I'll be giving  you an inside view on my family study methodology so that you can see how it happens that I seem to never get anything DONE!

First, thank you Angela for being so generous in sharing the ephemera from your Dad's collection.  I spent much of Christmas afternoon scanning and researching.  Here's one example of the trail I followed until I was well off the trail.

As you can see, this is a vehicle registration from 1931 for your grandfather James.  I notice the vehicle is a Willys 6.  This was not familiar to me, so I can't resist doing a little further research.  And this is exactly where the scanning stops and the off course wandering begins.

This is a 1931 Willys Six Model 97.  Pretty snappy.  First it occurs to me that James had a very up-to-date vehicle for himself.  I don't really know what it might mean to be a chauffeur in Freeport NY in the late 1920s and early 1930s.  He consistently held a chauffeur's license but I don't know what it was needed or used for.  So I take another detour to check the 1930 census record which indicates his occupation as coal weigher.  This detour led me to a Freeport City Directory from 1926:

James is listed with Margaret as foreman but, interestingly for me--also listed are James' elusive siblings Elizabeth and Phillip!  Bazinga (as Sheldon would say on The Big Bang Theory).  Of course, I have to link this to these two as well and now the original research is well off track.  But I'm having a grand time and I'm so happy to be able to share it with you all.  More to come.

They Are All Our Children

I've had a difficult time coming up with words for blog posts in light of the Newtown murders.  I can barely think about the shootings, let alone find words.  I know I'm not alone in this.   President Obama delivered a powerful message to the nation to address this and did so in a manner I only wish I could approach in my writing and speaking.

And he's absolutely correct.  Our first job is to take care of the children and we aren't doing it well enough.  Change is needed. 


OK.  Taking a turn now.  I intended to issue this challenge closer to New Year's but it seems appropriate now to reflect on the good things that have happened in the last year.  The challenge is to post ONE single image that sums up what was best in 2012 for you.

Here's mine.  It wasn't so easy to pick just one.  Try it.

My images from this past year reflect my new eye to detail.  Taking time to look, listen, smell and absorb atmosphere and surroundings has brought great rewards.  This picture was taken on a beach in Gloucester on a Sunday morning.  We hadn't been to this beach before and it was another beautiful gem we've discovered in Gloucester.  I love the shadows and the relative size of this clam shell left behind by the tide.  I got down on my knees to take this.  It's a great exercise in perspective to do so.  Perspective is a tool I don't use enough!

So what's  yours?  I challenge you to pick one and post it here with its story.  

It was great to see Jean, Bob, Hailey, Kathleen and Nick over the weekend.  We are looking forward to Christmas Eve when we can hug all the children a little tighter than usual.  You parents might want to give them a heads-up about that :)  

Trentino Blog for you to consider

I get occasional emails from this blog alerting me to interesting new posts.  The two most recent posts are ones I thought you might enjoy:  check it out at http://trentinoheritage.wordpress.com/author/trentinoheritage/

Touring your Trentino Village online and checking out the photo collection are the two posts I'm referring to. 

Enjoy.  Happy Birthday tomorrow Jake!

Your Christmas Bonus

This is quite adorable.  And you thought all I did was waste my time on Ancestry.com!

She left a beautiful memory

Another excerpt from Aunt Rose Jozwicki's journal:

Six months later I lost my dear mother on May 20 1942 (your great grandmother Catherine Contenta Messa).  She left a beautiful memory.  But a loss that I will never forget.  I was miserable and unhappy for a whole year.  I had fear of being left alone in my own home.  I was almost over the pain of mother's death when my brother Louie got a heart disease which was incurable.  It was an infection of the heart valve.  It was called subacute bacterial endocarditis.  The doctor gave him six months to live.  In six months almost to the day, he was gone.  We cried for him so much during those awful months.  By the end of his death he was all but skin and bones.  

He was only 31 years old and had everything to live for.  A good home, a big car, and a good salary.  I was there when the end came July 24 1943.  For many a sleepless hour I have spent since his death thinking of him and those big eyes; the way he looked at mea, as if he wanted help, but we could not do a thing.  His wife did everything in the world that she sould have done for him.  Sulfa drugs and other treatments had failed.  

Tom Lessie and Louis Messa (not sure which is which but I like to think that Louis is on the right with the snappy fedora style hat)

The war was still on, and everyone was very discouraged, most of all the boys of our neighborhood who were gone to fight for their country.

My husband (Walter)  was lucky.  By now he was 37 years old, so they were taking men up to 38.  By the time he was called to the draft board, and his job was essential.  He just missed being called.  We at the home front did everything in our power to help win this terrible dreadful way, by buying war bonds, saving paper, fat tin cans, and by working hard.

In the meantime, my brother Pete was keeping steady company with a firl named Sally Restivo (she was a graduate nurse).  Pete was not in service for he was a diabetic.

On September 19 1943, Pete was married at Saint Rita's church and had a little recption in Sally's mother's house.

 I thought you might enjoy seeing these familiar family names even if some of the history is rather sad.  But these are beautiful memories regardless.
 

Thanksgiving Wishes

Happy Thanksgiving to all far and wide!  How exciting for Linda and Scott to be with Drew in Europe for the holiday!  I hope you all have a wonderful day.  Amy and Ryan are home so we'll be having our feast here.  I made a crucial error in the purchase of our new dining set which is pub-style so the table and chairs are a little higher than the other table and chairs.  The mistake was not thinking about extra company for Thanksgiving and how the "short" chairs aren't going to do the trick which is what I usually would use.  Hmmm..... someone will be chair-shorted unless I figure something out.  Could be an adventure.

The adventure I'd really like to have for Thanksgiving dinner would be to gather up some of the souls I consider "lost" in your family tree and sit them down to a nice dinner and chat.  Your great grandfather John Coffarelli is one of those lost souls to me.  I do not know even when he died yet, never mind his immigration story! 

I'm very curious about your grand uncle Phillip Coffarelli too.  I have some of the background for his siblings filled in, but he's a little bit lost to me right now.  His sister, Margaret DiSabto is another one whose story I would like to fill in more completely.  I am making progress with her but am not yet satisfied. 

To switch around a bit, your grand uncle Peter Manzelli is another such lost soul in my family research.  I haven't yet found "that Nervo girl" your Aunt Mary talked about though I do think I've located his first family.  I would like more details to help complete the picture I have of him too.

Wouldn't it be grand to scoop them all up and sit them down for a big family dinner along with all the other loved ones we've lost along the way?  These are the kinds of dreams the family genealogist has.

What would they think of this?

Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless.

Anybody have a turkey?

I don't know if I'm the only one who suddenly came to the realization that Thanksgiving is coming right up.  I thought I had another week but a well-timed calendar check proved me wrong.  While it was delightful to consider we'd have two short weeks in a row at school, it was panic time for preparations. 

I plan to host Thanksgiving this year and had done NOTHING to get ready so off to the grocery store I went on Saturday November 10 (the reason for giving the date should become clear soon).  Since both Ryan and Amy will be home, I was also focused on stocking up the cupboards with their favorites so this was going to be one full grocery cart.  I wandered the store filling the basket and looking for the star of the show  Turkey.  I buy frozen and expected there to be a pretty good selection available except I couldn't find them.  The basket is full to overflowing and I still haven't put the turkey in there.  So, I asked and was directed.  I actually had to ask twice because I was still not finding the turkeys.  Feeling a fool, I approached a clerk at a freezer door and noticed "ah ha! turkeys!".  The clerk stopped me in my track saying "You don't want those--they're breasts."  True.  "Go to the meat room, they are unloading those turkeys off the truck right now." 

Meat room?  I was feeling extraordinarily thick headed by now and couldn't process "meat room" and reluctantly asked.  She meant the meat counter so over I go and ask.  Again.  "Those turkeys won't be here until tomorrow."  There are no other turkeys.

Why does everyone keep saying "those turkeys?"  And why are there no turkeys in this store on a Saturday 12 days before Thanksgiving?  I just cannot believe I'm in the store to do the Thanksgiving shopping and there are no turkeys to be had.  And not because there was a run on turkeys, but because "those turkeys" aren't available until tomorrow (Sunday).  I just want a turkey.  Please and thank you.

Turns out there was some kind of free turkey promotion whereby they would be made available to qualifying customers starting on Sunday.  But not Saturday if you just want a freakin' turkey.  The check out clerk asked if I found everything I needed.  Poor girl.  She was just doing her job.

Back to the store on Sunday.  Saturday's purchase was large enough to make me one of the qualifying customers.  Whoo hoo.  I don't really care.  Just let me have a turkey.  I grab a turkey out of the freezer chest guarded by the guy from the meat room and head to the check out. You can imagine where this is going by the tone of the story.

A helpful cashier pulled us out of line to offer to check us out on the self-serve line.  Whereby it promptly becomes the opposite of self-serve.  There were a number of scanning errors (I was glad to see even the cashiers have trouble with those things) that slowed up the whole process.  I was so close to getting Turkey to the car.  We could both see the door.  I wanted to grab and run but I restrained myself.  Well, James did the restraining, but anyhow..........My turkey was not one of "those turkeys", did I want to go back and get the right turkey?  No thank you very much.  Just let us out of here with Turkey please I beg you.

This brings to mind one Thanksgiving past where I unintentionally ended up with 3 turkeys from this same chain due to the same promotion.  And this year nearly zero turkeys.  I guess there really is great balance in the universe.  Unless you want a turkey 12 days before Thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving 1997

Better luck with turkeys to you all.