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

Dec16th2017

Digital Gifts from Francesco Gentile

by  Phyllis Zeck

The last 7 years of genealogy research have bought so many wonderful new relatives and friends into my life. Thanks to email, the internet and facebook I’ve been able to deepen these friendships and I  hope that one day I will meet these wonderful people in person. This year  Francesco Gentile was kind enough to send me some amazing images and a genealogy pedigree PDF chart that I want to share with family today.

Non Solo Pizza

Francesco and his wife Hala live in Pescasseroli Italy, the birth place of many of my ancestors. Hala and Francesco own a restaurant called Non Solo Pizza. The photo above was taken of Francesco and Hala by my cousin Joe Del Principe when Joe and his wife visited Italy in 2011. I have a few ancestors with the last name of Gentile in my family tree and although we are related, I have not yet found my genetic connection to Francesco. Antonio Gentile born in 1753 is my 4th great grandfather and his daughter Maria Domenica Gentile born in 1780 is my 3rd great grandmother.

The jpg images below are official birth records from our family church in Pescasseroli. I was thrilled to find among them for the first time a record of my maternal great grandmother Elvira!  Perhaps the reason that I have not been able to find the record in the past is that her full given name was Cesidia Elvira Tranquilla Ciolli which I did not know until Francesco generously supplied the record. 

I have tried to piece together the full given names and correct birth year for the children of Filomena Ursitti and Don Pietrantonio Amabile Ciolli (my great great grandparents) and have listed them below.  If you are researching your family trees I hope these records will clarify names and birth years.  Please email me if your records do not agree with the labels I’ve given to the images below.

Click below to download a file of my genealogy research from Ancestry.com of Filomena Ursitti’s descendants.
Descendants of Filomena Ursitti Dec 17, 2017

Click below to download a pdf file of Francesco’s family tree. There is a treasure trove of information in this document.  You’ll have to put on your detective hat and use google translator to figure out the clues if you don’t speak Italian though.  For starters, it looks like Pietrantonio Amabile born in 1830 had a brother named Belissario Fedele born in 1834 (see page 10). 
Francesco Gentile Ciolli Family Tree

Below are Francesco’s digital records of what I decipher names and birth years for Filomena and Pietrantonio Amabile’s children to be.  Click once on the image to view it, then click on it again to enlarge it.  Thank you so much Francesco for these priceless family records!

 

Click Here to View Current Comments or/and Add Your Own (6)

 

Jan1st2014

Happy New Year

by  Phyllis Zeck

FatherTimeClock-(QueenBr) copyI’m afraid I’ve been away from my genealogy fixation far too long. I’ve been teaching myself how to use Photoshop Elements and had a blast building my 2013 digital scrapbook.  Now that the holidays are over I’m itching to get back to my research. 

2013 has brought some devastating losses to my life.  My wonderful brother in law Paul and my beloved Aunt Phyllis both passed away in the fall.   I treasure my memories of Paul who had a kind word for everyone he met and I will miss the sweet ways my Auntie touched my heart.

I’ve also experienced many blessed events in 2013.  The birth of my granddaughter Abigail Rose and her baptism, my son Don Jr’s marriage to Kelly and my nephew Robin’s marriage to Karli.  Our family tree continues to grow and we welcome Kelly and Karli’s families into our fold.  

I have received email from new members of our family who have stumbled upon my genealogy website.  I hope to share photos and stories from them soon in my blog posts.  I am still in awe that the internet is able to help connect us all together.  I also have new research documentation to share with you thanks to Kathy from GenTracer. 

Gold2014-(QueenBr) copy

My goal for 2014 is to attend a genealogy conference.  I have toyed with going to a conference for several years and have researched many different venues. My top choices are RootsTech which is held in Salt Lake City and The National Genealogical Society Conference which this year takes place in Richmond, Virginia.  The techie in me is leaning towards RootsTech.  Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year! 

 

 

Click Here to View Current Comments or/and Add Your Own (0)

 

Feb16th2013

Send A Card

by  Phyllis Zeck

W1a_Send A Card-001

 

My cousin Toni sent me a copy of a letter that our grandfather wrote to her in 1980.  Click here to read it Letter from Grandpa 1980.  Thank you Toni for sharing this. 

 

W2a_Send A Card-002 copy

 

Click Here to View Current Comments or/and Add Your Own (3)

 

Jul24th2012

Family Heirlooms

by  Phyllis Zeck

I have added a new page to my geneaology website that is devoted to our family heirlooms; a very important part of genealogy.  Family treasures help connect us all in a personal way.  Whether you’re sharing or viewing an item, photos and stories help link us all together.  When my grandparents were young they were able to share their heirlooms in person by running across the street to visit with family.  New generations have spread out across the world so we need to share via photos and stories.

Family heirlooms past and current belong in this website.  We have to think about the generations yet to be born.  An item doesn’t have to be “old” to be a family heirloom.  For example, if you are a collector send me a photo of an item in your collection so that your great grandchildren will know a little about you.  If you have a photo of an heirloom that you would like to display, please  email it to me (along with a comment) and help this new page grow!

 

Click Here to View Current Comments or/and Add Your Own (1)

 

Nov15th2011

Carmino (Charles) J. Ciolli

by  Phyllis Zeck

This fall I received email from two of Charles Ciolli’s descendants, Barbara and Jamila.  I just love it when that happens!  Charles and my great grandmother Elvira were brother and sister.

Charles was born in Pescasseroli, Italy on March 20, 1875.  He died on April 12, 1941 in Chicago and is buried at Mt Carmel.  Charles and his brother Oreste Emilio Fortunato arrived in New York on May 1, 1890 aboard the ship The Britannia.  Charles married Anna D’Aquila in 1908 in Chicago at Holy Guardian Angel’s Church.

Charles and Anna had two children.  Their daughter Filomena died at 3 months old in April 1909.  Robert P. Amabile Ciolli was born on March 9, 1910, and he passed away in 2000.  Robert married Emily (Carmella) Picerno on September 18, 1937.

Robert and Emily had two daughters.  Annette was their first born.  Annette married Michael Davey and they had two children (Maureen and Robert).  Robert is married to Jamila.

Robert and Emily’s younger daughter is Barbara.  Barbara married William Kucera and they had two children (Lauren and William).

Charles & Anna with Annette 1940

So now I am able to trace my relationship to my two new email friends; Jamila and Barbara.  They both share my passion for geneaology so the three of us quickly became email buddies. Jamila sent me the photo on the left.  This is Charles and Anna D’Aquila with their first granddaughter Annette (Jamila’s mother in law), taken in 1940.

The photo below was sent to me from Barbara and is Charles and his son Robert (Barbara’s father) in front of the bar Charles owned on Loomis Street in Chicago.  It was taken about 1913-1915.  Charles is in the middle, the man on the left is unknown.  The child is Robert, age 3.

x

Barbara writes “Charles and Anna owned a two-flat on Lexington Street in Chicago and that is where my father was raised. When my father married Emily they lived in one flat and Charles & Anna lived in the other. That is where they lived when my sister Annette was born in June of 1940. Charles died the following April 1941.  Shortly after that the building was sold and my parents, along with Anna and my sister moved into a two-flat with my maternal grandparents (Frank & Justine Picerno) at 1034 South Hoyne in Chicago. I was born in 1946 and we all lived there until 1950.”

Charles Ciolli’s Bar

Barbara remembers Frank & Otto Del Principe and the Leones, and of course she took accordion lessons at the music store.  Barbara recalls “I guess I saw Frank and his family the most and remember going to his home with all the gorgeous Dresden figures and lamps.  I knew Frank’s children Muriel and Luke and remember eating at the beef stand”.

I’m very excited to know a little about the male side of the Ciolli family.

We’ve grown this tree so much in the last year.  I posted my first blog in October of 2010 and I am astounded by how much I’ve found out about my ancestors.  I hope that anyone who reads my blogs will help spread the word about our growing family.  I welcome any stories and photos you are willing to share with me.  Together we can  connect with family and learn about our ancestors.

 

Click Here to View Current Comments or/and Add Your Own (1)