On January 17, 2004, 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, Vince D’Orazio (3418), Joe Dentice, Tina Favero (4452), George Koleas (1527), Laura Lancione, Adele Tarantino McGrath , Steve and Jean Scalzo, Valorie Rollins SanFilippo, Tana Salvaggio (4835), Anna D’Amico Skoczynski, John Balistreri and his guest Patricia Stein and David Tedesco. Also in attendance were new member Tim Kenney and guests Frank Alioto, Gerry Alioto, Tom Alioto, Steve Alioto, Jan Manuele, Vince Tarantino, Jeanne Zepelak and from PIP Chapter 27, Chicago North, Dan Niemiec (2304)
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, was published in the winter issue of the POINT magazine.
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. Please contact George Koleas if you are interested.
The Italian Community Center Cultural Committee expressed an interest to collaborate with us. Joe Dentice, a member of ours and the Culture Committee, will serve as the Culture Committee’s liaison to us. Ann Pitzo, who joined as at our last meeting, leads the Culture Committee.
We submitted our idea for a display at Festa Italiana which will be held on July 16, 17 and 18, to Italian Community Center President Mario Carini, on 1-18-2003. Our idea is to create a space for a Family Reunion Tent. This idea was originally submitted last year by Ginny Balistreri and independently suggested by Mike Aliota and discussed at our last meeting. Our idea was submitted as follows:
Along one wall of this tent, we would have three
tables. One would be for Northern Italy, another for Southern Italy and still
another for Sicily. Behind each table would be a corresponding map of the
area, a list of surnames that members of our group are researching from those
areas and surname distribution maps for the most common surnames that are
being researched. We could also identify an area of focus for each major
division, such as Sant' Elia and the villages surrounding Palermo, for
Sicily.
During each day of Festa Italiana, we could invite families who came from
these areas to meet in the tent; Friday for families from Northern Italy,
Saturday for families from Southern Italy and Sunday for families
from Sicily. For example, the families from San' Elia and the villages
surrounding Palermo include: Alioto (also Aliota,
Arioto and Galioto), Balistreri (also Balistrieri), Bellanti, Busalacchi,
Dentici, Machi, Tarantino, SanFilippo and others.
Our idea was forwarded to the Festa Steering Committee. The Culture Committee is planning a tent for Festa Italiana. We may collaborate with them to share a space. There will be more updates at the next meeting. If our idea is approved, we will need volunteers. Please consider if you can volunteer. Members of PIP Chapter 27, Chicago North may also be interested in working with us in the tent.
New member Elena Hale asked for help to translate a birth record from 1869. Joe Dentice and Vince D’Orazio (3418) took copies of the document to try to help with a translation.
John Balistreri described his successful experience working with Peter Bellanti on his Balistreri family. Don Buck has also had success working with Peter on his Salvatore SanFilippo family. Peter has a website at www.bellanti.org .
Peter Bellanti, (4028) has added approximately 2,800 names to his website since last spring. The total number of individuals in the Sant' Elia / Porticello / Santa Flavia section now numbers 12,987 made up of 4,152 families.
The Wisconsin State Genealogical Society is holding the annual Gene-A-Rama on April 23 and 24, 2004 at Olympia Resort in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. The featured speaker is John Phillip Colletta. For additional details as they become available, go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~wsgs/ .
Valorie Rollins SanFilippo had written to a great uncle in Santa Flavia. After not hearing from him, her uncle unexpectedly wrote back to tell Val that he had found his wife's research. Her research provided Val with new names and actual records too.
Laura Lancione showed a picture of her great grandfather Nunzio Lancione in Scanno, L’Aquila, in 1870 with horses he took care of for the "important people" in town.
We discussed theories about the origin of the Alioto surname variations of Alioto, Aliota, Arioto and Galioto. They include:
· There is a town south of Sant’ Elia called Alia. A male resident of Alia is Alioto and a female resident is Aliota.
· Members of the Alioto family wishing to distinguish themselves from another Alioto family began using Aliota instead of Alioto.
· In old Italian records, the “L” in Alioto is transcribed as an “R” and the name appears as Arioto.
· Galioto originates from the word "Galeotto" which means "galley slave." The Galioti did not want to be known as "slaves", so they changed the name to "Alioti." And later “Alioto”.
· Some Galioto simply dropped the “G” when they came to America and became Alioto.
If you now of any other theories or stories about the origin of the Alioto name variations, or want to discuss the origins of another surname, please send you input to George Koleas.
Steve Scalzo reported that Our Lady of Pompeii records after 1920 are at St. Hedwigs Catholic Church. Tina Favero (4452) suggests that if you write or call, contact "Rose".
Don Buck explained that he found Santa Flavia civil registration records in the Family History Library films for Solunto covering 1868 to 1880 and Solanto covering 1820 to 1861. Adele Tarantino McGrath explained that both are the same place, one is a more modern spelling.
At the end of our meeting, interested members viewed a DVD from Peter Bellanti’s with a tour of Palermo, a party at La Zagarella Hotel hosted by the Sindaco Dr. Pietro Sanfilippo, the ceremony in which Peter’s brother Joseph received an honorary citizenship at the Municipal Hall in Santa' Flavia, the party in Porticello at "Francu u' piscatori" and out to sea for the Festa della Madonna del Lume, the patron Saint of Porticello. This is an annual feast so that the fishing will be blessed and plentiful.
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. 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 remaining meetings in 2004 will be Saturday’s, April 24, September 18 and November 13. The times and location will not change.
Our next meeting will be held on Saturday, April 24, 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.
Submitted by George Koleas (1527)
