{a sweet little family tree illustration that from a client project that never came to fruition}
Katie got this very cool gift from her grandparents this Christmas...
we've just loaded it and started a subscription to www.ancestry.com. We have no clue what we are doing or how to use it yet. But, Mark's Uncle Bob has been working on the family tree extensively for several years now and we can't wait to see it and do our best to add to it. It's so fascinating! Katie is sure that we will find some long lost cousins in Ireland and Italy who will be happy to host her and her friends when they visit someday!
My Uncle Tom Cautela; my grandmother's only surviving sibling, came to visit when my grandfather died last month. We were talking about the family tree then. I took good notes and he helped me to navigate back a few generations. Our conversation lead to talk about his father, my great grandfather, Giuseppe Cautela. {pictured here with my great grandmother, Concetta DiTerlizzi Cautela}
He was a writer and wrote a book titled Moon Harvest, which was published in 1925.
I knew this, but was never able to read it because it was out of publication. What i didn't know was that in 2007, the book was republished for a symposium about literature written by Italian American immigrants, that was being hosted by an Italian university. My Uncle Tom was invited to write an introduction for the book and was also invited to go to Italy for the event. He asked if i would like a copy of the book and sent it to me over the holidays.
I've only just begun to read it {he wrote it in English, which was a monumental feat given that, according to my father, he had a minimal education and his native tongue was Italian}. The book is printed in English on the left and Italian on the right.
Moon Harvest is a love story! And now, it's a treasured legacy for our family...just as i hope one day, my children's children's children will love my book. I'm so happy to have it in my hands. After receiving it, i decided i would do a little research to find out more about the symposium if i could. I began by googling his name and the book title and was shocked to find pages and pages of references to him and the book. It seems there are many academic papers written about the Europeon American immigrant experience and few books written by actual immigrants. I also found out there was a book published about the history of Coney Island in New York. In it, my great grandfather is quoted!
Amazing! I ♥ the internet! Turns out, my dad found out about this a few years ago and bought the book. So cool! I strongly encourage you to ask the older generations in your family for information about the generations who came before them. Chances are they will be a wealth of information for you. I can't wait to find out more about my family and Mark's family through this new software and ancestry.com! I hope this will be a fun and educational family project. Will let you know!
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