Queens Amateur Athletic Club

I learned that your grandfather James Coffarelli was a World War I soldier in the US Army and that his brothers John and Phillip also served.  James took many pictures during his service in Italy and they are very carefully placed and labeled in a precious album that was found in the attic.  His careful notes and thoughtful pictures paint a picture of a man who cared very much about the world around him and the people in it.  I'm certain we will learn a great deal from these records so lovingly kept.

This is from a notebook kept by James Coffarelli probably during his time of service in World War I when he was just about 21 years old!  First of all, note the address for M. Disabto whom I believe to be his oldest sister Marguerite (the only sibling born in Italy)

Perhaps this was well before he met his bride as I see several young ladies listed here along with his sister's address, but no Marguerite Manzelli!  What great handwriting he has.

Now here's a letter sent from a lawyer to someone named HA Kellum in 1886

This obviously has nothing to do with your grandfather James as it was written 12 years before he was even born.  But as it was in your uncle's treasured possessions, we can conclude it meant something to someone in the Coffarelli family over 100 years ago!

This is another item in those treasures and here we see H.A. Kellum again.  I've done a little bit of research and discovered that the Queens Amateur Athletic Club at that time was a raceground for bicycles--thus the two mile handicap.  H.A. Kellum's name appears as a participant in several such races of the time period but I have NO idea what the connection to the Coffarelli family might be.  From bicycles in the 19th century to Mustangs in the 20th!

So we have a bit of a two mile handicap of our own here to figure this out--any thoughts?

I found my own little pot of gold this week with the Irish research.  Could you hear the Cathedral of Family History church bells ringing joyously?  I did.  I was finally able to unravel some family relationships with our Gloucestermen and officially add them to the family tree.  These are the McDonoughs--this branch of the family has been deviling me almost since I discovered them.  John Bentley (captain of the Schooner Paul Revere lost in 1882) married Mary Costello.  Mary's father Martin was Captain Bentley's cook on the Paul Revere.  Martin Costello was married to Julia so both Julia and Mary were left widowed after the sinking of the Paul Revere.  Mary died a few years after her husband but I hadn't found a trace of Julia's death and that was bothering me.

Finally I found Julia living in Boston in 1900 at the age of 72 and the census record indicated she had been the mother of 7 children and none remained alive by that time.  She was living with a niece.  Also in that household was the niece's sons, brother-in-law and nephew.  It was those people that I needed to tie to Julia (and therefore to us also).  Julia's death record indicated her maiden name was McDonough and I actually found her mother in Boston also!  It was a big tableful of puzzle pieces that didn't seem to fit together.  You keep going back to the table a move the pieces around, but can't quite make the one magical connection that allows all the others to fall into place.

Then I found the puzzle piece (a forgotten census record I uncovered in my paperwork set aside for later consideration) which allowed me to confirm and connect Julia and her niece as "our" Irish family members and open up a whole new group of families--all Irish fishermen, by the way.

And I'm not doing the discovery justice in the telling either--please try to be happy for me and say hello to your new McDonough cousins:  the Costins and the Regans of Boston.  Let the bells ring with genealogical joy. 

Monica Tierney McDonough's death certificate--the McDonough matriarch--Julia's mother

Treasure in Old Newspapers for the Coffarelli, Manzelli and Sapienza families

I found a wonderful new time-waster in the form of a website that has TONS of old newspaper articles largely from New York State and have been spending way too much time enthralled by my finds.  FultonHistory.com has put hours and hours of work into digitizing newspaper articles to benefit all of us but especially those interested in the smaller newspapers.  The Long Island Star Journal is a key newspaper for the Dalpiaz, Manzelli and Coffarelli families.   I think you're going to love these! (especially the Ruskas!!)

This appeared in the Long Island City Star Journal Thursday July 29 1948

Grandfather Giacomo Sapienza.  This appeared in the Lond Island Star Journal Sat Oct 26 1963

This is the wedding announcement for Madeline Manzelli and Joseph Basile published in the Long Island City Star Journal Mon Aug 26 1940--wedding trip to Lake George!

The big one that got away from the Manzelli boys as described in the Nov 7 1939 Long Island City Star Journal.  It's a special find to discover an article in which your ancestors are quoted.

The Canadian Link for Irish Immigrants

Our Irish ancestors were quite extraordinary.  All Irish immigrants are quite extraordinary, actually.  I recently got to watch a documentary called "Death or Canada--Fleeing the Irish Famine".  Intellectually I know the Irish faced hard times in the Famine years (1845-1852) but this documentary put the day to day hardships into sharp focus for me.  Disease and starvation forced Irish fisherman to sell their boats and nets to buy food for their families.  Typhus caused many more deaths than starvation brought upon these families.

I'd long known that many of our Irish came to the United States through Canada.  Apparently as the wave of Irish immigrants began to overwhelm Eastern US ports, the authorities reacted by increasing the fees owed by the shipping lines and immigrants.  Canada was kinder (read:cheaper). Many Irish took the long two month voyage to Canada because they had no other choice for survival.  Survival.

I believe Timothy Ryan immigrated during the Famine years.  We know that Patrick Flynn's mother Ellen immigrated from Ireland but I believe this was later, though I'm not certain.  The Pierces and the Nevins came from Canada but each are Irish families.  Even if Ellen did not leave Ireland due to the Famine, she survived the Famine years there--imagine the strength and certain Irish luck working in her favor!

No small wonder the Irish are generally dark and brooding.  No wonder their stories are often fanciful if not outright falsehoods.  They are strong and resourceful.  And we descend from these people.  "Take a break and think about the past" came from this documentary and I think they are appropriate words for as St. Patrick's Day approaches.

This is a picture of the oldest Irish ancestors that I have so far:  William Sr (Timothy's son) and his wife Kate Bentley Ryan.  I can almost picture Timothy from this as well as so many of the other Irish fishermen and farmers.  Perhaps you've see it before but it pays to look again with new eyes.

Giuseppe Nicholas Coffarelli 1817-1917

The Coffarelli tree will need a little more roon since I believe I have found another generation--great great great grandparents.

In 1910 and 1915, Nicholas Coffarelli (James Coffarelli's grandfather) lived with his son John's family in Long Island City. He had arrived from Italy when he was probably about 88 years old. Can you imagine making such a change in your life at that age? I suspect perhaps he wasn't in very good health but I don't know too much about that yet. I further suspect his wife had died by this time.

But I had a difficult time tracing Nicholas. I didn't expect he could have lived very much longer and by 1920 he no longer lived with the family. Some extra persistence paid off (thanks to the Italian Genealogical Group and I think I found his death record in January 1917 at the age of "99 years 4 months and 20 days" (making his birthday August 18 1817). He is listed as having been found dead in bed of "chronic myocarditis; arterio sclerosis and general senility". Small wonder.

He is actually listed on the death record as Giuseppe N Coffarelli, and since I'd been looking for Nicholas, it's no wonder it took persistence to find him. Another lesson learned. I should have been a little suspicious since I hadn't found any children named Nicholas anywhere yet. Family research is certainly teaching me many lessons!

Anyhow, back to the new added branch on the family. Guiseppe N Coffarelli's parents are listed as John and Isabella Malizasso! Welcome to the family John and Isabella! Isabella Coffarelli is a very pretty name. Another clue that this might be the right Coffarelli is that he named his son after his own father, as was typical for Italian families in those days.  It provides a clue that "your" John (great grandfather) may be the eldest son in his family. 

A new branch on the tree is always a cause for celebration and a new surname to boot is a terrific bonus. I recently bought some old but very beautful Christmas tree ornaments and finding Isabella Malizasso Coffaerelli is like hanging one of those pretty old ornaments-- a pretty sparkling ornament sitting in an antique shop just waiting to be discovered. And you always know there are more out there!

Social Networking before Facebook

I was very surprised to find my grandfather Francis P. "Weenie" Flynn on Facebook!  I don't think many people my age can say they found their grandfathers on a social networking site.  Made me wonder what he would have thought of Facebook.....I expect he would have taken it in stride the way he seemed to do with everything else.  At least, that's how it appeared to my young eyes. 

But social networking has been active for ages and ages.  Remember the party line we had on Dennison Road in Silver Creek NY in the 1960s?  That seems to me to be the ultimate precursor to Facebook.  You were connected to others (although not entirely by choice) who could monitor your activities anonymously by listening into the phone conversations.  Facebook stalking in its infancy.

Local newspapers, though, take the cake for hotbeds of social sharing.  You would never find such enlightening and entertaining information today in newsprint (if you can even find newsprint at all).  I am very grateful for such news flashes as they help build a more robust picture of our ancestors and their lives.

John Nevins is our great great grandfather (Henry's father).  This appeared in the Ellicottville Post Wed Oct 5 1898 and brings to mind the gigunda wind turbines they are bringing into Gloucester Massachusetts these days.  Everything old is new again.

Mary is Henry's next oldest sibling.  This appeared in the Ellicottville Post Wed June 14 1905 and pre-dates the All American Girls' Professional Baseball League ("There's no crying in baseball!") by nearly 40 years.  Nice that everyone in town knew about the black eye.

So, just to prove this stuff didn't just happen in Western New York, this is from the Boston Daily Globe Aug 2 1920.  Mrs. Ida Ryan, aged 27 and good-looking was the wife of Richard Ryan (Grampie Paul Ryan's brother).  This would have been our father's aunt.  All of 4'7" and 85 pounds, she could have blown into the harbor, but apparently she eventually returned home.  I do not yet know "the rest of the story" but there are all sorts of implications in this article:  "Quarrels with parents or relatives, anxiety to dress in better fashion that their pay envelopes will allow, love affairs, unrest and plain wanderlust are given by the police as primary cause in most cases".  Sometimes I wonder if we've really come very far in cases where young women disappear.
**I have just discovered that Ida Ryan was owner/manager of a tea room by 1940**  I hope she was happy.

Such articles don't appear anymore, but I wonder if those Facebook posts will be available to our descendants?

Marguerite (Innocence) Coffarelli DiSabto

This is the tale of one of those family history discoveries where you just want to dope-slap yourself for being so stupid.  And this particular 1910 census record has already provided interesting surprises in it and is now yielding another.

In the 1900 census, the John Coffarelli family lived at 75 Fifth Street.  The household included head of house John (your great grandfather) who lists himself as a laborer, his wife Rosa and children Margaret (the eldest and only born in Italy); Mary, Elizabeth, Theresa, Lena, Joseph, Phillip, Lucy and Samuel (your grandfather whom we know as James). 

In the 1910 census, the same Coffarelli family lived at the same address but by now Rosa had died and the household included:  John, Elizabeth, Tessie, Lena, Joseph, Phillip, Louise, Samuel, Nicholas (father to John so your great great grandfather) and cousin Michael Pinto.

I had become obsessed with tracking down your grandfather James' siblings so as to demonstrate that indeed there were (and are) lots of Coffarellis out there for you to meet.  In some ways this was no small task given what this family seemed to do with first names by changing them seemingly at will.  But I did pretty well.

Going up the line from James youngest to oldest, I found that Louise married Michael Barra and I met her grandson.  Phillip apparently never married.  Joseph married but had no children.  Lena married Anthony Fierro and I do believe there are children in this family.  Tessie became a nun.  Elizabeth apparently never married and was known as Christine when she died.  Mary (who was not in the house in 1910) had married John Orabell and had at least one child who died nearly at birth.  But I was having a really hard time with the oldest Margaret.

From James' newspaper obituary I knew that Margaret was Mrs. M. Disabto.  A great deal of fruitless searching for her left me frustrated but even more determined.  Online I located a Disabto family Marco and Innocence and the family tree listed Innocence as Innocence Coffarelli before marriage.  When I tracked that family down, I found them living at 75 Fifth Avenue IN THE SAME HOUSE as John and the remaining siblings.  Look carefully at the census record and there they are right below cousin Michael Pinto.

I had overlooked that this family was living in the same house.  Most maddeningly I had recognized the Disabto name and figured this was how Margaret met her husband because the families were neighbors.  Duh.  They ARE the family.  Margaret is apparently Innocence.  I sent away for the two oldest of her children's birth records.  They each list a Coffarelli for the mother's maiden name but not quite the same first names:  Innocentia and Enogensia--I figure that's close enough to feel comfortable in saying this Disabto family are your Coffarellis.  And they were right there all the time!!!  Right under my nose just waiting to be recognized.

Innocence/Margaret was Marco/Mark's second wife and it appears he died around 1923.  She may have died around 1955 but this isn't confirmed yet. 

This family was pretty loosey-goosey with first names it seems.  It wasn't until I got the bigger picture that I realized that and can now make it part of my research strategy.  I feel like I've gathered up all those siblings and got them accounted for nicely.  There you go!  A whole bunch of new cousins for you to consider.  And they are right here in front of us just waiting to be recognized.