Thank you all for the warm welcome back. I've missed you all. Life goes in so many different directions you just only have time for so much and some things as I am sure you all have experienced goes to the wayside. What better time to get back into reading and sharing our books and thoughts than on blustery winter days?
Speaking of which, Barb and Joanne how are you holding up in Texas? I can't wait to hear about the clay pot method to keep your kitchen warm. Our temp at 7:00 a.m. here in Toledo, Ohio read 4 degrees, feels like -17 due to high winds. We have a couple more days like this and then we get back in the 20s & 30s Yippee!!
Gosh, you don't know how better I feel hearing I am not the only one who has neglected Sarah's Key. I did read the summary at one of the sites and lo and behold Julia the person researching Sarah ends up finding family and guess what I have been doing for nearly a year now...yep, searching for my Italian ancestors. My younger sister Sonta, who I mentioned died this past October had found a woman named Valerie on the Italian genealogy Facebook site. Valerie was interested in our plight since she too had gone through a similar situation years ago searching for her family. She agreed to use all her resources and contacts internationally, and state side to help. My sister continued to go in and out of the hospital so she asked me if I would be willing to work with Valerie. I agreed to since I had done a DNA years ago with Ancestry.com and had begun a family tree, searching as best as I could with very little information to go on.
My paternal Italian grandparents migrated in and around 1905-1907, my grandfather would have been sixteen years old, and my grandmother was seven years old. They were supposedly naturalized citizens of the United States which on the last U.S. census it shows them as aliens. Our last name had so many different spellings no one living knew the correct biological legal spelling. Long story short, just before my sister went in the hospital for what we did not know would be her last time, Valerie had learned my grandparents did NOT get married in Italy, did not come over together on a ship, and did not become naturalized citizens, they didn't even know each other when they individually came over and went directly to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to live, where they met years later, married and came to the United States around 1921. Sadly, the love story of two young Italians married in Italy, boarded a ship together to come to the United States for a better life for their children has been debunked.
Valerie found the birth records of my grandparents through her contacts in Italy and discovered our true last name and the places each grandparent was born and raised in Italy. I had put together a packet to take with me to visit my sister along with my laptop to show her the many documents we uncovered in our search expecting we would sit and share this together, but needless to say, she died before we could set a date to visit. So, for Christmas I made copies of the packet I had printed out that were vital facts, certificates, marriage licenses, baptismal records, census, ship manifests, etc., and sent this to each of my siblings and explained to them how Sonta and I had been working with Valerie and how it was our gift to pass to them, a mystery solved and a comfort of knowing our true last name. I know Sonta winked at me from heaven and said, "Job well done, thank you for doing this with me." I plan to make copies and give one to each of my children. I asked my siblings to do the same for their children. Our grandfather was known as Joseph Patterfritz, and my grandmother was known as Carmella Dopposi. Their legal birth names are: Giuseppeantonio Pettofrezza and Carmela D'Apice, no middle names for either of them. So beautiful don't you think?
Oh, and one last bit of interesting information, Valerie lives in California and was a screen writer for none other than Francis Ford Coppola. She shared pictures of her at his house at family functions and the office she and the other writers worked in. We have become dear friends and plan to continue our search for other family members. She is certain I have Pettofrezza family in Canada still and hopes to bring us together some day. I can only hope this would happen. I've seen a few pictures of men with this last name on Facebook and it is as if I am staring into my own father's eyes. The Pettofrezza eyes are undeniable, I see them even in my great grandson. My sons were very skeptical of Valerie when I first told them of her and I working together, and they asked if she is charging me anything. I said, "No, she has never mentioned or hinted to expect payment, she said others helped her years ago and she wanted to pay it forward. She told me ours is the most fascinating and difficult research she has come across and her intuitive writer's mind had to be involved." She is in her sixties, single and is an equestrian trainer, and has had clients from well-known elite families in Hollywood. I plan to surprise her with a nice silk scarf with prints of horses on it to show my appreciation. I only wish I could see her face when she opens it.
Needless to say, it might be meant for me to finish Sarah's Key in honor of my ancestors.
Barb, you seem to have sparked some real interest on this Christianity topic, I am so very intrigued, I spent wee hours of the night for the past two Saturdays delving into podcasts and articles by theologian scholars about the Book of Revelations as to when and how that became canon and accepted into the Bible. Another rabbit hole I find myself into, as if ancestry isn't difficult enough. Joanne, Frybabe, Barb anyone have any thoughts or knowledge to share on this? Is it Dr. Suess who wrote a book called, Oh the Places You'll Go?
Okay, y'all have a warm and wonderful Sunday, and if you go out, please be safe.
Ciao~ Bellamarie
