52 Ancestors Week 52: Me, Myself and I

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 52

The last theme for 2023 is "Me, Myself, and I." You are a part of your own family history. This week, write something about yourself. What do you hope future generations will know about you?

The last album cover banner of 2023!

    As I write this week's blog 2023 is coming to an end and I think it's the perfect time to reflect on the past and think about the hopes for the future. No one knows what will happen in the coming year. Will you finally score big at the Powerball? On the genealogy front, will you finally connect with that "long lost" cousin you sent a message to ages ago? The future is a cloud of endless possibilities. That's what makes life worth living in my opinion. There's no script that we're following and no guidelines to look at. Not knowing what's coming ahead can pique your curiosity.

    Still, I can't help but wonder what people will think of me in the future. I know that sounds a little egotistical. But, bear with me! It's this week's prompt! The first things they're likely going to find on the Internet are this blog, my webbcomic and hopefully my YouTube channel. From those three things alone people will probably assume that I was a creative guy and that I like to write stories. That's true. I enjoy writing and sometimes those creative juices go into overdrive from time to time. I'm not going to lie! The Internet is forever and it's a safe bet that those things will be found very easily. That's just a small part of what people will find out there. At least there are no "Florida Man" stories about me. Oof. Can you imagine someone finding those?! Yikes!

It took me so long to find this home on the web.

    In the future, WikiTree will still be around thanks to all the safeguards our Wikitreer in Chief, Chris Whitten and others have put in place to make certain that the data on the site will NEVER be lost. I think it's safe to say that someone will find my profile there. I'm not hard to find. User IDs are based on a person's last name and I'm the only active "Ferraiolo" currently on WikiTree. It's not like my last name is "Smith" or anything.

    Being a user on WikiTree is one thing. I'm currently a project coordinator for the Italy Project, a member of the Ambassadors Project and from time to time you'll see me in various videos on the WikiTree YouTube Channel. I guess I haven't quite kicked the habit of being on Youtube, huh? I like being on camera. Editing a video? That's a different story. You know....there's so much more to me than just being a dancing monkey on the Internet. I may joke around and have fun. But, I also do a great deal of research as readers of this blog know very well.

Angela Gatto, one of the many denizens of
San Pietro a Maida.

    With that in mind, I hope people will learn that I was very dedicated to researching the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida. It's no secret that I've been researching my grandfather Marco's ancestral town for many years now. I have many connections there and ultimately many of those families ended up in Haverhill, Mass hence the name of this blog.

    I want people to know that I started researching San Pietro because I was curious about my roots there. I learned so much from my father, great-aunt and other relatives and I needed to learn more. Not only am I creative, I was one of those kids who asked a MILLION questions much to the annoyance of my parents. Yes. I was that kid. Asking questions do pay off! As long as they're the right ones at the right time. You don't want to bring up family drama at Thanksgiving.

    Initially, researching San Pietro alone made me feel lonely and that's putting it mildly. At the time of this blog's posting, I've yet to find someone researching the town as much as I have. Now, that's not to say that people haven't researched the town. They have. It's just....I've often wished that those people communicated with me. I feel like I work better with others because sometimes I worry that I get information wrong. It's just one of my many quirks and I like having another pair of eyes looking at some random record for me. In the beginning, that happened quite often and as time went on, I felt more confident reading an Italian document by myself. Can I carry on a conversation with someone in Italian? No. No way. But, I can give you the basic info from any document. One thing, though. Legibility counts!

Nicolina Ferraiolo in her army days.

    Because I was the only person actively researching the town, I started a one place study for San Pietro. It was always my hope that people would find the study and learn about the town and its history. I haven't been able to find all of the juicy details about the origins. However, I did learn a few odds and ends that I'll likely add to the page in the future.

    I suppose I want to be known for researching San Pietro in the same way my distant cousin Mary is known for researching Gesualdo. She single-handedly researched that town and the surrounding towns of Frigento and Grottaminarda, scanned the documents and put those scans on Ancestry. I kind of want to do the same thing because she helped me so much with Gesualdo and if I do what she did, I'd be helping someone who descends from someone from San Pietro. The circle would be complete.

 That's why I created a tree on Ancestry called "From San Pietro to Haverhill" so I could do just that. Are the documents on there? Uhh...No. BUT! The dates and important facts are there. It's a start.

    We all have to start somewhere, right? For now all I can do is put San Pietro profiles on WikiTree and hopefully link a few to people who lived in Haverhill. The book "Italians in Haverhill" offered me a jumping on point to do just that. And yes, I made a study of that book, too. Like I said. I'm dedicated to researching the town.

     It's very important to me because the town rarely appears AS "San Pietro a Maida" on American documents! I'm very happy when it does because sometimes there's a misspelling or it's not transcribed correctly. By doing what I'm doing, I'm setting the record straight once and for all. People deserve to find their roots and it would help that there's someone out there crossing the ts and dotting the is out there.

 In the end, I will say I am glad people have helped me researched San Pietro. I couldn't have done it without the help of people like Frank, Kathy, Greg, Karen,  Denise, Mary, Trish, Isabelle and so many others on and off WikiTree. I want it to be known that they helped me through this silly little project and made certain that I was always focused. Thanks for the help, everyone! 

    The future may be a cloud of uncertainty. But, with amazing friends great things will happen. I want the world to know that I counted on them for a lot of guidance and support. I may need to call on their services in 2024. I never felt right going solo and they proved that I don't have to go it alone.

See ya in 2024. The clouds of the future are lifting. Let's see what's out there.

52 Ancestors Week 51: Cousins

From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 51 is "Cousins." The neat thing about this theme is that we genealogists know that everyone is our cousin! That definitely opens up the possibilities for who to write about! Whether you focus on a close one or someone who is barely attached to your family tree, share the story of one of your cousins this week.

I swear there were like thirteen cameras on us when this picture
was taken. Not pictured: Three other cousins and my brother.

    When you're a little kid, your cousins are usually the first friends you ever make. No one else can help you make sense of your large family like your cousins. Though, if you're the second oldest of the cousins like I am, you might find yourself a loss for words when weird things start happening. If you think about it, once you get started on your genealogical adventure, you cast a wider net and end up finding cousins you've never met before. That gives you a larger scope of just how massive your family  truly is and let's be honest it can be very daunting.

    Growing up I knew my parents' cousins and once I started really getting into my family tree, I found second cousins in Europe. We always knew that they were out there somewhere. It was just a matter of finding them and making contact with those "long-lost" relatives. Europe isn't the only place I found second cousins and beyond, though. On my mother's side you would only have to travel to the far away land of Nova Scotia to find a second cousin or two.

No, seriously. That isn't coastal Maine....

    Nova Scotia is a good three hour ferry trip from Maine and it's where my second cousin once removed, Janine Saulnier lives. The story of how I met her online is interesting. It all started back in 2017 when I was just starting out on my genealogical adventure. She was friends with my uncle Bob who had moved to New Brunswick and he put the word out saying that I was looking for information about the family.

    I had no idea who Janine was and eventually she sent me a message and we began talking about family history.

    Janine descends from my great-grandfather Alfred Hamel's sister, Aurora, Like him, she was born in Allenstown, New Hampshire and eventually she made her way to Amesbury, Massachusetts where she married a man named Leo Thimot in 1924 and had six children with him there including Janine's mother. Some time after the 1930 census she and her family moved to Little Brook, a town in southwestern Nova Scotia's Digby county. There, Leo and Aurora added three more children to their growing family.

Don't ask me what the numbers mean. I have
no idea.

    Like me, my cousin is very interested in family history and right from the beginning she would send me many, many pictures. One of the best ones she had ever sent me was this picture of my grandparents, Robert and Natalie at her parents' 40th wedding anniversary party. As you can tell by the photo, the party took place around Christmas. Talk about timing! 

    I'm not entirely when this picture was taken. Part of me wants to say this was taken in the 1960s because my grandmother's hair hadn't completely gone white at this point. I don't remember her with dark hair at all. So, I think that be a good guess. This pic, though was only the beginning of all the treasures she had in her collection.

    Janine has amassed quite a pictures herself and she needed my help identifying people in various photos taken around Christmas.

    Pictures like this one were taken in the 1950s and she had no idea who the lady on the left was. I told her from left to right we had my 2nd great-grandmother Georgianna Ross, my great-aunt Doris, my great-grandmother Clara and my great-aunt Norma. I should probably digitally remove the numbers on the photos! Shouldn't be too hard!

    Oh! And it should be noted that Janine was the one who gave me my grandparents' wedding picture. It was the only one she had and the only one I knew about until I saw a colorized version among my grandfather's possessions later. She gave it to me as I wanted a picture of my great-uncle Alfred.

    The exchange of pictures isn't the only thing we've done since we met. No, there were stories to be told and questions to be answered.

    One of my big questions was always "Why did Aurora and her family go to Nova Scotia?" Simple question, right? After all her brothers Alfred and Eugene stayed in the Merrimack Valley. Why did she move so far from her family? Naturally, I asked and the only answer I got was "They wanted to go to Nova Scotia". No big secret here. No scandal. Sometimes history is that cut and dry. I had to accept that fact even though I suspect ecnomic conditions in Amesbury in the 1930s may have pushed her to move.

My mom and aunt Susan were at the 40th, too?!

    I think that's probably the best answer I can come up with. Some people just feel like moving and sometimes money may play a role in the move. You just never know unless you ask someone. As long as they're availible that is!

    As far as Janine goes, I have added her as a friend on Facebook and we talk from time to time. Sometimes I'll share some genealogical finding with her and sometimes she'll send me a few pictures.

    It's nice to have a cousin in the family who is also passionate about family history because while you can talk about the craziness in the family, you can talk about what got us there to begin with. Best guess is someone drank the water from the Merrimack. ;)

    Janine is just one of my many amazing cousins and I'm glad we're in contact because the pictures she shared with me are amazing. I only hope that she liked the pictures I shared with her. Lord knows I have a lot and the pictures she has helps to fill the well...let's call them "plotholes" in my family story. I had no idea my mother and aunt were at her parents' 40th wedding anniversary and she had no idea who Georgianna "Little Grammy" was. I guess the surprises work both ways!

    Cousins are indeed awesome and I'm fortunate in that I have so many members of the family who are willing to talk family history or just talk about random stuff. This is probably why it's a good idea to never try to do family history solo. While you may find bits of information here and there, all you're really getting are the cold facts and not the stories behind the facts. Genealogy can be lonely if you don't connect with a family member and you may be missing out on a few key bits of information you need to correct a few plotholes in your family story.

See ya next time!

    

The children of Leo Thimot and Aurora Hamel.

52 Ancestors Week 50: You Wouldn't Believe It

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 50

The theme for Week 50 is "You Wouldn't Believe It." Sometimes in our family history journey, we discover things that surprise or amaze us, things that almost seem unreal. There are also times in our research that we're amazed at *how* we found something. Share a surprising tale this week.

Mind. Blown.

    Genealogy is full of surprises. Everywhere you go on your genealogical adventure you're bound to find a new cousin who messages you out of the blue or some random document you've spent hours trying to find. It's the nature of the hobby/profession. You're going to find surprises both good and bad wherever you go. As for me, I've found some whoppers. You all know I am connected to European actor Pasquale Aleardi who is my second cousin once removed. What if I told you I was also connected on my mother's side to a rather famous baseball player. Not just ANY baseball player, by the way. We're talking about the Colossus of Clout, the King of Crash, the Sultan of Swat, the Great Bambino himself....George Herman "Babe" Ruth!

There's heroes and there's legends. 
Heroes get remembered. Legends
never die.

    Now, obviously it's not a blood connection. Let's get that out of the way before we go any further. I don't want to be blamed for the curse of the Bambino that the Boston Red Sox had to deal with before they won a World Series in the early 2000s. Several marriages had to happen which made this connection a possibility. Hang tight, kids. We're going to go through some genealogical gynmastics. See you on the other side, I hope!

    How I discovered it was totally random. What happened was I was doing some descendency research on my Stevens line and I came across a woman named Julia Hodgson. I checked her out on Wikipedia as the page was one of her sources on WikiTree and the page said she was the stepdaughter of the Babe since her mom, Claire Mae Merrit was once married to him.

    Interesting, right? That's still not where the connection come from because Julia married a man named  Brenton Maurice Stevens in 1956. I know what you're thinking. Stevens is a VERY common name and you're right of course. It is a crazy common name. However, with the power of plot convenience research, I have proved the connection to Mr. Ruth via Brenton.

    Try to follow along as it gets a wee bit complicated. Brenton was born on April 18th, 1920 in Portland, Maine to Earl Webster Stevens and Mabelle Ida Hall. Vital records in Maine confirmed that much. He lived to be 84 and died just before the Red Sox started the World Series run in 2004. Sigh....if only he hung in there one more week! I'm sure he and his father-in-law would have had some things to discuss in the Hereafter *IF* he made it. The Babe was the reason there's a rivalry between the Red Sox and the Yankees.

    Joking aside, I researched Brenton's father, Earl and quickly discovered that he was born in Dover, New Hampshire on May 24th, 1895 to William Earl Stevens and Lilla Randall. Vital records and censuses confirmed he was the son of Alonzo and Susan Stevens.

    Here's where things get a little tricky. You have to be careful when you look at these common names or else you'd literally be barking up the wrong tree. Thankfully, users on Familysearch found Alonzo's parents and they turned out to be named Wheelright Stevens and Martha Corban. No pages on WikiTree for them, yet. Soon, I promise!

    Alonzo's parents aren't ancestors of mine. So, where would the connection be? If you're saying to check out the wife, you get a cookie. Because that's exactly what I did and that's exactly where the connection can be found!

   Susan was born on April 6th, 1835 in Parsonsfield, Maine to William Stevens and Rosanna Taylor, my 5th great-grandparents. Birth documents in Maine and censuses all confirmed the relationship and I smiled. I have a pretty solid if not interesting connection to one of the greatest baseball players of all time. I don't want to brag or anything. But, that's pretty awesome! You have to admit! Confirming everything while tempering my hopes with caution was a little crazy. But, it was worth it. Brenton is now a confirmed third cousin three times removed.

Allon-sy, Alonzo! I had to. I'm a Doctor Who
Fan! Plus, you knew it was coming!

    Confirming everything was pretty easy to do because thankfully records in Maine and New Hampshire are pretty decent and easy to come by. Everything seemed to click and my connection to Babe Ruth remains one of the coolest connections I've discovered in the family tree.

    Does it hold water? Ummm....Yes. Do you think I'd be posting about this if I wasn't absolutely 100% sure of the stuff I'm saying? This isn't hyperbolt and I'm not one to brag. I had to make sure all the ts were dotted and is were crossed. ;)

    I was cautious, I'll admit. It's much easier for me to believe a closer connection like my and Pasquale because my father and  I have DNA backing that up. Not to mention gigaquads of family data, photos and stories. Solving that close a relation was easy for me because of various circumstances. It's not so easy for everyone else, I'll admit!

    Though, you know if you go back far enough, you'll find that everyone's connected. Some might find that connection in the distant past and some might find that connection before everything was written down. You never know. We're all humans and we're all connected to each other one way or another. It really makes you think.

    My connection to Babe Ruth is cool and all. But, my connection to Mark Hamill is infinitely cooler because on one hand I'm one with the Force and on the other....I'm connected to the clown prince of crime, the Joker! HAHAHAHAHAHA!

See you next time!

P.S. Having a notable connection is cool and everything but don't let it go to your head. If anything, it's a great conversation starter at parties. =D

52 Ancestors Week 49: Family Recipe

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 49

The theme for Week 49 is "Family Recipe." In many families, the winter holidays mean a time for breaking out favorite recipes. For me, it isn't Thanksgiving or Christmas without cranberry salad. (It isn't the stuff in a can -- it's cooked cranberries, apples, walnuts, and celery in black cherry Jello. Can you tell I'm from the Midwest?) Think about a recipe that's special in your family, or the person who made that recipe special. Share that story this week.

I can see people drooling already.

    I'm honestly a little skeptical about celery in black cherry Jello. I'm sure it's very good. I'll try just about anything to be honest. Just don't give me anything from the "Olive Garden" and we'll be good. Everyone has their own recipe that's been passed down through their ancestors and in my case I have quite the cookbook of recipes. Makes sense, right? I'm half Italian and obviously I'd have some Italian recipes in my bag of tricks. Mmmm....You'd think that. But, my grandma Ollie's way of cooking was mostly just  "A pinch of this." or a "pinch of that". When she really got worked up, it was usually "Let's put a little of this in!" And that's how I got a chicken neck in the chicken soup once. Mmm....Eat your heart out Gordon Ramsay.

    Now, this didn't mean that she was a bad chef. No, no. Not in the least! She was an amazing cook! She just tended to eyeball most of her recipes from time to time and never wrote things down.  Thankfully, her sisters kept most of the recipes their mother Clementina  put on paper. They were they passed down to the children and so on. That reminds me. I need to ask my cousin Sandy if she'd let me look at the molasses cookie recipe or the eggplant parm one. Those are AMAZING!

    While Olympia didn't write things down, it didn't stop her from tasting any Italian dish my mother made. She would often offer pointers here and there as well. My mother taught herself how to make the best cheese lasagna you have ever had and it was so well liked that even the Italians in the audience praised the dish. Amazing, right? The French-Canadian lady knew how to make world class lasagna!

    The story of how my mother started making lasagna isn't exactly a closley guarded secret. She offered to make it one year for a special occasion and has been doing it ever since. We normally have lasagna with Thanksgiving dinner like most Italian-American families. However, we've had the pasta dish on New Year's Day and even on Easter. Normally it's relegated to Thanksgiving dinner as a perfect side dish to go with turkey, stuffing and the rest of the trimmings. If you thought turkey put you in a food coma, imagine what a slice of lasagna will do to you!

    The recipe itsself is pretty standard. We obviously never made the noodles by hand. That would take forever. So, like most Italians we either bought Prince pasta or Barilla to use as a base. Side note. Barilla claims it's the number one pasta brand in Italian. I'm going to have to conduct a study on that with some cousins of mine. Friends in Italy have said it's a little expensive.

    The next thing we have to get for our dish is the sauce. Usually this makes the lasagna really good because you have to start making the sauce the day before. This gives the sauce time to age a little before use. My mother tends to buy Prego sauce as it tastes better than the other brands. Sometimes she'll use a pinch of her homemade sauce! It just depends on the time of year and the availability of the sauce.

    After you get the tomato sauce and the pasta all situated, you have to get the cheese ready. For this we use a healthy blend of ricotta, mozzerella and parmesan cheese. Once you get all the ingredients ready, my mother layers it by first putting the sauce in the pan first and then the noodles. Once it is expertly layered, it's put in the oven and in no time at all the lasagna is ready to serve. It's filling. But, what a way to go. Keep in mind we also add meatballs and sausages on the side to go with this feast.

Smiling because of the toys or smiling because
lasagna was cooking and we smelt it?: YOU
Decide!

     My mother undoubtedly worked hard on the lasagna every year for as long as I can remember. My brother and I were practically raised on the dish. There's really no question if we loved it or not. We did. In fact, my brother asks for it every year and we leave plenty of leftovers at his house.

    Did Ollie like it, though? Of course she did. She and her sisters loved my mom's cooking. Sure they'd offer a tip here and there. But, it was never out of rudeness. No. They'd say something like "I bet if you add some ___, some of the flavor will come out". They'd just offer tips every now and then. I just need to ask her to write down the recipe!

   

     There you have it. The basics on my mom's lasagna recipe. It's not really a closely guarded secret as other recipes are. However, it's a solid one and the results more than speak for themselves. It's a very special recipe for me and my family because it's been a family tradition for as long as I can remember. Every time I have it, I think of Thanksgiving dinners of years gone by and how my grandmother, her sisters the cousins and basically everyone on my dad's side would absolutely love the Italian dishes a decidedly non Italian lady made for her family. It just goes to show you don't have to be Italian to make a great Italian dish. 

See ya next time!