Eagle Eyes

A couple of years ago, we had a nice little adventure with my sister Paula searching for eagles on the Cannonsville Reservoir. 

This is telephoto and cropped.  It wasn't as obvious as this but Paula had "an eagle eye" (HAHA).  We took some pictures from afar and then cautiously approached for a better view.  We just barely got settled to gaze at him when he took off in glorious flight!  I was snapping pictures as fast as I could--my camera was not in auto mode for continuous shooting but I didn't dare take the camera away from the eagle to change the setting.  I didn't want to break the spell.  He just glided, soared and generally made his presence known over the river for quite a while.  Jim opened the sunroof so I could pop out and take some shots from that angle.  It was really magnificent and we surely have Paula to thank for her advice and keen eye.

This one was from the sunroof angle as he left our immediate view.  Sail on, big guy!

This adventure brought to mind the Nevins family and their apparent love of the outdoors, hunting and fishing.  There are no end of pictures of them in Canada on these adventures.  It appears that Gammy Nevins did not join them but EVERYONE else seems to be there. 

It seems that Henry (our great grandfather) enjoyed Weenie's company too!

I think this is our Mom Anne Flynn with her mother Paula Flynn Nevins and Henry Nevins in Canada

When I wasn't our hunting eagles with my camera, I was sitting here at the computer continuing my family research.  I was presented with this document I'd never seen.  You know those Ancestry.com commercials where they say they just clicked the shaking leaves and VOILA!  Well, that's exactly what this was.  It was like Ancestry.com had the eagle eye this time.  Henry died in Canada which, of course, must have created a raft of paperwork.  This is one of those.  I found it interesting and thought you might too.

Here's your dad Robert (Bob) Dalpiaz

Recently I've found myself in the vicinity of discussions about Ancestry.com.  I think the media hype about the census release combined with the growing popularity of the TV Show Who Do You Think You Are? and Genealogy Roadshow in addition to heavy Ancestry.com marketing has brought this to the level of lunch table discussions around the country.  Ancestry.com is probably my best friend in the hunt for family history and has been growing in its importance to me in direct proportion to their adding records and information to their databases.  I've been a subscriber for several years and have made many new discoveries via the information provided there.

Having said that, it is a fairly significant expense.  For casual researchers, I would probably not recommend subscribing.  Similar databases are often available via local libraries--sometimes even accessible from home with the library card in hand.  Believe me, finding those connections 3-4-5 generations back like they show on the commercials and TV shows isn't as simple as entering the name and clicking search.  Amazingly wonderful information can be found that way but it depends on what your research priorities are.

Some family researchers are mostly interested in adding names and dates directly up their lines as far back as they can go.  Some are more interested in the stories about the families and their time and place in history.  Some are fascinated with the documentation just for the amazement of its mere existence and availability.  A 14 day free trial to Ancestry would probably get you the names but maybe not the stories or the documentation.  I would never discourage anyone from the free trial (except to be sure to remember to "unsubscribe" at the end) but would caution you to remember it's not as easy as a click here and there working like magic to produce a centuries old document showing you're related to Charlemagne.  Check out your local libraries and see what's available through their services.  Also, check the libraries local to the region you are most interested in.  You may be able to get a card and use their services.  You might be surprised at what's available.

So that's the end of my pitch for libraries.  Allow me to show you the results of some very long and arduous digging into the Coffarelli family.  Perhaps you remember the oldest daughter Margaret, born 1880 in Italy prior to emigration?  She married Marco DiSabto and used the name Innocence rather than Margaret.  Census taker error resulted in her being listed as Hishats Innocenti.  A real bear to locate and track that family!  But hard work sometimes pays off with something blessedly easy.

I haven't done too much sideline 1940 census research yet --I've only concentrated on the direct lines I was most interested in.  But I needed to see if I could find Margaret in 1940 out of curiousity to see how she'd be listed.  And we are blessed with the following reward:

Nice and neatly written by the census taker and pretty easy to locate.  You'd probably get here in that one click search demonstrated on the Ancestry.com commercials!  I feel so much better having found her.

Here's your dad Robert (Bob) Dalpiaz

And your Mom Regina Coffarelli

Here are your Mom and her brother with their grandmother Manzelli.  It's probably a good thing I went page by page because I don't think this will get indexed as MANZELLI.  Interesting they are listed as "lodgers" (I think--this census taker seems a bit sloppy). These finds make the research SO MUCH FUN.

Food Memories

I made dinner again last night--take out pizza as seen above.  Some of you read the Good Morning Gloucester blog and they take much nicer pictures of food than this, but the pizza-for-dinner last night got me thinking.  I don't remember that we ever had pizza for dinner when we were young (or at all for that matter).  Pizza was a treat for me and I have fond memories of some of my favorite food treats.  Costa's pizza in Silver Creek remains top on my list.  That pizza was GREAT.  Once in a while, I'd bring a pizza home after work in Walton --maybe from Aiello's?  Mom and Dad both seemed to enjoy that.

I remember only one time that we had pizza with our grandparents in Olean.  I got the clear idea they didn't like pizza--perhaps that's what they told me.  Anyhow, in my little 10 year old brain, "old people" didn't like pizza so I always thought that was a fact of life.  It's kind of strange to me that we didn't have pizza more often --it's fairly cheap especially made by hand from a mix.

Once in a while we'd have fish fry at Foits.  Out to a restaurant with all of us for fish!  I can't say I remember the fish dinners themselves, but I do remember that going to Foits was a treat.  I still enjoy fish fry as a treat.  It's not something I've tried myself.  I'll leave fish to the experts.

Another treat was the mandarin orange, banana slices with confectioners sugar dessert--chilled.  Ummmmm.  I shared that special recipe with my own kids and they have always loved it.  Thinking about it now, I don't imagine that mandarin oranges were normally on Mom's grocery list. I don't recollect having them for anything other than this dessert.  But she would have had to have the mandarins on hand.  I buy them semi-regularly these days to have on hand for fruit salads but I think it must have been an extra expense on the normal grocery list for Mom.  This makes that dessert even more special in my eyes.  If she used mandarin oranges regularly for something else, don't tell me.  Oh!  I just remembered jello with fruit which we never saw after she'd been hospitalized.  Perhaps that's why she'd buy those mandarins.

Dad's "special" barbequed chicken sauce wasn't so much a treat as an event, as I recall.  It required preparing the marinade ahead and soaking the chicken for at least a day.  That was pretty good chicken too.
Another treat would be when Mom made pancakes for dinner, blueberries upon request.  That was never my favorite meal but it wasn't fun for Mom to churn out all those pancakes and she did it once in a while anyhow.  Mom's spaghetti sauce was a treat for me and I like making that for my family too.

I guess that's what makes some food or meal a "treat"--you just know some kind of special effort went into it and it makes you feel like it was all about making you happy.  A lesson I'm happy to carry forward with my children, even though I suspect that the things I thought I was doing special for them won't be the fond memories they share around the table over beers some evening in the future.  It will be something ordinary and unexpected.  I'm sure Mom was as surprised by the popularity of the mandarin orange dessert as I was with Amy and Ryan.  And so it goes.

The Gondola from PS 83

The Gondola is the name of the souvenir graduation program from PS 83 June 1942. I was looking through it out of curiosity and noticed some things I thought you would find interesting.

This program cover has your mother's name (Regina Coffarelli) in the upper right hand corner, written in her hand.  The graphic is obviously hand drawn.  The signature of the artist indicates she was one of your mother's classmates.  Regina Coffarelli and Bob Dalpiaz were about 14 at the time, so I'm presuming this is an 8th grade graduation program.  The first thing I noticed with interest was that the agenda for the event seemed to have a strong ethnic flavor.    Perhaps there was a South American/Hispanic theme?

What a sweet thought that the President of the Mother's Club presents the medals and awards!  Somehow I find that comforting.  There is an extended list of patrons and patronesses (I'm guessing this program was some kind of fund raising effort).  That list contained several familiar surnames including Dalpiaz, Coffarelli, Manzelli, Sapienza,  Miglietta, Petro, Restivo, Jozwicki--Must have been every single grandparent, aunt, uncle and parent of each graduate considering how many there are on that list!

It appears great effort was made to include everyone in the contents of the program.  I find that very similar to today's efforts.  Also in line with today, I noted there seem to be a small number of "over-achievers" --those whose names you see on every other page in the yearbook.  You remember those people from your own yearbook, right?  Anyhow, when I realized that I might find familiar names, the search was on.

 The program opens with a poem that appears to include all graduates:  As Others See Us.  Lucky for me these were alphabetical. 

Finding Mary Sapienza's (Aunt Mary's) contribution was a big bonus!

Your mother Regina apparently enjoyed the Drama Club writing and portraying Mother Csorba (?!)

and your father the Shop Club (surprise!)

Regina and Mary find themselves commended for school spirit (along with a number of those afore-mentioned over-achievers)

Robert, Regina and Mary were "On the Alert for Defense"--written in a very patriotic tone:

You'll note that someone marked your mother in the picture with a plus sign!

Not surprisingly, the patriotic tone is heavy.  This is only a few months following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Many of the students had obviously been affected by the war. 

You've probably seen this picture of the graduates--this is not too far from the size of our own high school graduating class this year.

Aren't they cute?  Then they enter high school..........