Italian-American Genealogy Meeting Notes
Minutes Prepared by: Barbara (Barb) Morten
13 July 2019
The meeting was held at the McLean Government Center
1437 Balls Hill Road
McLean, VA 22101
Phone 703-356-0551
Note that the minutes are maintained on the website:
The meeting opened with a greeting and a few housekeeping topics, including a moment of silence to remember a memberÕs brother who recently passed away.
John Di Bella passed around copies of his self-published book, My Di Bella and Garufi Families: Sicilian Roots to American Branches. He answered questions on his methods and madness on getting this done. He supplied the link below to order the book from Amazon.
Type the following in your web browser address bar:
http://amzn.to/2Lxsa4Y (Note: I have removed the hyperlink)
Use the ÔLook insideÕ feature to view the Table of Contents and Chapter 1.
A discussion of whether John will send a copy to the Library of Congress and get a copyright ensued. He is still debating that. Others suggested that he also send a copy to the Salt Lake City Family History Library in Utah.
A member again mentioned the use of Roll Call in an e-mail to all members to have each member provide their family surnames and locations. Roll Call emails were mentioned at the April meeting and some members did send out their Roll Call information, but not all did. The other two possibilities were adding their family surnames and locations to Facebook and to our website. Several members have posted their information on Facebook and our website.
The Federation of Genealogical Societies Link: https://fgs.org/annual-conference
will be held August 21-24, 2019 in Washington, D.C. in the Omni Shoreham Hotel located at 2500 Calvert Street NW, Washington, District of Columbia 20008. The nearest Metro station is the Woodley Park/Zoo metro.
The Federation is made up of several Genealogical groups and provides seminars on several topics. If you go to the link provided, you can see the conference schedule and a brief description of each topic.
Members present were asked if anyone could help tell conference attendees about our Italian American group. She is hoping to get a table during the conference to provide information about our group.
Our speaker, Russell DeRose, gave a presentation about Italy and the Italian Constitution.
Russell provided a hand-out outlining the history of Italian politics from the 1800s to today. In the 1200Õs, the area we now know as Italy was made up of city-states, including Florence, Milan, Venice and Naples. Napoleon conquered northern Italy in 1796 and made it part of the French Empire. In 1805, Napoleon declared the Kingdom of Italy. In 1814, Napoleon was defeated and Italy was divided into small states. In 1815, the reunification of Italy began. Italy became a Constitutional Monarchy in 1848 under King Charles. Italy became a country in 1861, and remained a constitutional monarchy until 1947. The constitution was written by over 500 participants and finally ratified by 453 favorable and 62 opposed votes. Part 1 of the constitution is made up of the Fundamental Principles (9 articles). Part 2 is the Order of the Republic consisting of 6 Titles, 10 Sections and 139 Articles.
Today, Italian politics consist of Coalitions, 7 or 8 Parties and 28 minor parties. Each region has 3-9 parties, and multiple coalitions including:
Center Right
Left
5 Star
Free& Equal
Russell suggested several upcoming programs and he will provide a list which will be forwarded to our members.
We then went around the room discussing our current dilemmas, challenges, and accomplishments related to our genealogy.
Notes:
A member talked about searching for families in Ireland. A discussion ensued about the Family History Centers (FHC) and how some of them specialize in particular areas, based on their volunteersÕ expertise. Also, when a film was ordered from Salt Lake City, it may have been marked for permanent loan at the FHC. So, over time, some FHCs have accumulated a lot of films. Note that many films are now being digitized, but for those that arenÕt, you may want to check your local FHC to see what films they may already have on hand before ordering.
A member indicated that Family Search had been adding records related to the Abruzzo area of Italy.
The book, The Italian Party, by Christina Lynch was suggested. It is about Americans abroad in the 1950s, combining newlyweds, travel and intrigue.
Fold3 (https://www.fold3.com) is a link to military records, including payroll, Draft Registration records, service, etc. Note that you can access this link, as well as Ancestry and FHC links free from your local library, or your local FHC.
Two members are new grandparents! Happiness!
They mentioned the MHZ.com TV channel, or live streaming, which has Italian crime shows (with subtitles in English)
A member is researching her husbandÕs family in Palermo and near Naples.
A member belongs to 4 DNA groups and suggests that if you are thinking about getting a DNA test, do your homework, and possibly get multiple tests.
The book, The Man Farthest Down, by Booker T. Washington was suggested.
A member whose great grandfather from northern Italy outside Torino is searching for his great grandfatherÕs birth record. A discussion ensued about adoptees and how to search for missing records. Some suggestions included:
Look for the Exit records from Italy
Write to the Italian Embassy
Get a DNA test and utilize the DNA databases for matches
A member had her DNA test and is searching for her grandfatherÕs family.
A member also had his DNA tested and was recently contacted by the granddaughter of a ÔmissingÕ relative.
A member noted that the Metropolitan Opera is live-streaming operas on HD
Link: MetropolitanOpera.net She has more information on this topic and will share it at another meeting.
Another member is working on her husbandÕs Irish genealogy.
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The next meeting will be held at the McLean Government Center on Thursday, October 10th, 2019. The October meeting is on a Thursday rather than the usual Saturday because the Government Center will be used for Voter Registration. Meetings are held from 10am to 12:30pm and several attendees then go out to lunch together.
Website: Be sure to visit our website https://circolomazzei.org/
Facebook: Visit and sign up for our Facebook page Italian Genealogy DC-MD-VA