POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Chapter # 10 Central Texas/Austin
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (#1388) opened the club’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 at the Round Rock Library at 6:40 pm with 22 people attending, including four new visitors.
Sheila BAYHA Dugosh received some of her father’s papers from Marshall Co, Ohio and a Civil War Pension record for Lucas Bayha of West Virginia. The Bayha family goes back to 1722 in Germany and Switzerland. Her cousin told her that the family from San Mango, Italy originated in Sicily.
Barbara Bachman’s ROSATO name is listed on the Ellis Island American Immigrant Wall of Honor.
Joe MASTRANGELO (#2614) now has 2700 MASTRANGELO & PUGLIESE births extracted from Putignano (Bari) microfilm records. Joe recommended the Comunes of Italy magazine, which is on the web at http://members.aol.com/dinonni/coi.htm and mentioned that it is different from the COI mail list, http://www.comunesofitaly.org/index.htm He subscribes to both. A list of all archives with contact information can be found on the COI page. Joe also mentioned a different type of civil record, similar to a census, called Catasti Onciari found primarily in Southern Italy. An explanation of this record and a list of the comunes whose Catasti Onciari records are at the Archives of Naples are located at http://www.italyworldclub.com/genealogy/catasti.htm .
Antoinette MASTACCIUOLA and daughter Carmella MASTACCIUOLA Wawack were first time visitors. Their MADRONE and MASTACCIUOLA families came from PONTECAGNANO, SALERNO and their PANZARDI and LENTINO families are from PONTANZA Italy.
Jeanie MARSALIA (# 4251) found a Giovanni MARCHETTI on the film she is reading, but the parents names are difficult to read. She has not received a response from a letter she sent to an address in Caselle Torinese, Torino Province on an old letter that her cousin found.
Sherry PACELLI Haddox (#4883) faxed a letter translated by Paola MANFREDI to San Sebastiano requesting a record for her PACELLI grandfather; they replied that the record was not there and to try the Comune of Volla, which was originally part of San Sebastiano. Sherry sent Paola a phone card to check on the records of Comune of Volla. Paola found out that the town records began several years after the record Sherry wanted. When Paola goes to Naples in May, she may be able to stay an extra day to do research for Sherry. Sherry received an email from her second cousin Silvia GLIATTA in FOGGIA.
Virginia MACRI Gerick (#2730) responded to several emails trying to make family connections, and after sharing much
of her information, did not receive replies, something that others said had happened to them.
Virginia mentioned an excellent article about Russ COLUMBO on pages 86-88 of the current issue of PRIMO Magazine.
Jim Gerick received a letter from the son of an earlier correspondent who sent a copy of a wedding photo with Jim’s parents named as the wedding couple. However, they are misidentified and the photo is not his parents.
Don VILLONI (#3985) also read the Ross Columbo article and was disturbed that it was not listed in the Table of Contents in the publication and that he was planning to contact the magazine. Don’s father was a good friend of Russ Columbo, and Don has purchased copies of most, if not all, of Columbo’s recordings. Don and Shirley are planning a trip to England and Russia. They will be blessed with 3 more great grandchildren this year, adding to the current six.
Shirley SHINE is another new visitor. Her family names are SCARDIGLI from PONTE BUGCHANESS, TUSCANY, PERESSINI from Venice, and NANIS, NENNIS and VANNI.
Tanya DESMARAIS (#4556), our fourth visitor, is a POINT member and recently moved to Austin from the Fort Hood area. She has been working on her father’s line for four years and has the CITANOVA family back to the 1700’s.
Scott Patrick (#4819) was contacted by another GARAGUSI researcher who turns out is a third cousin. Scott found his great grandmother Giovanna Garagusi in an 1868 record and in 1871, her younger brother Ercole Garaguso, who is either a new sibling, or the brother known as Uncle Mack.
Carol MAINA Roam (# 4623) received some photos from her uncle, Joseph MAINA (# 703) of her paternal grandparents,
Lorenzo and Margherita AIMAR MAINA (taken c. 1913) and her great grandparents, Antonio and Angela MANDOSSO AIMAR.
He also sent her a photo of a painting of the Aimar home c. 1900 in Livorno Ferraris along with two poems that her
second cousin, Libero AIMAR, had written. One poem was about her great grandparents at home and the other about the
town. The poems were written in the local Piemontese dialect and translated by her uncle.
Carol had written to the town of Lenna a few months ago requesting birth information on her maternal grandfather, Antonio CALVI, as well as death information on his mother, Catterina OBERTI. Within three weeks, she received from the mayor of Lenna, a birth extraction that contained the same information she sent in her request. She then wrote back to the mayor attaching to her letter a sheet of specific items she wanted from the birth and death records. Again, within three weeks, the attachment was returned with all the available information supplied.
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653) reported that she has another new cousin – Frank CULMONE of the Los Angeles area. He has the same name as her previously found new cousin, who lives in Baton Rouge. Their common great grandfather is Giovanni Battista CULMONE of Poggioreale, Sicily. Marilyn also discovered a 1950 – 1960’s horse racing jockey named Joe Culmone, who may be another cousin. The microfilming of Poggioreale, Sicily records by the LDS Church has still not begun.
The meeting adjourned at 8:45pm.
Our next meeting is Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30 pm to 8:55 pm at the Round Rock Library.