52 Ancestors Week 28: Random

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 28

The theme for Week 28 is "Random." Sometimes we find the most random things about our ancestors. For me, it was discovering that my great-grandfather had a tattoo on his upper arm. You could also pick a random ancestor and write about him or her this week. Have fun with this theme!

This is the stuff ransom letters are made out of.

     While you're on your genealogical adventure, you find the most random things as you look through various documents. Some day you might find out that an Italian immigrant from San Pietro a Maida took up a mining job in Montana in the early 1900s only to find that his naturalization paperwork had been stolen! I kid you not. THAT HAPPENED! See this WikiTree profile for Giuseppe Barberio for details. I'm serious. Go take a look! I wonder if the thief kept the original document and it's now in someone's attic! It's something to think about! There's a story here! The statute of limitations is LONG over. If you have the original document, it's okay to come forward! I'm just saying.

     Oddly enough, Giuseppe's story isn't the most random story involving an Italian immigrant in my journey. Sometimes a story can seem really random and yet in the end everything gets tied up in a neat little bow. 

    Take Giovanni Ferraiolo here for instance. I originally found his birth document in San Pietro a Maida as I dug through the records of that town. I created a profile of him on WikiTree and let him stew, not knowing when or if I'd ever get back to him. At the time I made the profile, he was a guy who happened to share my family name and lived in my grandfather Marco's hometown.

       That's a pretty standard way to research a town. Note someone's birth and move on as you try to hopefully find another connection or two. Everything was going well until I discovered another Giovanni Ferraiolo who ended up in the wilds of upstate New York in a city called Utica. That was honestly the last place I expected to find an Italian immigrant aside from Montana!

    My friend Denise assured me that many Italians immigrated to Utica and in other places in upstate New York. In fact, she said that the Italian population could have rivaled that of Haverhill, Massachusetts. I don't know about that! I think it's a bit of tongue and cheek humor between Red Sox Nation and the damn Yankees. =) Gotta love sports rivalries.

Main street Utica. Where are the mountains?

    It is true. Utica has been home to a sizeable Italian population. In fact, my second great-grandfather Marco's brother, Giuseppe lived there for some time before settling in New Jersey. So, imagine my surprise when I discovered that another Ferraiolo was living in the same city as him! 

    I forget what led me to discover the man. I think someone had pointed him out on a ship manifest and asked me if he was related to me. I wasn't sure and I did some digging. It was then that I found something odd amongst all the various marriage documents and everything. His grave in Utica had the birthdate of 1846. That was pretty interesting and very helpful. I just needed to know WHERE here was born.

    As luck would have it, I found that he was born in San Pietro a Maida as it was sort of mentioned on his daughter Angelina's marriage document. I say "sort of" because whoever wrote down her parents' names wrote "San Pietro" Ferraiolo instead of Giovanni. In a later document it was confirmed that Giovanni was her father. Maybe someone goofed? Probably. Still, the name "San Pietro" caused my spider-sense to tingle and I went to the records right away!

    The only Giovanni Ferraiolo I could find in the San Pietro births from 1845 to 1847 turned out to be the same one I had already sourced and put on WikiTree. Giovanni was born on September 11th, 1846 to Francesco Ferraiolo and Caterina Costantino in San Pietro.

    Was this too much of a coincidence? Could the original Giovanni be the Giovanni who went to Utica with his wife and children? I asked around and everyone I've talked to seemed convinced that both men were the same. It's entirely possible that the two men were one and the same. Let's take a step back and look at it this way.

    Italy during the time when he was growing up was in utter turmoil. By the time the country was unified in 1861, policies were in place that favored the northern regions. The south was left in poverty and so droves of Italians left their country and Giovanni was likely part of that first wave of immigrants who arrived in New York.

    Anyone in my position would want hard facts to prove that this was indeed the same person. It's not like the Coppola case where I had DNA evidence to prove where Giovanni Coppola fit in my family tree. As far as I know, I have no DNA matches who link me to this family. Giovanni's daughters had many children. So, how could I prove that it's not just some random coincidence?

Giovanni's final resting place. 

    The answer is: I can't unless I have the Utica Giovanni's death certificate. He passed away on June 21st, 1924 in Utica and so far all the information about his passing does not list his parents. However, I might not need them considering he was the only Giovanni Ferraiolo born in the timeframe listed on the stone. Granted, stones can be inaccurate. Still, he was born in San Pietro a Maida. That much is obvious.

    His ship manifest points to that town and if he really was the only Giovanni born in that time frame, then chances are we have a match. It remains to be seen how accurate everything is, though. For now, I have merged the profiles and left a little note explaining the situation. 

    I honestly think he is the same guy. You never know. The stars could all be aligned and there could still be an error or two. I could be wrong. Some of my friends are putting Vegas odds on this being the same guy. Part of me wants to contact Utica and see if I can sneak a peek at the guy's death certificate so I can be absolutely sure. But, this case isn't really a priority for me at the moment. So, I think I can hold off for now. This is a good theory and it holds a lot of water. What do you all think? Do you think this is a random coincidence or do you think I'm onto something. Let me know in the comments below!

    Genealogy is full of random coincidences and everything. Even our DNA can be random! A 7cM DNA match could even be a 3rd cousin once removed. The randomness of the field is what actually excites me. You never know what you'll find. I just think it's totally random that someone found a Ferraiolo for me WAY out in Utica. Could I be connected to Giovanni? Probably. Time will tell. I'll have to do more research. I really hope the San Pietro Giovanni is the same guy as the Utica one. There's too much of a coincidence for THAT to be random.

But, you know what Sherlock Holmes says "If you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth."

See ya next time!

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