Saturday, February 27, 2010

Surname Saturday -Morabito 1895

Today I want to concentrate on the Morabito surname which happens to be the most common surname in Ardore, Reggio Calabria. Presently, there are about 141 persons living in Ardore with this surname, followed by the surname Zappavigna*. I still have not found proof that the surname originated there but so far I am leaning towards that very real possibility. My Paternal Grandfather, Bruno was born in Ardore and his Great Grandmother was Catarina Morabito born about 1784. I recently discovered that Nonno's oldest sister, Maria Rosa Carmina, also married a Morabito which makes things really interesting. Chances are they were not related and that if you were from this town, would also would have a Morabito in your family tree, since it's as common a name in Ardore as Smith is in the US -there were 13 births with this surname in 1895 alone which is lots considering it's not a very big town- but none the less I have started entering all those born with the surname into a database and connecting the families.
*Source information from Calabrian Surnames Search Engine results.
Here's a link to Maria Rosa and Saverio Antonio's Marriage Act.
Morabito's Born in 1895
Act #37 Rosa, daughter of Domenico and Teresina Codispoti
Act #38 Concetta, daughter of Saverio and Rosa Mariantonia Morabito
Act #72 Maria Teresa, daughter of Bruno and Teresa Romeo
Act #74 Maria Rosa, daughter of Nicola and Maria Ana Gelonese
Act #90 Maria Giuseppa, daughter of Leonardo and Elisabetta Morabito
Act #122 Carmela Maria, daughter of Vincenzo and Mariantonia Morabito
Act #132 Giuseppe, son of Francesco and Giuseppa Agostino
Act #166 Ferdinando Bruno, son of Giuseppe and Giovanna Scruci
Act #177 Domenico Antonio, son of Carmine and Teresa Pedavali
Act #193 Rosario Domencio, son of Carlo and Rosa Morabito
Act #226 Maria Rosa, daughter of Antonio and Mariantonia Morabito
Act #246 Natalina Maria Rosa, daughter of Domenico and Concetta Cristarella
You can view the actual images of these births on my website Calabria Exchange - Ardore . The quality is not that good since I uploaded them a while ago before I learned how to properly fix them in PSP or Photoshop but they are still legible and helpful to someone researching the name.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Giuseppe Macchione

I didn't have too much luck choosing a new template for my website but I have decided to stop stressing over it. Eventually, I will find the perfect template so for now, I need to walk away from it. I decided instead to play with a new site that lists many of the WW1 dead of Italy - Albo dei Caduti della Grande Guerra. I knew I had a great uncle on my Paternal side that died in WW1 but what I didn't know was that I also had one on my Maternal side. The site is split up by Region of Birth (ie: Calabria) and then by Surnames. You would use it much like you would a phone book.
Here is the entry for my Great Uncle, Giuseppe Macchione, son of Lorenzo.



Which basically says he was a Solider in the 19° Regiment, Military District of Cosenza, born on 9 Dec 1889 and died on 19 Jul 1915 on Monte Michele during combat. This now confirms both date of birth and death for Giuseppe. Since he died at 26 though, there is a good chance he was married - but I haven't determined that yet. Hopefully I can do that today.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Weekend Goals and Acts of Kindness

This morning's "Act of Kindness" involves my writing a letter to Italy requesting a gentleman's grandparents birth and marriage records and mailing the requests out. The man, a senior is a
member of our Gente di Mare Genealogy Forum which the Alpine Settler and I began a few years ago to help people with their Italian research.

While the research boards are busy, we also found translations of various documents to be a very popular subject so the forum has expanded to include a section for this sole purpose. The Alpine Settler is actually from England but she married an Italian man and has become a transplant in Italy. Now retired, she spends much of her days helping people obtain their Italian Citizenship by translating various documents and provides a bit of "English" humour to the forum. I will be writing about how we met later.

I have also spent the week *trying* to redesign the website at Gente and failing miserably. I have gone through two possible templates and neither seem to be working the way I want them too which is frustrating. I'm looking for a site that is able to display the information I have already extracted and organize it in such a way that it doesn't look so much like a salad.
The last two weeks have been about researching my maternal surnames and thanks to the Cosenza Archive site I have managed to trace my Macchione line back to the late 1600's. Today will be about trying to get it all online and finding a suitable template to host it on. This branch of my family is important to me because it is the first I began researching and oddly, is the branch I have the most information on. The older woman in the photograph is my Great Grandmother, Vincenza Macchione and the gentleman sitting in the lower left, drinking is her oldest son, Antonio. I'm not sure who the others are.


This is a picture of my Great Grandfather, Giovanni Polito who left Malito in 1905 to work in the mines in Las Animas, Trinidad Colorado and never returned to Italy. While John really didn't know his own children, he did spend a lot of time with his brother Carmine's children and when he passed away in 1954 his niece, Marie, inherited all his personal belongings. When I made contact with Marie a few years ago, we hit it off and she was kind enough to unselfishly send be a box of all John's personal papers and pictures. I felt like I had won the lottery - there was even my Great Grandmother Vincenza's 1909 passport included.
Read more about Giovanni "John" Polito.

A Snapshot of the Macchione's

Giovanni & Angela Carpino
Belsito, Cosenza

* Giacomo 1744-1830
* *Lorenzo 1766 - 1823
* Rosaria ?-1853

Lorenzo & Petranilla Spina
Belsito, Cosenza

* Carmela 1807-1834
* Nicola 1812-1832
* Francesco Domenico 1813-?
* Caterina Domenica 1816-?
* *Domenico 1817 - 1855
* Giovanni Pietro Antonio 1821-1851
* Anna 1822-?

Domenico & Maria De Luca
Belsito, Cosenza

* *Lorenzo 1844 - ?
* Francesco 1846 - 1847
* Giovanni 1846 - ?
* Fortunato 1849 - ?
* Rosa Anna 1850 - 1853
* Giuseppe 1852 - 1854
* Rosa 1855 - ?

Lorenzo & Rosa Nucci
Malito, Cosenza

* Francesa ? - ?
* Maria 1870 - ?
* Pietro 1871 - ?
* Antonio 1876 - ?
* Giuseppa 1879 - ?
* *Vincenza 1883 - 1959
* Teresa 1885 - ?
* Francesco 1887 - ?
* Giuseppe 1889- 1915

Vincenza & Giovanni Polito
Malito, Cosenza

Monday, February 15, 2010

Calabria Comunes and Helpful Links

I have put together a list of some of my favourite links that I use when researching. Keep in mind that most are targeted toward Calabrese research or reading. Hope you find it useful.

Links: Calabria

Coversation with Mom - Sometime in 2008

"Hi Ma..Che fa?"
"Nothing..I just watching a bit of TV with your father. Nothing good..just the news. "
"Oh, that's nice. Ma..listen. I gotta ask you something. Your parents got married on Feb 16, 1930, right?"
"Yea - why?"
"Oh nothing, I was just wondering." I pause thinking there's no easy way to ask this so I blurt out "Your brother was born in October that same year, right?"
"Yea, so?" - Mom's defensive tone kicks in here. She knows what's coming- I can tell.
"Well ma, it's not quite nine months, you know?"
"So what? He was born a couple of weeks early."
"Yea, that must be it", not quite convinced but it is possible.
My father yells in the background, "Tell her to go cook something for her kids and lasa perdere the 'research' ".
Of course I hear him . Everyone can hear him since he's not the quietest man in the world, but by mom feels the need to tell me what he says anyways.
"Your father says you should go cook and forget this nonsense.".
"Yea..tell him maybe I'll make Hamburger Helper tonight". Ok, so I knew that would set them off but I couldn't resist.
"EEWWW..porcheria", mom says. Goal achieved! hehe....
"Looka, I gotta go now. Your brother just got home and brought me a Biga Mac. Don't tell anyone about that, ok?"
"Of course not, ma. Who am I gonna tell?" I say and she hangs up before I have a chance to say anything else.

Big Mac??? And she was calling Hamburger Helper porcheria?

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Today- In My Kitchen

Fast forward to today...
"Hey Mom - Whatcha cooking? It smells so good!"
"Hey Son - Just frying some eggplant for the parmigiana."
"Ewww..looks nasty!"
"So have a beef pattie instead - that's so much better", I say as I roll my eyes.
"Good idea - thanks!"

Wonder what he would have said if he grew up watching my mother make pig's feet for dad....