On November 8, 2003, PIP Chapter 22 met at the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin at 10:30 a.m.
The following members were in attendance: Michael Aliota, Ginny Balistreri, Don Buck, Joe Dentice, Tina Favero (4452), Elsie Fucile, George Koleas (1527), Adele Tarantino McGrath , Jackie Maggiore(4391), Jane Pipia, Delores Marino Ploetz, Marie Roth (766), Steve and Jean Scalzo, Tana Salvaggio (4835), Anna D’Amico Skoczynski, John Balistreri and his guest Patricia Stein and Joyce Weber (4438). Also in attendance were new members: Thomas Consolazione, Elena Hale, Anna Pitzo, David Tedesco and Elsie Fucile’s guests Olga Fucile, Dan and Marnie Krause other guests Joseph F. Balistreri, and Judy Balistreri.
The Fourth Biennial POINT National Conference will be in Kansas City, Missouri, October 7, 8 and 9, 2004. Visit the POINT website at www.point-pointers.net for the latest information. If enough members are interested, we could charter a bus to take us there. We will discuss this again at our next meeting.
Anna Pitzo, from the Italian Community Center’s Culture Committee, attended our meeting. She would like to discuss the Culture Committee working together with our Chapter.
Adele Tarantino McGrath described her successful experience working with Peter Bellanti on her Tarantino family. With Peter’s help, Jane Pipia was able to research her Gumina family back to 1760. Six other members, including myself, have also had similar positive experiences. If we can supply information on a current family back to the ancestor that emigrated from Palermo, Sant’ Elia, Sant’ Flavia, Solunto, Porticello and adjacent villages in Sicily, Peter has a good chance of connecting them with information that he has compiled. Peter’s research also has information on many SanFilippo families. We need to encourage SanFilippo and related families to share their family information with us so we can will send it to Peter. Don Buck is researching his Salvatore SanFilippo family and has corresponded with Peter. Peter has a website at www.bellanti.org .
Joe Dentice explained that there were seven main families in Sant’ Elia, Sicily; Alioto (also Aliota, Arioto and Galioto), Balistreri (also Balistrieri), Bellanti, Busalacchi, Dentici, Machi and Tarantino. The SanFilippo family came later. Many of these surnames also exist in other parts of Italy.
Joe Dentice reported that Peter Bellanti’s brother Joe recently returned from Porticello, where he received his honorary citizenship. With this honorarium, he is entitled to all the benefits of being a citizen, including running for mayor if he so wished.
Michael Aliota had an idea for a Reunion Tent at Festa Italiana in 2004. It appears that Ginny Balistreri submitted a similar idea for 2003. We discussed this idea and how we could improve upon it. We would like to get your input before we submit this idea to the Festa Italiana Committee. The Reunion Tent would potentially have a table for each major division of Italy; Northern Italy; Southern Italy and Sicily, with a corresponding map, a list of surnames we are researching from those areas and surname distribution maps for the surnames, like the ones available at http://gens.labo.net/it/cognomi/ or http://elenco.libero.it/elencotel/public/RicercaOmonimie.jsp . There would be room for other Italian Community Center organizations with related displays, such as the Culture Committee. During each day of Festa Italiana, we could invite families to meet in the tent; Friday for Northern Italy, Saturday for Southern Italy and Sunday for Sicily. We could also identify an area of focus for each major division such as Sant’ Elia for Sicily. Our friend Peter Bellanti plans to attend Festa Italiana in 2004. He may speak on one of the days. In the tent, we would help answer questions about researching Italian genealogy. This reunion tent could be a major draw for Festa Italiana and could continue year after year with different areas of focus. Please send me your suggestions concerning this idea.
Michael Aliota is holding a reunion with his Aliota and Alioto families at Aliota’s Lake Country Bistro, 143 Main Street, Sullivan, Wisconsin on November 9, 2003.
An offer is circulating in the mail to provide 2000 years of your family’s history for $39.95. Members should help advise anyone who receives this letter that what they will likely get is information that can easily be acquired on the Internet or a Public Library for free. 2000 years of history would take your family back to 3 A.D.! According to the School of Information, University of Michigan, “Until the 12th century, most people were called by their first or given name. However, the use of surnames gradually became an accepted practice throughout western Europe in the Middle Ages.” For more information on surnames, go to: http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48533 .
We serve as the Italian Area Interest Group for the Milwaukee County Genealogical Society. The Milwaukee County Genealogical Society has purchased Ancestry Plus for the Milwaukee and Waukesha Public Libraries and has purchased microfilm of Milwaukee Court Ordered Name Changes from 1871-1977, Milwaukee births and marriages through 1911 and Milwaukee deaths through 1912 for the Milwaukee Public Library. Please check with the libraries for any restrictions on usage.
There was an interesting posting on PIE from Lou Alfano, quoting from Trafford Cole’s book, Italian Genealogical Records, pages 19 and 20: “In some towns where the division between state and church was particularly heated, a power struggle developed...For almost twenty years, until the state was able to enforce its authority, many people were married by church rite but did not announce the marriage in the town hall according to government rules. Thus the town would not recognize the marriage and recorded all the resulting children as illegitimate. Finally, the couple would be forced to remarry by civil rite and to recognize their "illegitimate" children as their own. Examination of the civil records of the period from 1865 to about 1880, in certain areas, will reveal many cases of marriage being recorded after the couple had already had several children. In the parish records, however, the marriage is recorded as having taken place many years before, and there is no question of legitimacy." I have found this in my Costa research where I have found children listed under their Mother’s maiden surname instead of their Father’s surname. Joe Dentice explained that births might be recorded on different days than the actual birth date.
Tana Salvaggio’s (4835) article, An Italian Immigrant Family’s Success Story, detailing how the Marchese Brothers left their mark on the auto racing industry in Milwaukee, will be published in the next issue of the POINT magazine. If any of you have a copy of the book “The Italian American Family Album”, the family pictured on the cover is Tana’s Marchese family. In addition to racing, Tana’s family was involved in excavating.
We discussed other areas that Italians may have immigrated to. There are often postings on PIE concerning Italians who immigrated to Argentina. Delores Marino Ploetz told a story about meeting a young lady from Australia while she was visiting Avellino, outside Naples. During their conversation Delores was surprised to learn that the young lady’s grandmother had emigrated from Italy.
Our website, articles and queries in the Italian Times continue to be successful in locating information about our families and interesting individuals in becoming members of our chapter. Our website located at geocities.com/point11_2000 has a new “Queries” page. This new webpage will provide another opportunity for us to make more connections with people using search engines. If you have a query concerning family information you are looking for, please let me know. I will compile the information I receive and send it to the Italian Times for publication. I will also post it on the new “Queries” page on our website. If you have ideas for articles for the Italian Times, please also send them to me.
Our meetings in 2004 will be Saturday’s, January 17, April 24, September 18 and November 13. The times and location will not change.
Our next meeting will be on Saturday, January 17, 2004, at the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We will meet, starting at 10:30 a.m. and conclude the formal meeting at Noon. Those that wish to, will then go to the restaurant, order lunch and continue to share information and help one another or they may make plans to meet elsewhere. Everyone is welcome to attend our meetings.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact George Koleas by e-mail at GeorgeJK676@wi.rr.com or by phone at (262) 251-7216 after 7:00 p.m.
Submitter by George Koleas (1527)
