Clare, Sligo, Meath and More

Our Irish ancestry runs deep.  I have nothing to prove or disprove that our ancestors came to this continent escaping famine but it seems logical that there were significant "push and pull factors" (remember that from US History?).  Irish immigrants everywhere faced severe discrimination and I have no doubt the same held true for ours.

Our Irish immigrants were largely farmers or fishermen; livelihoods that depend upon unpredictable Mother Nature and many other factors beyond control.  I imagine that Henry Nevins' father was beyond proud that he became an attorney -- the grandson / son  of an immigrant.

I think I've talked before about our Irish surnames, but haven't talked too much about their Irish homeland.  That's mostly because I don't know too much first hand (yet) but one day I hope to.

My sister recently asked me to answer "in 5 words or less" where our Irish ancestors came from.  That wasn't so easy but here are our great-grands and what I know about where they came from.  Match 'em up on the map.

Patrick Flynn's mother Ellen:  County Clare
Patrick Flynn's mother Barbara came from Munich Germany (we aren't counting her right now)
Henry Nevins' grandfather Henry born Ireland:  his mother Julia born County Meath
Caroline Brown Nevins daughter of English immigrant

William H. Ryan's father Timothy born Ireland (maybe Tipperary)
Kate Bentley Ryan's mother and father born Galway
William Pierce was born in Canada latest in a long line of Canadians (Nova Scotia)
Edith Handran Pierce's mother was born in Sligo

Patrick Flynn worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad; Henry Nevins was a well known lawyer who spawned many more in the same line of work; William H. Ryan worked in various blue collar jobs such as lunch cart keeper; William Pierce was a fisherman.

So I guess the pictures in my head of our family look more like these than those pretty green shamrocks.

Facebook Schmapebook Manzellis on the Social Network of the Day

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found my grandfather Francis Flynn on Facebook recently.  Really!  As I've mentioned one zillion times, occasionally I surf the internet somewhat aimlessly looking for family surnames or events.  I did so recently with my grandfather's name and there he was, right there on Facebook for everyone to find.  Can you imagine?

This got me thinking about what he would have thought of such a thing.  Facebook, social networking and seeing himself land there would probably be things about which he would shake his head ruefully.  "Social networking?  That's no big deal---we've been networking since the cave man."  Oh yeah? Well, actually....yes they have.

My husband James tells me the Dalpiaz family did not have a party line on the phone, but we did when I was young.  Now THAT'S a "social network" where all kinds of news got shared while others kind of lurked in the background soaking it up.  Another tool used by your ancestors was likely the local newspaper.  Articles and headlines appeared in those days that you would never, ever see today (that's if you ever actually have a newspaper in your hand anymore).  I found some interesting tidbits that I imagine kept the networking wires abuzz at your family's Sunday dinners back in the day.

 This one's a little hard to read, but your great grandfather Giuseppe (Joseph) Manzelli apparently inherited a fair amount of money from his brother--$7500 for Giuseppe and Pasquale!  You don't see these kinds of things in the paper today. Brooklyn Daily Star April 6 1928.

 You should take a look at this one which talks about your grandmother Marguerite Manzelli performing at St. Rita's --all the way at the end it mentions she had a solo.  Also included in this production was her brother Albert as well as Amelia (I'm thinking this might be Emily?).  Take note near the top of the article where it says "A large attendance is expected, notwithstanding that today Ravenswood is practically cut off from trolley communication with the outside world because of the snow blockade."  This is from Mon Feb 16 1920 when Marguerite was just shy of her 22nd birthday.

 From the Long Island Star Journal we have a picture of Andrew Manzelli March 4 1940 all decked out in "Western Regalia for Minstrel".  This would be something else our families had in common as my dad was a regular at the minstrel shows (usually in a dress singing Barbra Streisand, but that's another tale for another day)

This one begs for the rest of the story since there surely is more to tell.  I believe this to be your great uncle Peter.  Hmmmm.  The Gangster Squad??

I'm now quite certain that Facebook currently exists because this stuff no longer does. 

John "Jack" Ryan and his brother Everett

Another unfinished story rests with John Ryan (Uncle Jack).  It was an additional mission in Gloucester and I found him as well.  It's an interesting story.

Paul "Grampie" Ryan Sr. was one of 9 children.  One baby girl died at birth so Aunt Bud was the only girl among seven boys.  John "Jack" Ryan was the youngest and was the victim of an accidental shooting in November 1939.  I think I've shared that story before.  Our uncle Tim Ryan told me he thought that Jack had died as a result of his wounds, but I didn't find an obituary in the days immediately following the accident.  So I felt I needed to "find" him as well so that I could close his story also.

I had discovered he died sometime in 1939 so it was a tad easier to go day by day through the newspapers from the November shooting date to the end of the year to find his death.

More than 7 weeks elapsed between the accident and his death, and Tim was absolutely correct that his uncle had died as a result of the shooting.  I noted that Jack had a wife and two children.

Since I was on a hot streak, I decided to pick up the thread left behind by this gravestone:

John J. Bentley is Captain Bentley who was lost at sea, Mary Costello Bentley was his wife.  Catherine Bentley was their daughter, our ancestor who married this William H. Ryan.  They are buried in separate cemeteries.  Everett Sr. is one of Grampie's brothers and Everett Jr. obviously his son.  As tempted as I was to locate Everett Jr. who apparently died as a teenager, I began looking for Everett Sr. in 1934.

I did find a funeral notice for Everett Sr. in August of that year but couldn't find the traditional death notice so I looked in the main portion of the paper and stopped cold when I found this very sad story:

This left me feeling very melancholy at how sad and lonely it must have been for Everett and his family and I couldn't go any further that day.  I was able to close the door on 3 of the siblings and have 2 remaining (Chester and Arthur).  There was a great deal of tragedy in that Ryan household which provides insight for our grandfather and father.

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.