52 Ancestors Week 47: Thankful

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 47 is "Thankful." Is there an ancestor you're especially thankful that you found or a story that you're thankful you discovered? What about all of the wonderful resources available to us now? What are you thankful for?

Eat your heart out, Hallmark.

     It's honestly hard to say what I'm thankful for this year. However, I will repeat what I said on Facebook. I'm thankful for my family all over the world from DNA matches to various cousins scattered around our small blue planet. That just about covers it! Maybe I should be a bit more specific, right? How about this? I'll highlight some of things that happened on the genealogical front this past year that I am REALLY thankful for! Sound good? Here we go!

    I am definitely thankful for my cousin, Caterina! She lives in Switzerland and has been very helpful all throughout 2021! I starting talking to her on Myheritage in February and found that she was a granddaughter of my 2nd great-grandparents, Marco Ferraiolo and Caterina Coppola. That was just the tip of the iceberg! 

    She remembered my grandparents, Marco and Olympia going to her wedding in 1969 along with Marco's father. The details are all in this blog from February. It's a pretty fun story and totally derailed what I originally planned on blogging about this week. It's probably for the best because that blog turned out pretty good!

    Once we got to know each other better and after I got a deluge of friend requests on Facebook from various members of the famiglia, she sent me many pictures of the Ferraiolo family including this picture of Marco, Caterina and their granddaughter, Adriana. 

    This surprise definitely set the tone of what 2021 was going to offer because I had never seen this picture before February and I am so incredibly thankful to Caterina and the family in Switzerland for sending me this photo, answering questions and more. She also had this picture that I LOVE.

My grandparents are on the far left.

    What's not to like about the above photograph. It's so great to see my grandpa Marco and grandma Ollie there with everyone. Vincenzo's near the center and I wonder who all is there aside from Caterina and her husband. I should ask her and find out. She has a colorized version too which I have seen and it's pretty amazing. So, to Caterina I say thank you for sharing many, many photos with me and filling in various plotholes in the family story. It's good to have family members fill in the blanks which brings me to a recent development on my genealogical adventure!

    On November 12th, I posted a blog about stormy weather the Legault family faced after the death of their patriarch, Antoine Legault. I showed it to a cousin who just so happened to descend from his son, Oliver. I asked for a bit of clarification of his life as I wanted to be sure it was all accurate. If it's one thing I like it's accuracy. I think we can all agree accuracy is important in genealogy! That and an uncanny amount of patience!

    So, while I didn't get any pictures of Antoine from her (Which would have been awesome), I did learn that I was right in assuming Oliver had a decent life. However, he sadly suffered from black lung as he was a miner in upstate New York. That explained why he died so young. My cousin told me a bit more about his life and in time I'll flesh out his profile. Who knows? Maybe she'll have pictures of the guy? I love seeing pictures! Genealogy is a lot better when you can put a face to the name and dates. I know I've said it before and I'll likely say it until I am blue in the face! Thanks for helping me fill in that part of Oliver's story, cousin! I do wonder if a picture of Antoine does exist. He died in 1901, right? Tin types were common in his lifetime. But, getting your picture taken was rare and expensive. It's hard to say. Would a pic of him even exist? I'd settle for a pic of Lucie. That definitely has potential for existing somewhere.

    I am also thankful for the users of Find a Grave who not only found the graves of my second great-grandmothers, Gertrude Stevens and Lucie Cadran. They also helped put my mind at ease during that time I thought something bad happened to Gertrude's grave at Pine Grove cemetery. Remember that vandalism story? Sheesh. I still say whoever did that was so haunted. And not by friendly ghosts or even Slimer from the "Ghostbusters". Nah. I'm thinking "Poltergeist" or "Amityville Horror"
 type ghosts. >=) Wow, that's evil. Just be glad I didn't sick the "bad ghosts" from "Ghost" on those people. Those spirits were freaky. However, like the song says "I ain't afraid of no ghosts".

    At least it was resolved and I now know where Gertrude's final resting place is. I also know where Lucie is. I suspected it was St. Joseph's in Haverhill as it is the French-Canadian cemetery in the city. It's a decent sized place. It was just a matter of finding where she was. I talked to the person who found Lucie's grave. She thinks Antoine might be nearby. Perhaps he is. Time will tell!

The clock's ticking!

         Going back to Italy for this one because I am thankful for the help I've been getting from the commune office in San Pietro a Maida. Last week, I got Antonio Tedesco's birth from them and on the document was a listing of his marriage to Domenica Gullo. This means I am one step closer to breaking the brick wall that is my second great-grandmother. She is a sturdy one and the wall is starting to buckle. All I need to do now is lift Thor's hammer and let gravity do its thing. 

    Okay. I got the birth confirmation. How could that help break Domenica's wall? Well, now that I know when they were married (18 November 1899), I can simply ask the commune office for her parents' names based on that date alone. From there I just had to go to the records and everything will fall. I think I'm getting close. The hammer is starting to wiggle. I might be worthy. The wall is in sight and I just need an epic battle cry to shout when I throw it. Suggestions are always welcome. I'm a bit partial to "HAVE AT THEE!" or "Avengers Assemble!" I will be sending the question in by the end of the week. I COULD get an answer by the end of the year. By that point, I am sure you will all hear the rejoicing screams.

    The last thing I am thankful for this year is of course everyone who has followed me on Twitter, read this blog and encouraged me on my genealogical adventure. I don't know what I would do without support from everyone/ It's a great community to be a part of and I thank every day you guys and gals put up with my jokes, comments, stories etc. I like having fun with this blog and interacting with everyone on social media. It's good and we could all use a sense of community every now and then, right? Of course! So, yeah. I am thankful for you all and many other things I haven't even begun to list. It's been a crazy 2021 and 2022 is looking to be an even wilder ride. What will I discover? Time will tell, true believers! Stay tuned and find out. We still got one more month left of 2021 to go through!

See ya next time!