52 Ancestors Week 8: Courting

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The Week 8 theme is "Courting." Is it courting as in the law or courting as in romance? You decide!

What's 12.7 miles? A brisk run according to some people.

   "Courting Distance" is a term many genealogists use to describe how far "person a" is from "person b" to make a relationship seem plausible. The time period in which they lived in is also a factor. A guy living in Boston in 1780 wouldn't be dating someone living in Savannah, Georgia at the same time. Not unless they had a really, really fast horse. Of course there are exceptions to every rule. However, it just wasn't very common. Especially in those days. As time went by, relationships like that began to work and now we have dating apps! The mileage there will vary!

     This week's blog is about two people who didn't kiss on the dance floor at the Enchantment Under the Sea dance in November of 1955. In fact, they were married and had three kids by that historic date! They also didn't have dating apps or any other mode of communication aside from the usual letters and phone calls. This is the story of a match made on Plum Island in the 1940s. This is the story of when Natalie met Robert.

Talk about skating your way
into someone's heart.

    It all began on Plum Island in the early 1940s. In those days, the island was known for its amusement centers, ice cream parlors, restaurants and beach houses overlooking the Merrimack river and the Atlantic Ocean. The houses still stand today and they are a stone's throw away from the beach where one could escape the scorching summer heat and hunt for clams.

Three of those people were my great-grandparents, Alfred Hamel, Austin Felker and his wife, Henrietta. My great-grandparents often used their houses as retreats and as a chance to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life in their respective communities of Newburyport and Haverhill, a city a little over twelve miles away from Plum Island. 

    Destiny eventually brought the Hamels, the Felkers and their children to a skating rink at the center of the island's amusement complex. It was there that tall, lanky Robert Hamel caught a glimpse of Haverhill native, Natalie Felker. She was likely having a good time with her brothers and sisters and was unaware of the turn her life would take. It was just one day at the skating rink. What could possible happen? A lot. Two lives would be forever changed.

    I don't remember either of my grandparents telling me who saw who first. At this point, I've always pictured my grandfather calmly walking over to Natalie and introducing himself. Or skating over. There's no way he would have done any tricks to impress her. Then again he might have. Nah. I can't see him doing a twirl or anything. Though, that would have been SO cool. He certainly was able to. I mean he had serious height.

Epic pipe is epic.

    After the initial introductions, the couple agreed to start dating. Distance in those days weren't that big of a deal because cars had been around for a few decades at that point. Instead of driving to and from Haverhill, my grandfather elected to take the bus to meet his new sweetheart up the river. Oh, I wish I didn't have to make that joke. Haha!

    At the time, my grandfather was living in Newburyport and my grandmother was in Haverhill. The two cities are reasonably close to each other. It wasn't uncommon in those days to see people from all over the Merrimack valley in Newburyport or vice versa. The "courting distance" I talked about made it possible for the two to meet regularly thanks to the "wonder" that is the US highway system. All you need to do is go on 495 and you're there in no time. Of course it's a lot more fun to go on the back roads. That was usually where my parents pointed out various houses and other landmarks on the way to the marina.

    Things were going well for the two after they met. Robert got in real good with the Felkers and everyone was getting along great. I don't recall there ever being much of a conflict. Not that they would have told me! My grandmother's brothers and sisters all liked "Bob" and he liked them. No negative words were ever spoken because my grandfather was always kind to everyone he met. That alone probably scored many "good boyfriend" points with my grandmother. If you come from a big family, you've got to charm not just your significant other. You've gotta be pals with the family. It works wonders!

     Despite there being peace in the valley, real world events had to rear its ugly head. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 sending America head-first into the second world war. Robert answered the call to duty and signed up for the draft on February 2nd, 1942 and began to work for the US Air Corps, the organization that would one day become the United States Air Force.

    At the time, Robert was only nineteen and thoughts of marriage were probably percolating in his brain. The problem was that the Air Corps sent the young pilot to where he was needed. He went all over Europe and North Africa flying planes and working on them for Uncle Sam. He would take pictures of his adventures and send them home to his girlfriend since photography was one of his many hobbies.

Natalie Felker in high school.

    Like many soldiers of the era, Robert would write back home to his parents and especially Natalie. I wish I had scanned a few of them. But, I can tell you that they are definitely in my possession and in a safe, dry place in my closet. You can't get much safer than that! Well, I could put them in a safe....

    The contents of the letters are typical. Robert wrote about how much he missed Natalie, where he was and what he was up to that day. The letters, I'm sure, were the highlight of Natalie's day as I know for a fact she was definitely worried about her boyfriend overseas. She was okay, though. She had her five brothers and sisters and her parents helping her through sleepless nights. 

    That isn't to say he never took shore leave. There's no question he came back to the States every now and then. He just had a job to do and he performed his duty admirably. I often wonder if the topic of marriage crossed his mind as they were STILL dating at the time. I'm not even exactly sure when he proposed.

    When the war ended, things didn't move as fast as I thought they would. You'd think they'd have gotten married the second the war was over. Alas, that was not to be because during the post-war era Uncle Sam needed my grandfather's services yet again. Japan was a country devastated by the war as evidenced by the fact that two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Helping the Japanese recover were many soldiers including my grandfather. During that time, the letters home continued. In those letters, he was very cordial about his dealings with the Japanese. He again didn't have any harsh words at all. I think traveling around the world like this made him worldly and more aware of other cultures. He literally went everywhere. When I was a kid, he even pointed out where he went on various maps of Europe, Asia and North Africa. He never talked about the combat. He talked about the people living there.

    

About time!

    Eventually, Natalie and Robert did get married on June 5th, 1948. That was a special day. Not just for obvious reasons. June 5th was my grandfather's birthday and at the time he was twenty-three years old. All those years of courting before and during one of the darkest periods in world history was about to pay off in a huge way!

    Natalie's sisters made all of their gowns and they looked amazing in them. My grandfather looked great too and serving as his best man was his brother, Alfred. The wedding must have been beautiful and I'm sure there was not a single dry eye in the house. It was a long time coming after all.

    I've often wondered what took them so long to get married. But, I can understand it. There was a war on and my grandfather was sent overseas a lot. He took his duty very seriously and helped in his own way after the war. That was just the kind of person he was! It took the birth of my mother to finally clip his wings!

    Life turned out pretty good for those two crazy kids. A chance meeting at a skating rink on Plum Island led to an amazing life together. They ultimately had six children, ten grandchildren, several great-grandchildren and a lifetime of great stories. We should all be so lucky! All it took was my grandfather Robert skating into her life. Or did Natalie do the skating? Who can say? 

    Courting distance clearly was no issue here. I wish that skating rink was still standing, though. I'd love to go there. Imagine going back in time and visiting the place where they met! Chances are I'd pause and take it in like Marty McFly did in Back to the Future when he saw his parents kiss. At least there are still pictures and stories!

See ya next time!

  

So much hope for the future!

52 Ancestors Week 7: Landed

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The Week 7 theme is "Landed." There are many meanings of landed: to have arrived at a destination, to have been delivered, to own real property, to be part of the "landed gentry." So many ways you can go with this week's theme!

The white zone is for the loading and unloading of passengers.

    When I saw this week's prompt, I knew I had to be a wee bit original. Amy is right. The word "landed" could have several meanings. You could have an ancestor who was a member of the landed gentry and that could be your link to the signers of the Magna Carta in 1215. You could have farmers who worked the land they owned to grow crops. That's all awesome and everything. But, what if they were traveling on the boats and on the planes? What if they had a dream to take them there?  A dream they wanted to share? What if they were coming to America....today! If that Neil Diamond song is in your head, I am not sorry. It's a good song!

La famiglia di Ferraiolo

    This week I thought I'd try something special. My grandfather Marco was about four or five years old when he arrived in New York in 1929. Can you imagine what the trip was like? Well, wonder no more because today I'm going to present the trip to New York and ultimately Haverhill from his point of view. What was it like before he landed in America and immediately afterward? First....we must set the scene.

    Marco Ferraiolo was born on March 17th, 1925 in the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida to Vincenzo Ferraiolo and Maria Tedesco. His older sister, Nicolina, was born two years earlier in 1923. Vincenzo was known to have traveled back and forth from his native Italy to the distant American city of Haverhill several times prior to Marco's birth. Italians at the time who went back and forth across the pond like this were considered to be "birds of passage". That was someone who went to America for a few years and then back to Italy. Some families even sent money back to family in Italy! The first time Vincenzo arrived in America was in the early 1910s when he went to visit his aunt, Concetta Coppola in Haverhill.

    In 1919, Vincenzo returned to San Pietro a Maida to get married as that was another custom among Italian immigrants at the time. If someone wanted a significant other from the mother country, they went back to the country. It happened more times than you might think! Vincenzo and Maria were married on January 15th, 1921. Both children were born within four years and Vincenzo eventually made his way back to America in 1926 by himself.

    The year is now 1929 and Vincenzo had made plans to bring his family to America. Italian immigrants at the time were known to send for their families once money for their passage was secured. Can you imagine how five year old Marco must have felt at the time?

Marco Ferraiolo and
Caterina Coppola

    The first thing he felt was probably sadness because he was leaving his grandparents, Marco Ferraiolo, Caterina Coppola, Antonio Tedesco and Maria Domenica Gullo behind in Italy. Before Maria left for the port of Naples, hugs were definitely given and tears were shed. Promises to stay in touch were even made. Those promises, by the way, were definitely kept as my great-aunt and grandfather returned to San Pietro many times during their lives!

    Caterina would of course return the favor and tell her grandchildren about their cousins in America since her brothers and sister were already there. The same was likely true for Domenica. Nonnas do that. They tell stories and I bet anything those two were definitely no exception! Still, tears were shed and I can picture Marco hugging his namesake. It wasn't goodbye. It was more "See you soon and don't forget to write." I'm not saying it wasn't emotional or anything because it surely was. I mean they were traveling across the pond in a crowded ship!  Who knows when the next time they'd visit would be? Hey. Air travel might be a common practice the next time they decide to go to Italy. You never know!

  

      After saying their goodbyes, the three left San Pietro a Maida for the Campanian port of Naples.  Despite it being fall for the northern hemisphere, it was likely very hot in the city. I can picture my grandfather and great-aunt trying to keep cool while their mother added their names to the ship manifest. I kind of wonder if they even saw the legendary Mount Vesuvius looming over city like a volcanic god. It's kind of hard to miss the giant volcano!

    I'm not sure what else Maria could have done before boarding their ship, the Roma. Perhaps she took the time to write one last letter to family San Pietro a Maida? It'd be so cool if a family member today had a letter like that. I would LOVE to read it. I'd have to ask my cousins if one exists still. You never know. It is possible! 

Huh. Not a single last name changed. AMAZING!

 

   The ship set sail from Naples on Wednesday October 30th, 1929 and wouldn't arrive in New York until the following Wednesday. With passports in hand, the three were ready to meet up with Vincenzo and start a new life in America. I have no doubt that Vincenzo might have written to his wife and the kids saying he'd meet them at the port of New York.  I also have no doubt that the ship was probably very crowded and very noisy. What did Maria do to keep her kids occupied for a week? It was fall so the weather was going to get chilly ;especially on the open ocean!

This was the coolest pic of Gibraltar I could find!

    Ipads weren't invented yet. Nintendo was still making Hanafuda cards at the time. The kids likely made do with what they had available and played with the other children on the ship. Maybe they played shuffleboard? Hard to say. I can just imagine the Roma leaving the warm Mediterranean and people seeing the massive rocks of Gibraltar on the way out toward the open ocean where the weather changed dramatically! 

    For many on the Roma, the rock formation on the Spanish coast would be the last sign of the life they left behind. Many people on the ship wouldn't be seeing Europe ever again. It was a bittersweet moment because there would be open ocean for miles and miles.  Of course they might have seen whales, dolphins, seals and the manatees ancient mariners mistook for mermaids.

    Days past and the passengers were likely getting weary of being on the ship for days. The food was okay. The ship was likely tossed around as weather would have made some serious waves. Did people get seasick? Oh, there's no doubt in my mind. If you're sailing the North Atlantic on a steamer, you're going to get seasick. The sound of children playing on the decks of the Roma was likely getting to be a bit much and the kids were getting bored. Let's face it even one hundred years ago it was hard to keep kids entertained! The captain informed the passengers that they would be arriving in New York soon. Quickly, Maria probably gathered the children and hurried above deck. It was then she, Marco and Nicolina saw a gigantic statue with this important message written on the base:

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door"

One day I'll be walking through Manhattan
driven by the Ghostbusters!

    The Statue of Liberty, a symbol of hope for all immigrants, refugees and huddled masses yearning to breathe free was just on the horizon as the Roma made her way into New York Harbor. The breathtaking sight likely inspired everyone aboard the ship. Young Marco was probably amazed by how large it was. He had no idea that his journey was just beginning.

    The Roma docked at Ellis island and soon the immigrants were all rushed to the gates to be checked out by medical personnel. Officials on the island who could speak Italian likely greeted young Maria and her children. She explained that the three were meeting their husband and that they would be heading to Haverhill, their final destination. After being cleared to enter America, the family went looking for Vincenzo. After all he DID say he'd meet them there. Yikes. Can you imagine if he was LATE?! That ride home would be AWKWARD!

    

    Thankfully, Vincenzo reunited with Maria and the kids and hugs were definitely had. Where they met is hard to say. Did they meet up at Ellis Island? At the docks of New York? Everyone has been a bit fuzzy on the details. I need to give my great-aunt a break here she was seven at the time. I'm sure she was just really excited to be back on dry land! They all were! They were likely cold and tired from their ordeal at Ellis Island and wanted to go on the next leg of their adventure.

Arriving just in time for his 
first communion! They grow up so fast.

        Vincenzo and his family likely took the train from New York to Boston and a train from Boston to Haverhill. Along the way the kids saw the sights as they looked out the window in awe at their new home. They rode past many small towns and eventually they arrived at the home of Vincenzo's uncle, Giovanni Coppola on 12 Bedford Street in Haverhill.

    As I've said before, Giovanni was instrumental in bringing many Italians from San Pietro to Haverhill. I kind of wonder if he helped Vincenzo foot the bill on his family's passage to America. Maybe he did. Maybe Vincenzo himself paid for their way to America. The details are sadly lost to time.

    Haverhill was definitely a different sight for young Marco and Nicolina when compared to the hustle and bustle of 1920s New York and Boston and even the small village of San Pietro! There weren't as many tall building around and it was less noisy when compared to the Big Apple and Beantown. The two kids were finally around family once again and it felt like they were home even though their grandparents were thousands of miles away.

    The family landed on America soil on November 8th, 1929 and when they arrived the Ferraiolo kids were likely suffering from a bit of a culture shock. It's a change to go from a rural town where everyone knew your name to a city like Haverhill. Thankfully they had family there to help them adjust to the way of life in America. Marco and Nicolina had their great-aunt and uncles and numerous cousins and because of this they probably adjusted quickly. Despite their hardships traveling from Europe to America, they were finally home at a new and a shining place. 

I'm milking that song for all it's worth! See ya next time!

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.

52 Ancestors Week 6: Maps

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The Week 6 theme is "Maps." They say X marks the spot. I don't know if that's true, but I do know that maps are great resources for our research! Think about a time when a map helped you discover an ancestor. Another way you could approach the theme is think about an ancestor would could have really used a map. Feel free to be creative!

This week's blog will be brought to you by Google Earth.

    When I was a kid, I would draw maps when I was really bored. I would take a pad of paper with me and draw while my parents bowled on Monday nights. I would even draw maps in my notebook in school! Why I didn't become a cartographer, I'll never know. I just liked drawing maps of everything from real world locations like the United States to locations that would go on to feature heavily in my webcomic. Maybe I just really liked to draw? That's probably it because I also drew superheroes and other characters to go with my maps.

San Pietro a Maida as see from low Earth orbit.

    Fast forward years later and I still find myself using maps. Instead of drawing, I have easily applied maps to genealogy. With maps, you can find where your ancestors lived and compare the area with how it might have looked when say your great-grandfather was playing stickball with his pal Charlie on Bartlett street in Haverhill in the 1920s. Note: That never happened. This was just an example. Maps are great on the local level. However, I've gone one step beyond. I've taken a trip to Italy and I never even had to leave my house thanks to Google Earth.

    I'll never forget the first time I used Google Earth to go to my grandfather Marco's birth place of San Pietro a Maida. I was curious to see how it looked because up until that point my great-aunt told me stories of where they lived in the town and who lived near them. In fact, she asked me to find out who was living in the Tedescos' house these days. I would love to find out. However, I'd need the exact address. Time will tell because I really want to see where the Ferraiolo, Coppola, Tedesco and Gullo families all lived!

   One of the cool features Google Earth has is the ability to go to street level when you're tired of looking at our planet from hundreds of feet above the ground. I've never actually seen the trucks that accomplish the Herculean task of documenting every street on Earth. Kudos to whoever drives them! You do good work.

    With that said, I have done the Google Street view of San Pietro and honestly it is very pretty. Imagine how it would look in person! When you go into town, you see olive trees for miles and miles. In the distance, there are small rolling hills along the countryside. This sign welcomes you as you approach. Translated it reads:

"Welcome to San Pietro a Maida. City of Olive Oil."

    The town of San Pietro a Maida is known for its olive oil. Makes sense given the number of olive trees in the area! Let's see what else we can find!

         As I "walked" toward San Pietro, I began to notice a few things. While nothing beats actually being there in person, I got a sense of this was home. This was where a quarter of my family tree was born after all.  The place just seems to be inviting and I hope one day I get to see it in person. It would be so amazing! Despite not being there, I did imagine the sounds as I walked along the road. I imagined birds singing in the distance and I could hear the leaves rustling in the breeze as I walked right into town.

I would spend so much time here.

    Of course as a genealogist your first stop in town would be to go directly to the commune office. I would visit family first to be honest. That is more important and those documents aren't going anywhere any time soon. While I've never gone in there, I do have to thank everyone who worked in the office for all of their hard work over the past few years. Whenever I e-mail the commune office with a question, they would respond promptly. I haven't had issues with them and of course I am so very grateful! Graziemille! I hope to continue working well with them in the future!

    If I ever do go to San Pietro, you can bet  that I would first visit my family there and probably go to the office the next day while everyone worked. Yeah.. I don't want to be the guy who goes to Italy just to research. I've got famiglia there, man! Maybe they'd have a homecooked meal waiting for me? If they did and you went to the commune office FIRST.....then dude you'd better have some explaining to do. Not just to your host but to potentially your entire family in San Pietro. It just wouldn't be a good look if you did research first.

Papa Gino's? Sorry. No Papa Gino's here.

        After checking out the commune office, I wanted to see what sort of restaurants were around town and I came across "Girasole". From what the reviews say, the food there is pretty good. If I ever go there, I'll definitely check the place out. Or I can ask my family the food really is as good as they say!

    There seems to be a lot of other ristorantes in town. A Pallaria cousin recently told me about a bar owned by someone with my last name "Ferraiolo". I tried to find the place. I'm sure it's very nice and I wonder if the owner is related to me. Odds are pretty good that Leonardo Ferraiolo is connected in some way! 

Update: I have been informed that Girasole closed about two years ago. That’s the trouble with Google Earth. It gives you a snapshot of what life was like and updates every once in a while. However, there are still some good places to eat around town! 

       

That's a money shot.

     Calabria is known for its warm summers and you might be wondering where do residents of San Pietro a Maida go when they need to cool off. The Calabrian sun can be pretty unforgiving, I've been told and so they likely go to various nearby beaches like this one located several kilometers just outside the city limits. It's actually near the neighboring town of Curinga. On that beach you get to look out toward the Mediterranean. I wish Google Earth allowed me to get closer because I definitely would want to see more of the beach! That water looks so inviting! I would totally go for a swim! 

    

      

    This is just a preview of what San Pietro a Maida has to offer and I really, really would want to go there. Walking around on Google Earth is nice and all, but, like I said before being there in person is something entirely different and I hope to experience it some day. My genealogist cousin Mary Tedesco put it best in her blog. "A visit to your ancestral town in Italy will change your life. Nowhere else will you feel a more familiar sense of deep connection than at the epicenter of your Italian roots—your ancestral town."

    I have no doubt in my mind that the statement is true. I definitely got that sense of home when I was walking around town while sitting at my desk. It was almost as if I've been there before. I know it's impossible. But, it just FEELS like I've been there. I get that feeling as I walk around town. If you have recent immigrant roots like we do, you should definitely go to the place where your ancestors were born. It will change your life for the better and  better connect you with those who have gone before you. Current safety guidelines apply, of course. But, if you can't go there's always Google Earth and while it's not the same as being there in person, it gives you a window of what life was like for our ancestors from the comfort of your own home.

I hope we get another map related prompt  like this for 52Ancestors. I'd love to take everyone on a tour of Gesualdo, next. Some people I know want to see that castle. I'm not going to name names....

See ya next time!

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 5: Branching Out

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 5 and for February (for those of you doing the 12 Ancestors in 12 Months version) is "Branching Out." Have you branched out your research into looking at your collateral relatives? Made any good discoveries in records beyond the usual census and vital records? Or maybe you've discovered an ancestor who branched out in his or her education or occupation. Be creative!

Sometimes you need to see the big picture

   

     THIS JUST IN! Before I begin this week's blog I have a very exciting announcement to make! As of this morning, February 3rd, 2022, my 2nd great-grandmother Domenica Gullo is no longer a brick wall. After months and months of asking the commune office in San Pietro a Maida who her parents were, I finally got my answer when I woke up and checked my e-mail. Their names are Francesco Gullo and Caterina Butruce. They were born some time in either 1849 or 1851 (Or even earlier). I will definitely be looking for them as my friends and I in WikiTree's Italy Project have been sorting out births in the town from 1800 to 1861. This is HUGE and I wanted to share my excitement with everyone! It's only February and this has made my top ten discoveries of 2022! Now for the rest of the blog.

    Branching out is a very important thing to do in genealogy. I can't think of any time when I didn't want to add cousins and build my way down to the present. When I started my tree on Ancestry, I didn't just add my direct ancestors. I added my aunts and uncles, their kids (my first cousins), their kids and so on. It didn't take long before my tree became a forest and at the time of this writing it's at a hefty 7,898 people. About two hundred and sixty of them are DNA matches. Just so you know I am not a hoarder of trees by any stretch of the imagination. I just come from very large families. VERY large families. My mother alone has over fifty first cousins!

Melvina Lefebvre

    Beyond first cousins, branching out is important when you work on a site like WikiTree because you never know who you might bump into while you're adding a profile here or there. A cousin may contact you out of the blue and would hopefully be nice and ask "Hey. Why do you have ____ on the tree?". That's why the site makes for great cousin bait. Here is a recent example. This is Malvina Lefebvre. She was the wife of Pierre Cardran. Pierre was the son of my 3rd great-grandparents, Pierre Cadran and Marie Eulalie Bibeau. I created the profile in February of 2019 and it sat there for three years before someone attached the photo and contacted me on Find a Grave about Malvina.

    I explained that I was connected to her via her husband Pierre and that I was growing the tree. I like including all of the children a couple might have and I like building the tree down to the present day. It gives the tree a sense of completion. I don't like leaving people out. I've even included infants who unfortunately died young. It's sad. But, it needs to be done. No one gets left behind on my watch!

    You might have noticed Pierre has a little "DNA" icon next to his parents' name on WikiTree. That indicates that the profile has been DNA confirmed via a DNA test. You can do DNA confirmation on Wikitree up to your third cousin. In this case, the source is one of my mother's third cousins who descends from one of Pierre and Melvina's children. As it happens, the person who messaged me was a descendant of one of their other children and is also a DNA match on Ancestry I hadn't added to the tree even though Pierre and Melvina had been there for years!

Josephine really liked fancy
hats.

    We got to talking via e-mail about the Cadran family. I asked important questions like "Why is the family name spelled so differently all over the place?" Seriously. I've seen it spelled "Cardran", "Cardrant", "Cardrin", Cadren" and who knows how many other ways. I haven't got an answer back. But, I'm sure I will. There has to be a definitive answer for that name's spelling. Or it could just be one big mess. My grandmother spelled it Cadran in her genealogy book. Is it accurate? Who can say? Only the French-Canadians know for sure.

    My cousin and I exchanged photographs and since he shared many of Melvina's pictures with me, I decided to share this one of Josephine Cardran and her husband, Noah Robidoux. Josephine was Lucie and Pierre's sister and we both have DNA matches who descend from those two. It was only fair since he shared so many pictures and I really wanted to pay it forward, you know? It was the least I could do. I put his great-grandmother up on WikiTree.

    As it turns out, his wife is quite the genealogist. They have photos, documents and who knows how much stuff in their possession. I then took it upon myself to ask a question. "Do you have Lucie Cadran's photograph?" It was only fair to ask because they might. You never know. My cousin said he'd look in his archives to see if they had one. I am hoping they do because it would be so awesome and another one of my great discoveries of 2022 and we're only in February! With so many discoveries being made already, I feel like this year will be one of the best on the genealogy front! Here's hoping I get more discoveries.

   

Now available on Amazon!

    The Cadran story is one of many stories I have where branching out proved to be a great idea. When you have a tree on a site like WikiTree you'll definitely want to include all siblings because of things like cousin bait. Now, would I build the tree there to the present? Eh....maybe not because of privacy issues and everything. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it on a site like Ancestry. Like WikiTree, living people are kept private and you can build it down to your DNA matches without a problem. I've done it and it's greatly helped me to understand the family dynamics, who is connected to who and how we're all related. You need a scorecard to sort through the mess and my tree is no exception!

   Of course building a tree downward to DNA matches isn't the only way I branch out the old family tree. Books like "Italians in Haverhill" provide information on my relatives I wouldn't have been able to get otherwise. In fact, it prompted me to create a study of the book. You can check it out here. While I may be connected to a little over fifty people in the book (so far), looking at it helped me to understand Haverhill at the time my ancestors were around and even take a peek into their FAN club because chances are good Vincenzo Ferraiolo, Maria Tedesco, Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione were friends with or were relatives of the people inside those pages.

   This is all just the tip of the iceberg. Sufficed it to say I've branched out in many ways because I believe it actually helps the tree. Sure you can add your parents and the direct lines and everything. But, where's the fun in that? I think it's much better when you've added more people because it adds meat to your tree. (Eww. Meat tree. Gross.) When you build it out like I have, it makes for great cousin bait as evidenced by the Cadran story and using books like "Italians in Haverhill". There are many tools in a genealogist's arsenal. Do whatever it takes to make your tree grow into a forest. How far should you take it? That's up to you. Personally, I like including everyone because I'm a bit of a completionist. Come on. I read comics. Did you honestly expect less of me? It's not hoarding if you're connected to the 7,000 people in your tree somehow.

 See ya next time!