POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Chapter # 10 Central Texas/Austin
Sherry PACELLI Haddox (4883)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (#1388) was unable to attend so her husband, Bill, opened the monthly meeting of POINTers IN PERSON, Chapter #10 - Austin/Central Texas on Wednesday, October 27th at 6:30 pm at the Round Rock Library. There were 15 people in attendance including one visitor.
The visitor was Katrina PRATI. Her grandparents immigrated from Gova, Reggio, Emilia, Italy to Wyoming. Katrina is researching the PRATI and ROSA families. Her sister lives in Italy in the same house that their grandfather lived in. She has dual citizenship. The house is near the "Prati Bridge" which is on Countess Matilda path.
Angie DAL MOLIN Clark (#1538) has been going to the LDS library weekly to scan films on LAGHI in northern Italy where her father was born. She's found birth records on her father, his two brothers (who also immigrated to the states) and two of his other siblings. There are still two more she would like to locate. She would also like to get the marriage record of her grandparents but she's just about exhausted all the films LDS has on that area.
Jeanie MARSALIA (#4251) found the birth record for Catterina
MARCHETTO who was mentioned in a letter to her grandmother from her brother in Italy in 1955. She was born on August 27,
1914 and would be 90 years old if she is still living. She also found a record for a sister of Catternia's born in 1911.
Jeanie purchased a book titled Italy Fever by Darlene Marwitz who is an architect living in the Austin, Texas area. Even
though she is not Italian, she is smitten with all things Italian since her first trip to Italy as a graduate student in
architecture. It is an easy reading, enjoyable book.
Jeanie is going to request the military record for her grandfather.
Joe MASTRANGELO (#2614) brought a three-ring binder titled:
ITALIAN AMERICANS: LOOKING BACK -- MOVING FORWARD which he purchased from the New York State Education Dept. The binder
contains study guides with Unit outlines for classes.
Material covered (a partial list):
Pat Oxley (#3713) reported that she had extra copies of the Italian brochures from the FHL in Salt Lake City if any of the
new members wished to purchase them. She passed out the sets that were ordered after Joe Mastrangelo's presentation in
September.
Pat, her husband Don, and her cousin and her husband will be cruising out of Rome next September for the Greek Islands,
Turkey, Athens and Naples, returning to Rome. During her trip to Italy she will once again visit her ancestral villages
of PRASCORSANO and CANISCHIO in the Piedmont area of Italy. The villages have a beautiful setting at the foot of the Alps.
They will also visit their friends in England.
Pat mentioned that the Austin Genealogical Society will once again be sponsoring a trip to Salt Lake City, April 13-19, 2005.
Anyone interested in going on the trip needs to contact Pat.
Pat reported that she heard from a man named Ralph Chick from La Jolla, CA whose family was also from Marseilles, Illinois. His maternal grandparents owned the Odille Photography Studio and many of Pat's family photos had been taken in that studio.
They share many memories of the same people and places. They have a common name in their lines and are working to find a
connection.
Scott Patrick (#4819) has found the death certificates of his
gg-grandmother, Carmela MANZI, in New York City from April of 1877 and a two-month old child, Julius GARAGUSI, from July
of 1877. Julius was the child born at the time of Carmela's death and Scott is waiting on the birth certificate to confirm
this information.
Scott is also searchng NYC death indexes to see if he can find the death of a great-uncle, Pietro GARAGUSI, since he has
found nothing on this individual since he immigrated in 1872.
Scott is also researching another great-uncle, Gaetano MOTTA, who appears to have travelled between Laurenzana (PZ BA) and
Pittsfield, Massachusetts on multiple occasions. He has found the marriage record for this uncle (1881) along with the births of three daugters, all named Maria Antonia, in Laurenzana. Unexpectedly he found a death record for a son between the births of the first two daughters but no death record for the first daughter. He theorized the family may have come to the U.S. and the first daughter died here as well as the son being born. He then searched for and found the wife of Gaetano, Carmela SANSONE, arriving on a ship in 1885 which supports the theory. He will be checking records from Pittsfield soon.
Eugenia ASSIABENE Luken's husband, Warren, reported that his cousin Elaine wrote him that she went to Calvary Cemetery in New York and discovered two babies buried in their family plot that had never been mentioned. Their names were Katie and Mary and they are buried with their mother, Ellen, father, Peter and sister Elizabeth. Katie was 8 months old and Mary was 2 days old. His grandparents had a total of 9 children. Warren is trying to find his grandparents', Peter and Ellen Gair Martin's marriage certificate through the LDS library.
Sherry PACELLI Haddox (#4883) reported that she is planning a trip to her grandmother's ancestral town of Greci, Avellino, Campania, Italy the end of next August when the town celebrates the annual St. Bartholomew's Festival. Her grandmother's name was Antonetta Vincenza GLIATTA PACELLI. John Mazzarella is organizing the trip for a group he started called the "Greci Cousins". Sherry is very excited about the trip!
The next meeting is set for Wednesday, November 17, 6:30 - 8:55 pm.