Have you ever heard that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) have a huge interest in genealogy? I just looked up your grandfather's name on their website, familysearch.org, and found your grandfather right away, just using the little info from your article. You can use the site, too, and it is free and no missionaries will come looking for you :) I posted three newspaper articles on that site that you can see, the LA Times article and 2 others. I put the articles there as the source for them, newspapers.com, does charge you a fee.
Hopefully you can just click on one of the articles I posted and read them.
As for the "Tina" obit, it was just a line or so, giving the date of her death, which, as I said, was very close to your grandfather's death, but after his by a couple of weeks.
It is possible that you can find other family members on that site. Another great source for genealogy is ancestry.com, which also charges a fee, but is usually free at public libraries in the US and "should" be free at "mormon" churches in Italy as well. Rome has a "mormon" temple and I'm pretty sure the people in the visitor's center of the temple can help you find a building where you can do more research... but they are typically staffed by missionaries, so heads up about that :) I was able to read the immigration story you wrote about on ancestry.com.
Genealogy is a big hobby of mine. And so is trying to learn Italian and visiting Italy, reading about Italy, etc. I really enjoy the articles you have posted.
Thanks, Marie. Wow, that article about being his own customer is new to me, and valuable because it gives the name of the street where he died. Even his death certificate doesn't say that! So thank you.
I've used Family Search and Ancestry for years and used to be able to access newspapers.com. I've found hundreds of people (795 total, so far, in the US and Italy) and have pieced together most of the U.S. history of my family. I've focused on searching in Italy since I moved here. I have a subscription to the Italian version of Ancestry (only €10/year!), and I use the Antenati site as well. Not to mention searching archives in person, which is always so fun. I'm doing that again next month, in fact. Glad to know we have that in common!
Happy studies, and I wish you many great trips to Italy! Thanks again for your help and for reading what I write.
And btw, the book I mentioned in this week's post has a lot of fascinating info about the Mormons' genealogy work and their storage facility and so on. Recommended!
oh wow, Cheryl. Your grandfather's life - and death - in America. I wasn't expecting that. It definitely leaves some big holes. How did your father live with this knowledge / or lack of it? How did his suicide impact your family moving forward?
There is a short article in the Los Angeles Times of your grandfather's suicide. You are right, there is no explanation. There is also another obit just a couple weeks later of a Tina Ossola on 16 May 1926... any connections?
I don't think I have that LA Times piece and I'd love to see it if possible, as well as Tina's obit. She was Celestina Benzoni, wife of Luigi Ossola, who was my grandfather's uncle.
You know the phenomenon of grandchildren of immigrants returning to their motherland is big when there are multiple Instagram reels about it. One example: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3JA86XAUG-/
enjoyed this and sadly empathize. also, i certainly see a strong resemblance in your father's baby pic with your son, lukas at least as i recall him at manor school.
I agree with you that a grand parent would not imagine that an descendant would want to return to Italy. I was discouraged by my Grandfather's daughters from pursuing my citizenship. I persevered, received my citizenship and my husband and I were able to live in Italy for 10 years. I still hope to return. If it will be okay with you I would like to link your post to my post on my blog that I do every year on March 1 to honor my Grandfather on his birthday.
And I am still angry with my Grandfather that he did not allow Italian to be spoken in the home. My Father never learned and so I had to start from scratch. But speaking only English made my Father very American.
Martha, I’d be happy to have you link to my post, thank you! If it’s any consolation re: the language, my dad did grow up speaking Italian, but I didn’t. By the time he had kids he hadn’t spoken it in years, so we grew up without it, unfortunately. And my mom only knew a little napoletano dialect, so we didn’t get it from her either.
Brava for persevering with your citizenship, and I hope you find your way back to Italy someday.
Such a familiar story and emotions, Cheryl. My grandfather Nicola filed two intents to become a US citizen. Lucky for me (and my children) that no proof exists that he finally followed through on either attempt! That non-existence of proof certificate has given me a wonderful new chance at life here in Europe. An unknowing gift from Nicola to his future generations and I am forever grateful.
Wow. I think this is really true: " Antonio probably never imagined that his descendants would desire or need Italian citizenship. I’m sure it never occurred to him, not even for a minute, that a future granddaughter would leave America to live in Italy. " My parents disagreed on whether they should help my little citizenship adventure. My mom reluctantly gave me a copy of my father's naturalization certificate. The interesting thing is that, apart from my maternal family, lots of Italian immigrants returned. My maternal grandmother even bought a plot of land in her Sicilian comune. But who knows? They're all gone and all we can do is guess.
Dear Cheryl, this was very interesting... and touching! I shared it on my Facebook page, if you don't mind, because the 1906 issue is a very good point, I did not know about it!
And you are right: as important as it can be for you to be an Italian citizen today, it was much more important for your grandfather Antonio to be an American citizen in America hundred years ago.
Have you ever heard that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) have a huge interest in genealogy? I just looked up your grandfather's name on their website, familysearch.org, and found your grandfather right away, just using the little info from your article. You can use the site, too, and it is free and no missionaries will come looking for you :) I posted three newspaper articles on that site that you can see, the LA Times article and 2 others. I put the articles there as the source for them, newspapers.com, does charge you a fee.
I'm not sure this link will work if you don't sign up with familysearch.org, but try this first, and the "sign up" can be your back up plan. www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/GQ28-RVP
Hopefully you can just click on one of the articles I posted and read them.
As for the "Tina" obit, it was just a line or so, giving the date of her death, which, as I said, was very close to your grandfather's death, but after his by a couple of weeks.
It is possible that you can find other family members on that site. Another great source for genealogy is ancestry.com, which also charges a fee, but is usually free at public libraries in the US and "should" be free at "mormon" churches in Italy as well. Rome has a "mormon" temple and I'm pretty sure the people in the visitor's center of the temple can help you find a building where you can do more research... but they are typically staffed by missionaries, so heads up about that :) I was able to read the immigration story you wrote about on ancestry.com.
Genealogy is a big hobby of mine. And so is trying to learn Italian and visiting Italy, reading about Italy, etc. I really enjoy the articles you have posted.
Good luck,
Marie Salisbury
Thanks, Marie. Wow, that article about being his own customer is new to me, and valuable because it gives the name of the street where he died. Even his death certificate doesn't say that! So thank you.
I've used Family Search and Ancestry for years and used to be able to access newspapers.com. I've found hundreds of people (795 total, so far, in the US and Italy) and have pieced together most of the U.S. history of my family. I've focused on searching in Italy since I moved here. I have a subscription to the Italian version of Ancestry (only €10/year!), and I use the Antenati site as well. Not to mention searching archives in person, which is always so fun. I'm doing that again next month, in fact. Glad to know we have that in common!
Happy studies, and I wish you many great trips to Italy! Thanks again for your help and for reading what I write.
And btw, the book I mentioned in this week's post has a lot of fascinating info about the Mormons' genealogy work and their storage facility and so on. Recommended!
oh wow, Cheryl. Your grandfather's life - and death - in America. I wasn't expecting that. It definitely leaves some big holes. How did your father live with this knowledge / or lack of it? How did his suicide impact your family moving forward?
See today’s post!
There is a short article in the Los Angeles Times of your grandfather's suicide. You are right, there is no explanation. There is also another obit just a couple weeks later of a Tina Ossola on 16 May 1926... any connections?
I don't think I have that LA Times piece and I'd love to see it if possible, as well as Tina's obit. She was Celestina Benzoni, wife of Luigi Ossola, who was my grandfather's uncle.
You know the phenomenon of grandchildren of immigrants returning to their motherland is big when there are multiple Instagram reels about it. One example: https://www.instagram.com/p/C3JA86XAUG-/
I guess so!
enjoyed this and sadly empathize. also, i certainly see a strong resemblance in your father's baby pic with your son, lukas at least as i recall him at manor school.
I have photos of them at about the same age (~18) and the resemblance is incredible!
I agree with you that a grand parent would not imagine that an descendant would want to return to Italy. I was discouraged by my Grandfather's daughters from pursuing my citizenship. I persevered, received my citizenship and my husband and I were able to live in Italy for 10 years. I still hope to return. If it will be okay with you I would like to link your post to my post on my blog that I do every year on March 1 to honor my Grandfather on his birthday.
And I am still angry with my Grandfather that he did not allow Italian to be spoken in the home. My Father never learned and so I had to start from scratch. But speaking only English made my Father very American.
Martha, I’d be happy to have you link to my post, thank you! If it’s any consolation re: the language, my dad did grow up speaking Italian, but I didn’t. By the time he had kids he hadn’t spoken it in years, so we grew up without it, unfortunately. And my mom only knew a little napoletano dialect, so we didn’t get it from her either.
Brava for persevering with your citizenship, and I hope you find your way back to Italy someday.
Such a familiar story and emotions, Cheryl. My grandfather Nicola filed two intents to become a US citizen. Lucky for me (and my children) that no proof exists that he finally followed through on either attempt! That non-existence of proof certificate has given me a wonderful new chance at life here in Europe. An unknowing gift from Nicola to his future generations and I am forever grateful.
Such a gift! I’m still hoping to receive one myself, and so are my kids.
Wow. I think this is really true: " Antonio probably never imagined that his descendants would desire or need Italian citizenship. I’m sure it never occurred to him, not even for a minute, that a future granddaughter would leave America to live in Italy. " My parents disagreed on whether they should help my little citizenship adventure. My mom reluctantly gave me a copy of my father's naturalization certificate. The interesting thing is that, apart from my maternal family, lots of Italian immigrants returned. My maternal grandmother even bought a plot of land in her Sicilian comune. But who knows? They're all gone and all we can do is guess.
Both of my bisnonni on my mom’s side returned to Italy. Many immigrants never planned to stay, and then life happened and there they were.
Dear Cheryl, this was very interesting... and touching! I shared it on my Facebook page, if you don't mind, because the 1906 issue is a very good point, I did not know about it!
And you are right: as important as it can be for you to be an Italian citizen today, it was much more important for your grandfather Antonio to be an American citizen in America hundred years ago.
Such a pity for the sad end...
Thank you for sharing, Elena. Yes, it's so sad. My father struggled with that his whole life.