Join Bob as he interviews Suzanne Russo Adams about her Sicilian Family and Italian Family Research.  Suzanne is also a genealogist with Familysearch.org and gives us an in depth look at all the features available.   Click here to join our group on Facebook If you are looking for help with your Italian Family Research, FamilySearch is FREE. Anyone can sign up for an account to use the site.  The access might be different for different people dependent on our contracts with the original repository/archives. An example of that is that the Italian State Archives (DGA) limits access of the civil registration records on FamilySearch to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; however—everything that FamilySearch puts online from the DGA is also available for free on the Italian government’s website here: http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?lang=en Here are few links to some facts and information for FamilySearch: Italy Emigration: The Who, Why, and Where FamilySearch Company Facts Italian Collection Area for Search  https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/location/1927178 To access content for Italy or anywhere in the world on FamilySearch–these are the ways to do that: The Family History Library Catalog:https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog Records: (many of these are indexed or browsable): https://www.familysearch.org/search/ Image Search: www.familysearch.org/records/images  And don’t forget the book section! Might be surprised what you find there, too! https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/ Visit our LINKS PAGE also. Suzanne’s book on Italian Family Research

Bob from Italian Genealogy does a Youtube interview with Laura Lee from Digging Up Roots In The Boot.  It was fun to be answering questions for a change. Click here to join our group on Facebook Italian Genealogy Podcasts

Laura Lee Watson Join Bob and Laura Lee Watson as she discusses how she found that Frank Sinatra is her 3rd cousin from the same town in Sicily.  Laura Lee also talks about her company located in Calabria “Digging Up Roots In The Boot” Laura Lee Watson is a proud third-generation Italian American who ventured abroad to Italy in 2005 with the intention of digging a little deeper into her Italian roots. She visited her ancestral villages in Sicily, met and developed ongoing relationships with distant cousins, and had her Italian citizenship recognized in 2008.  It was after thiat amazing experience that she dedicated to promote Italian cultural heritage. Digging up Roots in the Boot specializes in Heritage Tourism and Genealogical Research throughout Italian descents living abroad.  She takes great pride in delivering custom and personalized services with passion and attention to detail. She designs our bespoke ancestral village heritage tours to meet your time frame and personal goals.  No two family histories are the same so you can expect a unique approach to planning your itinerary.  She offers consulting services, to help you prioritize your efforts and make the bureaucracy seem a little less daunting while you are preparing the necessary paperwork for Italian Citizenship. She is dedicated to breaking down brick walls when it comes to researching Italian historical documents.   Italian public offices and churches can be very challenging to work with locally, let alone from abroad.  She is onsite in Italy and specializes in providing thorough and accurate Italian document research of all available Italian records. She has access to Civil Records, Church Records, Military Records, Notary Records, Family and Land Census Records. She can assist you whether you are looking for certified documents to submit with your Italian Citizenship Application or an extensive multi-branch family research project. Digging up Roots in the Boot offers 4 distinct services: Italian Document Research, Italian Citizenship – administratively, judicial, and in Italy, Italian Heritage Tours, and locating Italian relatives. Website:  Digging up Roots in the Boot – https://digginguprootsintheboot.comYouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/LauraLeeDiggingupRootsintheBootTwitter: https://twitter.com/DRB_LauraLee  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lauralee.drb/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DiggingUpRootsInTheBoot/    Pintrest: https://www.pinterest.com/lauralee_drb/boards/ Mention IG2020 when contacting Laura Lee  For great Italian Gifts Visit Digging up Roots in the Boot Storefront Camillo Malandro and Reparata Travaglini Salvatore Barracato Isidoro Sinatra birth Dec 10 1747 Sinatra Record Antonio Sinatra & Rosana Iovino Marriage 25 Dec 1745 Click here to join our group on Facebook

My Italian Ancestry By Francisco Andragnes My grandmother Elena (to the right) and her siblings in Vicenza I was born in Argentina and my surname is Basque, however 75% of my ancestry is of Italian origin. My ancestry comes from Trapani, the westernmost town in Sicily, all the way to Borgo Sacco, a town in Trentino close to the Austrian border, including also ancestors from Crocefieschi, Voltri, Finale , Laigueglia and Savona in Liguria, Meta and Piano di Sorrento in Campania, Lugo in Vicenza, and Ora in Trentino.   Both my maternal grandparents were born in Italy. Their paths would have never crossed in Italy as my grandmother was born in Milan and my grandfather was born seven years later in Meta di Sorrento, near Napoli and grew up in Genova. However, they both decided to leave Italy to look for better opportunities. My grandmother Elena Benetti first moved to Egypt to teach at the Italian school and then to London, to run the Italian school there. At her school, Nicolò Piacentino, a young Italian economics laureate came to make a presentation to the students, and somehow they fell in love. Sometime later he got hired by the Costa and Preve families from Genova and Laigueglia, to establish an oil maker in Argentina, and asked my grandmother if she would go with him. They got married in Argentina, where Nicolò had a successful career as a grains trader, and Elena lived up to the age of 102, surrounded by the love of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Elena Benetti was born in Milano from Ilario Benetti from Sacco di Trento and Emma Lanaro from Lugo di Vicenza, both families from northern Italy. Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook Sacco di Trento, now a suburb from Rovereto, was under Austrian control at that time, at the base of the Alps. The Benetti family worked as zattieri (rafters) who traded and carried along the Adige river wood from the alps that was used for construction in Verona and Vicenza. Ilario’s mother was a Vulcan, one of the clients of his father Achille, and his grandmother was a Bissaldi, a family of merchants and lawyers in Sacco. Upon their father’s early death my great grand father Ilario Benetti and his brother Ruggero relocated to Lugo to run the Cartiera Nodari (later renamed Cartiera Burgo), the largest and most modern paper mill in the region, and were made Cavaliere because of their contribution to the economic development of Italy, and married wives from that town. Family certificate of my great grandfather Ilario Benetti The wedding of my grandmothers’ cousin Roberto Benetti in Bassano My Ancestor Marco Maglione (di Marsiglia) Photo of the Piacentino / Cernigliaro family (my ancestors Nicolò Piacentino and Maria Cernigliaro at both ends in the first row) Ilario Benetti married Emma Lanaro. Lanaro was a family of landowners in the town of Lugo north of Vicenza. My great great grand father, Giuseppe Lanaro (1840-1912) was also the mayor of his town and fought together with Garibaldi in 1859 as part of the 7th regiment of infantry. Giuseppe Lanaro met his wife Paolina Maglione in Laigueglia when we was raising investment money for the Nodari cartiera.  My ancestors Maglione, Preve and Stalla, were some of the strongest families of Laigueglia and Marseilles, and of distant Spanish origins. Their business mainly consisted owning fleets that would bring oil from southern Italy to Marseilles where it was used to make soap, with family members located in Laigueglia, Marsiglia, Naples and other towns where they traded with. The family histories are well documented in local literature, including stories about how they fought the fleets of corsaries and “turks”. A colorful one told how once they run out of bullets from their cannons they started using silver coins as ammunition. Maglio means hammer, and the family crest includes a lion holding a wooden cane. Among the better known ancestors we have Matteo Maglione, aka “Il Garo”, Francesco Maglione, known as Il Garotto di Marsiglia, and Lorenzo Preve, aka il Canosso.  My ancestors Maglione, Preve and Stalla, were some of the strongest families of Laigueglia and Marseilles, and of distant Spanish origins. Their business mainly consisted owning fleets that would bring oil from southern Italy to Marseilles where it was used to make soap, with family members located in Laigueglia, Marsiglia, Naples and other towns where they traded with. The family histories are well documented in local literature, including stories about how they fought the fleets of corsaries and “turks”. A colorful one told how once they run out of bullets from their cannons they started using silver coins as ammunition. Maglio means hammer, and the family crest includes a lion holding a wooden cane. Among the better known ancestors we have Matteo Maglione, aka “Il Garo”, Francesco Maglione, known as Il Garotto di Marsiglia, and Lorenzo Preve, aka il Canosso. TMy maternal grandfather, Nicolò Piacentino, was son of Giuseppe Piacentino from Trapani in Sicily and Maria Sofia Scarpati, from the Sorrento peninsula. My grandfather’s grandfather, also called Nicolò Piacentino, was born in Trapani and died in Tunis.  The Piacentino family had been running salt mines in Trapani for almost three centuries. Salt was mainly used to preserve the tuna fished in the Mediterranean. After the economic impact of the Franco Prussian war forced many people in Trapani to relocate in Tunis, until the French imprisoned many of these Italian immigrants during WWII, and these Italian families came back to Italy or France. There are two main Piacentino branches in Trapani, but all Piacentino descend from the same couple, Sebastiano Placentino and Giacoma Paneri. Nicoló Piacentino, the father of Giuseppe Piacentino, married Maria Cernigliaro (who was a first cousin of his mother María Antonia Cernigliaro), from family of sea merchants from Trapani. Most of my ancestors in Trapani lived in the central/port area near the church of San Pietro. Other ancestor last names in the area include the Virzi, Ricevuto, Mancuso, Savalli, and Cassisa, all families with long traditions in the area as well. The Scarpati was a family of sailors and navigators. Ferdinando Scarpati, a great uncle of him, established a well-known school of Navigation. He also descends from the Maresca, Iaccarino and Lauro families from Piano di Sorrento also in the maritime business. Francesco Saverio died at sea from yellow fever that he acquired trading at the Cape Verde islands in Africa.   Francesco Saverio married Rachele Cafiero, family of rich and established merchants and navigators, also of distant Spanish origins, including the Admiral Gioavanni Cafiero who was very close to the Borbon King of the two Sicilies. Actually Cafiero was the last name of three of her four grandparents, but her paternal grandfather was an Esposito, who changed his last name because “Esposito” means abandoned child, which he was. Her uncle wanted to become a priest and would not have been very successful with the wrong last name. While my paternal grandmother, Delia Morando was born in Argentina, all her grand parents were born in Liguria: Her father Lorenzo Morando was also born in Argentina son of two recent immigrants, Giovanni Battista Morando and Rosa Tacchella, both from Croce Fieschi. Morando was a family of merchants, some of them noble, from Croce Fieschi and Genova. Morando comes from “Moro” (Moorish). The family crest, which consisted of three moorish heads with silver headbands and a golden background, was sculpted in 1686 outside the Santa Croce church in Croce Fieschi and destroyed during the revolutionary uprisings in 1797. By the second half of the 19th century the family had lost it’s wealth and become mainly farmers. However this tradition of building churches was continued by my great grandfather who helped build and ornate the church of San Nicolas de Bari in Buenos Aires. Lorenzo Morando married Adela Pignone in Argentina. Adela had two Italian parents, Pellegrino Pignone from Votri and Anita Bottaro from Savona, who married in Argentina. The Pignone were fabbroferrai (Blacksmiths) working at the factories outside Voltri, now abandoned. Bottaro, family of merchants and maritime captains in Savona. Among my ancestors Capitano Carlo Giovanni Bottaro and his father Capitano Giovanni Battista Bottaro. They both married into the Bottino family, who worked as osti (hosts) and fishermen in Finale Ligure.    Photo of the Cafiero / Esposito family (courtesy of Giovanni Rossi) Listen to my podcast interview

Uncle Nick Mina Mina’s Fuel Oil Before talking about my two summers working at Mina’s, a brief history as I know it.  I was told that the company was started by my aunt’s father in law, I guess in the 30’s or 40’s.  My aunt’s husband ( Nick Mina ) was running the company when I was a boy.   Now Uncle Nick was a card.  He used to make me laugh all the time, especially when he would deliver oil to our house in College Point.  My mom had a special gold chair in our living room, that no one was allowed to sit on.  Uncle Nick knew this and whenever mom would have him come in for coffee, he would go sit on that chair, with his oil burner clothes, just to freak her out. I was about ten when he passed, and actually we were vacationing with him and my Aunt.  It was so sad, and I remember every detail of that night.   Click here to join Italian Genealogy Group on Facebook My Career at Mina’s Fuel Oil During Easter vacation of 1967, when we were having some snow squalls, my cousin Lou came to deliver our oil.  He asked me what I was doing, and I said not much.  He asked, do you want to work on the truck.  You bet!   So I ran and got some old clothes and off we went.  Little did I know, that I was the guy to hump the hose to the house, while Lou sat in the truck.  But that was fine, I didn’t really mind.  It was fun and I made some cash.  One of the best parts was climbing to the top of the truck and filling up the three bays with 2700 gallons of oil. So I guess I did a good job, because once the summer rolled around Lou asked if I would like to help clean the oil burners. Similar Truck to Mina’s Photo by The U.S. National Archives on flickr · · · Original Caption: Oil Truck at the John F. Kennedy Airport 05/1973 U.S. National Archives’ Local Identifier: 412-DA-5475 Photographer: Tress, Arthur, 1940- S Me in 1968 Cleaning the burners Needless to say this was a dirty job.  So dirty that my mom would make take my clothes off at the bottom of the steps that led to our basement.  But I was well paid ( I think about $75.00 a week ) big bucks for a 16 year old in 1967.  Not to mention that Lou would be me breakfast and lunch.   Lou lived in Bayside, so he’d pick me up on the way to Corona.  We would stop at a place on 111th St., or sometimes go to Frank’s Luncheonette.  Then we would head out to do the cleanings.   We (I)  would have to bring some boxes with tools, cleaning fluid and supplies down to some pretty funky basements, usually with little light.  Lou taught me how to hook up the cleaning fluid to the pump, change the glass gauge, touch up the burner with paint and repair asbestos when needed.  As I got skilled Lou would let me work on my own. Sometimes we would have to put in a new burner or unit and that would be an all day job.  Maybe even longer. Close calls and other fun stuff After you ran the cleaning fluid though, you would have to prime the pump on the oil burner. You did this by putting a wrench on the plug and bleeding out the air.  One time, I had the wrench on and was holding it to bleed, as Lou through the switch to start the pump.  As soon as he hit the switch, I was getting electrocuted.  I kept yelling turn it off, he kept yelling why.  Finally, he turned it off.  The worst part was that I couldn’t let go of the wrench. Another time, after bleeding the pump, the igniter wasn’t working, so I opened the door to the chamber and BOOM, it ignited.  Knocked me clear across the floor.   One of the accounts was a funeral home.  We had to go deep into the basement past all the embalming rooms.  We brought everything in and Lou said, “I’ll be right back” and as he walk out he was shutting all the lights going oooooh oooooh.  When he came back I said “I couldn’t see”,  “why didn’t you just walk around and feel for the light switch, or an arm or leg?” One of the funniest events, was at Future Motors, in Long Island City.  They a had a very large underground tank, which held probably 1000 gallons.  The fill was basically just a whole in the ground with no vent, and the nozzle didn’t lock in.  So as I’m watching the nozzle and hose starts to bounce.  Thinking it was going to pop out I went to grab it to hold it in the ground.  Just as I did, Lou shows up just across from me.  Wouldn’t you know that’s when it popped out!  I must have it Lou with about 5 gallons.  Now, that wasn’t the worst part.  Lou was known for not getting dirty ( that was my job ), when we went to lunch that day, all his oil burner buddies were getting on his case. Vintage Oil Burner