Citizenship Day

Today is Citizenship Day according to my pal, Big Mick.

If Big Mick is the source of any information then it's a good idea to check the facts. He's a big-shot, know-it-all Pittsburgh lawyer with a questionable political compass, and he's most famous for endless tirades of trivia that put me right to sleep. The only reason I talk to him at all is he usually buys my drinks - and he's definitely buying now after all this free advertising.

Big Mick's Citizenship Day announcement was almost more useless bar trivia: a federal holiday with no parade, the banks were open, mail was delivered - what's the big deal? But the beauty of this day is the simplicity. It's merely a time to acknowledge American citizenship, be it by birth or naturalization.

The images to the left are from my great-grandmother's copy of "Federal Textbook on Citizenship - On the Way to Democracy". I know it's her book because she wrote her name in pencil on the cover, just like any child in school would do. Except she was a 64 year old grandmother in 1942.  The workbook is comprised of one page chapters on topics such as The Right to Govern and The Convention of 1787, and then a series of simple questions about the information in the chapter. It would be almost impossible for a student not to ace the questions because the answers are at the top of each page. Pretty easy, right?

Great-grandmother Angelina never learned English - she could have been taking the LSATs for all she knew. My guess is one or more of her children helped her cheat her way through the test so she could get the dang naturalization certificate and hang it on her wall. It was WWII, for cryin' out loud. No time to be an Italian citizen in America.

So today, in addition to my own citizenship, I'm taking time to remind myself about Angelina's path.

Constitution Day and Citizenship Day
Legal Information Institute, Cornell University Law School

In the Army Now

JULY 31, 1899
On this day in 1899 Great-Grandfather Raffaele earned this large, impressive certificate from the Italian Army. I heard many colorful stories about Raffaele but it seems everyone forgot to mention this accomplishment. 

Turns out the immigrant shoemaker was also a tiratore scelto, a sharpshooter. 

Italian Military Records
Family Search Wiki

Search Military Records
Ancestry

Every Italian Family Has a Josephine

JULY 8, 1906
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))
by Matthew L. Helm

Hat in the Ring

JULY 1, 1904
On this day in 1904 great-grandfather Raffaele wrote a letter to the big-wigs in Provincia di Bari. I'm fairly certain I have the letter translated, if not word for word then at least the high points.I'll post the translation in a couple of days - I want to milk this letter for awhile.

Is this is a copy of the letter or the undelivered original? I suspect the original. Two documents are referenced as enclosed with the letter and since I'm in possession of these items it looks very much as if the letter and attachments were never sent.

This letter looks pretty darn good for 100+ years, amirite? It was discovered in 1992 following the death of my great-uncle along with many other delicious family treasures. Hundreds of photos, letters and documents were found in unbelievably good condition considering no special protective measures were taken.

What's that I hear? It's a chorus from my favorite song: Old photos and documents should be stored in archival quality boxes and albums!

Preserving Old Photos & Documents
Warning: This page starts off with a big Warning!

Pioneer Jumbo Scrapbook Storage Box, Sage Green
Acid- and lignon-free rocks

Late to the Party

MAY 25, 1909
On this day Great-Grandfather Raffaele arrives in America on the San Giovanni, one of 1,074 passengers. He traveled with quite a few "cittadini" from his hometown of Sannicandro di Bari, many with surnames from his family: Mossa, Chimienti, Sacchetti, and others. I assume they are relations of some sort but I can't claim them without confirmation.

You can see by the detail that Raffaele (passenger #27) was a 40 year old shoemaker when he arrived - much older than most of the passengers on the ship. More on that later.

Search for your ancestors on the Ellis Island site:
The handwriting on the records makes this a tough site to search - if at first you don't succeed try misspelling your ancestor's name.

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s
Ancestry.com

Tune in tomorrow to learn what information you will find on a two page ship list.