Coffarelli Update

Yesterday I visited your "new" Coffarelli cousin Mike Barra in Middletown.  Mike is Louisa Coffarelli Barra's grandson.  Louisa was your grandfather James' next oldest sibling so I imagine they were close as she was only about 1 1/2 years older than he was.  Mike and his wife Consuela very graciously allowed me an entire afternoon of paper shuffling, photo examination and general story telling. 

Mike has a collection of photos from his grandmother and we were able to distinguish some of them as Coffarellis as we compared them to those I have.  So now we know that these are definitely Coffarelli pictures and I believe them to be your great grandmother Rosina Pedano Coffarelli (1858-1908) and probably Louisa Coffarelli Barra's First Communion picture.  We aren't certain who the young boy is but we wonder if it could be your grandfather James. 

She has a kind look about her, doesn't she?

After looking at some of Mike's other pictures of his grandmother, I am certain this is Louisa.  I don't know if the church administered First Communion every year the way we know it now, but if not--perhaps this is James.

Mike remembers in particular Louisa's very blue eyes.  Some of you have beautiful blue eyes as well and this may be due in part to your Coffarelli genes.  Mike had been wondering what family he visited in Pine Bush when he was young so he called his uncle who told him they visited "John who had a sister Regina".  We plan to visit Uncle Johnny at Angela's this weekend and I look forward to sharing news of this visit with him.  Some of you may have already met these Barra cousins but don't quite remember.  In his grandmother's papers we found a photo of Uncle Johnny and Julia that Uncle Johnny had sent probably to Louisa's son Anthony (Mike's father).  Got that?

It was a very nice visit and I appreciated the time they were able to spend with me.  It has renewed my interest in tracking down those Coffarelli siblings!