Missing Mom and Dad

My parents left for Italy last Wednesday as they celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary. I'm not used to not calling my mother at least once a day or stopping by her house for coffee so naturally I have manged to call her almost every day since she's been gone. Thankfully I have downloaded Skype so I am able to call her for almost next to nothing. I purchased 10 Euros of credits on my credit card and can call any house or mobile phone for perhaps 25 cents per eight minutes. If I call a computer it costs nothing and we can use our webcams as well.

My parents have been staying in Locri mainly and going to the mare often which is only about 500 m from Dad's family's home. I remember waking up early when I was visiting and heading out to watch the fishermen and sunrise. Here is a view of what the sea looks likes

Today they went to mom's hometown of Malito in Cosenza to visit with one of her aunts. She also visited the cemetery where most of her family is buried. Tomorrow they will be visiting Reggio Calabria to see dad's oldest sister who is 94 years old.

So far it sounds like they're having a great time.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - My Matrilineal Line

I should have posted this Saturday Night but since I haven't really been around too much this weekend it is a few days late. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is presented over at Genea-Musings. So here goes...

Me...
Mom (1932 to Present)
Erminia Polito (30 Mar 1912 Las Animas, Colorado - 12 Oct 1974 Yonkers, Westchester County, New York
Vincenza Macchione (21 Jan 1883 Malito, Cosenza, Italy - 1959 Malito, Cosenza Italy)
Rosa Nucci ( Abt 1855 Malito, Cosenza, Italy - After 1908 Malito, Cosenza Italy)
Francesca Pirozzo (21 Jan 1811 Malito, Cosenza, Italy - 29 Jan 1888 Malito, Cosenza, Italy)
Orsola Bombini ( Abt. 1780, Grimaldi, Cosenza, Italy - Bef. 1889, Cosenza, Italy)

Looking through this list I realize that I still need to source a few things and firm up some dates. I have never had a mitochondrial DNA test or any DNA testing done but it is something that I have been thinking about for a while. Perhaps this year I will have one done.

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.

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