52 Ancestors Week 48: Gratitude

 Week 48's theme is "Gratitude." In the US, we will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday. Is there a family history memory that you're especially grateful for? What is a discovery you're grateful to have found or a resource you're grateful to use?

It was honestly a toss-up between this and a "We are the World" image.

    Thanksgiving is right around the corner and I can tell you that I have many great Thanksgiving memories with my family. We would have my grandmother Ollie over and have a huge feast. We would have turkey and all the trimmings along with lasagna with sausages, meatballs and of course loads of Italian goodies and pie for dessert. It was a typical Italian-American dinner with family. Italians, of course, don't celebrate Thanksgiving as Americans do. So, we adapted and we went all out and I loved every minute of it! Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays because I spent it with family and we'd have a good time. It was also a good time to share family history.

    One thing's for sure, I am definitely grateful for having my grandparents around for the holidays so that they could share those delicious nuggets of wisdom with the family over dinner. I also had my great-aunts and uncles around as well. When you grow up in an Italian or even a French-Canadian household, you learn very quickly that family is very important and when someone unfortunately passed away we would still have the gettogethers as if they never left us.

Grandma Ollie

       Those relatives, of course, all provided a veritable gold mine of genealogical information. Remember a few months ago when I discussed the times I would go over to my grandma Ollie's house and see her and her sisters gathered around the table? Well, take that. Add lasagna and maybe a little vino and you get a lot more information out of the family member of your choice!

   Having my grandmother, her sisters and my great-aunt on my dad's paternal side around meant that I would have easy access to info on my Italian side even though Grandpa Marco had passed away long before I could remember the gatherings. 

    Most of the time I didn't really have to ask questions. I would just sit and listen while I was stuffing my face. Don't get me wrong. I would still ask. I was one of those kids who constantly asked questions. I can remember some of the conversations pretty well because they were pretty funny. Sometimes they went a little like this:

Grandma Ollie: Oh, did you hear Rocco's son, Joseph?

Aunt Louise: What about them? Are they still in Melrose?

Ten year old me: Who's Rocco?

    And then they'd tell me about Rocco being their uncle and how the family came from Gesualdo. They didn't have a picture of him on hand. So they'd promise to show me later. One of my great-aunts was actually afraid of him a little bit because he was kind of tense. And as fate would have it I eventually got a DNA match WITH one of Joseph's grandkids.

    See how just letting people talk just opens up that gold mine of information? The same thing tended to happen with my great-aunt Nicole. She sent me various letters and talk to me on the phone since she lived far away. We did end up visiting her in 2004 and I remember having a great time listening to her stories over the week we spent at her house.

Grandpa and Grandpa Hamel

    At the risk of sounding repetitive, my grandparents on my mother's side would also freely provide information. No one had anything to hide. It was odd because you always hear about in dramas how some families have this deep, dark secret that must NEVER BE REVEALED! Now, granted some families are like that. It does happen. And when it does, you really need to be careful about cracking open Pandora's box if you know what I mean.

    The information everyone provided me over the years has been great and I am grateful that my family freely offered the information. While my Italian side was great with oral history, my mom's parents really shined when it came down to written history. My grandmother had written a genealogy book that went fairly far back and it helped me get started on my genealogical adventure. 

    I guess the point I am trying to make with this blog is that holidays are a great time to get genealogical information. My only regret is not sharing what I learned with them after their passing. It's okay, though because I'm sure they know somehow and I could always tell other family members what I learned. I am immensely grateful to them for being open about everything. Sometimes the stories would be sad. Sometime the stories would be funny. Still, they are stories that should be cherished and I'm grateful for them for sharing the good, the bad and being involved in one or two of them myself. Some, I don't think I should repeat here! Talk about ones that "NEVER SHOULD BE REVEALED!!"

See ya next time!