52 Ancestors Week 25: Groups

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Humans are generally social creatures; that is, we tend to form or join groups. These groups could be familial or they could be by choice. Think about church groups, fraternal organizations, schools, jobs/trades, sports teams, or clubs that an ancestor belonged to.

This isn't the fantasy-based webcomic by the same name.

    Friend, are you an immigrant who just got off the boat at Ellis Island? Are you having trouble finding work in a strange new country? Are you perhaps having difficulty learning the language and assimilating into a culture that is very different to the one you left behind in the old country? Well, you're in luck! Many organizations will help you and your loved ones settle into American life just as long as you pay your dues and help others in the same predicament! 

Why did they call him "Bunny"?

    For as long as I can remember, I knew there were several groups out there designed to help immigrants in America. Some groups like the Order of the Sons of Italy in America were founded to help Italians assimilate into American society during the early 20th century. The organization was founded in New York in 1905 by a man named Vincenzo Sellaro. Over time, the organization expanded to include chapters wherever Italian immigrants were found. This included places like Chicago, Illinois and even Woburn and Haverhill, Massachusetts!

    I don't have any direct ancestors who were in the organization. However, my great-uncle Arnold Villanucci certainly was! I happened upon finding his application on Ancestry and I was surprised by what I found. It was nothing out of the ordinary. Arnold applied in 1951 and on the application was the lodge he was a part of (Victor Emmanuel), where he lived, who his parents were, who his wife was and everything else. What was surprising to me was that Arnold was born in Haverhill. Why was he a member?    

    Well, it turns out that if your parents were in the Sons of Italy, the door was open for the children of immigrants to join and help future immigrants find their way in a strange new country. Think of it as a way to keep the membership fresh whenever someone would pass away or for some reason they had to leave the order.

    The Order still exists today. Only now their efforts have turned to other issues such as encouraging others to study Italian, the preservation of Italian American culture, tradition, history and heritage. As an added bonus, the Order serves to promote close relations with the United States and Italy.

    I've found several other relatives who were part of the Sons of Italy in Haverhill or in the chapter in Woburn, Massachusetts. What was interesting to me was that sometimes the applications were in English and sometimes they were in Italian. That made a lot of sense to me because when you get off of the boat, you're not going to know the language. So, the organization likely had people who met immigrants at Ellis Island and showed them the ropes. I know it sounds like a devious way to recruit people. But, it works and it makes sense. If you don't already have family in America who can help you, what are you going to do once you're in America? That's where the Order came in. They can teach you the language and help you if you are discriminated against (As it often happened). However, once you're settled you're going to need money. That's where another organization called the Italian American Credit Union comes in.

    Not only was my great-grandfather, Giuseppe Carrabs, a custodian at Pentucket Five Cent Savings Bank, he was one of the founders of the Haverhill Italian-American Credit Union! The organization was founded in 1934 as a way to provide a sound financial institution for the Italian community during the height of the Great Depression. 

    Like the Sons of Italy, the Italian-American Credit Union started in New York City. Giuseppe was a founder of the Haverhill branch and what he and others like him did was to grant loans, fair interest rates and be a safe place for Italians to hold their money. Not a bad deal! And like the Sons of Italy they still exist!

    The Italian-American Credit Union and the Sons of Italy are just two of the major organizations out there helping Italian immigrants to succeed in a strange country. Over time, both organizations grew into powerhouses with a lot of clout among the Italian-American community. Other immigrant communities have organizations like these which help meet the needs of people new to America. It's a great concept and it seems to work very well. 

    It's very cool knowing that my great-grandfather and others in the family played a role in helping immigrants like themselves. They gave back to a community which needed them and helped protect against the prejudices they faced on a day-to-day basis back in the day. These days, the organizations thrive and still help those in need. I don't think you can ask for a better legacy. 'Nuff said!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 23: Father's Day

 From Amy Johnson Crow: In the US, Father's Day is this coming Sunday (June 20), so what better time to have the theme of "Father's Day"?

Yet another album cover!

      On Father's Day, my brother and I would take our dad out to eat at one of his favorite Italian restaurants. We'd eat, have a good time and of course I'd give him that tie he always wanted. It was always one of those Jerry Garcia "Grateful Dead" ties. He likes those ties and I can't say that I blame him. They're cool! With things opening up again as of June 2021, we are probably going to return to one of our favorite Italian places in town and eat the food of our ancestors....even though we had chicken cacciatore the other night!

Y-DNA Fan chart by Greg Clarke.

        As you might have guessed, my patrilineal line is pretty solidly Italian. The Ferraiolo family has been in the town of San Pietro a Maida for centuries with names like Marco and Vincenzo alternating with almost every generation. That's cool and all. But, what about the last name "Ferraiolo"? What does that mean? How do you pronounce it?!

    I've been asked that question my whole life and I admit I might have annoyed some substitute teachers in my day as they struggled to pronounce my last name. My classmates would try to get me to correct them. Instead, I would wait for just the right moment to explain my last name. The pronunciation really isn't that hard. It's not like it's Rumpelstiltskin or DC's  Mr. Mxyzptlk. It's actually a fairly common Italian last name believe it or not!

    Using Cognomix, you can see just how spread out "Ferraiolo" is in Italy. If you click on Calabria, you can then see how many families have that surname in San Pietro. Okay. That's all well and good, Chris, you say. How do you pronounce it?! It's really easy. You need to roll the "r"s and make the "a" silent. So, it's pronounced like "Fehr-e-oh-low". Here's a video explaining just how that works!

Marco Ferraiolo

    Now that we know how to pronounce my last name and how to potentially steal my fantastic superpowers, what's next? What is the origin of the name? There's actually two definitions of "Ferraiolo". The first one is that a ferraiolo is a form of priestly vestments worn by Cardinals and various other members of the clergy. It's sort of like a cape. I admit it's not the coolest definition out there. But, it is one of the definitions of ferraiolo. The second one is much cooler. MUCH cooler, indeed.

    When I was growing up, I would ask my father what our last name meant. He told me that it meant "iron worker". That made sense to me in my mind because "Ferro" is Latin for iron. This means that I descend from people who made suits of armor in a cave with a bunch of scraps! Eh, I wish. With my luck, my incredibly ancient ancestors came up with the last name "Ferraiolo" after an unfortunate smelting accident.

    Italian last names tend to be varied as they can be based on birds, insects and even ethnic groups. After all, Tedesco means German in Italian. Some names even refer to abandoned children and even orphans. These would be names like "Esposito" and "Di'gnoti". 

Vincenzo Ferraiolo

     There's actually another variant of "Ferraiolo" and it's a little hard to explain. The last name is "Ferrauolo". How is this different from "Ferraiolo"? There is literally no difference at all according to this website. The website does go on to describe the last name's incredibly ancient origin, though.  Apparently, it all started in Padova, Italy(Padua in English) in the 200s AD and from there it spread throughout what is now Italy.

    People with each of the two spelling variants eventually made their way to America. When my great-grandfather, Vincenzo, arrived in 1913 there was actually a bit of an error on the ship manifest because he was listed as "Vincenzo Ferrajolo". It was probably a stray mark of some kind. The error then led to a transcription error on Ancestry and Familysearch. It's a bit annoying to see. The document was still found and that's what matters. Either way, the last name WAS NOT CHANGED AT ELLIS ISLAND! 

    That still doesn't mean the name wasn't misspelled in various documents like the United States Census. It totally was in the censuses for Haverhill, Massachusetts. The family name was spelled "Feriraiolo" in the 1930 census and "Ferriolo" in the 1940. It'll no doubt continue to be misspelled for some time to come. As long as it's spelled correctly on important documents, right?!

Marco and Cammie

    So, that's what's in a name. It's a last name that's been passed down for centuries and it has a decent origin. My father's last name actually inspired me to look up what the meanings are of other names in my family tree. Not just the Italian ones. French names like "Hamel", "Legault" and "Laplante" surely have interesting stories behind them as well. "Felker" apparently has German origins. That line's been in America for centuries. But, that's another blog for another time. After all, I'd have to dig through Quebec and ultimately France to find those origins!

    Father's Day is also a good day to talk to your father about your last name if he's still around. If he is, ask him questions about your last name's origin. You might find some cool stories like I did. Or you might find something less than stellar. It doesn't matter. The last name is yours unless you legally decide to change it. If he isn't around, do some research. You might be surprised with what you find!

See ya next time! And I guess the truth is…..I am Iron Man. ;)

52 Ancestors Week 23: Bridge

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme this week is "Bridge." A bridge connects two things that are separated, whether it's land or people (maybe even time?). You could take the theme literally and write about an ancestor who worked on bridges or had to cross them regularly. How about someone who worked or lived on a river? What about someone who played bridge (the card game). You could take a more figurative take on and think about who has been a bridge in your genealogy -- who has connected you to the past? Lots of possibilities this week!

Get that babelfish in your ear and don't panic!

    When you are a grandson of a recent immigrant like I am, eventually you are going to come across a language barrier in your research. A birth document might be in Italian and a marriage record might be in French. What do you do if you aren't fluent in the language of your ancestors? You use Google Translate to translate a document and if you're fortunate enough to have relatives in the "motherland", you can use it to bridge the gap between nations and unite with relatives all over the world.

Italia!

    I'll be the first to admit that my Italian isn't that great and neither is my French. When I was in high school, I took Spanish all four years and I never had the opportunity to learn the languages of my ancestors. French was offered, of course. I just never took it. Spanish was the closest to Italian and I already knew some words thanks to my father and grandmother Ollie. So, I picked that language to study.

    As the years went by, I learned a bit more Italian from my grandmother. Grandma Natalie would teach me various French words. This was all basic stuff. When the Internet came around, I even used Babelfish to translate random words out of boredom.

    When I got into genealogy, I realized that I should probably learn some more Italian than what I already knew. My father and great-aunt always told me that I had relatives in Italy and Switzerland. There was a slim chance that they could contact me! I was cautiously optimistic!

    I joined an Italian Genealogy Facebook group shortly after joining WikiTree. There was a user in the group who mentioned how he used Google Translate to aid him in his quest. He used it to contact the commune office in his ancestral town. I replied and asked some questions. The first one was "How accurate could Google Translate be?" The answer, surprisingly, was "Pretty accurate."

    Translation algorithms for certain languages have changed a lot since I played around with Babelfish back in the day. The user in the group reassured me that the translations were sound. An admin who lives in Italy even chimed in and sang its praises. They said that while there were some hiccups here and there it was still a useful tool to use. Apparently, Google has people working around the clock to fine-tune the translations. Are they completely accurate all across the board? You tell me. The next thing my friends in the group suggest was to join the town's Facebook group and ask my questions there using Google Translate.

    After thinking about it for a bit, I decided to join the group. I needed help with a few questions and I decided to try. What did I have to lose? Would I have been laughed out of the group? It's possible. Thankfully, the users on the page were fantastic and so helpful.

Caterina Tedesco

    It did not take long for a descendant of my great-grandmother sister, Caterina to notice my post and ask "Are you related to Nicolina Ferraiolo?" She then mentioned how she last saw her when she was a little girl many years ago when she visited Italy and that she descended from Maria Tedesco's sister. My jaw dropped as I read the translation. I sent my cousin (Nicolina's daughter) a text about the Italian cousin and she said that the woman talking to me was indeed a cousin. A second cousin to be exact! Nicolina's daughter also said that she was going to send me contact information for other cousins in the area.

    My new cousin mentioned that my Italian was pretty good. That surprised me because I was still using Google Translate and I had no idea if it was accurate at the time. I told her I was using the program and she said that was fine. 

    To make a long story short, I ended up using Google Translate to talk to her and several other relatives in San Pietro. I got a lot of valuable information and I've even used it to get information from the commune office! Not bad, right? It worked very well and I'm very thankful for that and for understanding cousins half a world away.

Marco and Caterina

    My experience with Google Translate later prepared me for when cousins on the Ferraiolo side contacted me on Myheritage earlier this year. We know how well that turned out. =D Check out the blog posts from February! My cousins in Switzerland gave me an even greater insight into the Ferraiolo side of the tree just like my Tedesco cousins did. They understood I was clearly using Google Translate and were very happy to be in touch and were patient as well. I am continually floored by the amount of patience and generosity my European relatives have. 

    As you can see, using Google Translate to talk to relatives across the pond has its advantages. Every once in a while, I have used it to talk to cousins in Canada who speak only French. But, that's usually on rare occasions. It's very fortunate that my cousins have been warm and understanding. Without the tool, I would not have had much success in the field of Italian genealogy and keep in mind it is just a tool. I've been thinking about getting Duolingo and giving it a try. What's the harm in that? Learning new languages is fun and Google translate has helped me learn some Italian and now I practice every day. Will I ever be fluent? Probably not. But, it is nice to use it to talk to relatives in distant lands. 

    I guess in a way I am bridging the gap between the ocean and a language barrier. Pretty cool, huh?

Arrivederci alla prossima! CIAO!

52 Ancestors Week 22: Military

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme this week is "Military." What have you learned about one of your military ancestors?

Be all that you can be....with Photoshop.

    Getting involved with the military runs deep in my family. Well, mostly on my mother's side of the family tree because her father, grandfathers, great-grandfather, 2nd great-grandfather and MORE have all taken part in almost every single conflict in American history going back to the American Revolution. My mother would tell you that she is an Air Force brat. My aunts and uncles would do the same. However, being in the military wasn't just for my direct line. For example, I have a great-uncle who was buried with high honors in Arlington National Cemetery!

Alfred Hamel Jr

    Meet Alfred Francis Hamel Jr, son of Alfred Francis Hamel and Clara Laplante. He was born in 1919 and was the older brother of my grandfather, Robert and like him he served with distinction in the Second World War, the Korean War and Vietnam. He was a Warrant Officer who served the U.S. military for thirty years. His great deeds in the service earned him a plot in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia when he passed away on July 20th, 1972.

    Obviously, I've never met my great-uncle as he passed away a few years before I was born. That isn't to say I never heard about him or saw his picture. I have. My grandfather kept much of his brother's belongings and even directions to where here was buried IN Arlington. He clearly cared about him very much since he kept everything concerning his brother. And I mean everything. Grandpa Hamel did not throw anything away!

    In genealogical terms, this is a good thing. That means there's more than enough information about the man floating around. All you have to do is take a deep dive into a box and see what long forgotten goodies are inside. Yes, Alfred had a sweet life. But, what was really surprising to me was finding out he was a hero even AFTER the war. Check this out.

Newburyport Daily News and Newburyport Herald,
 Pg One. 6 March 1947

    After the war, Alfred became a member of the Dorchester Fire Department. While he was on duty in March of 1947, he responded to an alarm at his own home. Once there, he had to rescue his wife and three small children who were unfortunately caught in the blaze.

    Hamel was alerted by a teenager who ran to the station to tell him about the fire. The kid had been visiting the home and witnessed the three-story wooden apartment building go up in flames. Alfred quickly got his wife, Veronica McNamara and his three children out of the building. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

    Apparently, the fire had started in the basement. I'm not sure if it was arson or if there were just some shoddy electrical issues down there. It's more likely that this was an electrical fire. In that case, man am I glad everyone made it out of there okay! Yikes!

   From the look of everything, you could probably tell that Alfred was pretty heroic. I mean he was already a firefighter so he was risking his life on a daily basis putting out fires. Sufficed it to say he was pretty heroic. 

He has a dedication plaque in 
Amesbury.

    Alfred is just one of many relatives of mine who served in one way or another and I do my best to try and honor all of them. It's really all I can do because I've never met him and my mother doesn't really have any memories of him. I know his children mentioned in the story are all grown up and more than likely have kids of their own by now. And even grandchildren!!

   Will this blog will entice them to get in touch with a long-lost cousin? Hopefully. Blogs do make for great cousin-bait. Here's hoping they contact me. I'd love to talk to them and maybe learn more about Alfred than what I have in newspapers and various documents. They might even would like to look at some of the documents that are in the box of things my aunt gave me during the worse of the COVID pandemic. 

    Time will tell. I remain cautiously optimistic. For now, the blog honors a marine/fire-fighter who had a lot of guts and was clearly a hero. 'Nuff said.

See ya next time!