52 Ancestors Week 34: Timeline

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 34's theme is "Timeline." Timelines are a great research tool. What discovery have you made after putting together an ancestor's timeline? Have you thought about how everyday life changed for an ancestor during his or her life?

It really is a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.

    I'm with Amy on this one. Timelines are unbelievably useful tools for genealogy and for getting a feel of who lived where during a set time period. For this reason alone, I created a sort of directory of where everyone was living in the various censuses from 1790 to 1940. I haven't updated it to include the 1950 census, yet. I will some day. When I have time. ;) *dodges tomatoes* Your groans give me strength, people!

    I don't think I'll be talking about the directory this week as there are tons of people to talk about as the families were QUITE large. Instead, let's narrow it down and create a timeline of when exactly people started to arrive in Haverhill and Newburyport and what was happening in the world around them at the time. This sounds like fun and it gives me an excuse to add a new page to this blog. I'm not going to lie. It does look kind of sparse at the top bar when you compare it to my comic site.

Ye Olde Red Sox Nation

    I'm not going to spend too much time on colonial New Hampshire and Massachusetts for obvious reasons. It would take too long to get into. For those who want to know, a quarter of my mom's tree had been in the area we now know as Massachusetts and New Hampshire since the 1600s. The rest of her tree at the time was located in present day Quebec. Eventually, the road they took would lead them to small farming towns on the banks of the Merrimack river called Haverhill and Newburyport.

    Haverhill, Massachusetts was founded in the 1640s and wouldn't be incorporated as a city until the 1870s for reasons that'll become clear in time. Among the many founders of the town was my 11th great-grandfather, Tristram Coffin.

      Newburyport was settled in 1635 and is situated at the mouth of the Merrimack. At the time, it was known as the smallest town in Massachusetts because the wetlands in the area was not conducive to agriculture. It was basically a fishing community where fish markets were common and where fish was sold at a fair price. Though, the mouth is considered one of the most treacherous due to its currents and everything. Look it up. It was also an important port known for its shipbuilding.

That and I'm willing to bet the colonists got eaten alive by the giant flies. Those things will kill you if you aren't careful. Why did evolution choose to give annoying flies SHARP FANGS?!

Eugene Hamel and
Celanise Lefebvre

    Two centuries pass and it is now the 1870s. The United States of America is recovering from a civil war that cost tens of thousands of lives. My third great-grandfather, Jeremiah Felker and my fourth great-grandfather, John Sargent Fisher were among the many Union soldiers who took part in the conflict. Jeremiah and his family settled in Haverhill on East Broadway and he likely witnessed a startling change in the valley! An Industrial Revolution was about to take place and a nation put out a call to workers from all over the world. Many would work in factories up and down the Merrimack or settled where they can find room.

    Several of my 2nd great-grandparents and a few of my third great-grandparents came to America from Canada at this time. Why? That's up for debate. Did they come to work in the mills? Did they come to make a better life for themselves and their families? Who can say? I'm not one to put words in peoples' mouths. But, I will say this. It was likely to make a better life for themselves.

    I really wish I could find naturalization papers or border crossing information which could help me figure out the reason why so many Canadians decided to leave their homes. That and I really want to know why my 3rd great-grandmother, Marie Eulalie Bibeau moved with her husband Pierre Cadran to Haverhill whilst her siblings went to Anoka county, Minnesota. Can you imagine the phone bill?! If they had a phone that is. =)

To put things into perspective, the population of Haverhill around the time of the 1860 census was exactly 9,995 people. By the time of the 1870 census, it jumped up to just over 13,000 thanks to mass migrations from all corners of the world. 

Gertrude Stevens and family.

    While the immigrants from Canada settled in, they found themselves interacting with the natives of the valley in a very positive way. It was common for Haverhill natives like Austin Felker, son of Wilfred Felker and Gertrude Stevens to marry a daughter of a French-Canadian immigrant like my great-grandmother, Henrietta Legault.

    That happened on November 29th, 1913. Other French-Canadians like Marie Eulalie Bibeau became known for being well-known figures in the French-Canadian community. It was at this point that communities of immigrants began to form in town. There was a French-Canadian quarter, an Armenian one and of course there was an Italian quarter.

    Newburyport was very much the same way. French-Canadians moved in, worked in the mills and even set up fix-it shops like my great-grandfather, Alfred Hamel did . At this point in time, he had married my great-grandmother, Clara Laplante on June 18th, 1916. Things were going pretty well in Newburyport. Minus the greenheads and the raging rapids. What was happening in Haverhill at this time? Well....

In truth, the town was about to get a whole lot bigger and a lot more uhh.....Italian. (And other nationalities were getting represented.)

Got a new pic of Giuseppe Carrabs this week.
Surprise!

     Italians had been in the Merrimack valley since at least the 1860s. However, it wasn't until the dawn of the twentieth century that things started to really move along. Italy had unified in 1861 and government policies that favored the north and left the south impoverished caused millions to flee Italy to the Americas, Australia and everywhere else on our small blue planet.

    Among the early arrivals in Haverhill were my great-grandfather Giuseppe Carrabs and his family and my 2nd great-grandmother Caterina Coppola's brother, Giovanni. They arrived in the 1910s and that point the population of Haverhill had swelled to over 44,000 people and it was then that the quaint little farming town on the banks of the Merrimack finally became a city.

    Haverhill and Newburyport benefited greatly from the influx of immigrants from all over the world. Mills needed workers. Workers needed places to live and the cities accommodated everyone who came on the boats and on the planes. They would bring their families over, have a ton of children and their children would have more children. Today we call this "chain migration". Back then? It was simply known as trying to help family find a better life.

       Over time, more immigrants arrived in Haverhill and many people like Giovanni sent for family members in the old country. People like my great-grandfather, Vincenzo Ferraiolo would arrive in America in the 1910s and return to Italy to marry. In Vincenzo's case, it happened in 1921, a year after my grandmother Olympia Carrabs was born.

 

"They're coming to America!"

    After five years living in San Pietro a Maida with his wife, Maria Tedesco, Vincenzo moved back to Haverhill and sent for his family who arrived in 1929. With her came my grandfather, Marco and my great-aunt Nicolina.

    At this point in time, Haverhill actually saw a sharp population decline. According to the 1920 census, there were 53,884 people in the city. By the 1930 census there were 48,710. What could have caused the decline? It could have been anything to be honest. I want to be positive and say that people were just moving out of town to the places around Haverhill like Lawrence, Salem and Plaistow. The decline could also be attributed to disease. It's honestly hard to say. It is worth looking up because Haverhill did have to deal with the "Spanish Flu" like every other American city.

    Unfortunately, the stock market crashed in 1929 and the United States plunged into the Great Depression. Like the rest of the country, the people of Haverhill and Newburyport has to struggle in order to make ends meet. The mills were in higher demand and the cities churned out more needed goods for the people in the valley.

   The Depression years saw many changes come to the Merrimack valley as mills started to close despite the demand for goods and services. Over in Europe, a war was brewing that would change the course of human history forever.

I swear he looks so dapper in this
pic.

     America found itself embroiled in the second World War in December of 1941 and as a result many natives of the valley found themselves drafted serve Uncle Sam. Men like my grandfathers, Marco Ferraiolo and Robert Hamel went on to serve with distinction.

    Upon their return home, they married their long-time girlfriends. Marco married Olympia Carrabs on June 13th, 1946 and Robert Hamel married Natalie Felker on June 5th, 1948. That's also the same day he was born! Coincidence? No. Not really. Knowing my grandfather he planned it all along. =)

    Haverhill and Newburyport in the post World War II era must have seemed more cosmopolitan than at any point in its prior history. Like many east coast cities, the city strived to be a representative of a rapidly changing world where people of many cultures lived and worked together. I'm not going to say there wasn't any conflict. Of course there were. BUT! That doesn't mean life wasn't getting better in the post-war years. Thank you, New Deal!

    As you can tell by the timeline, people started arriving in the Merrimack valley in the late 19th century and by the 20th, the area was dramatically transformed. New neighborhoods were built, people moved in by the thousands and the picture of Haverhill I have in my head was taking shape. The textile mills that dotted the river collapsed rapidly in the post-war era and eventually made way for office parks and apartment complexes.

Marco and Olympia!

    It's not hyperbole to say that immigrants changed the valley and made an impact on life in New England. They certainly did and their descendants thrive in the area today. I know because I'm one of them! But, just think about it for a second. Haverhill and Newburyport went from quaint farming communities to industrial powerhouses to cosmopolitan cities in just over a century. Can you imagine what it was like to see all of that?

    In my own lifetime, I've seen advances in technology and the rise of a communication tool we call the Internet. My grandparents have seen:

The rise of new modes of transportation.

Vaccines for diseases that would have likely killed their own parents.

New forms of entertainment in the form of television and movies.

My grandfather Robert always said it was amazing what we have now. And he's right. Up until the day he passed away he even had an e-mail address! Seriously. Sure his computer wasn't as advanced as mine. But, it got the job done! I think it just had e-mail and that was it.

And yes. I sent him an e-mail every once in a while.

    Time changes all of us and we're all witnesses to history whether we like it or not. That old Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times" happens all throughout our lives. That's why it's a good idea to sit back and look around because a moment won't happen again. A farm today may become a neighborhood tomorrow. Our ancestors knew that and they saw many changes come and go in the Merrimack valley. More changes are likely to come in the future.

Waiting for first contact on April 5th, 2063 in Bozeman, Montana.

See ya next time! And remember....Time may change you. But, you can't change 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 33: Service

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 33

Week 33's theme is "Service." Military service. Service stations. In service to others. Even good or bad service at a restaurant. Let your imagination run with this week's theme!

Knowing will always be half the battle. Don't ask me
what the other half is.

    It's a little difficult to talk about service in my family. Who do I talk about exactly?! Both sides have served in both World Wars and my mother's side of the family has people who served in basically every armed conflict America has been involved in aside from the Vietnam War and conflict in the Middle East. So, to that end, I have a ton of people to talk about and tons upon tons of draft cards and service records. I have written at great length about both grandfathers' service in World War II. Let's go one step above them. Let's talk about two of my great-grandfathers and their service during the first World War and their actions during World War II. Computer, call up the service records for Carrabs, Giuseppe and Hamel, Alfred Francis.

Alfred Hamel circa 1916

    Alfred enlisted into the service during the "war to end all wars" on November 16th, 1915. It was during that month that Mexican revolutionary leader, Pancho Villa, was vying for control of northern Mexico as part of the then five year-long crisis at the United States' doorstep. Wasting little time, young Hamel was sent from his home in Newburyport, Massachusetts to the border with Mexico where he would defend the nation in case the conflict south of the border escalated and spilled into the southwestern states.

    My great-grandfather's draft card explicitly stated that he wanted to sign up for the National Guard as a private. There are logically many reasons why he chose that path. He was a young man at that point with a wife and young daughter. Chances are he probably didn't want to abandon them or leave them without a father/husband. Who can say? There are many ways you can serve your country in times of war. Sometimes some people never fire a shot. Sometimes they are deep in the trenches. It doesn't mean their service should be looked down upon or not even celebrated. Did his country award him for his service? 

   Hmmm.....It's a possibility.

    Wow! Would you look at all those medals? You might recall me talking about them when I did my deep dive into that box I got from my aunt. Check out the blog here in case you need a refresher. It's been two years since I posted that blog and I'm still no closer to learning what exactly those medals are. I need to look them up. Good thing I have some friends in high places who know a thing or two about these medals. It's been two years. Someone needs to tell me what they are! They're still pretty cool, though and in decent condition!

    It's clear that Uncle Sam held Alfred in high regard. Even his obituary in 1962 praised the man since whoever wrote the obit provided a full list of every conflict he was involved in from his first enlistment to his last. That was convenient!

Because he wasn't just involved in the first World War!

I swear he looks like Popeye here.

    You would think that by the second world war came around, Alfred would have been content to just kick back and relax at his beach house on Plum Island, right? Not exactly, it seems. In 1941, Alfred was forty-nine years old and he enlisted for the third time in his life as a sailor and was placed on active reserve on December 8th, 1941. This was the day after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor.

    The fact that Alfred worked on a ship as a sailor makes sense when I look back at all the information I've been able to gather about his life. He was known as "Mr. Fix-It" in Newburyport and even had his own repair shop. We even have the electric bills to prove it. Don't ask me why my grandfather  saved the bills. Grandpa Bob saved everything. EVERYTHING! I guess that worked out in my favor because now I have a ton of stuff to sift through.

    That reminds me. There's a satchel full of stuff I need to go through in my spare time. I will likely blog about it. I had intended to go through it for this week's blog, but, I didn't really have the time. However, I will make it up to everyone and do a deep dive into the satchel. All I know about its contents is that there is likely more information about my grandparents' service and perhaps some obituaries. We shall see. 

  

    In contrast, I think you can safely say Giuseppe Carrabs had a very different experience when he was in the service than Alfred. After all he was an immigrant and I have not been able to find much about his service to date.
 

    However, I do know quite a few things about him.

1.He was thirty-seven years old when he enlisted in 1917.

2. When the second world war began, he enlisted again and served the country as an air raid warden.

I've always thought that was a little interesting.....

    If you think about it logically, air raid wardens have a very important job. They have to watch the skies for enemy planes and impose curfews. Lights had to be out at a certain time as houses would make tempting targets. It was their job to make sure civilians and bases were hard to spot.

This is Vincenzo Ferraiolo, not
Giuseppe!

    I wish I more information to share about Giuseppe's service. Even a picture of him in his uniform would be good! For now, I only have this picture of my great-grandfather, Vincenzo Ferraiolo. It's not bad if a little grainy. It's nothing a little Photoshop can't clean up, right? Right.

    There is a lesson to be learned here when you look at service records in my family. There are tons of ways you can serve a country during wartime and it doesn't make any type of service less valid. Look at Stan Lee, for example. He spent World War II drafting instructional books. It still counts as service, true believers!

    I'm still proud of what my great-grandfathers accomplished in the service regardless of how "in the trenches" they all were. If you're in the national guard, it doesn't really diminish their time when you compare it to someone who was in Europe or in the Pacific. The country you serve needs to be protected at home and that's exactly what the national guard does. You don't just send all your troops in one turn to fight an enemy. You've got to protect your flank and that's exactly what they did!

This was probably the most pro-service blog I have ever written. See ya next time!

And I promise I'll check to see if I can find more information on Giuseppe's service. Not to mention dive into the satchel.

52 Ancestors Week 32: At the Library

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 32

One of my favorite things to do when I was little was go to the library. (It still is!) It's really no surprise that I ended up getting my Masters degree in library science. This week's theme is "At the Library." Do you have any librarians in your family? What about fond memories of going to the library or help that you've received from a librarian?

No HUMAN BEING would stack books like this....

    Libraries and I go way back. Way, way back. I was always one of those kids who went to the library to study or just for some quiet time. Before any of you yell "NERD!!", remember who you're talking to. I've made multiple pop culture references in various blogs. You knew what you were getting yourself into the second you clicked that link! Anyway, I was always at the library looking up stuff or playing a game on the computer like "Oregon Trail" or "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?" In college, I actually worked at the McQuade Library at Merrimack where I helped to organize periodicals. So, yeah. Libraries and I go way back! I like them because they are a great repository for the expansion of human knowledge. They're also good if you just want to get away from the noise of school.

    While websites like Wikipedia and other online encyclopedias have also expanded human knowledge, it's important to remember that they are a tool. Nothing beats actually going to a library and seeing what they have in stock or seeing what you can find in their archives. Now, I haven't gone to the mecca of genealogical information at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City or even the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.. I have gone to a library a bit closer to home. Join me as I talk about the time I went to the Haverhill Public Library. 

Save the clock tower! Wait. Wrong building.

    It all started last year when I asked my dad's cousin, Bob if we could go to the library in Haverhill. We did a cemetery run at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Haverhill and I suggested going to the library when we finished running around trying to find Coppola graves. More on that cemetery run in a few months when we discuss "Tombstones" in Week 46. Spoilers!

    Bob was doing research on his own tree and happily agreed to go with me. He had some things to check out and I wanted to see what I could find in the library's newspaper archives since no Haverhill newspaper is currently online. Don't ask me what the deal is with that. This blog would become a long rant about how much potential they're squandering. *shakes fist.*

    The Haverhill Public Library is actually part of this complex of government buildings on Summer Street. Across the street is city hall and around the corner is the courthouse. If that doesn't scream "convenience", I don't know what does at this point.  It was tempting to go to those buildings and ask for information. SO TEMPTING!

I don't know why but I just
really like this picture.

    As tempting as it was, I had to stay on task. I had a mission to complete and I had the following objectives:

1. Find articles pertaining to people in my family from my great-grandfather Vincenzo Ferraiolo to even my grandparents, Marco Ferraiolo and Olympia Carrabs' wedding. 

2. Try to find Maria Tedesco's obituary and the obituaries for various relatives.

    Simple, right? Ahhh. If only that was the case, my friends.

    When we got to the library, Bob said that he needed to look up some stuff at the archive on the third floor. I said I was going to the newspaper room on the first floor and that I'd meet him once I find what was looking for. I then made a bee-line right to the librarian's desk and asked for help locating the reels I needed to use to find the articles I was looking for. The librarian on duty pointed me to where I needed to go and I thought I was all set. Apparently, I was not....

    

    I was a bit overwhelmed by the set up they had for the film viewer. Basically, the screen was an oversized Ipad and below it was a film viewer where you load the film and run it reel to reel. You use the mouse to open a program and it would look at the document for you as well as take screenshots. That's pretty cool in and of itself. We're living in the future! You could also browse the Internet and that means any patron could conceivably e-mail the pics to themselves. Just don't be that guy who saves their password on that computer. That's asking for trouble!

Just showing citizens of Haverhill this week. =D

    The librarian gave me an hour-long session for which to work with and I spent like fifteen of those minutes setting up one of the reels I needed to sift through. I thought I would start simple with the Haverhill Gazette from March of 1943 as that was the month Maria passed away. So, theoretically her obituary should have been there.

    Sadly, it was not. The clock ticking on the screen didn't do me any favors. So, I tried to use certain key words. For whatever reason, the app I was using didn't have an option to scan the pages for a certain word like "Ferraiolo". And yes I even used quotation marks to get the exact phrase. The technology was cool and all. But, it would have been so much more helpful had they included a simple search engine for the document. You could search for a word on the page don't get me wrong. The problem was that it couldn't search the entire reel. A simple program could have made the search easier. 

    I thought about it and felt like maybe I was being too hard on the system. I've been used to searches on sites like Newspapers.com where you could easily search for one word and the computer goblins can find it instantly. I know you have to work with what you have and maybe the system there spoiled me a wee bit. I just thought it needed to be easier to use and the clock was literally ticking. It's fine to just look page by page. But, when you're literally on the clock, it becomes a race against time!

Vincenzo and Maria!

    Time ran out and after an hour of searching the Haverhill Gazette from March of 1943, I came up empty. You can imagine my frustration as I walked to the front desk and asked if I could have more time. The librarian on duty said I could. I thanked him and he just went about his business. The odd thing was he didn't offer to help me look anything up. He was doing his own thing. I even said "I think I might need help with a few things" and he seemed kind of disinterested. I was like "Come on, dude. I'm finally at the Haverhill library, the place where I NEED to be and you aren't helping? REALLY?" I wonder if I should have pulled the "Freelance genealogist card". I should make one.

I didn't say that out loud. But, you KNOW I was thinking it.

  Once I had more time, I thought I would try and find something else. I carefully selected a reel which ideally should have had my grandparents' wedding in 1946. I sat down to sift through the reel and the iPad crashed on me. I sighed. This was one colossally bad comedy of errors. I just took the reel off and put things back quietly and went to go find Bob. I hoped he was having much more luck! I just wish the librarian was a bit more helpful. He seemed more content to just do his own thing.

Next time....

    I found Bob where I left him. He didn't seem to go very far. He was having a great time looking at books about the history of Haverhill and was talking with the librarian there. She seemed more helpful than the guy on the second floor. 

    Bob asked me how everything went and I said I wished I had found what I was looking for. I had the exact dates for everything I was looking for since I had the browser on the iPad open to WikiTree. All I needed to do was look over on there and then back to the reel viewer. Easy. 

    The only problem was that sometimes the reels were kind of hard to read and the help I could have gotten was virtually non-existent. I like libraries and I use them whenever I can. The problem was that this time the library kind of failed me. I wasn't mad or anything. I was just disappointed. It also didn't help that the program's focus feature didn't always work.

    All in all it was a disappointing experience on many levels. However, this doesn't mean I won't go back. If first you don't succeed, you try and try again. Just make sure a different librarian is on duty. The Haverhill public library is a great place and I can't really fault the app or anything. I had the search tools at my disposal. What I needed was more time and a helpful librarian. All the basic facts were already on WikiTree and I knew what time periods I was looking for. 

    I also wonder if the information was in another paper and not just the Haverhill Gazette. The city has other papers and I sadly didn't have time to go through them all. Next time? Next time I will and there will be a next time. I will find what I am looking for! Bob also agreed to go to City Hall. That should be fun and I'll be sure to write about the adventures here in the blog. Stay tuned and please support your local library!

   See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 31: Help

From Amy Johnson Crow:  Week 31

I get by with a little help from my friends...

This week's theme is "Help." When did an ancestor give or receive help? My first thought is of the neighbors who brought meals to my great-grandparents and their children while they were sick with the Spanish Flu. Another route you could take is when you've received help in your genealogy research. Who helped you and what did they help you discover?

Everybody needs somebody sometime....

"HELP! I need somebody.....HELP! Not just anybody...."

    When you're alone on your genealogical adventure, it can sometimes feel like it's a bit overwhelming. Let's be honest. When you dive into the records for the first time you can be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of decades and even centuries worth of information at your fingertips. You might get worried or a little scared and that's okay. You are never alone in the genealogy community because someone will always be on hand to help you through the various trials and tribulations that come from being a genealogist.

One of the many birth records I found with some 
help.

    I will be the first to admit that I've needed help from time to time. I'm not going to lie. I've needed a LOT of help over the years and I'm grateful for all of it. From my distant cousins who went to Gesualdo, Italy and got records to the various genealogists over at WikiTree who have helped me and several others find all the information that's out there and have given me insight as to how I can go about doing my own research. After all, if you feed a man a fish he can eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.

    I could ramble on and on about who has been helpful. But, I think it'd be best to focus on just one person. I put a bunch of names in my lucky Boston Celtics hat and drew my good friend, Kathy Nava. Very scientific of me, I know. =)

    Kathy is a rising star over at WikiTree. She has been very helpful in the last two years with our 2021 Year of Accuracy Challenge and this year with our Celebrity Challenge. She has also been a member of my team, Team Italy, for the various "thons" where we compete with other WikiTreers to connect profiles or clean up various errors around the site. She has also taken it upon herself to go the extra mile to get various records for me at her local Family History Library. That's pretty cool and so I thought I'd turn the mic over to her and show the world what we WikiTreers are all about in the form of an in-depth interview. Let's get started!

Chris: Hey, Kathy! How are you doing? Do you mind telling the readers of my blog a bit about yourself?

Kathy: I am doing fine. I grew up knowing I was adopted. I was born in New York and moved to Northern California when I was 2 years old. I was 18 years old when I got married and we are still together 36 years later. We have 5 children - 2 boys and 3 girls - and 4 grandchildren - 2 boys and 2 girls.

A few years ago I did a DNA test not realizing that I could find my biological family. I found my biological father who died in 1981. I found my biological mother who is still living in New York. Our relationship is good right now. Genealogy has been my hobby for about 10 years. If has been my saving grace during the pandemic as I have made many friends online on WikiTree.

Profiles for 31 million humans?! WOW!

Chris: WikiTree is a great place to meet friends. I've met many great ones there including you. I've found the community to be very helpful. What about you? What kind of help have you found there?

Kathy: Everyone is so helpful. When I first went to add a profile I wasn't sure how to. I wasn't used to the coding that is needed and trying to find an answer within the help pages wasn't working. I asked how to add a source and someone responded very quickly. I was amazed that an actual person responded so quickly. I have gotten more involved with WikiTree then I ever thought I would. Anytime I need help with something I can ask in discord or in our G2G forum and get an answer within a few minutes. This is a world wide site so someone is always online which means help is a few clicks away.

If I am not familiar with an area then I go to the Family Search Wiki and look up the information there. If I am still unsure about something I ask on WikiTree as there is someone that will know the area and tell me where to search.

Chris: I like that aspect of the community, too. I remember when I first started and I had loads of questions. Everyone was so eager to help me. I was a little taken aback given my prior experience with people online. I've found the community on WikiTree and the genealogy community as a whole to be very helpful. If people have an attitude, it's a lot easier to shrug it off than it is elsewhere on the Internet. 

I know that you're a member of the Italy Project on WikiTree. How did that come about?

Wanna join? 

Kathy: I have no idea that I had Italian ancestors until I did the DNA test and matched all these people with Italian surnames. I was very surprised but it made sense as I have always loved Italian food. I realized that it would take me years to get "across the pond" to Italy and find my ancestors. My paternal grandmother was born in New York but her parents were from Bisceglie, Puglia, Bari, Italy. I wanted to know them as people and not just a name on a paper. I posted in discord asking where I could find records. I was told that I should join the Italy Project as they are the people who know the ins and outs of resources in Italy. I joined and I have had so much fun in the project. We all learn from each other. I know that if I need help in Calabria that you are the go to person. Everyone is so willing to help all you have to do is ask. If you need help with reading a document you just need to post it and someone will help. It is always good to have another set of eyes. No question is a stupid question.

Chris: Haha! Thanks, Kathy. You've been helping me with Calabria, too! You've been going to the LDS library in your area looking up records for me like the ones I've been posting in this week's blog and records for other people. It feels good to pay it forward doesn't it?

Kathy: Yes, it does feel good to pay it forward. If people like you didn't help me along the way I would still be a beginner in genealogy. I have gotten so much help on WikiTree and I feel like paying it forward is the way to pass along the knowledge that I have learned. Everyone starts out as a newbie and the way to learn is by asking questions. Not everyone learns the same way so by asking questions you will may get 4 different answers. One of those answers will help you or all 4 answers may help you.

Chris: I know what you mean. I remember someone once telling me four Tedescos might be my ancestor and I just had to pick one. I was like "No, dude. That's not how this works. You don't just pick ONE GUY to be your fourth great-grandfather." That was probably one of the worst experiences I ever had in a genealogy forum. I haven't been back there since. So, now I stick with WikiTree and I ask questions in various Facebook groups. It's a good idea to always go to where people aren't going to be jerks. Hopefully!

I'm glad I was able to help you as much as I did because it's nice to be helpful. We all have to start somewhere. Even I did. Do you have any interesting stories of how you helped someone or they helped you?

    Yes. Every other week we have a guest challenge where we research the family tree of a celebrity. There are images that are not available to view online. You need to be at a library which has an affiliation with FS or at a FHC/FHL.  I am lucky as I can go to my local FHC which is about 5 minutes away. I have been able to view the image which has helped with adding another generation to the guests tree. It feels good when you are able to help build out someone's family tree whether they are a celebrity or not. Some people are home bound or don't have access to a library affiliate or a FHC/FHL and being able to get an image for them to help them with their family tree makes me feel good. 

    During the Holidays last year WikiTree had a Secret Santa project. I posted about wanting help with finding the father of my mom's grandpa. There was a story about her father being a Baron and I was trying to prove/disprove that story. I was hitting a wall and not finding anything about him. An Elf was able to find a record with his name on it. I was so excited. I was able to give my mom a name for her grandpa as a Christmas present. If it wasn't for WikiTree I would still be looking for his name.

Chris: Wow! That would have been tragic. I know if it weren't for you and other people who have helped me, I'd still be trying to find  Angela Gatto's birth certificate in San Pietro. Luckily I did and I pushed that branch forward! (Technically backward.) I still need to work through all the Gullos and Butruces, though. 

I really liked that Secret Santa project we all did and in a way you were mine since the following February you gave me a bunch of documents from San Pietro to check out. I can't thank you enough for that. We definitely have a great community don't we? So many helpers and so many stories!

Kathy: I love the WikiTree community. There is so much collaboration on WikiTree. It makes researching your family so much easier when you are able to talk to others who are researching the same lines.

I have ancestors in England and I have been scared to do research there as I'm not familiar with their records/repositories. Thanks to the England Project and their Orphan Trail I have been learning about how and where to check for documents. Also they have a list of what sources are acceptable and which ones aren't. There are family pedigrees that have mistakes in them and those mistakes keep getting used as people don't do their research.

I wish that some of the projects had a "trail" of some sort where you have to build a profile using the sources that are project accepted. In the United States, we have areas that the courthouses were burned and all those records were destroyed. What are the other places that have documents in those areas?

Chris: City halls, might. Several documents might be duplicated and sent elsewhere. If a courthouse in Farmington, New Hampshire burned down, chances are a duplicate could be found in Concord, New Hampshire.

That's just one tip! (Free of charge.) Before we go, do you have anything you want to say to anyone reading the blog?

If you haven't already joined WikiTree please join as a guest and take a look around the site. WikiTree isn't for everyone. When you create an account you are greeted by a real person and everything is free. We have fun and enjoy working on our families.

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    So, there you have it. WikiTree is great for helping people and helping people do genealogical research is a great thing to do. You help people make discoveries, prove/disprove family lore and have a great time while doing it. I wish the same could be said for those group projects we had to do during school. At least with genealogy we all have one goal and less attitude.

    This was just one example of the helpful attitudes I've encountered in my travels. I've been fortunate that so many people have been eager to help me research my family tree and make discoveries. I've tried to pay it forward as well and it's a great feeling to help people. Instances like this show that you aren't alone on an island when you're doing research. Find some people who can help and discoveries will be made if you know where to look!

See ya next time! And thanks go out to Kathy Nava for agreeing to be part of the blog! I should probably do this again some time....