We received many compliments about our Campania display in the Culture Tent at Festa Italiana in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 17-20, 2008. In 2009, Festa Italiana will be held July 16-19, 2009. Sicily and possibly a northern region will be featured.

Marnie Krause (4882) gave a report on the POINT annual Conference. She described the presentation by Ruth Merriman on Italian Genealogy. While at the conference, Marnie represented our Chapter at a leader meeting and volunteered to be on the committee for the next conference. It was decided that the next conference would return to Salt Lake City again in 2010 and again Ruth's talks (on different topics) and research at the Family History Library will be the centerpieces of
the week.

Milwaukee County Genealogical Society is offering it’s series of Beginner Genealogy classes. Classes meet once a month, starting in September 2008 and running through June 2009 on Saturday mornings from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. All classes are held at: Milwaukee Public Library - conference Room 1, 814 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee, WI All classes are free but a Beginner's Kit ($5.00), with the forms and class handouts you will need, must be purchased. For more detail go to:http://www.milwaukeegenealogy.org/classes.html or call MCGS Beginners' Class Coordinator: Arlene Brachman (414) 352-6889 or e-mail her at : arhalegen@hotmail.com

The spring Milwaukee County Genealogical Society’s Biennial Genealogical Workshop is scheduled April 18, 2009, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Details will be posted on the MCGS website at www.milwaukeegenealogy.org

The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society announces the following conferences:

2008 Fall Seminar - Saturday, October 11, 2008, Holiday Inn Express & Janesville Conference Center, featuring Craig R. Scott, CG. See the attachments section below for a registration form or the full registration brochure. Early Registration rates apply until September 26^th.

2009 Gene-A-Rama - Friday & Saturday, April 3-4, 2009, Madison Marriott West Hotel & Conference Center, featuring Christine Rose, CG, CGL, FASG, James Hansen, FASG, David McDonald, CG, Nancy Emmert, CG, and George Findlen, CG. Come and celebrate WSGS' 70th Anniversary!

2009 Fall Seminar - Friday & Saturday, October 2-3, 2009, Bridgewood Resort Hotel & Conference Center, Neenah, featuring Michael John Neill and a "Back to Basics" workshop.

For details go to: http://wsgs.wetpaint.com/page/Meetings+%26+Conferences

On Thursday, September 25,2008, the Wisconsin Historical Museum presents, A Taste of Wisconsin Traditions. The art, culture, and politics of northern Italian stone carvers impacted Wisconsin buildings and brought about mutual aid societies and neighborhood houses in Madison, Milwaukee and more. Randy Croce, University of Minnesota Labor Education Services, will show a portion of his documentary, “If Stone Could Speak,” and detail the impressive carvings at the Wisconsin Historical Society and the state capitol buildings. An Italian dinner catered by Bunky's Café precedes the program. The dinner and program will be held at the museum on Madison's Capitol Square, 30 N. Carroll Street. Doors open at 6:30 pm. Dinner and program are scheduled for 7:00 – 9:00 pm. Registration and payment required by September 20th. To register call Monica Marini Harrison at 608/264-6566 or e-mail museum@wisconsinhistory.org.

A Sicilian Family Reunion is being planned for Friday, September 18, 2009 in Milwaukee Wisconsin. A brunch will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009. Michael Alioto is planning the event. We will pass on more details as they are available.

We discussed our meeting schedule for 2009. We decided on the following Saturday dates: January 10, April 25, September 26, November 14. I will check with the Italian Community Center to see if these dates will work in their schedule. Our meetings will continue to start at 10:30 a.m. and end at 12 Noon.

The Department of Homeland Security has created a new Genealogy Program to simplify the process for acquiring historical records of deceased individuals. Currently, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) processes requests for genealogical information through its Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act (FOIA/PA) program. The present process is very slow and is also expensive for the government. You can read the entire proposal for the "Establishment of a Genealogy Program" in the Federal Register web site at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2008/E8-10651.htm. The new USCIS Genealogy Program became effective on August 13, 2008. The Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program designed to provide family historians and other researchers with timely access to accurate information and good copies of historical immigration and naturalization records. There are two services:

Index Search: Using biographical information provided by the researcher, USCIS will search its historical immigration and naturalization record index for citations related to a specific immigrant. This index search service is limited to subjects born more than 100 years ago, or for whom the requester can provide proof of death. Search results (record citations) will be returned to the researcher, along with instructions on how to request the file(s) from USCIS or the National Archives.

Record Copy Request: Researchers with valid record citations (USCIS file numbers), gained through a USCIS Genealogy Program index search or through independent research, may request copies of historical immigration and naturalization records. Records available through the USCIS Genealogy Program are:

· Naturalization Certificate Files (C-files) from September 27, 1906 to April 1, 1956

· Alien Registration Forms from August 1, 1940 to March 31, 1944

· Visa files from July 1, 1924 to March 31, 1944

· Registry Files from March 2, 1929 to March 31, 1944

· Alien Files (A-files) numbered below 8 million (A8000000) and documents therein dated prior to May 1, 1951

For details go to Genealogy.USCIS@dhs.gov. or http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis select Services and Benefits, then select Genealogy

Bud Lang passes on the following, “Thought I would pass on a tip for those who may not be aware of how they might find surnames in different comunes. This tip deals with Sicily. You can Google this line: http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/eng/comune/pa/vicari/vicari.html. What this info means is you are choosing SICILY. (http://sicilia). The "it" is for Italy (it/eng). The "pa" is for Palermo (comune/pa/) The words Vicari stand for the comune of Vicari. (pa/vicari/vicari.html). When this site pops up on your screen, you will get a couple pages on the Comune of Vicari In the center of the first page, near the bottom, you will find this Point: Local family names. Click on to that line, and you'll find the 10 most common names in the Comune of Vicari, etc. Naturally, if the comune you wish to search is other than Vicari, you would simply change the name. If it is also in a Province other than Palermo, you would also change the initials of the Province. Not wanting to take up too much space here, all of those initials are on page 18 of my book, SICILY! Up Close!” For details on Bud Lang’s book, go to: http://www.sicilyupclose.com/

Dee Whiting (4987) writes “Here are links to form letters that let you fill it out in English and then print out the translation. www.geocities.com/is_eolie/Form_Letters.htm Note the underline between Form and Letters (Form_Letters) and http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resources/letters/index.asp Both ask for estratti or extracts.

A useful tool when writing to relatives in Italy is a family group sheet written in ItalianYou can get one at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilpip1gs/Toolbox/italian_family_group_sheets.htm

Dee Whiting (4987) is looking for information on : Parents of Antonio DiTello B.19 Feb 1890 Tricarico, Loteuza, Italy d. 13 July 1970 Milwaukee, Wi. m.15 Jan 1910 Italy, Maria Oliva Corbisiero b.17 Oct 1892 Tricaricok Loteuza, Italy d. 14 Feb 1960 Milwaukee, Wi . If you have any information write to Dee at nfn19345@naples.net

Pete Bellanti, POINTer (4028) passes on that the Catholic News Service has published an article about new Vatican orders to not cooperate with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the microfilming of records. The Vatican wishes to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a practice that Catholics, Jews, and some others find objectionable. Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons' Genealogical Society of Utah. You can read the article at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/05/vatican-letter.html

Anthony Alioto writes; “One's family historical data going back to approx. 1866 can also be found in Italy's very complete real estate records. (Most family held title to something in one form or another. Remember many poor peasants also had the right to work the land without ownership rights. There are records of this too. Keywords in agricultural law: Livellario and Concedente) There are two sources: the abstract real estate records (called Cadastral records) found to a certain extent on-line) and the complete records available only to professionals in Italy which is not on-line to the public outside of Italy. Of course going back before the 1866 is a separate issue and a matter of being on the ground in Italy in order to be able to go to the Archivio di Stato and other sources we are aware of.” Anthony provides this service for a fee. If you are interested Anthony can be contacted at www.italianlaw.net

Thomas Edward Militello, MD (POINTer #1)announces that the POINT Italian Surname Data Base is back! The first and the largest Italian-only surname data base is once again accepting submissions from active, paid-up POINT members. The data base will be available in two forms: on a CD and as a printed Directory. The data in these files is copyrighted and is intended for the use of the purchasing POINT member only. Since the database had to re-start somewhere, the information in these files (both on the CD and in the Directory), will, at the start, be substantially as it was in our Annual Directory #17 - 2005 (over 16,000 Italian surnames). If your POINT Number is between 1 and 4987 AND you were an active, paid-up member of POINT for 2004, there is no need to re-submit your surnames; they are still in the data base and on the CD and in the Directory. If your POINT number is 4988 or greater, that means that you joined POINT after 2004 and have no surnames in the data base. There will be future updates. For more details go to http://point-pointers.net

Mike Palmiere writes Trafford R. Cole’s book, “Italian Genealogical Records”, can be purchased in electronic form as a .pdf from Google Books. For those with laptops, handhelds or other digital storage, this allows you to carry the information, without having to carry the book. For information, go to http://books.google.com/ .

A trip to Sicily, benefiting the Italian Community Center is being planned by Your Go With Joe Travel. The Sicily Experience is May 22, 2009 through May 29, 2009. Roundtrip airfare to Sicily (optional) Airport transfers to the hotel in Sicily (optional) Eight days in Sicily Deluxe air conditioned motorcoach transportation, seven nights accommodations in Sicily, three nights in Taormina area at Villa Esperia Hotel , one night in Arigento at Hotel Akebello , three nights in Palermo at Astoria Palace, Breakfast every day, one winery lunch and Admissions to Archaeological sites in Siracusa, Agrigento, Byzantine Cathedral at Montreale, Erice, mountaintop fortress city and Segeste Land package is $2057.12 per person based on double occupancy. Air and land package is expected to be $3542.12, but is quoted at time of booking, no more than this price. The single traveler supplement for single occupancy is $580.92 for details If interested or to reserve your space, call 414-291-2180 or go to http://www.gowithjoetravel.com/

You can locate towns and villages in Italy at http://www.fallingrain.com/world/IT/ . You will be able to find alternative spellings, adjacent villages, longitude and latitude. Longitude and latitude can be used to locate towns and villages on Google Earth.

I had an article in the September edition of The Italian Times entitled, “There is No Such Thing as a Family Crest”. Tina Favero explained that the only way you can claim the right to Arms, is to prove your male lineage back to the person who was granted arms by providing genealogical proof and a fee to the College of Arms in England. To learn about other genealogy myths, hoaxes and scams go to: http://www.cyndislist.com/myths.htm , or

http://genealogical-research-methods.suite101.com/article.cfm/watch_for_genealogy_scams

delta_italians1.htm

This October, Pelican Publishing will release “The Journey of the Italians in America” by Vincenza Scarpaci, Starting in October, the author will be touring select U.S. cities through December to promote this photographic history of Italian-American life. Scarpaci will be conducting lectures, book talks, and autographing her book in New York, Connecticut, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Colorado. For details, go to:.

http://www.pelicanpub.com/Press_Release.asp?passval=9781589802452 or http://www.bestsyndication.com/?q=node/15534

Remember to be patient. You may get contacted long afterward. Marie Roth was just contacted about a query she posted over 5 years ago. Barb Bombaci (5064) set out a mailing to people with her surname in Sortino, Siracusa. A year later she received a reply from a cousin.

It can be a small world. Marnie Krause told of a contact she received that turned out to be the niece of Elsie Fucile, who is also in Marne’s family. Marlene Brinn met Steve Scalzo at our display at Festa Italiana and learned of our group. She told us of the surnames she is researching and a contact she made though the internet. The surnames sounded familiar because they were provided by our member Susan Petta-Nokes (4128).

Glenna Amateis brought a document to be identified. Vince D’Orazio (3814) identified the document as a passport from Potenza.

Virginia Blalistreri sent me an electronic (.mwv) file showing a 1950's Italian Police Motorcycle Drill Team. If you would like a copy, e-mail me and I will send you an electronic copy.

Our next meeting will be on Saturday, November 8, 2008, at the Italian Community Center, 631 E. Chicago Street, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, starting at 10:30 a.m. and concluding at noon. We welcome anyone with an interest in Italian Family History. If you have any questions or need additional information, please feel free to contact George Koleas by e-mail or by calling (262) 251-7216 after 7:00 p.m..

Submitted by George Koleas (1527)