"A family tree can wither if nobody tends its roots."

Jan20th2022

Researching Pescasseroli Family Names

by  Phyllis Zeck

Abby Skiing on Mt Hood

It’s hard to wrap my mind around the fact that 2021 zipped by without me having much time for genealogy research. This summer I mailed my old VHS tapes, CD disks and Camcorder tapes of family adventures to have them made into digital files. This project has been on my to do list for many years. The last couple of months I’ve had fun going through the digital files to edit them.  I created short videos and saved them to folders which I’ve shared with my siblings, nieces, and nephews. It’s shocking how fast the years have gone by. It was fun to reminisce about our families’ milestones and adventures and to see and hear family members who are no longer with us.

My 8 year old granddaughter Abby went skiing for the first time this weekend. My sisters and I compared a video of Abby skiing to a video I found of Ashley about the same age skiing in our backyard.  Abby looks, sounds, and laughs exactly like her mother. Click on the image below for a 2 minute video of Ashley taken about 1990.

Last fall Michael emailed me to introduce himself.  His paternal grandfather Emidio Finamore and his great grandfather Orazio emigrated from Pescasseroli. Michael wrote “Via Ancestry we have some DNA matches with my Del Principe descendants.  I believe that you and I are 7th cousins, (at least), and are related through your great-grandparents Pietro Del Principe and Elvira Ciolli. There is a common ancestor named Marco Antonio Ciolli b. 1654. I’ve traced Marco to Elvira and also to Maria Scolastica (Saltarelli) Del Principe via Maria’s maternal branch.”

Michael shared a website that I have not yet stumbled across. There are over 16,000 names of family members from Pescasseroli, Italy.  The information is a collaboration from several sources.  The following partial text is a Google translation from the home page:  “This Genealogy research ‘Genealogy of the Pescasseroli families’ contains 16703 individuals and 4640 families. These are the Genealogical Trees of all the Pescasseroli AQ Families from 1716 to the 1920s.

The research is open to the collaboration of all those who wish to report errors or inaccuracies in the data present or communicate other data or photos and documents to be included. It is in fact possible to insert Photographs, Documents and Stories for each Person and for each Family present in the search. With the collaboration of all, it can become a place of memory and memories.

Courtesy of Terre Pesculiasseroli

A particular thanks is due to friend Prof. Tarquinio Gianluca, today unfortunately he is no longer with us, to the parish priests responsible for the Parish Archives of Pescasseroli, for advice, information and great availability. The data entered so far are taken from the Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages 1866 – 1910, from the Draft Lists from 1866 to 1918 and from the Registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages of the Napoleonic Period 1809-1865.

On the other hand, decisive help came from the Registers of Families or “Status Animarum” of the Parish of Pescasseroli and from the Population Registers of the Parish for the reconstruction of family genealogies throughout the 18th century, up to the beginning of the 20th century, and for the identification of many household nicknames.

The oldest register contains records of baptisms from 1716, marriages from 1754 of the deceased since 1752, unfortunately many have deteriorated and not all the pages of which it is composed have been transcribed. The program then plans to continue the research with the transcription of the registers of the parish of Opi.  Other news in this research, in particular the data of the military visit, come from the State Archives of L’Aquila.”  

To research your family members click on this link: 
https://terrepesculiasseroli.it/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/pescasseroli/default.htm
Click on the image to the right of the home box (top left side of the page).
Click on “C”.  
Click on Ciolli. 
Click on Pietrantonio Amabile Ciolli to see his and Filomena’s Ursitti’s children.

5/24/24: Update.  Unfortuntly this website is no longer active.  I’ll update this post  if another website replaces it.

 

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Nov17th2018

I Will Love You Forever

by  Phyllis Zeck

Today is a very difficult day for my family and friends.  My brother passed away this summer and today would have been his 69th birthday.  Robert Gilbert Winike was the oldest of eight children born to Corinne and Robert.  Our father passed away when Rob was 20 years old.  Rob helped guide his siblings through life giving them strength and confidence as they forged their paths.

Rob was the first to move to Portland and one by one brothers and sisters followed him.  Many of us settled in the St Johns neighborhood where we raised our children who affectionately nicknamed Rob “Poppy”.  The Winike clan continued to grow. As my nephews and nieces arrived I realized that my siblings were the best gift my mother and father ever gave me. We leaned on each other as our children grew and we offered love, support, and guidance as our babies maneuvered through the bumpy road toward becoming adults. We made sure that family gatherings happened frequently.  With a clan like ours those parties were filled with stories of our childhood, teasing, laughter and love. Then, in the blink of an eye, there was a whole new generation of children and Rob became a grandfather.  The 1985 photo below is of  Rob, Lori, Janie, Paul, myself, Holly, Grandma Corinne (her grandchildren) and Steve.

Family was one of Rob’s greatest joys in life.  Rob loved to tell stories of his youth.  Until the age of 10 he lived in Chicago and was surrounded by Del Principe & Ciolli families, most of them living within a few homes of Rob, our parents and our grandfather. In 1958 our parents along with grandpa Gilbert and the 4 oldest children moved to the suburbs of Villa Park.  Janice was the first sibling born in Villa Park. 

Rob thrived on helping others. His service to the church started when he was a youth and lasted his whole life. When his children were young Rob would coordinate overnight shelters at his church so the homeless had a place to sleep.  Rob had a deep religious conviction, which helped comfort him through many of life’s good and bad times. Rob and my sister Holly are my daughter Ashley’s godparents.  Rob and his wife Judy are my granddaughter Abby’s godparents. 

Rob was an example of a Christian who used his faith and relationship with God to grow as a person.  He went through ups and downs and particularly during the lows in his life he leaned into his faith to improve his life and change for the better.

Rob and I shared the excitement of establishing this family history blog. He contributed so many of his memories to countless blog posts for which I will be forever grateful.  Rob was a gifted and talented writer.  Some of my favorite memories of researching and blogging with Rob is the time we audio recorded several interviews with Auntie Phyllis.  When you get lonely for Rob’s voice and laughter, click on one of the interviews. Click here to listen to one of my favorite posts.  This always brings a smile to my face. To hear more audio interviews click on the Category column in the right for “Vincent Family”.

Lindsay, Robin, Tyler, Rob & Judy

I feel the heartache daily of saying goodbye to this wonderful man and will for a very long time to come.  He has touched us all in different ways and for myself and Ashley there are endless memories of fun adventures that fill us with contentment and happiness.  We try to find peace rejoicing in the knowledge that Rob is in Heaven and watching out for us all, just as he did in life.  Rob will forever be deeply and dearly missed.

 

 

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Apr22nd2018

Our Lady of the Angels Fire

by  Phyllis Zeck

On December 1, 1958 a fire broke out at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic grade school in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood.  92 children and 3 nuns were killed. The fire started in the basement and spread quickly through the school reaching many combustable substances which accelerated the fire. Jean Gallo, one of my mother’s best friends, had two children who survived this fire.

My mother had two close friends in high school who were sisters.  Their names were Jean & Teresa Spotts.  Teresa married August (Gus) Russo and they had two children, Barbara and Michael.  They lived near Berwyn.  Jean married Frank Ernest Gallo and they had four or five children; Frank Jr, Sam (Sandy), Anthony, and Theresa.  

My brother Tom told me the following details about mom’s close friends.  “Aunite Jean lived in the Del Principe apartment building at Harrison & Oakley while her husband served in the military. Everyone in the family loved Jean and Theresa’s father. The last time we saw the Gallo family was probably Christmas 1970.  We took 2 cars to their house in the south suburbs.  Rob & Janie took one car and mom took most of us kids in the other car.  Uncle Frank had a split level in a very nice neighborhood.  He stayed in the kitchen cooking Italian food the whole time.” Frank Sr passed away in 1973.

Tom continued, “Jean and Frank’s oldest son Frank Jr and his brother Sam survived the horrible school fire at Our Lady of the Angels Catholic school. Frank was 9 and in the 4th grade. Sam was 7 and in the 2nd grade. The boy’s father was a paratrooper in the Army Air Force and he had taught Frank Jr and Sam how to jump from trees and roofs, which is why Frank as able to survive the fire”.

If you click this link and scroll to Room 210 you will read the following:

Frankie was hospitalized overnight with minor burns and for observation of minor injuries. “A kid in my room jumped up out of his seat and hollered, ‘smoke.’ And smoke started coming through the cracks in the door. Our nun was writing on the blackboard. She told us to open the windows and start praying. Then everybody started running toward the windows because they couldn’t breathe. She just stood there, cool as a cucumber.” Frank said that after seeing several boys jump, he pulled himself onto the window sill, sat down and slid off, falling 25 feet to the hard ground below. “I felt like my back was broken. I crawled along a while and then got up. A lot of them couldn’t get up.” Firemen found Frankie sitting on a curb in shock, and had him taken to the hospital. Frank passed away on May 8, 2011.

Brother Sam Gallo age 7. Sam escaped without injury from his first floor classroom.  Neighbor Alice Tarsa took him into her home until his parents could get him. 

Tom also remembers “The church was rebuilt and is still open.  It’s 3 miles from the house where mom and Auntie Phyllis grew up.  The last Del Principe to live in the house was Uncle John and his wife Jeanette.  One of the most painful memories of Our Lady of Angels tragedy is that most of the children were taken directly to the county morgue which is where Jeanette worked. 65 children were taken directly to the morgue.”

Jean Spotts and Frank Gallo Gus RussoThe photo to the left is Auntie Jean and Frank Gallo’s wedding photo. My mother Corinne is second from the left.  Jean’s sister Teresa is between Jean and my mother.  I have two more photos of the bride and would love to forward these three photos, which are in excellent condition, to Jean or Theresa descendants.  Unfortunately we’ve lost touch with the Gallo and Russo families.  

 

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Jan22nd2017

Family Stories – Pass Them On!

by  Phyllis Zeck

Auntie Phyllis and her daughter Gina’s Family

Today I will post the 5th and last audio clip that I have from a series of interviews that my bother Rob and I had with our beloved Aunt Phyllis in 2011. To listen to the other interviews, click on the box titled “Vincent Family” in the categories box to the right.

This series of blog posts have brought back wonderful memories for me and I hope that listening to Auntie’s voice has brought you as much joy as it has brought me. In the clip below you can hear the tenderness in Auntie’s voice as she tells us the story of how she sat in her grandmother Elvira’s kitchen on Sunday and Wednesday to watch her grandmother prepare spaghetti for dinner. Thank you for the priceless stories Auntie!

2244 Harrison St

Photo courtesy of Todd Harrison & Oakley 1939

The photo to the left is 2244 W Harrison St which was Auntie Phyllis and mom’s first home. I can envision the girls dashing across the street to see their aunts, uncles, and cousins each day. The photo below was taken in 1939. Click here to read more about the music store. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you will see my great grandfather’s name (P. Del Principe) on the top of the building on the left, next to the gas station.

Auntie Phyllis was born Phyllis Elvira 16 Nov 1927 and passed away 21 Sep 2013. Some very significant events happened the same year Auntie was born. Population in Chicago was over 2.7 million people. Transatlantic telephone service began between New York and London, a woman took a seat on the New York Stock Exchange breaking the all male tradition, Babe Ruth signed a 3 year contract with the New York Yankees for a guarantee of $70,000 a year becoming baseball’s highest paid player.

Babe Ruth

The US Supreme Court ruled that bootleggers must pay income tax (still pondering how that was enforced), Charles Lindbergh flew from Long Island, NY on the Spirit of St Louis on his solo flight to France, the era of talking pictures arrived with the opening of “The Jazz Singer” starring Al Jolson. In Chicago Al Capone’s support allowed Big Bill Thompson to return to the mayor’s office where Thompson pledged to clean up Chicago and remove the crooks, and Chicago Midway International airport opened. 

My siblings and I love to reminsece about our mother and Auntie Phyllis and Holly has shared one of her favorite memories below.

Holly and Aunty Phyllis 2009

“Driving around with the ladies (Mom and Aunty Phyllis) was always a scary adventure. Mom was the navigator. I’m not sure how or why she got that job when she would get lost 10 feet away from the house. Aunty was the driver. I’m convinced she scared everyone
driving around her as much as she scared me. I was always designated to the back seat where I would have plenty of air for my panic attacks while we drove around aimlessly, mom yelling at aunty, “Turn here!” and aunty yelling back, “Which way??”. Every time aunty would turn left and go over the cement dividers in the middle of busy streets, I’d throw my hands over my eyes and say, “You’re not supposed to do that!”. She’s calmly brush her hand through the air and say, “Those are there just to make you go slower when you do U-turns… we should have left her at home Corinne”. They’d both laugh and turn the Andrea Bocelli music up louder.” 

Corinne Del Principe Winike (my mother). Corner of Harrison and Oakley

Click the audio below to hear the last clip of Rob’s and my interview with Auntie Phyllis.

 

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Jan16th2017

Cousins Make The Best Friends

by  Phyllis Zeck

Since my father had no siblings, my only set of cousins were the children of Auntie Phyllis, my mother’s sister. They lived on the east coast so we didn’t get to see them often, but we made the most of the time we did see each other. The photo to the left was taken in 1962 in Springfield, MA. Back row: Auntie Phylllis holding Gina, Grandpa, mom holding Holly. Center row: Rob (kneeling), Tom, Mark, Toni. Front row: Ricky, Phyllis, Janice and Steve.

When my siblings and I started our families our children got together as often as possible. Now the middle generation help gather our grands for play dates, zoo lights, and pool 

Jared, Robert, Dominick, Ashley, Robin, Lindsay

parties all year round. It’s a miracle when everyone can unite at the same time! My two oldest children Buck & Heidi and my grandson Tyler are missing from these photos. Someday I’m going to corral everyone at the same time and snap photos like crazy.

I asked Rob to listen to one of the clips from our interview with Auntie Phyllis and he shared his thoughts below.

Ava, Abby, Kayla, Tyler, Gracie

Rob wrote “Phyllis included recordings of our ancestors speaking. Nothing recalls memories quicker than hearing the voice of a loved one who has long ago passed on. Especially when it involves people in the family who have shared many of the same experiences. Experts say that is one reason why siblings stay close in many families: the common bond of recognizing your mother’s stressful voice when she can’t find her car keys, for instance. No one else in the world would know that sound unless they had been there and shared the experience.

So, it was with that kind of anticipation and attention when I listened to the latest recording Phyllis sent me, of an interview we did with Aunty Phyllis many years ago. Hearing her speak again, and especially the sound of her laughter, brought her presence and spirit right back to me. Or maybe her voice brought me back to HER!” 

Michele, Toni, & Gina
Ricky, Richard, & Mark

In the 4th audio clip from our 2011 interview Auntie Phyllis talks about her uncles, growing up with her cousins, working in the music store, and eloping with Richard. I asked her about advertising that was purchased for the music stores. I ran across this advertisement in Google Books. It was placed in the Popular Mechanics magazine in March of 1938. The ad states that the music store was established in 1890. 

Click below to listen to part of our interview with Auntie. If you’d like to hear snippets of this interview in past blog posts, click on the “Vincent Family” category in the right column of the web site.

 

 

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