52 Ancestors Week 1: Family Lore

From Amy Johnson Crow Week 1

The theme for Week 1 is "Family Lore." Many of us have heard stories from our grandparents about incredible feats our ancestors did or a famous person we're related to. What's a tale that has been passed down in your family? Did it end up being true or did it turn out to just be a good story?

If anyone actually buys this story. I have some ocean front
property in Arizona to sell you.

    We're starting off this year's 52 Ancestors with a bang aren't we? I'm sure every family has a story that's been twisted and misinterpreted in many ways. Telling a story is a lot like playing the "telephone game" isn't it? By the time the story gets to you, the details would have undoubtedly been twisted thanks to bias or someone just not remembering the details correctly. It happens. Sometimes family lore can prove to be true. Sometimes they aren't true in the slightest. As a genealogist, it's your job to sort out the fact from fiction like a certain dark knight. 

    In my case, I've had quite a few tall tales that proved to be both true and false. The false ones are infinitely more entertaining. Apparently, I have a connection to Queen Isabella of Spain on my dad's maternal side. Try working out the logistics there. It'll make your head hurt. Sadly, that's not the only tall tale on my dad's side of the family. This next one comes courtesy of my great-grandfather, Vincenzo Ferraiolo.

Vincenzo and Nicolina in
the 1960s.

    Vincenzo was known for his frequent trips to and from his Calabrian hometown of San Pietro a Maida. After one such trip, he told my great-aunt Nicolina, my father and my grandparents that he paid to have a statue put in the town's square. He never told anyone what the statue was *OF* or his reason for purchasing the item. That should have been the first red flag.  He told everyone about the statue and everyone sort of accepted it at face value because he tended to be quite the charmer.

    Years went by and I heard the story about the supposed statue from Nicolina herself. My father had accepted the story and we just went about our lives wondering about this thing. Was it a marble statue of some Ferraiolo from centuries ago? Was it an obelisk with peoples' names engraved on it? I had a ton of questions when I heard about the thing and neither Nicolina nor my father had an answer for me. Red flag number two! At this point, I got mildly annoyed. One more strike and this story is out of the game.

    I was beginning to have my doubts as no one had pictures of the statue. Everyone just talked about how great and awesome the thing was. No one except me ever thought to ask questions. Though, my mother and brother were kind of skeptical, too! I'm pretty skeptical of many things until I see the truth dancing in front of me. Call me jaded. I don't care.

    My dad even suggested that maybe it was placed at the church or at the cemetery in honor of his first wife, Maria Tedesco. One small problem. Maria was buried at Saint Patrick's Cemetery in Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1943 and he allegedly bought the statue in the 1960s. Why buy a statue for your first wife and put it in a cemetery halfway across the planet?

    Once I started on my genealogical adventure, I came into contact with cousins in San Pietro. In the back of my mind, I remembered the tale of this supposed statue and I asked my cousins about it quite nicely because I had no idea how to best ask the question. As you can imagine.....there was never any statue!

    You all saw this coming a mile away didn't you? Vincenzo went by himself to San Pietro and supposedly paid to have a statue put in the town No one ever took pictures and sent it. If it existed, I would have seen it by now. Trust me. No one ever knew what the statue was OF. And the worst part is there has never been a TOWN SQUARE IN SAN PIETRO A MAIDA!!!

    Eventually, my cousin Caterina went to the town cemetery and took some pictures for me as I was curious about where Maria's parents Antonio Tedesco and Domenica Gullo were buried.

    She never mentioned any statue being there. I would think she would have as her grandmother was Maria's sister. There were just nearby memorials. The only decorations I can see are flowers and candle holders. No statues to be found at all.

     Oh, man. I can only imagine what kind of reaction the family in San Pietro had when I asked them about Vincenzo's "present". The first being "Is this American crazy?"  Well, we are but that's beside the point. At least they were nice and told me the truth. They never heard or such a memorial. There are no statues anywhere in San Pietro.

No town square to be seen.

    I later confirmed all of this with my digital stroll through San Pietro a Maida on Google Maps. I "walked" around and while I saw a nice picturesque Calabrian town, I didn't see any statues of any kind. There was no town square.

     Now, I could play devil's advocate and say that there was a plaza when Vincenzo last visited and the statue had long since been removed. But, that's extremely unlikely. Nicolina went to and from San Pietro as late as the early 1980s. She really raked up the frequent flier miles working as an antiques dealer.

    It's a shame that this story turned out to be a wild goose chase because I would have loved to have seen the statue. At least some of Vincenzo's other tales turned out to be true.  For example, we have photographs depicting his trip to his cousin Caterina's wedding in Switzerland in 1970. We have pictures of her brother Marco's wedding, too. Photos definitely help determine if a story is true or not unless they've been doctored.

    Family lore can be entertaining and for the most part my grandparents never really bought into any wild stories because they always spoke the truth. Only rarely would I hear something outlandish as say a "statue" or something like that. I'm not saying my family's boring. If you've been reading long, you'd know that's not the case. No one's family story is boring. Sometimes the truth can be stretched to fit a narrative and honestly this statue business is not the wildest "family lore" I've heard. It is, however, one that was easily proven false by the good citizens of San Pietro a Maida. God, I hope they didn't think I was crazy for asking them about the statue.

See ya next time! 52 Ancestors 2024 starts now!