52 Ancestors Week 13: Music

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The birds are singing, so what better time for the theme of "Music." Any musicians in the family? How about someone who loved music and dancing? What about someone who makes you think of a song?

If you close your eyes and let the music play....

    Life is full of irony. I have hearing aids and I am almost completely deaf. Despite that I have grown up around music of all types and genres. My father would play songs from the 1950s and 1960s on the way to and from the marina where we spent most weekends in the summer. My mother, in turn, played contemporary music in her car. I've grown to appreciate music from many genres provided it isn't too loud and I can actually HEAR what's being sung by the artist. I can't tell you how much I've been turned off by certain artists because of how he or she sounds to me. When someone asks me to name my favorite artist, I have a tough time answering. You should see my Spotify. It's full of songs from the '80s, '90s and today. How did it get this way? Well...,

John Philip Sousa

    Music has been a part of my family from almost the beginning. Both sides of my family have been making music for as long as I can remember. My grandfather, Bob, loved the work of John Philip Sousa. In fact, he had so many records that when he passed away they had to be separated and spread out amongst anyone who wanted them. 

    Several of Sousa's songs were even played at his funeral. My grandfather was a big fan of his music and to this day every time I hear any one of his songs, I think of my grandfather. He'd even have it on whenever we visited. Since he knew my brother was into music, they would talk about it all the time.

    It didn't stop there. My uncle Bob has been known to sing and he even dropped a CD. I am so not kidding. It made for the most hilarious Christmas present ever. I should have gotten his autograph. I wonder how much it would be worth!

    My grandfather loved music. I even once caught him listening to my iTunes back in the day. I was never sure what to make of his thoughts on contemporary music. Though, he did comment on how loud "Uptown Funk" was at my cousin's wedding. I wonder if he ever heard her brother play as he was on the DJ scene in New Hampshire.

    Yeah sufficed it to say that music permeated the soul (Heh) of everyone on my mother's side of the family. Who do we have to blame? Well, it's hard to say. John Sargent Fisher, my fourth great-grandfather, was a musician. We have no idea what he played. However, censuses did list him as such. Perhaps some of his musical talent was passed down through the generations? It's hard to say.

Vincenzo Ferraiolo

    My father's side has also had some amazing musical talent as well. Today, I even watched a live Facebook performance put on by a second cousin. I will say this. Paolo's great-grandson has some serious skills. That isn't to say his brother, Vincenzo didn't. Vincenzo would sing to my mother in Italian and according to her, he did a pretty good job. I was never sure if she was just saying that. I am inclined to believe what she said about my great-grandfather. It's not like I have easy access to a time machine.

    His musical skill would later pass on to my father who was actually in a band with his cousins on his mother's side of the family. Joe ended up becoming a music instructor and has even taught me a few basic songs on the keyboard. I don't know if I was any good. But, Joe didn't wince in horror when I did "Chopsticks". Then again,  how do you mess that up?!  The answer might surprise you. 

    It's a shame I never got a chance to hear Vincenzo sing a song. I have heard my father play saxophone, though. If you look at him, I doubt he was singing like Pavarotti. It's all good. I can definitely imagine the songs he sang instead.

    As you can see, music came at me from both sides of the family. From classic rock to classical to the hits of today music filled our lives for generations and it's likely never going to stop as my brother has been teaching his kids how to play piano and everything. Musical talent, in my case, may have skipped a generation as I can only do "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" on easy mode. =) Hey! At least I have heart and...can play "Stairway to Heaven".

    It's hard for me to pick just one ancestor to talk about when it comes to music. They all influenced my taste in ways large and small. I will say this, though, if I had to pick a song that makes me think of everyone, it would have to be the title song from the 2017 Disney-Pixar movie "Coco". I am of course talking about "Remember Me". In the movie it is a lullaby. But, it struck a chord with me because it fits my family so well. Like the Riveras in the movie, music had an important role to play in their lives and in the end there is an important message here. As long as you keep the music playing, keep their love alive and  your ancestors will never fade away. Talk about the ultimate genealogy song to put on your genealogy playlist! And yes, WikiTree has one on Spotify. 

See ya next time!

 

    

Keep our love alive, I'll never fade way.

52 Ancestors Week 12: Loss

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 12's theme is "Loss." Loss is universal. There are many ways to explore this theme, whether it's the loss of a loved one, a livelihood, freedom. You could take a research-based angle on it and talk about the loss of records where your ancestors lived.

This was supposed to be my attempt to parody the "Lost" logo.

    Last week, I brought you a story about what could only be described as an agonizing loss. Check out the blog here if you want to read the details! Bring plenty of tissues! Rather than talk about something incredibly depressing two weeks in a row, let's move onto talking about how something was lost ,but, was eventually found by your friendly neighborhood Wikitreer.

Jeremiah Felker and
Elizabeth Fellows

    The loss of records is incredibly annoying to any genealogist. I joke on Twitter that hell for genealogists would be getting the entire 1890 census in their hands but the pages would be blank! Most of that census burned in a fire and joins the ranks of four-armed Grimace and the lost episodes of "Doctor Who" as things that may never see the light of day ever again. Fortunately audio bits and select clips of the latter survived! Four-armed Grimace is better left to the eternal dustbin of history. I digress! I think some people questioned my imagination at that point. I'm surprised no one blocked me because that got dark really fast. I honestly could have gone darker if I really tried. Play "Cards Against Humanity" with me and find out. ;)

    It may come as a surprise to readers of my blog that my 3rd great-grandfather's family is notoriously hard to research. There are all kinds of records for Jeremiah Felker. But, not so much for his family. This is manly because the records for his grandparents went up in smoke. There was a fire in his home town of Raymond, New Hampshire which burned most of the records kept in a insecure and very flammable building. Lost in the blaze were details about his father, Elias and other members of the family. 

    

    The loss of records usually means you, as a researcher, are going to have to do some serious detective work. Sometimes records can be unsalvageable because of various events like fires and floods. However, there is always a loophole. You can always find a way around a roadblock and that's exactly what I did. Don't worry. I kept it ethical and in the style of a certain dark knight. ;)  The answer is always out there and sometimes it's even right under your nose!

      Let's look at Elias Felker for a second. His profile on Wikitree needs a little bit of work, doesn't it? That's because there REALLY wasn't much to go on when I came across it in 2017. I'm not going to blame my cousin who created the profile. He told me himself that Elias's past is a bit of a mystery and he only put up what he and another researcher found about the man.

Not much to go on....

    All wasn't completely lost because even the most hard to research person is bound to leave what we call a "carbon footprint". Despite having appearances in court and even a Find a Grave entry, there were several breadcrumbs left behind that I've been able to find with the help of some very awesome and talented people.

    My friends and I worked hard and found him in the 1840 census living in Epping, New Hampshire. To date, that's the only census I've been able to locate for him and according to my cousin, it was only four years before he died. This was confirmed by the page on Find a Grave. 

    There is a record of an Elias Felker who fought in the War of 1812. But, I am unsure if this is legitimately the same man as the one I am researching. The record does not give me a lot of information because it was just a name on a slip of paper. For all I know it could be his autograph on a napkin. Besides, if he was born around 1800, he'd have been 12. I suppose he could have been a drummer boy. It's hard to say and I'm skeptical. More research into that particular document is clearly needed.

    At least the next source I found held some water. His marriage to Polly Brock in 1820 proved to be a little more helpful. The record stated they got married in New Hampshire. That didn't give me a lot of information and for a while he was a brick wall. Not all was lost! It did confirm that he was indeed married to her while having an affair with Martha Smart in the 1830s.

    The brick wall was smashed about a year later when I was talking to a friend of mine who wanted to talk to me about Jeremiah's death certificate and she asked why the document listed  "Joseph Felker" as his father and not Elias. I was never really sure. Laura suggested that we look deeper into it and look up who Joseph Felker was. It couldn't hurt. So, we looked around records in New Hampshire that were online and came up with the following.

    Joseph was born in Barrington, New Hampshire around 1760 and was married to Sarah Spurlin. That didn't help me much. We needed to find the connection between him, Elias, and Jeremiah. The 1800 and 1810 censuses had him living in Barrington, New Hampshire. Barrington and Epping were only twenty-six miles away. Was he Elias's father? It's possible.

    Laura and I did a reasonable exhaustive search for Joseph Felker in New Hampshire records. It turns out that he was the only Joseph Felker IN New Hampshire at the time and in those towns. The smoking gun that sealed the deal was of course Jeremiah's death record. It wasn't a typo or an error. It was legitimately his grandfather. That's some serious early 20th century shade there, guys. Though, I kind of get it. Jeremiah would have been what? Ten when his father died? Chances are good Elias didn't see his son in his formative years. He and his mom moved around New Hampshire a lot as she was married to three men. It's fun to speculate what the relationship could have been. Is it the truth? It's hard to say because the fire destroyed a TON of records.

Love that smokin' gun!

    With the death certificate and various other records my friends and I found, I am remind of what Sir Arthur Conan Doyle wrote in "Sherlock Holmes" and it's definitely true in this instance. "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".

    A reasonable exhaustive search and even the "WANDER method" helped to prove that Jeremiah's grandfather was most likely Joseph Felker of Barrington. There were no other Joseph Felkers in the area and even some of my mother's Thrulines pointed to some DNA matches who descended from his other children. Whether that is true or not remains to be seen. But, DNA does not lie. Thrulines at the fifth great-grandparent level has always been shaky to me. I would take that evidence with a grain of salt and do research before accepting it as gospel. That's all I can say. 

    I did manage to find Elias's probate record in Epping, New Hampshire. A man named Samuel Plumer was named executor of his estate and there were many issues with his assets. The estate needed to be divided and taken care of and there were several issues regarding its distribution since the next of kin (like Jeremiah) were not available. Jeremiah was like 10 at the time of his father's death so we can give the poor kid a break. Either way, the parents were listed and that made me happy. You can read the entire saga here on Familysearch.

    I suppose the point I am trying to make with this post is that even though some records are lost to time, there's always going to be a way around the missing documents. Don't give up easily because somewhere there's bound to be a smoking gun that links person a to person b. The truth is waiting to be discovered. You just need to find a way around it and not let the loss of records deter you from your goal--finding what you need to find. The genealogical proof standard worked here. If you want to read about it, click this link.

    According to the standard, I checked all the steps. I conducted a reasonable exhaustive search, cited sources , found the evidence reliable and contradictions were resolved. I then made a sound conclusion at the end of the work. In a way, that all reminds me of my research methods in college. Who would have thought those 8 AM classes would have paid off?

 See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 11: Fortune

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 11's theme is "Fortune." Merriam-Webster gives several definitions for fortune: A large sum of money; prosperity attained partly through luck; or destiny, fate. Be creative with this week's prompt!

Boun Fortuna a te!

    Fortune is the theme for this week's 52 Ancestors and man do I feel fortunate. It's not because I made an amazing discovery or because I contacted yet another long-lost cousin via a DNA match on Ancestry or MyHeritage. No, this is something a bit more personal. Like....one false move could have changed my family's history FOREVER! Life's crazy like that and you never want to take your family's history for granted! You might be asking yourself "Chris, why are you waxing philosophical today? Make with the jokes! I want to be entertained!" To that I say "Calm down, sir or madam. The usual weekly shenanigans will proceed as scheduled." 

Felice's WikiTree Profile!

    This week, I'll be talking about my second great-grandfather, Felice Forgione. For future reference Felice means "lucky" in Italian and you're going to see just how lucky this guy was! He didn't win the lottery. He didn't win big at the Gesualdo 500 horse race. Nope. He was the only one of his brothers and sisters to live to adulthood.

    I stumbled upon that discovery over the last week when I was adding Felice's brothers and sisters to WikiTree. I like to try to add siblings whenever possible because you never know if you have a DNA match or cousins on a certain line. Plus, it adds more to the story and helps the world tree grow in leaps and bounds.

    Helping me, of course, was my distant cousin Mary's tree. Mary, if you recall, was the genealogist who went to Gesualdo and scanned church records and all kinds of documents for the Carrabs side. She basically researched the entire town of Gesualdo! Her tree is a gold mine of information. There's a reason why she's known as "GesualdoGenie" on Ancestry! I digress. (And I thank her every day! Seriously. Someone send her a truck full of tiramisu.)

The castle town of Gesualdo.

    Felice was born in Gesualdo to farmer Clemente Forgione and his wife, Maria Rosa Caputo on July 9th, 1859 about a year after they were married. As it turns out, they were both each others' third marriage! That's....odd to put it mildly.

Clemente married Catarina Di Gregorio in 1837 and after Catarina died he married Maria Rosaria di Girolamo. Meanwhile Maria Rosa married Marcello Carrabse in 1844 and Sebastiano Cogliano in 1853. During each of their marriages, the couples tried to have children and none of them live to adulthood. It was really depressing looking at their death banns.

    I know as a genealogist I should be objective. But, looking at the sad history of a family can really make you think. Especially if it's your own!  I had wondered why I never had any Thrulines on Ancestry that stem from Clemente and Maria Rosa and yet I have Thrulines from their parents. I had originally thought it was because of other peoples' trees. I guess I was wrong. Felice here is really, REALLY lucky.

   

Looks like a Windows background doesn't it?

    I wonder if the reason his parents named him Felice was because he was so lucky. As I said before, the name basically means "Fortunate" much like the name "Fortuna" or "Fortunato" have the same meaning. In any case, Felice did end up growing up in the hilly town of Gesualdo. He married Maria Luigia Penta of Grottaminarda in 1883 in her hometown. His father was gone by then. But, I wonder if his mother was around. It would have been nice for her to see her only son get married. She'd have been sixty-eight years old and only his father was listed as deceased on the marriage banns. Hmm.....

    Felice and Maria went on to have four children including my great-grandmother, Clementina. She, along with her brothers Pasquale and Giovanni came to America. And the rest, as they say, is history. They had a sister named Marie Teone Vetore  and I'm not entirely sure what happened to her. Did she move to America, too? I haven't found any evidence of her immigration or anything else past her birth in Gesualdo.

    Unfortunately, luck ran out for the farmer known as Felice Forgione because he passed away in 1902 at the age of forty-two. What happened to him is hard to say as his death banns did not go into any detail of the cause of death. However, he was fortunate to have four children before he passed away. Clementina was only seventeen when her father died. That had to have been harsh. And just three years after his passing, she married Giuseppe Carrabs.

    There is an important lesson here. Do not take your family's history for granted. Fortune comes in many types. Sometimes money is involved. Sometimes it's a lot of children. In cases like this, it's twists of fate that allow families to thrive for as long as possible. I do wonder what the cause of all of this was. Then I remember the context. Southern Italy at the time was going through a lot of issues stemming from unification, poverty and government policies that favored the northern provinces. This family is proof of that hardship. And yet they endured. I'm here aren't I? And if AncestryDNA is any indication, so are a LOT of other people who descend from Felice and Maria. More are probably out there.

I hope they realize just how lucky we all are. See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 10: Name's the Same

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 10's theme is "Name's the Same." Is there a name that keeps popping up in your family tree? Have you had to sort out multiple people with the same name?

I wonder if they liked the name "Vincenzo"....

    Last year I wrotr a blog for #52Ancestors on Italian naming conventions and how they worked. Check it out here. Basically, this is the order they go in:

* The first male is named after his paternal grandfather.

* The second male is named after his maternal grandfather.

* The first female is named after her paternal grandmother.

* The second female is named after her maternal grandmother.

    That's simple, right? Well, you'd be happy to know that it is definitely the case for my great-grandfather, Vincenzo and his siblings. I found that out recently thanks to cousins in Switzerland. But, that's not what we're going to talk about this week. Last year, I talked about the same names popping up on my father's side. This year it's my mom's side! Let's begin!

Robert Eugene Hamel

    While names like "Sandra" are very common on my father's side of the tree, my mother's side has a lot of people named "Robert Eugene Hamel" running around. The first, naturally, is my grandfather and everyone called him "Bob". My brother and I called him "Papa" and for whatever reason my other cousins called him "Pépe". Was that a French thing? The only cousin to actually call him "Grandpa" was my youngest first cousin. 

    I digress. Robert's middle name was his grandfather's first name. Eugene Hamel and "Papa" named one of his sons after himself. That would be my uncle Bob. Uncle Bob had a son who we all called "Robbie". These days he just goes by "Rob". Sufficed it to say, the name "Robert Hamel" has been passed down quite a bit over the generations. How do you tell them apart?

    Well, like with any research, you'd need to look at their birth dates, photos and anything else to keep people with the same name in separate generations. But, that isn't to say that you won't have two siblings with the same name. You will. And it will give you a headache! 

  

4 generations. Only THREE Roberts! HAH!

    As you can see by the picture to the right, it's pretty easy to tell who is in what generation. But, if you didn't have pictures, you'd be stuck. You would need birthdays and other records saying who was who. Names get passed down all the time in various families. It happened a lot in the past and is likely going to continue happening until someone breaks the chain. FYI: Robbie's son isn't named Robert! The chain has been broken!

    However, Robert still isn't the most common name that has been passed down in the Hamel clan. No, there are still more common names in the family.

    Eugene had two sons whose names were passed down throughout the generations. Their names were Alfred and Eugene. Alfred was my great-grandfather and he was named after an older brother who died very young. Alfred went on to have a son named Alfred who was kind of a hero. I mean check out his page on WikiTree. He was a firefighter who saved his own family from a fire! He was a soldier during the second World War like his brother and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. That is very awesome. 

 

Eugene Hamel and Celanise Lefebvre

     Meanwhile, Eugene Jr. did okay for himself. He kept the name Eugene going with his son and that's really all I know about the man. That's not entirely true. I do have a picture of him on my tree on Ancestry and I have some idea of where the family lived.

    I have a DNA match with the same name and while he doesn't have a tree, I can sort of figure out where he belongs in the grand scheme of things. You don't want to assume anything in genealogy. However, if the guy's name is the same as your 2nd great-grandfather and he matches your mother, a second cousin and several other people on the Hamel line then it's safe to assume that the guy's a Hamel....especially at over 250 cMs. I don't think I can make it any more obvious! DNA does not lie! If it looks like a duck....

    

    Generations of people with the same name are going to pop up whether you're Italian, French-Canadian, German or whatever ethnicity you might be. People have named their offspring after themselves since the invention of names. Celebrities, of course, take it to the nth degree. The point is, you're going to find those similar names a lot when you are looking at records. It happens whether it's an ancestor named after a sibling who died or if they just want to keep the name going. Differentiating each Robert you find isn't really too hard if you look at the dates they were born, documents and photographs. That should keep you from losing your mind. Now, if it's two half-sisters with the same name living in the same house? That's....another story.

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 9: Multiples

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 9's theme is "Multiples." Any twins in the family? What about triplets? Or maybe you have an ancestor like my 3rd-great grandmother who was married multiple times. How about an ancestor who held down multiple jobs?

Yet another header passes for an album cover. Let's see if we can continue this trend!

    When the topic of multiples came up last year, I talked about how we could best talk to multiple people telling you a story at once. Trust me when I say it happened many times in my case. Sometimes it still does and I ask people to just talk one at a time! PLEASE! Wow. Got a little sidetracked, there. Moving on, you can see the blog here.  I should also note that this week marks my 100th blog post for #52Ancestors! Here's to many more blogs!

Gertrude Stevens and fam.

    This week, I thought I'd take a little break from the Italian genealogy blogs I've been writing to focus on my 2nd great-grandmother, Gertrude Stevens. Or rather her husbands. She had three of them over the course of her life and I've done some extensive work researching those guys. Why not? It makes for great cousin bait and including everyone an ancestor married gives you a better sense of who they were and adds a real human element. It's important to remember that though they lived over a century ago, they were still human. They had their faults and foibles just like we do today.

    With that said, Gertrude's first husband was none other than my 2nd great-grandfather, Wilfred Felker. They were married on September 12th, 1891 when she was just sixteen years old. He was twenty at the time and the marriage did not last too long.

    My great-grandfather, Austin, was born almost exactly a year later and sadly Wilfred had an affair with Anna Pierce while she was pregnant. Sufficed it to say, they got divorced by 1899. These things happen and all you can do is move on. And that's exactly what Gertrude did.

  While Austin ended up living with his grandfather Jeremiah, Gertrude met and married a man by the name of Walter Howard Senter.  He was a carpenter. They were married on September 22nd, 1899 and would stay married until his death in 1938. Gertrude seemed to be much happier with him. He's the tall guy on the top left of that picture. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Davis is right next to him and in front of him is father, Franklin "Tiny" Senter. Side note: I've never been able to figure out why people insist on calling tall or large guys "Tiny". Is it irony?

The Senters in the 1920 US Census in Haverhill, Mass.

    The Senters lived in Haverhill for many years. Well, at least until some time between the 1920 and 1930 census when they moved to one of the neighboring towns. The Senter children ended up growing alongside their half-brother and three of them were actually at my parents' wedding! Theodore, John and Lawrence to be exact. My mother remembers them and they seemed nice. I mean they showed up at their half-brother's granddaughter's wedding! I guess that proves that they were pretty tight as the kids say. 

    Sadly, Walter's life came to an end on March 30th, 1938 while the family was living in Dover, New Hampshire. It wouldn't take long for Gertrude to marry for a third time and final time. Meet her third husband, Charles Melvin Berry! I do not have a picture of him. But, I do know that they were married in Alton, New Hampshire on September 1st, 1938. Gertrude must have really liked late summer in New England judging by the time of year she got married. Sensing a pattern, yet? Then again that IS when the leaves start to change color.

    Chuck was born in 1876 in the town of Farmington, New Hampshire to Steven William Berry and Hannah Jane Edgerly. As it turned it, Gertrude was also his third wife as he married twice before marrying my 2nd great-grandmother. He married Kate Strout in 1896 and Annie Adams in 1908. I have no clue if they had children or they got divorced. Those facts remain to be seen.

Farmington News, March 17th 1944

     Gertrude and Chuck were married for a few years before she became ill in 1943. According to her obituary, she felt fine shortly before her death. She woke up her husband and died before help could arrive. Her cause of death was listed as coronary thrombosis, angina pectoris, general arteriosclerosis and diabetes mellitis. That's a very sad end. Whatever you do: Don't look those up on WebMD! I'm not even linking the site.

    Her obituary is a well-written one, I'll admit. All of her children were mentioned and it was a sad turn of events. At least you can say she lived a long life and though she married three times, she had to have been happy at some point in each of her marriage. Why else would she have married three guys in September? Maybe she just really liked that month? I don't know. One thing is certain. I can't judge her for marrying three times. No one should. There are celebrities now that are on their fourth and fifth marriage. She's also one example of an ancestor who married multiple times. There were others!

   She was sixty-eight when she passed away and missed out on a lot of things including her grandchildren (including my grandmother) growing up and having families of their own. Perhaps she watched over everyone in spirit? One thing is for sure....My own mother looks a lot like her! =O

   Now as for Chuck. Chuck Berry passed away in 1950. The musician by the same name would go on to produce many songs and become a rock and roll icon. =)

See ya next time! And happy anniversary "All Roads Lead to Haverhill"!