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!



2 comments :

Amy Coffin, MLIS said...

Thank you for the mention! What a nice surprise. :)

nuccia said...

You're welcome, Amy!