Nicola and Josephine Angilletta - Philadelphia

It's been a relatively slow week for me in terms of my research. I haven't really been able to accomplish much of anything which has been frustrating. I have been working mainly on helping a family with my surname from Caulonia, Reggio Calabria trace their roots for the last few months. This has been an absolutely wonderful experience for me and although I have not established a direct blood relationship with them yet I feel like I have discovered a whole new family. We have shared pictures, phone calls and family stories. Through this, and with the help of Facebook, the family has reconnected with each other and with relatives in Italy. Together we have managed to source quite a bit of the stories they heard while growing up about their mutual relative, Nicola Angilletta and his wife Rosina Ceraso (A.K.A. Josephine France). Presenting it online for them to all share has been a challenge. Since I have chosen to use a very simple format on all of my websites, I needed to create some basic extraction forms in a html format. Nothing too fancy or fussy - it's all about the content here. And so, I came up with a simple Family Group Sheet format to list the family members and a Manifest Extraction form to pull the ship details and make reading easier. I'd be interested in knowing what you think or if you have any other ideas. Please, drop me a comment if you do.

Surname Saturday - Chiricosta

Working on the surname database this morning. I have had and extremely large amount of entries in the last two weeks so I am a bit behind. It didn't help that I chose to sleep in this morning, but I guess I needed it.
This week has been about analyzing information that I have already found. I'm not sure about any of you, but sometimes I find I get so caught up in entering the information into my database that I forget to actually *look* at it. I also found that it is good to sometimes walk away from a search and revisit it later. You tend to notice things you may have missed before. I have also found that sourcing everything and creating notes has helped me from having to start all over again. Since I have always liked charts, the Research Calendar found on Ancestry has been very useful. What I didn't realize is that Ancestry provides charts in several different languages so I took advantage and downloaded the Italian version of it too.
So, I have traced my Chiricosta line back to the mid 1700's and in the process found that one of my ancestors married a woman with the name of Cottone - a Sicilian name. This now gives me a new branch to follow and one which I am definitely excited about. Meanwhile, here is the link to the Chiricosta's I have charted so far. Look for updates as I have many more to enter as records go up on the Calabria Exchange- Ardore Index.

San Giuseppe

Happy San Giuseppe - or St Joseph's Day! The day is named after Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is a day celebrated in Italy by making, and eating Zeppoli (or in my dialect we call them Zippoli). Some refer to these as Cream Puffs but the traditional ones we make at home have no cream or custard in them. Personally they are more of a doughnut in my opinion. Mom always makes hers with anchovies - not just *any* anchovies but the small ones that come in the cans like the Unico brand. She breaks up the fillets and in her homemade dough (you can substitute for store bought pizza dough if you know of a place that makes a really good dough - although Mom still prefers to make her own) and stuffs a piece or two of the fillets. Then she pulls them slightly and twists them and deep fries them. For those of who don't like the anchovies, she simply fries the dough and sometimes tops them with sugar. I will be heading out to her place later to eat - I mean make - some! Have a great day!

Footnote's Census Records: Free for a Limited Time

As originally Posted by Diane Haddad

Historical records subscription site Footnote is making its US census records free for a limited time.

Footnote spokesperson Justin Schroepfer says there’s not yet a firm ending date, but the records will be free at least through the end of this month.
You’ll need to register as a free member to view the records.

Footnote is carrying out plans to host the complete US census back to 1790.

Here are the census records on the site so far:
- the complete 1860 census
- 5 percent of 1900
- 3 percent of 1910
- 3 percent of 1920
- 98 percent of 1930

When you find a relative’s record, click the “I’m Related” button for a name on the document to identify yourself as a relative and see others who’ve done the same. You also can see others’ photos, stories and comments related to the record. (See Footnote’s tips for starting family history and making the most of its interactive census collection.)

My Cantina - 5 Mar 2010

Mom and Dad were over earlier today to check the homemade salami's they have been making over the last few months. Several years ago, after we all got married, they sold their house of 25 years and moved in with my sister. One of my parents biggest regrets about this was the loss of their "Cantina" which is like a pantry - but better. My parents kept *everything* in the Cantina - the homemade tomato sauce, giardiniera, roasted peppers, olives, wine and of course, the "salami".

While my sister did have somewhat of cold room it was quite small and could not fit the amount of food and drink that serve to keep my father entertained (and my mother busy) for many months of the year. Of course, it wasn't long before they discovered that my little home had the perfect Cantina and so, each year, for at least a few months, I inherit the salami's while they cure.

Salami's of course include cappicola's, sausages, prosciutto's and just about any other dried and cured Italian pork meat you can think of. Once dried, my parents vacuum seal some of the meats (because putting them in oil is no good for the "colestraolo") and they slice the rest throughout the year as company comes over.

Follow Friday - 5 March 2010

Today, and for the last week or so I have been following The Genealogy of Torre le Nocelle, Italy. I am not from the Avellino area but I really love the way the author, Carm, is using the blog as a website/forum/research site. It hosts several years of Italian Vital record extractions for Torre and several from the neighbouring towns of Montemiletto and Pietradefusi(which are always a good thing) and some beautiful pictures of the area too. Nice job, Carm and I can't wait to see what else you add to the site.