Paying it Forward

There are very kind people in this world and this is a tribute to one of them. His name is Ron Maldonado and he is somehow affiliated with the Ellis Island website to track passenger lists. He went above and beyond to help me find your great grandmother Caterina Contenta's arrival to the United States.

I'd been looking for her arrival records for some time with no luck. One of the tenets of online research such as this is to keep trying the same sites even if you think you've exhausted them because new stuff goes online regularly. Although I'd been able to find her sister Anna's arrival (Aunt Lessie as she was referred to) in 1905, I'd consistently been unable to locate Caterina's.

Until a couple of weeks ago! A hit finally at the Ellis Island site but the link to the original ship manifest is most definitely not Caterina's ship. So I very gingerly and nicely emailed the Ellis Island site reporting the problem (I wouldn't have blamed them very much for simply ignoring such a petty request with all the work they have already done for people like me).

A day or two later I got a personal email back from my new friend Ron noting that he thought he'd found Caterina for me. He gave me step by step directions to find her record through another site and BINGO there she is, bless her soul (and Ron's). I am just tickled. I can't upload a .pdf file here for you but will email the file to you if you let me know.

Caterina Contenta (later Kate Messa) arrived in New York June 11 1907 about 2 years after her sister Antonia. She sailed from Naples, almost 185 miles from her home in Castellana Bari Italy, and the voyage took almost 3 weeks. As we know, she didn't really want to make this journey but did so at her sister's behest. The passenger arrival records list her age as 30 upon arrival which is a little different than the information I have so far, but age discrepancies are very common. She says she can read and write (Italian I'm sure) and intends to join her brother-in-law Luigi Lessi in Flushing.

So welcome to America although her life here would be difficult. Having Ron's help with this reconfirmed my faith in the average everyday human being out there! I hope you have a similar experience or do the same for someone else (even if you don't realize it!).

Belated March birthday shout out: Pat, Jean, Danielle and Robert!!

Aunt Caroline

I have just received copies of Aunt Caroline's naturalization papers which provided lots of insight to her life. I'm sure Aunt Rose can fill in many more details also and I look forward to hearing some of those from her.



Carolina was born Sept 10 1903 about two and a half years after Costante, her next oldest sibling. She was 5th of 11 siblings. She married Rene Valentini (Uncle Frenchy) October 11 1928 in Italy when she was 25 years old. Rene must have had some persuasion skills as the story goes that Carolina intended to stay in the valley with her mother and didn't want to marry him. But marry him she did.



When times got hard, Rene went to Paris and joined his brother and other relatives and worked reupholstering cards. He put his persuasion skills to another test and eventually Carolina joined him there. Apparently even though Carolina never wanted to leave her homeland, Paris was "still Europe" but she would go "no further". I'm telling you, this guy must have been pretty convincing!



Since Carolina didn't know French, everyday tasks were much more difficult. They couldn't find suitable housing so they stayed in a hotel and cooked from a hot plate. She was forced to learn enough French to at least grocery shop.



The naturalization papers stated that Carolina left France aboard the SS Majestic and arrived in the US August 20 1929, just on the verge of the stock market crash. The following May, daughter Tullia was born. I wonder if Carolina knew she was pregnant when she left France. She must have been about one minute pregnant when she got on that ship!



By the time Tullia was about 8 months old, her father arrived Jan 2 1931. I wonder if they wondered if they'd made a big mistake coming to the United States in such desparate economic times. The news must have been as bad for them as we are getting today!



Just a few months after his arrival, Uncle Frenchy was naturalized. Ten years later in October of 1941, Carolina applied for naturalization. The papers indicate an objection was filed, apparently because the United States was at war with Italy and it was normal procedure to file such an objection. The witnesses for her were her brother Costante and her husband. July 1943, almost two years later, she was officially naturalized.



You remember Aunt Caroline and Aunt Rose took care of her for quite a while so I'm sure there are many details between the 1943 naturalization and her passing in 2003. This is a picture of Tullia Valentini, their daughter. I assume she was named after her own Aunt Tullia (the nun).

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Indulge me, please, since it's St. Patrick's Day. I have no idea if this is actually "my" Ryan coat of arms, but here you go. St. Patrick's Day brings some privilege to your Irish in-law!

To get an idea of what it is like on the other side of the ancestral tree: A while back, I bought some pins in an Irish store that are coats of arms for my various Irish surnames. I've been wearing them each day since March 1 leading up to the big day. The pin package contained interesting information on the back. I have no idea how valid any of this is but here you go: Ryan (O Riain) is descended from the Irish sept of O Maoilriain located in Co. Limerick and Tipperary in the baronies of Owenybeg, Oweny and Arra. Established in the 14th Century to the point now where Ryan is in the top ten most numerous names in Ireland. The greatest numbers of the name are in Counties Limerick and Tipperary. Name Meaning "River God".

I especially like the mental picture "River God" creates.

I actually don't know very much yet about my ancestors' homeland. I wasn't lucky enough to have recent immigrants to pass down the story so I'm destined for long and intensive research. One half of my Irish ancestors were fishermen in Gloucester Massachusetts. The Perfect Storm meant a great deal to me thinking about those ancestors lost at sea. That's on my dad's side. My mom's side is a little more varied but at least 2 Irish branches came to the United States from Canada first.

It amazes me how many people don't know that March 17 is St. Patrick's Day and how many kids do not know their heritage. You did! I did! They should.

Dalpiaz in the News

Imagine my surprise when I trod out to the paper box in the dark this week to find my son's face on the front page--above the fold!!! It's a pretty good article so check it out at pressconnects.com If the link doesn't work anymore try to search by Dalpiaz.

More soon--I'm sort of concentrating on some of the Irish these days...anybody wonder why? I just had my 100th post on the Ryan side of the blog world. That's pretty amazing even to me.

Aunt Sally

Aunt Rose called a couple of days ago to let us know that Aunt Sally had died. We are not going to be able to arrange to get to Long Island tomorrow but I wanted to take an opportunity to celebrate her life.

I did not know her very well, I just remember going to her house once or twice for a visit. She was a great hostess on those visits. She was James' godmother and he remembers she used to love to play canasta. She looks like she's ready for a canasta game here!

I expect you each have your own fond memories. She's not the last of that generation to pass but I believe she might be the last of those that you knew in your childhood. The passing of a generation is always bittersweet. Cheers to Aunt Sally.