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

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.

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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.

 

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Mar25th2011

GenTracer

by  Phyllis Zeck

 

The Church of San Pietro and Paolo in Pescasseroli

In the winter of 2010 my cousin Joe and I began corresponding regularly about our family history.  I told him I felt I’d gone as far as I could with my independent research.  My daughter and I had searched the micro film at the Family History Library in Portland (see blog from Dec 23, 2010) for the birth record of my great grandfather Pietro and were unsuccessful in finding it.  Joe had begun correspondence with the parish priest at the church of San Pietro and Paolo in Pescasseroli in the hopes of obtaining the birth record of his father Giuseppe Florian who was born in 1889.

We decided we could use a researcher of our own.  How would we find someone?  I have been watching the tv show Who Do You Think You Are.  The featured star always has their documents ready to view when they arrive at their research facility.   This was not going to be the way it worked for us.

I wrote to some professionals who posted their services on Ancestry.com but received half hearted responses.  Then I stumbled upon a website called GenTracer.  Kathy Kirkpatrick specialized in Italian research, and she lived in Salt Lake City so she had access to the Family History Library.  Her fee was low, she responded quickly to our emails, she seemed like the perfect fit.  And she was!  Within one month we had our report in hand.   Thanks to GenTracer we are now able to fill in many gaps in our family tree.

Kathy’s report told us that “women used their maiden names throughout their lives. Italian naming patterns result in the first born son and daughter being named for the father’s parents, while the second son and daughter are named for the parents of the mother.  If one of the children with an important name dies, the next child born of that sex is given that name”.

Click this link to see a PDF file which shows the family tree more clearly:
Pedigree Chart for Pietro Giovanni Del Principe

Click this link to see a PDF file which shows family group records (it takes a few seconds to open): Family Group Record Del Principe

I thought my great grandfather Pietro had no siblings. Wrong!  Cesidio Gaetano Del Principe and Annamaria Boccia had many children.  Annamaria Boccia was the daughter of Cesidio Boccia (Cesidio’s father was Michele Boccia) and Maria Domenica Gentile (Maria Domenica parents were Antonio Gentile and Lucia Sant’Ercole).

Cesidio and Annamaria’s first born child was named Vincenzo, then came Maria Domenica, Lucia Carmina, Antonio Luigi, Berorda, Gerardo, another Gerardo born 2 years later, Maria Scolastica , and Pietro Giovanni.  Joe and I now know our great grandfather Pietro was given Giovanni for his middle name.

Cesidio Gaetano Del Principe was born in 1799 and was the son of Mattio Del Principe and Maria Scolastica Salterelli (daughter of Anseleto Salterelli).  Thanks to Giovanni Del Principe I know that Cesidio’s siblings were named: Donato, Francesco Mattia, Michelangelo, Domenico Leonardo and Giustino Gennaro.

Mattio Del Principe was born in 1761 and his parents were Donato Del Principe and Maria Tarquinio.

Donato Del Principe was born in 1744 and his father was named Mattio Del Principe.  Unfortunately we don’t know the year that Mattio was born.  I’m guessing it would have been around 1700.

Wow!  This was a lot of information to take in but I was excited that I could now document the Del Principe name 7 generations back.

Kathy from GenTracer also supplied us with official records that I will scan and add to my next blog.  If you can read Italian, you’ll be thrilled.  If you can’t read Italian, it’s still pretty exciting to skim the birth, baptism, marriage, and death records of our ancestors.

 

 

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