Today in Family History in 1807…in Farindola

Today in family history, in 1807, in Farindola, according to Storia di Farindola by Antonio Procacci, a band of brigands and members of the French military and members of the Guardia Urbano of Farindola got into a gunfight. The Farindolesi, who were fearful of looting by the brigands, sided with the French detachment.

During the gunfight, 6 brigands were killed, and the rest fled and were chased under the orders of my fifth great grandfather Nicola Carusi, who was the town miller at the time. Nicola’s father Paolo was the Luogotenete of the Guardia Urbano.

Unfortunately, Nicola’s orders didn’t please the Farindolesi. He had to take his family, including my 9 year old fourth great grandmother Francesca Carusi, into hiding in nearby Penne. Nicola wrote a letter to French General Chavardes saying he was now hated by masses of people who had sworn to sacrifice him and his entire family. The General arranged for the municipality of Penne to give him 15 days of rations to feed his 5 children Tommasina (the midwife), Francesca, Camillo, Giovan Luigi, Maria Michela, and his wife Giovanna Marzola. The Carusi were my nonna’s ancestors through her mother Luigia Massei.

You can’t make this stuff up…and there is a book to be written there.

Source: Storia di Farindola by Antonio Procacci via gelsumino.it

Genealogy Book Review: Ancestral Grimore by Nancy Hendrickson

This is not a genealogy book you say? Well you better read on, because you are about to be proven wrong by this review.

I spent a little over a year with the Ancestral Grimoire doing the exercises and prompts, getting to know more of my gene pool, and digging deeper into ancestors that were in the not too distant past. The author, Nancy Hendrickson, is not new to family history research. Nor is she new to genealogy books. You can check out some of her titles on Amazon. I have friends and relatives that have bought this book. So let me ask you, if you are among them, where are you with your Grimoire? Are you connecting with your ancestors regularly? What can they tell you about your family history?

Nancy’s book is broken up into 2 sections. The first section is a fast read of what kind of tools, i.e. tarot, oracles, Lenormand, pendulum, runes, charm casting, sigils, bones, augury, etc., Nancy believes will help you use the book. It also has an explanation of the Neo-pagan sabbats. I am not pagan, so I disregarded that information. No, no, no, no, now stop…you do not have to be a card reader to do the exercises and prompts in the book. But, it can help you if you are. Do not let that last statement intimidate you. To my relatives reading this: Face it, on both sides we had and have card lovers. Whether for games or divination, they are in our tree. Yes, we had, and still have card readers in our family. So accept it is in the blood. But I digress, you do not need to be a tarot reader to use this book!

The second section is a calendar year of monthly prompts, tips, and exercises and optional crafts and rituals for you to use to connect with an ancestor that possesses that “talent”or magic for that month. For instance, January is Inherited Magic. March is Healing Magic. April is Land Magic. July is Weather Magic. September is Sky Magic, and so on. At the end there are appendices to assist you if you are a novice at divination. Once again, you do not need to know tarot to use this book or even use the decks (which are not my flavor) Nancy uses. I am very, very picky about the history of cards and not many like to remember that yes, Tarocchi was an actual Italian card game and Tarocchi decks came from Italy first. The first card playing decks themselves were brought to Europe by the Turks. I preferred divinaton on an Italian deck or the Mary El Tarot. The meanings of those cards do not correspond to the meanings in the appendices simply because they are their own reading systems.

Now on to how I have used this book.

As you may know, I have been studying my family history for over 10 years. In the past couple of years I have moved into the “realm” of ancestral healing, which, in most forms, asks you to honor ancestors by connecting with them in any way you can. This book is not my first foray into using divination to see if my ancestors wish to send messages to help me learn more about them. Believe you me, there are a ton of us out there that sometimes resort to a card pull to help us figure out why we can’t find a birth record for so and so. That being said, I have found that when you openly and gratefully attempt to connect with ancestors who want to come forward, and have their stories told, it becomes easier and easier to connect with them. They have visited you in dreams, haven’t they?

This book does not require you to know your COMPLETE genealogy going back 400 years, but having been living with the genealogy for a decade was a huge help. An understanding of your recent roots should help along with a bit of cultural history and understanding of the history of the regions of the world where your ancestors also lived should help. If you skip a month, who cares. If you want to do September in May, go ahead. There are no rules on how you use the book. I would just only ask that you do the first prompt before you even start section 1. Just do it! It is fun!

Here is a little on what happened to me. Quite a few months the ancestors were African. One was Scandinavian. July was Weather Magic. So what did I do? I went outside to do the prompts. Guess what happened? It started to rain while the sun was out. I was on a covered porch. The prompts in the book led me to my 3rd great grandfather. A German immigrant. I knew about his life, but, apparently not that much. So after I did the prompts, I started to look into him again. What did I miss that was weather related? Welp, as it turned out, I knew he lived in Chicago during the Great Fire of 1871. Yeppers, that fire was caused by weather. But guess what else? The home where he and my 3rd great grandmother lived sat one block out of the burn zone. His son lived across the street, also out of the burn zone. Is not wind and lightning weather? Could the rain that fell when the sun was out have meant something as well? I didn’t learn his house didn’t burn until his birthday in July which was July 11. See how that works? Let me tell you something. That birthday thing happens more than you think.

September was Sky Magic. That month’s prompts had me looking at my Roma ancestry in more detail which ended up being extremely profound for me, especially after I read the book Gypsy Genealogy. If you do September, try sitting outside under the sky when you are doing the exercise in the book.

During April last year, that month’s ancestor was a land whispering ancestor (think planter, farmer, herbalist, etc.) who was a female on my female line who lived in the 1st century in the near East, of Southern Asia. I suspect it was the Slavic area of that region. Why would I know that it was Slavic? Because I got her name and it is traditionally a Slavic name.

Don’t believe me? Then don’t get the book.

If you do, here is a tip – if your ancestors lived in Angola for centuries on your father’s side, and lived in the 3rd century, then skip the prompt “Where did my ancestor live?” Something else I should mention is, if you are reading this and thinking you don’t use any of those runes or Lenormand things I mentioned above or sigils, etc., fine. Then skip them. I certainly didn’t make a sigil or rain stick as was suggested. Most months I didn’t even use a tarot deck. It won’t hurt your research in any way. I certainly don’t use all of those tools I mentioned, but the one thing I would ask though is that you use a pendulum and a map to help you narrow down where you are researching and to help you understand the cultural history of their time.

So, go find your quiet place, a place you like to meditate or pray, or the space where you work with your ancestors or research, and connect. Have fun, and remember, use the book any way you like and don’t stress about it and don’t forget to thank your ancestors regularly.

UPDATED POST – ENSLAVED DEDFORD FAMILY- MAPPING IT OUT -SLAVEHOLDER DAVID STERRETT, WIFE ISABELLA WILSON OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

This post has been updated: https://cinziarosasdescendantsblog.wordpress.com/2019/09/23/39-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-mapping-it-out-finding-the-possible-slaveholders-of-david-dedfords-parents-near-newville-cumberland-county-pennsylvania/

Email me if you would like a copy of the records. cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.

Updates – Marie Louise Koppel & Quirinus Eckebrecht

I am re-posting this old entry with updates to the Koppel ancestry and data about their house before and after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

https://cinziarosasdescendantsblog.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/immigrants-38-40-marie-louise-koppel-eckebrecht-mill-owners-daughter-johann-quirinus-eckebrecht-baker-and-wilhelm-carl-eckebrecht-saloon-keeper/

Updated post – Private Ovington Harris, 43rd Regiment, United States Colored Troops

This post has been updated to reflect new information on the family of Charlotte Dedford, Ovington’s wife and the name of their enslavers in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. I am re-posting it here: https://cinziarosasdescendantsblog.wordpress.com/2019/05/19/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-21-military-civil-war-veteran-private-ovington-harris-united-stated-colored-troops-43rd-regiment-company-h/

December 29th – Today in Family History

Today in family history in 1797, my fourth great grandmother Francesca Paola Innocenza Carusi was born in Farindola to Signor Nicola Carusi and Signora Giovanna Marzola.  Francesca grew up during the time of the brigands and the French occupiers in Farindola.  Her grandfather Paolo Carusi, the town’s scribe, was named as a Lieutenant of the Urban Guard, which was formed by the French occupiers to quell the actions of the brigands in and around Farindola.  It is suspected that Paolo had some kind of military experience that allowed him to be given that title.  The brigands happened to be made up of a lot of former soldiers who fought the French.  The worst of these were the local leader, Massimo Marcella, and the Dell’Orso family.  They used to meet in Massimo’s home in contrada Trosciano.  

When Francesca was 9, a large gang of brigands in Farindola had a gunfight with French occupiers and the Urban Guard.  6 brigands were killed and the rest went back into hiding.  Francesca’s father Nicola ordered the French to go after those that fled.  That did not go well.  Even though the Farindolesi sided with the French at the beginning of the gunfight, they did not afterwards.  Nicola and his entire family, Francesca included, and 4 of her siblings, one of which was a baby, were threatened with their lives.  So Nicola wrote to the French General Chavardes and asked to be hidden and be given rations.  He took his entire family to Penne to hide for a few weeks.  At this time Nicola was the miller in Farindola.  By 1809 he became the Cancelliere of Farindola.  See Storia di Farindola at gelsumino.it. (Some of this data also comes from my cousin G. Carusi in Italy.)

Francesca married 2 times before she married my 4th great grandfather Sabatino Massei.  She had no children with her other husbands, but had 4 with Sabatino.  Her sister Tomassina was a midwife and the town’s Receiver of the Foundlings at the church.  Francesca died at contrada Macchie at age 80.  These were my nonna’s ancestors.  The Dell’Orso family were ancestors of my nonno.  Massimo Marcella is likely a relation of my nonno as well.  By the way, if you take a good look at the transcribed baptism in the image below, you will see that a lady named Anna Dell’Orso was the midwife present at Francesca’s birth.  

Farindola Processetti

Are we related? Do you have an addition or correction? Please feel free to email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net because WordPress does not always send notifications when a response is made on my posts. Thank you for visiting!

The List of Aliases and Soprannomi in my Abruzzo Ancestry

A few years ago I listed all of the surnames I have found to date in my ancestry. I believe the aliases and soprannomi of Abruzzo should have their own entry on my blog. Perhaps there are others out there that have come across these same aliases and soprannomi in their research.

An alias is used to indicate that a named person is also known or more familiar under another specified name. When I have come across an alias, it is indicated at the end of their surname in the records. For instance – Biase D’Angelo alias Il Nibbio.

A soprannome is used to indicate one branch of a family from another branch. For instance- Angela Emmanuela Sacchetti Sopranome Muffitti. See how I spelled soprannome there. With one “n.” That is because that is how I found it spelled specifically for my Sacchetti branch from Castelli.

Aliases and soprannomi aren’t exclusive to males or females. I have seen them for both!

Below is my list so far. When I find more I will add them here.

Sacchetti Sopranome Muffitti – Penne

Sacchetti Sopranome Muffitti – Castelli

D’Angelo alias Zagliocco – Penne

D’Angelo alias Il Nibbio – Penne

Desiati alias Cacciatore – Penne

Moncialone alias Minco – Penne

Di Pentima alias Corbellone – Pianella

Please note that nibbio means kite, the bird. Cacciatore means hunter. I have no idea what the other words mean or why they acquired the aliases. Coincidentally, for all the years I have spent looking at the records of Farindola, I have never seen any aliases or soprannomi!

Do you have some input or have you come across these in your search? Please email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net, because WordPress does not always alert me when I receive a reply on my blog.

Today in Family History

November 9

Today in Family History ~

In 1700 – my 6th great grandparents Jakob Johann Wenceslaus Leyies-Trauden and Anna Ottilia Schwartz were married in the Reformed Church of Contwig, Southwestern Germany, near the border with Lorraine.  These were ancestors of my grandmother Leies.  In this time period, the Leies surname was Trauden Leyies/Layies Trauden and recorded in church records as Lais, Leis, Loys, Trauden, Trauten, Traudi, Trauti, Traut, Leys, etc.  Genealogists have speculated that Trauden was a mother’s surname at one point.  But nobody really knows.  Jakob was the son of Wenceslaus (Wentz) Trauden Leyies and a woman whose name is unknown. 

After the Thirty Years War, Wenceslaus Trauden Leyies and his family were among the first 5 immigrant families to settle in the district of Oberhausen.  Wenceslaus came in 1686 and purchased 1 and 1/2 lots of land in 1706.  Each lot consisted of 14 acres of meadows, 3 acres of gardens, and 30 acres of manure fields. The primary source of livelihood for the inhabitants of Oberhausen was agriculture.  (The information on their land was received from the Leyes family with whom we share ancestry.  Their ancestor Michael moved to another village and the surname was spelled Leyes.  Our ancestors moved to Nuenschweiler and it began to be spelled Leies.)

The only clue about their origin is the fact that Wenceslaus’s son Anton went by the nickname Donges and Donges is used in the High German language – one can look to see where that language was spoken at that time period.  Lorraine spoke a German dialect, by the way.    

Anna Ottilia Schwartz was born in the area of Oberhausen and her father Hans Adam was the local Gerichtsschoffe which is like a sheriff.  We only know that her mother’s name was Magdalena.  They too were members of the Reformed Church. 

In 1717 – My 7th great grandparents Anna Apollonia Ziehl and Jean Michel Conrad were married in the Catholic Church of Hornbach, Germany, also near the border with Lorraine.  Anna Apollonia was the daughter of farmers Johann Christian Ziehl, a farm manager, and a lady named Anna Maria Barbara from Dietrichingen. 

Jean Michel was Hans Michael Conrad in the records at this time, but next to his name was the word Schweyen.  I discovered that it was a village in Moselle, France.  He was the first ancestor I found in my tree from France.  He was baptized Jean Michel Conrad on December 3, 1697 in Loutzviller, just over the border with Germany.  He was the son of Jean Gregor Conrad and Elisabetha Stauder.  Jean Michel’s grandfather was named Jean Stauder dit le Suisse.  “Dit le Suisse” means “known as”  Jean the Swiss. Jean Stauder was born in Volmunster, France though.  It was actually Jean dit le Suisse’s father who was born in Switzerland.  What was he doing in France? I do not know.  Jean Michel’s baptism is one of the photos attached.  He too was a farmer.  They were all ancestors of my grandmother too.

Finally, in 1881, also among these family members of my grandmother Leies, from this same area of Germany, there was a story printed in the Chicago Tribune newspaper involving her father’s immigrant uncle Ferdinand Bold, who had luckily survived the Grand Street Tenement Disaster in New York City.  His mother-in-law and brother-in-law did not survive, while his wife was severely injured.  His infant son was unscathed.

Are we related? Do you have a question about my sources or have an addition? Please email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net.

Roma Genealogy book review ~ “Gypsy Genealogy: Through Their Traditions” by the late Paul Polansky

Here and at my sister blog I have decided to review books related to genealogy, history, and my ancestors. A couple months ago at my sister blog I reviewed a book on Ancestral Medicine. Today I would like to share a review of a book that is unlike any other genealogy book I have read. It has changed the way I looked at my Roma ancestors, my research, what I thought I understood about the Roma people, and how I refer to these branches of my tree. That DNA can tie my ancestors to a specific place in Northwestern India changes the way I look at the story of my ancestors. I am reviewing Gypsy Genealogy: Through Their Traditions by the late Paul Polansky. I will not tell you everything, as I believe everyone who has ever had an interest in Roma genealogy, believes they have Roma ancestry, or is just curious about their history should read this book.

Mr. Polansky was an American genealogist who, by researching his family history, found over 40,000 records in the Czech archives detailing the extermination of Roma during the Nazi occupation. Mr. Polansky eventually became an activist for the Roma of Eastern Europe and worked for the U.N.. and in 2004 won the Weimar Human Rights Award. He wrote many books, produced documentaries, and wrote poetry about the Roma.

Mr. Polansky did not intend to offend with the title of his book using the word “gypsy.” He stated that there were so many clans calling themselves different things, that “gypsy” was the best way he could put the Roma of Europe and Eurasia all under one umbrella. This book is a collection of his interviews, research, and experience in this field with an anthropological slant. What this book is not – it is not a book about the Travellers of the British Isles, simly because they are NOT Roma. As I have tried to get a grasp on Roma genealogy the past few years, I have come across numerous websites and forums lumping the Travellers with the Roma. Let me repeat – Travellers and Roma share no DNA and they do not intermarry.

This book concentrates on the peoples of mainland Europe, and South Asia whose DNA ties them to the untouchable castes of the Rajasthan region in India, and are now scattered all over the world. While his UN work involved Eastern European Roma, he conducted interviews with Roma in other parts of Europe, including Southern Italy, where mine lived. This little book includes over 4 decades of his experience, research, and his life with the Roma.

Through reading this book I have learned more about Indian castes than I ever knew and discovered that Roma today practice the same professions their untouchable ancestors performed while in India centuries ago. Because they were thought unclean, they performed the unclean jobs. I think of my trash collecting ancestor who used his two wheeled cart to haul trash to the dump and his family who eventually went on to make carts for a wealthy businessman. One subcaste were wedding musicians in India and are still such today. I have not found any of those in my tree.

But I did find the blacksmiths, which were another untouchable subcaste. Every Roma who is a blacksmith that he has interviewed in different parts of Europe, including where mine lived in Southern Italy, has the same story, according to Mr. Polansky, that all blacksmiths in the world descended from 9 brothers. He discovered this story existed in Rajasthan and was actually in the Hindu texts the Vedas. Mr. Polansky details the traditions common among all Roma clans in Europe.

While I am not intended to give it all away, I knew a little bit. A surname sometimes is given to a Roma clan that was the last place they came from. So I think of the Napolitano in my tree that lived in Nola, and the last place they likely came from then was Napoli.

There was something major I was mistaken about. I thought all Roma were nomadic. Not so. Read the book to find out why. Again, this misconception may come from the notion that the Travellers of the British Isles are Roma, and again, they are not. (I don’t pretend to know anything about Travellers.)

I have learned so much from this publication and Mr. Polansky had more to share with us. It is unfortunate he passed away before he could publish more books on the subject as it was one of his desires. He theorized Roma clans were not all pushed out of India at the same time, and left earlier than people think, maybe as early as the time of Alexander the Great.

Coincidentally, Mr. Polansky menioned them being in the Turkish census in the 1400s. How about that?

If you have Roma ancestry, suspect you have Roma ancestry, or are interested in history, as I believe most genealogists are, read this book!

-cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net

My Campania, Italy Surnames and Place Lists

As of 9/16/23 – This https://cinziarosasdescendantsblog.wordpress.com/2019/01/01/my-campania-italy-surnames-and-places-lists/ has been updated.

Please feel free to email me – cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net, because if you leave a comment and I reply, WordPress does not always let you know I have responded to you.