How could you not want to check that out?!

That isn't to say San Pietro a Maida doesn't have its charms. Located near the toe of the boot, it's where my other Italian great-grandparents, Vincenzo Ferraiolo and Maria Tedesco were born.

Vincenzo Ferraiolo and Maria Tedesco

My grandfather was also born there and like Gesualdo it is a typical Italian town with houses close to each other. Just outside of San Pietro there are olive trees as far as the eye can see. When I was looking up information on my ancestors in the town, my contact there told me all about how everyone harvested the olives and made olive oil.

He also shared pictures of carnival and various other events happening around town. He really helped make the town come alive for me and I thank him for that.

Eventually, I found out that I have several second cousins still living in the town. I talk to them on Facebook every once in a while. I mentioned how I met them before in this blog. To recap: I went to the town's Facebook group, asked around and a cousin came out of the woodwork and asked me if I was related to my great-aunt Nicolina. I said I was and the rest, as they say, was history.

That's probably two points in San Pietro's favor. My great-aunt visited the town many times in the '60s and '70s. Along for the ride were my grandpa Marco, my grandmother and Vincenzo. My great-aunt has told me all about San Pietro and showed me pictures as well.  It's honestly hard for me to decide between the two towns! San Pietro also has family I know is living there.

As of this blog, I have no clue if I have any relatives living in Gesualdo, Frigento or Grottaminarda. I might. It's hard to say. Having done research on the towns, it's a distinct possibility. Giuseppe and Clementina's parents had tons of brothers and sisters and while some of their descendants went to America, some may have elected to stay in town. After all, if I were to use Cognomix and look up Carrabs, Capobianco, Forgione and Penta, I would find families with those names still living in those towns.

Since I have family I know in San Pietro, the best and safest bet would be to go to San Pietro a Maida because of la famigilia. It's a town I know the least about and everyone, including my cousins, are so nice and welcoming. It's hard to not want to go there. Perhaps some day I will. Perhaps I'll even go to both towns if I stay there for a few weeks. For now at least San Pietro wins the coin toss of Italian towns I'd go to because I know family is there. It's honestly the wisest choice for me. Of course, I have other reasons to go....

Grandpa Marco.

I really want to see where my grandfather was born, you know? He died when I was four and though his sister filled me in on everything there's just part of me that wants more questions answered. Questions she can't answer. He wasn't around. So, the next logical step would be to go there and talk to cousins and the like.

And here comes the elephant in the room....

With current events being what they are, it's hard to even think about traveling at this point. But, I should try to remain positive. Some day I'll get the chance to go. My cousin's wife, Rosa, put it best when she talked to me for the first time:

"A piece of us is there , in America.. and a piece of you is here in Italy"


IF that isn't incentive to go, I don't know what is!

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 29: Newsworthy

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 29's theme is "Newsworthy." Did any of your ancestors make it into the paper? What's an event that would have been newsworthy in their lifetime?

PARKER! QUIT DOING YOUR FAMILY TREE AND GET ME PICTURES OF SPIDER-MAN!

Is it weird that I can actually HEAR JK Simmons's J. Jonah Jameson in the caption? That man was clearly born to play the cranky Marvel Comics' newspaper publisher. I was pleasantly surprised to see him in last year's "Spider-Man: Far From Home" because he was amazing in the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy from the early 2000s. Here's hoping he returns in Spider-Man 3!

Anyway, when it comes to being in the news, my family has made it into the paper many times. They weren't just in the obituaries! My family showed up in articles ranging from a fire at a Salisbury beach motel to even a story about a lost dog being found. That last article, by the way, was in a box my aunt so graciously gave me a few weeks ago. I haven't scanned it. I will get around to it, eventually! 

Naturally, anyone can find these and many more articles if you use Newspapers.com. The website is the Internet's leading archive of newspaper articles from all over the country. If you have an ancestor who was born in America, chances are you can find the person in the paper! Yes. Newspapers.com is an amazing website. However, the article I am going to talk about today was NOT found there. Shocking, I know.

No pictures?! PARKER!!!!!!!!!

A few weeks ago I made a passing mention of this article in this blog. I think it's about time we dig into it a little further because this article has a ton of genealogical information and is proof that you can find a ton of information about your family in a newspaper.

Let's refresh your memory. The article to the right is about an open house held by my 2x great-grandparents, Joseph Laplante and Georgianna Ross of Newburyport, Massachusetts. This was published on June 4th, 1945 in the Newburyport Daily News and Newburyport Herald. I found this article on the Newburyport Public Library website. The site itself is smaller than Newspapers.com. But, it gets the job done. The only drawback is that sometimes the quality of the pictures in the article leave a lot to be desired. At least I found great articles like this one because this was definitely news to my mother and everyone else in the family. Let's break it down, shall we?

That's Joseph Laplante in the front and behind him is Georgianna.

Right off the bat the article mentions that the open house was for the couple's fiftieth wedding anniversary. They were married on June 3rd, 1895. This was previously confirmed by a document I found online. However, if you were just starting out, this and several other facts would be very important. 

The article goes on to mention the couples' parents and provides a rough estimate of their ages in 1945, their parents and where the couple was born. 

Clara, my great-grandmother, was even mentioned as one of their children. Grandchildren were listed as well since in mentioned my grandfather as being in Italy and serving the Air Force at the time of this open house. Great-grandchildren were even mentioned. However, they were probably very young at the time. No names were used as they were more than likely minors.

There were even some interesting facts about Joseph that you wouldn't get easily. He was a mill worker before becoming a barber. That, we didn't know about. We knew he was a barber. My mother remembers him when she was growing up. He and Georgianna lived nearby and all that. Still, we didn't know about him working in a mill and there were plenty of them around the Merrimack Valley.

Another thing that caught my eye in the article was a list of the callers to the house. One of the people who stopped by was a bridesmaid of Georgianna's. Her name was Hannah Casey. In my research of the Ross family, I found that a Ross married a Casey. I wonder if she was connected to that family. It definitely is worth investigating!

If you were just starting your genealogical adventure, you'd find a treasure trove of information which can help you get started. A small tree would have been made and you can then look for more things not readily found in a database. It just goes to show that newspapers have been and always will be a vital source for genealogical information. Check yours out today!

Oh and before I leave, a family member did graciously give me a picture from the event. The quality isn't as good as I would have hoped. However, beggars can't be choosers. Go out there and see if you can find your ancestors in newspapers! They're out there!!

Not a bad looking crew.

52Ancestors Week 28: Multiple

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 28's theme is "Multiple." Twins? Triplets? Multiple marriages? Numerous nicknames? How are you going to interpret "multiple"?

Thank you, Google.

How should I interpret "Multiple"? Hmm....How about how multiple siblings can help you get started on your genealogical adventure? It makes life a lot easier. Oh, there may be discrepancies along the way, sure. But, you have to admit it does make for interesting conversations!  Check this out.

The Carrabs sisters, Fountains of knowledge and makers
great food!

My father is an only child. He has no brothers and sisters. That doesn't mean he didn't have aunts and he had a LOT of them. On my grandmother's side, he had four aunts: Jenny, Josie, Eleanor and Louise. My grandma Ollie was the youngest and they all lived in relatively close proximity to each other. Josie lived in Nashua, New Hampshire and the rest lived in Haverhill.

I should note that though my dad was an only child, he has several first cousins. They were pretty much his brothers and sisters growing up!

Having all of the aunts so close by often meant that they'd be at each others' houses every once in a while. When I was growing up, we'd visit every chance we got and more often than not one or three of the aunts would be sitting at the round table in the kitchen having tea, eating cookies or just talking about anything.

Once they saw my brother and I, they'd crowd around us like we were the center of the universe. We'd sit down and talk about stuff like school or what we were doing in the area. It didn't matter. They listened intently to everything we said.

When they finished and resumed talking about family stuff, I usually returned the favor. I often asked "Who, what, where, why and when". The five ws aren't just for reporters. They have be very helpful when talking to a bunch of chatty great-aunts and your grandmother. Trust me. When dealing with multiple siblings sitting at a table, it's a good idea to follow these steps. It'll help paint a picture of your genealogical adventure and help get you started. Here's what you do:

1. Listen.

That's the first step you should take. Save all of your questions for the end or a break in the action because sometimes they'll answer the questions for you.

The sisters and their parents in the US Census.

One time my grandmother was talking about how her father, Giuseppe lived in the apartment building Louise ended up living in.  He had a garden and grew many vegetables. The sisters all nodded and talked about their neighbors on Bartlett street in Haverhill. Later on, this would be confirmed in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 US censuses.


2. Write stuff down!!

In many cases, talking to a bunch of people at once can be a little daunting. If your grandma starts talking and her sister starts talking over her, you might want to ask for a piece of paper to write stuff down. This is actually how I managed to get a rudimentary family tree....written on a napkin. Hey. Some of the best ideas in the world were written on napkins! Don't judge!
 Actually, they gave me a sheet of paper and I wrote some stuff on it. =)

3. Be polite.

If you're in an impromptu genealogy filled conversation, it's a good idea to be polite and patient. Sometimes your family members will give you some information. I remember one time one of the aunts got up and came back with a box full of photos she wanted to show me while everyone was talking. I should also note that you probably should wipe your hands before handling a photo because chances are you're going to be EATING when this conversation happens. Nine times out of ten it happened to me. It's unavoidable.

Carrabs clan

4. Q and As!

Once the family stops talking, it's a good idea to start asking questions. I often asked how Gesualdo was since I knew my grandmother went to Italy in the late 1960s. I often asked if she could tell me about grandpa Marco because he died when I was four. She was more than happy to do so. However, she always told me to ask his sister for more information and since she lived in Tennessee I often asked questions in various letters or over the phone.

5. Be aware!

Like any conversation with a bunch of people, there are bound to be some discrepancies along the way. Sometimes one sister would correct the other saying "That didn't happen like that!" In that case, it's up to you to look things up and judge for yourself. I've been fortunate. Many of the things they told me about turned out to be true.

* Their parents did come to America aboard the Adriatic. We have a picture of the boat.
* The family DID live on Bartlett Street in Haverhill. I've been to that house.

The list goes on and on. Some things they did talk about turned out to be false like us having a connection to Queen Isabella of Spain. I have NO idea where that came from and it was one of the first things I disproved when I really got into genealogy. I always thought it was a little far-fetched.

6. Have a good time.

It isn't enough to look like you're having a good time, you have to BE having a good time. That way your great-aunts and everyone will be more than willing to share all kinds of info. The same can be said of you're interviewing one person. And that brings up another point. Don't make it seem like an interview. Just let them go. Sometimes the information will come out on its own. You aren't going to learn much by pressing too hard. Just enjoy yourself and let the information come to you.

That's really about it. I am sure there are more tips people could use. I was fortunate to have several great-aunts and my grandmother living close to each other. Others may have more difficulty in getting information for various reasons. But, if you are lucky to have a bunch of siblings and your grandma nearby have them sit around a big round table in the kitchen and just let them go. Just have your notebook handy just in case!! If they go off topic let them. Listen and learn. You'll never know what you'll discover by just observing and eating your nonna's cooking. Eat every bite. She spent all day cooking that! MANGIA!