Italian-American Genealogy Meeting Notes
Prepared by Barbara Morten
The October 27th, 2018 meeting was held at the Westover Branch Library, 1644 North McKinley Road, Arlington, VA 22205 Phone: (703) 228-5260
Note
that the minutes are maintained on the website:
This meeting began with Marie Melchiori who gave a presentation on ‘Know What You are Looking At’. Her presentation notes will be available on the above stated website.
A few highlighted notes:
Use
several sources for each detail. Examples: Birth Certificate;
Marriage License and Certificate; Obituary; tombstone; Death
Certificate
Check the source of the information – “Is the information on the
obit, death certificate and tombstone given by the same person?”
Use official sources for dates (Birth Certificate, Death Certificate, Marriage); Identify other dates as ‘Other’ (Obituary, tombstone, family letters)
Cite your sources as you go, so that you, or others, can retrace your research path, if necessary.
Several websites and locations for citation examples were provided in her handout.
We went around the room discussing our progress, or lack thereof.
Additional discussions
A member talked of transcribing and self-publishing her grandfather’s autobiography and brought a copy of ‘Passeggiata’. She said his writing sounded just like he talked and made her think he was with her as she traveled to places he mentioned in his journal. His descriptions were still accurate when she went to his home town. Suggestions were given to her to have copies in the Library of Congress, the Salt Lake City Family History Center, and local Historical Society libraries. Another suggestion was to make an index for the book including names and locations.
A member indicated that using DNA Matching, she has found 4th cousins who helped add information in her family tree. Other members mentioned that some relatives were reluctant to talk about the past, and were resistant to the idea of DNA testing. Further discussions ensued about how when you put your information on a site, it might get changed by someone with wrong information. Many members have not put their info on-line because of this.
A member stated that using Voice Recognition Software is helpful in transcribing information. Just be sure to review it and revise the spelling as needed.
Another member told the story of a Civil War soldier who had been captured, released and had rejoined another unit. When he was recaptured, he used his cousin’s name, since he should not have legally rejoined the fight. When he died, he was buried under the assumed name. The member told of the effort it took to finally get the name on the Cemetery stone changed. The VA changed the name on the stone and added an ‘AKA’ to the back of the stone with the assumed name. A member suggested this was a good story line for a book or movie. Others mentioned that when a name was changed, sometimes the original name was still used for some records, and the changed name was used for others.
A member talked of her mother having a pen pal years ago in another country. When she sent gifts, the pen pal sent a letter indicating she was unable to accept the gifts because she couldn’t afford the tariff.
Someone suggested that you should keep going back to the Family History Center indexes, as things are constantly being added and updated. The same is true of the Cyndi’s List site (https://www.cyndislist.com).
A member trying to find her grandfather’s family has his naturalization papers and lots of records, but is still stuck. Suggestions were given for additional searches.
Several members attended the NIAF, The National Italian American Foundation, yearly meeting. The theme this year was ‘Puglia’ with displays and samples of wine, coffee, olive oil, chocolate, Nutella, cars, books, genealogy, and travel. There were speakers throughout the day and served a free lunch. Keep this in mind for next year.
We discussed holding meetings during the week during the day, in order to use the Dolly Madison Library. No decision was made, but it was suggested to have a survey of the members.
After the meeting several members met for lunch at a local restaurant near the library.
The End of October 2018 Minutes