PIP Chapter #10 (Central Texas) -- Minutes from the October 2000 Meeting
Sunday, 22 October, 2000 -- Round Rock Public Library, Round Rock ,
TX
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (#1388) opened the monthly POINTers in Person meeting at 1:30 pm on Sunday, 22 October 2000 with 28 members in attendance.
Upcoming meetings:
* POINT 2000 Conference Wrap-Up Meeting: Sunday, 12 November 2000,
1:00 pm, at Casa Brinkman.
* November: Wednesday, 15 November 2000, 6:30 pm, Round Rock Public
Library
* December meeting: Christmas Party, Sunday, 10 December 2000, 1:00pm
at Casa Brinkman (Pot Luck).
Options were discussed for a larger permanent meeting room, as some
members feel that Room D is too small. A final decision was scheduled for
the 15 November meeting. Lin is continuting research on the first
Italian settlers to Williamson
County, Texas.
Pat OXLEY(#3713) was able to find Laurie GUGINO Riester's (#3878) great-grandfather on the" Italians to America" CD-rom.
Chick and Gladys CHIAPPORI's daughter is involved in starting a Sons of Italy chapter in New York. They want Sgt. John Basilone, one of the most decorated Italian-American soldiers in World War II, to be commemorated on a postage stamp. A petition was circulated for members to sign.
Laurie GUGINO Riester (#3878) has sent for a passenger list containing the great-grandfather who Pat OXLEY (#3713) helped her to find. Examining the "Atti di cittadinanze" from Valledolmo (1868-1910) is atop her "to do" list. Laurie showed a postcard from her German grandmother's ancestral town.
Zina VERSAGGI Graalfs (#3336) reported that a new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will open in Round Rock in early November, including a Family History Center.
Joe MASTRANGELO continues to extract all records on his MASTRANGELO line, and now has leads on two possible collateral lines in Italy. He has also been trying to track down a "missing" uncle in Pennsylvania, with mixed success.
Jim GERICK noted that the Czechs have unveiled a new billboard: "Czech us out", as October is Czech month.
Virginia MACRI Gerick (#2730) wasn't sure that she had found her grandmother, but, upon further review, believes she does have the right person. She is trying to get ship records for her grandfather, who came in 1893.
Augie TROIANI presented the group with a statue of Garibaldi in appreciation of the work done for the POINT 2000 conference. Some members were previously unaware that Garibaldi was asked by President Lincoln to head the Union Army during the Civil War, but declined.
Vince GIAMMOLVO , attending his first meeting, is researching GRIMALDI, GIAMMALVO, AUGELLO, GIARAPUTO, RAIA, POLICHETTI, and CIRRONE. Two brothers (his father and uncle) traveled from Salemmi, Sicily, to Brooklyn, NY in 1911, while another brother remained in Sicily. His Uncle Phil returned to Sicily to be married. Using the Internet, Vince's son found ten possible relatives in Salemmi.
Joyce TIANELLO Snodgrass has copies of her grandmother's birth and marriage certificates which have conflicting birth dates. She is collaborating with a cousin on this research.
Don VILLONI (#3985) is preparing to move to Georgetown, TX, and is researching DiRUBBO from Sorentino with another POINT 2000 Conference attendee.
Di FREI visited her aunt and uncle, who were in San Antonio on business. Her aunt offered family research help.
Jeanie MARSALIA (#4251) found her grandmother's brother's family, living in Collinsville, IL, in the 1920 Census during the Austin Genealogical Society's trip to Clayton Library in Houston. They arrived from Italy in 1900. She is now waiting for ship records for help find her grandfather.
Louis SCOPEL (#4250) has found goodies from the POINT 2000 Conference useful tools in translating documents , while Kay has been busy preparing for her Seton reunion.
Angelo GATTOZZI, recently moved to Austin from Ohio, was inspired by the POINT 2000 Conference to start working on his genealogy.
While attending a submariners' reunion in Atlantic City, NJ, the week after the Conference, Bill BRINKMAN heard a story about a top lookout on a World War II submarine named Thomas MANISCALCO, a surname of member Marilyn Maniscalco. He had rescued a downed pilot.
Sheila BAYHA Dugosh's (#4365) mother will be spending Thanksgiving with her reunited sisters for the first time, a result of Sheila's research.
With help from Lou Alfano at the POINT 2000 Conference, Gloria SILVA learned that her parents departed from France, not Italy, on a ship named FRANCE Chick commented that this was a way around emigration quotas. She and Ernie visited Paletta's (an Italian deli, on Recoleta in San Antonio), which Augie heard had been sold to a Mexican family.
Jamie CANNONE has finally upgraded his genealogy software to Reunion
7.0. He has been reading "The Weekend Genealogist," by Marcia Yannizze
Melnyk, Betterway Books, which was recommended to him at the POINT 2000
Conference by Jonathan GALLI.