POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Central Texas/Austin
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (#1388) opened the quarterly POINTers In Person
potluck
luncheon meeting at 1:00 p.m. Sunday, July 18 with 23 members and guests
attending. After lunch, Lin showed the new POINTer quarterly she and
other
members had recently received and encourage all to join POINT. She
pointed
out the Conference information in the publication. A Conference Planning
meeting is set for Sunday, August 1 at 1 p.m. at Lin’s home. A get
well card
was passed around for member’s to sign for Joe MASTRANGELO (#2614)
who
fractured his ribs in an accident.
Laurie GUGINO Riester (#3878) gave a marvelous review of her recent
trip to
Italy (her first – but not last). In Italy, Laurie, her husband and
daughter
traveled to Milan, Cinque Terre on the Riviera, Rome, Naples, Sorrento,
Pompeii, Florence and Lake Como and Cefalu and Valle Dolmo in Sicily.
In her
ancestral hometown of Valle Dolmo, they met two GUGINO families, who
treated
them as if they were related. Laurie was given a copy of her grandfather’s
birth certificate from the Valle Dolmo records. It was interesting
to hear
how they traveled to Sicily via overnight sleeper train across the
Mediterranean
Lou and Mary ONOFRIO from Dallas were welcomed back, since Lou’s quadruple
heart by-pass. They are soon leaving for Pt Washington, Wisconsin where
Mary
’s Luxembourg grandfather settled.
Jamie CANNONE passed around copies of his newly designed POINTers Conference
logo. He is still reading microfilm records from San Piero Patti Sicily
for
the TRICOLI and DORIA families. He reviewed two new genealogy books
he
bought at Borders: Dozens of Cousins by Lois Horowitz and State Census
Records by Ann S. Lainhart.
Mary ONOFRIO mentioned how using state census records helped her locate
some
of her families between the 1880 and 1900 Federal census records.
Pat Oxley is leaving August 7 for a month in England, including stops
in
Prascorsano and Canischio, Torino, birth places of her great grandparents.
She offered to bring back some boot-shaped pins from her trip.
Maria TONTI Schulze announced that she has a door prize for the POINT
Conference.
Dorothy MANGO ONOFRIO Lippincott suggested that Jamie ask for a door
prize
from Borders since he was purchasing so many Italian related and genealogy
books from them.
Jeanie MARSALIA introduced her husband Dirk. She said that her recent
surgery went well. She received a negative reply from NARA for her
grandfather’s passenger ship listing. Members discussed ways for her
to
continue the search with microfilm records.
Eugenia ASSAIBENE Luken told about finding some infant swaddling clothes
that were in with some of her Italian born mother’s items. She will
bring
them to show next meeting.
Jim and Virginia MACRI Gerick (#2730) passed out the updated PIP
directories. They asked that the color covers from members’ old books
be
returned to be used again. It was decided that a loose leaf binder
would be
kept with a page for each member’s contact information and surnames
and
towns to help with corrections and additions of information.
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman told about her Connecticut family reunion. Her
Godmother (and cousin) gave her a copy of a WW1 photo of her
mother’s uncle
John BENCIVENGO who was born in Caserta Italy and immigrated to New
Haven,
Conn . She met the cousin who put her in touch with the family in Italy
that
they visited last year. She also met a FARINA cousin who had a family
chart.
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653) thanked Augie for a translation from
Palermo stating that military records for her great grandfather
Michele
MARTINO of Alia Sicily could not be located. Marilyn displayed the
beautiful
3’ x 5’ Kingdom of Italy flag that she purchased from the Ruffin Flag
Company for $14. She received the flag in less than one week. She gave
out
their ordering number: 1-888-884-3524. Marilyn passed out brochures
for the
Austin Genealogical Society Seminar for August 21 with guest speaker
Myra
Vanderpool Gormley.
Augie TROIANI donated a copy of The Immigrant Speaks by Salvatore LaGumina
for the POINT Conference.
Don VILLONI (#3985) received an email asking about a connection to an
Antonio RIZZO. Don’s RIZZO’s are from Termini Imerese Sicily. Don’s
grandfather, Dominic VILLONI, was accompanied to the USA by GIOVANNI
LAMBERTI. Author Lynn Nelson mentioned two of her ancestors named
LAMBERTI
in her Italian genealogy research book, which prompted Don to write
asking
her if she knew of the Villoni family and any connection to her family.
Don
and wife Shirley are leaving August 14 for Italy, where they’ll spend
several days in Caserta and his cousin’s wedding in Torino.
Tony ABBATTISTA (#2641) is waiting for microfilms of Corato, Bari records.
Bill Brinkman thanked the Gericks for the updated directories. He thanked
Augie for translating the Processetti records from Capua Italy, which
included a physical description and military information. Bill suggested
additional research materials that he discovered during his and Lin’s
recent
Connecticut trip. He read old newspapers at the library, where he found
mentions of some of his German ancestors. He also consulted city directories
and map collections that included a plat map with homeowners names.
He also
looked for probate files at the Essex County N.Y. Courthouse.
Lin passed around an envelope for semi-annual dues, which are $5 per
family
and collected each person’s $1 for potluck lunch expenses. She reminded
everyone about the August 1 POINTers Conference Planning Meeting and
that
our next meeting is Wednesday, August 25 at 6:30 p.m.
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