It’s Week 15 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, created by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. And this week, April 9-15, the theme is Solitude. My father’s maternal grandparents, Francesca Pierini Piccioli and Fortunato Piccioli, were born in the village of Mondolfo, in the Marche region of Italy, and married sometime around 1898. TheyContinue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 15: Solitude”
Category Archives: Family History
52 Ancestors, Week 14: Begins With a Vowel
The 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project continues. This week’s theme is Begins With a Vowel. When I first heard this theme, I thought of my 9x great-grandfather, Baldo Tarini (1613-1678) and his brother Ubaldo Tarini. Ubaldo was born four years later and given nearly the same name, except that his begins with a vowel.Continue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 14: Begins With a Vowel”
Italian Roads Not Taken
I posted the other day about the trip I’m planning to Italy this summer. I finally have my itinerary nailed down. I’ll be there almost four weeks, and feel so grateful to be able to spend that much time and money. But I also wish I had more time! I’ve never been farther south thanContinue reading “Italian Roads Not Taken”
Under the Italian Sun
I wrote a few weeks ago about my plans to visit Italy this summer. I’m attending a week-long writers’ retreat in Tuscany, near the Umbrian border. In fact, it’s quite close to the towns where my father’s ancestors came from — in Umbria on his father’s side and Marche on his mother’s. When I lastContinue reading “Under the Italian Sun”
52 Ancestors, Week 13: Light a Candle for My Cousin the Pope
My maternal grandmother always said we were related to a Pope. But she died young, and nobody knew exactly what Pope she claimed to be related to, or even if her story was true. In recent years, in researching our family history, I discovered that she was absolutely right! I am a distant cousin ofContinue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 13: Light a Candle for My Cousin the Pope”
52 Ancestors, Week 12: Membership
It’s Week 12 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, created by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. And this week, the theme is Membership. I often see posts on genealogy-related pages from people who are trying to establish their eligibility for membership in U.S. lineage organizations such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, theContinue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 12: Membership”
52 Ancestors, Week 11: Lucky Uncle Rush
My great-uncle survived Pearl Harbor. He wasn’t always so lucky. Romeo Tomassoni, known as Rush, was only three years old when his father, a coal miner, was killed in a mine collapse. At 22, he joined the army, which sent him to Hickam Field, at Pearl Harbor, Oahu. This was in 1941, before the UnitedContinue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 11: Lucky Uncle Rush”
Throwback Thursday: Four Great-Grandmothers
Someone posted on a family history site, asking members if we had photographs of our great-grandmothers. I’ve mentioned all four of mine at different times, in previous posts about family history. And I have photos of all of them. But I’d never looked at them all together before; I’d always concentrated on researching one familyContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Four Great-Grandmothers”
52 Ancestors, Week 10: Translation
It’s Week 10 of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, created by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. And this week, the theme is Translation. I have written before about my grandfather, Bart (Bartolomeo) Petrini, Sr., and his difficult childhood. When his parents died in the 1918 epidemic, he was left at the age of 11Continue reading “52 Ancestors, Week 10: Translation”
LetterMo 2023, Days 17-28
I completed the Month of Letters challenge in February, but got sidetracked and did not report my progress through much of the second half of the month, so I’m going to catch up on that now. Month of Letters, or LetterMo, encourages participants to write and send at least one piece of handwritten snail mailContinue reading “LetterMo 2023, Days 17-28”
The Petrini Page 