POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Chapter # 10 Central Texas/Austin
Sherry PACELLI Haddox (#4883)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (#1388) opened the monthly meeting of POINTers in Person, Chapter #10 - Austin/Central Texas on
April 28th at 6:30 pm at the Round Rock Library with 19 people in attendance. Many long time members attended the meeting
to bid Buon Voyaggio to Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653). Marilyn and her husband, Arthur, are moving to Houston to be near
their children and grandchildren. We're very happy for them but they will be missed and we hope they'll be back to visit often!
Lin announced that their son, Andrew, will be promoted to Air Force Major and the ceremony will be held at the Alamo in
San Antonio on Saturday, May 1st. Our sincere congratulations to Andrew and to his very proud
parents!
Di and Jamie CANNONE brought their adorable 14 month old daughter, Brianna, to show us how the youngest Italian in the group is growing!
Virginia MACRI Gerick (#2730) passed around a copy of "La Storia", quarterly publication of the Italian-American Historical Society of Connecticut, which had an article by Dr. Eugene Fappiano. It featured a picture she had sent him in response to an earlier request of his for information about Lowell House in New Haven, CT which he is researching. Lowell House was an early 20th century settlement house founded to aid poor immigrants and their children assimilate into the American culture. The picture was of a group of young women with possibly the director, Dr. Julia Teale. Virginia was able to identify her mother, aunt and two of the young ladies. In hopes of identifying more of the ladies, Dr. Fappiano published this picture which will be seen by the society membership. He (and Virginia) are looking forward to some positive replies.
Jim Gerick mentioned that on April 3rd, he and Virginia attended the Spring session of the Texas Czech Heritage Society hosted by the McLennan-Hill Counties Chapter in West, Texas. West is a Czech community known for its kolaches just north of Waco.
Sherry PACELLI Haddox (#4883) has ordered what she believes is her great-grandfather's (Antonio PACELLI) death certificate
that she found on www.italiangen.org/NYCDeath.stm.
Sherry said that Paola Manfredi will spend one day doing research for her while she's in Naples. She's hoping Paola will
find her grandfather's birth certificate.
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653) explained that her research continues to be put on hold except for occasional searches.
They sold their Austin home and will close on May 12th and will finally move to Houston. Meanwhile, her son became engaged
and will marry in November at a resort in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. And, her niece is planning an early October wedding in
Maui. Grandson, Daniel Ryan Jones, was baptized in April.
Arthur, her husband, bought her an album of 1964 Italian songs by Gene Pitney at the Austin Library book sale. She
sent her new CULMONE cousin in Baton Rough her back issues of PRIMO Magazine. Her mother's MARTINO/LORIA cousin put out a
family cookbook. There's a wonderful new web site for the town of Alia, Palermo Province: http://www.assarca.com/index.asp.
Marilyn purchased 2 marvelous books written by Mario MACALUSO (drmacpress@aol.com) about life in Sicily. She learned
that Mario is an old friend from Sicily of her Baton Rouge friend, who is from Alia.
My Mother: Memoir of a Sicilian Woman (1999) is from an oral history of the author's mother who is now 98 years old,
of her family and their life as tenant farmers with many details of life in the small Sicilian commune, Polizzi Generosa,
Palermo Province located near Alia, one of her ancestral towns.
Prickly Pears and Oleanders (2002) is the story of the author's life in Sicily, seminary life in Cefalu and his
immigration with his parents to New York in 1958.
Marilyn said that both of these books are wonderful. She will order the
newest book, Sunday Spiritual Bouquets (2004) after they move to Houston.
Marilyn said that leaving Austin and especially her wonderful friends of the POINTers In Person group after 8 wonderful
years is very difficult and she will miss seeing everyone at the monthly meetings, libraries and anywhere else they might
see each other. She expressed that everyone has become very dear to her.
Jeanie MARSALIA (#4251) found the birth record for her grandmother's brother, Giovanni MARCHETTO, who sent her a letter
in 1955 from Italy. It also had a marriage notation on it giving the name of his spouse and the date of the marriage. She
also found birth records for an Antonio Pietro MARCHETTO and an Antonio Pietro MARCHETTI. Both records list Domenica
MARSAGLIA as the mother but one lists the father as Domenico MARCHETTO and one lists Domenico MARCHETTI as the father.
She is trying to determine the reason for the name being spelled two different ways or if these are two different individuals.
Jeanie traveled to Dallas on Monday, April 26th to do research at the Dallas Public Library and she ordered another film from the Family History Center.
Scott Patrick (#4819) discovered a possible immigration record for his great-grandfather Giuseppe MOTTA and great-uncle Gaetano MOTTA arriving in NYC in 1882 from Laurnezana, Basilicata, Italy. Scott is also nearly finished preparing packets of documents and data to send to his Garagusi relatives in New York and Maryland.
Ursula PASSAFUMA Rader (#4467) made contact with two cousins who furnished her with the names and vital statistics of seventy-five family members to add to her data base. She also received her father's U.S. Navy Military Service records during WWl from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis.
Bill Rader received information concerning Catholic church records about his ancestors from the Archives at Notre Dame University. Also, he received his father's Certification of Military Service during WWl from the National Personnel Records Center in St Louis. The center indicated that most Army records from 1912 through 1957 were lost in a fire that occurred in 1973.
Laurie GUGINO Riester (#3878) and her cousin and their daughters ate at Reale's Restaurant in Austin for the first time
this past week. Laurie and her cousin both grew up in upstate New York, and it reminded them of Italian-American restaurants
up there. The food was great and Reale's does take reservations, a big plus given the fact that it's a very popular place.
Details on Reale's at the website at http://www.realespizzaandcafe.com/
Laurie put some of her family info on the web several years ago (http://members.aol.com/lgr111), and she frequently
receives emails from people searching for information on the GUGINO name. Most of these people turn out to be relatives.
Most recently, Laurie received an email from Linda Barrett GUGINO, who turned out to be the wife of Laurie's father's first
cousin Carl GUGINO, and the stepmom of Laurie's second cousin, actress Carla GUGINO. Linda and Laurie had fun exchanging
info and Linda sent Laurie some great photos.
Carol MAINA Roam (#4623) received a photo from her uncle, Joseph MAINA (#703) of her great-grandmother, Angela MANDOSSO AIMAR, taken in 1935. She was 83 at the time the photo was taken. Carol's uncle also sent her a copy of her grandparents', Lorenzo and Margarita AIMAR MAINA, passport from 1913. Carol continued reviewing the Chivasso church records and the LIVORNO-FERRARIS civil records through LDS.
Ernie and Gloria GAMBACCINI Silva (#3858) announced that they will be moving to Humble, Texas in September or October when their new home is built.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm. Our next meeting will be a Potluck on Saturday, May 15th, from 1:00 to 4:00 pm at the
Round Rock Library.