52 ancestors week 5 branching out…

I have been branching out on my tree. In fact, my other line that I started working on this year is my ‘Child’ line. Somewhere along the way, an ‘s’ got added to our name. I can see if you talking about member of your family you might say Childs and then not think anything aobut it. But our original John Child that came to America from England was indeed John Child, a carpenter. He was widow and came with his son to start a new life here.

Back in 1988 Mr. Guantt decided to try to gather all the Childs families together and he put it in book form. I found him by meeting someone on rootsweb.com. I was sad when ancestry took that site down. It caused a lot of problems for societies that freely used that site and referred to as reference guide. But we moved on from that episode…

One reason I am also participating in this 52 ancestory for 52 weeks is to pass some of these stories that have been handed down to me to my grandchildren and gather stories from others too to include in this study of our famiy. The family that Mr. Guant started isn’t complete so I have been diving more into my the families that needed some attention and have found new information as it comes available and updating the family tree he started back in 1988.

52 ancestors Week 2, my favorite find!

Recently someone added onto my tree in Familysearch.org that my 3rd Great Grandparents wedding date and place. Their names were John and Mary Ann (Child )Wright. I knew of John Wright as when his daughter Margaret died his name was listed as her father on her death certificate. But her mother’s name had been left blank. But that is all I knew about him.

John Wright died early in his marriage to Mary Ann. He was born about 1799 and died in 1842, so he was only 43 when he died. He had been a carpenter probably a hardworking one. On their marriage record mentioned both of their parents.

John Wright’s parents were Samuel and Eliza (Litzenberg) Wright. Which I had not know John Wright’s parents names.

But the most important part of this story is John had sister named Rebecca. She was married to Isaac Wilfong.

I found a will on Ancestry and normally don’t look at them because they are sometimes hard to read. But I did this time.

The amazing thing was that Rebecca Wilfong was very generous Aunt to her brother’s children. She named them and becaues they were older and married their names were listed as married children. Then I was able to find their spouses names and their children. I had never thought to ask my grandmother when she was alive if her grandmother had any siblings. But I had hard time getting information out of them as it was, so probably might not have gotten that from them anyhow.

But I was just so excited because I had no idea what children John and Mary Ann Wright actually had. Because they were grown and married and had children of their own I was able to reap knowing who they married and some of their children had already died and so was able to find them on death certificates. They had four children that I know of now. This Aunt Rebecca also wanted the inheritance tax to be paid out of her estate. I really admired her for her thoughfulness. She even left money to nephews if her nieces were already dead.

So this is one of my favorite finds that I won’t forget about for sometime. It left a footprint in my heart.

52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge week 1: Foundations

I have great grandmother who came to America when she was about 10 (1889). They came from Gravina, Bari, Puglia, Italy. I found her Italian birth record online at familysearch.org. Her name at birth was Maddalena Belsanti. But in America she went by Mary Magdalena. But I have referred to her as Maddalena in my story. She was daughter of Michele Belsanti and Francesca Chisena. I have not found any further information on her parents.

For the past two years, I have been concentrating on my Italian side of family. The Belsanti had a cousin buy tickets for passage to South America, however the tickets were for North America. I would not be here. That is story that has been passed down. The Belsanti traveled by ship to America with two small children age 10 and four years old. The oldest a girl and youngest a son. I have followed them in the census records. Last year I signed up for newpaper.com to connect to my Ancestry tree and have reaped much more information. I recommend this subscription.

I found where Madalena’s mother Francesca (2nd great grandmother) but later Americanize her name to Frances was visiting her son in Gloucester, Camden, New Jersey and found that she had died there. I was really taken by surprise. She had died in1919 but was buried in Fernwood Cemetery, in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. I understand they had falling out with Catholic church for some reason and that is why they were not buried as Catholics. I don’t know the real reason why they left their faith. My great grandparents don’t have markers on their graves, but they are listed on findagrave.com.

When the last female, Helena Di Mattia died, most the children had been born Mattia’s. In the early years a few of them had misspellings on their birth records, for instanace Mildred was born as Mildred Matter. The sibling before her was named Frances Mathew, the first sibling was named James Matio. Not sure why each child had different surname given to them. Unless the father was running from crime or misunderstand he had with the authorities in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Helena died intestate, meaning without a will. Her estated was divided by all of her relations and there were quite a bit. She was one of 15 children that had been born to her parents and was second to the last.. One sister died at age of 2. Angelina gave birth to a daughter and died same day from toxic complications. Angelina born in 1902 and died in 1933 from childbirth complications. She had only been married two years.

My mother was one of them that received money from this estate. But the neat thing I remember and saved the information, was the addresses to all those that became recipients to Aunt Helena’s estate. Which later helped me find ancestors connected to this family. I also recieved Rocco Catalano intention letter to become cititzen in America and that he explained he had changed his name and where he came from and date when he arrived in America.

I have niece that contacted me and asked if I would make two books for her children, and then during Covid 19 another relative from Belsanti/Mattia contacted me asking if I had the Di Mattia tree. I told her I did but had lots of gaps and needed more information to fill the to fill my tree. She was very instrumental in helping me obtain this information. We emailed back and forth, I with questions and her with answers.

But my great grandfather Rocco Catalano, (*Rocco Mattio, Rocco Mattia or Rocco Di Mattia) that changed his name in the census reocrd. One time his first name was his surname and his last name was his first name (Mattia Rocco). Very confusing and wondered what he was running from! He seemed to have had sketchy background and probably will never know the truth about who he really is, what he was running from or where he really came from. We don’t know his parents or if Di Mattia was his real name or name he borrowed.

He came into New York by ship, travel with man that he said there was no relation to himself. He said his name was Rocco Catalano. Later he changed his name to Di Mattia when he married his wife. (There is space betweeen i and M)

When they got married they were both under age. Her father signed for her, but Rocco didn’t have any relatives over here to sign for him. So he upped his age on the marriage application by 2 years making him 21. She was 14 but claimed she was 15. They married during a depression in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1893.. They lived with her parents or her parents lived with them most of their married lives..

My great grandmother’s name was Maddalena Belsanti, she was born in Italy. I found her birth records online at familysearch.org. She came from Bara Italy which is in southern Italy. Rocco came from Northern Italy.

It’s amazing my DNA shows I have 11% Northern Italy and only 2% Southern Italy.

I found one of my grandfather brother’s sons that was willing to share some information about my grandfather. His father and my grandfather were 19 years apart. Yet they still knew of each other even thought they both grew up in different eras. I didn’t not meet my grandfather, I was born 2 months before he died. So I was only a small infant. But this son, Mike told me that he was named after my grandfather, then he shared some new items that I didn’t know about. For instance, my grandfather owned a Studerbaker Automobile in the 1930’s and he would rent his car out for different occassion. He owned Mike’s Barber shop in Darby, Pennsylvania on Main Street. He was closed on Sunday’s and Wednesdays. He was known for the 2 minute Mike, (one of my cousins) told me that.

Most of his brothers were barbers around the suburbs of Philadelphia. He had one sister that was beautician for 35 years. So cutting hair was talent for these folks, plus it put food on the table during those difficult times.

I also found out that he was volunteer fireman. I was told that when he died, there were so many flowers they called the Darby Fire Dept. to bring a truck so they could put all the flowers on it. I think he use to golf too.

Family was important to him too. He took his two girls to see his mother every Thursday and they had spagehitti dinner. My mother shared this information and my cousin Frank and his younger brother Mike would go with their grandpop to the Meadows (meaning a section of Philadelphia) for spagehtti dinner as well. He would help his mom make the meat balls. Not sure what days they went. When my grandfather died, he left a wife, and his two daughters were both married with families.

Here is link to the history of the Studerbaker:https://motorcities.org/story-of-the-week/2021/a-brief-history-of-studebaker

I was also told that my 2nd great grandfather was very loving father towards his children, apparently he was very musically inclined and played Ukelele and all his children would gather together they would sing songs with their father.

52 ancestors in 52 weeks: week 17

The topic for week 17 is favorite places. This morning I was looking at some of the prompts Pinterest sends in my email. The one thing that caught my attention was sand dunes at the beach on ocean. I love seeing grasses that seem to grow on top sand dunes. I love walking barefoot at the waters edge. Pushing ny toes into the wet sand. Hearing birds talking, smelling salt water. What a beautiful place to be that God gave us to enjoy!

My family use to enjoy the beach down in Ocean City, NJ. We rented beach house when I was quite young.

My grandmother (Ella) was an only child. Her Aunt Emma and Uncle Woody would take her to sea shore for the summer consisting of three months. She had very happy childhood even thou she was an only child. She spent summers on third floor overlooking the ocean. When she was in high school they had girls parties at beach. Her uncle and aunt had two boys Henry and Charles. They always felt that Ella was more like a sister than a cousin. I know she was close to her cousins, she seem to know a lot about her family, she was in girls school with girl cousin. They shared a happy childhood together. I wish more families had been like that.

Recently in one of census I was looking at I noticed a few families that had lived at 874 Wynnewood Road. In Philly. So I emailed one of grandma cousins to see what they new about this. Then I asked about houses that were in Ocean Ciry, my cousin Lee sent pictues of where my grandmother spent her summers. The house but it now has been torn down. She sent pictures where their children have spent summers. I was so thankful for stories she shared with me and the pictures. They have been added to my book of rrememberance. How sweet tis is.

52 ancestors in 52 weeks

Week 13 : music

We lived wirh my father’s mother from 3rd through 7th grade. As I have looked back on this, it was hard for all of us. I dont know the reasoning behind their decision or rather his decision. I wish we could have stayed living in Delaware and be near cousins in Pennsylvania and visit shores in New Jersey like we did when we were younger.

Sometime in the mid 60’s, seems to me many households were purchasing ‘Hammond Organs’ at least in my part of the world. My grandmother was one of them and my mother’s sister family did too.

The organ was purchased from Gamble Music Company. They were located on the corner of Henderson and Losey on the west south corner. It was spacious building. They sold all kinds of instruments too. They had separate rooms as I was given organ lessons there once a week.

When we went to visit our aunt and uncle, they had a much larger hammond organ. It seems to my memory that my uncle was the one that seemed to entertain us with music on their organ. Their kids were grown and out of the house.

When I entered 9th grade, there was man was high school trying to put orchestra together. Kids were tested to see if they had any talent for playing an instrument. I was selected to play the viola and was in orchestra for four years. My sister was three years behind me and she played the violin. My daughter played a electronic keyboard and flute during her school years. My granddaughter is now learning to play an electric quitar.

I have been involved since January of writing a history of my mothers, side of the family of her grandparents. William Rocco Catalano and latter changes his name 15 times. Thats another story for another day. He dies as Rocco Di Mattia. When you get that many children, you are getting into two generations. You have the older ones and when you get to the younger ones they dont seem to remember as much of the history or know their siblings as much.

Since more information is digitize such as newspaper articles for obituaries and wedding announcements and emailing questions to descendants that have posted on find a grave website has been a wonderful journey. I have reaped so much information from these kind folks.

My grandfather played ukulele, my great grandfather loved children, he’s the one that fathered 15 children. I understand that he played a guitar and loved to sing with them gathered around him. I was told they had a player piano in there living room too. There are other of his children that played instruments too.

I am thankful for Amelia as she shed light on the older Mattia’s and Trudy for remembering stories from her father about the younger Mattia’s. This family grew up during a depression in 1893, surviving the depression because they taught their children to work hard. They helped one another. Rocco’s wife’s parents lived with them too and shared in the burden of helping with the younger children and putting food on the table. Teaching them a skill that was their occupation for life time. How blessed we are and thank for this bit of history that has been preserved.

Week #7 Unusual Source

I am thankful for some of the folks in this group that post. I havent posted much on my family history lately. But after reading about an unusual resource from “Finding My Ancestor Blog” I decided to share too, something that just happened to me recently.

I have been focusing most of my time writing a family history out. I am including my resources which has really helped me understand why someone would go up to New York to have baby there when they were living in Georgia. But I was able to figure out that her brother lived up in Broome, New York and she probably went up to visit and unexpected had her baby delivered there.

I have a lot of DNA matches on Ancestry. I find it a bit frustrating when they have had their DNA, but you can’t get hold of them or they haven’t put a tree up. I think 3/4 of my DNAs are from the Italian side of my family.

I had another person that has high number, I message but he said to me, we ‘might be related’ and he wasn’t interested in talking to me. So he shut me out. Oh well you win some and lose some. It’s his loss.

There is family member that I could not find any information on except in census records. She is in criminal mental institution. But one day recently, I noticed that even thou they don’t know where an ancestor may be buried or if they have been cremated that one can submit his or her name on Findagrave. Plus they can be linked to their family members. It looks like the regular grave sites except the cemetery plot is left blank or some may say they were cremated. They still give them a Memorial ID number if you need to go back and check something out. I just recently found this out by mistake yesterday.

Anyhow I wanted to know more about this certain family. I noticed at the very bottom of the page who created it. There were some initials so I click on it and it took me to message board, I decided to just asked if they were related or not?

Sometimes I have put cemetery records up in Findagrave.com that I am not related too. So I thought I would start out with that question. He actually answered me rather quickly. I was amazed. I keep thinking of more questions to ask him. He has already shared some stories with me. For which I am very thankful for. I told him I was writing a family history and wanted to include some family lore or details about certain people He has been so helpful. Then this morning he wrote and said he didn’t have time to finish writing me as he volunteers at the local museum.

Just from the information I have obtained and I don’t know how old he is I think he has does family history too. So don’t be afraid to ask some one on Findagrave.com. That is how I have been given so much information. I found the father had worked for Ferry Company, First he was deck hand, later he became a Bridgeman. In 1936, he had Ferry accident and broke both of his legs. I wonder how that happened? I wonder if anything was written up in the newspapers? More research to be had. So its worth taking a chance and writing to a person that submitted Findagrave information on your ancestors. I have been very thankful and happy for all the information this man has sent me.

Just sign up and maybe I will see ya. rootstech connect – you’re invited Feb 25 -27. It virtual and free this year to attend. What’s it about – family history, need more help finding your ancestors? Come connect with us. Thanks.

Hey there,
You did it!
We’re so excited that you’re coming to RootsTech Connect! We can’t wait to join together in our immersive digital experience. The event will take place live online next February 25 – 27, 2021.
Add RootsTech Connect to your calendar
     
Here are a few things to look forward to:
Keynote speaker announcements – we’ve got some awesome speakers that we’ll be announcing. Keep an eye out for emails from us with the latest news.
Tips to help you navigate a virtual conference – I know that a virtual event is new, so my team and I will be sharing lots of information to help you get ready. 
If you have any questions, send us an email at info@rootstech.org.
– Jen Allen, event director
P.S. Can I ask you for a favor? It would mean the world to me if you would share this event with your friends, neighbors, or colleagues. I’d love to see tens of thousands of people joining in and discovering their families.

^ That’s me

Favorite Photo, week 4, 52 ancestors in 52 weeks.

This prompt, saids Favorite Photo, but I can’t pinpoint my most favorite photo as I have several that come to my mind. I am going to post several pictures and give an explanation about each one and leave it at that.

i had some photos in mine to post. But they were to small, and wordpress said they needed to be a certain size. I tryed increasing them in size and renaming them, but they just would not take them. So disappointed.

I went to where you pick Post or Block, I went to Post, I found where you click to place picture in media library but it would not load where I am now typing. It was so frustrating. I am hoping someone that reads this will leave comment and please tell me how to post picture into this wordpress that they have changed how to do things. My thanks in advance.

In the kitchen, week 5, 52 ancestors in 52 weeks.

I used to travel to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania with my grandma. She loved visiting her realtives. She was an only child, but her parents seem to introduce her to all her cousins, aunts, uncles. It has amazed me over the years the people that loved her. She was a school teacher for 19 years at the Sharon High School. I took her to her last class reunion. She died soon after that, it made me feel good that I had the patience to take her, no one else wanted to be bothered with it. We had a good time together. Her students loved her and they laughed together.

We stayed with her Cousin Kitty Burkholder’s home in Lancaster. While there we were treated to most delicious food. Cousin Kitty’s son and wife lived with her as she was getting up in years. Cousin Barb is a wonderful good and it was fun to be around her too. She turned me onto this Mennonite Community Cookbook. That she actually picked one up for me while I was there. She went thru the book and told me what recipes she used and some of ingredients needed to be changed and she did that too.

Some of my favorites is making and canning tomato soup, Quakertown crumb Pie, Maraschino cherry cake very tasty and my most favorite is brown butter icing. This icing is great on banana cake.

But the one think I remember the most of Barb’s cooking- she made us some homemade noodles that she added to some butter that had been browned just to perfection and the noodles were out of this world in taste.

I have reaped many of recipes from this book. I am thankful and always remember that Barb shared this recipe book with me. I even wrote in the beginning of this book so I would not forgot. I enjoy finding recipes with different people I have come in contact with over the years. Brings back fond memories.

So that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Namesakes, week 3, 52 ancestors in 52 weeks

I had to think about this week’s answer to this prompt. I don’t really have any family members to ask these question. My dad was never interested in my pursing my family history and is deceased.

My mother was somewhat interested and one year I surprised her by taking all of her relatives that I knew of and made a calendar and put their names on calendar days along with their birth and death dates. I made it in Microsoft Publisher. The visiual had an affect on her. I gave it to her for Christmas present. She carried that close to heart when it was time for her to go home that day. I had pictures of each one that I could find in each of the calendar months. Her father’s side had come from family of 15 children. My mother always told me she was named after her great grandmother. Her name was Margaretta Lawson Wright.

My mother’s name was Margaretta Lawson Mattia. I think the reason her mother named her grandmother name is when her grandmother was in her 80’s she went to live with her granddaughter and husband until her death.

I was hoping my daughter does that for me, but she said she is not promising to do that. But times are changing and who knows the young people don’t care about their elders like they did in the old days. I just hope that I can stay out of a nursing home and that I can die at home.

Then when I came along I was named from my mother’s mother. We always called her Nana. Her maiden name was Mary Regina Baguley. So mom named me Mary and I think my Dad liked Denise.

The Germans seemed to give their children a first name and middle name. I found when I was researching my father’s genealogy, that his great grandfather kept switching his name around in the census records. One time he was Clark H. Long, the next time I found him as Homer C. Long, it was crazy following him. So I think my dad wanted to call me Denise but my mother wanted Mary. Except when I went to college I didn’t like Mary and had art teacher help me come up with a name- Mairby and I like to use that instead as a nickname.

I also have an Aunt Mary and my mom use to tell me I was mischief like my Aunt Mary and was always told that I was like her. I didn’t mind that at all. I loved my Aunt. She is gone now too. I have also notice as I am getting older, that my eyes remind me of Nana’s eyes for some reason. When I look in the mirror, I think I look like her more each day than my own mother.

My grandmother Long is my dad’s mom. Her first name was Ella and she never like her name. But I found out from doing her genealogy that her mother, Esther had a sister named Ella. So I am wondering if she named her after her sister. But they are connected to Hansell and I found Ella’s in the Hansell line too. So it seems like it is family name.

I asked my husband if he was named after anyone, he said his middle name was after his father first name. Then his first name was his Uncle’s nickname. So it does seem like many people use names over in their family trees. That’s all I know for now.