PIP Chapter #1 Chicago Meeting Report 
by  Cav. Anthony Lascio (#1051)

On a tranquil January 20, 1999 evening, amid a month of near record snowfall and frigid temperatures, 37 Italian genealogists gathered at Suparossa Ristorante Italiano in Woodridge, IL, to feast on a delicious family style Italian dinner and share their genealogical experiences.  This was the 25^th meeting of the first POINTers In Person chapter in America, founded in October, 1992.  The chapter welcomed three first timers: Concetta Garelli Hedrick, Ilena Visintin Juskie and Dan Marinacci.

The first piece of business was a report by Jim Scarnegie on the activity of the chapter's recently developed E-Mail site: www.coollist.com.   This innovation was developed last July and has a couple dozen members.

Anthony asked for assistance in posting chapter meeting announcements at the six Chicago area LDS branch libraries. Members volunteered to do the postings.

Gil Sacco provided an overview of the October, 1998 Illinois State Genealogical Society Annual Conference held in the Chicago area. John Philip Colletta (#1172) was the featured speaker.

Rose Ducato (#1812) reported on several subjects including chapter shirts and mugs; her computer club in Schaumburg; a web sites list and her newly authored cookbook, Mama Rosa's. She distributed an interesting article by Curt Wichner of the Allen County Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, the second largest genealogical collection in America.

Anthony asked the group to respond to several research questions which are among the most popular asked of him via phone calls, mail, presentations, classes and the chapter E-Mail list.

1. Why are naturalization records the most important single record available in the USA?
2. How to know what records the LDS branch libraries have available in permanent storage?
3. Why shouldn't one travel to Italy for research immediately after beginning their genealogy?

Linda Fortunato (#3769), Rose Ducato, Arlene Gould, Gil Sacco and Paul Carenen (#1683) provided excellent responses.

Jim Scarnegie raised the question of Italian cemeteries.  Pete Ducato and Anthony Lascio responded with detailed information concerning the Italian burial customs, lack of marked graves(crypts) beyond 75 years and the common use of ossuaries.

Ken and Judy Adams (#3760) provided a detailed review of their recent excursion to Catania, Italy.  Jim Scarnegie and the Ducatos are planning a trip this year.

Pete Ducato offered to transfer the PAL (Italian video) format to American VHS for chapter members. Tante grazie, Pietro

The evening's final event consisted of a presentation by Jennifer Khalaf, who has just completed a marvelous one-of-a-kind Internet resource guide to Italian genealogy entitled Jenny's Web Notes.  Jenny has done a masterful job putting this resource guide together. Every POINTer should contact her to purchase a copy of this valuable tool.  For cost and ordering information, E-Mail Jenny at:  JensWeb2@aol.com

Anthony wrapped up the evening's program by announcing that future meetings will include more research topics to assist those facing obstacles and to guide new genealogists who tend to be overwhelmed by the wealth of data presented at the quarterly meetings.

The next gathering of PIP Chapter #1 - Chicago will be Wednesday, April 21, 1999 at 7:00 PM at the usual location.

© PIP Chapter 1, 2003 ~ Webmaster:  LPRoots@yahoo.com  ~  page last updated on Monday, March 10, 2003