Every Italian family has a Josephine - ask around if you don't believe me. In our family she was my grandmother's sister. Her given name was Maria Giuseppa, and occasionally she went by Maria Giuseppina. She is pictured here along with a her birth record from Sannicandro di Bari issued in 1908.
Great-aunt Josephine was not our only Josephine, but she was the main one. We had a few spare Josephines by marriage - technically they count if you're keeping score, depending on your relationship to the husband. For me there is really only one and it has to do with this picture.
My grandmother did not organize her family pictures in any way that would make a family historian happy: stashed in envelopes, stacked in the basement, stuffed in assorted boxes. When i was growing up a typical visit always began with tour of the house, rummaging through drawers of the oldest pieces of furniture, staring at the old photos and trying to identify the people I knew or had heard of.
The day I ran across the picture of Josephine, posed on the chair with her big sassy hat, was the very day the family research began. You see, until I laid eyes on this picture I never even knew my grandmother had a sister named Josephine.
The Everything Guide to Online Genealogy: Use the Web to trace your roots, share your history, and create a family tree (Everything Series)
by Kimberly Powell
Genealogy Online For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))
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Do you have any more scoop on Josephine? Along with her sassy hat, she looks like she has a sassy attitude and that there would be some good stories about her!
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