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.