Tombstone Tuesday

I have been totally renovating my website for my Early American family so I have been going through my pictures from my genealogy trip in May. So today I have decided to combine Tombstone Tuesday and Wordless Wednesday. I will offer no commentary, I will be posting just captions of the location and names of the cemeteries tombstone pictures . The pictures will tell all I want to say. There really are no words that can describe what I want to say better than the pictures can.

Riverside Cemetery, Middletown, Middlesex County, Connecticut

Resting Place of some of the founders of Middletown and Hartford, Connecticut

Old Center Cemetery, Suffield, Hartford County, Connecticut

Detail of the same grave to show the several broken headstones lying flat around the base of the Remington monument.

In this picture: Many crushed headstones line the side of the church.

Old North Burying Grounds, Middlefield, Middlesex County, Connecticut

Notice the other broken stones surrounding these fallen, broken stones.

Surname Saturday - Scrugli

The mother of my grandmother was Natalina Scrugli. Not a common surname either here or in Italy. This week I had a major breakthrough with her family that got me 3 more generations of her family. This made me think about her...her life, her struggles and what an amazing woman she was. I am so proud of her. So today I would like to share her story. Natalina Scrugli was born about 1866 probably in Tropea, Italy. I still have not found her birth act, however, her other siblings were born there. Her father was a lawyer around the time of her birth and she grew up in a life of privilege. She was very close with her sisters Carmela and Maria and her brother Gaetano. According to the family story her family moved from Tropea to Cortale when her father was assigned a political post by the Italian government there. They lived in "Upper Cortale" in an area known as "Donnafiore" and had servants and dress makers on staff to attend to their needs. Her older sister Carmela was the first to marry and she married the Italian Ambassador to Egypt. Natalina married Giuseppe Maiuolo and had 4 children with him. Natalina's second child, a daughter named Caterina was outside the house playing on summer day when she was 4 years old. When Natalina went to check on her she found the lifeless body of her daughter. Caterina ate some poisonous berries according to the family story. Her older sister Maria told us the screams of Natalina when she found her daughter could be heard throughout the town. When my grandmother was born, she was named after this sister. It is unknown when Natalina's husband died, however, Giuseppe Maiuolo died leaving Natalina with 4 children to care for alone. Around the same time her sister Carmela became a widow after her husband contracted malaria on one of his trips to Egypt. Her younger sister Maria also became widowed around the same time. Natalina's brother who was living in Chicago arranged a marriage between his youngest sister Maria and a friend in Chicago who was also from Cortale. In April, 1904 Natalina had to say goodbye to her sisters Carmela and Maria and her niece Francesca as they left Cortale permanently for Chicago. This must have broke Natalina's heart. On the 8th of September 1905 an huge earthquake rocked Cortale. It's epicenter was in the nearby town of Nicastro (now Lamezia Terme) which buried the town and a large portion of it's population. This must have been the last straw for Natalina because in November of the same year she packed a steamer trunk and brought her 3 children to Chicago. Natalina bought a 3 flat on Loomis Street in the heart of Chicago's "Little Italy". Today that building is gone and in it's place is a statue of Christopher Columbus. Soon after, she joined the organization Societa Italiano. She opened a butcher shop in the lower level of the building and she began sponsoring Italians to come to Chicago from Italy.

She used the upper floors of her apartment building as a boarding house for recent Italian immigrants, many of whom she sponsored to come here. She would rent space for them to live until they could find jobs and homes of their own. She helped so many families come to Chicago and begin their new lives. Unfortunately her ledgers of the boarders names was destroyed in a local flood. To honor Natalina and all the work she did for Societa Italiano, they purchased her headstone which identifies her as a member. I am proud of my great grandmother and her choices which led her to more difficult journey in life to help others. Her ancestry is:
Antonino Scrugli and Caterina Cipollini
Antonino Scrugli and Caterina Morano
Antonino Scrugli and Natalina Merotta
Girolamo Scrugli and Carmela LaTorre

Relatives of the Day - Gaetano and Antonio Cipollini

The mother of my grandmother was Natalina Scrugli. She was the daughter if Antonino Scrugli and Caterina Cipollini. On 18 March 1850 at Santa Caterina Church in Tropea, Antonino and Caterina were married in a double wedding ceremony. Also married that day in the same church at the same time was Antonino's sister Natalina Scrugli and Caterina's brother Ferdinando Cipollini. This story is about the son's of Ferdinando and Natalina. The first child of Ferdinando and Natalina they named Gaetano in honor of his paternal grandfather as was Italian tradition. He was born on 18 February 1851 in Tropea. Sometime before February, 1857 Ferdinando and Natalina moved to Monteleone Calabro (today this town is the City of Vibo Valentia) because on 15 February 1857 a second son named Antonio was born. These two children would go forth to write beautiful music which included an opera that takes place in Monteleone Calabro.

Gaetano showed an amazing aptitude for music at an early age and was sent to a music conservatory in Napoli for further training and instruction. In the late 1800's in Italy, if you wanted to see your opera performed, Milano was the place to be. Gaetano left for Milano to pursue his dream. While in Milano he wrote an opera and called it Simeta. The story called for very opulent sets and costumes. Although this ambitious opera was well received by the press when the libretto was printed, and even compared to Puccini's La Scala, poor business transactions, the costs to produce expensive costumes and sets and long negotiations lasting over 7 years prevented this work from premiering onstage. This failure would haunt Gaetano to the end of his life. He wrote many others both with and without his brother Antonio, including "La Calabria". At the age of 80 Gaetano entered a home that was set up in Milano for aging musicians called Casa Verdi named for Giuseppe Verdi. Gaetano died at Casa Verdi, on 2 October 1935.

Antonio began his career as a teacher of Latin and Greek languages which he taught for a time in Monteleone Calabro schools. Antonio possessed a gift with words and began writing poetry, novels and short stories. He also translated and published works from Latin and Greek and became an esteemed critic of literature. In 1884 he collaborated with Pietro Mascagni and together they wrote the romantic opera "Alla Luna" (The Moon). He joined his brother Gaetano in Milano and wrote several opera with his brother Gaetano including Il Piccolo Haydn, Simeta, Gennarello, and Ninon De Lenclos. Antonio Cipollini died in 1920 in Milano. When I think of Calabrian culture, I think of the 2 brothers who spent their lives doing what they loved and promoting the Calabrese culture in the process.

San Francesco Di Paola Statue Missing

San (Saint) Francesco di Paola, is well known to the Calabrese people.  San Francesco is the patron saint of the Calabrese people.  Saint Francesco is also the patron saint of boatmen, naval officers, mariners, sailors, against plagues, epidemics, against fire, travelers and sterility. He was born Francesco Martolilla on 27 March 1416 in Paola, Cosenza, Calabria to Giacomo Martolilla and Vienna d'Alessio (who was born in Fuscaldo, Cosenza) and died April 2, 1507 in Plessis, France.  His parents were devout Catholics.  Paola is located in Cosenza Province between mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea.  The other side of the Mountains in Paola is San Vincenzo La Costa and my grandfather's birthplace Montalto Uffugo.  My grandfather was devoted to this saint and one of the few family stories regarding his life in the area involves a miracle attributed to this saint.  He is very popular in Calabria, particularly to the Cosentina (people in Cosenza).  Most towns have a church named after him in his home province.

In November, 2007, for the occasion of the 500th anniversary of San Francesco's death, a bronze statue of the saint was immersed in the Tyrrhenian Sea about 23 meters deep off the shores of Paola.  The statue provides protection to fishermen and recreational boaters in the area for whom he is the Patron Saint and is often viewed by divers in the area.  Local octopus made the base of the statue it's home as well.  The eight foot tall bronze statue, crafted by Zappino recently turned up missing.  Divers have searched the area in the event the statue was dragged in error by boats or t rollers, but their searches turned up nothing.  It is unknown if the statue was stolen from the sea and searches continue.  I certainly wish them well in their searches and hope they find it soon.  With or without the statue, I am sure San Francesco continues his protection of the Calabrese people as well as the "gente di mare" (people of the sea) and all seafarers.

Google Earth As a Genealogy Tool

For many years I have been using Google Earth and other map sites to see images of my ancestral home towns in Italy.  I have been to New England many times and saw first hand the places my mother's ancestors lived as well as their burial sights.  Many of the buildings and landmarks my New England ancestors saw are now gone, although in some areas, much has been preserved. Google Earth has proven very useful in my research into my Italian family.  Unlike New England, many of the buildings and structures like Churches and monasteries have been preserved.  New buildings and homes have been erected as well, but much of the town of Montalto Uffugo looks as my grandfather and his grandparents saw it. 
Google Earth allows you to travel down the streets and view the landscapes and buildings.  You can point and click in any direction and view the streets almost as if you were there.  I have traveled the streets virtually via Google Earth so many times, I feel as if ,when I do finally go there, I will know exactly where I am going.
A long time ago before I knew the name of the town my grandfather, Giuseppe Napolitano was born in, I found the name of a street in Montalto Uffugo that was quite interesting to me. The name of the street was Via Luigi Napolitano.  At that time Google Earth did not have street views of Calabria.
As I was virtually traveling the streets of Montalto Uffugo recently on Google Earth, I found that street again. Not only can I travel the street and see it, but now I can see the streets that intersect it.   I often have wondered who  that street was named after. The names of some of the intersecting streets may hold clues.  Names I know like Via Enrico Chimenti and Via Francesco LoFeudo.  There were 8 men named Luigi Napolitano in the town between the 1700's and 1910.  All of them were related to me and one of them I descend directly from.  I am sure I will find a way to discover which Luigi the street is named after.  For now I will have fun guessing by searching the records for names of neighbors of all the Luigi Napolitano men and my files and records on the Chimenti and LoFeudo families. 
If you know location names, or addresses you can view the ancestral homes of your family and see the views they saw from the comfort of your own home.  You can see for yourself where they lived, which churches were the closest to their homes, how far they had to travel to town, work or other locations they may have gone. The local foliage and fauna can even offer clues into what they grew and ate.  The vast fields of olive trees, chestnuts and fig trees explained to me how many of our family customs were rooted in the mountains of this Calabrese town. As a child, every big meal included olives, figs and roasted chestnuts!
For now I am enjoying the images of the town my grandfather and his ancestors lived in for at least  6 generations. 
All the pictures on this page are of Via Luigi Napolitano in Montalto Uffugo, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy.

Memories of Christmas Past

As I prepare for the upcoming Christmas holiday, I cannot help but think of (and miss) memories of Christmas past.  The Calabrese heritage of my family was never so obvious as it was at Christmas.  I don't think I fully appreciated it until it was gone.
Every Christmas brings a flood of memories.  By December 22 the house will filled with dozens of presents for family.  Mom always hid presents for my brother and I and there was never enough space under the Christmas tree for all the presents but somehow mom managed to stack and arrange all the presents there for cousins, aunts and uncles. The full finished bar in our basement was lined with bottles of various alcoholic beverages to bring to each place visited during the holiday season. The day before Christmas Eve always involved a trip to Fannie Mae so Dad could purchase boxes of chocolates for his cousins.  We never went anywhere without a box of Fannie Maes and a bottle of the hosts favorite alcoholic beverage in hand. 
Christmas Eve dinner was fish and while I realize others of Italian ancestry celebrated with a feast of 7 fishes, we did not.  Dad hated cod so Bakala was never on the menu.  What always was on the menu was an assortment of scallops, shrimp, clams and our family favorite pasta acciughe.  As a family project we all participated in making pignolatta, a tasty treat make with boiling hot honey (pictured on the right).

Christmas day always came in 2 parts.  The first part of Christmas was the gathering of our immediate family with my dad's brothers, sisters and their spouses and children.  When I was very young, we would alternate who hosted the event.  When the last family arrived my cousins and I grew impatient to receive our presents and when we finally received approval to open them the wrapping paper would fly! So many presents!  After the opening of the presents we would sit down for Christmas dinner.  Our typical Christmas dinner included Turkey and stuffing, a baked pasta, sausages, meatballs, a beef roast, a ham, at least 5 different vegetables, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ricotta pie (made with ricotta cheese, sausage, mozzarella and egg), various jello molds, and lots of different kinds of bread.  My dad would lecture everyone about the evils of eating bread before the meal. After the meal was finished the women would clear the table and the men would take a break by having after dinner cigars.  Then came time for coffee.  Coffee meant dessert.  The table would be filled with baskets of fruits and nuts and always included figs and roasted chestnuts.  Trays of Italian cookies and pastries would fill the table along with various cakes and pies.  Italian pastries and chocolate eclairs would fill the table to such excess that another table had to be set up.  Somewhere in the mix was coffee, anisette, brandy and other beverages.  After all this food, the men would sit down for a rousing game of pinochle and the woman would sit down for poker.  The pinochle game was more fun to watch.  The men were so passionate and animated playing the game and shouts and screams could be heard throughout with an occasional wife calling her husbands name in reprimand to remind them the children were present. Then everyone would leave (but not without a bag of leftovers) and we would all go to Zitzy's (Calabrese dialect for Aunt) house. Zitzy was the sister of my grandmother and the matriarch of the family.  Once at Zitzy's, more eating and sweets and card games would go on.  It still amazes me how many people fit in her house.  I would see people I did not remember and ask my dad who they were.  He would tell me their names and I would ask if they were family.  Many times my dad would say no, they are paesani. I have learned since then, most of them were, in fact family.  Zitzy's son in law, Uncle Frank would make dancing ladies out of white cloth napkins and make them dance to a song he would sing. At the end of the dance their "skirts" would fly up.  The children would all laugh.  I always saw such joy in his sweet face when he did this. The evening was filled with great food, heavy cigar smoke, thick Italian accents (with a few Greek and Scottish thrown in) great food, laughter, love, music, and did I mention, great food. .  It was always loud. Every time I smell cigars or think of Christmas, I remember the Christmases past filled with so much love and joy, it makes me cry. 
Merry Christmas, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad.

Achsah Clapp Dewey

I have read every book I could find on the Clapp and Dewey families during my research into the family of my mother.  They were both huge early New England families so there were many written. Of all the many people written about in these family genealogies, I have only noticed one person with no date of death - my 4th great grandmother, Achsah Clap(p) Dewey.  I always found this so sad, as if she had been forgotten and lost. As if no one cared enough to look. It always bothered me, probably more than it should have. I tried to find something on her death every way I could think of and always came up with nothing. The wills and probates of Lewis County, New York never mentioned her.
What is known about Achsah is she was born on 31 January 1758 to Aaron Clap(p) and his wife Jemima (Bartlett) Clap(p) in Southampton, Massachusetts. Their grave is pictured left - I visited and photographed it 5 months ago. John Dewey was born and raised in Westfield, Massachusetts. He left Westfield to serve in the war of the revolution and his service took him though New York among other places and he kept a diary during his service.  He fought major battles of the revolution which included crossing the Delaware with General Washington's troops to fight in the Battle of Trenton.
On 16 September 1780 Achsah Clapp married John Dewey.  They had 8 children together, all born in Westfield between 1781 and 1798.  In the spring of 1802 John brought 2 of his sons, John and Chester to Lewis County, New York to begin clearing land to build a new home for the family.  They returned for the rest of the family and left Westfield permanently later that year. 
John Dewey died on 31 December 1821. 

Fast forward 190 years to 2009.  While looking for Achsah's date of death I came across a website that listed residents of cemeteries in New York State. It listed my John Dewey's grave in the same cemetery as a few of his children. The cemetery list seemed complete. Achsah's name was not there. This deepened the mystery for me - where was Achsah buried?  Did she remarry? Perhaps she returned to Westfield or Southampton for a visit and died there? Why was she not buried with her husband? What happened to Achsah? I looked for each of her siblings and children to see where they were buried in an attempt to find her final resting  place.  Each time I came up with nothing for her.
During my many visits to Find A Grave about a year later, I found a new entry for the son of John and Achsah Dewey, Chester Dewey who was my 3rd great grandfather.  Also there was his wife Phebe (Wetmore) Dewey.  I contacted the man who created the memorial which included pictures of their headstones and asked him to link Chester to his father.  He had many Dewey graves he wanted to add to Find A Grave so we began corresponding and I helped him identify the parents and children so he could link them correctly. Last week he went to Leyden Hill Cemetery and found and photographed the headstone of John Dewey and his daughter Sally.  I was thrilled.  I explained to him the wife of John was a mystery and no one knew her date of death or burial place. I mentioned I knew his daughter Sally Dewey Lord was buried there with her husband Gurdon. After further correspondance he realized that grave, located next to John, was not Sally, it was Achsah!  The grave was in very poor condition and had fallen down flat. It was covered with moss and aged.  He went back to the cemetery, cleaned up the stone a bit which revealed Achsah's date of death. I am so happy to announce Ashsah Capp Dewey died on July 28, 1833 at the age of 75.  She had outlived her husband by 12 years as well as 2 of her children.  Her grave is located next to her husband (on the ground) in Leyden Hill Cemetery located in Port Leyden, Lewis County, New York. She is no longer lost and forgotten.