Genealogy Reviews Online

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

This is my first time participating in Saturday Night Genealogy Fun.  I initially hesitated because I've been writing too much about "The Show" (sometimes a bit negatively), but I like the topic and thought I'd give it a try.

I have two ancestors who would make good subjects of an hours long show.  They both led adventurous lives, and had courage way beyond what I could ever imagine myself having.  I have the feeling neither would consider their lives as adventurous - they were both just focused on getting away from the squalid lives they lived.

The first ancestor in my paternal grandfather Antonio Agazio (1886-1949).  This man is the primary focus of my research and probably will be until the very end.  He boarded a ship at Naples, Italy in 1900 at the age of 14, with a slightly older cousin (so the story goes...the identity of that cousin was lost to history).  He sailed to Quebec; worked his way across Canada; crossed into the US at Sault Ste Marie, Michigan; made his way to Spokane, Washington where he found railroad work for about 10 years; and finally made his way to Denver, Colorado in 1910.  I'd like to visit San Giovanni in Fiore, Italy where he was born; Naples, Italy where he began his journey; Quebec, Canada where he first set foot in North America; Sault Ste Marie where he first came to the US, and Spokane where he first found a job.

The second ancestor is Danial Cone (1626-1706).  He is one of my maternal 8th great grandfathers, and I don't know many facts about him prior to coming to the US.  He was born in Scotland and reportedly fought against the English at the Battle of Dunbar was captured, and sold as an indentured servant to work in the colonies.  I do know he was a founding father of the town of Haddam, Connecticut.  Sure would love to have those pro genealogists from "The Show" sort out his time in Scotland.  I would love to visit the battleground at Dunbar, Scotland and roam around the town of Haddam Connecticut.  We drove close to Haddam once, but couldn't stop.

I think both of these guys would make great subjects for "The Show."   

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Tombstone Tuesday: Domenic Agazio 1915 - 2001

My father's older brother buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, Colorado.

Naturalization Documents from Ancestry.com

A few days ago I wrote a post about whether I should subscribe to Ancestry.com.  My concern was a recent search of the site produced naturalization documents for my paternal grandfather, but since I did not have a subscription, I couldn't access them.  I received a lot of great comments suggesting I only subscribe for a month instead of spending all that money for an entire year.  I haven't subscribed yet, but I did get my hands on those documents from Ancestry (my source shall remain nameless), and I couldn't be happier. 

Above are two different copies of the same document.  The one on the right is what I had.  It's a horrible copy, but I was able to use it...barely.  I tried all sorts of sources to get a better copy (NARA, INS, Colorado Archives, etc.), but all told me they couldn't find it.  Maybe I didn't provide the right information, but I figured better copies didn't exist.

The copy on the left is the recently received Ancestry.com version.  I didn't realize how bad the other copy was until I saw this one.  I can now clearly see the street and town where my grandfather and his family lived; I can clearly determine the dates and places of birth of his children; I can clearly read the names and occupations of two men who witnessed the document; and I can clearly see how he described his immigration route to the United States.  There's now a gold mine of info for me to explore.

I'm also impressed with the scanning quality of the document from Ancestry.  I just might buy myself a month's access and see how it goes. 

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West Virginia Archives

I've read a number of blog posts recently about the West Virginia Archives online records, and it almost seems like folks are discovering it for the first time.  I've been using it for a little over three years now - in fact I wrote about it in November of 2006.  While the West Virginia Archives had online documents for at least three years, the recent update now cover all state counties. 

Most of the time pure luck is the main driver in my greatest genealogy discoveries, but I found the West Virginia Archives by simply following the evidence.  Some of our family stories indicated my Italian grandfather had a number of half sisters.  With this information, I checked the Ellis Island database and found a Sarafina Aggazio who came from the same town in Italy as my grandfather.  The manifest also listed Sarafina's mother as Rosa and this was the same name as my grandfather's step mother.  The immigration manifest also had Sarafina's final destination as Wheeling WV.

Once armed with the above information, it didn't take me long to find the West Virginia Archives.  The first records I found three years ago were the death certificates of a daughter and son of Sarafina Aggazio.  Once I saw Sarafina's name on those certificates, I knew I found my Great Aunt. 

The snow ball kept rolling because a few online searches lead me to a name of a living descendant  of Sarafina.  I wrote an old fashion letter and then one day I got a phone call from Sarafina's youngest daughter which lead to a photo and information exchange.

Today I found the death certificate of Sarafina's husband (Antonio Fragale).

And this all happened courtesy of the West Virgina Archives.

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Ancestry.com DNA Tests - Update

Earlier this year I let my Ancestry.com subscription expire and rarely went back to the site since I wouldn't have access to any records.  I completely forgot about DNA Ancestry and when I visited I noticed some changes. 

The most obvious change was the number of matches I now have.  As of today, I have a total of 153 paternal DNA matches (based on the 46 marker Y-DNA test I took).  The interesting part is I now have a new guy at the top of the list who is (according to DNA Ancestry) related to me within 12 generations (approx 300 years).  The cool part is I can actually trace my paternal line almost 300 years, but this new guy's name is hispanic and not Italian so I don't know if it will be helpful.

The one group I joined (Y-DNA Haplogroup E1b1b - The Early Farmers) has grown much larger.  I think the last time I looked it had under 100 members, but now is up to 254 and they appear to be a rather lively bunch.  As normal, I never really participate, but I do find all of the comments interesting - I was struck by how knowledgable people are now about genitic genealogy compared to 3-4 years ago.

One thing that didn't change is the price.  When I ordered the test not too long after Ancestry.com started, I think the Y-DNA 46 marker test cost me $149...the Y-DNA 46 marker test still costs $149.  I think they lowered the 33 marker test, however, from $119 to $99.

I haven't heard a whole lot of complaining about Ancestry.com's DNA offering so maybe people are getting what they expect.

Check out this post to see a round-up of my DNA testing articles...most are dated now however.

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3 Years of Blogging

Well, I hit the 3 year blogging mark last week.  Although I haven't been blogging much lately, or really this year, it still counts as 3 years.  Hopefully my 4th year will have more posts. 

Rare Family Photo

This past summer my family and I visited my brother in Colorado.  I can't believe I'm only now getting around to writing about it.  There were no specific genealogy goals planned for the trip, apart from getting a photo of my paternal grandfather's grave, but we were visiting a cousin and stuff just happened - I discovered long ago one must always be prepared.  While we were sitting around my cousin's table chatting, she all of a sudden left the room and came back with an envelope containing old photos.  Included in the envelope was the above - the only known photo showing my mother's family all together.  From left to right: Anna C. Hartford (my grandmother), Mary J. Zaring (my mother); Franklin E. Zaring Sr. (my grandfather), and Franklin E. Zaring Jr. (my uncle...the little boy straddling my grandfather's neck). 

The photo is rare because of how dysfunctional this family was.  The photo was probably taken sometime in 1923 and the family split apart shortly after that.  My grandfather was a violent alcoholic and he left my grandmother with two small children probably not too long after this photo was taken.  My grandmother, then only 19, had no way to support the family and sent the kids to live with her older sister in a home located between the towns of Bailey and Grant, Colorado, and she moved to Denver to live with another sister while working as a house keeper around the city.  

The location of the photo is Hall Valley which was a silver mining area somewhat close to Grant, Colorado.  My grandfather worked a mining claim at the top of the valley and lived there with the family for a year or so.  I remember as a child we used to go on camping trips in Hall Valley and visit the old mining shack where my mother and her family lived.

The photo is a critical part of my family history and am so glad it unexpectedly fell into my lap.   

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September 11, 2001

I haven't been around much lately, but wanted to put up a link to a post I wrote in 2007 about my remembrance of September 11, 2001.  It was a horrible day, but also one filled with purpose where I worked.

Hopefully I'll get back on line more regularly.

Finally Southern Italian Records Arrive Online at Family Search

I'm stunned right now.  I finally had the opportunity this morning to actually think about genealogy for the first time in about a month.  So as I browsed my way to Family Search so I could see recently added collections (that were NOT Italian) what did I find?  I found a recently added collection of Italian records.  This new collection (Palermo Province (Sicily) Catholic Church Records, 1530-1919) is the first Italian record set for Family Search and I hope they keep it going.  Granted, only 6% of the collection is completed, but at least when you look at the European Region  page, and scroll all the way to the bottom, Italy at last is listed. 

I don't have any ancestors from Sicily, but just across the Strait of Messina is Calabria so they are getting close.  Way to go Family Search!

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Archivio Di Stato Di Cosenza - Italian Records Online

For a long time I've patiently waited for services like Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org and others to finally start putting useful Italian records online.  I just think it's so weird there are tons of Irish, English, German, Central and South American records online, but very few places where one can find enough Southern Italian records to make online research useful.  The few records Ancestry.com is offering are from Northern Italy where, compared to the South, relatively few immigrants originated - FamilySearch has zero Italian records.  I'm sure there is a very good reason for this, but I don't have a clue what it could be.

I guess I've looked in the wrong places.  This morning, in a round-about way, I discovered the Archivio Di Stato Di Cosenza.  This is the Archives of Cosenza province, Calabria (basically the in-step of the Italian boot) and they have a searchable online database.  It just so happens both of my grandparents came from small towns in Cosenza so you can imagine my interest here. 

The opening page is a search form, but will not give you any results unless you register for the site.  I discovered this by searching for my surnames and some other common Italian names, but the results were always zero.  After registration the results started appearing. 

When you enter a name you get two lists.  The first is a list of people who are the subjects of the records, and a second list of other people mentioned in those records.  For example:  I entered my grandmother's maiden name "Rota" and this generated a list of 154 people, and the second list showed 21 other names mentioned in those records.

I was surpriseg at the types of records available.  I found birth, death, marriage, and what appears to be Army enlistment records.  Most of these are simply a transcription of enough of the document to create an index, but I did find actual images of a few documents recording the enlistment of a person.  There is also a nice bookmark feature where you can save a link to a particular record you want to come back to later.  The dates of the records appear to run from 1800 to 1900 and one of the best part of the site is you can toggle the transcriptions from Italian to English.  My understanding is that they are still adding records to their database.

The Archivio Di Stato Di Cosenza is not a fancy site.  Sorry, but it has no social networking or family tree features that the subscription services are falling all over themselves to create as centerpieces of their sites.  It consists of just plain records...the kind real family historians love to dig into.

(The image above is the coat of arms of the Province of Cosenza)

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Mourning the Death of an Old Friend - Rocky Mountain News 1859-2009

This morning when I woke up I was jolted as I started my daily routine.  The Rocky Mountain News, my favorite newspaper (the first I ever read), will cease publication after today's edition.  I knew the end would probably happen soon, but that doesn't lesson the shock at the death of this great institution.  Newspapers all over the country are living on the edge because they just can't seem to figure out how to compete and thrive in the age of the Internet.  I'm afraid many papers like the Rocky will die in the coming years.  I almost feel responsible because I didn't click on any of their advertisements. 

The Rocky and I have been close friends for a long time.  I remember as a young child getting up in the morning and seeing my father sitting at the kitchen table, eating breakfast and reading the paper.  I would then try to copy him by doing the same thing...thumbing through the paper, but really not having a clue what I was looking at - until I got to the comics of course.  Eventually I actually started to read the articles and was even mentioned in the sports section a couple of times during the fall of 1974 when I played high school football in Denver.

As I went to college and beyond I still couldn't start my day without the good old Rocky Mountain News.  When I joined the Army in 1984 and began my first assignment in Germany, I couldn't live without it and I asked my brother to get a subscription mailed to me.  The papers came about 5 or 6 days late...and usually about 5 or 6 at a time...but I just loved having it with me to read.  I've lived away from Colorado for 25 years now, and I still always start my day by reading the Rocky on the Internet.  Tomorrow will be a tough day with no Rocky Mountain News.  I'll probably read the Denver Post...the last paper standing in the city.  I like it well enough, but we never developed the same kind of relationship.

Rest in peace, my friend. 

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C Company, 799th Military Police Battalion - A Potential Breakthrough

  

Louie Agazio's Military Police Squad (he has the blue check mark above his head) 

My father was assigned to the 799th Military Police Battalion during World War II.  I know this from his discharge paperwork, but really knew little else.  Since all of his records were destroyed in the ST Louis fire during the early 1970s, there was no chance I could learn anything about his service or unit.  A couple of years ago I signed up for Military.com (a site catering to the military community) and I was browsing their Unit Pages looking for organizations I served in during my 20 year Army career.  After I looked at my units, I decided to enter my father's unit into the search box and, to my surprise, I found it - the 799th Military Police Battalion.  I joined and wrote a little post on the page asking for any information on the unit because I couldn't locate a history of the battalion.

Last Sunday I was fooling around on the internet and checked the unit page out again.   There was a new post from a man whose father (still alive) served in C Company, 799th MP Battalion in Australia, the Philippines and was discharged close to Christmas in 1945 - he also said his father would be happy to help anyone looking for information on the unit.  This man's description of his service was strikingly similar to the only record I found for my father, so I decided to send an email asking for help.  In the email I included the photo you see above and also my father's discharge paperwork.  I knew it was a complete long shot because this battalion was spread all over the Pacific Theater, but I also knew that serendipitous events have given me some of my greatest family history successes.

The Patron Saint of Lost Causes must have been looking over me...again...because the guy wrote back yesterday and said he's almost 100% sure his father is the second Soldier from the left in the front row.  (I wonder what the odds of this happening really are)  He went on to say his father was also discharged in Colorado and at the same time.  He told me he will ask his father about mine and will also go through his father's old Army photos and documents. 

I originally signed up for Military.com's Unit pages to see if I could learn anything about the 799th Military Police Battalion, but never thought I would find someone who potentially knew my father.  I haven't heard back from him yet and it's possible his father (who isn't well) won't remember mine, but the events of the past couple of days inches me closer to learning just a little bit more about a time in my father's life that I never had the opportunity to discuss with him.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday - My Father and a Mystery Woman

 

Yet another photo of my young father (probably in his mid 20s...maybe after he returned from WWII) with an unknown woman.  Family members I talk to tell me my father (Louie Agazio) was a shy guy, but his album is full of these kinds of photos...and every one of these women are very attractive.  By the way, this is from a photo album my father told me (when I was a kid) to never look at...of course I was a sneaky and did the opposite.

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Almost Wordless Wednesday - Who Are These People?

This photo came from the album of my father's oldest brother (Domenic Agazio).  I really have no idea who these two women are other than the names Victoria and Matilda.  It's possible they were my paternal grandparents neighbors.  One of the witnesses on my grandparent's 1913 marriage certificate was Vittoria Marsella, so this is a possibility. Regardless of who it is, I find it an interesting photo - the older woman actually has a slight smile on her face.

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Immigrant Ship - Stampalia

I was browsing the New York Times archives recently and stumbled across an article about the ship that delivered my grandmother to the port of Philidelphia in September 1913.  I knew that my grandmother came to the US on the ship Stampalia and also read about how the ship was sunk (Aug 17, 1916) during World War I, but the article I found was press reporting on the event only three days after the fact (Aug 20, 1916).  The article also provides additional details on the ship I hadn't seen before. 

I was so full of myself for finding this nugget, I kept looking for more and found another article( dated Aug 21, 1914) about the Stampalia.  It seems a US banker had a whacky adventure trying to get out of Italy shortly after the start of World War I, and he was able to finally get passage on the ship.  It's a good story, but I really like the description he gave of his accomodations (steerage) on the Stampalia.  It's a small part of the article, but it interests me because my grandmother was in steerage on that very ship about one year prior.

To me, this kind of discovery is more exciting than any other and also goes to show how important newspaper archives are to family history.

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The 9th Edition of Smile For The Camera - a Carnival of Images is Up

     

A very huge 9th Edition of Smile for the Camera carnival is now up.  There are about 47 photographic mysteries for you to explore all having the theme "Who Are You? I Really Want to Know."   

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Who is This Guy?

 

This is probably one of the strangest photos I have.  I don't know who this young man is, but I know he's from my maternal side (Zaring).  Here we have a goofy looking kid of about 15 or 16 standing in front of a dirty crumpled flag that's touching the ground.  In trying to date the photo, I noticed the flag has 48 stars and this occured between 4 July 1912-3 July 1959.  Based on where the photo was in my grandmother's album, I suspect it's closer to 1912.  Obviously the kid is dressed in his Sunday best including a coat, tie, and hat - what I can't figure out are the combat type of boots and the dusty/dirty high water pants.

I'm pretty sure he's related to me, but I'm not too sure I'm happy with this based on the strange photo...although I bet future genealogy guys in my family will say the same thing about me.

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Irish Ancestor Breakthrough - Maybe

I don't know for sure, but I think I just had a breakthrough in researching my Irish ancestors.  I've been frustrated with my maternal grandmother's family (surname Hartford) because I haven't been able to get anywhere with it.  Richard Hartford, one of my maternal third great-grandfathers, immigrated to Canada from Dublin, Ireland with his wife (Ann Kelly or Nancy Ann Kelly) and their three sons (Dennis, Thomas, and James) sometime between 1830 and 1832.  I have all sorts of info on the three sons after they came to the US, but next to nothing on the parents except for their names on all three of their son's death certificates.

So, I was playing around on Ancestry.com this morning - specifically I was looking at the Drouin Collection containing vital records from Quebec 1621-1967.  I have a number of family branches with connections to Canada so I started plugging those surnames into the search box.  I entered my third great-grandfather's name and after scrolling through the results I found three that looked interesting and two in particular got me excited.  Unfortunately the first record (dated 1832) is in French, and it's really faded, but from what I can make out it appears to say something like " ...Richard, born to a legitimate marriage between Richard Hartford and Ann Kelly..."  Since I don't read French (at all), I'm only guessing, but it sure looks like this is what it says.  I'm not at home so I'm not able to use Ancestry's advanced viewer and zoom in close to check out the other words in the short paragraph, but I will do that tonight.  

One of the other records I found is a burial record in 1838 (in English, but also very faded) saying "On the second day of December [1838] Richard son of the late Richard Hartford [and] Ann his wife died aged four years and four months..."  I can't make out the rest of the entry right now.  Even though the names in both the birth and death record appear consistent, the dates are a problem.  If this younger Richard in both records is the same person his age at death would have been six instead of four.  

If these people are my ancestors I will have learned three things I didn't know before.  I will have the first recorded evidence of the existence of Richard Hartford and Ann Kelly - not in Ireland, but I'll take Canada for now.  The second fact I may have learned is this couple had a forth son who was born in Canada - up until now I only knew of three and they were all born in Ireland.  Lastly, I may have learned that Richard (my third great-grandfather) died sometime between 1832 and 1838. 

Of course I may also learn these people are not my ancestors and all of this was for nothing, but hey...at least I got a blog post out of it. 

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Tombstone Tuesday - Courtesy of Find A Grave

   

From left to right, Reuben Cone, Harriet Thomas Cone, Sidney Cone, Kate Graham Cone
(Photos used with permission from Find A Grave members Kevin and Paula Meyer)

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about my rediscovery of Find A Grave and how I requested photos of headstones for some of my ancestors.  Shortly after writing that post, I checked back and discovered headstone photos of every single one I requested.  I guess it was helpful they were all buried in a family plot in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  Reuben and Harriet Cone were my 3rd great grandparents; and Sidney and Kate Cone were my 2nd great grandparents - all on the maternal side.  There are three other photos I will save for a future Tombstone Tuesday.

I'm so grateful to the volunteers who took these photos because I don't know when I would next get to Colorado to take them myself.

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Veterans Day - My Family

I thought I'd take a moment to salute those members of my family who served in the Military in honor of Veterans day.  I find it strange that really only the Federal Government recognizes today as a holiday (my kids are in school and my wife is at work.  Since I work for the Department of the Army, I am off today).  For most of the country, this is just another day in November, but I think it's an important day to remember - especially when we have people in harms way in two different theaters.  According to Woodrow Wilson as quoted on the VA's Veterans Day History page:

"To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country’s service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…"

I think his sentiment was appropriate just after World War 1, and it's appropriate now.   

 

 

Sidney Cone (1847-1934) Seated front row middle
7th Kansas Cavalry (1864-1865)

One of my maternal great great grandfathers.  This photo was at a meeting  of the Grand Army of the Republic post number 82 in Colorado Springs, CO., on October 10, 1926.