Another Piece of the Puzzle

I am enjoying piecing my family tree, sometimes cursing myself that I was not interested when I was younger and could get information from the aunties and uncles. It's a slow process, hunting,  following threads. Sometimes they seem to end, but get picked up later on.

I'm still trying to find information about my great uncle Manny, the stone carver. Yesterday, the Torre le Nocelle (the town in Italy where my father's family is from) blog posted a small article about one of Manny's sons, and mentioned his father and one of his works, the Eagle Fountain at St. Anthony's Church in Revere, Massachusetts. Which lead me to pick up the thread and search the web for information about the church and the fountain.

The fountain was designed by the Ardolino Brothers of Revere. (Eduardo Ardolino was a famous sculptor. I've suspected for awhile that Manny worked for the Ardolino Brothers and is a possible relation. ) The fountain was to be sent back to Torre sort of a grateful thanks for our start in the New World, but the fountain never made it to Italy. I'm betting World War I put the kibosh on that plan so the fountain went to St. Anthony's.

Sadly, in the 1940's, the fountain was dismantled to make room for the growing parish. There's some hint that the fountain was not working and the cost to fix it would have been too expensive. The eagle was saved and sent to Boston College, a gift from one of the 1940s classes.

I have some letters to write. One to the historical society of Revere and also to the Archdiocese to find the location of Manny's grave. I've heard a story that Manny carved his own headstone. I'll take a trip to BC to see the eagle, and later plans for a cemetery hop to visit Manny and a bunch of my other relatives.

Where has your genealogy search led you?