52 Ancestors Week 34: Characters

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Characters — there's at least one in every family. Who in your family could be described as a character, someone who marches to the beat of their own drum? Or maybe you have an actor or writer in the family? Share their story this week

I STILL probably play way too much "Super Smash Bros".

    

    When the topic of "characters" came up last year, I wrote about someone who I've known since I was a kid. The blog was about my family friend, Alfred Coppola. He was definitely a character. Come on. He gave me twenty-one one dollar bills for my twenty-first birthday! Who doesn't look at that and just laugh?! There are a number of people in my life who were like that and I'd like to write a blog about all of them. But, we'd be here a while and I do like to keep these blogs short! You can read all about Alfred and the Salami Club here.

Marco and Cammie!

    This year, we're going to switch it up a bit because character doesn't just mean someone who's a joy to be around. Character, especially good character, can be a trait someone has which makes them a good person. As it turns out, my grandfather Marco had that in spades because he and my grandmother Ollie dared to defy societal norms in an age where the Civil Rights movement in America was in its infancy.

    For many years, my grandfather would invite a man named Charles Haigh into his home. Charles, as you might have guessed, was an African-American man. I haven't had much luck finding information about Charles. All that I know about him came from my father who clearly remembers him as he grew up around him.

    My father was never sure where his father met Charles. I assume they met at work. He had to have lived somewhere in the Merrimack valley. Where? I'll have to do some more digging because I would definitely like to find him. Genealogy isn't just about finding your direct ancestors after all. It's about finding your ancestors friends and neighbors, too. This is known as "The Fan Club" and Charles was definitely a member of that club!

    I think I'm getting ahead of myself because some context definitely matters. Marco, Ollie, my father and Charles all lived in Haverhill, Massachusetts. During the 1950s and 1960s, segregation occurred all over the United States. Even in Haverhill. It should also be noted that during that time Italians weren't considered white, either. Did the two families find some common ground and unite? It certainly seems that way. Or was this just one big coincidence?

    Regardless of intent, Grandpa Marco proved that he had great character and it was a trait passed down to my father and to my brother and I. Marco and Ollie were definitely progressive for their time and it's something I even noticed about my grandmother while I was growing up because she never had a mean word to say about anyone regardless of who they were or where they came from. I just wish I could remember Marco. =(

    What about my mother's side? Surely there are some great character traits from the Hamel and Felker clans, right? 

   

    It honestly goes without saying that my other grandparents were people of great character, too. Robert Hamel and Natalie Felker  were two of the most generous people I ever knew in my life. As my brother put it, grandpa Hamel was basically the model for what a grandfather should be. He never raised a voice to us or at his eight other grandchildren even though we probably got a little rowdy. 

   Their generous spirit extended out from the family and were always nice to friends regardless of where they came from. Sound familiar? I suppose this could be attributed to my grandfather's time in World War II where he saw action in Europe and even went to Japan in the post-war era. He saw how people lived. Not soldiers. People. And that probably had an effect on him.

Lookin' dapper!

    Not to be outdone, my grandmother was pretty amazing, too! She was the type of grandmother who cared about everyone. EVERYONE. Sometimes I swore she was a second Italian grandmother! She would knit sweaters for all of the grandchildren. We'd all get one. Every one of us. There was no escaping it regardless of age. From six to sixteen you were getting a Felker sweater. There was no getting away from it. And it wasn't just sweaters she made! She would make afghans and everything else you'd need. My mother's linen closet is full of blankets she made. It's really amazing! And yes I totally made forts out of them on cold New Hampshire nights!

    Natalie, like my grandfather, was also equally progressive. She didn't judge anyone and let people live their lives. They were both not shy about giving advice either whenever I had a bad day at school and I told them about what was going on. My other grandmother, too. They were just really good people and great role models to be around. Nothing else needs to be said.

    So, there you have it. My grandparents were progressive people who let everyone into their homes and were people who quite literally gave you the shirt they personally made or gave good advice. That shows what kind of people they were and by extension it shows who their parents were. Good character is often a product of a good environment. Sometimes it is. Sometimes it comes about when you see bad things happen and you want to do better. Regardless, they were great people of great character and I like to think it's been passed down through the generations. You never know. People who have kindness in their hearts all the time are the best people to be around and I think these stories definitely reflect their good character.

    How do you know for sure if they had good character? Well, stories like these help you decide for yourself if they did or not. That's why it's always a good idea to talk to your parents or relatives about your ancestors. This way you get to find out more than just the name, dates and places. The people you put on your favorite genealogy software are more then just stats. They were people and they will have faults and foibles despite the character they portray. Kindness goes a long way and these just small examples of the kind of character my grandparents had!

52 Ancestors Week 33: Tragedy

 From Amy Johnson Crow: There isn't a family tree that doesn't have at least one tragedy in it. What have you discovered? Did it change how you thought about that ancestor and his or her circumstances?

It was this or a sad clown and I couldn't find a free one.

    Normally I would post a story about some tragic event in my family's past and make some jokes. We'd have some fun along the way and I would sign off knowing that eventually something good did come from whatever tragedy I was going to write about and man do I have some whoppers. Sometimes something good does happen. Tragedy brings out the best in people and drama is everywhere. Don't kid yourself. Your family history has drama in it. Everybody's does. Yours. Mine. Mr. Perfect's. Everyone.

Gertrude Stevens, front and center (Senter).

    Today's blog post is actually ripped from the headlines on WMUR.com, the local ABC affiliate here in New Hampshire. It concerns an ancestor of mine and yet it doesn't. It's hard to explain. Let me share the link courtesy of WMUR.com.

   Are you back after clicking the link? Are you angry? Good. GOOD! I can feel your anger! Now to sum up. Approximately 100 headstones, monuments and obelisks were destroyed or damaged at Pine Grove cemetery in Farmington, New Hampshire. The incident occurred in the wee hours of August 11th, 2021.  

    Vandals destroyed many stones dating back to the 1800s and many of them were the final resting place of  people who did something for the town. The article wasn't very specific about whose stones were destroyed. Thousands of dollars worth of damage was done and it would take some time to replace, repair and restore the stones to pristine condition. That's a tragic event in and of itself. What does that got to do with me?

    As it happens, my 2nd great-grandmother, Gertrude Stevens, is buried there. She was born in 1875 and passed away in 1944 in Farmington. According to various articles I've found on the Internet, she was very well known and well liked in the small town. When I found out about the incident, I was pretty mad. I wondered. Was Gertrude's stone damaged in some way? There was no way for me to know for sure. Months ago I found where she was buried and I created a profile on Find a Grave for her. You can see it here. I also put in a photo request because I have never seen the stone before. I've never even been to Farmington and I have no idea where in the cemetery she was buried. The article did say it was a big cemetery. Where would her final resting place be?

Farmington News
March 17th, 1944

    Those are all very important questions on my mind. My 2nd great-grandmother already had some great tragedy in her life since she went through a bitter divorce, lost her second husband and a daughter who was born premature. If anyone should be resting in peace right now it's her! Leave her alone!! There's no sense in making her descendants depressed by messing up a stone, right? One of her grandchildren, my great-aunt, still lives and I don't know how I could tell her about the incident. I don't think she'd be thrilled.

    Odds are very good that Gertrude's stone has been untouched. She died in 1944 and the vandals targeted old stones with statues atop of them. There's a chance, albeit slim, that her stone is intact. There is a bit of good news on that front at least. One of my friends on WikiTree is located in the area. She's close by and offered to help me find her grave, take a picture and give me and by extension the family some piece of mind. See what I mean by tragedy bringing people together? You gotta love it when people are willing to go that extra mile to help someone. I still worried because I had no idea if her stone was effected and it's better to be safe than sorry.

    Right. So, what happens now? What's going to happen in Farmington? Well, if you read the article it goes on to say they collected some evidence and have some leads. However, if anyone has any information, they are invited to contact the cops and tell them everything they know. The Farmington Cemetery Association is left to clean up the mess as each stone has a hefty price tag of one grand to repair or replace. Many of the stones were heavy and very old. It will take time to repair everything. 

    

    Vandalism in cemeteries is nothing new, sadly. You see it all over the news whether it's a Jewish cemetery in New York or an African-American cemetery in the deep south. It's unfortunately something cemeteries have to deal with because it is an open space. The communities have to be mindful of what's going on. Some cemeteries have hours and yet that didn't seem to deter whoever vandalized Farmington cemetery. It boggles my mind why someone would actually go out in the middle of the night and trash a place. What's the point? In this case, there is no point. I have no idea what message they were trying to say and to be honest I don't really care. They committed a crime and they are so going to be haunted.

    See ya next time! I'll keep everyone posted when I get a picture of Gertrude's stone!

52 Ancestors Week 32: In the City

 From Amy Johnson Crow: "They went and built a skyscraper seven stories high / About as high as a building oughta grow!" (Sorry -- it's been awhile since I've thrown in a random song lyric.) Were any of your ancestors "city folk"? Did your farming ancestors leave any tales of trips to the big city? What was the "big" city they would have visited -- and how is it different today?

The irony of using the "Friends" font over the Boston skyline.

   I see Amy's "Kansas City" and raise her "Beat City" from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off". Before we get into the meat of the blog, I should mention that I have two new pages of content for readers to explore. First up we have a breakdown of my family tree. On that page I have outlined how many people in my family tree I've discovered and some notable ancestors I've found along the way. The next page is all about resources and what I've used in my genealogical arsenal. The big five (Ancestry, FamilySearch, WikiTree, Geni and MyHeritage) aren't mentioned because let's face it. Everyone knows what those five sites are and they're already linked on the sidebar. I hope everyone enjoys the pages! I will be adding more amazing content soon! Stay tuned! Onto the blog!

Home of "Benedetti's Deli".

    It was bound to happen. It's as inevitable as the tide. What else was I going to write about when this prompt was announced? Sure I could have written about Newburyport, which is another city near and dear to my heart. I decided to go with Haverhill because it's in the blog's name and I have a one place study dedicated to the "Queen Slipper City". Perhaps there will be a sequel for 52 Ancestors 2022? Hint! Hint! Nudge! Nudge!

    Haverhill is a city with a very long history. It was established in 1640 and one of the men who helped settle the area was actually my 11th great-grandfather, Tristram Coffin! How's that for an amazing coincidence? I was absolutely floored when I found that bit of trivia because I've lived in the area all of my life. That's pretty amazing and there's no doubt in my mind that Haverhill changed so much since his time.

    Where is Haverhill located anyway? Haverhill is just thirty-five miles north of Boston, Massachusetts in Essex county. The city is situated on the banks of the Merrimack river, a river which became very important in the city's history. Surrounding the city are the towns of West Newbury, Merrimac, Groveland, Boxford, Methuen and North Andover, Massachusetts. The city also borders the New Hampshire towns of Salem, Atkinson and Plaistow.

    As you can tell by the chart, the population exploded by the time of the 1870 census. There's a very good reason for that because around that time the Industrial Revolution came to Haverhill and forever transformed a quiet riverfront town into an industrial powerhouse. The 1870s gave rise to factories up and down the river from as far north as Franklin, New Hampshire to the mouth of the Merrimack in Newburyport.

    The factories needed workers to help run things and so the owners encouraged immigrants from all over the world to put their skills to good use. In doing so, the population of the Merrimack valley exploded and kept rising exponentially well into the twentieth century. Immigrants such as my 2nd great-grandfather Antoine Legault and my great-grandfather Vincenzo Ferraiolo raised their families and thus caused a great population boom. The population grew so much that in between 1910 and 1920 the children of those immigrants began to spread out all over the valley bringing with them the customs and traditions of "the old country".

    One of the major ethnic groups in the area of course were the Italians. I really think Tristram would have been shocked to see how much of an impact Italians had on his own city. Italians in his day weren't even called Italians because in the 1600s the Italian peninsula was divided into several areas such as the Kingdom of Sicily. And while the Renaissance was booming in the northern part of the nation we call Italy, conditions were still poor in the south.

Mi nonno and nonna.

    Poverty in the south was commonplace and after unification in 1861, Italian immigrants left in droves. Many of them went to places like New York and New Jersey. However, a fair few went to Haverhill and it left such a huge mark on the city that there was even a book published about the changes they made! Of course I made a free-space page on WikiTree about this topic. Check it out here.

    The Italian immigrants went on to establish credit unions, societies to help immigrants, bus companies and more. All of this went on to service the growing population in the city and the valley as a whole.

    The city gave them and other immigrants from around the world to thrive in a new environment free from the constraints back home. Because of this feeling of freedom more people were brought over from their old home and neighborhoods were formed. We normally think of these "Little Italies" as being only in places like Boston or New York. The truth is even Haverhill has it's own Italian neighborhood. Newburyport even had a French quarter! It was there that people like my grandparents, Marco and Olympia met and connected despite Marco's family being from Calabria and Ollie's from Campania.

Bonjour!

    Sadly, there were some stumbling blocks along the way. Italians and French-Canadians suffered a great deal of prejudice and were not always welcome with open arms. People who had far-flung roots in Haverhill weren't always quick to accept anyone different from themselves.

    Luckily, that didn't stop my great-grandfather Austin Felker from marrying Henrietta Legault in the early 1900s. She was a daughter of two French-Canadians, Antoine Legault and Lucie Cadran. Austin's roots were very much tied to America's past and Henrietta's family was new to Haverhill. They still managed to make it work. Hey. He even helped her own in her twilight years when a seizure caused Henrietta to only speak in French. Good thing my mother was always on hand to help translate!

    In three-hundred and eighty-one years, Tristram's city of Haverhill transformed from a quaint farming community on the banks of the Merrimack to an industrial powerhouse that supplied footwear to most of the nation to a city that is home to many different cultures from around the world. Today, Haverhill, Massachusetts is seen as one of the most diverse cities in New England. Abandoned factories from the dawn of the twentieth century have ironically become housing units for immigrants. Riverfront boardwalks opened up and the city continues to grow. Travel to Boston now takes mere minutes instead of hours on horseback. 

    Who knows where the "Queen Slipper city" will go from here. Tristram Coffin's city of Haverhill no longer exists and yet monuments to his time remain as the city celebrates its roots and moves forward. Museums dedicated to Haverhill's past exist and he'd have to visit them or even the old burying grounds to see something---anything familiar to him. Time travel is great and all. But, even the Doctor would warn you about changes to the timeline. Imagine what will happen tomorrow!

    Would he have liked the changes? It's hard to say. In many ways Haverhill's transformation reflects America's ongoing transformation today. There would definitely be a culture shock because Haverhill in those days was definitely more British and Puritanical than it is today. After all a small farming community can transform in the blink of an eye. For good or bad, change is inevitable and the city of Haverhill is proof that change can be a good thing. Just keep that river clean, guys!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 31: Favorite Name

 From Amy Johnson Crow: People sometime ridicule celebrities for the "unusual" names they choose for their children. Clearly, they haven't looked at some ancestral names, like "Strange Powers" or "Preserved Fish." Who's name in your family tree makes you smile? (Of course, feel free to interpret this theme however you'd like!)

Zebulon Caterina. If only I had the space for a third name....

    What's in a name? Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet? Probably. It would still be one of the most shockingly expensive flowers on the planet. Over the course of my genealogical adventure I've definitely come across some names which are probably my favorites out of the whole tree. I have picked four names to talk about from each corner of my family tree so as to not play favorites with my favorites. Does that sentence even make sense? Let's get started. These are just four of my favorite names that either make me laugh or are just REALLY common. 

1. Zebulon Drew

    When I first came across the name "Zebulon Drew" after correcting a Smith line, the first thing that came to my mind was that he sounded like he was the lead singer of a Nordic death metal band from the 1980s. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Zebulon wasn't Nordic and probably did not have big '80s hair. To make matters worse he probably didn't even play the guitar or had legions of groupies.

    My hopes weren't all dashed, though. Zebulon here was born in 1721 and was one of the ten soldiers of the American Revolution I have hanging out in my tree. He is a DAR ancestor and that means he's on the DAR website. 

    Drew is one of my 7th great-grandparents and was a son of a selectman in Dover, New Hampshire. I think that fact would have come in handy during high school as I had cross country meets in Dover....

    Zebulon may not have played heavy metal. BUT! He did work with metal as a blacksmith! That's another point in his favor! He did alright for himself, it seems. He married a woman named Sarah Chandler and had seven children. The name certainly left an impression on me because of how cool it sounds when you say it out loud. Is it shallow? Probably. It's still a cool name and aside from being the frontrunner for a metal band, Zebulon Drew sounds like a great name for a detective!

2. Caterina

    One of the most common Italian names in my tree is the name "Caterina". My second great-grandmother, a third great-grandmother, a fourth great-grandmother and several living relatives share the name all over my father's paternal side. You'd think seeing the same name over and over again would be annoying. Not really. It's cool seeing the name pop up as it's usually part of various Italian naming traditions.

    The name "Caterina" is actually important to me as it helped me figure out a few issues I had on the Tedesco branch. For a while, I had the wrong parents of Antonio Tedesco attached to the branch and over on Ancestry I was not getting any Thrulines for him and the parents I had attached to the tree beforehand. Now that was annoying because I KNEW I had Tedesco cousins. Over a dozen DNA matches from that line and no Thruline up to the fifth great-grandparents? Yeah. Someone messed up and it was probably me!! I know Thrulines are only as good as other peoples' trees. But, I think I can trust ones that are well sourced. That and DNA doesn't lie. 

    I did a little researching and changed the parents to Giuseppe Tedesco and Caterina Rocca. The Thrulines I looked for popped right up and things began to make SO MUCH SENSE! My mind was blown away! Why? Well, Maria Tedesco's sister was named Caterina and that's the name of a cousin in San Pietro. My great-aunt's middle name is Caterina. It's also the name of her daughter. Everything made sense! The answer was sitting in front of me this whole time! I know I probably talked about this before. But, it bears repeating ! I honestly don't think it's a coincidence because of the naming traditions in my family and several other factors. So, "Caterina" became one of my favorite names because it helped me solve a mystery. I just wish I had a pic of her. I had to use Caterina Coppola who is from a different part of the tree. They were born in the same area of Italy, though!

3. Jean Picard

    Jean Picard. I....There are a few things you should know about me. I read comics and I am a HUGE Star Trek fan. I grew up watching "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine", "Voyager" and "Enterprise". When I first saw the name of my 9th great-grandfather, I immediately thought of the captain of the USS Enterprise during that time. His name was "Jean-Luc Picard". 

    While Jean here did not have the "Luc" added to his name, my mind still went for the pop culture reference. It can't be helped. Certain names are going to sound like real people who really existed. I bet anything that there was a real Clark Kent or Peter Parker running around. That reminds me. I need to check the 1910s census in New York for Steve Rogers.

  I digress. If you really think about it. Both men are remarkably similar to each other. Jean-Luc Picard was a noted explorer and diplomat. Jean Picard left his native France and helped to explore Quebec. Not much of his diplomatic skills are known and I honestly doubt he was the most British sounding Frenchman ever. No disrespect to Sir Patrick Stewart, of course! The man is a legend. 

   

    As far as Jean goes, that's probably as far as the similarities go and I probably hurt myself by stretching that far. It's funny to see names you associate with pop culture show up in your tree. You might have an ancestor whose name is synonymous with a very evil character or a hero. It's just a fun thing to find every once in a while. Now, if only I had a Peter Parker....

4. Capobianco 

    Capobianco is a very interesting Italian last name. Maria Giovanna Capobianco was my 2nd great-grandmother and she was born in Frigento in 1856. Her last name means "white head" in Italian and it turns up quite a bit with her extended family because she was one of six children. Her father, Angelo was one of nine children and Angelo's brother, Giovanni Antonio actually came to America.

    While in America, Giovanni Antonio changed his last name to "Whitehead" for unknown reasons. He had at least two children and not much is known what happened to them after the 1910 US census in Michigan. Did they have children? I'd have to look. I haven't come across any DNA matches from this line, yet. But, I hope they are out there.

    I picked Capobianco to talk about because it's a fun Italian last name and I kind of wonder how it came about. Did an Italian guy have a head full of white hair? That's a possibility. The name sparks the imagination and I hope there are connections to the Capobianco family out there. To date I haven't found many Capobianco cousins. You never know. I did find Ferraiolo ones!

    Those four names are just a few that either have a great story behind them, make me laugh or have helped me solve a genealogical puzzle. I have many other favorites in my tree. It's honestly hard to pick one. But, these are the four that have either helped me in my research or had some entertainment value. Either way, they stuck with me and I'm sure everyone reading this blog has names that have done the same for them. Think about the names in your tree that make you smile as you do your research. Make it so!

And see you....out there.

52 Ancestors Week 30: Health

 Week 30's theme is "Health." A person's health has such an impact on everything in his or her life. Do you know of any health related events in an ancestor's life? What about an ancestor who worked in medicine or health care?

Please state the nature of the medical emergency.

In the summer of 2021, health is on everyone's minds as the coronavirus continue to spread worldwide. The pandemic is in its second year and while we have vaccines, a lot more work needs to be done in order to vaccinate everyone in even the most remote corners of our planet. Stakes have never been higher and doctors, nurses and epidemiologists are doing what they can to prevent more loss of life. If you've studied history, you've probably have read about this scenario before. History has a strange way of repeating itself.

Marie on WikiTree

    Let's go back in time to the early 1900s. The airplane was a new invention, telephones were not as widely used as they would be in the coming decades of the twentieth century and vaccines for diseases like Smallpox and Polio were not yet discovered. Life was very different back then. Lifespans were shorter and health was surely on everyone's mind the moment they stepped out that door. 

    This was certainly the case for my 3rd great-grandmother, Marie Eulalie Bibeau. She was born in  St-Francois-du-Lac, Quebec in 1830 and has the distinction for being the only one of her siblings who DIDN'T move to Minnesota. Maybe she was more of a Red Sox fan than a Twins fan? I don't know. What I do know is that she and her husband, Pierre Cadran moved to Haverhill, Mass sometime before the 1880 census. They lived with their son-in-law Antoine Legault and his family. Conditions must have been cramped in their house at 177 Water Street.

CRAMPED!

        As you can see, the house was pretty cramped. To date, I think that's the largest amount of people I've ever seen packed into one house. Thankfully, by the 1900 census the family was more spread out all over the city of Haverhill and surrounding communities. However, there were two tragedies that plagued the Legault and Cadran families around that time.

    Antoine Legault unfortunately passed away in 1901 due to phthisis bulbi AKA tuberculosis. Marie passed away in 1907 due to "La Grippe" or as we call it "The Spanish Flu" with senility being a contributing factor to her death. When I saw her cause of death, it caused me to wonder a few things and I began to ask myself some questions. The most important being: "The Spanish Flu Pandemic was in 1918, a good eleven years after her death. Was there a pandemic in Haverhill around this time? What happened?!

    I haven't been able to find anything about how she got the Spanish flu. I did find out that Haverhill suffered tremendously during the later pandemic. Over 45,000 citizens of the city lost their lives Check out this article for details: https://whav.net/2015/11/29/haverhills-very-own-disease-haverhill-fever/

    Don't lose hope just yet! I do have one theory. The virus was around people long before the 1918 pandemic. What if she just was unlucky and caught it from someone who was infected? Today we'd call that person asymptomatic. Let's also not forget that in 1907 Marie was seventy-seven years old! That was quite old for the time period she lived in! Perhaps we should apply twenty-first century thinking to this case and come to the conclusion that she got the virus from someone and at seventy-seven years old, her immune system was compromised and that led to her death. Senility would be a non-issue if your lungs were filling up with fluid. Sorry, William Comeau.

    Eulalie's untimely death likely sent shockwaves through the community and of course her family. At the time of her death, she had eight children and several grandchildren including my great-grandmother, Henrietta Legault. By all accounts the family stayed close afterward as everybody pretty much stayed in the Merrimack Valley. As for the community, I'm sure they took it hard as evidenced by her obituary from the Haverhill Evening Gazette:

"MRS. MARIE CARDRAN

The death of Mrs. Marie Cardran, wife of Pierre Cardran, occurred yesterday afternoon at her home on Eastern avenue after a short illness. Mrs. Cardran was well known in French circles and was one of the oldest residents of the city. She was aged 78 years. She is survived by her husband and six daughters, Mary Messier, Lucy Legault, Harriet Denault, Mrs. Joseph Bean, Mrs. Josephine Robideau of Lynn, and Mrs. Vina Birt of New York city. She was a member of St. Anne's society. The funeral will be held from her late residence, Sunday noon, at 12:30 o'clock. Services will be held at St. Joseph's church, at 1:30, and the interment will be in St. Joseph's cemetery."--Haverhill Evening Gazette, Saturday, December 21, 1907.

    Judging by the obituary, she left a huge impact on the community. She was well-known amongst the French-Canadian population in Haverhill. The St. Anne's Society was a Catholic church where people would meet, greet and discuss matters for spiritual enrichment. These days many of those centers are all over the Merrimack valley.

    I can safely say that after her death, the family thrived in the only way they could. They pressed on and kept her memory alive. Granted no one was named after her or anything. It didn't matter. But, perhaps her death was a sign of things to come and was a warning to the family?

    As far as I know, none of the other Cadrans passed away due to "La Grippe". Most of her children passed away well after the pandemic ran its course. They were the lucky ones. The jury's still out on whether or not the grandchildren did as well. I would have to look. There are many theories as to why.

Eulalie's stone at St. Joseph's.

    Today, we can learn a very valuable lesson from this story. We have made many great strides in the field of medicine since the early 1900s. Our lives are made better because now we can control or eradicate diseases that once plagued humanity with so much suffering. Why suffer needlessly these days? Science has proven time and again that as it advances the field of medicine, our lives become so much better. The Cadrans knew it and they thrived well into the 20th century. Long after Marie's death.

So, what can we learn from this story? A hundred years ago our world went through a catastrophic pandemic. Doctors worked hard to cure people and it worked. Our lives were improved thanks to science. We no longer have to deal with half of the diseases they dealt with.

    I'm not just saying all of this as a son of a dentist and lab supervisor. Our lives are made better with medicine. Don't think for one moment that our ancestors wouldn't jump at the chance to get a vaccine for something like Polio. They would.

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 29 Fashion

  From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 29's theme is "Fashion." It's fun to look at old photos and think, "How did they wear that?!" Corsets, bustles, wool suits, and ridiculously large hats seem so impractical (not to mention heavy!) Any fashion mavens in your family tree? What about an ancestor who had their own sense of style or someone associated with the fashion industry? I can't wait to see the posts and photos this week! Feel free to share them in the free Generations Cafe Facebook group.

Not exactly Tommy Hilfinger

      Fashion has long played an important role in our society. In just two thousand years we went from wearing togas and tunics to wearing bellbottoms and platform shoes! Come to think of it that could have just been in the same year. From what I've been told the 1970s were weird. No stranger than the 1980s and 1990s, mind you! In olden times, what people wore was often a sign of your social status. I have long maintained that the fancier your hat was, the more important person you were. It's that or you really like having exceptionally long feathers in your cap. 

Quite dapper!

   Over the course of your lifetime, fashion can change incredibly quickly depending on style and what's "cool" at the time. This was very much the case when it comes to the life of my 2nd great-grandmother, Georgianna "Little Grammy" Ross. Don't let the name fool you. She was mostly French-Canadian as she was born to Jean Baptiste Ross and Marguerite Metivier in 1876.

    In this picture dated some time in 1891, she is clearly wearing a fancy hat and what appears to be a corset. Being a guy, I have to wince at those because those things look so uncomfortable. I feel so bad for anyone who had to wear them for Renaissance Fairs or even television shows. Jeri Ryan had to wear a corset for her role as the former Borg drone Seven of Nine in "Star Trek: Voyager". Can you imagine her relief in not having to wear them for "Star Trek: Picard"?! She still looks amazing nineteen years after Voyager ended!

    I digress. Geogianna was fifteen years old when this picture was taken. She's in the front row and on the left. Her husband Joseph Laplante is on the far right. His hat is silly. But, it's not nearly as elaborate as Georgianna. For teenage girls in the 1890s, this was the height of Victorian era garments. Long dresses that showed serious ankle. I'm not going to judge. She made that outfit work even if it was clearly uncomfortable. Look at her face. Even back in the 1890s, teenagers gotta be teenagers. What is it about the '90s in every century that bring out the attitude? At least she probably didn't listen to N'Sync. She would totally listen to Nirvana.

Ahh, to go to the beach and not
need sunblock....

    By the roaring 1920s, Georgianna was living the high life on Plum Island! The beach was a stone's throw away from where the Laplantes lived in the city of Newburyport. Here she is wearing what I presume is a bathing suit. She's once again on the left with her sister Clara on the right. Joseph's in the middle looking pleased with himself. Apparently, he was quite a character from what my grandfather told me.

    Swimsuits of the 1920s were a lot more liberal for Georgianna than the outfits she wore when she was a teenager living in Manchester, New Hampshire. So much skin was showing and I think she's even wearing a swimming cap, too. Her sister has one as well. I've never seen anyone wear those things outside of the Olympics. It's cool and very aerodynamic! I bet she cut through the water like a torpedo! =D 

    Again this isn't a bad look for the time period. Georgianna seemed to keep with the times and kept up with what was fashionable and what wasn't. The bathing suits are actually in line with what I used to see in cartoons from 1930s and 1940s. Fashion trends were changing for people and especially women in those days. I often wonder what she'd think of swimwear one hundred years after this photo was taken. Can you imagine the culture shock?! Yikes!

That's my mom getting hugged by Joseph!

    In the 1950s, Georgianna was in her seventies. The days of wearing corsets and swimsuits were long gone as she settled for what can only be described as "The grandma" look. This was the look my mother remembers the most. The fancy hat. The glasses and most importantly the long hair kept in a single braid. You can't see it in this picture. I assure you. It's there.

    You can also see why the family called her "Little Grammy". She was like 4 feet tall and my grandfather is towering over both him AND his mother. I would say "There's something in the water in Newburyport". But, given the history of the Merrimack River it may be a little bit of a sensitive topic. Keep the Merrimack clean, guys! The EPA has rules, ya know!

  I really like this post-war picture of my grandfather, his mother and his grandparents. There's just something really nice about seeing the family together like this. My mother told me that the picture was probably taken at the Laplantes' house in Newburyport. That would make sense. I also figure that this picture was taken sometime after May of 1951 because the baby my great-grandmother Clara is holding is one of my aunts.

Georgianna!

    As the 1950s marched on, things clearly changed for my 2nd great-grandmother. She was now a great-grandmother to four children and her fashion sense changed with the times. She's seen here wearing a polka dot shirt. I should colorize the photo and the rest of these photos to see what colors they were. Then again accuracy would vary. Someone with blue eyes could get brown eyes for some reason.

    Time was still good to her and by this point she had to have seen the drastic changes taken place in the world of fashion. Leather jackets. Greasy hair and caddies ruled America by this point. Hey, man. That was the style. The hipsters and beatniks were just a preview of what was to come!

    Georgianna lived through the turbulent 1960s and though I don't have many pictures of her from those days, I can assume she still kept on changing with the times. She ended up passing away in 1973 at the age of 97. That's a pretty good run! Given how long she lived, she has seen the world change from corsets to bellbottoms.

Clara, Georgianna and Doris 

       This last picture is dated March 10th, 1964 and has three generations of women in it with Georgianna, her daughter Clara and Georgianna's granddaughter, Doris. At this point, horn-rimmed glasses were all the rage for older women, I guess. I do like that vintage television in the background. It's a far cry from what we're used to in the 21st century. Though, I do remember the dials on the old television we had in the 1980s and who could forget the rabbit ears?

    I'm trying to decide if she's wearing the same polka dot shirt she was wearing in the 1950s photo. It wouldn't surprise me. People are sentimental about the clothes they own even if they go out of style. Some people latch onto their wardrobe of choice and never throw out that polyester jacket they haven't worn since the Carter administration. Some clothes you donate. Some you keep. It's just how life is, you know.

 Through Georgianna you can definitely see how much the world changed from 1891 to the decades before her death in the 1970s. Women began having more clothing options and yes ladies the lack of decent pockets on pants baffle me too. Seriously. What's up with that? A changing world clearly affected her clothing choices. We're likely going to see more change in fashion as time goes on.   In just ninety-seven years a lot can change and one of those things is definitely the world of fashion. We could be wearing completely different things in ninety-seven years! It's interesting to think of what the world would look like in 2121. Will we be living on Mars? Who can say? The sky's the limit.

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors Week 28: Transportation

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 28 is all about "Transportation." As the daughter of a service station owner, I grew up around cars and developed an appreciation for them. Whether it's planes, trains, or automobiles (or canal boats, or steamships, or... ), think about transportation and how it affected an ancestor. Did canals open up markets for crops? Did railways offer job opportunities? Explore the transportation theme this week!

On the boats and on the planes....

    This is actually the second blog I've written about this prompt. The first transportation-related blog I wrote was back in 2019 and in it I wrote about grandpa Hamel and his plane. What shall I write about this week? How about a boat? That's good, Chris. How about something a bit more specific? What if I wrote about the boat that brought my great-grandmother Maria Tedesco and her children Marco and Nicolina to America? Sound good? GREAT!

All aboard!

      

     On October 30th, 1929, a passenger ship called the S.S. Roma set off from the Italian port of Naples and would arrive at her final destination in New York City on November 8th. The Roma, according to Wikipedia, was an ocean liner built for the Italian shipping company Navigazione Generale Italiana and was constructed at the Ansaldo shipyard in the Genoese suburb of Sestri Ponente. The vessel has the distinction of being one of the first built by the company when she was constructed in 1926.

    She was capable of carrying 1,700 passengers and crew and was powered by eight turbines connected in couples to four shafts. She was steam powered like many ships of the era. She had a steel hull and had a rather interesting story once her days of being a passenger liner were behind her.

Famiglia di Ferraiolo

    I'll save the story about her final fate for later in the blog. Right now let's focus on Maria and her two small children. Why did they go to America by themselves? Where was the children's father? Well, Vincenzo had already become a US citizen by the 1920s and as far as I can tell Maria travelled alone with her children. It was customary for Italian men in those days to go to America and send for their wives once he could afford passage for them. They also often sent for the rest of their family once they became established.

    Vincenzo and Maria were married on January 15th, 1921 and in fact he left America in 1920 so he could get married in his home town of San Pietro a Maida. Nicolina was born in 1923 and my grandfather was born in 1925. Between 1925 and 1929, Vincenzo went back to America. I haven't been able to find any proof of this. However, the manifest I posted above seemed to indicate that Maria did indeed travel alone with the children.

    With those questions answered, Maria and the children arrived in New York on November 8th, 1929 and would take a train from New York to Haverhill, Massachusetts. I can't imagine traveling across an ocean and by rail two hundred and forty miles with a six year old and a four year old. Maria must have had a firm grip on those kids! They must have had something to occupy their time since iPads and various Nintendo handhelds wouldn't be invented for several decades!

SS Roma

    Over the course of her lifetime, the Roma most likely carried many people to and from Italy. The story above was one of many the ship had seen during her active duty. Unfortunately, by the 1930s things took a rather dark turn for the vessel. In January of 1932, the ship unfortunately collided with the American ocean liner S.S. President Roosevelt, causing severe damage to her hull.

    The hits continued to come when the second world war erupted in Europe and the Roma was converted into an Italian aircraft carrier under the name "Aquila" and served the regime of Benito Mussolini. Under her new name, she was considered to be Italy's first aircraft carrier project. As she was clearly not built for that kind of duty, the project was never completed. She was converted into an aircraft carrier in a futile attempt to compete with the French and British navy of the era. 

     By 1943, she was seized by German forces shortly after Italy surrendered to the Allied forces on September 8th, 1943, seven months after Maria passed away. 

    On June 16th, 1944 the former Roma was attacked in her home port of Genoa during an Allied raid. The Italian "co-belligerent" government feared the once proud ocean liner would be used against the Allies as a blockship in the harbor. Divers were sent to scuttle the craft in a harmless location and sank the ship. She was raised from the sea floor in 1946 and towed to La Spezia in 1949. In between 1951 and 1952 the ship was scrapped.

    The story of the Roma's end was hardly the most fitting for a ship that once carried people from Italy to places all around the world. It's unfortunate that a vessel designed for peaceful operation was converted into a tool of war by the regime of Benito Mussolini and when I found out about its fate I sighed. In hindsight, I probably should have expected it because Mussolini was not quite all there. There's a reason many Italians today curse his name!

    I will say this. I am grateful that my family came to America well before the Roma became an engine of destruction. Her story should be a testament to how evil people can sometimes take the most innocent of things and turn them into machines of war. I wish the story had a happy ending and it's unfortunately one of the many sad stories that came out of one of the darkest periods in our planet's sad history. The only thing we can do is learn from the past and make a better future.

    I'm also glad that I researched the ship. Learning about it helped me understand the context of the time period Maria and all the passengers of the Roma lived in and it makes me want to learn about the ship Giuseppe Carrabs and Clementina Forgione sailed on called the Adriatic. Let's hope that ship has a better backstory!

See ya next time!