Saturday, February 26, 2011

Ancestor Approved Award

Ancestor Approved Award
I got a nice surprise today when I opened my blog a saw that Astrid from Of Trolls and Lemons awarded me with the Ancestor Approved Award. Needless to say, I am really happy about it so thank you Astrid.

As a recipient of this award, I am to list 10 things I have learned about my ancestors that have surprised, humbled or thrilled me and then pass the award on to 10 other genealogy bloggers I feel are doing their ancestors proud.  So here goes...
 Surprised 

1. One of my great uncles spent time in jail for killing a man in the forest with an axe in self defense but because there were no witnesses he was charged with murder.
2. Two of my married ancestors left for America and started new lives with different woman.  Neither married them of course! Another had an affair with a married woman which result into the birth of a child he did not recognize.
3. I learned that there was at least one woman in each generation who became a widow at a young age including my grandmother, a great aunt and a cousin.


Thrilled
4. I am thrilled to have made contact early in my research with my maternal great uncle's family in Utah who provided me with a treasure of goodies which belonged to my great grandfather, Giovanni Polito.
5. I am also thrilled to make contact with my maternal great grandmother Vincenza Macchione's relatives in Arizona. With their help (especially Ray Justus) I was able to trace my family back 11 generations - all in the same small towns in Cosenza Italy.
6. To have met so many people online who are both family and 'honorary' family  who have accepted me into their families as one of their own.

Humbled
7. My ancestors on both sides were not wealthy by any means. They worked hard and had several children - many who died as children. I can't imagine their pain.
8. My maternal grandmother, great uncle and great aunt grew up in Italy with only their mother since their father chose to stay in the U.S. The fact that my great aunt never met her father at all saddens me the most.
9. My grandfather wrote several letters to his father in law in the U.S. and in one described the economic conditions back in the old country.
10. There was a mistake on my  maternal great grandfather's birth act  listing the wrong father's name which kept him from naturalizing. He later had the act amended but died not long after so although he had lived in the US for over 35 years he wasn't able to become an American citizen.

Now to pick 10 blogs I feel are worthy of this award - not an easy choice since I think they're all great but since I have to choose then these would be my choices.

 1. Cathy's Genealogy Blog
 2. Nick Gombash's Genealogy Blog
 3. Blackwell Family Genealogy
 4. The Genealogy of Torre le Nocelle, Italy
 5. Searching Every Corner, Researching Every Turn
 6. Greta's Genealogy Bog
 7. The We Tree Genealogy Blog
 8. Al's Polish-American Genealogy Research Blog
 9. More Than Names
10.Walking with Ancestors

Ciao For Now!



Friday, February 25, 2011

One Coming Home - One Leaving Home

It's been a long two weeks but finally dad is being released from hospital today. The almost 8 hour surgery went well although he did get that *slim* chance of infection they were sure he wouldn't get. Yesterday they removed all remaining tubes and should have started him on soft foods. Some equipment and nursing supplies were delivered to the house yesterday . I believe the machine is to help him breathe.
Other than the few words he said last week he has not been able to talk.  He's still too swollen. A device has to be ordered and made to measure which will be inserted into his throat to help him speak.  Found out last night that it will be at least six months before he will talk again.  Growing up I would have welcomed the fact that he wouldn't be able to yell at me..

Locri as seen from Gerace
Meanwhile Number One son has decided to fly to Italy next week for a month.  I have learned that like me, he is very spontaneous which I'm not sure is a great thing. But unlike me he does not plan things well having no idea what he will do once he arrives there. Thankfully he will be staying with Simy!
Although my son is adult it's really hard not to worry about him flying half way across the world to a foreign country. It makes me wonder how all those mothers felt watching their children (mostly  males) leave home for the better life the Americas offered during the mass Italian immigration of the early 1900's.  I'm not so sure I would have handled it well. 
Although he is flying to Genoa he has promised me he will go to Calabria. It would be a shame for him to go all the way there and not meet 'the family'.  Language will be a problem though as he doesn't speak Italian and none of my relatives speak English (that I know of) but I'm hoping this trip will give him a sense of his roots and understand them, like I did at his age, during the same time of year so many years ago.

Wish I was going with him.........

Monday, February 21, 2011

Family Day

Calabria Exchange
Today is Family Day here in Ontario which means no work or school for many residents of this province.  Family Day was only established as a holiday here since 2007 bringing our stats holiday count to 9 per year.  Unfortunately for many us we are starting the day off by shoveling the snow that fell here during the night.  We can't really complain much as it hasn't been a really bad winter so far.
Gnocchi
Spent the weekend running back and forth to the hospital.  Also spent most of yesterday cooking.  I learned that when making gnocchi ( from scratch)  *never* make more than a few potatoes at a time unless you want to spend the next six hours in the kitchen rolling and forming them.  Imagine making almost 300 of these small things?  Thank God for freezers or I would have ended up inviting the whole neighborhood over for dinner!
 It's also not a good idea to make homemade pizzas at the same time.  I started cooking at about 10 am and by the time I sat down it was almost 8 pm!  But at least my mother ate a decent meal as she has been at Dad's side every day, the whole day since he went in for surgery on the 11th of this month.
I did have the chance to do a bit of researching as well this weekend (although not as much as I would have liked to).  I updated a few pages on the Calabria Exchange and added some new records to the Cardeto pages.  Still behind in updating the Surname Database, though.  I think it's time to either invest in a program or get some help.  It's growing so quickly that I honestly can't keep up using plain html code.  Anyone out there who is interested please let me know.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Yes, family history and genealogy research is for all ages in Springfield - Springfield genealogy | Examiner.com

Yes, family history and genealogy research is for all ages in Springfield - Springfield genealogy | Examiner.com

Friday, February 11, 2011

Who Do You Think You Are Season 2 Episode 2 Tim McGraw 2/11/2011 - GeneaBloggers | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio

Who Do You Think You Are Season 2 Episode 2 Tim McGraw 2/11/2011 - GeneaBloggers | Internet Radio | Blog Talk Radio