Monica Looney Ryan 1907 - 1983 and her family

Let's take a look at the Looney family.  My siblings and I are not directly descended from the Looneys, but they can be confirmed as cousins.  Their story is muddled but intriguing.  I'll mention right now that they seem to have been pretty "loosy-goosey" with their first names which has made some of the research more difficult. 

You may remember Grampie's (Paul M. Ryan, Sr.) brother John "Jack" Ryan, who died of accidental gunshot wounds inflicted by a friend.  Jack died at the age of 32 with a wife and two young children.  His wife, Monica, was the daughter of John J. and Julia Looney.  She never remarried and lived a long life in Massachusetts.

John J. and Julia/Monica (Curtin) Looney probably came to the United States in 1914, quite a bit later than many of our other Irish ancestors.  Five children accompanied them on this trip, and I have found some evidence of four others.  Monica was among the children arriving in 1914 at the age of 7.  By 1920, census records indicate they were living in Cambridge, Massachusetts with 2 additional older children. 

By 1930, Monica was still living with her parents in Medford Mass and working as a stenographer for the telegraph company.  I don't yet know how Jack and Monica came to meet, but they married in Gloucester in 1934.  They quickly had 2 children, Patrick and Sheila.  Jack died in 1939 and Monica stayed in Gloucester for some time.  In the meanwhile, her parents John and Julia moved to Gloucester also.  Inf act, her father John died in her home in Gloucester in 1942.

Monica died in 1983 in Amesbury and she was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Gloucester (same place as our grandparents Paul Ryan Sr and Catherine Pierce Ryan). 

I am still tracking her siblings Julia/Sheila; Katherine; Mary C (perhaps could be same person as Katherine); Dennis (died in San Francisco); Eugene (died in Pennsylvania); Daniel; Nora Josephine; and Thomas.  The rich Irish history they left behind is what keeps bringing me back to them.  They apparently came from Cork City Ireland and I'm quite hopeful that someday I will find out more about them.  In the meantime, if anyone calls you Looney, well, they aren't wrong!

Revisiting May 2012 trip to Italy

Five years ago this month, Kathleen, Nick, Robert and Bobbie made their first trip to the homeland in Italy.  This May, they were able to visit again.  While we look forward to their pictures and stories, I thought it might be fun to see again some of what we learned from the previous visit.

From the May 2012 trip pics, I've been able to sort out some of your grandfather's (Costante DALPIAZ) siblings.  I thought you might like to "meet" them!  These would be aunts and uncles to your Dad Robert DALPIAZ.

An older sister Maria:  according to Trentini birth records, her full name is Maria Severina Carlotta Carolina Dalpiaz married a Menapace:

A younger sibling Edvige Rosa Dalpiaz married Pio Valentini

Pio, another younger sibling is in the same gravesite as his parents

How nice for us that photos seem to be standard additions to tombstones.  These guys generally lived long happy lives so you come from hardy stock.

Tullia DALPIAZ, Costante's youngest sister, died January 13 2017 at the age of 101!!!!  She was a nun and appeared to have lived a happy life.  In 2012, Kathleen, Nick, Robert and Bobbie were able to pay a visit.  We are grateful family members in Italy shared the news with us. 

This is another tombstone picture from Kathleen and Nick.  At the very bottom you can see Riccardo Dalpiaz who was an uncle to your grandfather Costante.  As you can see here, Riccardo died in war--in the Dolomites according to family legend.

We'll have to consult the historians in the family for better detail and perspective, but I believe Riccardo's death resulted from the Italian Campaign of WWI 1915-1918 between the Austria Hungary army and the Italian army for control of the Tyrol region (overly simplified for those that don't understand WWI military campaigns any better than I do--sorry, Thomas.).  In other words--I think this was the BIG one for your family testing their loyalties.  I do not know which army Riccardo belonged to.  I think military service was required of young men in this region and he may have found himself a solider by duty rather than by choice.  Regardless, he is deserving of recognition for his service to his country.  He was a 40 year old soldier fighting battles that probably were far too close to home.

I feel certain this May 2017 trip will be just as memorable for all involved.  What a blessing that the family can reconnect!

New Uncles!

Some random internet wandering today uncovered 2 new uncles on the Messa side of the family.  I should have known better than to assume Catherine Contento Messa's parents had more than two daughters! (Anna Contento Lessie being the other). 

Kate Messa is your great grandmother, who ended up in Queens after leaving Ohio.  Her husband, Jake was left behind and later died a tragic death as a result of an accident supposedly the night before he was to leave to come to New York.  It appears she largely raised her five children by herself, but with tremendous support from her sister Anna Lessie.

Catherine/Kate and Anna's parents are Pietro Contento and Maria Cisternino Contento of Bari Italy.  This is likely where the name Peter came from in both the Messa and Lessie families.  Thanks to FamilySearch.org, today I found that there are at least two other brothers:  Giuseppe and Tommaso.

Giuseppe (Joseph) apparently sailed to America in 1906 and stated he was a barber.  So many barbers!

He's near the bottom of this image (from Ancestry.com).  The clincher was that he stated we was heading to his brother in law's Luigi Lisi in Lafferty Ohio.  I am reasonably certain this Giuseppe Contento is brother to Kate and Anna.  I do find it a little odd that he was never mentioned by Aunt Josie or Aunt Rose so far as I remember.  So far, I have been unable to be certain where he went from there, but perhaps it is not a coincidence that there's a Joe Contento who settled right here in Broome County NY!  Wouldn't that be something?

William H. Ryan Jr. 1895 - 1933 A Man of Mystery

William Ryan Jr. is one of Grampie's (Paul M. Ryan's) older brothers.  I recently found a document placing him in San Francisco in 1919:

This is a Seaman's Protection Certificate which served as a kind of passport for seamen of the time.  Apparently William had never been to sea, but was heading out to the Bering Sea from San Francisco.  Go figure.  The huge bonus, of course, is that there is a photograph included there at the bottom!!!  Along with his signature.  So this was a hugely satisfying find for me, but it has only added to the mystery of William Junior's life.

What we know is that he was born in Gloucester in 1895 with two older brothers already.  It's interesting to me that it wasn't until their third son that William Senior and Catherine Bentley Ryan named a child "Junior".  Typically families would name the first born son after the paternal grandfather (in this case Timothy---and none of their sons were named Timothy) and the second son after the maternal grandfather (John was the youngest living child's name).  But William Senior and Catherine did not follow this pattern.

I have a note that William Junior married a Bertha Brooks, but I have found no further evidence of this.  We do know that he married Catherine Gilhooley in 1927 somewhere in New York.  They had two daughters, Catherine and Dorothy.  I believe Catherine never married but I don't yet know what Dorothy's future held. 

William Junior died in Bellevue Hospital in June 1933 .  At the time, he was employed by Ellis Island in their hospital.  The family lived on Madison Avenue, but I don't think they lived the "high life" of New York City.  I've not been able to locate William in each of the census years that I ought to -- perhaps he was at sea.  It surprised me a great deal to find that he'd been in San Francisco for a couple of years. 

Another odd note is that another marriage record appears for Catherine and William in 1933, very shortly before he died.  I can't help but believe those two things are related in some way.  Perhaps he was hospitalized and proof of marriage was needed and that was the only means of providing it.  For now, that is my theory. 

The Gloucester Daily Times for June 30 1933 states that William's mother and brothers John, Richard, Paul and Arthur and his niece Kathryn (I think this is Richard's daughter) attended the funeral in New York City.  He was buried in  Queens, coincidentally in the same cemetery as some of the Italians in my life.  It's also interesting to note that his father did not attend the funeral (he would die almost exactly a year later -- he and Catherine Bentley Ryan are buried in different cemeteries).  There's more to that story also!!! 

As much as I learn, there's more to be discovered.