Il Circolo Filippo Mazzei

Martin Novak presented a talk on Genealogy Publishing with Martin Novack at the Italian-American Genealogy Meeting April 8, 2017.  Bottom line: Get started now to gather your family stories and write them down before it is too late!  Some discussion ensued regarding self-publishing, which included online services and indexing functions within various software packages.

Before we cycled around the tables, Russell announced the upcoming Festa della Repubblica Italiana (Festival of the Italian Republic) is celebrated every June 2 in Italy to commemorate the birth of the Italian Republic and a call for volunteers to help with the event.  He is also in the early phase of gathering interest in a bus trip to Ellis Island; either contact him directly or wait for Margaret's e-mail.  

As we progressed around the room, members provided their updates to activities since our last meeting.  We were reminded that there is another Italian genealogy group in the area that meets at the Nativity Church of Burke, VA, 6400 Nativity Lane, 7-9 the first Wed. of the month.  Marie mentioned that since Ancestry.com's purchase of ‘Find a Grave’, the access rules to images will be changing at some point soon, so it was suggested that if you use it, pull your desired content now.  This was mentioned at a RootsTech meeting.  It was noted that the Italian Genealogical Group (IGG) in New York is working on posting lectures on-line, but until then the upcoming lectures are viewable via a Webinar (check their Website before meetings on the Saturday of the month).  Judy indicated that she is waiting for results from her DNA analysis.  A discussion ensued about the legal aspects of the use of DNA.  Bottom line: read all the information carefully before signing up as vendors' policies vary.  If you are okay with it, go ahead.  If not, don’t.  Some DNA testing sites allow you to ‘opt-out’ of their using your DNA for research.  Barb’s distant cousin sent a link to a birth record for what was thought might be the great-grandmother’s birth record.  It wasn’t, but Barb was able to find that the birth record was for her great-grandmother’s sister who was born and died the year before her great-grandmother.  Both were given the same name, which is not uncommon to pass on a namesake.  Here is the link to the civil records for Foiano Val Fortore in Benevento.  There are links to other towns, and each town has links to Birth/Death/Marriage records by Year (1816-1865). 

Anne’s New Castle, Delaware saga may be at an end.  Anne had previously reported on her brother's efforts to commemorate the many Italian-Americans that have resided in New Castle, DE.  He spearheaded an effort to have a monument built with the family names engraved on it.  This was done, but while the monument was being transported, the trailer was in an accident and the monument damaged.  The replacement is finally ready for installation and should be dedicated on July 11th, 2017.  Margaret had an interesting anecdote about how her grandmother, who had many children, got the kids jobs.  She told each child what they were going to do and then went with them to the various stores, where she offered their services for free, at first.  In the evenings she would ask the kids what they did.  As the children did more and more at the various jobs, the mother would go back to the stores and renegotiate their ‘pay’.  From nothing to a sandwich to money to more money, or to a different job.  Paul reported that he has finally posted to ‘Find a Grave’ the headstone photos and transcriptions for Bodicote Cemetery in England--of 491 people, only one had an Italian surname, Vannozzi.  Joe asked about Polish land records, where the transfer was registered at the consulate in Boston – it was suggested to look at the Family History Center at their resources for Poland.  Also, check the will/probate records for the last person to own the land.  And finally, a question was asked about the Palermo cemeteries and where to find info on the mummies.  (A search using ‘Palermo Italy mummies’ resulted in several hits including photos of some of the mummies and a Wikipedia entry--Catacombe_dei_Cappuccini.  Originally, only monks were mummified, but later according to the Wikipedia article, ‘it became a status symbol to be entombed into the Capuchin catacombs’.)

Our next meeting is planned for July, so check back in May to learn the date.