Happy Valentine's Day

My memories of Valentine's Day mostly consist of the smell of that glue/paste stuff used in elementary classrooms; the distinct smell of construction paper (red, white and pink); and the sweet smell of those candy message hearts.  There were class lists, boxes of valentines to sort through so that your best friend got just the right Scooby Doo character.  There were stubby nosed scissors and paper doilies spread all over the table.  And if you were very lucky, you got to dip your hands in red paint to make your Mom her Valentine.

This Valentine's Day, I'll be sorting through papers all over the desk to make sure the IRS gets just the right numbers.  I'll use highlighters, paper clips, a calculator and a stapler.  There will be only the smell of hot coffee.  There's a special box of income tax papers not unlike those boxed Valentines you'd use in elementary school.  And if I'm very lucky, there will be some special numbers in the REFUND box.  Taxes can't be filed  until Valentine's Day this year due to new tax laws enacted very late. Figures it would be a Monday.


Some people complain that Valentine's Day is one of those Hallmark manufactured holidays when people need to "show" their love and make the day special.  It's going to be a special day this year, all right.  Other people complain that the whole income tax system in the United States is something like those childhood handmade valentines held together with old dry paste:  crumbly and stinky.  I don't really have a strong opinion about that one way or the other.  I'm just happy to have a sanctioned opportunity to say "I love you".

Bentivoglio anyone?

I'm cautiously optimistic that I've uncovered a new Italian family name for you!  I was seeking some ideas for this week's blog post and kind of stumbled on a great new website for Trentino births .  This discovery, in conjunction with an Odorizzi online family tree, led me to your great grandmother Barbara Odorizzi's birth record.  This record lists Gioseffa Barbera Anna Odorizzi born to Francesco and Teresa (maiden name Bentivoglio) in Tassullo Jan 6 1874.  This birth date matches the funeral card information I found at your parents' house so I feel fairly certain this reflects accurate information about her.

Further searching uncovered other children born to Francesco and Teresa in Tassullo: Augusta Dorotea (1865); Angelica Maria (1866); Davide Gulielmo (1869); Luigi Antonio (1876); Marco Francesco (1878); Carmelina Teresa Maria (1881); Assunta Rosa Maria (1884); and Giuditta Gioseffa (1887).  Teresa was a busy woman.  Aren't these cool names for anyone's family tree??

I continued my searching and found a Maria Teresa Bentivoglio born to Luigi and Dorotea (maiden name Zanini) Oct 13 1843 in Tassullo.  I'm far less certain about this new surname for your tree, but I'll keep checking! 

A big, big day for research.  Why, was there something else going on today? (Go Packers)

Share the Joy and the Sorrow

As you know, we recently stopped to visit with Aunt Rose, Uncle Lou and Diana.  Aunt Rose presented me with a copy of a journal that her Aunt Rose (Rose Messa Joswicki) wrote depicting their childhood in Ohio and early years in New York.  Here's a transcription of a portion of that journal telling the story of how your grandmother Mary Messa met Costante Dalpiaz.  Although I think I've shared this story previously (thanks to Aunt Josie), this journal entry fills in some of the interesting details.  I thought you might enjoy Rose's version of that story. 


"About this time mother was to act in a play for a good cause.  The part that she had was to be a mother of a son that went to the war.  This woman had a part in it too so three times a week all the players would meet in this woman's house and practice.  Then my older sister Mary was sixteen.  She met and fell in love with one of the young men that was in the play, was he good looking!  We could not wait for the three night to see him.  He was a very nice fellow too.  Father did not take notice of what was going on among us for we really had a jolly time.  At least they allknew their act so it was to be played on the stage of the town theatre on March 29, 1924.  The night before this fellow told my sister how much he loved her.  My sister and I was so happy and we share the secret together. Because father never allowed us to go out.  Things began to go a long pretty smooth for us.  This fellow bought an auto and it was called the Blue Bird.  Every Sunday in June, Mary and two other girl friends and I would go for a ride and we would have so much fun.  We would be back home about 4 or 5 o'clock in the evening. Our parents knew nothing about this.  Five months they were going together,  but she never saw him alone.  He would a like to take her out alone, but we wouldn't dare tell my father he was very strict. (If we did probably this would a turn out different.)  So he got discouraged and they quarrel over a little thing.  Mary was very broken hearted, and I was so sad for her for we share our joy and sorrow together although Mary had many other fellow that wanted to marry her.  Next she pick his cousin Costante Dalpiaz.  It was a courtship about five months.  They they planned on getting married.  All   this while they never went our alone.  We wanted my four cousins to be ushers but my father would not allow it.  We were very unhappy about this for we loved our cousins like brothers.  Mary was married on six of June 1925 with none of our relations present.  She had a very beautiful wedding with five ushers and five bridesmaids.  I was the maid of honor and this fellow was the best man."

If memory serves, the first guy would have been Costante's cousin Victor.  Mary and Rose shared a tight sister bond all their lives sharing the joy and the sorrow. 

The story tickles me in that I thought all those descriptors of this "fellow" applied to Costante, but not so much!  Also that she doesn't name him in this journal despite so many other very particular details.  Hmmm.  Anyway, I hope you get to share with your sister this week!

I think this is the most recent picture I have of Joe.  It's at Jake and Lindsay's wedding.  Looks like James and Joe are deep into discussion solving world issues.  I'm sorry for your loss.  We have fond memories especially from Joe's one and only trip to Walton New York!  I'll always remember how much he enjoyed the hitchhiking ghost story.  I told him that if he saw the ghost near the octagon barn, he'd gone too far if he was ever looking for Walton again.  He loved that!  We will miss him.  Rest in Peace.

Home is where the heart is

We recently received our property tax notification and I studied it more carefully than usual.  We are due to pay off our mortgage soon and I wanted to take special note of the rates, assessed value and so forth.  I haven't paid too much attention to property tax records as a genealogical research tool but I can see where valuable information could be obtained once I learn a bit more about them.

I thought you might be interested in the sale notice for 33-56 10th Street as your grandparents must have seen it:

Pretty sweet property!  $4200 sale price for a 2 family home with 2 car garage.  I think they may have purchased this in 1946 and it appears the mortgage was held by Christian Wieland.  By January 1951, the mortgage was paid off.  It seems pretty impressive to me that your grandparents were able to pay their mortgage off on this property in only 5 years.

I recently read an article in the NY Times which discussed the line that separates Queens from Brooklyn.  Apparently the demarcation isn't so clear to residents or to governmental agencies.  One clear difference supposedly are the numeric addresses:  3 numeral addresses indicate Brooklyn and the 4 digit (separated by a dsah) address indicates Queens.  At least to the US Postal Service.

Everyone remembers these addresses in their stories, which I think is really interesting.  As I'm sure you will remember 21 Duffin when telling stories to the following generations.

Pardon my absence.  Recently I've been having a little bit of writer's block or something similar.  To be truthful, it's not "writer's" block; but more like BLOCK in general.  It's hard for me to move forward, be productive.  Maybe I'm in some kind of hibernation mode like a big momma bear.

Lately I've been thinking about "things I miss":
TV show Frasier (which reminds me that I also miss my previous mastery of the spoken word--seems my brain can't come up with the same words it used to.......I REALLY miss that);

Telephones that you could hold to your head with your shoulder and do something else with your hands while not being afraid you'd disconnect the call with your cheek;

the busy-ness of clacking typewriters;

the smell of roasting turkey (where did that go???);

feeling like just a human rather than a potential criminal doing anything related to the government (mailed a package lately at the Post Office?  TSA??  enter a government building recently??);

the joy that worry free carefree snow days bring  and so on.  We've all got 'em.  As wonderful as our world is today sometimes little things get lost on the road to improvement.

1988

Things that make me smile:

sun glistening off clean snow;

normal dinnertime with everyone around the table;

dry leaves skittering across the yard;

sleeping kitties and any other number of "normal" everyday occurrences (see above).  Some days it's hard to remember what there is to smile at so I sometimes check out this website of awesome things.  It has a daily listing of average everyday things that make people happy.  It's a great reminder on days when it's easy to forget the awesome-ness all around us. 

Ready or Not for 2011

2011 has arrived, ready or not (much like most of life's other events).  We spent the evening with Linda,  Scott and Drew.  Dick Clark was hanging in there until the ball dropped, so I figured that was the least I could do as well. 

On New Year's Day Linda took us for a little scenic tour of Sayville.  It was a lovely little ride leaving me looking forward to further forays into the history and beauty of the area.  On our way home, we stopped to visit with Aunt Rose, Uncle Lou and Diana.  They looked great and we had a nice little visit.  I'm very glad we stopped!

Long Island Maritime Museum grounds.  Jan 1 2011

And what New Year post would be complete without a shout out to Kathleen:  Happy Birthday!

1993