52 Ancestors Week 13: A Family Pattern

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 13:

The theme for Week 13 is “A Family Pattern.” There are so many ways this theme could go! Naming patterns, behavior, migration, following an occupation for several generations, even sewing! What family pattern will you write about?

I honestly don't think I can work a kilt. 

    You're bound to find family patterns on your genealogical adventure. Names will be passed down through generations and unfortunately certain types of behavior will be passed down as well. However, there's one thing in Amy's prompt this week that she didn't mention. Physical characteristics could also be a pattern. Sometimes these can be as plain as the nose on your face that you inherited from your great-grandmother and sometimes it can be subtle like the ability to curl your tongue.  In my family's case, eye color could definitely be considered a family pattern. This week we'll be covering the generations of people who had the bluest blue eyes ever. It's time to break out the Sinatra records because "Old Blue Eyes" is back!

Austin and Henrietta 

    The Felker family always had blue eyes and my great-grandfather Austin was no exception. My mother always told me that he had the bluest blue eyes ever. His eyes were apparently so blue that it was like looking at the ocean. When MyHeritage came out with their photo colorization tech, I put it to the test and sadly his eyes never turned blue. They were always this gross grainy black color. I guess I'll have to take my mother's word for it because I don't have color photos of him. Good thing his records confirmed that his eyes were indeed blue. Though, I don't think they'll be as descriptive as "blue as the ocean at dawn". They weren't that descriptive on draft cards. Fortunately. I have plenty of other pictures that show off the famous Felker blue eyes.

    Of course Austin wasn't the only one in the family who had amazing blue eyes. Several of his and Henrietta's children had them as well including my grandmother Natalie and her brother Austin.  Several relatives of mine also have blue eyes. Every family on the Felker side seemed to have one or two children with blue eyes. It's like that old saying. If it happens once, it's a coincidence. If the same thing happens again. a pattern forms. There's no denying the fact that having blue eyes is a common thread.

    Sometimes the trait even skips a generation like in the case of my cousin Kristyn. Her mother doesn't have blue eyes and yet my cousin does. Then again her father is Scottish/English. So, it could have come from that side of her family. Blue eye color either runs in the family or everyone got really fancy contact lenses. As I gather more pictures of the Felker clan I begin to wonder something. Where did the beautiful blue eyes come from? Who started it all? Unfortunately, I don't think I have an answer to that question. Or do I?

    It's wildly known that blue eyes are predominant in people from northern and eastern Europe. However, there have been some instances of it occurring in southern Europe. My grandmother Ollie had greenish-blue eyes and she was all Italian all the time! In fact, that actually led people to think she had Spanish heritage. She does not. I've looked! 

Jeremiah and Elizabeth

    I think the answer to that question lies with the origin of the Felker family. I traced the family line back to Germany in the 1700s. Could they have had blue eyes? It's hard to say. I have one picture of my third great-grandfather Jeremiah Felker and I can't tell if he has blue eyes or not. The picture's not in color and no amount of colorization is ever going to make that picture look great. For all I know the blue eye gene came from his wife Elizabeth!

    Could the Felker blue eye have been from Germany? Most likely. Without evidence it's hard to say. I was told that Jeremiah's children including Wilfred all had blue eyes for the most part. Unfortunately, I had to take my cousin's word for it. Without color pictures and other documents like draft cards it's hard to say who had blue eyes back then! And I definitely don't trust colorization tool as far as I can throw it. MyHeritage gave my great-grandfather Vincenzo blond hair and light skin even though he was from southern Italy! Colorization doesn't always work. I could write a long blog about why and why you shouldn't trust that gimmick!

    Back to the blue eye discussion. I'm of the belief that the blue eyes all came from northern Europe. The Felker side of the tree eventually goes to colonial Massachusetts and New Hampshire. The Felkers themselves actually came from Germany like I said earlier.  A lot of those colonists had British, German and Scottish roots. It's safe to say that the blue eyes I see in cousins like Kristyn and other members of my family came from that part of the world. There's no doubt about that. Who started it? I think we'd have to go back to Paleolithic times to answer that question.

Nana and her blue eyes!

     With so many people in my family having blue eyes, it's clear that there's a pattern here. The amazing thing is that most of the people who have blue eyes tend to have that piercing look that Austin had. His trait was clearly passed down and I doubt it'd be going away any time soon.

    It's just one of those neat family patterns that makes everyone stand out in the crowd. Though, I don't think a few of my blue-eyed relatives need help in that area! They'd stand out with or without blue eyes! They eyes really do have it!

See ya next time!

    

52 Ancestors Week 12: An Address With a Story

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 12:

The theme for Week 12 is “An Address With a Story.” So many stories are tied to a place. (For me, it would be my Grandma’s house.) What is a place that has special meaning for your family?

Over the river and through the woods....

    Over the years I've written about several addresses in my family and they've all had plenty of stories to tell. My grandma Ollie's house and her sisters' house in Haverhill were probably mentioned a few hundred times in the blog by now! Speaking of grandma's house, that house in the banner this week was her house for a very long time. It was left to my grandfather Marco after his father Vincenzo passed away in 1970.  Ollie's sisters lived in the house my great-grandparents Giuseppe and Clementina lived in on Bartlett Street. Those houses in Haverhill definitely have stories behind them and I remember them the most since I actually went to those houses!

    That isn't to say I don't have stories about the houses on my maternal side. It's just tough to write long stories about them since my mother moved around a lot thanks to her being an Air Force brat. This week we're going to talk about a house that won't be appearing in any census record until the 1980 US Census is released to the public in 2052. I am of course talking about the house I grew up in!

Green side up, boys! Green side up!

    My father and grandfather Marco broke ground on the property that would one day become my house in 1976. At the time of its construction they were living in nearby Derry, New Hampshire while the house was being built in Salem, New Hampshire.

    My father always told me that they picked the location because it was very rural. I suppose it made sense for him to pick a rural part of Salem since he grew up in Haverhill and as anyone who grew up in a city knows it can be quite noisy living in a city no matter the size. My mom agreed with the decision since she also spent her formative years in a city called Newburyport.

    I like to think that they built the house in Salem because it was close to my father's family in Haverhill and yet far enough away from the noise of the city. For a long time the neighborhood was very quiet. Our house was one of the first houses that was built on the street and over time we got to meet some neighbors. The house was also very close to my father's dental practice which started a few years before they built the house.  There were also great schools nearby and several of my parents' friends and family lived in the area.

AHH! This house is naked!

    With all that in mind, construction began in 1976 and the house was more or less finished that same year. There were still odds and ends that needed to be finished, of course. At least it was habitable by the end of the year. It's a good thing too. New England winters can be brutal!

    Still, I can't help but wonder about some of the initial design flaws in the house. While it's true that we made improvements over the years, I still have to wonder why the way into the attic was a hatch in the closet of my parents' master bedroom. Or why the stairs in the basement were always a little bit smaller than the average human foot.

    Those questions plagued me every time I walked up and down the stairs or helped my mother get Christmas decorations out of the attic. I think that would be one of the first questions I'd ask Marco. Forget about asking about life in San Pietro a Maida for one second. Let's talk about the crazy design flaws! I shouldn't be too hard on the design and everything. After all, the house is one of a few things my grandfather built. He helped to build additions on my father's office and built the house I grew up in. Not a bad legacy at all in my opinion!

 

Testing out Jim's first sweet ride.

  Marco sadly passed away in 1983 and we have a ton of pictures of him inside the house during various stages of its development. These pictures were all taken around Christmas time and other events and I like to think he was pleased with its development. Everything has more or less stayed the same since the day it was constructed.

   The only things that changed of course were the furniture, rugs, tiles and a few other odds and ends. We never built on any additions. We did change the paint on the outside a few times and installed electric garage door openers.

    From the pictures I can tell that he clearly loved the house. He put a lot of himself into its construction and definitely built it to last. Despite all its flaws and everything it's still a place my family and I called home. Still, I find myself wondering how he'd have reacted to a few incidents that took place after his death. I have a feeling he'd have been less than thrilled about the time my brother and I put holes in the wall of our bedroom. What can I say? It was the '80s and we watched a lot of wrestling!

  Those holes were of course patched up in no time and that incident wasn't as bad as the fire in the chimney. Ever since that day we've decided never to use the fireplace again. It's probably just as well. I was never a fan of fireplaces! We never really had any major disasters and that's a good thing. Let's hope it stays that way! Knocking on wood very hard here!

One of the first Christmas Eve parties

     At least Marco would have been pleased to see that we continued his Christmas Eve traditions in the house he and my father built. He may have missed out on a lot of them. Maybe he was there in spirit? You never know! My dad always maintained that he thought he smelt his father in the basement whenever he was working on something. Maybe his spirit does linger in the house. I'm not about to call the Ghost Hunters and ask them for help!

   The fact that the house is still standing after half of a century really says something about the work he put into it. Granted, repairs were made over the years. New paint was added to the exterior. New furniture came and went. That's honestly to be expected when you have a house that's been around as long as it has. As for the people? Well, Jim and I grew up and his kids call our house "New Hampshire Grandma and Grandpa's house". Some day I think my brother will tell them that it's only half of the story!

    In the end, my house is a lot like many other houses on our street aside from its Mediterranean exterior. There's a lot of history here and more than that it's been my home for all that time too. Its origins may have been pretty modest. However, the stories withing the walls have lasted a lifetime!

See ya next time!

Home sweet home!

52 Ancestors Week 11: Turning Point

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 11:

The theme for Week 11 is “A Turning Point.” In storytelling, there’s the pivotal moment – something happens and nothing is the same afterward. Think of a turning point in the life of an ancestor. It could be going to college, going to war (or not), or making an unpopular choice. You could also be more literal and consider ancestors who traveled. There's no wrong way to interpret the theme!

Greener pastures are this way!

    When you've been on a genealogical adventure as long as I have, you're bound to find many things that have been turning points in your research. Small things here and there turn into big things and before you know it your family tree on Ancestry looks like a forest and you'll be putting profiles in on WikiTree for a very long time. I know that's oddly specific. What do you expect from someone who's been doing genealogy off and on for ten years before finally deciding to register at WikTree?

    I actually think now might be a good time to reflect on some of my biggest turning points in my research. Many of them have been game changers. Some of them may not seem that big. They were big enough for me and that alone earns them a spot on this list! Without further adieu, let's get this party started!

Birth record of Angela Gatto.

    By far the biggest turning point in my research was when my friend and fellow Wikitreer Kathy Nava went to her local Familysearch library and downloaded birth records for me. Before she offered her services, my friend Tricia would also go to her library and get records for me.

    They went to the library because my area does not have a Familysearch affiliate library and for a long time that was the only place where you could find births in San Pietro a Maida from 1809 to 1861. 

    Sounds lame, I know. It was what we had to work with and I thank them every day for their help as they helped me break down several brick walls.

    Before they helped me my father's paternal side was an empty void that needed to be filled. Thanks to their work, I was able to find birth records for several ancestors in San Pietro AND I was able to break a brick wall or two. Tricia found the 1860 birth record for Francesco Coppola and that led me to connecting all of the Coppolas to his grandfather Francesco and his still unknown wife. I still need to find out who that is. That will be another turning point!

    Their help continued for many years and eventually I made a spreadsheet cataloging all of the births in San Pietro a Maida that we were finding. It wasn't until Christmas 2025 when Antenati, the Italian government's repository for Italian records, that the records became available without the need to go to a library. Talk about a great Christmas present! Now I make sure I everything's nice and accurate because while they were helpful with getting the scans, the scans on Familysearch looked like they were scanned using a potato. I had trouble reading them and now the scans are a lot cleaner on Antenati! This was a turning point because now I can look at those records with ease!

    Before I had access to the San Pietro records, the only other Italian records I had were the ones from Gesualdo that my cousin Mary found and uploaded to Ancestry. I saw those records long before I ever heard of Antenati and I would call that one of my earliest turning points.

    Mary had carefully documented, scanned and cataloged every single person who was born, lived in or died in the town of Gesualdo. That was the Italian town where my great-grandparents Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione were born and seeing those records was a turning point early on in my research because they allowed me to get a firsthand look at what Italian records actually looked like. They pretty much prepared me for what I was eventually going to find in San Pietro. Not bad, right?

    I know a lot of my Italian research turning points sound odd since I had help from someone else. However, here's what you need to know. I was not well-versed in the Italian language early on in my adventure. I didn't know about the months of the year or how records were organized. The people who helped me out helped me to understand the records better and I am forever grateful for their help. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Genealogy shouldn't be a solo gig. It takes more than one person to help put the pieces of a puzzle together. Wikitree calls it collaboration and it helps people get further in their research than they ever thought possible!

    I'd say one of my other major turning points was finding out the nitty, gritty details surrounding my second great-grandmother Gertrude Stevens's divorce from her husband Wilfred Felker.

    I knew Wilfred and Gertrude were divorced long before I ever started on my genealogical adventure. My mother remembers growing up with various Senter relatives who descended from Getrude's second husband, Walter.  The only odd thing was that my grandmother Natalie and her sister never really spoke of their grandfather. 

    I didn't get an answer to that question until I sent a query or two to the Essex country courthouse. Eventually, I found out that Wilfred was not a nice man. He cheated on Gertrude and got another woman pregnant while she was pregnant with their son Austin. He had a fist fight with one of his other sons after presenting a child to him. Wilfred clearly had issues.

    The court documents I received ended up cementing those thoughts about Wilfred. The man claimed he was abandoned by Gertrude when in fact he committed adultery. So, not only was he a jerk. He was a lying jerk. Finding out the truth about him was a turning point for sure because it showed me that genealogy is never black and white. There are shades of grey and sometimes you need to take the good stuff along with the bad things you find out there.

    Speaking of genealogy not being always black and white, another turning point would be finding out that my great-grandfather Alfred Hamel wasn't simply a Fix-It Shop owner. No. He may have fixed ships for bootleggers on the Merrimack River during the Prohibition. I wonder if that was his side hustle. You never know! 

    Finding that bit of information was a turning point in my research because before my mother told me that information I had just assumed he was just a regular guy. He was drafted into the service during the first world war. He had my grandfather and was well-liked by the people of Newburyport. There was a reason why he was called "Mr. Fix-it". He could fix anything. Knowing what I know now adds a bit more to his story because now there's a bit more depth to his character.

    I knew there was something more to the swagger he had in this picture from the early 1900s. That swagger hid someone who was a bit adventurous!

    These were just four of my major turning points in my research. I have many more and they all involve DNA and other topics. I have potential turning points on the horizon and I'm sure I'll discuss them another day. These turning points happen when you least expect it. Though, to be honest, I think I'd rather call them "game changers" than turning points. To each their own, I guess!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 10: Changed My Thinking

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 10:

The theme for Week 10 is “Changed My Thinking.” Genealogy is all about discovery. What is something you’ve found about an ancestor that changed your way of thinking about them? Perhaps genealogy has led you to think about bigger issues differently.

No one's name was ever changed at Ellis Island? Never has been.

    Before you start on your genealogical adventure, there are a few things you need to know. Never assume anything because surprises will be around every corner.  If you ever need help on anything, never be afraid to ask because by and large the genealogy community is full of helpful people. And the most important thing you need to remember is that you should never, ever put an ancestor of yours on a pedestal. If you do, you're only setting yourself up for disappointment down the road.  If you know the expression "Never meet your heroes", this week's blog probably falls under the same category.

    Now, I've already discussed an ancestor of mine who turned out to not be someone I wanted to meet. Wilfred Felker, my second great-grandfather, was a man who clearly had a few demons running around in his head. Thankfully, that cycle of violence was broken and his son Austin went on to have a great life with a great family. It's just a shame that I can't ask my great-aunt about him. There have been some on the Italian side of the tree who also turned out to not be what I expected.

    When I was growing up, I learned a great deal about my great-grandfather Vincenzo Ferraiolo. He was born in the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida and was the first in his family to settle in Haverhill, Massachusetts. 

    My mother met him while she and my father were dating and he would actually sing to her in Italian. That sounds like a sweet guy, right? Italian man journeys to America and becomes quite the charmer. You could write a book about someone like that!

    Over time, my opinion of Vincenzo changed considerably thanks to DNA evidence and of course conversations with the people who knew him best.

        Conversations with my great-aunt Nicolina about her father were always a bit of a mixed bag because the stories were never that consistent. Sometimes he was described as a nice man who took his family to Switzerland to attend a niece's wedding. Other times he was described as a philanderer. I understand how one man could be both of those things. However, I just wish the stories I heard about him were consistent. I do know that he had a bit of a temper and was quite stubborn. That's true for a lot of Italian men. Now that I look back at Vincenzo's life, there was definitely some truth about him being a philanderer.

    When I took a DNA test in 2017, two of the top matches for my dad and I were more than a little unusual. The centimorgans they shared with the two of us were in the triple digits. I had no clue who they were and I asked Nicolina if I could see her results since she matched them. She accepted and my jaw hit the floor.  The two top matches shared FOUR digits with Nickie! I asked her if she messaged them and she said she hadn't. I'm not sure if she hadn't had the time to or was too nervous to talk to them. I went ahead and messaged them for her.

    One of the matches told me that their mother Joyce was a product of a union between Vincenzo and a woman named Louvia Mitchell. The match explained how this was possible. At some point in the mid 1930s, Vincenzo went to Alburg, Vermont for a job. He was working as a laborer at the time and stayed at her house as a boarder. In fact, the matches referred to him as a "Sicilian boarder". I had to correct them. He was born in San Pietro a Maida after all. Not Sicily. 

    Anyway, I was not skeptical about their claim. I knew Vincenzo was a philanderer and so did my parents and my great-aunt. We just didn't know the extent until we had our DNA tested. Well, I compared the matches and came to the conclusion that Joyce was Nicolina's half-sister.

    I told Nicolina and her daughter the news they took it well, I suppose. I mean they knew he was a philanderer like I said. My great-aunt was understandably angry, though. Who wouldn't be? Somehow she found the strength to contact her half-sister and they talked once before she passed away in 2019.

    Once Nicolina calmed down a bit, she asked me all sorts of questions that I definitely didn't have the answers for. Her father had a child with someone while still being married to her mother, Maria Tedesco. There was a lot to unpack. Did Vincenzo know about Joyce? Probably not as Louvia unfortunately died shortly after their daughter was born. Would he have taken care of the baby? It's hard to say. No one contacted Vincenzo and told him about the baby in Vermont.

  At the end of that story I realized that this whole story was just an example of Vincenzo's philandering. Did my opinion of him change? A little, yeah.  I knew he was a philanderer and the escapade in Vermont proved it without a shadow of a doubt. Though, to be honest we have no idea who came onto whom and everything. 

    I was actually ready to close the book on Vincenzo's past when a couple more DNA matches showed up and once again they were triple digit matches to my father, great-aunt and myself.  In my mind, I was thinking "Are we really doing this again, Vincenzo?"

    Apparently, we were. This time, however, things turned out a little differently. To date I have no idea who Vincenzo made a baby with. I don't even have a name! I only know that she had two children that she gave up for adoption and those children had at least two children that they gave up for adoption!

    Confused? Me too. Naturally, I messaged the matches and only one of them wrote back to me. I explained the situation. The adoptive mother of one of the matches filled me in on everything and unfortunately the birth mother had some mental issues.

    All isn't completely lost. The match's adoptive mother did tell me a few bits of the family story and I was told that contacting his birth mother was probably a bad idea. I understood and went on my way. 

    The new DNA matches put me in a rather difficult position. Do I tell Nicolina about the two new matches and yet another half-sibling? After Nicolina's response regarding Joyce, I decided not to because the pain would have been too great and at that point she was in her late '90s. I don't recall ever telling her daughter, either. It was just too much for anyone to handle.

    To make matters worse, I didn't even have a name for the mistress, the half-sibling or anything. I have
no idea when the match's grandmother was born or even if she's still alive. I have less to go on for that case and the match's adoptive mother gave me as much information as she could from the adoption agency. So, at the end of the day I just put that case on the backburner. What else could I do?

    Nicolina passed away in 2022 never knowing anything about the other DNA matches. Knowing about one half-sibling was enough. I did tell my dad everything and he agreed that it would have done more harm than good. 

    After learning about the half-siblings, I wondered just how many of them were out there. After learning about those DNA matches, my opinion of Vincenzo changed a lot. He was no longer just the first Ferraiolo in Haverhill who had a slight "oopsie" in Vermont. After two children came out of the woodwork, a pattern formed. It's clear that Vincenzo was not above cheating on his spouses. Now, granted I have no clue when the second coupling happened. However, I do think it's unfortunate that he kept doing it. 

    I'm not even sure if the family in Europe knew about his umm....antics. Though, I suspect my cousin Caterina might suspect something as she added Joyce to her tree on Myheritage and she has seen his profile on WikiTree. I suppose one could say at the end of the day he was definitely charming. Was he a good man? That's up for debate and not for me to decide. I can only go by the facts and while I definitely don't condone his cheating, I just wish things turned out a little differently.

    Now when I look at Vincenzo I don't just see a man who crossed the Atlantic to start a new life in America. I see a man who cheated on his wives and was more than a little charming to people. I can't really judge him as it's not my place. But I do see him in a different light now.

    Vincenzo is definitely one of those cases where you definitely shouldn't put an ancestor of yours on a pedestal. Other people have people who have done far worse than adultery in their trees. And while I knew Vincenzo was a philanderer, I never knew the extent until now and it's a little shocking. It's no wonder Nicolina got upset with her father. When you're on a genealogical adventure, you have to also remember that the people back then were people. They had their faults and foibles. Your opinions on people will change over time for good or ill. You just have to remember that not everyone in your family tree was a saint.

See ya next time!