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.

Thursday, March 19, 2015

pompeo updates part 6 (amedio's second great grandparents)

My last posts went through Amedio Pompeo's great grandparents, now it is time to look at his second great grandparents; which are:
  1. Raffaele Pompeo and Felicia d'Angelo : Between the years 1866-1928, there were only two children listed in the death records in Torre de Passeri for Raffaele Pompeo and Felicia d'Angelo.  The oldest son of Amedio's 2nd great grandparents is Domenico Antonio Pompeo(Amedio's great grandfather), the younger son would be Amedio's second great uncle, Carminantonio.  Both sons were born, and died, in Torre de Passeri.  Their father, Raffaele, also was born in Torre de Passeri, and died there at the age of 81 in 1880.  I was unable to locate their mother Felicia d'Angelo's death record, which must have occurred before 1866. (before this year records are not available online at this time)
  2. Pasquale Caldarelli and Giovanna di Bartolomeo : Another set of Amedio's second great grandparents, Pasquale Caldarelli and Giovanna di Bartolomeo, also lived their lives in Torre de Passeri.  They had four children, all daughters, that I could find in the Italian death records online.  Both Pasquale and Giovanna lived a long life, Pasquale died in 1867 at the age of 70, and Giovanna died four years later in 1871 at the age of 80.
  3. Giambattista Cappola and Fedele di Constantino : Amedio's third set of second great grandparents on the Pompeo line, Giambattista Cappola and Fedele di Constantino, had two sons that I found in the Italian death records online.  Their oldest son, Paolo, lived until he was 93 years old.  Theses sons lived their lives in Torre de Passeri, just like most of Amedio's ancestors.  I am guessing that Giambattista and Fedele also lived and died in Torre de Passeri, but they must have died before 1866 as I could not find either of them in the death records after that date. 
  4. Ferdinando di Bartolomeo and Francesca di Domenico : The last set of second great grandparents on Amedio's paternal Pompeo side are Ferdinando di Bartolomeo and Francesca di Domenico.   They had at least four children, three girls and one boy, all born and died in Torre de Passeri.  The oldest was Amedio's great grandmother Donata Gaetana di Bartolomeo.  There is a large gap of about 11 years between the second and third daughters, so it is likely Ferdinando and Francesca had more children that may have died at a young age.  Francesca died in 1869 at the age of 77.  Her death record states she is a widow, so her husband Ferdinando died before 1869.  His death record is not online, so Ferdinando probably died before 1866.
  5. Lorenzo Gagliardi and Benedetta d'Innacenzo : Amedio's first set of second great grandparents on his maternal Gagliardi line is Lorenzo Gagliardi and Benedetta D'Innacenzo.  The Italian death records online show that Lorenzo and Benedetta had only one child, Amedio's great grandfather Domencio Antonio Gagliardi.  The may have had more children that died before 1866, as these records are not available online at this time.  The deaths of Lorenzo and Benedetta also must have occurred before 1866, probably in Torre de Passeri. 
  6. Cristofaro de Novellis and Marianna Ciavarro : Another set of Amedio's second great granparents on his maternal Gagliardi line are Cristofaro De Novellis and Mariann Ciavarro.  They had at least three children that showed up in the Italian death records online, a son and two daughetrs.  All of their children lived in Torre de Passeri.  Cristofaro and Marianna probably died before 1866, as their deaths are not in the online records after this date. 
  7. unkown and unknown (parents of Angelo Sante di Lorenzo)
  8. Guiseppe di Rico and Guiseppa Delgenzo : The last set of second great grandparents on Amedio's maternal line are Guiseppe di Rico and Guiseppa Delgenzo.  The death records in Torre de Passeri show they had at least three daughters, all born in the neighboring town of San Valentino.  These daughters eventually moved to Torre de Passeri, possibly after their parents died.  One daughter, Francesca, never married, but probably lived with her sister Maria Giacinta, as Francesca's death record states she died at Maria's house.  According to their daughters' death records, Guiseppe and Guiseppa lived their lives in San Valentino.  They both died before 1868, when their daughter Francesca's death record states they are deceased. 

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

pompeo updates part 5 (amedio's great grandparents)

Amedio's last set of great grandparents on his maternal line, Angelo Sante di Lorenzo and Raffeala di Rico, lived in San Valentino (present name is San Valentino in Abruzzo Citeriore), a neighboring town of Torre de Passeri, Italy. 

Angelo Sante di Lorenzo and Raffaela di Rico family chart

The birth records available online do not go back before 1866 in San Valentino, so I am not sure if they had more than two children.  Even though their two daughters were born in San Valentino, I found them through their marriage records in Torre de Passeri, as they both married men in that commune.  Amedio's great grandmother Donata Lucia married Ruggiero Gagliardi. 

Angelo Sante di Lorenzo was deceased by 1871, when his oldest daughter was married.  The death records for San Valentino do not go back before 1871 online at FamilySearch, so I am unable to bring Angelo's line back any further.  I will have to order microfilm for San Valentino to find some more ancestors, and possibly find more children of Angelo and Raffaela. 

Angelo's wife, Raffeala di Rico, moved to Torre de Passeri at some point after her husband Angelo's death.  She died in Torre de Passeri in 1892 at the age of 72.  According to her death record, she did not remarry after her husband died.

Looking through the records for both the communes of Torre de Passeri and San Valentino, there are more di Lorenzo's in Torre de Passeri than in San Valentino; however, there are many di Rico's in San Valentino.  It seems likely that Angelo's family may have been from Torre de Passeri and he moved to San Valentino, where his wife Raffeala di Rico was born.  If I find Angelo's death or marriage record from the San Valentino microfilm, it will show where Angelo was born. 

The map below shows the two communes/towns, divided by a mountain.  Torre de Passeri is the red marker, San Valentino is the green marker.   



This is a view of the mountains from San Valentino - image from panoramio user Gracia Yolanda.


This is a picture of the cathedral in San Valentino from the Wikipedia page.

pompeo updates part 4 (amedio's great grandparents)

Amedio Pompeo's third set of great grandparents, this time on his maternal side (Angelina Gagliardi), were Domenico Antonio Gagliardi and Chiarra de Novellis.  They were also both born, and died, in Torre de Passeri, Italy. 

Since the records only begin in 1866 online at familysearch.org, I had to look through the death indexes for Torre de Passeri to find Domenico and Chiarra's children.  I could only find three children in the marriage and death records, the oldest was Ruggiero (Amedio's grandfather), and then two daughters.  There are some gaps between births, about 8 years between Ruggiero and Metilde, and about 9 years between Metilde and Amerina, which probably means they had more children in between.  I would have to order the microfilm of the civil records from 1809 - 1910 from FamilySearch to find other children they may have had.   


Domenico Antonio Gagliardi and Chiarra de Novellis family chart

All three of Domenico and Chiarra's children that I did find married in Torre de Passeri, and none of them left Italy.  Their middle daughter, Amedio's Great Aunt Metilde, had at least three children which probably also remained in Italy as there are no records for them in the US.  Domenico and Chiarra's youngest daughter, Amedio's Great Aunt Amerina, may have had children, but there are no records of any in Torre de Passeri; however, she and her husband may have been living in another town, as Amerina died in Masseria, Italy.  Amerina died at the age of 32, only two years after her father Domenico died, and six years before her mother Chiarra died.  Domenico and Chiarra's oldest son was Amedio's grandfather Ruggiero.  I have written a bit about this family and Angelina's siblings here.  They had 8 children, four of which settled in Quincy, MA, Cristofaro, Angelina, Secondina and Geocinta, Amedio's aunts and uncles. 

Domenico and Chiarra lived long lives in Italy.  Domenico died at the age of 75 in 1896, about 7 years before his wife Chiarra died at the age of 80 in 1904. 

pompeo updates part 3 (amedio's great grandparents)

Last year I wrote a post on Amedio's great grandparents Domenico Pompeo and Concetta Caldarelli.  This post was mostly about the immigration of their children.  Amedio's grandfather, Croce, actually remained in Italy; but his siblings (Amedio's great aunts and uncles) were the first generation of Pompeo's from Torre de Passeri to arrive in the US.  I wanted now to write about Amedio's other set of great grandparents on his paternal line, Domenico Antonio Cappola and Donata Gaetana di Bartolomeo, taken mostly from the Pompeo Family History book I made on ancestry.com. 

Domenico and Donata had at least seven children, 5 girls and 2 boys.  Amedio's grandmother Elisabetta was their third daughter (Croce's wife).  Unlike Croce's siblings, none of Domenico and Donata's children left Italy; the death records for most of the children show they remained in Torre de Passeri, Italy (Rosario probably died after 1928, when the online records end for Torre de Passeri).   They all married, and probably left many distant cousins of Amedio in their hometown of Torre de Passeri.   The chart below shows the birth and death dates of Amedio's great grandparents and their children, who are Amedio's great aunts and uncles.  The children of these great aunts and uncles would be Amedio's father's (Antonio) cousins, or Amedio's first cousins once removed.  These cousins are listed in my family tree, but I did not include them in this post. 


Domenico Antonio Cappola and Donata Gaetana di Bartolomeo family chart 



Amedio's great grandfather, Domenico Cappola, died in 1881 at the age of 71, 18 years before his wife Donata died in 1899 at the age of 84.  Two of Domenico and Donata's children died before their mother did.  Elisabetta, Amedio's grandmother, died at the age of 48, 5 years before her mother Donata died.  Domenico and Donata's youngest son, Nunzio, died at the age of 35, in 1892, 7 years before his mother died.  Perhaps having their mother Donata alive well into their adulthood made it more difficult for the children to leave Italy, with the children not wanting to leave their elderly widowed mother alone.

Sunday, March 15, 2015

pompeo updates part 2 (amedio's cousins)

Amedio Pompeo's other set of grandparents, Ruggiero Gagliardi and Lucia di Lorenzo, also did not leave Italy.  Ruggiero and Donata Lucia had 8 children, 4 boys and 4 girls.  At least four of their children emigrated from Italy, settling in Quincy, MA.  Two sons, both named Gaetano, died in Torre de Passeri when they were only 1 and 2 years old.


Amedio Pompeo's Grandparent's family chart (Ruggiero Gagliardi and Donata Lucia di Lorenzo)

One of Ruggiero and Donata Lucia's son, Carlantonio, remained in Italy, marrying and having a family.  This family is Amedio's Uncle Carlantonio and Aunt Ersilia, and their children would be Amedio's cousins, listed below.


Amedio Pompeo's Uncle's family chart (Carlantonio Gagliardi and Ersilia D'Nario)

Amedio probably never met these relatives, except for possibly his cousin Licinio who traveled to America in 1922.  Licinio's passenger record states his destination was to his Uncle Cristofaro's in Quincy, MA.  Amedio was 5 years old when his cousin came to America.  Licinio also stated on his passenger record that he intended to stay in the US permanently, but he returned to Italy at some point.  His death is recorded in Torre de Passeri in 1927; he was only 20 years old. Unfortunately; most of Carlantonio's children died before they were adults.  The only death record I did not find was Antoinetta's.  I may have also missed some children in the records as it seems this family traveled throughout Italy a bit, with two of their children born in different communes, Gattico and Taggliacozzo.  Gattico is actually very far away, in the northern part of Italy, as you can see from the map below.  I am not sure why the family would have been in this part of Italy when their second child was born.  Carlantonio was a cobbler according to his children's birth records, which does not seem like a traveling profession.




Carlantonio was not the only child of Ruggiero and Donata Lucia's that may have stayed in Italy, Marianna also seems to have spent most of her years in Italy, although she did travel to Boston in 1903 with her husband Venturo Cicchetti.  They are back in Italy by the time Marianna's mother Donata Lucia dies in 1914, as Venturo was one of the witnesses who reported her death.  Marianna and Venturo do not seem to have children, leaving Amedio without cousins in Italy from this aunt.

Two of Ruggiero and Donata Lucia Gagliardi's children, including Armedio's mother, left Italy before their parents died; Cristofaro in 1901, and Angelina in 1911.  The last two children to leave Italy were Secondina in 1914 and Geocinda in 1916, soon after their mother Donata Lucia died. Their father Ruggiero was still living when they left for America.

Amedio had many cousins from the Gagliardi side living near him in Quincy, MA, with the last names of Gizzarelli and Pompeo from these Aunts and Uncles.  His Aunt Geocinta had one child I could find from the census, Giovanni (John) Lawrence Gizzarelli, born in Torre de Passeri.   His Aunt Secondina had many children (surname Pompeo), Evalina, Louis, James, Jenny, Camilla, Eunice, Dominic, Adelina, Rodolph, and John, all born in Quincy, MA, all Amedio's cousins. 

Summary:

Possible cousins of Amedio Pompeo in Italy
  1. Marianna Gagliardi and Venturo Cicchetti's children - none
  2. Gaetano Gagliardi - none
  3. Gaetano Gagliradi - none
  4. Carlantonio Gagliardi and Ersilia's children - Americo, Antoinetta, Alba, Liana, Licinio, Luigi.  Most of these children, except maybe Antonietta, died as children or young adults.
Cousins of Amedio Pompeo in Quincy, MA
  1. Cristofaro Gagliardi and Adelina Pompeo's children - none
  2. Giacinta Gagliardi and Dominic Gizzarelli's children - Giovanni Lorenzo (John Lawrence)
  3. Secondina Gagliardi and Dominic Pompeo's children - Evalina, Louis, James, Jenny, Camilla, Eunice, Dominic, Adelina, Rodolph, and John

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

pompeo updates part 1 (amedio's cousins)

I did some additional research while I was creating my Pompeo Family Tree book on ancestry.com, and wanted to document it on my blog as well as in the book.  The book begins with my grandfather, Amedio Pompeo and continues to the later generations.  I will start this post with Amedio's grandparents, my 2nd great grandparents, Croce and Elisabetta Pompeo.


Croce Pompeo and Elisabetta Cappola family chart


Amedio's grandparents, Croce and Elisabetta Pompeo, remained in Italy their entire lives and had 5 children; 3 girls and 2 boys, all born in Torre de Passeri.   The youngest daughter, Concetta, died at the age of 10, a week before her mother Elisabetta died.  Since their deaths were so close, it seems likely they had a similar illness that may have caused their deaths; but the Italian records do not have cause of death listed.  Antonio, Amedio's father, was only 12 years old when his mother died. 

After Amedio's grandmother Elisabetta died, his grandfather, Croce, stayed in Italy, remarried twice, and moved to a neighboring town in Italy, San Valentino.  Not all of Elisabetta and Croce's children remained in Italy though.  About 10 years after Elisabetta died, all the children, except Amelia, started to leave Italy for America; Adelina in 1903, Antonio in 1905, and Giuseppe in 1906.  Adelina married Cristofaro Gagliardi in 1900 in Torre de Passeri.  It does not seem that Amedio's Aunt Adelina and Uncle Cristofaro had any children, as the 1910 and 1920 censuses do not list any living in their household.   Amedio's Uncle Guiseppe (Joseph) and Aunt Cirettina (Cristina); however, had at least 9 children, all born in Quincy, MA; providing Amedio with many cousins.  Their names according to the various censuses were Crosi, Elizabeth, Angelina, Americo, Albina, Adele, Olga, Gladys, and Croce.  It seems a bit strange that they would have two children named Crosi and Croce, but that are the names on the censuses.   

The only child of Croce and Elisabetta that remained in Italy, Amelia, married Fiore Luigi Ferrara in Torre de Passeri in 1905; 10 months after her brother Antonio left for America.  Amelia and Fiore had at least three children in Torre de Passeri; the last one was born in 1909 (the birth records online only go up to 1910, so there may have been more).  Amelia's husband Fiore seems to have traveled back and forth from Italy to the US, with a passenger record in 1902, then back to Italy with the birth of his children, then back to the US with a WWI draft card in Quincy, MA in 1917.  This draft card lists a Marietta as his closet relative living in Torre de Passeri, I am not sure why it does not list Amelia.  Perhaps she died and he remarried, or maybe it is just a mistake.  I did not find a death record for Amelia in Torre de Passeri, or a passenger record for her.  Their children, Amedio's cousins, do not seem to have come to the US either.  Perhaps this Ferrara family's line still remain in Italy.  The following chart is for Fiore Luigi Ferrara and Amelia Pompeo's family.

Fiore Luigi Ferrara and Amelia Pompeo family chart

Summary:

Possible cousins of Amedio Pompeo in Italy
  1. Amelis and Fiore Luigi Ferrara's children - Antonia, Alfredo and Croce - could be more
  2. Concetta Pompeo - no children, died at age 10
Cousins of Amedio Pompeo in Quincy, MA
  1. Adelina Pompeo and Cristofaro Gagliardi's children - none
  2. Guiseppe (Joseph) Pompeo and Cristina's children - Crosi, Elizabeth, Angelina, Americo, Albina, Adele, Olga, Gladys, and Croce

to do

I just finished creating a family history book through ancestry.com on my grandfather, Amedio Pompeo's, line.  I was able to go back to my 5th great grandfather in the 1700s, Severino Pompeo, in Torre de Passeri, using the Italian records online through familysearch.org and the Italian State Archives. 

Now that I have so many names on my paternal Italian side, my maternal Italian side looks sparse in comparison.  This maternal line, the DeNicola's and Terragnoli's, are also mostly from the Abruzzo region, but from the province of L'Aquila in the commune of Prezza.  These records only go up to 1865 online, which means I was unable to make that connection back in the records since I am starting with my great grandparents, who were born in the 1870's.  It also seems that the DeNicola's may have been from Rome.     

Pedigree chart for Remo DeNicola


I do have the names of my 2nd great grandparents from the records in the US, but I was unable to find most of these names in the Prezza records.  As the chart above shows, there is one line I was able to trace back a bit further, that of my 2nd great grandmother, Francesca Lucente. Since she died in the United States, I was able to obtain her death record which included her parent's names.  She was born in 1846, which allowed me to find her birth record in Prezza online.  This leaves me with three lines to spend some time researching.   

to do: (bold items I have started the process)
  1. Guiseppe Terragnoli, my second great granfather, probably died in Italy before his wife Francesca came to the United States.  (Francesca married secondly Luigi Pettinelli in Prezza).  These are the records that I would like to find for Guiseppe Terragnoli; I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain any of these records, as I have written to Prezza town offices a couple of times with no response.
    • death record - I was not able to find Guiseppe Terragnoli's death record, which probably occurred after 1865, maybe in Prezza. 
    • birth record - I am not sure if Guiseppe was born in Prezza, as I was also unable to locate his birth record after browsing through the Prezza records that are available before 1865.  He would have been born before this date, so I am not sure why I cannot find him, unless he was born in a different commune. 
    • marriage record - of Guiseppe Terragnoli and Francesca Lucente, probably in Prezza, as their first child was born there in 1877.  The marriage record will give the age of Guiseppe, his place of birth, and his parents' names.
    • marriage record - of their daughter Luisa Terragnoli to Arnaldo DeNicola.  This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born.  This may also give Guiseppe's age and place of birth.
    • marriage allegati - for Francesca Lucente's second marriage, which may include Guiseppe's death record.  Allegati contain documents which were necessary to marry.  I have this marriage date of 1894 which was annotated in Francesca's birth record.
  2. Eugenia Farneti, my second great grandmother, died in Quincy, MA in 1937. 
    • death certificate - this will be easy to obtain by ordering through mass document retrieval.  This will contain Eugenia's parent's names and date of birth.  (UPDATE: I ordered her death certificate and it states her parents' names are Peter Farnetti and Anunziata Gismondi, and birth year would be abt 1870 - see this post about analysis of Eugenia's birth year)
    • birth record - her son's birth record, Gaetano Faiella, states Eugenia was born in Rome.  There is microfilm from familysearch that I can order once I have a birth date - which is probably around 1864 according to some other US records.   May have to order Rome birth index to find date. 
    • marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to Adolph DeNicola.  This probably occurred in Rome, Italy as their son Arnaldo was born in 1879 in Rome.  I have ordered the index to marriage records for 1871-1879 for Rome from familysearch.  Once I find out the year, I can order the microfilm which contains the records.
    • marriage record - of her son Arnaldo DeNicola to Luisa Terragnoli.  (same as above under Guiseppe) This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born. This may also give Eugenia's age and place of birth.  I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain this record. 
    • marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to her second husband Luigi Faiella.  This probably occurred in Rome also, as their first child was born there in 1882.  I will have to check if the marriage allegati records are available at familysearch for this year in Rome.  The allegati would have Eugenia's age, place of birth, and possibly her first husband, Adolph's, death record.
    • birth record - her son Arnaldo DeNicola.  He was born in Rome in 1879 according to his naturalization papers.  I have ordered the 1878-1879 index and records for Rome from familysearch.  This may obtain Eugenia's age and place of birth. 
  3. Adolph DeNicola, my second great grandfather, first husband to Eugenia Farneti
    • death record - Adolph DeNicola, probably occurred in Rome between 1879 when his son Arnaldo was born and 1882 when his wife had another child by her second husband.  Need to order death index for Rome from familysearch for these years.
    • marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to Adolph DeNicola.  (same as above under Eugenia) This probably occurred in Rome, Italy as their son Arnaldo was born in 1879 in Rome.  I have ordered the index to marriage records for 1871-1879 for Rome.  Once I find out the year, I can order the microfilm which contains the records.
    • marriage record - of her son Arnaldo DeNicola to Luisa Terragnoli.  (same as above under Guiseppe and Eugenia) This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born. This may also give Eugenia's age and place of birth.  I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain this record. 
    • marriage record - of Eugenia Farneti to her second husband Luigi Faiella.  (same as above under Eugenia) This probably occurred in Rome also, as their first child was born there in 1882.  I will have to check if the marriage allegati records are available at familysearch for this year in Rome.  The allegati would have possibly her first husband, Adolph's, death record.
    • birth record - her son Arnaldo DeNicola.  (same as above under Eugenia) He was born in Rome in 1879 according to his naturalization papers.  I have ordered the 1878-1879 index and records for Rome from familysearch.  This may obtain Adolph's age and place of birth. 
I definitely have some ways to expand my Italian line on my maternal side.  Guiseppe Terragnoli will probably be the most difficult to obtain as I have to go through a professional, but I can get a start on the other two lines.  It looks like I have some records to order.