My Family

I created this blog to keep track of my family history research. I do most of my research online.

The Francis name is my husband's which was originally Francisco from Sao Miguel, Azores, Portugal. He also has ancestors from Sweden and England. So far, I have found that my family has come from Italy, England, French Canada, Scotland, and Ulster Ireland (Scotch Irish).

I have also taken a DNA test, which shows mostly Italian, but also England and France.

Friday, November 30, 2012

arthur t stoddard and helen l cowing

Arthur Stoddard and Helen L. Cowing married in Weymouth on May 11, 1884. Arthur was 23 years old, Helen was 19.  They were married by clergyman Jacob Baker.  I am not sure why they would marry in Weymouth. The only connection I find that Helen has to Weymouth is her father. Even though she lived in South Scituate with her family before she was married, her father George Cowing was originally from Weymouth, MA.  Maybe the Cowings still had a connection to a church in Weymouth and this is where they married.  It could also be that they knew clergyman Jacob Baker, and wanted him to marry them.  There does not seem to be a connection with Arthur to Weymouth.

Helen grew up only about 6 houses down the street (in South Scituate) from her future husband, Arthur; which is probably how they met. You can see from the South Scituate map from 1879 how close their families lived.

South Scituate, 1879 : Residence of Helen Cowing's family and Arthur Stoddard's family (DT Stoddar and GC Cowen)
view in zoomit
 

After they married, Helen and Arthur lived on High Street in Norwell, MA as recorded in the 1900 and 1910 US Federal censuses.  Plymouth County has deeds to land records online, searchable starting from 1926.  I was able to locate an earlier deed through a reference from a deed of Arthur's daughter.  The deed is dated August 27, 1885 and describes the sale of an acre of land easterly on High Street from Charles Scully to Arthur Stoddard, for ninety five dollars.  (Plymouth County Deeds, Book 536 p 135).  This must have been Arthur's first purchase of land after his marriage to Helen, and seems to be the place they remained throughout their lives.  Arthur did purchase an additional half acre of land from Charles Scully for sixty five dollars on High Street in 1901. (Plymouth County Deeds, Book 828, p 132) 

The town of South Scituate changed its name to Norwell in 1888; so this land Arthur purchased was close to where both Helen and Arthur grew up; actually the same town.  You can see on the 1903 Norwell map below how close High Street in Norwell is to Washington Street (then in South Scituate), where they grew up.  In fact, in the 1903 map, both Helen's mother, Lydia Helen Cowing; and Arthur's mother, Maria Stoddard (Mrs. DT Stoddard) are still living in the houses the raised their families in.  By that time, both the father of Arthur and Helen had passed.  Arthur and Helen were the only children from both families that stayed in Norwell.  Their siblings moved to other towns in Massachusetts, such as Weymouth, Brockton, Hingham, and Malden.

Norwell, 1903 : Residences of Arthur and Helen Stoddard; mothers Mrs. DT Stoddard (Maria) and Helen Cowing (Lydia)
view larger in zoom.it
 

Helen and Arthur had three daughters, Nellie, Ethel, and Carrie. Ethel was my great grandmother.  Their daughters stayed close; even after two of them, Nellie and Ethel, married.  Both daughters remained in Norwell with their growing families.  They had a total of 15 grandchildren. Helen was alive to see only 8 of their grandchildren born, Arthur was alive for all of his grandchilren's births. Unfortunately, two of those grandchildren died within a few days of birth.  Their other daughter Carrie, never married; and is still living with Helen and Arthur in the 1910 census.     

Carrie did not stay too long with Arthur and Helen, as she moved to Brockton to be a school teacher.  Unfortunately, things to did not go well for Carrie.  Helen and Arthur had to experience the death of their daughter, Carrie, by suicide.  Carrie died only a year before her mother Helen. The article in the newspaper at the time stated Carrie was a teacher and that she was having a hard time with her students. There was another article later stating this was not the case; and they did not know the reason for the suicide. This must have been a very difficult time for Helen and her family.


death of carrie e stoddard, school teacher November 22, 1913

death of Carrie Stoddard from Fitchburg Sentinel November 22, 1913, page 1
My grandmother (Ethel's daughter Helen, probably named after her grandmother) never got to meet her grandmother; as Helen Lydia (Cowing) Stoddard died on Decembe 11, 1914 at a young age of 49 years.  She died of Acute Bright's Disease.  Helen's mother, Lydia, also survived her by 5 years.   

Arthur Stoddard lived another 19 years after his wife's death.  In 1916, a couple of years after Helen's death, Arthur purchased another acre of land from Charles Scully on High Street in Norwell.  In 1920 Arthur is living with his brother, Joseph Stoddard, neighboring both of his daughters, Nellie and Ethel, still on High Street.  By 1930, Arthur has moved in with his daughter Ethel on High Street. There are some deeds dated in 1950 and 1961, showing that Arthur's land was eventually in the hands of his daughters, Ethel and Nellie. (Plymouth Deed Book 2161, page 216) 

1920 census Arthur Stoddard Norwell, MA
I am fortunate enough to have a picture one of the houses on High Street, which I believe was on the land that Arthur bought. According to the information handed down to me from my family, this house was Ethel's, Arthur's daughter and my great grandmother.  I believe that is Ethel standing in the doorway.

Ethel Stoddard Torrey's house on High Street, Norwell, MA


Ethel Stoddard Torrey's house on High Street, Norwell, MA in winter

Arthur died from cancer of the intestine on January 24, 1934 in Norwell, MA; at the age of 73.  Helen and Arthur are buried at the Washington Street Cemetery in Norwell with their daughter Carrie, and Helen's father George C. Cowing.  Helen's mother is also buried at this cemeter, but I have not found her stone and her name is not carved on Helen's gravestone.  In one of the above mentioned deeds, Arthur's probate is listed as Plymouth Probate # 44165; unfortunately, Plymouth Probate records are not available online so I was not able to view this document.  


From blog post arthur t stoddard helen l cowing


To do:
1. Find connection to Jacob baker - Arthur sibling also married by him - or to church in Weymouth?
2. Arthur's Probate : Plymouth Probate # 44165

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

terragnoli / pettinelli / connection

My Italian ancestors have left some confusing and conflicting information that I have been trying to make sense of.  It all started some years back when my mother's cousin asked me if I had any information on Eva DeNicola.  Eva is a daughter of Louisa and Arnaldo DeNicola who died at a young age.  Eva would have been my grandfather Remo's sister.  My grandfather had never mentioned that he had a sister that died as a child' but he was also the youngest and may not have even known.  I had asked the reference librarian from Quincy if she could find a birth date and death date for Eva DeNicola since the records online only go up to 1915.  She did find Eva was born in 1919 to Arnaldo and Louisa T.;  and that Eva's death was recorded in Quincy in 1923. 

I did not find much more information on Eva until many months later a match came up on ancestry.com from findagrave.  Someone had posted Eva's gravestone from Mt. Wollaston Cemetery in Quincy, MA. I had not found Eva in the Quincy cemetery index, so I was surprised to see her gravestone from Quincy. Another surprise was the engraving on the stone, which stated Eva was also buried with her grandmother, Francesca Pettinelli. The Pettinelli name was one I had heard before in relation to Luisa Terragnoli, but no-one seemed to know the connection.

We knew that Louisa's maiden name was Terragnoli from her children Luigi, Gilda, Amelia, Romulos, Adolph, and Olga's birth records.  Also on Arnaldo and Louisa's passenger record from Italy to Boston, they state their friend in the United States is Louisa's brother, Cosmo Terragnoli. If the Francesca that was buried with Eva was Loiusa's mother; I would expect her last name to be Terragnoli, not Pettinelli.

I did another search for Terragnolis in Quincy and found a Damiano Terragnoli who married in Quincy. He lists his parents as Guiseppe Terragnoli and Francesca Lucente. Francesca matches the name on Eva's gravestone, but does not explain where the Pettinelli name came from. Oddly, Damiano uses the Pettinelli name in all future records, rather than Terragnoli. I would guess this makes it more likely that Louisa and Damiano are siblings, as Damiano is linked to both the Terragnoli and Pettinelli name, as is Louisa. I am thinking the most likely scenario is that their mother, Francesca Lucente Terragnoli, remarries a Pettinelli, and Damiano changes his name after his mother remarries.

My next step was to order the death records of Francesca Pettinelli and Louisa DeNicola to see how it lists their maiden names and to confirm Francesca Pettinelli is Louisa's mother.  The death records were not exactly as I expected.

Let's start with Louisa's death record first.  Louisa's mother is listed as Francesca Lucente.  This is the same name listed on Damiano Terragnoli's marriage record; linking them once more - probably as brother and sister.  However, Luisa's father is listed as Luigi Pettinelli, not Guiseppe Terragnoli as I had expected.  I am guessing that Louisa's father was listed incorrectly by her son A. DeNicola, who probably only knew Luigi Pettinelli as Francesca's husband and mistakenly recorded this name.  Finding Louisa's birth record and marriage record to Arnaldo would be helpful to see if Guiseppe Terragnoli or Luigi Pettinelli is listed as her father.  Unfortunately, the records available on the L'Aquila state archives and on familysearch only go up to 1865 for Prezza, Italy.     

My next step was to look at Francesca Pettinelli's death record to confirm she was Louisa's mother.  Indeed, Francesca's father is listed as Nichelle Lucente, matching the maiden name of Louisa's and Damiano's mother as Francesca Lucente.  This record also states that Francesca was widowed from Luigi Pettinelli; so Pettinelli is definitely a married name.  Finding this marriage record would be helpful to see if maybe Louisa's first marriage to Guiseppe Terragnoli is mentioned; confirming my suspicions that this is her second marriage.  I have been unable to find any passenger records or marriage records in the US for Louisa or Luigi.  I am not sure if they married in Italy or here in the US.  I have written Italy a couple of times for more informtion on this family, but I have not heard back.  I guess I will have to next write to the parish priest of Prezza.

My conclusions after obtaining the information from various sources is that Louisa, Damiano and Cosmo are all children of Francesca Lucente and Guiseppe Terragnoli.  I suspect that Guisseppe died in Prezza, Italy after 1886, about the year Cosmo was born.  Francesca remarries, either in the US or Italy, to Luigi Pettinelli.  Damiano was probably young enough that he used the Pettinelli name, maybe he did not even know his father Guiseppe Terragnoli.  I have not found much information in the US for either Francesca Pettinelli or the missing brother Cosmo, who was listed on Louisa's passenger record.  Maybe Cosmo went back to Italy.  I am not sure why I have not found much information on Francesca in the United States.  Obtaining some records from Italy would be very helpful in sorting all this out. 


death record transcriptions are from Mass Document Retrieval

Thursday, November 1, 2012

louisa terragnoli denicola (part 3 of 3)

death

Louisa died on May 9, 1945 in Quincy, MA, ten years after her husband, Arnaldo.  I have this date thanks to the great reference librarians at the Quincy Public Library who looked through the cemetery index for me.  She found that Louisa and Arnaldo are buried at Mount Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, MA, in lot 574, section M.  Their last name is spelled DiNicola in the index, rather than DeNicola.  The librarian was unable to find an obituary in the Patriot Ledger, the Quincy newspaper.  Louisa was survived by 10 of her 11 children; all except Eva who died as a child.  I have ordered a transcription of Louisa's death record, I will update my post when it is received.

Louisa Terragnoli and Arnaldo DeNicola
Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, Quincy, MA
From blog post louisa terragnoli


I only have one picture of Louisa, it is of her and her husband Arnaldo.  Even though they look to be dressed in wedding attire, they seem older the their twenties.  I am guessing the picture was taken later in their lives; therefore probably in Massachusetts.

Arnaldo and Louisa DeNicola
From blog post louisa terragnoli