Heartbreak and Joy

My family history research lately has been descendancy research.  I come across little Marie Anna Pintal yesterday while researching a 3rd cousin of mine.  She died at age 1 month due to spina bifida.  I was shocked to see those words spina bifida on an 1889 death record!! What mixed emotions I felt!  I am so sad for this family. I am just heartbroken especially for her mama.  There was no treatment available for spina bifida back then, no surgery, no antibiotics to be prevent infection.  Mostly likely Anna suffered a slow and difficult death. I wonder if her mom got to hold her and nurse her.  I wonder if little Anna had hydrocephalus also.  I hope her passing was peaceful and not painful.

On the other side, I feel joy.  Joy because when I heard the words spina bifida as a diagnosis for my son, I lived in a day and age of the miracle of modern medicine.  Without surgery when he was infant Evan would NOT have lived very long, just like little Marie Anna,  I feel Joy, because I was able to spend time with Evan today and watch him enjoy the great outdoors on his handcycle.   He lives a full and busy life and is a just a delight!  We are very blessed!

Rolling on the Bob Jones Bike Trail

I also feel joy for the Pintal family. Gideon and Emmerance had 15 children. Some died young, some lived long lives, some I don't know how long they lived. However, I know that they can be a forever family.  And, what great joy they will feel to be together again!!

Source:  "Massachusetts Deaths, 1841-1915," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWQ7-F45 : 10 December 2014), Marie A. Pintal, 23 Jan 1889; citing Lowell, Massachusetts, v 401 p 121, State Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 960,241.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NWQ7-F45?from=lynx1&treeref=LRR6-MQ9

My Utah Visit

I recently spent a week in Utah.  I went to attend a family history/technology conference, Rootstech.  And of course to have fun with family there too!! I divided my time between David's family and John's family.  We all had dinner together Saturday and Monday night, so that was fun!  I guess you can say that is family history in the making!!  Here are some pictures. 

Who could resist this smiling, happy face?  When Spencer first spied me he couldn't wait to stand up next to me to see who was taller.  I still am, but won't be for very much longer!!

Here are two more smiling faces that I enjoyed being around!!

I even got to reminisce about the good ol' days and attend a Cub Scout Pinewood derby. Andrew came in fourth place!!  Way to go!!  

Don't try this at home.  Pogo stick jumping without hands!!

Then there is sweet little Aiden!  He is such a happy little boy!! 

He thought knocking over small blocks was just the funniest thing ever.  I love his "Ut Oh"!!

Sunday evening John, Amy, Aiden and I went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  It was almost a ghost town except for the sweet Sister Missionaries roaming the beautiful square.  I think Super Bowl Sunday had something to do with that.  Anyway, we enjoyed some organ music in the Tabernacle.

The detail on the pipe organ is stunning. 

Can you spot the big dipper on the Temple?  I never noticed it before, but John spotted it!!

The moon was almost full.  It was simply beautiful

Spencer was sure super silly and extra hyper my last night in Utah.  I caught him with my camera singing and bouncing around.  Too funny. 

Tuesday Morning I was able to enjoy some special quiet time in the Provo Temple.  It was very inspirational.  How I love the sweet spirit in the temple.

This is the view coming out of the temple.  So, beautiful.  When I first walked out there was a group of missionaries singing Hawaiian hymns with all the gusto of their hearts.  when I came back with my camera they were gone.  :(

Before leaving Sariah took me and Leah out for lunch with David.  Here he is hard,  at work.  Well, maybe not so hard.  By the way, David has an article published in his company magazine. 

His office is filled with Star Wars memorabilia.  Evan would have loved it!!  To bad he stayed home.  Maybe next time. 

It was great to see all the family I miss so much.  

Tomorrow part two, Rootstech. 

All Over the World

Some of my most cherished memories of serving with FamilySearch support involved working with patrons and missionaries from other countries around the world.  This morning I needed help from FamilySearch so I call the toll free support number.  The missionary helping me was a sweet sister with a Spanish sounding accent.  I asked her where she was from and she said originally Nicaragua.  Her answer to my next question, where she was living now, really surprised me.  She said the Middle East!!  How cool is that?  A FamilySearch missionary serving in the Middle East.  She is living in Abu Dhabi!  She told me they have a thriving ward there.  Wow!  I love our world-wide Church and FamilySearch.  Oh, by the way, she was very helpful!!


 

A New Generation

Isn't Maddalena Del Monte a beautiful name?  I love it!!  She is my great great grandmother!! I just found her today when I discovered my great grandmother Giacinta Laurora's death record.  I also learned Maddalena's husband name, Saverio Morlani.  Saverio is the Italian version of Xavier. 

It is amazing how much information you can learn on one record like this!!  For this one record, I learn that my great grandmother lived to the ripe old age of 80 years old. Now I know the approximate year she was born, 1823.  I learned her parents names and that they lived in Terracina, and that Giacinta was born in Terracina.  I also learned that Saverio was a contadino (a farmer) and the ladies were woman of the house or "donna di casa".  I love my peasant Italian heritage!  I wrote more about that here.   It is always wonderful to find a whole new generation!  I am so very excited!  Now I just want to learn more!

  

Found

Once a week I volunteer at my local Family History Center. When I am not assisting our patrons I do my own research. Currently, I have been browsing the vital records on mircofilm for Terracina, Italy looking for family. I recently found this 1900 death record for Umberto Vincenzo Giannetti. Whenever, I see the surname Giannetti, I stop and try to read the record. While I don't really know Italian I have been able to learn from the FamilySearch website's many helpful guides, what to look for in Italian records to find basic information. In this record I saw the names of my great parents Silviano Giannetti and Rosaria Morlani. They were listed as the parents of this five year old little boy who died, Umberto Giannetti. I didn't know about him before. At first I am filled with sadness. Many things go through my mind. How hard would it be to lose your little child or a small brother? I wondered how he died. If the records states the reason I don't know how to read that part. I think back about my grandmother, Virginia. She was such a sad person. Did her brother's death have something to do with that? She would have been eight years old when he died. The family immigrated to America and leaving their little one's grave back in Italy. What sadness would that bring? 

Then I felt joy. Joy to have found this little one.  Someone, has remembered him on earth and thought of that family today.  I know that families can be forever.  That makes me happy!

Getting Closer

Four years ago I wrote the following post, click here,  regarding my great grandmother Mary Finnicane/Finnochan/Finnegan Crowley.  I may be getting closer to finding her.
I found a record I believe may be her death record but there is just one little piece of information missing from the document that would identify her 100% as the correct person.  And, that is her husband's name, Jeremiah Crowley.   Here is the record.  Mary Crowley is line 24.

Click to make larger, save image to magnify.

Believe it or not Mary Crowley is a fairly common name in this part of the country at that particular time.  The reason I think this record may be a match is that I know that Mary was living in Chelmsford on the 1880 census and she had a child born in 1882 in Chelmsford.  The age of forty doesn't exactly match because she is listed as age 40 on the 1880 census.  Her father's surname is almost a match ( I have seen her surname spelled with several variations), but I have never seen another document with her parents name listed before.  The record also says that she was married.  Why, oh why, then does it NOT list a spouse's name???  The 1900 census lists Jeremiah as a widower.  So, I know his wife died before then.  The surprise in this document is that her cause of death was abortion!!  Was that a spontaneous abortion as in a miscarriage or did she try to abort a pregnancy later in her life??  I have searched for a obituary for this death record and found none and I have contacted cemeteries to find a burial record to no avail.  Many family members are buried in St. Patrick's cemetery in Lowell, but she is NOT there.  Can a woman who had an abortion be buried in a Catholic cemetery anyway?? Does anyone else have any other ideas on where to search?  Would this be enough evidence for you??  Any helped would be appreciated. 
Thanks

In Her Own Words

Here is another early memory from my mom:

"The fire in the kitchen is the very first thing of me that I can remember.  I was about 3 1/2 years old. We had an oil cooking stove and somehow it caught fire.  My Uncle John was visiting us then (us is my mom and dad and sister Eva).  Well Uncle John got me out of the house. and he somehow put the fire out.

When I was growing up it seemed like an easy care free time.  The big war was over and for about 20 years there seem to be no more enemies, signs of conflict. Traffic back then was limited, few cars, people rode the street cars (sort of like a bus but went on tracks). And there were lots of bicycles in summer. And there were still a few horse and buggies (and in the winter lots of horse and sleds. They were real fun.)  And people walked to and from work or the stores or downtown. 

Through the years I told a number of people about this vision I seemed to have had.  There was never any one that I told that didn’t believe that I really did see such a beautiful sight and you know, I to do believe I did.

Guess I was about five years old when we moved to 111 Winnett St.  I don’t remember the move all of a sudden there we were.  So while my sister (Eva) helped our mother, I remember being outside on our big front veranda we had.  I sat on the steps and watched the strangers going by (a lot of people walked to the store, to the streetcars, to go downtown or just to visit someone, but hardly ever just to walk.)  I guess cause it was something that had to be done by a lot of people.  

There was this large field right across from our house.  It was a block long and almost a block deep, square.  Where I lived before there had been houses all around us. But here right in front of where I sat was this big beautiful field. I don’t remember my thoughts right then. But it surely must have looked like a fun big place to play in. There were about 5 big trees (I learned later they were apple trees) some neat looking bushes and a path that seemed to go right across the field to the back of a big house on the next block."

Stay tune next week for how my mom met her best friend Lilian. 

I Google Mapped 111 Winniett St, and found this picture. Not sure if it's the right house, it does have the numbers 111 on it thought.  Not a very big veranda, but it might have seemed huge for a little girl.

  

This store was across the street.

Reunion

A few weeks ago I wrote this blog post, Finding Family.  This weekend, I had a wonderful reunion with one of my newly found sisters, Gloria. 

Gloria and Cindy

 Evan and I drove down to Southern California and met up with Gloria and her husband Myron, at Steve's family's house.  Steve is their son, my nephew.   We enjoyed a yummy lunch together.  And, then chatted, shared stories and just got to know each other better. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.  Gloria shared with me some of her beautiful paintings.  She is very talented.  

Steve and Sue's children Ben and Annalise with Evan

Ben and Annalise were very kind to Evan and they had fun playing games together. 

Me, Gloria, Myron, Sue and Steve

This whole experience has been so amazing. It is hard to actually put my feeling into words.  It is wonderful to find lost family.  I would have never imagined this possible.  Now, I'm looking forward to meeting Ron and Barbara.  There are still two brothers, I need to contact somehow.  Wouldn't it be an incredible experience to get all of our family together in one room.  Gloria shared with me that our Aunt Lauretta at one point had told her three of our names and said that one day we would all meet!  That gave me chills. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a bigger reunion!

Finding Family

Seven weeks ago something happened that I would have never imagined.  I received a phone call from my daughter in law, Sariah, regarding an e-mail she said I might be interested in. It was from Ron, a half brother of mine who was looking for people related to our Dad.  He had found her name with an e-mail address on a Rootsweb's page associated with my Dad. Was I ever excited!! Yes, of course. 

You see, I had known that my father had another family although he never talked about them. Never shared a picture, nothing!  We had heard there was a bitter divorce. Our family moved across the country when I was six years old.  I didn't know the names of these children until several years after my fathers death, when my Aunt Phyllis shared them with me. I was surprised, there were four boys and two girls!!  What a big family!! Any other information was all hush, hush, and I was basically told to leave well enough alone.

I had often wondered about this family.  What were they like? How did they survive without a father in their lives?  Would they want contact from us?  Or would that be too painful?  With rather common names it was like looking for a needle in a haystack and I never seriously pursued the search.

As soon as possible I e-mailed Ron and the next day we talked for a long time on the phone.  Life had been hard, but he has forgiven our Dad for what he did, or I should say didn't do.  Ron struggled with bitterness, and alcohol, but turned his life around over 30 years ago.  He is an amazing man and has forgiven our father for what he did to their family!  According to Ron, there never was a divorce only a legal separation, and my dad never paid the family a penny.  That answered a few questions for me, like why our family moved so many times when I was growing up and why my parents got "remarried" when I was a teenager.


In the next few weeks I started to make contact with other family members via Facebook.  There are tons of nieces and nephews I am still trying to figure it all out. We have shared many pictures back and forth and are trying to get to know each other.  I have also had the opportunity to talk to two of my sisters on the phone  (Yeah, sisters, I always wanted sisters!!)  The end of this month, I'm going to be able to meet one of the sisters when she comes out west to visit her son.  I have learned from both of them.  Barbara told me that she was sorry she didn't get to see our Dad one more time before he died, just to tell him, "it's ok".  Gloria was also very forgiving. She also wondered about us too, but didn't think we would care.  How far from the truth.


My perception of my father, though has changed.  I used to characterize him as a honest person.Honest people don't dessert their families.  I look at pictures of him with my half siblings and it makes me sad.  I look at pictures of him with the family I grew up with and think it's not fair.  I used to think I was a Daddy's girl.  But, I don't want to be that now, because it was at the expense of other children.  I know I have quite a ways to go to be forgiving, and I WILL get there with some time.  I know that he can receive the Lord's forgiveness, and I must forgive also. 


The youngest of the children, Kenneth, died in 1990 at the young age of 44.  I'm sad that I was not able to know him.  There are still two more brothers I would like to contact in the future somehow. 

Kenneth David, 1946-1990

I can't help but think about the timing of all this.  Six weeks after my mother died, and four weeks after my release from my family history mission.  Is my mom, helping with this somehow on the other side?  Is this just an incredible blessing for serving a mission?  I don't know, but I'm thrilled beyond belief to have this family in my life!

The Harvest

The Harvest is this week's Slice of Life.  We have had gardens here and there.  The best vegetable garden we had was when we lived in Santa Maria.  We grew, peas, tomatoes, green beans, and yummy beets among other things!!  In our current house veggies don't grow so well because there is too much shade.  I can't say I really have a whole lot of experience with harvest or harvesting fruits and vegetables.  Do you want to know what I have loved growing and nurturing the best??  

FAMILY

We started with this!
  Just the two of us.

  Through the years we added lots of love, understanding, sharing, fun, laughter, worship, prayer and togetherness. One by one we started to grow. Until now from the two of us we have gathered in our harvest twenty wonderful family members and we are still growing.  I can't imagine life without anyone of them.


Isn't this a great crop??

David, Sariah, Spencer, Andrew and Leah

 April, Matteo with Thomas and Corbin

John, Amy and Aiden

Katie and Brad with Kyle

Rachel and Joey, with one of their doggies, Sasha

And last but of course not least, Evan!


I remember when David graduated.  I think I cried every day the week of the graduation.  I knew he would be leaving, going on a mission, and our family would never be the same again. . I was right.  Our family has change A LOT since our oldest grew up and became an adult.  The best thing was that our family grew and grew and is still growing, and it's better and better all the time. We are continually reaping the rewards of our careful sowing. You plant a little love and what a wonderful harvest!!  Amazing!

Random Picture Day

I love the Random Picture idea for this week's Slice of Life, even though it was hard to pick. We were asked to go to our picture box and just choose a random picture then share the picture along with the story behind it.   Here's my pick!!   

This was my Easter dress when I about nine or ten years old.  I remember feeling like a little princess in this beautiful blue dress. It was one of the dresses that is fun to twirl around in. It was my first really pretty fancy dress!  I was excited every Sunday to wear this dress as I went off to Church with Debbie Spicklemier my little neighborhood friend.  My family was living in La Puente, California at this time.  Every little girl needs a princess dress at least once in her life...maybe twice!! 

Please join us and Share a Slice of Life, just click here. 

School Daze

My mom's autographs book from her school days seemed like the perfect thing to share for this week's SLICE OF LIFE. The prompt  is School Daze.  These two books are counted in my list of most treasured possessions.  

First a picture of my mom when she was a teenager. 

I have two autograph books that span from 1933 to 1936.

Here are the inside covers.

She went by the last name Maggis because "they" didn't want her to use her Italian surname in school.  I never really understood why.

One book had a list of her school mates whose autographs are inside. She went to high school at Ryerson School in London, Ontario, Canada.

 This one was actually upside down in the book. 

For the most part the little sayings just make me giggle. 

And I can't imagine teenagers being so silly now.  

Even when I went to school 40 years ago (yes, it's been that long!!) we didn't write things so silly in our yearbooks

My mom even let her sister sign, this is my Aunt Eva's entry.

I love all the little yours till......

This one was my mom's best friend growing up.  They stayed in touch for over 70 years. My middle name was the same as Lilian's mother...Alice.

This saying seems a little risque for the time. 

This of course was actually on the last page of the book.

Feel free to share a slice of your life.  More info can be found here.