PIP
Chapter #1 Chicago Meeting Report
by
Cav. Anthony Lascio #1051
The
thirty-eighth gathering of PIP’s first chapter occurred on Wednesday, April
24TH @ 7 P.M. at Suparossa Ristorante Italiano with forty (40) in
attendance.
After a
welcome by Anthony Lascio #1051, expressed appreciation to all those who
extended their get well wishes during his February illness which had resulted
in the cancellation of the February dinner meeting.
Four (4) first
timers introduced themselves; Phyllis and Ken Gray of Naperville and Phyllis
and Chris Walters of Glen Ellyn.
The business
portion of the meeting ensued consisting of a number of announcements.
Regular member Geneva Shay #3252 who was not in attendance asked the
group to remember her in their prayers following cancer surgery.
Anthony Lascio
informed the attendees he recently gave a presentation on Italian genealogy at
the Annual Illinois State Genealogy Society conference in Countryside on April
5.
A survey of
those present who were planning to attend the 2002 POINT Conference in Salt
Lake City resulted in four (4)
members expected to attend.
A survey of
attendees who would commit to participating on a committee to host the 2004
POINT Conference in the Chicago area resulted in five (5) members responding
positively. Accordingly, due to
the extremely small percentage of member interest, it was determined that
Chapter #1 Chicago would not either singularly or jointly with other nearby
chapters have any interest in committing to hosting a future conference.
Everyone was
reminded of the Chapter #1 web site - http://www.rootsweb.com/~ilpip1gs/
and asked to check it out.
The business
portion of the evening’s agenda having been completed, the meeting’s
theme, “Success Stories”, was
introduced and members were asked to present their story.
Four attendees plus the Chapter Leader responded.
Using a marker
board, Anthony Lascio discussed the rivello and the catasto, his Italian
document from 1746 which is his most meaningful accomplishment.
This Basilicata document is the census, financial statement and tax
assessment of over two hundred fifty years ago under the Kingdom of the Two
Sicilies which were located in Napoli identifying his Lascia (correct surname
spelling in Italy) great (x5) grandparents and their children as well as their
possessions of value. This singular document was responsible for his paternal
genealogy being extended nearly three hundred years to the early 1700's.
Patti Tolone
#2610, presented the passenger arrival documents which finally allowed her to
identify a grandparent and other relatives who immigrated from Italy to America.
Patti struggled with this phase of her research until these ancestors
were finally located on the Ellis Island web site.
Rose Cortiletti
#2911, offered a marvelous presentation regarding a recent visit to her
ancestral town of Prizzi, Sicily, where did she not only discovered the town’s
mayor was a cousin, but received the town’s history in book form and a video
as well. Finally, after reporting
she had never received a response to her correspondence from the local church
pastor, the mayor introduced her to the priest who spent hours literally
conducting research to trace her entire paternal line.
She plans to return to Italy to complete her maternal lineage, of course,
with the same priest.
Alex DeVolpi
#4160, gave a remarkable presentation of how he accidently came across a letter
found in his mother’s possession after she had died which led him to the
Veteran’s Administration archives. Their
records revealed the numerous previous marriages of his father which resulted in
the discovery of siblings, cousins and other relatives Alex didn’t even know
he had who resided throughout the USA, Canada and Italy.
The DeVolpi family is featured in Trafford Cole’s publication, “Italian
Genealogical Records”. As a result of Cole’s research, DeVolpi can trace his
lineage back to the 1400's. His
family has an authentic coat of arms and a book has been written about the
DeVolpi clan which is located in an Italian library.
Alex is desperate to obtain a copy.
Finally, Linda
Gessner did not express a specific success story, but rather wished the group to
know how valuable and helpful Chapter #1 has been to her efforts.
She asked everyone to be encouraged and not to give up when their
genealogy makes a wrong turn or their research slams headlong into a brick wall.
The theme
portion of the evening’s agenda having been concluded, several attendees had
comments or remarks.
Linda Messina
Holda #2055 referred to a recently published book by Dr. Bruce Zummo entitled
“Little Sicily”, about the Near North Chicago neighborhood which surrounded
the St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church during the era of Italian immigration.
Gerald Farenga
#1763 is traveling to his ancestral town in Basilicata in May.
Dick and Sara
Jacobs #3487 will be leaving the Chicago area and relocating to Baton Rouge,
Louisiana this summer.
These minutes
are not all inclusive. Many other questions and remarks were made during the
course of the evening, too numerous to include here. In an effort to “control”
the length of this meeting report, they were intentionally excluded.
At 10 P.M. the
meeting was adjourned.
The next
gathering of Chapter #1 will be Wednesday, July 17, same time, same place.
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