News from another "long lost" cousin!

After speaking with Aunt Rose, I decided to try and touch base with John Miglietta son of Tullia and grandson of Aunt Caroline Valentini and Uncle Frenchie. He is your 2nd cousin.

I heard back from him today and this is what he has to say:

My parents are Tullia and Mario (Jimmy is what people called him) Miglietta. My mother's maiden name was Valentini. My maternal grandparents were Rene and Caroline Valentini. My grandmothers maiden name was Dalpiaz and she was born in Tassullo Italy in 1903. She died in 2003 here in Nashville Tennessee. I had moved her down here to be closer to me in 2000. Although she is buried back in New York. So if I have this right your husband's grandfather and my grandmother were brother and sister.

I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to correspond with you further and share our family history. How is Sister Tullia doing? I believe she is the only surviving sibling from my grandmother. Please convey my regards to everyone.

I replied that I would convey his regards and I invited him to view the blog and become an author. We have the right 2nd cousin! Aunt Rose was eaxctly right. I did not realize John's father was Mario however and I've been looking for James. No wonder I had trouble finding them in the records! I certainly do learn something new every day. Researching the siblings as well as the direct ancestors has added a very rich layer to the family story. Remember someday someone will be looking for you perhaps as a direct ancestor or perhaps to enrich their stories. Hah! That will make you think twice, won't it?

Welcome to the group John!

Brian and Gram 1989

Amy and Gram 1990

I thought maybe it would be nice to take some time to show a little bit about what made your mother happy--her grandchildren seemed to make her very happy. I don't have that frame of reference yet but every grandmother I know just loves the grandchildren. It was obvious that your mother loved hers. Talk about spoiled!

I regret that the younger children never got to know their grandmother Dalpiaz at all, but I hope we can all continue her legacy by taking great joy in our families far and wide. Celebrate your mother's birthday and spoil someone. Go ahead.

This is what a no hitter looks like!! Ryan pitched a full game no hitter this afternoon (one walk short of a perfect game) for a 7-0 win. It was a great game--he had 9 strikeouts and one walk (the lead off walk got picked off stealing second with a throw from Ryan on the mound). Yes, I am bragging. I am still wiping the tears away.

Happy Easter!

Here's what we are seeing this morning here in Massachusetts! The Easter bunny found us here last night and we are having a grand visit. I am blogging right on the beasch with my new Mini Dell which also has a webcam. Lots of fun for me!

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend.

Hippity Hoppity

Happy Easter! We are now officially on vacation and whew, did it come at a good time!! We will be traveling to Gloucester for the weekend. Ryan has 4 games next week so we can't stay longer--though we would if we could!!

Easter time brings great memories especially of trips to your parents house for the holiday. We made that trip many times while the kids were young and we have many fond memories of those days. I'm not really sure Ryan will forgive me for dressing him in outfits like this but since I'm pretty sure he won't, I might as well post the evidence on the blog! This is 1993.

Amy will be spending the weekend in Kutztown working but the Easter bunny sent her a package. She got an internship at our local zoo over the summer and we are very happy she will be home with us instead of in Baltimore (her preference over Binghamton for some reason).

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend. Easter dinner circa 1985.

Spring Birthdays and Celebrations

Spring is a big time for Dalpiaz birthdays! Happy birthday Lindsay, Nick, Thomas this week. We've had quite a bit of rain and wind this week in typical spring-like patterns. Rain makes me think of ducks so here's my tribute to spring --thanks Linda for the opportunity. Honestly I wanted to get this picture up on the blog but I wasn't sure just how to introduce it. It's definitely a classic.

The baseball season is now underway (speaking of rain). It looks like Ryan will be playing infield and pitching. He is just as happy he got relieved of catching duty, but that's my favorite to watch.

James is watching the race "with" Kathleen and Nick today. The wonders of today's technology!

Remember when microwave ovens were a new technology? Lots of people were hesitant at first. I think my mom was one of those --expense being no small consideration. But today can you even imagine being without? And your children don't know any other way to make popcorn!

We would make popcorn on the stove with oil and kernels--it was some trick to make sure it didn't burn. When air poppers came out, that opened up another whole new world. Jiffy Pop was only a special treat once in a great while.

Like birthdays--we'd get special treats on our birthdays such as our favorite meal for dinner and whatever kind of cake we wanted. One special treat today for Amy and Ryan is a simple little dish my mother would make by slicing bananas, adding mandarin oranges and sprinkling with confectioner's sugar. I always liked it best chilled a bit with just the right amount of liquid for the sugar to mix with. One special treat that has gone down from generation to generation. What were special treats from your childhood? How did you celebrate birthdays?

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!!