52 Ancestors Week 35: All Mixed Up

From me: Admit it. We've all been confused. No one's perfect. Sometimes we've confused one ancestor for another because they share the same last name. Other times an ancestor was confused. Confusion happens. Write about it today! Just be careful you don't bark up the wrong tree. Literally.

It was either this or make a ransom letter out of magazine clippings.

    I can't say I've never been confused by anything on my genealogical adventure. There have been many times where I've literally barked up the wrong tree and made some mistakes. I've even added a wrong person once or twice through no fault of my own. Mistakes happen and you move on. There's no harm done and you go about your life like nothing has happened. 

    Believe it or not, most of my mistakes and confusion have been on the Italian side of the tree. I don't pretend to be an expert on everything on the Italian genealogy front. I'm far from it. I'm not even fluent in Italian. I can read it, sure. But, I can't carry on an actual conversation with someone! Part of that blog I wrote a few weeks ago was made with Google Translate. 

    In many cases, I've had to build the Italian side of my tree from the ground up. My distant cousin Mary did an amazing job with the Carrabs tree and I've used her work to fill in the gaps. She did an amazing job researching Gesualdo and its neighboring towns. She has thousands of scans on her tree making it one of the best Italian research trees on Ancestry.com! If not THE best!

    This is where my third great-grandmother Maria Vincenza Vaccaro comes in. She was born in Grottaminarda, Italy in 1831 and as luck would have it Mary scanned documents relating to her birth, marriage to husband Pasquale Penta , and her death in 1896.

    There's nothing out of the ordinary here, right? I could have simply plugged in the information and have been done with it. Yeah, that would have been easy and life is rarely that easy.

    Various trees on Ancestry had Maria's father named "Luigi" or "Emiddio" and as a result Mary had Maria's father listed as "Luigi/Emiddio". I've asked her about the name and she told me that she wasn't sure what the man's name was according to the documents. At that point I felt a little disheartened. Here was a lady with decades of being a genealogist under her belt and she couldn't figure out who Maria's father was. I didn't know how to feel about that. So, I set out to find the answers myself!

    I went over to the Italian government's repository for births, marriages and deaths in the country and I looked up Maria's birth record there. The record on Antenati clearly stated she that was born to Luigi Vaccaro and Maria Antonia Andresano. The document gelled with what Mary had on her own tree. At that point I wondered where the confusion was. 

    Well, it turned out that the confusion comes from the 1830 marriage of Luigi and Maria Antonia. On it, you can see his name was "Emmidio" and not Luigi. I think that would confuse just about anyone because on all of Maria's other records (including her death record) her father is clearly Luigi.

    A rational person might think Maria Antonia may have married two brothers and that their daughter was born to one of the Vaccaro men. Interesting theory. However, there's one tiny problem with that. There's no indication that Maria Antonia ever married anyone else and my cousin never found any document stating that was the case.

    Now that I found the source of the confusion, I had to solve the puzzle. Why was her father called "Emmidio" on the 1830 marriage record? That's the only place where that name shows up as far as I can tell because he wasn't called "Emmidio" on his daughter's marriage record! He was called Luigi. Something doesn't add up.

"Emiddio", huh?

        At that point I decided to dig into "Luigi" or "Emiddio" and what I found was interesting. He was a blacksmith by trade and was born around 1798 in Grottaminarda to Carmine Vaccaro and Vincenza Melchionna. I was not able to find any bothers and sisters and as I looked for information an idea popped in my head. What if "Emiddio" was a forename/ middle name for Luigi? It's entirely possible.

    Alas, there's no way to be sure because no birth record can be found online. Civil records in Italy started in 1809 and Luigi here was born in 1798. If you really wanted to find the answer, you'd have to go to the church and look up the record yourself. OR you could dig through the Grottaminarda death records to see you could find him.

    Luigi was still alive at the time of his daughter's marriage to Pasquale and by her death in the 1890s, he was deceased. That's a pretty big window of time isn't it? A lot can happen in just forty years.

    For now, I decided to keep his name as "Luigi" for one simple reason. Two out of three records listed his name as Luigi. That's pretty good. Granted, his wife could have still married a second time. But, that's highly doubtful given all of the information I have at my fingertips. The man could have simply went by his middle name in that one instance. It's honestly hard to tell and no one has a real definitive answer to this puzzle. That's why I decided to stick with Luigi. And no it's not because I've played the Mario games. You didn't see that joke coming?

    With a name mix-up like this, the best thing to do is to go with your gut and possibly two out of three docouments. What was going on with the marriage doc? I have no clue. The father is clearly Luigi on all of the other records. Could I be wrong? Maybe. DNA connections say otherwise. That and well....his granddaughter was named Maria Luigia. Luigia is a feminine form of Luigi and Italian naming conventions would seem to apply here. This is one mix-up I can say is solved. Though, if anyone has any other opinions I'd be happy to hear them!

See ya next time.

P.S. As far as Mary goes, even seasoned genealogists like her have to guess every once in a while. We are all only human. 

52 Ancestors Week 34: Members of the Club

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 34

The theme for Week 34 is "Members of the Club." Fraternal organizations. Civic clubs. Card clubs. Glee clubs. Were any of your ancestors a member? Write about them this week.

It may not be Club Nintendo. But, you still get perks.

    

      Humans are social creatures and people who share a common interest join various clubs. Some people join chess clubs to up their game. Some people join Civic clubs to help their community. If you are a member of a certain ethnic group, you may find yourself becoming a member of a group catering to that organization's message. Last year, I talked about one such group in this blog about the Sons of Italy.

    In the blog, I discussed how the Sons of Italy in America was both a lineage society and a place where Italian immigrants could get help for a variety of issues such as banking and getting a home. That American dream had to start somewhere! The SOIA did a lot of good things for the Italian community back in the day. But, they weren't the only game in town of course. Not by a longshot! Ladies, gentlemen and others, I give you the Freemasons!

   Truth be told I didn't know much about the Masons until I was well into my genealogical adventure. When we'd go to my dad's office, we always passed the Masonic temple on Main Street in Salem. I asked my parents about it from time to time and they told me as much as they could about the Masons.

   The Freemasons are basically a fraternal organization that trace their origin to local guilds of stone masons.

    Was it really that simple? I was a kid with a very overactive imagination. I always thought there was something more going on in there. Nothing crazy or anything. Just something more than people gathering to discuss various topics. I know certain lodges don't allow people to discuss politics. That's a relief! If only it worked like that online. I also found it funny how a nail salon was under the temple. By the way, those shops changed hands every few years. It's like that strip mall is cursed or something. It's not a good place to set up shop.

Now, imagine my surprise when I discovered that one of my ancestors was a Freemason!

    It all started with my fourth great-grandfather, David Webster Stevens and his son, Austin. I had no idea they were connected to the Freemasons until I got a random email on Find a Grave about them. I had built their tree up on Wikitree  and no source I found at that point ever indicated that he was a Mason.

    Usually there would be a picture of a card or some clue that'd point someone to the Order. I didn't have any incentive to look because I literally had no clue. That and "Stevens" is a VERY common last name. So, finding anything on a man named "David Stevens" or "Austin Stevens" would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Everything I knew about David and his son changed in April of 2019.

    A man named Duane Crabtree messaged me and asked about putting the term "Elder" on David's profile on Find a Grave. I was naturally hesitant because I had no idea what that meant by that title.. I accepted and my curiosity piqued. I wasn't about to let this one go! I asked Duane what he meant about this "Elder" stuff and he ended up giving me a ton of information. An Elder in this case was not a rank in the Masonic Organization. It was a more of a religious title since he was ordained as a minister in the 1870s.

    Thankfully, he wasn't like "Don't you know about your family?!"  I honestly had no idea. I swear. Well, it turned out Duane is an archivist for the Adventural Library which is housed at the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts. 

    He was kind enough to give me this obituary for David:

"He was born in West Parsonsfield, Me., Feb 10, 1829; was ordained to the ministry, July 4, 1876, and was a faithful preacher of the Gospel. He was twice married and by the first marriage had four children, three sons and a daughter. Since the death of his wife in 1911, he has made his home with his son George, by whom he was kindly cared for until he peacefully fell on sleep. Beside three sons and a daughter he leaves several grandchildren, two brothers and many friends to mourn his loss. Words of comfort by the writer from 2 Tim. 4:7, 8 and Rev. 14:13."--The World’s Crisis, 26 Jan 1916, p. 14"

    I thought that was impressive. But, it still didn't provide me with proof that he or his son were Freemasons as he hinted.  He never gave me a solid answer and I was about to go about my business when I suddenly saw a hint on Ancestry for Austin pop up unexpectedly. The hint was for a Mason card! That was good timing!

    I checked the card to make sure it was him and not some other Austin Stevens. That's a good policy to have before you accept any hint on Ancestry. I checked his date of birth and everything and sure enough he was my third great-grandfather!

  

    He was a member of the Merrimack Lodge in Haverhill, Massachusetts and had been a member since April 20th, 1904. The birth and death dates all synced with what I already knew of the man. So, I accepted the hint and went about my business.

    I still had a few questions running around my head. How did Austin's membership slip through the cracks in time? No one knew until I told everyone about it at a family gathering. My best guess is that the information was forgotten over time. It happens. Sometimes family members forget about who belonged to what club. It's not like they kept a diary of their activities. It's up to us to see if we can find out what they were up to when they weren't punching the clock.

    Austin had two children who survived to adulthood, Arthur and Gertrude. Arthur was a Mason himself according to his obituary. He was a member of the "Winnepurkit Tribe" in Lynn, Massachusetts. I have no idea when he joined as I have not been able to find his Masonry card. I'm sure it's out there somewhere.

    I think it's cool that I found an ancestor who was a Mason and a son who followed in his footsteps. Women couldn't join and so my second great-grandmother was left with one choice. She could have joined one of the associated groups for women. There's no indication if she ever joined any group. Time will tell if that was the case. It's still amazing to think that after all those years of driving by a Masonic temple and wondering what was going on in there, I'd have an ancestor who was a Mason. I wonder if that's karma.

See ya next time!

  Photo of the Masonic Lodge in Salem, NH is property of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 33: Favorite Discovery

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 33

The theme for Week 33 is "Favorite Discovery." Picking a favorite discovery can be like picking a favorite kid (or, for a genealogist, picking a favorite cemetery). But this week, give it a try. What have you found in your research that you would call a favorite discovery?

Make it so.

        I honestly have a lot of trouble picking a favorite discovery to write about when these prompts come up for 52 Ancestors because I have made so many amazing discoveries on my genealogical adventure. It gets a little overwhelming sometimes like Amy said in the prompt. This week is definitely no exception because the summer of 2024 has been one amazing discovery after another. In June, I hit the ground running when my third cousin Melina messaged me on WikiTree and from there things just sort of snowballed into an avalanche of awesomeness.

Caterina Ferraiolo

    Let me bring everyone up to speed before I continue. I first talked about Melina in a blog I wrote a few weeks ago. She descends from my great-grandfather Vincenzo's sister, Caterina and currently lives in Argentina. That makes Marco Ferraiolo and Caterina Coppola our second great-grandparents. Like me, she's very curious about finding out about her family and wants to discover where everyone came from and where they ended up. Her enthusiasm effectively renewed mine as we discovered new things together! In the weeks since I posted that blog, I've given her tons of information and stories about the family in the United States.

    I've told her about how Caterina's brother Paolo and sister Concetta moved to Haverhill, Massachusetts and had large families. I told her about how Paolo was a city detective and worked on several cases involving members of his own family. I told her about how my grandfather and my great-aunt visited Concetta many times and how my grandfather Marco often visited with Concetta's daughters, Angelina and Rose.

    I've even told her about the many, many Ferraiolo and Coppola cousins we have on Ancestry. I think she was taken aback by how many children Paolo had because eight kids between two wives is a lot and keeping track of all of them and their descendants requires a scorecard or an account on your favorite genealogy website. I just hope I didn't overwhelm her with everything because there is a LOT to go through! There are so many names!

    I could have just linked her to various blogs I wrote and had been done with it. But, that just seems impersonal. Not to mention rude. I'm not one to say "Yeah. We're related. Here's a blog where I talked about so and so." No. You don't do that to anyone if they're legitimately looking for family. I wanted to share what I've found and talk to her about everything. She's a nice lady and we've hit it off and she honestly deserves to hear about everything. I've told her about so much and I'm happy to report that other family members have been just as helpful. 

    Enter my cousin in Switzerland. Caterina and I had been messaging each other back and forth since that first e-mail I got from Melina and she had me share some information with her. I relayed information back to her from Argentina and for a while it felt like I was a bridge between the hemispheres of our planet. The world is definitely a lot smaller these days.

Caterina would be great at
Find a Grave.

    While on vacation in San Pietro a Maida,  Caterina decided to go to the cemetery and take some pictures for Melina. One of the tombs she took a picture for was for Melina's second great-grandmother, Maria Coppola. She had me share the pictures with her and I looked at the name "Maria Coppola" on the stone for a few minutes because I was wondering "Where have I seen that name before?"

    I had to think about it for a few minutes and then I remembered where I saw "Maria Coppola" in my travels.  While I was researching Giovanni Coppola, I found a ship manifest that said he and his wife Natalina Marinaro were going to San Pietro a Maida to visit his siter....Maria.

    The alarms in my head rang and before you could blink an eye I emailed Caterina asking about Maria's connection to her grandmother and how she fits into our family. I can only imagine Caterina's reaction when I asked the question. Thankfully, she replied with a very nice story and explained everything to me in great detail.

    Maria Coppola was a double cousin of her grandmother, Caterina Coppola. This meant that the Giovanni who lived in Haverhill and had a grocery store on High Street was Maria's brother! The Angela Coppola on the stone was also Giovanni's sister. Their parents were Giovanni Coppola and Angela Suverato, who were the siblings of my second great-grandmother's parents Paolo Coppola and Rosa Suverato. Caterina told me about Maria often visited her family while she was growing up. She often visited her grandmother and was generally a warm and caring person. Caterina also slept over at her house.

    Caterina eventually found Melina on Facebook and the two began talking. In September, Melina plans on visiting San Pietro a Maida for the first time and so Caterina put the word out to various family members in town that she was coming. Our cousin Vincenzo offered to help show her around and everything, too. Melina and I even went to a Facebook group about San Pietro a Maida and she met some Astorino family members who would also be helping her during her trip.

La famiglia di Giovanni Coppola

       I can't help but feel happy for Melina. She's getting the same royal treatment I once got when I first met the family in Europe. It's a good feeling and I'm reminded of what Rosa told me so long ago. The same sentiment still applies. "A part of you is here in Italy just as a part of us is with you in America." If you replace "America" with "Argentina", I think the sentiment still works.

    But, you know the warm feelings don't stop here. Caterina told Melina a great story and I think it bears repeating. Get the tissues ready, everyone! 

    At first Caterina told Melina much of what she had told me. She told her how she's a granddaughter of Marco Ferraiolo and Caterina Coppola. They had fourteen children but she only knew five of them: Vincenzo, Paolo, Caterina, Rosa and Concetta. Only two of the children stayed in the village since Vincenzo left for America, Caterina for Argentina and Rosa for Rome. Contact was made via letters since no one had phones at the time. (Note. I need to see if Vincenzo saved any letters.)

Caterina Coppola and Marco
Ferraiolo

      Caterina and her siblings were the ones who would write to family overseas. She then told Melina the story of her great-grandparents, Lorenzo Astorino and Caterina Ferraiolo. Lorenzo was born in San Pietro to Gregorio Astorino and Maria Coppola and when he went to Argentina he never returned.

    Her aunt didn't want any other suitors because she was waiting for her Lorenzo. However, he couldn't return since he didn't have enough money to make the trip. Back in those days Argentina was not a rich country and it's a stark contrast to how it is these days. Eventually, Caterina and Lorenzo were married by proxy and they had three children including Melina's grandfather, Juan Julio. The other two were Nicola Roberto and Maria. 

    It took a while for everyone to find out that Lorenzo died young in 1945 at the age of 45 due to cardiac arrest. The family still somehow managed to stay in touch despite having to endure such a tragedy. It had to have been tough on Vincenzo's sister after losing Lorenzo. Her immediate family was scattered around the world and she was left alone with three children to raise.

    Caterina talked about how she last saw her aunt in 1960 when she came for a visit. Her daughter-in-law was pregnant and when the baby was born, they named him after Lorenzo. To make things even more special,  little Lorenzo was given a golden necklace.

Maria Astorino

    I don't know what became of little Lorenzo. However, I do know that not long after Caterina visited Italy, she became ill and she passed away in the January of 1964. Ultimately, it fell on her daughter Maria to stay in contact with the family in Europe. She did exactly that until 1995.

 This just in: Meli has informed me moments ago little  Lorenzo was her father! 

    Caterina sent me the last letter Maria wrote to her mother and I had someone translate it for me since Italian isn't my first language. The email was more than just a little moving!

    Basically, Maria said everyone was doing well in Argentina. However, she herself was unable to travel due to various ailments. She was so happy about the opportunity to go to Italy and was unfortunately unable to do so. So, she thanked her aunt for her kindness and told her how her aunt's smile kept her going. She hoped to stay in contact with the cousins and really wanted to talk to her beloved aunt Rosa (Rosina). She wanted to talk to her on the phone and being a writer I really want to know if she did! I guess I could ask Caterina. Then again she did tell me contact stopped in 1995. So, the outlook isn't so good.

      At least everything worked out in the end because almost thirty years later I got into contact with Caterina on MyHeritage and eventually Melina herself got back in touch with family in Europe. The family reconnected and we're all the better for it! Her family in Argentina has also been helpful in putting the family puzzle back together. As for me? I just make that puzzle a whole lot bigger.  I wish Melina nothing but good luck on her trip to Italy and I really wish I was going with her. Some day I might. You never know what the future will bring.

    The best thing about Caterina's message to Melina was how she told her that she told me to keep doing the research. I laughed at that part and smiled. Of course I will. There's still so much to learn and so much to find out there. All you have to do is put in the work. What will Meli discover on her trip? I'm sure I'll find out and when I do I'll be sure to talk about it here. After all her discoveries are the family's discoveries.

See ya next time!

****

In Italiano:

Onestamente ho un sacco di problemi a scegliere una scoperta preferita su cui scrivere quando mi vengono proposti questi spunti per 52 Ancestors perché ho fatto così tante scoperte incredibili nella mia avventura genealogica. A volte diventa un po' opprimente, come ha detto Amy nel suggerimento. Questa settimana non fa sicuramente eccezione perché l'estate del 2024 è stata una scoperta incredibile dopo l'altra. A giugno, ho iniziato a correre quando la mia cugina di terzo grado Melina mi ha scritto su WikiTree e da lì le cose si sono trasformate in una valanga di cose fantastiche.

Caterina Ferraiolo

 Prima di continuare, vorrei mettere tutti al corrente. Ho parlato per la prima volta di Melina in un blog che ho scritto qualche settimana fa. Discende dalla sorella del mio bisnonno Vincenzo, Caterina, e attualmente vive in Argentina. Ciò rende Marco Ferraiolo e Caterina Coppola i nostri secondi bisnonni. Come me, è molto curiosa di scoprire qualcosa sulla sua famiglia e vuole scoprire da dove vengono tutti e dove sono finiti. Il suo entusiasmo ha effettivamente rinnovato il mio mentre scoprivamo cose nuove insieme! Nelle settimane successive alla pubblicazione di quel blog, le ho dato un sacco di informazioni e storie sulla famiglia negli Stati Uniti.

Le ho raccontato di come il fratello di Caterina, Paolo, e la sorella Concetta si siano trasferiti a Haverhill, Massachusetts, e abbiano avuto famiglie numerose. Le ho raccontato di come Paolo fosse un detective della città e lavorasse a diversi casi che coinvolgevano membri della sua stessa famiglia. Le ho raccontato di come mio nonno e la mia prozia abbiano fatto visita a Concetta molte volte e di come mio nonno Marco facesse spesso visita alle figlie di Concetta, Angelina e Rose.

Le ho anche parlato dei tanti, tantissimi cugini Ferraiolo e Coppola che abbiamo su Ancestry. Penso che sia rimasta sorpresa da quanti figli ha avuto Paolo perché otto figli tra due mogli sono tanti e tenere traccia di tutti loro e dei loro discendenti richiede una scheda punteggi o un account sul tuo sito web di genealogia preferito. Spero solo di non averla sopraffatta con tutto perché c'è MOLTO da esaminare! Ci sono così tanti nomi!

Avrei potuto semplicemente linkarla a vari blog che ho scritto e avrei chiuso. Ma, sembra solo impersonale. Per non parlare di maleducato. Non sono uno che dice "Sì. Siamo imparentati. Ecco un blog in cui ho parlato di tizio e caio". No. Non lo fai a nessuno se sta cercando legittimamente una famiglia. Volevo condividere quello che ho trovato e parlare con lei di tutto. È una brava donna e abbiamo fatto amicizia e onestamente merita di sapere tutto. Le ho raccontato così tanto e sono felice di riferire che altri membri della famiglia sono stati altrettanto utili.

Entra in scena mia cugina in Svizzera. Caterina e io ci siamo scambiati messaggi avanti e indietro da quando ho ricevuto la prima e-mail da Melina e lei mi ha chiesto di condividere alcune informazioni con lei. Le ho trasmesso informazioni dall'Argentina e per un po' mi sono sentita come un ponte tra gli emisferi del nostro pianeta. Il mondo è decisamente molto più piccolo di questi tempi.

Caterina would be great at
Find a Grave.

  Durante la vacanza a San Pietro a Maida, Caterina decise di andare al cimitero e scattare qualche foto per Melina. Una delle tombe per cui scattò una foto era quella della seconda bisnonna di Melina, Maria Coppola. Mi chiese di condividere le foto con lei e guardai il nome "Maria Coppola" sulla pietra per qualche minuto perché mi chiedevo "Dove ho già visto quel nome?"

Ci dovetti pensare per qualche minuto e poi ricordai dove avevo visto "Maria Coppola" nei miei viaggi. Mentre facevo ricerche su Giovanni Coppola, trovai un manifesto di una nave che diceva che lui e sua moglie Natalina Marinaro sarebbero andati a San Pietro a Maida per far visita alla sua siter...Maria.

Gli allarmi nella mia testa suonarono e prima che potessi battere ciglio mandai un'e-mail a Caterina chiedendole del legame di Maria con sua nonna e come si inserisce nella nostra famiglia. Posso solo immaginare la reazione di Caterina quando le feci la domanda. Fortunatamente, rispose con una storia molto bella e mi spiegò tutto nei minimi dettagli.

Maria Coppola era cugina di doppio grado di sua nonna, Caterina Coppola. Ciò significava che il Giovanni che viveva a Haverhill e aveva un negozio di alimentari in High Street era il fratello di Maria! L'Angela Coppola sulla pietra era anche la sorella di Giovanni. I loro genitori erano Giovanni Coppola e Angela Suverato, che erano fratelli dei genitori della mia bisnonna, Paolo Coppola e Rosa Suverato. Caterina mi ha raccontato che Maria andava spesso a trovare la sua famiglia mentre cresceva. Spesso andava a trovare sua nonna ed era generalmente una persona affettuosa e premurosa. Caterina dormiva anche a casa sua.

Caterina alla fine ha trovato Melina su Facebook e le due hanno iniziato a parlare. A settembre, Melina ha in programma di visitare San Pietro a Maida per la prima volta e così Caterina ha fatto sapere a vari membri della famiglia in città che sarebbe venuta. Nostro cugino Vincenzo si è offerto di aiutarla a fare un giro e anche tutto il resto. Melina e io siamo persino andati a un gruppo Facebook su San Pietro a Maida e ha incontrato alcuni membri della famiglia Astorino che l'avrebbero aiutata durante il suo viaggio.

La famiglia di Giovanni Coppola

Non posso fare a meno di sentirmi felice per Melina. Sta ricevendo lo stesso trattamento regale che ho ricevuto io quando ho incontrato per la prima volta la famiglia in Europa. È una bella sensazione e mi ricorda ciò che Rosa mi ha detto tanto tempo fa. Lo stesso sentimento è ancora valido. "Una parte di te è qui in Italia proprio come una parte di noi è con te in America". Se sostituisci "America" ​​con "Argentina", penso che il sentimento funzioni ancora.

Ma sai che i sentimenti calorosi non finiscono qui. Caterina ha raccontato a Melina una bella storia e penso che valga la pena ripeterla. Preparate i fazzoletti, tutti!

All'inizio Caterina raccontò a Melina molto di quello che aveva detto a me. Le raccontò di essere nipote di Marco Ferraiolo e Caterina Coppola. Avevano quattordici figli ma lei ne conosceva solo cinque: Vincenzo, Paolo, Caterina, Rosa e Concetta. Solo due dei bambini rimasero nel villaggio da quando Vincenzo partì per l'America, Caterina per l'Argentina e Rosa per Roma. I contatti avvennero tramite lettere poiché nessuno aveva il telefono a quel tempo. (Nota. Devo vedere se Vincenzo ha conservato qualche lettera.)

Caterina Coppola and Marco
Ferraiolo

Caterina e i suoi fratelli erano quelli che scrivevano alla famiglia all'estero. Poi raccontò a Melina la storia dei suoi bisnonni, Lorenzo Astorino e Caterina Ferraiolo. Lorenzo era nato a San Pietro da Gregorio Astorino e Maria Coppola e quando andò in Argentina non tornò mai più.

Sua zia non voleva altri corteggiatori perché stava aspettando il suo Lorenzo. Tuttavia, non poté tornare perché non aveva abbastanza soldi per fare il viaggio. A quei tempi l'Argentina non era un paese ricco ed è in netto contrasto con come lo è oggi. Alla fine, Caterina e Lorenzo si sposarono per procura e ebbero tre figli, tra cui il nonno di Melina, Juan Julio. Gli altri due erano Nicola Roberto e Maria.

Ci volle un po' perché tutti scoprissero che Lorenzo morì giovane nel 1945 all'età di 45 anni a causa di un arresto cardiaco. La famiglia riuscì in qualche modo a rimanere in contatto nonostante avesse dovuto sopportare una tale tragedia. Deve essere stato duro per la sorella di Vincenzo dopo aver perso Lorenzo. La sua famiglia più stretta era sparsa in giro per il mondo e lei era rimasta sola con tre figli da crescere.

Caterina ha raccontato di come ha visto la zia per l'ultima volta nel 1960, quando è venuta a trovarla. Sua nuora era incinta e quando è nato il bambino, lo hanno chiamato Lorenzo. Per rendere le cose ancora più speciali, al piccolo Lorenzo è stata regalata una collana d'oro.

Maria Astorino

  Non so cosa ne sia stato del piccolo Lorenzo. Tuttavia, so che poco dopo che Caterina visitò l'Italia, si ammalò e morì nel gennaio del 1964. Alla fine, toccò a sua figlia Maria restare in contatto con la famiglia in Europa. Fece esattamente questo fino al 1995.

Ultime notizie: Meli mi ha informato pochi istanti fa che il piccolo Lorenzo era suo padre!

Caterina mi mandò l'ultima lettera che Maria scrisse a sua madre e io me la feci tradurre da qualcuno, dato che l'italiano non è la mia lingua madre. L'e-mail fu più che un po' commovente!

In pratica, Maria disse che tutti stavano bene in Argentina. Tuttavia, lei stessa non era in grado di viaggiare a causa di vari disturbi. Era così felice dell'opportunità di andare in Italia e sfortunatamente non è stata in grado di farlo. Quindi, ringraziò sua zia per la sua gentilezza e le raccontò come il sorriso di sua zia la tenesse in piedi. Sperava di restare in contatto con i cugini e voleva davvero parlare con la sua amata zia Rosa (Rosina). Voleva parlarle al telefono e, essendo una scrittrice, vorrei davvero sapere se lo ha fatto! Immagino che potrei chiedere a Caterina. Poi di nuovo mi ha detto che i contatti si sono interrotti nel 1995. Quindi, le prospettive non sono così buone.

Almeno alla fine tutto ha funzionato perché quasi trent'anni dopo sono entrato in contatto con Caterina su MyHeritage e alla fine Melina stessa ha ripreso i contatti con la famiglia in Europa. La famiglia si è rimessa in contatto e ne siamo tutti felici! Anche la sua famiglia in Argentina è stata d'aiuto nel rimettere insieme il puzzle della famiglia. E io? Rendo quel puzzle molto più grande. Non auguro altro che buona fortuna a Melina per il suo viaggio in Italia e vorrei tanto andare con lei. Un giorno potrei. Non si sa mai cosa ci riserva il futuro.

La cosa migliore del messaggio di Caterina a Melina è stato come le ha detto che mi ha detto di continuare a fare ricerche. Ho riso a quella parte e ho sorriso. Certo che lo farò. C'è ancora così tanto da imparare e così tanto da scoprire là fuori. Tutto quello che devi fare è impegnarti. Cosa scoprirà Meli nel suo viaggio? Sono sicuro che lo scoprirò e quando lo farò, sarò sicuro di parlarne qui. Dopotutto, le sue scoperte sono scoperte della famiglia.

Ci vediamo la prossima volta!

52 Ancestors Week 32: Free Space

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 32

The theme for Week 32 is "Free Space." Use this week to write about anything you want! Or, if you want to stick to the theme, consider someone who moved to where they had more space (land), a homesteader, or maybe someone who played a lot of bingo.

This universe is just one of many in the totality of existence

    I love writing these free space blogs. The last time we had this prompt for 52 Ancestors I wrote about the genealogy of the Incredible Hulk aka Bruce Banner since "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" had just debuted on Disney Plus. It was a fun and goofy romp and it allowed me to really exercise my comic nerd AND genealogical muscles. What do you say we do this again? Who is it going to be this time? I think you'll find this next character to be quite....amazing.

And thus a legend was born!

    Spider-Man. Spider-Man. The wallcrawler has been doing whatever a spider can for as long as I can remember and Marvel celebrated his 60th anniversary in 2022. Created by Marvel legends Stan Lee and Steve Ditko in 1962 during the creative boom that saw the debut of iconic comic characters such as "Fantastic Four", the "X-Men", "Iron Man" and the "Avengers". What set Spidey apart from all of the other heroes at the time was that he was a teenager and back in 1962 publishers balked at the idea of a teenager headlining his or her own book. They were almost always the sidekick to the main hero. In Spidey's case, he was always his own sidekick.

    Publisher Martin Goodman fought with Stan Lee over the concept since he felt that people weren't keen on teenage heroes at the time other than DC's "Robin" and people didn't like spiders in general. Eventually, Goodman went along with Stan's pitch and put the story into the last issue of a comic book that was due to be cancelled thanks to sagging sales. The book was of course "Amazing Fantasy" and in its heyday it was known to have science fiction and horror stories for readers to enjoy. The very last issue, issue 15, saw the debut of the webhead and it is now priced at over a million dollars if the comic is in near-mint condition that is. Thankfully, it's been reprinted thousands of times over by now! 

     Sometimes taking a chance on a character really pays off.  People liked the character because he was all too human. He had faults and foibles like many of Stan's other characters. And these weren't your average cookie-cutter superheroes, either! They were people like you and me since they fought each other and illnesses as well as the baddies. Sometimes these tales to astonish came with lessons akin to the ones found in Greek mythology. In fact, the very first Spidey story came with a very important lesson that readers all over the world took to heart: "With great power, there must come great responsibility".

     Over the years, we've seen Spidey grow, fight a literal menagerie of animal themed supervillains, go into space, go to college, get married, become a teacher, photographer and scientist. Eventually, he even join the ranks of Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers. Not bad for a kid from Queens, right?

Such a sweet moment!

    On the genealogical side of things we learn about Spidey's family quite early on in the pages of Amazing Fantasy. Right off the bat we learn that Spider-Man is really a youth named Peter Parker and was being raised by his doting aunt and uncle, Ben and May Parker.

    Parker's parents weren't mentioned for a good while in the comic and I'll get into details on that in a bit. Over time we were given bits and pieces of information regarding his origins. He was born in Forest Hills, Queens to Richard and Mary Parker and if you were in the Marvel Universe, you would find his birth records in the New York State Archives. Benjamin was significantly older than his younger brother Richard and once young Peter was orphaned at a very young age, he and his wife took the child in and raised him as their own.

    Life was pretty sweet for the Parkers despite Ben losing his brother and sister-in-law. Ben worked as a carnival barker on Coney Island in his youth and eventually he met a beautiful young woman named May Reilly who just so happened to live in the same Brooklyn neighborhood as he did. Unfortunately, another man put a wrench into their relationship plans. In the end, Ben won her heart and the two lived happily ever after.

    Parker's last name is of English origins and while we don't know much about Ben and Richard's parents; we did get some canon information regarding their names. 

Heroes of the Golden
Age

    When Marvel was celebrating the seventieth anniversary of the company in 2009, they used the in-universe newspaper known as "The Daily Bugle" to tell stories about various events happening in the Marvel universe at the time of the company's humble beginnings in 1939. 

    The "newspaper" printed stories about two of Marvel's first heroes, the android Human Torch and Namor, the Sub-Mariner and other articles referenced characters who would one day become important players in the Marvel Universe.

    Among the various articles were human interest stories and birth announcements like the ones you'd find in old newspapers today. One of the stories was one where Peter and and Ann Parker announced the birth of Benjamin Parker.

    Sadly, Benjamin Parker would show up in the Daily Bugle newspaper archives many years later when the robber his nephew failed to stop at a wrestling event murdered him in cold blood. Ironically, it was this event that caused publisher J. Jonah Jameson to take an interest in the kid. I say it's ironic because we all know how much Jolly Jonah sees Spidey as a menace.

          As it turns out, J. Jonah Jameson wasn't the only Marvel character who was watching out for young Peter in ways both large and small. Peter's parents Richard and Mary weren't your typical parents. They were actually agents of the C.I.A. and Richard himself was recruited by none other than Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. Yikes. Good luck finding information on his parents. I hope you have level nine clearance.

Awww!

    Mary was already a C.I.A. operative herself at the time and the two hit it off. She was a translator and had a studious nature which complimented Richard's tendency to make jokes from time to time. Gee. I wonder which one their son takes after. The answer is BOTH!

    Eventually, the couple got married and not long afterward they found themselves involved in plots revolving several longtime Captain America villains such as the Red Skull, Baron Zemo and Baron Strucker. Since Cap was under the ice at the time, it fell on their shoulders to fill the void he left behind. 

    Hey. Someone had to help save the world while Cap wasn't around.

 

    Despite the hardships they had to endure from mission to mission, Richard and Mary were overjoyed when they learned they were having a baby boy. Fate changed their plans when they were called into service shortly after Peter was born.  After leaving Pete with Ben and his wife, they embarked on a mission to Algeria. While there they discovered one of Red Skull's goons was a mole in the F.B.I. They tried to expose him and were tragically killed in a sabotaged plane.

    To make matters worse Richard and Mary were called turncoats by that mole and their reputations were tarnished in the intelligence community until their son cleared their names years later as Spider-Man. The mole really didn't do them any favors as he broadcasted the news and papers everywhere told the same story. Ben and May tried their best to shield Pete from those stories while he was growing up. Thankfully, their names were cleared and the stories were redacted.

Totally not "Scarlett"
from G.I. Joe.

       The only thing about Richard and Mary you'd be able to find in the Marvel Universe is unfortunately the exposé on their so-called "betrayal" and eventually their vindication. You definitely wouldn't find information about Peter's sister, Teresa.

    That's right. Peter Parker had a hidden sister all this time and no one knew about it. Not even Peter! Comics are weird and let's not even get into the time when Peter's parents "came back from the dead" as robots. 

    Anyway, Teresa here claimed to be the daughter of Richard and Mary Parker. She was born in secret thanks to her parents' profession and was adopted while Peter went to live with their aunt and uncle. The two siblings eventually crossed paths when Parker was saved by two gunmen. I think Peter would have been fine, lady. Spider-sense and all that.

   

    Well, she couldn't have known Peter was bitten by that spider and gained all those powers. So, you can't really blame her.

    After a very confusing story involving several of Spidey's oldest villains she left the C.I.A. and was recruited by Nick Fury to join S.H.I.E.L.D. Like I said. Fury has a vested interest in the Parker family. They teamed up a few more times in various comics and eventually she was introduced to their aunt. However, they decided it was best to not reveal her true identity to her. Sigh. Comics. Ya gotta love 'em.

    The jury's still out on whether or not Teresa really is the daughter of Richard and Mary. You would think Peter would take an AncestryDNA test. Then again....they'd find abnormalities in Peter's spit linking him to Spider-Man. That's okay. There are other options. He and Teresa could just visit the Baxter Building and have Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four conduct the test himself. With the way Reed works, the results would be in by the time Teresa and Pete get a cup of coffee. Unfortunately, writers like to drag this stuff out at the reader's expense.

 

They actually televised this
wedding believe it or not.

    Aside from a family deeply entrenched in the espionage racket, Peter has had numerous girlfriends whose names would definitely be in various articles and magazines.

* Former Receptionist turned Reporter Betty Brant.

* Gwen Stacy, the daughter of a police captain. She was killed by Spider-Man villain Green Goblin and her death signaled the end of the Silver Age of Comics. Her death would definitely be in various newspaper archives in New York.

* Felicia Hardy aka the Black Cat

    And most famously of all, supermodel/actress Mary Jane Watson who he eventually married. Despite the intervention by various interdimensional entities claiming to be the Devil, I like to think their marriage record is STILL being held at City Hall in New York City. Yeah....I'm not a fan of "One More Day" a comic which saw the end of the Parker/Watson marriage in the lamest way ever. I won't go into details here. Let's just say it was......BAD. Very bad. Check the Wikipedia article for details. I am not a fan.

    Don't worry, friends. Peter and MJ still have an on again/off again relationship and she still remembers him being Spider-Man. There are even versions of Peter in the multiverse (Or Spider-verse if you prefer) who have had children with MJ. My favorite is Mayday Parker aka Spider-Girl.

MAYDAY!

    Named after her great-aunt. May comes from a world where MJ had a baby with Peter and that child was kidnapped by one of Spidey's villains. She was rescued by one of Peter's many clones. (I really don't want to go into too much detail on his clones. They're basically his brothers if you think about it.)  

    Anyway, she developed her spider-like abilities at an early age and upon becoming a teenager she decided to follow in her father's footsteps as a spider-themed heroine. She joined her universe's Avengers and had many adventures with other spider-characters within the Spider-verse.

    Peter and MJ had a second child in that universe named Ben. It remains to be seen if that kid will be crawling on the walls like his old man. She has met the Spider-Man of Earth-616 who is "our" Spider-Man and like many of Marvel's other children of heroes from alternate realities she tries very hard not to compare him with her father. Though....would Earth-616 Spidey still be her father? Try explaining that to Ancestry.com.

   

    As you can see, the family history of Spider-Man is quite the web of intrigue. We've got CIA agents, secret sisters, daughters from alternate universes and all kinds of drama involving the loves of Peter's life. Through it all, fans all over the world still love the adventures of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Are the stories convoluted? You betcha. They're still fun and in the end that's what comics are all about.  

   

    Despite the crazy tales I mentioned in this week's blog, Spidey is one of the most grounded heroes in the Marvel pantheon. His tales of tragedies and triumph make him one of the most beloved characters of all time. And hey there are probably some family stories out there that make this tame by comparison. I think that's what makes Spidey so relatable. If you take away the fantastical elements, his life as Peter Parker is still a family story well worth checking out.

'Nuff said!

See you next time, true believers!

Spider-Man and related characters are property of Marvel Comics.

    

52 Ancestors Week 31: End of the Line

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 31

The theme for Week 31 is "End of the Line." Do you have an "end of the line" ancestor -- one who you're convinced won't go any further back? What about an ancestor who lived at the end of a street, or one who lived in a small town where the train station literally was the end of the line? Feel free to be creative with this prompt!

What? Did you think I was going to use the "That's all folks"
image from Looney Tunes? You're despicable.

      I'll never forget the first time I saw the classic "That's all folks" image from Looney Tunes in my hints on Ancestry. I thought it was clever how people used an image from pop culture to denote the end of a line they can't break through no matter how hard they tried. Though, if you're researching French-Canadian ancestors that image may pop up more than the all of the ships, coats of arms and maps of France combined. At that point a clever image becomes a bit of a nuisance. I get it. People can't go further back in time and people have to do some serious jiggery-pokery to get around that infamous "end of the line" block. I've done that and I didn't even have to go to Italy!

Oh, hi 18th century ancestors!

   Italian research can be a bit of a mixed bag. Mainland Italy began civil registration in 1809 while Sicily waited until 1820 to have their town halls record every birth, marriage and death in their cities and villages. Sicily, why do you have to make things so complicated, huh? 

    All joking aside, when you work on an Italian tree chances are your "end of the lines" may be in 1809 or a bit beyond that date thanks to the digitization of records on Familysearch and of course Antenati. Does that mean your research is at an end that date? Nope. Not at all! There's so much more you can do!

        One of the first things you should do is not panic and not book a flight to Italy. If it's too late I recommend going to Naples. The pizza there is amazing from what I've been told. If you're lucky, the town your researching might have a wide variety of records from 1809 to 1861 that could help you reach the hard to find 18th century ancestors of yours from the comfort of your own home. The towns of Gesualdo, Frigento and Grottaminarda are three towns in Campania that have really, really good records.

Oh, hi even more 18th century ancestors.

    The records in those towns alone allowed me to push the trees back for my great-grandparents Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione to well into the 1700s. Granted, I had a little help from my distant cousin Mary since she was the one who actually went to Italy and digitized the records long before I ever even heard of Antenati. I still owe her a big hug for her efforts! And maybe some cannolis.

    Still, even if you didn't have a cousin who digitized the records, you could still go back further than 1809 by simply looking at death records and marriages to see who's related to who. You could get an age of the person at the event and from there you can extrapolate when your person was born.

    Once you've exhausted all of your research options, you can either say you've reached the end of the line or you could actually book that trip to Italy we talked about earlier. Some church records prior to 1809 are available online. It just varies from town to town. If you go to one of your ancestral towns and ask for church records for your ancestor, you might be able to push things back if the records can be found that is. You never know if anything has been lost in a natural disaster or have been eaten by rats.

Just chipping away here. Remember how it
used to look?!

    I guess the point I am trying to make is to not get discouraged by something that seems like the end of the line because most of the time it isn't. There are more than one way to handle a brick wall and sometimes you need to think outside the box.

    Look at how I broke through Domenica Gullo's line. I had to ask the town hall at San Pietro a Maida for her marriage record and that gave me information on her parents. From there I was able to look at the records and connect the dots. It's still a work in progress, I'll admit. But, it still counts!

    The end of the line doesn't always have to mean the end of your research. There's more than one way around that brick wall. However, some lines really can be the "end of the line" thanks to a variety of circumstances ranging from document availability to a lack of digital records. Does that mean you should give up? Not a chance! Some lines may be stuck for sure and some lines can still be pushed further back in time. It just depends on a variety of circumstances like I said. It's up to you to determine whether or not it's truly the end of the line.

    I've gotten a few of those images I talked about earlier for ancestors whose lines were anything BUT the end. That was more than a little annoying. Was someone really that lazy and didn't want to put in the work? Who can say? I'm not a mind reader.  I don't use those images and if you do that's fine. Just know that in some cases it's never the end of the line.

That's all, folks!

See ya next time!