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!

52 Ancestors Week 30: Boats

 From  Me: 52 Ancestors Week 29: On the boats and on the planes, they were coming to America. And other places of course. What roles did boats play in your family history?

Admiral, there be whales here!

    When I first read the list of topics for this year's 52 Ancestors on Amy Johnson Crow's website and saw that "boats" were mentioned, I knew exactly what I was going to write about! As I've mentioned before in the blog, my family has had a long history of being out on the open ocean. From my Italian great-grandparents arriving at Ellis Island to my great-grandfather Austin's beach house on Plum Island, my family has long been associated with boats and the sea.

    In a blog I wrote a year ago, I talked about my parents being "ancient mariners" and how the marina we stayed at during the summer had huge parties. I also mentioned how I first wrote drafts of my "Starbolts" story there and how my friends and I often went across the Merrimack River to scenic downtown Newburyport.. I didn't really delve into the details of every ship we had that bore the name "Enterprise"....er...."Toothfairy" until today.

Just chilling on the back deck, Ma!

    That's right. A majority of our boats were named "Toothfairy" because my dad is a dentist and he wasn't about to name a boat "The Cavity". The Toothfairy you see in this picture isn't the first boat my parents had, though. That honor goes to a boat they called "The Articulator". That's...another dental reference. Google "Dental Articulators" and I think you might see why my father called his first boat that name.

    I honestly don't remember the first Toothfairy that much because I was so young when we had it. Then again I remember bonking my head a few times on the bunks, though. Maybe that's why I forgot.

    The Merrimack river is well known for being a bit rough even on a clear day. Going out on the ocean and docking safely upon your return is a team effort. You need to count on your crew and fellow boaters when you return from a successful boating trip. If no one's there to help you, you could be in big trouble if you didn't have a diligent crew on your ship! Note: I've often caught more fish than my brother on many boating excursions. Hehe!

Ship ahoy!

    The second Toothfairy we owned was a Silverton we had from the mid 1980s to 1989 and she was quite a beauty. While the boat in the picture isn't our boat, the shape is very similar.  Controls were on the bridge and while you were up there, you'd better hang on for dear life when she gets going!

    My brother and I would sleep in the v-berth at the bow of the ship. It was cozy and like all other boats at the marina it had all the comforts of home including a refrigerator, television and a couch that turned into a bed.  I can safely say she was a bit more comfortable than the Articulator. I actually remember a bit about this ship too.

    I remember one night someone left a "He-Man" figure near the heater at the stairs and when I woke up I saw that He-Man's left arm was a melted mass of plastic and his leg had burst a bit. Whoops. Sufficed it to say we made a quick trip to Toys R Us that week to get a new figure of the most powerful man in the universe. Who knew space heaters would be his one weakness? Skeletor should take notes.

    Side note: I probably shouldn't have brought my toys down to the marina. It would have been too easy to lose stuff. Did the incident with He-Man stop me? Nope. I still brought down select few "Transformers" from time to time. I just made sure to keep them away from the heater! 

We always had that view of the bridge. See
the first pic.

    Our third Toothfairy was built in 1989 and it's the one I remember the most since we've had it longer than any other vessel we've had. The boat was a lot sleeker than the Silverton and my father no longer had to climb a ladder to get to the controls. 

    This was the ship where I had the most of my maritime adventures on. It was also a lot more comfortable than even the Silverton because the heater and air conditioner units were built into the bulkhead. There was a small cabin near the stairs where my brother and I slept and this time my parents slept in the v-berth.

    Of all the stories I could tell about the third Toothfairy, this one is probably my favorite because it's just too funny for words. My father planned a trip out to the Isles of Shoals with some friends of ours. We packed a lunch and had every intention of spending the day at sea fishing and enjoying the scenery.

Good doggo.

    My mother had me take care of the dog while everyone got ready. I come back and we set off on our adventure. I hung out on the back deck with Tux as seen in this picture. He was completely fearless, by the way! Totally not scared of the engine!

    We finally arrived at the Isles of Shoals about an hour later. After we dropped anchor, we started getting ready to fish when suddenly my brother comes charging out of the cabin. He ran to the side of the boat and almost leapt off of it. We all yelled "JIM!" before he fell in.

   

    He turned around and he was a bit confused. I still don't understand how he didn't hear the roar of the engines and the rocking of the boat as we entered the open ocean. Jim must have been sleeping well. Naturally, as a younger brother I respected his choice to blindly jump into the water. Yeah, right. I teased him about it the rest of the trip. Are you kidding?  It's a story I definitely tell his kids about. Does he get embarrassed? Oh, yeah. 

    A lifetime of boating and adventures on the high seas allow so many great memories to be forged. You never forget the time you landed a big fish your father helped you reel in or trying to put elastics around a particularly frisky lobster.

    There are just so many stories I could tell and there's not enough room in the blog to talk about them all. I'm glad to have had the experience growing up on the water for lack of a better word. Does that mean I have sea legs? Probably not. My balance has never been that great. 

    I still enjoyed the memories of fishing and having a great time on the ocean with friends and of course going across the river to Newburyport. Every summer going to the marina brought new memories. I should definitely write them all down, huh? 

    Depending on the topic, you know I'll definitely share them. I definitely have quite a few good ones!

    As you can see, my family and I have had a long history with boats and with boating in general. There's just something about the salty air and being out on the ocean that captivates the imagination. I've always enjoyed looking out at the horizon and wondering what was out there. When you're out at sea, you really get an idea of just how huge our world really is. You can't help but stare in amazement and now that I do genealogy I wonder if my ancestors who came over from Italy felt the same way. You never know. They saw the same horizon I did.

See ya next time! And in the best maritime tradition, I wish you all clear horizons!

52 Ancestors Week 29: Automobiles

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 29

The theme for Week 29 is "Automobiles." My dad owned and operated two services stations for 40+ years. Cars definitely play a role in my family history! This week, celebrate the car buffs, mechanics, road-trippers, and backseat drivers in your family.

You might find yourself behind the wheel of a sleek lime green
automobile.

   Traveling anywhere by car can be an adventure in and of itself. I remember taking many road trips all around New England with my parents and they've taken many road trips together or with other people. My father often went with his fellow "grumpy old Italian men" on fishing trips to Lake Ontario. My mother traveled with her parents and all of her siblings from California to Haverhill just to attend my great-grandparents' wedding anniversary party. Sufficed it to say they are well-traveled people and while those trips were awesome, I don't think they can compare with the time we all went in a caravan to the Outer Banks.

Dr. Kathleen Grammatico-Ferraiolo!

    Just after my sister-in-law Kathleen graduated from the University of Virginia, we decided to go on a trip with her parents to the Outer Banks. Joining us on the adventure were Kathleen's parents Steve and Regina Grammatico and my older brother Jim. Jim and Kathleen had been married for a few years at that point and wanted to go on a few adventures before having children.

    My parents and I have taken many trips to Virginia ourselves and found the journey to be quite fun if a little long. In total it takes about twelve hours to get to Virginia from our house. Along the way you get to see amazing sights and ride the Tappan Zee Bridge where you might actually get a glimpse of New York City on a clear day!

    That's just the beginning of the adventure. There are just so many places to see out there on the road to your final destination. Though, if you do take the same route we did,  I would avoid going the "Subway" restaurants in Pennsylvania. Three pieces of salami do NOT qualify as an Italian sub! Sigh....That was a crime against sandwiches. It was 95% lettuce! I could rant for hours on that atrocity. That's not what you're all here for. Moving right along....

   

Cozy and crazy expensive!

     It was decided early on that we'd travel to North Carolina in two separate cars because we didn't want to rent one of those huge recreational vehicles. While those are nice and everything, we were already staying at one of those fancy houses you'd find in the Outer Banks. So, to save money and incidentally gallons of gas, we opted for the caravan option.

    The caravan was still a fun option. We met up at Jim and Kathleen's place and drove to Outer Banks from there. Along the way, I got a good look at the Appalachian Mountains and I really wish I took some pictures! They were just that amazing! Nature sure can be amazing sometimes and it was a good thing we went well before hurricane season. Mother Nature can be beautiful. However, her wrath is mighty. 

    Once we arrived at our luxurious beach house, we planned out the rest of our stay. Where were we going to go while we were here. There was really only one logical place to go if you're within driving distance of a very important historical site. That's right. We went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the birthplace of modern aviation.

Hey, Leonardo! THIS is how you build a plane!
Those "bat" wings aren't gonna fly!

The Wright Brothers museum was one of the main highlights of the trip for me and not just because my grandfather worked on airplanes! Seeing a replica of the first airplane the Wright brothers created sparked the imagination. Think about it. We went from planes that looked like they were held together by duct tape to passenger jets in only a few decades. That's just unbelievable! 

   I know this week's blog is about cars and everything. But, it's just incredible how far we've come in such a short time. I'm really glad we saw the museum on the trip. It's definitely one of the places you need to see if you ever decide to visit North Carolina. Oh and I should point out that we went in the early 2000s and because of that, the museum had special 100th anniversary exhibits. Now that was 

cool!

    Of course visiting historical landmarks wasn't the only thing on the agenda. We checked out the local cuisine and dined at a place called "Dirty Dick's Crab House".  Please clean up after your spit takes, everyone. Yes. That is a real place and I have proof. Get your minds out of the gutter! This is literally a family blog! Sometimes. 

See! Told you! It exists! Check it out
on Yelp!

    Located in Nag's Head, North Carolina. Dirty Dick's menu offers succulent shrimp, tasty crab legs and even fried calamari.  If memory serves, the meal came in this big tin bucket and we were supposed to pick what we wanted out of it. Not bad. Though, I don't think that would fly in New England. Buckets would be thrown at people.

    I forget what I had to be honest. I think I might have had the crab cakes and they were pretty good. We were going to try the lobster. However, I think they tend to have a different taste than the ones we're used to in New England. It's not bad or anything. Just different.

    Speaking of crabs and other crustaceans, we also checked out the nearby aquarium and it was pretty awesome!

    While the New England Aquarium also has rays and all manner of sea life, I've always enjoyed seeing the exhibits in other aquariums. These rays at the North Carolina Aquarium were definitely fun to watch. 

    There was also this little tank where these fish were sort of picking on this other fish inside a cave. They were putting little pebbles in front of the opening and the trapped fish looked at his "friends" like "What the hell?!"

    I think we stumbled on fish drama at the aquarium that day!

    All in all the trip to the Outer Banks was an amazing adventure. The two families had a great time at Nag's Head and we all ended up returning to the Outer Banks in 2015. That was yet another multi-car caravan trip with an added bonus: Two nephews who were five and two years old at the time. That's a story for another time! My nephews have requested that we go there once again. Perhaps we will. You never know what the future will bring and I wouldn't mind going to the Outer Banks once again!

    Road trips are definitely fun and it's good to get out of your familiar surroundings every once in a while. It's a big world out there and there are so much to see and do. Every once in a while you should take a trip and see what the world has to offer. You might be surprised at what you might find out on the open road. Just....stay away from Subways in PA. And gas station sausages, too.....

See ya next time!

The grumpy old Italian men were telling me
to put my camera away....

52 Ancestors Week 28: Trains

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 28

The theme for Week 28 is "Trains." Trains opened up the world to more people than anything that had come before. Who is someone in your family tree with a connection to trains?

Time to ride the rail!

    Long before planes were used to get a person from point a to point b, trains were used to get people where they needed to go. My parents and I think this was how my great-grandmother Maria Tedesco and her children, Nicolina and Marco traveled once they arrived in New York and headed to Haverhill, Massachusetts to meet up with my great-grandfather Vincenzo. They weren't going to be driving the four hours to Massachusetts by car I can tell you that much! Not with two young children in the backseat and definitely not in 1929 when kids didn't have iPads or even portable Nintendo consoles!

    Speaking of Vincenzo. He was definitely no stranger to the rail. He, like many Italian immigrants, often used trains as laborers working for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Shoutout to the poor Italian railworker named Giuseppe Barberio who unfortunately had his Naturalization papers stolen from him in Montana, by the way.  Poor guy. Check out his profile on WikiTree if you want to read his story.

Vincenzo and Maria

    Vincenzo didn't just use the rail for business ventures. Toward the end of his life, he used a train to get from Rome, Italy to Switzerland where his cousin Caterina Aleardi was going to marry her then boyfriend, Giuseppe Casarrubea.

    When I was growing up, I heard this story from my parents, my grandma Ollie, my great-aunt Nicolina and so many other family members. At the time I thought it was just one of those stories people told their kids when they asked about their grandparents. I never imagined that the story would turn out to not only be true, but, that I would  eventually get in touch with the person whose wedding Vincenzo and the others attended! That is pretty darn awesome if you ask me. The pictures she sent me are amazing!

    Now, hold on. I said Vincenzo went with other people, right? Yes, I did. In the September of 1969, Vincenzo went to Switzerland with my grandparents Marco and Ollie, my great-aunt, his brother Paolo, and his sister, Rosa. During this time, my parents were in college and dating and weren't invited to the wedding. However, they obviously heard about the happy occasion because the invitations arrived during the summer and of course the people involved were discussed as travel plans were made.

Vincenzo, Nicolina, Cathie and an adorable little 
doggo.

   Vincenzo and the other Ferraiolos left Boston for Italy by plane and naturally my great-grandfather
wanted to start the journey to Switzerland in his hometown of San Pietro a Maida. Nicolina's husband Walter rented a car in Rome and they drove to San Pietro before taking the train north to pick up relatives. It is a bit odd how they went to San Pietro from Rome by car and then BACK to Rome by train. Did they just leave the rental car behind?! It certainly looks that way to me and it makes sense because Italy is a large country and they'd be traveling more than twelve hours by car. That's a lot to deal with even today!

    The family took in the sights along the way and looking back I can only imagine what my grandmother thought of the trip. Along the way north, you can't help but notice the Apennine Mountains

that go down the Italian penninsula from the Alps like a spine. That had to have been a breathtaking sight for sure! 

    Ollie's parents, Giuseppe and Clementina, were from Gesualdo in Campania and it's quite far from San Pietro. In fact, it's 98 kilometers outside of Naples. I wonder if she wanted to visit family there. Then again most of her family was already in America and to this day I can't find any close relatives still in Gesualdo like my family in San Pietro, Switzerland and Argentina. I have found Carrabs cousins in Australia, though! Alas, there hasn't been anyone from Gesualdo knocking at my door. I think they all came to America to be honest.

The happy couple, Giuseppe and Caterina

    After seeing the sights, the family made their way to Rome to pick up Vincenzo's siblings Paolo and Rosa. They then stopped in Florence and continued northward to Switzerland where Caterina and her parents, Giuseppe Aleardi and Concetta Ferraiolo lived.

    As you can imagine, the wedding was a huge family event since everyone came from all over the world to celebrate the union of Giuseppe and Caterina. I have no idea if the family in Argentina made the trip as well. I suspect that they were invited and why wouldn't they be? They were family after all. Yes, I'm sure the Astorinos were invited. Note to self: Confirm this fact with Caterina! I'm sure she would remember!!

    When I first heard about the wedding, I naturally asked what they thought of Italy since I had never been there. I'm happy to report that my grandmother enjoyed herself. It must have been a treat to see where her family came from even if it wasn't Gesualdo. Italy is a beautiful country and I would definitely jump at the chance to visit where my ancestors came from. Yeah, I don't think I'd stay at the touristy spots very long!

     I can almost see Ollie telling her father and her sisters about the trip once she and the others returned home. I bet they were happy for her and maybe a little jealous. Nah. Her sisters were never jealous of Ollie. Nicolina had a fun time for sure as she got to visit with family she hadn't seen in a long time. After the wedding, though, Nicolina still made regular trips back to San Pietro throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

I can totally find my grandparents! Can you?
Here's a hint. Look at the left side of the picture!.

      I will say that the food wasn't what everyone expected. Since the wedding was in Switzerland, the food was a mix of Swiss and Northern Italian cuisine. My grandmother's family and Marco's came from the southern parts of the country. So, you can imagine there were dishes like polenta and other food that they weren't accustomed to.

    All in all I think it's safe to say they enjoyed themselves on their trip. They got to see a lot of the country and had an amazing trip without any tour guide telling them where they could and couldn't go! I don't think they would have gone over very well.

    As you can see trains play almost as big a part in my family story as planes did last week. I've been on a few trains myself. But, the sights my family saw in Italy pale in comparison to traveling from Virginia to Boston. Trains have been connecting people for a lot longer than plans have and it's important to remember that's how people got around before we took to the skies and road on the highway. They were actually the first step to making those vast distances between point  a and point b so much shorter. That's something to think about the next time you ride the rail.

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 27: Planes

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 27

The theme for Week 27 is "Planes." I sometimes think of my grandparents, going from childhoods where they often traveled by horse to adulthood where they could get on a plane and visit relatives on the other side of the country. What role do planes play in your family history?

What's our vector, Victor?

    There are so many things I can write about this week. As long time readers of my blog know my mother was an Air Force brat. Her father, Robert Hamel, was in the Air Force and that meant that she and her siblings often went from airbase to airbase growing up until the late 1960s. This week, I'm going to have to hijack this plane and talk about something I just couldn't wait to talk about any longer. Don't worry. It'll involve airplanes. Somehow. You'll see! =)

We bleed green here. =D

   On June 17th, 2024, my family and I were watching the Boston Celtics play the Dallas Mavericks in game four of the NBA Finals. Being the Celtics fans we were our eyes were naturally glued to the television. My brother Jim and one of his sons went into Boston that night to rectify a wrong that had transpired the last time they attended a game at the TD Garden. The Celtics had lost miserably when they went to see them in the summer of 2023.

   Good fortune smiled upon the Celtics that night as they ended up beating the Mavericks 106 to 88. The spirit of Celtics legend Bill Walton was clearly with his team that night! Just when the final buzzer hit.....I got an email. 

    I said to myself , "Who could be emailing me right now?!" It was late and I was so pumped from the Celtics' victory.  I checked my iPad and saw that someone had emailed me about my San Pietro a Maida one place study on WikiTree. I was thinking "Okay....It's probably some random person asking a random question". I checked the message and immediately my jaw hit the floor. The sender of the email was a woman named....Melina Astorino.  That last name caught my attention despite me being both very tired and pumped at the same time!

   Before I continue, let me explain just how huge of a deal this is. My second great-grandfather Marco Ferraiolo and his wife Caterina Coppola had six children including my great-grandfather, Vincenzo. Vincenzo's sister, Caterina married a man named Lorenzo Astorino and moved to Buenos Aires, Argentina. In this blog, I've talked about how the family in Europe lost touch with relatives in South America shortly after the death of Vincenzo's sister, Concetta. After twenty years contact was finally reestablished. 

    Melina had emailed me wondering if I could help her with her Astorino connections and asked me if we were somehow connected. She said she was looking for information on her grandfather, Juan Julio Astorino. I was very tired from watching the game and so I emailed her back with as much information as I could since it was 11:30 pm and I try not to do genealogy after 11 pm! I sent my message and thought "I'd better message the family in Europe in the morning. They're not going to believe this!!".

Juan y Dora Astorino

    The next morning I sent messages to my cousins in Switzerland and in Rome and while I waited to hear back from them I got to know Melina a bit more on Google Chat. I found out that Melina works as an airline stewardess in Argentina. See. I told you I could somehow bring this topic back to being about airplanes!  Take that! Though that might have just been luck or I could be stretching it further than Marvel's Mister Fantastic. Who can say? 

    Melina told me more about her grandparents Juan and Dora and how she had been asking various family members for help in her quest. I did all I could by providing information, photos and a few other odds and ends. 

    It turned out that my cousin in Switzerland gave me a picture of Juan years ago and at the time I had no idea who he was. Caterina had told me he was a son of an Astorino and that was about it! I showed her the picture and Melina said that the man in the photo was her grandfather. She showed me more photos and in every one of them he had this pencil-thin Howard Hughes-style moustache on his face. It was the style at the time, I guess. Even Marvel artists Jack Kirby and Don Heck were drawing Marvel's "Iron Man" with that 'stache in the 1960s. 

    We talked almost every day since and every time we talked she had jucy bits of information her relatives gave her. She even managed to get several documents from the archives in Buenos Aires faster than I could have gotten information from San Pietro. I'm not jealous. Not at all! Okay. Maybe a little. One of the documents was Juan Julio's birth certificate. The information on the record proved the connection because not only did it say he was born on July 9th, 1934. The birth record, like current Italian records, listed the parents and grandparents. In this case it listed his parents as being Lorenzo Astorino, son of Gregorio Astorino and Maria Copola and Caterina Ferraiolo, daughter of Marco Ferraiolo and Caterina Coppola.

Caterina Ferraiolo

    At this point was thinking about how I never got a picture of Vincenzo's sister, Caterina. No one ever sent me one and I thought a picture of her was lost to time. Fortunately, Melina messaged me days later with this gem! A relative of hers found passports belonging to both Caterina and her son, Juan!

    That....was amazing. Not only did the passport provide me with Caterina's birthdate of November 29th, 1904, it showed me that she and her sons flew out of Argentina at least once. Though, I'm not sure when it occured.

    According to my cousin Adriana she went back to San Pietro a Maida to visit her mother and went to Rome to spend time with her family. Did they go by plane? I'm not really sure. It's possible!

    Adriana did tell me that she had more photos. I hope she finds them! Fingers crossed! If she does, you can be sure I'll share them with my third cousin, Melina. =D

    Clearly my family is well-traveled on both sides of the tree. We've been using airplanes since almost the dawn of aviation itself. I originally was going to write about the time my parents and I were stuck at Logan International for seventeen hours. That was not fun! I think this is a better blog and I somehow connected it to planes! Now that takes skill!

     Planes have made distances shorter and our world so much smaller. They've allowed families to reconnect and stay in touch when that was just a fantasy generations ago. The Internet shortens those distances even more. Times change and connections don't fade away as they once did.

    Even now my cousin plans on visiting San Pietro in the fall. I can only imagine what she'll find on her European vacation. She has already been to the United States and I would love to meet her. Perhaps one day that will happen. She went to Salem. Massachusetts on her last trip and it wouldn't be too much of a trip to visit the non-witchy Salem.

    Crossing the country by plane is one thing. Crossing an entire ocean is something else. The world of travel has changed since the day Caterina left San Pietro for Buenos Aires. Planes allow us to visit the lands our ancestors called home. Let's just hope the friendly skies stay friendly.

 This is your captain speaking. We are now descending toward the end of the blog. The temperature here is a balmy 83 degrees Farenheit. Thank you for flying Haverhill Air. I hope you have enjoyed your flight.

See ya next time!