POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Chapter # 10 Central Texas/Austin
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (# 1653)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (# 1388) opened the monthly POINTers In Person meeting at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, January 26, 2000 at the Round Rock Library.Twenty-two members and guests attended. Lin introduced guest Justin TALENTINO. Lin passed out the 2000 schedules for our chapter meetings. Lin and Pat Oxley passed out POINT Conference registration forms for our members to complete. Laurie GUINGO Riester will begin entering them for the program book.
Laurie GUGINO Riester (# 3878) reported that NARA sent a copy of the
passenger list with two more members of her GUGINO grandfather's family,
coming from Valledolmo, Palermo, Sicily. She also noticed that the date
her great grandfather left Valledolmo is 100 years to the month before
she and her husband and daughter arrived there last summer for their visit.
Laurie also made a connection with another Valledolmo descendant who
has a Valledolmo website.
Pat OXLEY (# 3713) ordered an entire ship manifest from the FHC. The 24 pages cost about $32.00. She had exciting news about locating the grandson of the firstborn son of her Welsh grandfather and his first marriage, before he married her Italian grandmother.
Justin TALENTINO is just beginning his research. His TALENTINO family migrated from the Torino region to Michigan before heading to upstate New York.
Joe MASTRANGELO (# 2614) has entered 384 marriages of the MASTRANGELO and PUGLIESE names from Putignano Italy in his database.
Warren and Eugenia ASSAIBENE Luken received Christmas letters and cards from Eugenia's cousins in Italy.
Frank and Bert HENRY (IANNARINO) (# 3258) are busy with the construction details of their new home in San Angelo. They shared a copy of a paper written by their daughter Franciene McDonald in 1992 titled "Ethnicity and Expectations: Their Effects on the Immigrant Experience".
Augie and Lory TROIANI reminded us to view the brick on the memory wall at the library to honor Judge Joseph COSTA, Chief Justice of Travis County in the 1800's. Augie is continuing his research on Judge Costa.
Jim and Virginia MACRI Gerick (# 2730) had a marvelous trip to New Haven Connecticut. She was able to do local research that included city directories where she located her grandfather in several directories. She also received copies of family documents from a cousin who is also conducting research.
Sheila BAYHA Dugosh ordered films for San Mango d'Aquila records from the FHC and learned that they're backordered.
Zina VERSAGGI Graalfs (# 3336) just received four new microfilms of records from SCIACCIA Siracusa to search for VERSAGGI. She's received a note from a cousin in Italy and has written to another cousin in Buenos Aires.
Bill BRINKMAN announced a program Thursday night to be given by Margaret Gillooly, a Japanese Prisoner of War survivor.
Jeanie MARSALIA received negative responses from her letters to Pittsburg Co, OK and the Okalahoma Historical Society regarding a copy of the naturalization declaration or petition of her MARCHETTI grandfather. She has emailed NARA to ask if they can help.
Don VILLONI (#3985) talked about the special feeling that comes with making a special find in your search for family information such as Pat and Laurie each reported tonight and having others to share that information with who can identify with your excitement. He has started sorting through a box that belonged to his parents and discovered newspaper clippings of his father during the time he played in a band from about 1916 in Cleveland. His father was a good friend and colleague of the popular singer Russ Columbo, who tragically died in Hollywood. Don found a newspaper clipping mentioning Columbo staying at the Villoni home.
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653) mentioned meeting and talking with
Dr Susan Hardwick of the Geography Dept of Southwest Texas University in
San Marcos about the migration of Italians in Galveston. Dr Hardwick was
interested in Marilyn's various Italian families and their migration patterns,
especially those who traveled through the port of Galveston.
Marilyn also mentioned that her first meeting the previous evening
as President of the Austin Genealogical Society went okay.
Our next meeting is back at the Bank One building in Round Rock on Wed,
Feb 23 at 6:30 pm.