First Communion Mystery Clarified

Cousin Jim Coffarelli  mentioned in a recent email that they had begun working on their father's (John Coffarelli's) house and had found some interesting things in the attic from your grandfather James Coffarelli.  Cousin Angela was very gracious in taking us over to the house (I'd never been there) and showing some of the treasures discovered in the attic.  This is amazing stuff!  It's a wonder it stayed hidden up in that attic for all these years unknown to those closest to Uncle Johnny.   I assume that since he was the oldest child, much of this was left in his care.  There is quite a bit there related to your grandfather including his chauffeur licenses; a journal he kept while in Italy during World War I, pictures and a letter he wrote to his young son John while he was hospitalized encouraging him to be brave but not shy.  Definitely a gold mine.  I appreciate Angela's willingness to take the time and to share.

This picture is one of the pictures in Uncle Johnny's house.  Seeing it there was the final link for me in solving the mystery of this photo.  It appears to be two children celebrating First Communion.  The first time I saw this picture, it was in a big box of pictures from  the Dalpiaz family that was in Robert's house.  That meant it could be Dalpiaz or Coffarelli related.

Then I met your Coffarelli cousin Mike Barra who is Louise Coffarelli Barra's grandson.  Louise was next oldest sibling to your grandfather James (who was the  youngest of 9).  And he has the same picture!  So that meant this was Coffarelli related.  Mike was certain the girl in the picture was his grandmother Louise.  I supposed it was possible the boy was James, her brother but I wasn't sure if siblings would have shared First Communion at that time.  We certainly aren't used to that in the Roman Catholic Church today and I just didn't know enough about Church tradition of the time.

When we saw this picture in Uncle Johnny's stuff, it pretty much confirms for me that the boy is most likely James.  So although I am still not certain, this picture went from being largely unknown to fairly confirmed through the (sort of) random visits and picture shuffling with relatives.  Deliberate work with random luck pretty well defines family history research.

Cookies Anyone?

I spent the afternoon baking cookies yesterday.  I realize most people do their cookie baking on a different schedule, but that's what I felt like doing yesterday.  I use my mother's old Betty Crocker Cookie Cookbook.  It is BEAT UP and RAGGED.  Its spine has been taped over but of course that's long since become ineffective.  There are stains and marks everywhere in in.  I don't remember how it happened that that cookbook found its way to my kitchen, but I take great comfort in it.  It sits right next to the Betty Crocker cookbook Mom gave me for Christmas in 1980.

In the back of the book, there are a series of "best cookies" from particular time periods and this is the one from the time period of Mom's birth in 1933.  I thought it was kind of interesting to note the special notice about molasses and that "Betty Crocker service responds to the needs of depression-hit homemakers with balanced low cost recipes and menus."  I've always been quite certain that the effects of the Depression era mightily impacted Mom's cooking and baking habits.  You can see how these pages are well worn even though they are way in the back and likely rarely consulted.

In the front of the book, Mom has noted her name with 11/64 indicating a date.  She has also taped a universal recipe to the front here--I've never tried this one but I have made many others in the book.  Yesterday it was chocolate crinkles.  To prepare to bake, I removed several sticks of margarine from the freezer so they could come to room temperature before I got ready to bake.  This chocolate crinkly cookie recipe didn't even call for margarine!  It uses vegetable oil instead.  Makes me wonder how these recipes have evolved over the years to accommodate current health concerns and economy. I didn't do that research so you are spared that much in this post.

Since she got the book in November of 1964, I figure she must have gotten it into her head that she was going to bake Christmas cookies that year.  What was she thinking?  5 small children at her feet every minute and she wanted to bake cookies?  Who knows, but this is a little view of how things looked on Dennison Road Silver Creek NY in 1964:

No Charlemagne -- No Wonder

 No Charlemagne family history connections for you---yet.  Apparently there are those that consider it "hot stuff" to brag descendancy from this leader of the Holy Roman Empire.  Although "He was temperate in eating and drinking, abominated drunkenness, and kept in good health despite every exposure and hardship.”, he was also brutal in his quest to spread Christianity.  But no connections for you yet.  
NPR blogger Robert Krulwich recently discussed the popularity of shared Charlemagne ancestry and brought to mind a very interesting mathematical reality.  Theoretically, you can calculate your ancestors by doubling the numbers for each generation back.  For example, 10 generations means 1024 ancestors (which isn't too far from the total number I currently have in the combined Dalpiaz/Ryan tree).  So, back to the time of Charlemagne (48 generations give or take) each person would have 281.5 TRILLION ancestors.  See the problem?  There weren't even a trillion people on earth in the year 800 AD.

So, now what?  Of course, even though you still have 281.5 Trillion grandparents of some level, each isn't a different individual.  Cousins marry, for example, and pretty soon you're tripping over the same people in more than one place in your tree.  
The good news is that genealogy is finite.  There comes a point where no records are available and you can put all the names you want to into those 281.5 trillion slots on the tree, but without records to document proof, it's like a hangman game--just filling in the blanks to win the game.  
This is described as "pedigree collapse", which is the phrase that came to mind since I read that cell phone providers are running out of airwaves to support all the SmartPhone data plans out there.  Called "spectrum crunch" (sounds like a breakfast cereal), this problem highlights that the wireless spectrum can't support promised services as it is a finite resource.  Apparently Smartphones are infinite or this problem wouldn't exist (suggesting a quick and sensible solution).  

Regardless, perhaps wireless providers will be forced to collapse and marry its cousin.  Verizon, meet T Mobile.  Or we could just send Charlemagne.

Happy Franksgiving One and All!

I am contemplating Thanksgiving and thankfulness, along with most of the rest of the nation this week.  I love Thanksgiving because -- for me -- it's one of the "easy" holidays.  All you really need to worry about is the meal.  No gifts, decorations, cards to write and so forth.  For the most part, it's pretty relaxing as traditional family events go.  This gives a person more time to reflect on what there is to be thankful for.

Reflecting on thankfulness is a valuable exercise.  It takes us outside ourselves to think about influences beyond the confines of our personal space.  And when you join families through marriage or relationships, these influences can spread to the following generation.  Such is the nature of my gratitude for your family's efforts to keep cousins connected.

My mother was an only child so I had no aunts, uncles or cousins from her side of the family.  My father was the oldest of 3 boys and he was 13 years older than his next youngest brother.  My dad settled and started his family several hundred miles from his own hometown of Gloucester Massachusetts.  His brothers stayed in Gloucester, married and started families.  We saw very little of our Gloucester aunts, uncles or cousins.  It was an unusual event indeed to see them.

But your family has always seemed to be able to maintain pretty close ties with their associated families.  Even as youngsters, your parents seemed to spend a great deal of time with their extended family--this, of course, was partly due to the close geography and culture of the day.  But as you grew to adulthood, you all have made amazing efforts to allow our children to spend time with their cousins.  As I've come to know my own cousin a little better in recent years, I've learned to understand the value of this family bond.  So, thank you for making it so!


Originally I had planned to research what Thanksgiving was like for Italian immigrants in Astoria in the 1940s. Oddly, I didn't find the kind of information I was seeking but I did find an interesting little factoid that perhaps you will find interesting.  Apparently in 1939, the fourth Thursday in November (the traditional date to celebrate Thanksgiving) was late in the month, as it is this year.  At the time, it wasn't considered  proper to begin Christmas prior to Thanksgiving (imagine such a world!) and retailers were worried about the bottom line in a shortened shopping season especially as the Depression effects lingered.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved Thanksgiving back a week in order to allow the extra shopping week.  Did you know this?  Derisively, it was known as Franksgiving and resulted in certain and rapid response from our US Congress.  It's an interesting story.  Check it out here.  

Regardless of when you celebrate or with whom, please enjoy every minute of your time together.

Elizabeth Coffarelli 1886-1947

Another elusive Coffarelli has been found!  This is truly an example of serendipitous fortune.  As often happens, I was looking for someone else when this newspaper article kind of fell into my lap.

Elizabeth is the third daughter of John and Rose Coffarelli--your grandfather James' sister.  I wasn't certain what happened to her after her brother died in 1934--she was listed as a surviving sister at that time.   I believe she lived at home with her father after her mother Rose died.  Since her older sisters married and moved away, I picture that she acted as the female head of the house.  She held a variety of jobs including "Flower Maker" and factory operator.  

This obituary tells me she never married.  I do not know where "Christine" came from but I have an old note from your house (probably a funeral card) that listed her death date and name as C. Elizabeth.  I don't know if she was visiting her nephew (sister Louise's son) or if she lived there, but you will note she was buried in Catskill Jefferson Heights.  This obituary also tells me that her other sisters Louise, Margaret and Theresa (the nun) survived her along with her brother Joseph.  So I can continue to look for Margaret after 1947.  

Elizabeth died at a fairly young age, as did several of the other Coffarellis (her mother, her brothers James and Phillip; her sister Mary), but now she is found and properly noted in our family tree.  When such a discovery falls into my lap the way this did, I wear my sparkly Genealogy Gem pin so people ask me what the pin means.  Then I can tell the story, because not everyone reads this blog to keep up on such news!!!

Walter Brown 1849-1908

Walter Brown was bedeviling me in terms of "closing the door" on his life.  Walter was Grampie Brown's younger brother.  Unlike Grampie (William S. Brown), Walter was born in the United States.  Though an early census record indicates he was born in Albany County, a later census indicates he was born in Michigan (where his sisters settled).  I am more inclined to believe he was born in New York State since that earlier census record was recorded much closer to the actual event.  I have the family pretty well documented and I don't believe they were in Michigan in 1849, but I could be proven mistaken one day in the future.

Walter apparently worked with metal--his occupation was listed as tinsmith and metal laborer over the years.  He came from a long history of blacksmithing and tinsmithing seems not too far removed from that.  He married Sarah Armstrong and lived in the Buffalo NY area.  Sarah and Walter had two children William and Maria.  Again, not easy to locate yet another William Brown in Buffalo but the search will continue.

This case was cracked when I found Grampie Brown living with Sarah after Walter died.  I'd had this death notice but wasn't sure it was the right Walter until I found that little tidbit.

Further evidence was located in a gravestone picture located somewhat by accident while following Ancestry.com leads:

This picture wouldn't have made sense without knowing a little about Walter's wife Sarah.  It's in Holy Cross Cemetery (presumably Buffalo though I'm not sure).

This is a case where several small clues lead me to conclude that our Walter Brown died in 1908:  the gravestone combined with the newspaper obituary combined with the census record.  None of these, standing alone, would lead to such a conclusion but TOGETHER they paint another picture of one of our family members.  It brings me great satisfaction to hunt these clues down and try to match them up.  I'm embarrassed to admit how many of these clues have been right in my files all along but that's a different story for another day.

James Francis Coffarelli 1898-1934

I continue to sort through documents I've had for a long time to review them seeking new insights or information. This is James Francis Coffarelli's baptismal certificate.  I don't blame you if you're wondering "Is she SURE that's what this is?  I don't see his name listed anywhere."


This was one of the very first documents I used to study the Dalpiaz family history.  That was bad luck for me.  I did not know who Jacob Simeon Coffarelli was for many years until I figured out that this document was dated 1923 (just a few weeks before James was married) and therefore transcribed by someone many years after the actual baptism.  I suspect the baptismal record may have said Giacomo which could be Jacob OR James.  I haven't yet figured out the Simeon/Samuel references.  Perhaps if I keep pulling these threads, I will figure it out.  I was convinced it was James' baptismal certificate by the birthdate which I knew to be his.

Another problem created from using this information first was that I read James' mother's name as Rosa Pidous.  I put that information in all my records and searched using that name.  I've come to accept that her name was likely Rosa Pedano (which you can kind of see in that example above).  Searching for Pedano is a whole different ball game than Pidous--and not just for the difference in spelling--but that's another blog post for another day.

I was curious about his sponsors Frank Scaretta and Margherita Nigra but haven't found anything in particular about them--not long lost cousins as far as I know today.

This Certificate of Marriage is why James needed the baptismal certificate.  How nice that this is seasier to read and makes much more sense in the overall picture.  We see familiar names.  It has a raised stamp.  It fits perfectly.  Enough to make a family historian smile a little as she falls asleep.