Thursday, March 9, 2017

Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

X-stitch family tree
DMC floss, pearl beads, on linen
CJ Kennedy 1993
To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

My mother was born in a little town named Grotta di Minardi [ed: Grottaminarda], Italy. My grandfather was named Euplio and was not born at this town. He came from also within the area of Naples. Siena. He was also a civil servant [ed: postmaster] and was assigned to the Grottamminarda area.

Here he met a woman and fell in love with her, married her, and she became my grandmother. As I stated previously, neither o my parents talked about their parents when we were around.

Also as we grew into school years, the community was at odd with each other. Like all [ed: Italian] immigrants they wanted us to be able to speak Italian and also give us a part of their culture, and a part of the community was the opposite. Speak English. They are Americans [ed: talking about the children of Italian immigrants born in this country] They will be taught English in school. And that is how I became bilingual.

At one time, I not only spoke Italian. I could read it and write in Italian and in junior high, I took it as one of my elective courses.

However, at this stage of life, I have forgotten a lot of the Italian language.

While I never learned my grandmother's name I did of my grandfather. [ed: His maternal grandmother's name was Gaetana Maccarone. I think Dad just forgot because according to Ma, his parents wanted Ma to name me Gaetanelle. I was able to verify my great-grandparent's names when I embroidered a family tree for my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary. I sent for my grandparents' marriage licenses which had their parents' names on it.]

When I got older, I did get to see a picture of him at my mother's uncle, Zio Francisco. He appeared to be short, well-dressed with a vest pocket watch and chain. And nice and rotund.

He did come to America. Opened a restaurant. His paisan [ed: friends] attended on a regular basis and in keeping with customs did not pay for the meals. Eventually, closed the business and returned home to Italy. I learned more about him later in life.

9 comments:

  1. Your ancestors were so interesting! :)

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    1. Really? I thought they were just boring. In the genealogy research, haven't found any pirates, suffragists, or outlaws. (yet, :-D) Just plain, old hard-working immigrants

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  2. I found your story about your grandparents fascinating, it was lovely to hear about where and how they met. The family tree you embroidered is so beautiful and is a lovely design. Enjoy the rest of the week and have a great weekend! J :-)

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    1. The story of how they met is sweet. The family tree pattern came from a X-stitch magazine. It took me 6 months to complete. At the time, I was x-stitching samples for a woman in town who owned a needle shop. She gave me the suggestion of using the pearl seed beeds as the eyes of the birds to make the piece pop. You have a good weekend too.

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  3. I think the fact that your dad took the trouble and time to write down this story fantastic. It is a nice bit of history to have. And stitched family tree is is great to have. Doing my family research is fascinating and I wish I had something like this for my family. It might answer a lot of questions. Hugs-Erika

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    1. I'm glad Dad wrote some of his memories down. they help to verify people and places. And as I read his memoires, I can hear him talking. Almost like having him here with me.

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  4. I always enjoy these throw back Thursdays, and your father's tales. The fact he was bilingual fascinates me to no end. My upbringing was SO different from yours and your parents.

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    1. East Boston was pretty much a Little Italy community. Both my parents' first language was Italian. (Ma lived around the corner from Dad) They didn't learn to speak English until they went to kindergarten. Italian was spoken in the home.

      My upbringing was different. By the time I came along, they had moved out of the city. Suburbs and predominantly Irish Catholic. A lot of predjudice towards Italians. (Italy backed the wrong players in WWII) My parents wanted my brother and I to be Americans. Neither of us has an Italian first name. They only spoke Italian when they argued or didn't want us to know what was going on (Christmas or birthday surprises) They also spoke a dialect of Italian not the high language. I know a word or two of Italian, some that can even be said in public. (-; As 2nd generation in this country, my upbringing was not as strict compared to my parents' upbringing especially Ma. Still more rigid and old world compared to my friends. I was not allowed to attend slumber parties if the girlfriend had brothers. In high school I was not allowed to date, though I could go out with a group of friends. I had an 11 pm curfew. My first date was to the senior prom. I was not allowed to go to the after party. I was not allowed to live away at college and commuted to school in Boston. The only reason I was allowed to go to college was because my brother didn't want to go. Even in the 1970s, it was considered wasted dollars to educate a woman. My curfew was graciously extended to midnight.

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  5. I think it's wonderful that your father wrote down all these memories!

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