Ressurecturis at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cemetery

This is from the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Tyrolean Roman Catholic Cemetery in Hazelton PA, which is where we found ourselves not too long after I stumbled on this obituary for Uncle Lou's grandmother Josephine Facinelli Martini:

When I looked up the cemetery, there was this note: "Our Lady of Mount Carmel Tyrolean Roman Catholic Church was the only Tyrolean church in the US (now closed."  I mis-read this initially and thought it was the only Tyrolean Roman Catholic Cemetery in the country so how could we not troop ourselves a couple of hours down the road to visit such a place?

We found the area pretty easily and I've never been to such a setting for cemeteries.  There were several burial grounds abutting each other, separated by low stone walls.  Each was for a different ethnic church in Hazelton.  There was Slovak, German, Jewish and a few others.  All well kept pretty easily accessible, except not in a very pretty location in "downtown" Hazelton. 

We began looking for Martinis and Albertinis and anything else Tyrolean related that might be interesting.  Soon enough, James decided we should put a call in to Uncle Lou and Aunt Rose.  Of course, they knew exactly where we were and where to locate Uncle Lou's family.  James put them on speaker phone as we strolled around the cemetery and they were like one of those audio tours you can purchase at the museum except this was live and on air!  I have to admit it was a little bit surreal listening to their voices as we viewed the various gravestones guided by their remembrances.  There was a distinct separate area for the Germans and Uncle Lou knew that the Tyroleans had to share some space with the Germans.  Each cemetery has its own personality and this was certainly a distinct one.

It's relatively small (especially after you realize where they put those darned Germans) so we were easily able to walk the entire cemetery.  I took several pictures and posted them to Find-a-Grave which added over 30 names to that database.  We did find one Dalpiaz:

Adjacent to this were two additional stones, clearly belonging to the same family. 

You'll note that William's name is Dalpias though it's pretty clear he belongs to this family.  I did a teeny tiny bit of research just to verify that Simon and Lena were parents to William and Charles.  There was such a family in that area at the right time though William and Charles were 4 years apart, despite looking like they may have been born the same year if you only depended upon the gravestones.  I haven't yet quite matched August up with one of our Dalpiaz line but we'll keep looking.

Uncle Lou and Aunt Rose were understandably surprised to hear where we were calling them from and said they'd intended to visit there this same weekend themselves but had to change their plans by a week.  Can you imagine if we'd run into them there yesterday!?!?!?  Aunt Rose told us Louis lived nearby and we didn't realize how close we were.  We took a ride over there and had a nice visit with Louis and Christopher.

It was apparently Cousin Day one day last week and I think we celebrated it in style this year!  Cheers to all the cousins, in-laws and outlaws!

More Weekend Merriment

Whew!  What a weekend!  It was full of laughter, a few tears, a little sunburn and FAMILY!!!  Congratulations to Cheryl and Brad on their wedding.  All that work and planning certainly showed and we hope you could enjoy yourselves too.  It seemed you did!  James was very appreciative to be included in the ceremony--it was a near miss that you didn't hear "Meet The Mets" on your way down the aisle at the end of the Mass.  Our hotel neighbors were treated to several practice versions.  We were just lucky it didn't start the dogs howling since this hotel was full of "pet friendly" visitors.

I've gone off track.  My apologies.  It was wonderful to have Aunt Rose and Uncle Lou there to represent the eldest Dalpiaz generation.  Robinson held right in there throughout the festivities as the youngest member.  How lucky are we??

We were very happy to have Amy and Michael join us--and I think Michael survived the Long Island experience.  Their drive back was very long but they had lots to talk about to keep them occupied.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating.  It warms my heart to see the cousins and the children and the generations bonding and growing when we get together for these events.  Thank you all for making the efforts necessary to allow this family time miracle.  So, welcome to the family Cheryl!

Here are some of the pictures that just make me smile.



And, yes, I realize there aren't any pictures of Brad and Cheryl in this group.  They made me smile this weekend just by thinking of them!! 

Weekend Merriment

Have you ever thought about how the weekend concept came to be?  I hadn't so I was intrigued by the following written by Marie Wells of the New England Historic Genealogical Society:

It’s a steamy summer weekend, so what do you do?  You toss the kids (and/or the grandkids) into the car and head for the shore.  Time to get some respite from the heat with those cooling ocean breezes, and to commune with nature for a few hours.  Ah, but when you get there, you find that several thousand of your closest friends and neighbors had the same idea.  With perhaps three square feet of sand to call your own and the water as crowded as the sole working elevator in a high rise office building, you make the best of a fine tradition that goes back many, many decades.

Or does it?

For the first couple of centuries after the Pilgrims first anchored the Mayflower in Provincetown Harbor, work was life, and life was work.  No thought was given toward leisure time; in fact, in Puritan Massachusetts, the one day that work was forbidden was to be spent at the meeting house for the Sabbath services – which lasted all day.  Only after the Civil War when manufacturing and huge factories became the way of life for hundreds of thousands of people, many of them immigrants, was there something – though still paltry - called “leisure time.”  The well-to-do had enjoyed leisure time for years, and built large, ornate “cottages” in resort areas such as Newport, Rhode Island, to get away during the hot summers in style.  But little thought was given to whether the working class even deserved time off and/or access to recreational amenities.  

One man changed all that, a man still held up as a symbol of overwhelming capitalism, but a man who knew a good thing when it swam up and bit him in the posterior.

In 1909, Edsel Ford publicly announced, "Every man needs more than one day a week for rest and recreation....The Ford Company always has sought to promote [an] ideal home life for its employees. We believe that in order to live properly every man should have more time to spend with his family." And in 1926, Henry Ford made his son’s words reality:  he shut down all his factories for all of Saturday and Sunday, thus creating The Weekend.  No one had done it before, but Ford had cars to sell and knew that people would by them only if they had leisure time in which to enjoy them.  What a concept!

How interesting the tie between your family's beloved Fords and leisure weekend time!  We are looking forward to the upcoming weekend festivities.  Brad and Cheryl's hard work in wedding planning will come to fruition and lots of family and friends will be on hand to celebrate.  But even this event points to the changing nature of the concept of weekends and leisure time.

This wedding will be held on a Sunday.  When we were growing up, this just wasn't done--the phrase "non-traditional" didn't even cover such an idea.  Sundays were held as sacrosanct.  Businesses were ALL closed.  You went to church and spent time with your families on Sundays.  Period.  As we all have seen, Sundays are no longer off limits for working, shopping, alcohol or weddings!  It seems the weekend pendulum is swinging back to the earlier days when it made no difference what day of the week it was for workers, shopkeepers, liquor stores or young couples seeking to be married. 

As a child, I really did not enjoy Sundays.  I was supremely bored, so I still enjoy the freedom that Sundays now bring.  It's still a weekend day, but with the added benefit of open shops and family weddings!!! Now I love Sundays-- though I wasn't a big fan of Sunday nights before I retired!  And it will be a very special Sunday July 13 2014!  See you there!

Great start to Summer 2014

We went to Erie for a couple of days so that Jim could enjoy his Father's Day gift of a "back cage" tour of the giraffes at the Erie Zoo.

Mitch is the older of the two giraffes and this is who you see here.  He is tall enough to lean over into the younger (shorter) giraffe's cage and butt in on time with Nigel (the younger one).  Pretty soon Nigel started pacing a bit then showing a little aggressive behaviors  like these:

The zoo keeper told us they were definitely not cuddling--their neck-to-neck contact was so gentle that you might think it was affection rather than aggression.  She also noted they were not trying very hard at this behavior so it was kind of funny to watch them like they were toddlers.  Nigel, the younger, is in the foreground here.

Those of you with animal art from the Erie Zoo might have some from either Nigel or Mitch.  Apparently they somehow let them hang on to a paint brush with their incredibly long tongues to paint. 

Amy getting a giraffe greeting. 

In addition to the giraffe tour, we went to an Erie Baysox game and introduced the groom Michael and father of the bride to the wedding venue.  Nick's Place between Erie and Edinboro looked lovely in its summer splendor the day we visited.  I think the male half of the scouting party agreed it would do for a wedding!

This trip followed a day filled with Ryan family fun celebrating nephew Matthew's graduation from high school.  Now we turn our attention to another family weekend of celebration for Brad and Chery's wedding!  Here at long last!  Linda and Scott should be able to enjoy with a special kind of relaxation now that they are both officially retired.  Congratulations!  Big year for the Hartman household.  Looking forward to seeing everyone soon.

Bam! Katherine Lessie Pinto 1902-1918

Another door closes on the story of one of your ancestor's lives.  Sometimes I get on a streak where I make it my mission to "close the door" on the lives of those that have come before us.  I have many names that lack several details but one of the most significant that sometimes is lacking is a death date.  When a person lacks a death date, they appear as living in my software.  This can be a very long list and it bugs me.  So I go off on the hunt.  When I can close one of those doors, I say "Bam!" to myself. 

Katherine Lessie was the eldest daughter of Antoinette Contenta Lessie and her husband Louis (now I know Luigi).  Antoinette was your great grand aunt (sister to your great grandmother Catherine Messa).  I was working to see if I could track down a death date for Louis Lessie and ran across a possible match with someone called Luigi Lisi.  I discovered that Louis is the Americanized version of the Italian Luigi.  When I started searching for Luigi Lessie, I ran across a record for Katherine Lessie Pinto whose father was listed as Luigi Lessie and mother Antoinette from Belmont County Ohio.  Click.  (But not Bam)

Katherine Lessie Pinto died at the age of 16 of typhoid fever-- a very sad legacy. 

This is a death certificate from West Virginia and it appears that Katherine's death occurred in Wheeling West Virginia (though the certificate says Ohio).  It seems this certificate was created and signed in 1958 by the Medial Record Librarian of the Ohio Valley General Hospital.  I'm not sure of the history of this but all the information fits so I suddenly found myself with this sad story in my lap. 

This certificate provides Katherine's birth date and birth location but does not provide her husband's name.  There isn't even a spot for that, which I find very strange.  Regardless, further research found that Katherine married Frank Pinto (your aunt always told me the Pintos were related) in April of 1917.

It was a very short marriage and I'll continue to look for children just in case.  Yes, a child would only add open ended records to my list, but I like to be thorough :)  Anyhow, Bam and Bam.  Birth, marriage, spouse and death all entered into the software.  But I'm still on the hunt for Luigi Lessie.

Their loss is our gain?

Don't you sometimes think about how your parents--or even your grandparents--might have responded to some of the changes in everyday life from "the good old days"?  How do you think they would feel to learn that cursive writing hasn't been taught in recent years?  Many young people cannot write in cursive.  Perhaps that is not the end of civilization as we know it, but this also means they cannot READ it.  I have had the experience myself that a student indicated he couldn't read my writing--not because it was messy, but because it was written and not printed.  A day may come when no one will be able to read the Rose Jozwicki journal about her Messa family.  Or the US Constitution.  Cursive is not taught yet the state requires student signatures on test forms.  Go figure.

Loyalty cards are another trend that might puzzle your parents and grandparents.  How many "rewards" cards do you carry around?  Why do we need to "belong" to a corporate giant in order to save 10 cents on a loaf of bread?  If it's on sale, it should be on sale to all, right?  More often than not, internet is required to redeem these rewards--that cute little coupon doesn't even come in the mail any more.  Further examples of impending extinction:  coupons and US mail service.  It's crazy, but I feel like your Mom would have been all over those rewards and loyalty programs.  I can just picture those cards jammed into her wallet--because of course they wouldn't be on her car keys! 

I understand that these reward programs are all about getting to you...acquiring your email address is a prime goal.  Back in the day, your mailing address and phone number were prime targets.  It's evolved to the point where I'll give away my home phone number much faster these days in order to protect my cell phone number or my personal email.  Or even my Facebook profile.

Facebook.  If I could picture your Mom using the internet (and I have trouble doing that), I think she would love the connectivity Facebook provides.  But I can only imagine the trouble it would get her into with those added advertising links and posts.  I'm thinking Facebook would not be a big part of your Dad's life except through your mother's sharing.

I recall that long long phone cord at your house.  Imagine how your Mom would love that she no longer needed to be tethered while on the phone!  That's technology I imagine she would embrace.  On the other hand, back in the day when you called a home phone number to speak to someone, you knew where that person was while you were speaking to them.  You never had to ask "where are you?"  Cell phones take away that parental GPS tool for checking on the young uns.  Although there is GPS on phones........

GPS is great but I wonder if today's students have basic geographical understanding as to where they are located and how to get to another location.  GPS sends you step by step but you lose that sense of travelling north or west.  The little bitty screen doesn't allow you the past luxury of unfolding that monstrous road map and trying to finger point your intended path.  Heaven help you if you put your finger on the GPS screen.

It is a wonderful world out there and things have changed over generations perpetually.  They will continue to do so.  Perhaps someday someone will be wondering similar things about us.  Our gain is their loss.

Birthday remembrances Bob Dalpiaz

Happy Birthday to your Dad today!  Early June seems like such a nice time for a birthday--the weather is usually nice and kids are looking forward to the end of the school year.  Being heavily pregnant in the late spring seems to have it all over being heavily pregnant in the late summer!  Continuing the the them of randomness, here are some images to help celebrate your dad's birthday:

Time Magazine cover from June 4 1928

Front page of a newspaper that was probably available to the Dalpiaz clan June 4 1928. Take note of the article in the bottom left corner about how a judge decided upon custody of a toddler.

"Bobby" is about 5 here with Tommy Lessie

Your mom, dad and Aunt Mary "On the Home Front"

Apparently the Bellmore house. Notice the Dalpiaz men are the only ones in chairs.

Early 1950s

No tribute to your Dad would be complete without a reference to this!

Under the hood probably a decade later

Very proud Dad

1993 Easter

Your Dad was always very kind to me and I appreciated his humor and faith in me.  Still missed after all these years.

PS:  Just in case you weren't aware, you can click on the image for a bigger version.  This will be helpful with the newspaper articles especially.