MEETING
NOTES
March 12th, 2005
A rather intimate meeting of only five POINTers was
held Saturday, March 12th in Schaumburg. Attendees were Dan Niemiec,
Jerry Farenga, Terry Jackson, Charles Ori and new member Joanne Benedetto.
Dan talked about the conference that will be held
September 17th at the Italian Cultural Center in Stone Park, IL. Though
we are not ready to take registrations (as of 3/12) the conference cost will be
$40 and all details about the conference can be found at http://www.rootsweb.com/~itappcnc/conference.
For the $40 fee, attendees get to listen to 5 presentations (two tracks of
speakers), enjoy a great Italian family-style lunch, and receive a syllabus of
all ten presentations plus a list of attendees and the surnames and towns they
are working on.
Charles Ori was looking for his ancestral town. His
father and brother were born there, his mother was born in America of German
descent but married their father in Italy, and his other brother was born in
Philadelphia. Luckily, his brother sent him a copy of his birth extract
from Italy which showed he was born in Pievepelago, Modena,
Emilia-Romagna. There was confusion about the town name (it was supposed
to be St. Anne) but this was clarified that it was the name of the parish
church in Pievepelago where his brother was baptized. Charles' father
became a US Citizen in 1927 (he had a copy of the citizenship paper) but we
can't find his passenger arrival record or other information. Dan
suggested contacting the National Archives on Pulaski Rd in Chicago, supplying
them with a certificate and petition number and naturalization date from the
document he had. This should help them find the declaration of intention
and petition for naturalization. Further checking after the meeting
determined that Pievepelago was microfilmed 1852-1920 and the records for the
entire province of Modena were filmed 1815-1852 and 1921-1929, so Charles has
to order films to get his brother and father's birth records and his parents'
marriage.
Joanne is going to Italy at the end of March, and knew
her father's ancestral town but not her mother's. Dan was able to find
her mother's town using the Steve Morse search site and found the surname
Taglieri spelled Faglieri on the Ellis Island site. Her mother's family
is from Oliveto Citro, Salerno. Having found this a few weeks before the
meeting, the next question was how to plan to visit the town given the limited
time and the need to visit other towns as well. Jerry Farenga and Terry
Jackson both related experiences on Italian rail and what they knew about the
bus system. Joanne is staying across from the train station so the bus
should be close and the hotel should be able to help her plan her trips.
She is taking her grandson with her.
Our next meeting is Saturday, May 14th, 10:30am-12:30pm at the Schaumburg District Library. For further info, contact Dan at pipnorth@comcast.net