52 Ancestors Week 22: At the Cemetery

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 22

The theme for Week 22 is "At the Cemetery." Cemeteries are some of the most special places to a family historian. Whose grave have you particularly wanted to find? What neat tombstones have you found?

I ain't afraid of no ghosts!

    The last time I wrote about this topic was back in late May 2021. I ended that blog wondering if my 2nd great-grandmother Caterina Coppola's siblings were buried in Haverhill's Saint Patrick's Cemetery because at that point I had no clue if they were. Past Chris, you were so naive. Long story short I did find Paolo and Concetta's graves there and now they have profiles on Find a Grave along with their cousin, Giovanni. At the time of my posting, I had no clue just how many Coppolas were at Saint Patrick's until I did a cemetery run with my dad's cousin, Bob. As it turned out many of them were the children of Paolo!

Thanks go out to Rob Williams
at Find a Grave!

    Detective Paolo Coppola's grave took a little while for me to find to be honest because of just how many Coppolas were interred at the cemetery. Saint Patrick's is set up in such a way that people who passed away in a certain decade would be near each other. For example, if someone passed away in 1985. the person would be near people who also passed away in the 1980s unless they were interred with someone else as in the case of my grandfather who was buried with his parents. 

    Since Paolo passed away in the 1950s, I naturally tried to find him in the 1950s area of the cemetery. Along the way, Bob told me stories of some of his friends who passed away (much later than the 1950s!!) and I still had trouble locating him. So, I did what any sensible person would have done. I eventually emailed the cemetery association and asked them to help me locate Paolo. They complied and it turned out that he was buried not too far from my grandparents' final resting place. Actually, he was oddly closer to where my great-grandparents, Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione were buried than anything else. I posted his exact location on Find a Grave with the intention of eventually going there myself and a nice user there was kind enough to take a picture before I had a chance to visit the final resting spot. Huh. Talk about "First come, first serve".

       The first thing I noticed about the picture was the wreath. This was in early December and the wreath meant that someone in the family still tended the gravesite. That actually made me feel good, you know. It's unfortunate when graves go untended. But, it's a sad fact of life when the people maintaining the stones are eventually unable to care for them. It happens. At least volunteers will always be on hand to take care of everything! And don't worry. Rob Williams did take a pic of the back of the stone. Paolo is interred with his second wife, Antonia and a granddaughter who unfortunately died young.

    To date I've found nine of his children at St. Patrick's out of fifteen! That's a lot of kids! Keep in mind that he had two wives and a few of the offspring unfortunately died very young. I had thought I found everyone until I went on a cemetery run in April with Bob.

    I had just put in my requests at Haverhill city hall regarding Giovanni and a few other people and we thought it'd be a good idea to visit the cemetery on the way to Walnut Cemetery. More on that adventure in a bit. We were walking around and since it was late fall/early winter we were literally burning daylight because the sun was close to setting. I looked at my watch and I was about to call it quits when I saw this stone.

    "Cheney?", I thought to myself. That name sounded familiar to me. Sure it was a common last name and everything but something else dawned on me. I was missing a couple Coppolas and one of them married a Cheney. Her name was Mary Rose and I rushed to the back to see if it was her.

    BINGO! It was definitely her! She was buried with her husband, Everett Cheney. The odd thing is that she and her half-sister share the SAME NAME. I had to make sure it wasn't her and it wasn't. There's eight years between the two of them and the younger sister married a man named Arthur Dinges.  I bet things got real confusing around the dinner table when the two were growing up. From what I understand, one sister went by Mary and the other went by Rose. It's hard to say who was who. Maybe they alternated every week?

    With the discovery of the last Coppola child at Saint Patrick's that I knew about, I was off to my next adventure.

    On the way out of Saint Patrick's, I took some photos that I'm frankly not that proud of. The sun was setting and when I took the pictures, I caught some serious lens flare. The only person who wouldn't complain about them would be J.J. Abrams. See his reboot of "Star Trek" for details. 

    While we drove to our next destination, Bob told me he never actually went to Walnut before. That made sense. None of Bob's relatives are at Walnut. Why would he go there? Sure he could help maintain the grounds. But, I think he has his hands full with St. Patrick's, St. James and Linwood! Let's give the guy a break, huh?

    At least he knew the way and that was the important thing. He wondered if I was looking for anyone in particular. I said I was looking for my 3rd great-grandfather, Jeremiah Felker and other Felkers in the area. 

    By the time we got there, I noticed how wooded it seemed to be. I told Bob that the cemetery was supposedly haunted. He said "Yeah, it looks like it!" Seriously, I could hear the "Scooby Doo" intro playing in my head as we rode around the place.

    To my dismay, the sun was setting faster than we could drive. We drove past my great-grandparents' Austin and Henrietta Felker's stone and thankfully pictures were already taken of their final resting place. I saw Jeremiah's stone in the middle of a small clearing surrounded by several of his children and grandchildren. Sadly, the stone appeared to be at a 45 degree angle. I was reluctant to touch it and straighten it out. 

    I only had time to take that one picture and it was worth it. I would've uploaded it to his Find a Grave profile, but, there are already two photos there. One is from 2010 and the other from just two years ago. Time has not been kind to the stone. See what I mean when I talked about people not being able to maintain the stone? That's exactly what happened here. Jeremiah passed away in 1918. I bet it's been several decades since a family member visited his final resting spot.

    Anyway, I wish we had more time to explore Walnut. The next time Bob offers to go on a cemetery run, I'll ask him if he wants to go to Walnut again because there are still a few more people I wish to find like his wife, Elizabeth.That adventure and a few others will have to wait for another day. It might be best to go earlier in the day so I don't feel rushed and pictures won't come complete with a lens flare!!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 21: Brick Wall

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 21

The theme for Week 21 is "Brick Wall." Do you have an ancestor (or 4) who you can't seem to make any progress on in your research? This would be a good week to write about that ancestor and really think about what you know about that ancestor, how you know it, and where you might look to fill in the gaps. Writing is part of the research process!

Welcome to Atop the Brick Wall....

    "Atop the Brick Wall" would be a fantastic name for a genealogy blog, wouldn't it? However, it's far too close to the name of my friend Lewis's webshow, "Atop the FOURTH Wall", where he reviews comics, the occasional television show and all things nerdy and awesome. I think the name "All Roads Lead to Haverhill" works just as well because it's a play on "All roads lead to Rome". Besides, it's not like I haven't done anything nerdy and awesome in this blog, right? That and calling my blog "Atop the Brick Wall" would just confuse people into thinking I was Lewis....again.

    Anyway, brick walls are an annoying part of the genealogical adventure. For a while my 2nd great-grandmother, Maria Domenica Gullo was a brick wall made of solid titanium until I did some genealogical jiggery pokery to sort out who her parents were. Once that was solved, there was peace in the valley. Little did I know that a simple trip to Haverhill city hall would change my family tree and inadvertently break down another brick wall.

La famiglia di Coppola

    It started simple enough. I had a list of people I wanted to find the exact death dates for and on that list was Giovanni Coppola. You may have seen me mention him a few dozen times in the blog. He was the guy responsisble for bringing most of San Pietro a Maida to Haverhill back in the day. For a long time I just assumed that he was a brother to Paolo, Caterina and Concetta because of various factors here and there. Yeah....life has a way of throwing a wrench into the works, doesn't it? Fear not, true believers. This story has a happy ending!

    Giovanni passed away on October 4th, 1960 in the city of Haverhill and his parents weren't Paolo Coppola and Rosa Suverato as I originally assumed. Instead, they were Giovanni Coppola and Angela Suverato. I was a little annoyed at first. I then realized that several of my great-aunt's DNA matches who descend from him were a little on the low side. There was only one match of hers who decended from Giovanni who was in the triple digits range at 137 cMs. Curious, right? Well, it's about to get a lot more curious because I've actually seen the names of Giovanni's parents before!

1860 births, #73

    This is the birth record for Francesco Coppola, born in San Pietro a Maida on November 10th 1860 to Giovanni and Angela. Could Francesco be an older brother to our friend Giovanni? It's possible. There's only a fifteen year gap between the two births as Giovanni was born in 1875. Italain families back then tended to be huge. So, it's certainly possible that the 1875 Giovanni is this kid's brother. I hope that makes sense because I'm getting cross-eyed trying to explain the logistics.

    At any rate, Italian naming conventions come into play here because of the name "Giovanni". A lot of Italian families named their children after grandparents and even after themselves once they run out of parents. Speaking of grandparents, note how Giovanni's father Francesco was mentioned. Put a pin in that. We'll be going back to that one. 

    Now, I know what you're thinking. "Chris! Coppola is a very common Italian name! You can't jump to conclusions like this!!" Ordinarily, I would agree with you. "Coppola" is a very common Italian last name much like "Tedesco". Just hear me out because I've been researching the records in San Pietro and to date I've only found TWO Coppolas in the town. One was the wife of a guy named Nicola Mazza and the other was this family.  There may be a connection to Nicola Mazza as the woman's name was Caterina. The jury's still out on that one. Let's just focus on this story for now, shall we?

This must have been some party....

    Once I put Giovanni with his family, I started to think about a few things. He HAD to be related to me somehow. You can't fake a 137 cM match can you? That's a solid match because that's right smack dab in the middle of the 2nd to 3rd cousin range. The odds seemed pretty good, my friends.

    So, I got to thinking. What if Giovanni was a first cousin to Concetta, Caterina and Paolo? He was already a confirmed first cousin to Rosa and Marianna Stella. He paid the way for his cousins to come to America. What if he did the same for Concetta or Paolo? Why else would my great-grandparents, Vincenzo and Maria go to his house just after arriving in America in 1929? Why else would Concetta have been at that anniversary party in this photograph? Because she was his first cousin.

    I don't think this is as big a stretch as you might think. I'm not Marvel's "Mister Fantastic" after all. Many people paid for their family's trip across the Atlantic and it stands to reason that the Concetta had some help from her dear cousin as well like Marianna and Rosa. Were Paolo, Concetta and Caterina really first cousins with Giovanni? It's a distinct possibility when you consider desecendants of the three siblings are all DNA matches with my great-aunt's 137 cM match. The descendants of Rosa and Marianna are also DNA matches with her. Even if you take endogamy into account, this does seem to be the most logical conclusion.

    Eventually, I put in my great-aunt's DNA matches into "What are the Odds" on DNApainter to see where she would fit into the puzzle and if my theory held water. I ran the simulation and here's what I came up with once all the facts were in place.

    I eliminated the impossible and used the Pallaria DNA matches as a sort of anchor for everything I'm about to say. I really hope this makes sense! One of the Pallaria DNA matches, a 96 cM match, is a known 3rd cousin and I used that as a basis for my theory. He descends from a woman named Caterini Coppola who was a sister to my 3rd great-grandfather, Paolo.

    Using what I know, I scrolled down the page and saw that the 96 cM match appeared as a third cousin in two places. Which one is accurate? It's hard to say. I lean more toward hypothesis six given what I know of the family and everything. There isn't proof of a half-relationship as shown in hypothesis 2. 

Either way, two very strong DNA matches were holding this tree together. It couldn't be denied that there was a connection. After all DNA does not lie and at the end of all of this, the 137 cM match became a third cousin just like the 96 match. 

By the way, my father and I also match the same woman! I match her at 56 cMs and my father at 104 cMs.

    With that in mind, I've been able to deduce that the previously unknown father of my 3td great-grandfather was Francesco Coppola based on DNA evidence, family history and simple deductive reasoning. There can be no doubt that Francesco was the father of Paolo, Caterini and Giovanni. That brick wall was solved. However, I still had a problem. Ummm....Who was his wife?! I can't keep calling her "Unknown Unkown"! That doesn't sit well with me and that puzzle will have to be solved another time.

One of two Angela Suveratos.

    Another puzzle that will have to wait is the identity of Giovanni's mother, Angela Suverato. There were in fact two Angelas born in San Pietro who could have been his mother. One Angela Suverato was the daughter of my 4th great-grandparents, Giuseppe Suverato and Concetta Nistico. The other one was the daughter of Marcantonio Suverato and Elisabetta Desando. An entire year seperated the births of the two girls. So, either one of them could be Giovanni's mother! More research is clearly needed.

    Her identity probably wouldn't change anything other than the most recent common ancestor. This is just on one branch of the family tree and on this branch Giovanni's descendant who holds everything together appears to be a third cousin to my great-aunt. Was she Rosa Suverato's sister? Maybe. One set of brothers sometimes marry a set of sisters. That was a pretty common practice.

    It doesn't change the fact that I have potentially identified a 4th great-grandfather in the middle of all these genealogical gymnastics and that makes me pretty darn happy. I don't like calling people "Unknown". They had names!!! To solve that puzzle, I think a call to the commune office is in order.

    Brick walls are an annoying part to genealogy. I can't deny that it feels good breaking through one like the "Kool-Aid Man". This case wasn't so much breaking it down as it was going around it using the genealogical tricks of the trade, common sense and what I already knew about the family. Is this accurate? It's hard to say. You honestly cannot deny the facts once they've been presented. 

    That said, I did have to change a few things in the blog. Every post where I mentioned Giovanni as a brother to Caterina and the others had to have a notice attached that mentioned how things had changed since I posted the blog. I don't mind correcting mistakes because everyone makes them from time to time. No one is perfect. 

    Time will tell if this theory of mine proves to be accurate. The movie I had in mind for "Italians in Haverhill" may have changed a little. But, the plot is still the same. Giovanni is still an important member of the family and a key factor in the immigration story. Nothing about that has changed even if his position in the family tree did.

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 20: Bearded

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 20 is "Bearded." This week, record something about a relative who sported a beard (or maybe someone who struggled in that department). Of course, feel free to interpret the theme however you'd like!

It's been three years since I last talked about beards and I
STILL can't grow a ZZ Top beard. Sigh....

    In the three years since I've last posted a blog about men with magnificent facial shrubbery, I have discovered one more ancestor who had a mighty beard and that brings my bearded man roster to a grand total of three! My paternal second great-grandfather, Marco Ferraiolo joins my third great-grandfather, Jeremiah Smart Felker and my fourth great-grandfather, John Sargent Fisher as the bearded few who dared to say "no" to the Norelco razor. Could there be more bearded men in my tree? I have no idea because cameras weren't invented until 1826 and even then getting your picture back then was very cost-prohibitive. You'd have been better off paying someone to paint your picture back in those days.

So dignified!

    Marco was born in the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida in 1868 and though his beard wasn't as long as Jeremiah's or John's, it still counts! If anything, that beard reminds me of Sigmund Freud's for some reason. It's a nice one, that's for sure! It's clean, short and commands respect and projects thoughtfulness and dignity. Yes, I quoted  Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Leave me alone!

    When my cousin Caterina gave me this photo of her grandparents, Marco and Caterina in February of 2021, I tried to figure out when the picture was taken. Marco passed away in 1958 and Caterina in 1962. So, clearly the picture had to have been taken before 1958. That narrows it down, doesn't it?

    The answer actually lies with the little girl standing in front of Marco and Caterina. Who is that? Well, that's actually my 1st cousin 2x removed, Adriana Serrao, daughter of my great-grandfather Vincenzo's sister, Rosa. I talked to her on Facebook about the picture and she said she was about three years old when the photo was taken. She was born in 1947. So, then this picture would have been taken some time in 1950.

   

    That was a quick and easy mystery to solve, wasn't it. I should have asked for more information like "Do you know if there are any more pictures of these two?" Or "What was the occasion?" I'm not sure if Adriana would have remembered the specifics. Give her a break. She was three! Do you remember anything that happened when YOU were three?!

Pasquale is in the middle.

    Marco probably would have bern pleased that at least one of his descendants is currently rocking a beard. Check out actor Pasquale Aleardi's awesome beard of awesomeness. My second cousin once removed descends from Vincenzo's sister, Concetta. For those of you keeping score at home, Concetta was my cousin Caterina's mother and that makes Pasquale her nephew. I think I need a scorecard or a bigger family tree....

    ANYWAY! To date he is the only relative on that side of the family who currently has a beard. Lord knows I can't grow a decent one. I can't even grow a moustache.

That doesn't stop anyone else in the family from trying....

Clean-shaven and an ad for Lenscrafters.

     When my brother got married in August of 2002, my father was sporting a beard of his own. I'm not sure why he decided to grow one. Back in the day he had a moustache and then he shaved that off. Then one day he decided to go with a full beard. It honestly did not last long AT ALL!

    Still, his beard is forever immortalized in all of Jim and Kathleen's wedding pictures. I bring this up with him from time to time and some days he says he wants to grow it back and some days he says it's better to be clean-shaven.  I guess it depends on his mood.

    Beards seem to be a rarity in my family. I can see why because growing them can be a bit itchy and caring for one can be a hassle. Some people can work wearing facial shrubbery. Me? I definitely can't. But, it is fun to see friends and family sporting beards and wondering if they've now become the "evil twin"since most "evil twins" have beards.

Hey, it worked in "Star Trek"....

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 19: Bald

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 19 is "Bald." Bald people. Bald eagle. Night on Bald Mountain. Those are just a few way you can explore the theme!

See also: Hairless and clean-shaven

    Baldness is a trait that's often passed down on the mother's side of the family and for centuries men everywhere have tried to hide their folically challenged heads in many ways through wigs, shaving it all off and by even joining the "Hair Club for Men". At fourty-four years old at the time of this blog, I haven't had to worry about doing any of those things. That isn't to say I don't have bald guys in my family tree. I totally do and prior to posting this week's blog I sat with my parents to discuss the issue. We talked about where the history of baldness in the family started and it went about as well as you might expect.

Dr. James Ferraiolo D.M.D.

    My father, Doctor James Ferraiolo, started going bald before my parents met in the late 1960s. My mother has said time and time again that she never knew him with hair. That's interesting because his high school graduation picture showed that he was little thinning at the top. Not much but maybe the arrival of two spunky rapscallions pushed him over the edge. =D

    He never seemed to let baldness bother him and he never wore a hairpiece or anything to cover up his lack of hair. So, the question is how did he get so bald so fast? To answer that question, we'd have to look at his grandfathers. Vincenzo had a full head of hair up until he passed away in 1970. He went from dark brown to silver by the time my mother met him. Vincenzo’s father, Marco, was not bald as far as I can tell. We'll be circling back to the Ferraiolo family in a bit. Just hold that thought for now!

    With one grandfather out of the running, logic dictates that you'd have to pick the other one, right? Right! We're looking for the maternal side, remember. That just leaves one man....

He looks like he's waiting for the bus.

    Giuseppe Carrabs started going bald probably after his daughters were born or during their childhood. I've never really seen that many pictures of him as a young man. Just one. You can imagine raising six girls would be enough for any man to tear his hair out. Either that or stress at the bank got to him.

    I don't think it honestly came down to either of those things! Does that picture to the left tell you he was stressed out over his daughters? No. I didn't think so. It was the gardening that did it. It's such a dangerous hobby.

    You would've thought that the conversation ended here. You’d think that my father would have accepted that his baldness was inherited through grandma Ollie who got the gene from her father. Hmmm....not so fast, readers!  While Giuseppe was indeed bald, there was one other man who was probably more hairless up top than he was!

Italian man or British butlet? 
YOU decide.

    Giuseppe's father, Vincenzo, looked like he had some thinning hair in this picture to the right, doesn't he? It's a little hard to tell, I admit because of how bright his head looks. I'm also not a fan of the glare on the picture. But, beggers can't be choosers when one has a rare picture of their second great-grandfather who lived his entire life in the Campanian town of Gesualdo. I wonder if I can remove that in Photoshop. I probably can! Or I could just do a simple edit. Hmm....The glare isn't too bad.

    I digress. If you look close enough, you can sort of make out a receding hairline. Baldness here must have been inherited by the Carrabs clan in Gesualdo. 

    So, that's it, right? Has the mystery behind the history of male-pattern baldness in my family been solved? Can we put the issue to rest? Eh....I would.but it's time to circle back to the Ferraiolo side of the tree. 

      I know that baldness is inherited through the mother's side of the tree. However, when I tried to explain everything to my father he quickly pointed out that grandpa Marco  was just as bald as he was! That's true. In almost every picture I have of grandpa Marco, the man is just as bald as my dad. That's kinda spooky now that I think about it. 

That shirt is so 1970s.

   As you can see Grandpa Marco here was just as bald as my father. How did he get so bald?! Well, we know Vincenzo wasn't bald. What about his mother Maria's parents?

    Maria's parents were Antonio Tedesco and Maria Domenica Gullo of the Calabrian town of San Pietro a Maida. As I only have one picture of both of them in my collection, I can plainly see that Antonio's hair was thinning a bit at the top.

    It's okay. Both he and my other second great-grandfather both made up for their lack of hair in the form of trademark old Italian man moustaches. 

 Once I told my father about Antonio's thinning hair, I suddenly came to a realization. Dad was doomed from the start since baldness was on BOTH sides of the tree! 

    I guess all that answered the mystery of my father's bald head. Now, wait a minute. What about me? I think at this point I'm probably not going to lose my hair. My chances here are pretty good. My grandfather Robert had a full head of hair up until he passed away. None of the men on my maternal side seemed to go bald or anything. My father was quick to mention how my mother's brother, Bob was bald. That was a choice. Sometimes guys like to shave their heads!

    Baldness isn't anything to be ashamed of and a lot of celebrities rock the look from Sir Patrick Stewart to Vin Disel. In today's society, we really shouldn't be obsessed with losing our lochs. Hair loss is natural and the sooner we accept that it's in our genes, the better. Now, that doesn't mean I'm going to go out and shave my head. No. I live in New England. Who wants their head to be cold in the winter?! There's a reason why my dad wears a hat when he shovels. At least he has an answer for who to blame for his baldness. Everyone!!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 18: Pets

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 18

The theme for Week 18 is "Pets." Any tales of ancestors owning pets? How about someone with a "pet name" or who was "teacher's pet"? Record that story this week.

Cara, the most exploited cat on the Internet.

    I don't think there's anyone alive who doesn't like an animal of some kind be they furry, scaly, feathered or eight-legged. If someone doesn't like animals, I'm not sure if I could trust them. If an animal doesn't like a person, I KNOW I can't trust them! They can sense evil, you know. Then again some animals could just be trolling us for all we know. Our furry friends have their own way of doing things and the animals I've known in my life have been the same way. Join me as we follow the pawprints through time!

Cammy: Why is the human larvae squirming?

  I suppose my fascination with dogs all started when I was very little. My grandparents, Marco and Ollie, had a poodle named Cammy who only liked Marco for some strange reason. It was probably the musky aroma my father said he had. Let's go with that! Did Cammy like kids? I have no idea. She seems kind of suspicious of my brother in this picture. I would be, too. Let's be honest.

    At home, my parents had two Alaskan malamutes who for the life of me I can't find pictures of. That's okay. Just picture two big husky-like dogs chilling out in the backyard making all kinds of noise!

    That isn't to say I don't have stories about Naki and Tumi. I do. Tumi was the kind of dog who just hated being inside. It didn't matter if we had her in the garage during a blizzard or what. She would howl like a wolf if we kept her in there. The dog never liked going inside her dog house, either. Her daughter, Naki was pretty much the same way. You'd look out the window after a blizzard and see these mounds of snow move and then see these two big dogs emerge. I so need to find their pictures. They were amazing dogs!

    Tumi weighed a little over one hundred pounds and was a good sled dog from what I've been told. In the winter, she would pull my brother and I around on a sled. I obviously don't remember those trips. However, I've been told that it was quite adorable. That was just the beginning of my canine adventure!

Good doggo.

    Naki and Tumi weren't the only top dogs back in the day. There was one dog who has a very special place in my heart because he was pretty much my bodyguard. His name was Triumphant's War Boy aka Gunner and he was a very good boy.

    My Aunt Linda breeds and used to show Britannys for the longest time. When she was living with us, we had the distinct pleasure of having the thundering herd (TM) around and leading the pack was Gunner. That dog liked me and if you were a jerk, he'd probably take you down. It kinda makes me wish the malamutes were the same way. I mean they WERE bigger animals! You'd think they'd be good guard dogs and not a 40 pound bird dog.

    Even though my brother and I had dogs around us all of our lives at that point, they weren't really *OUR* dogs. They were technically my aunt's dogs. This was the case until Aunt Linda gave us one of the puppies she bred. How many people can say they had their own dog born in their house?

Rocking a "Darkwing Duck" t-shirt like
 it was 1992. (Because it was.)

    Enter Triumphant's Formal Attire aka Tux. Tux was probably the most chill and fearless dog ever. That made sense because he was descended from Gunner. We actually have his pedigree chart that proved the connection! I don't think we need sources! I mean....he was born in my house like I said.

    That dog endured the choppy waters of the Merrimack river when we went out on the boat. Then again, I don't think he was that fond of the engines because he would always nuzzle close to me as you can see in the picture.

       Beneath that cuddly veener, though, beat the heat of a champion show dog and hunter. 

    I've never actually seen Tux hunt a bird in my life. But, I've been told that he was indeed a mighty warrior.....who then calmly asked for liver snaps after a job well done. There was also this one time he stole an entire steak fillet from the counter and scarfed it down like there was no tomorrow. Hey, a dog's gotta eat, right? He was a champion show dog and yes he sired many puppies--one of whp, we kept.

Tie standing still for once in his life.

    Triumphant's Black Tie aka Tie. Ahh, this dog was the eternal puppy. He didn't have the patience for dog shows.  He never pointed out a bird. He had a permanent case of the zoomies. Whenever we had him out, he'd run around like a crazy dog. 

    He had his good points, though. He was very patient with the cat who invaded the bastion of dogdom. Though, he did get too close to him once and the cat smacked him across the nose. Tie then ran back into his kennel. Heart of a wolf, right?

   Tie had a sister, Lacie who was a bit more chill and a cousin Travis who was probably more like Tux than any of the other dogs he sired. We watched the two every once in a while and it was kind of fun watching Tux grumble at his puppies. I once said to him. "Hey. You started it."

    The dogs were all amazing and great companions. But, then came the invasion of the cats! Tie then quickly found out who really ran the house in the early 2000s. Cats invaded the bastion of dogdom and there was nothing he could do about it!

WAKANDA FOREVER!!!

      Cocoa's story is a bit of a strange one. We found him at our doorstep when he was just a kitten. He was so tiny and he apparently wandered up our driveway. He wasn't a feral kitten because he was friendly toward people and he took to using a litter box right away. 

    As far as we knew, no one in the neighborhood was missing a kitten. So, Cocoa stayed with us for a good decade. While he was here, he made sure everyone knew whose house it was. He was especially close with my mom and me. For some reason he was always skittish around my father. If animals could tell stories, I kind of wonder which stories Cocoa would tell because of the way we found him.

    Cocoa grew up and was a big kitty. We've never been able to figure out what breed of cat he was. We just knew that he was the perfect Halloween cat with his dark fur coat and green eyes. His fur wasn't completely black, though. There was a dark brown underfur. Still, he was a good boy. In fact, all of our pets have been boys until 2012!

ROAARRR!!!

    Cara is the latest furry resident of the house and like Tux and Tie she has her own pedigree. She is, as far as we know, 100% Maine coon. Noone is 100% anything. However, it would be cool to send her DNA off to a company that does DNA testing for animals. Would she go for it? Uhh....It takes two people to brush her. What do you think? Four paws become eight. 

    In retrospect, she and Cocoa were very much like the dogs I've mentioned. Both tended to be very loyal and friendly. They also never bothered the Christmas tree at all. Strange, I know. You always hear about cats knocking over the tree and yet Cocoa and Cara would just sleep under there for hours. 

    Animals definitely make for great companions regardless if they're feathered, furry or scaly. They are indeed an important part of your family history because in the end they are family. They may not talk like you and me. However, they certainly do communicate and have attitudes all their own. So. here's to the furry friends in our lives both past and present. They may not speak, but, they definitely add a lot to your family history! 

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 17: DNA

 Week 17

April 25 is DNA Day, and it's no coincidence that the theme for Week 17 is "DNA." Has DNA testing broken down a brick wall for you? Is there a brick wall that you wish it would break down? Have there been any surprises? (If you're posting anything publicly, remember to not identify living people unless you have their permission.)

Y'know with just one or two modifications, we could
totally have superpowers.

   

     When I had my DNA tested back in 2017, I was told many things. The first being that my father was all Italian all the time. I could've told you that. If you look at his tree, you can clearly see the pasta sauce flowing through his branches. The leaves of his tree are fig! One of the other things I was told that you should always expect surprises. That goes without saying. You never know what a DNA test will reveal once the test results come in. You could end up being an ethnicity you previously had no connection with OR you could find a relative or two you never knew existed. Those are all very good words to live by. However, what if you're on the recieving end of the surprises? What if you are the surprise relative to someone? It's happened to me before and it's more likely than you think. The names in this blog have been changed to protect the innocent!

   For the longest time, my mother and I had this DNA match who was pretty much unknown to us. We didn't know where she fit into the family tree. She matched me at 127 cMs and my mother at 182 cMs. The woman, let's call her Crystal, sat on the backburner of my DNA match list for quite some time before I said "You know what? I'm going to message her!"

    And that's what I did after doing a Leeds chart and finding out that she matches virtually everyone who descended from my 2nd great-grandparents, Antoine Legault and Lucie Cadran. You would think that would narrow things down a bit, but, unfortunately (or fortunately) the family tree is HUGE!

    A little over a year since I sent the message, I got a response from Crystal. After getting over my shock, I saw that she was looking for information on her father's side of the family. That's reasonable. Many people wanted to learn about their family and that's why they send in those DNA tests. In this case, this was Ancestry. I offered some advice and various tools like DNApainter's shared cM project/WATO. I also linked her to Dana Leed's Leeds Method. If you have access to the tools of the trade, why not share the wealth?

    I'm not sure what possessed me to ask my next question. I asked Crystal about various matches we shared in the Legault line. I asked her about a known second cousin, "Joseph", who descended from Antoine and Lucie's son, Oliver. Crystal replied saying that she matched Joseph at 1540 cMs!

    The blood drained from my face and my jaw hit the floor. To quote Strong Bad: "That is not a small number! THAT IS A BIG NUMBER!"

    I tried very hard to compose myself afterward. As a genealogist one must remain calm like the summer breeze and....Oh, who am I kidding? I was floored! You would be too!

    I composed myself and made sure that this was the same 2nd cousin I was talking to her about. She verified that it was indeed the same guy. Running the numbers through the old shared cM project, I found this amazing result.

There is little to no wiggle room!

   According to the shared cM project, Joseph was most likely Crystal's grandfather. I doubled-checked my work and even did a WATO tree to be sure. The evidence was clear and right away Crystal greeted me as a new third cousin. I smiled and I asked her if she talked to anyone else in the family who could help find the connection.

    Crystal said she was talking to another second cousin of mine named "Felicia". Felicia is a DNA match over on MyHeritage and I had messaged her a few times here and there. So, I knew how we were related.  I emailed Felicia to see what she had to say about everything as she was incredibly warm and kind to our "new" cousin. That was a good thing. The last thing I wanted to be caught in the middle of was some drama. If there was drama, I'd have backed away. No one has time for that mess.

    Felicia being warm and caring is a bit of an understatement. When I messaged her before this big reveal, she told me everything I needed to know. She also descended from Oliver and she answered my mother's questions about his children since she hadn't seen them since my parents' wedding! Yeah, it's been quite a while since we last heard from that Legault branch hasn't it? After all fifty years is a long time.

Hello, old Ancestry screenshot...

    My second cousin told me that she had a pretty good idea about the rest of the tree and filled me in on the details. For privacy's sake, I'm not going to elaborate on anything. Let's just celebrate the fact that Crystal has a new grandfather that she never knew about and a family that cares about her. That's all anyone can hope for. Let's just hope they have some relationship because I hadn't had an update in quite some time.

    The only thing is that I felt like I rocked the boat a bit with the big reveal. I was the one who told Crystal about the connection to Joseph and what that meant. Did I stir the pot? All I did was present the facts of the case in a calm manner.

    Crystal and Felicia have both informed me that while the boat was rocked a little bit, all parties involved in the situation have been made aware of everything. There were some waves made. But, at this point I think things calmed down. Do they have a relationship with one another? I have no clue. All I can say is that I hope there's some relationship. You never know. Having that close of a DNA match doesn't mean you HAVE to have that close of a relationship with someone. You aren't owed anything. But, you should always be aware that surprises can happen when you take a DNA test.

    I also learned an important lesson in all of this. If you're the person who has to explain things to the surprised DNA match, it's a good idea to explain things in laymen's terms and present the facts of the case so that they will understand what you're saying. Too much information could startle them and they'll feel overwhelmed. So, treat it with kid gloves, be their friend and whatever you do, try to avoid dropping the truth bomb. Save those for incredibly difficult DNA matches.

Did I just equate a truth bomb with a nuclear weapon? Yes. Yes, I did.

See ya next time!

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.

52 Ancestors Week 16: Should Be a Movie

 From Amy Johnson Crow: The theme for Week 16 is "Should Be a Movie." What is family history without the stories? (It's a bunch of cold, lonely facts, that's what!) What story in your family should be up on the silver screen? Write about it this week!

Reusing a classic banner? Talk about fan service!

    If there's one 52 Ancestors prompt I really like to write about, it's the occassional one titled "Should Be a Movie". The last blog where I talked about a person whose life should be a major motion picture was in a blog post I made in September of 2020 focusing primarily on the life and times of my 3rd great-grandfather, Jeremiah Smart Felker. If you read the blog, you'll see why his life really should have been a summer blockbuster. The drama alone would be enough to net an Oscar. This time around, I think I'll go in a different direction. However, the setting would ultimately be the same. Where else am I going to go? Oh, right. Newburyport. Next time.

    Set at the backdrop of the height of the Italian immigration to Haverhill, Massachusetts, the next movie I could create would focus primarily on the Italian immigrants who came to the city in order to escape poverty in their homeland. The movie would be called "Italians in Haverhill" and I do hope that I could use the title because I honestly can't think of a better one off the top of my head.  I don't think Scorsese would appreciate me calling it "Gangs of Haverhill" since it sounds a lot like his  "Gangs of New York" epic.

  Speaking of gangs,  I also want to make that movie less of a Mafia movie because when Hollywood makes a film based on an Italian family we get a TON of Mafia references. There are some exceptions like "My Cousin Vinny", though.  Don't get me wrong. Mafia movies are cool and all. But, let's be honest. It's a cliché considering how many of them there are out there these days. We've got "Goodfellas", "My Blue Heaven" and of course the "Godfather" saga to name a few. All three are classic movies. However, they kind of focus on one aspect of the whole Italian-American experience. You get a window into what life is like and you rarely get the whole picture.

     Now, granted sometimes those things have happened. People fall in with the wrong crowd and the next thing you know you're storing rope for this guy who knew your grandfather's dog in your basement. No, that didn't happen to me! Do you honestly think I'd admit to any Mafia ties on the Internet?! Besides....it wouldn't be the dog. It'd be my second cousin "Fredo". (I don't even have a second cousin named "Fredo".)

    Basing a movie on the book might be a bit of a challenge. Hundreds and hundreds of families are discussed within those pages and any one of those tales could make for a good movie. To remedy the problem of who to pick for such a tale, I suggest an "Italians in Haverhill" movie be based on some of the people who lived in Haverhill, had Italian roots and yet were not featured in the book.

I just really love this picture of
Marco and Ollie.
Dunno why

    Enter my grandparents: Marco Ferraiolo and Olympia Carrabs. I may be a bit biased, I admit. There's really no better couple to be the audience's eyes and ears to the goings on in Haverhill during this time of mass immigration. They were very young in the 1920s and yet they witnessed first hand what their parents had to deal with to get by in a strange land. From Marco's perspective, we'd get the old tried and true "stranger in a strange land trying to make it work" trope. From Olympia, we'd get to see the daughter of two immigrants caught between two cultures because even though she was born in Haverhill, she still had deep Italian roots and likely had to deal with her own problems.

    I will admit that this method is a little biased like I said. You have to understand a few things about my family. I'm connected to over fifty people IN those pages and possibly even more! My grandparents knew everyone in the Italian community in Haverhill. Everyone knew everyone and everyone was in each other's business. My father explained it like this.  He couldn't go five feet without someone saying to his parents that someone saw him walking with his cousins on Washington street one hot summer day to the drug store and that they were clearly up to something. The parents knew and they had their ways of finding out everything! There was no escaping it!

    The people in the know would ultimately be the people who were in the book like Marco's great-aunt, Concetta Coppola and Olympia's great-uncle Giovanni Antonio Penta. I can see Marco and Ollie going to them for advice and possibly an anecdote or two. The two would have their own storyline. The way I see it this movie could also be a romanticized version of how my grandparents actually met since I have no idea how it happened!

    The more I think about it, the more that plot would make sense because I'd need to have both families meet somehow! I can't just have two families milling about and not have them meet during a two a half hour tour de force. It'd make for a very disjointed movie with no plot. I'd absolutely have to have Marco and Ollie meet in the movie and have it end with their wedding in 1946!

    Where would I start the movie, though? Why not have it start when Marco arrived in 1929 and then spend parts of the movie in the 1930s. It was the height of the Great Depression and I could cover major familial events such as Marco's mother's funeral and even the wedding anniversary party where this picture to the right was taken.

    For an Italians in Haverhill movie to work and keep up the pace, we'd have to adapt some aspects of the stories in the book and use some of the stories in my family in order for things to make sense. We'd explore the trials and tribulations of what it was like in those days and ultimately end with a wedding. Would there be drama? Oh, you bet! You need to keep people invested in a period piece!

   

Vincenzo and Fortuna

    I think I can manage to have a lot of drama in the movie without there being any Mafia references. Marco's father, Vincenzo married his second wife Fortuna a little over a year after his mother died. The second world war would have to be mentioned near the end as well. There's a lot to focus on and a lot of material to work with.

    Of course I always could just set the movie from 1943 to 1946 when Marco and Ollie were in their twenties and had to deal with everything life threw at them. Ollie would have been out of high school and she'd trying to find her place in the world. Marco would have been drafted and a lot of what I talked about earlier would still have occured.

    The initial immigrants to Haverhill may have been older at this point. However, their arrival would still be fresh in their minds and they were still very much alive. So, if I cover everything from 1943 to 1946, I would still get the drama my grandparents were caught up in along with events discussed in the book and still have a glimpse into the Italian immigrant experience. 

   This week's blog reads like a brainstorming session, doesn't it? Well, it does help to talk out a story every now and then. I think if I focus on those three years, I would have a great movie if I touch on these points:

1. Immigration and the two interacting with family members who immigrated. Toss in some of the drama that went on as well. Maybe discuss a case Paolo Coppola worked on.

2. My grandparents meeting

3. The funerals/weddings

4. The anniversary party

5. My grandparents' own wedding.

    The icing on the cake would be referencing the Carrabs family in Melrose and Everett and the Tedescos from Woburn. They'd probably show up at the wedding!

    I think it would make for a decent movie. I'm not entirely sure who I'd cast for what role. But, they'd have to be people who could pull off a convincing Italian accent. I think a movie like this could work. Hey, Hollywood! I've got an idea for you! An Italian movie without Mafia connections! It'll work! Contact me! Have your people call my people!

See ya next time!

Editor's note: In April of 2023, I found that Giovanni Coppola was not the brother of Paolo, Caterina and Concetta Coppola. He is likely a first cousin of the three. Look for details in a future blog post.

Images of Google Earth are property of Google Earth.