POINTers IN PERSON Minutes
Central Texas/Austin
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653)
Lin ONOFRIO Brinkman (#1388) opened the monthly PIP meeting Wed Oct 22, 1997 at 6:30 pm at the Bank One in Round Rock, TX with 15 members in attendance.
Virginia MACRI Gerick (#2730) told about a commemoration of the sighting of the Blessed Mother at Fatima 80 years ago held at Sacred Heart Church in Austin. The rosary was recited in 15 languages. PIP member Bill Wale led Virginia and others in Italian. She passed around an article in the diocesan newspaper about Italian settlements in Texas. Virginia called the Texas State Library to get a definition of “first generation” immigrant; they told her that it was the person who immigrated to this country rather than the first born in this country.
Joe MASTRANGELO( #2614) is still reading New Orleans passenger ship lists looking for his PIZZOLATO grandfather and indexes to the NewYork passengers looking for VITRANO, PIZZOLATO, MASTRANGELO & PUGLIESE. He is also reading the Putignano 1830’s marriage records looking for siblings. Joe received the Declaration and Petition for Naturalization records for his MASTRANGELO grandfather from NY. However, the ship was listed as “not identified” and his last foreign residence as Buenos Aires leading to more questions to answer.
Don VILLONI told us the story of his grandfather DOMINIC VILLONI, who composed 27 symphonies (marches) after arriving in the U.S. The Library of Congress sent him a copy of the music that was copyrighted on a continuous roll; however, he is trying to find sheet music of the symphonies. Some of the titles are, 'Pluto', 'Little Italy', and 'Honeymoon'. He discovered some of the music that is still being played at a church in New York during their Saint's procession; they are taping the music as they play it and sending him the cassettes. He is hearing some of the music for the first time. Lin encouraged Don to write this exciting story and submit it to POINTers. Don also brought some extra copies of catalogs of preservation materials for club use.
Frank and Bert HENRY (INNARINO) (#3258) reported that they are back on-line with their Italian friend, Carla Mo, who lives near Genoa.
Jeanette Green passed around a photo of a CUCCIA immigrant family that was sent to her by one of the several POINT people she contacted. She received responses from all of those she wrote.
Marilyn MANISCALCO Henley (#1653) thanked everyone for their friendliness to her mother Lily ALFANO MANISCALCO during her visit; she had a marvelous time at the meeting. Marilyn passed around a group photo from her MANISCALCO Family Reunion held Oct 12 in Houston. The current Family History Center microfilm rental book that she updates circulated among the members. Marilyn read a PIE posting by Bill Vipario titled 'Top Ten Reasons why there are less PIE members researching Northern Italy' to everyone's amusement. She reported on the upcoming Austin Genealogical Society Meeting.
Sheila BAYHA Dugosh told about some genealogy websites that might be helpful in research including U.S. GenWeb and FTP archives, A Barrel of Gen Links, America's Most Wanted.
Bill Brinkman talked about World War I Registration records. He passed around copies of county and state registrations we might locate in our research.
Jim Gerick announced that the genealogy section of the Austin PC Users group will meet Saturday at the FHC.
Semi-annual dues were collected. Lin announced the next meeting Wed, Nov 19, 6:30 pm at Bank One, Round Rock.
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