Ancestors, Family Trees, Genetti Family

Continuing Research on Family Tree

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Original Genetti Family TreeMost of you know that the Genetti Family Tree is large and extensive. Beginning in the 1400’s, it separates into two branches around 1590, and again divides into four main branches by 1680. The tree follows male ancestors only. Each name contains a birth year along with their spouse and marriage date. Death dates are not included. After the late 1700’s, a population boom is evident as the tree now blossoms out into many branches.

Several years ago, when I began my genealogy research, I concentrated on my particular family line. This involved tracing the original baptismal, marriage and death records for each male ancestor, along with online searches through data bases and other family trees. As I found new information such as death dates, spousal birth and death dates, daughters and missing male children not included on the tree, I added this info to my file. After many, many hours of research I was able to identify and document 13 generations up to my grandfather, along with all of the children born to each ancestor, including birth, marriage and death dates. This information, along with vital stats on spousal families such as the Marchetti and Zambotti families, makes up the online family tree data base found on this website.

Now comes the real challenge – researching the rest of the tree! Between blog posts and adding new photos and stories to the website, I continue to research separate individual branches of the Genetti tree. So far I have added one new line for the Genetti family who emigrated and settled in Illinois. I am currently working on a branch of the family who remained in Castelfondo and another branch whose descendants are in California and Wyoming. But it does take time, so be patient. I have a goal to completely document every Genetti ancestor from Castelfondo and attempt to locate their descendants’ country and state of emigration.

If you would like to help with my research, please email me any information you have about your ancestral line. I will use this information to search church records and accurately document the ancestors before adding them to the online tree.

A special thanks to Chiara Dalle Nogare’s mother, Maria Genetti (one of the four Genetti sisters of Castelfondo), who I have recently learned, commissioned the beautiful family tree pictured above. I consult this tree every time I sit down at the computer for an afternoon of research. It has been an invaluable tool in tracing the Genetti genealogy.

 

Genealogy Resources, News, Social Media

Featured on GeneaBloggers

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The Genetti Family Genealogy Project was featured today on the GeneaBloggers’  website: New Genealogy Blogs 23 August 2014. Click here to see the post!

GeneaBloggers is described as “the ultimate site for your genealogy blog”. The site has a huge index of family genealogy blogs and also offers resources for bloggers. It’s a great way to get the word out about our website.

And speaking about getting the word out, you can help the The Genetti Family Genealogy Project grow by emailing the website address and FaceBook page to other family members. The goal of our project is to share our family history and culture, and connect with Genetti descendants throughout the world. To do that we need participation! So tell one and all to visit, subscribe to our blog posts and “like” our FaceBook page. We are also looking for family photos, stories and recipes to post on the website. Mille Grazie!

Website URL: www.genettifamily.com

FaceBook page: www.facebook.com/genettifamilygenealogy  

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Books, Trentini, Tyrolean History

New Book in the Genetti Shop

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TheHiddenFrontierWhy not stop by our Book Shop to peruse our sampling of personally selected books about the Tyrolean culture? If you are interested in learning more about your roots or are planning a future trip to Trentino-Alto Adige, you’ll find just the right book to help you in your adventure.

Today I added a new book that was suggested by Chiara Dalle Nogare, one of our Genetti cousins who lives in Trento, Trentino. “The Hidden Frontier: Ecology and Ethnicity in an Alpine Valley” is a fascinated study of history and culture in the Val di Non. Well worth the read if you really want to understand your Tyrolean roots!

Click here to visit the Book Shop!

Ancestors, Family Stories, Immigration

The American Immigrant Wall of Honor

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EllisIsland-1For the past month, I’ve been having a wonderful email conversation with Regina (Jean) Branz Daly. Jean is the daughter of Erminia (Erma) Genetti Branz, (Born: 1896 in Castelfondo, Austria; Death: 1971 in Freeland, PA). Erma’s parents were Damiano and Oliva Genetti and she was one of five daughters. As it turns out, Jean is my first cousin, once removed (or in other terms, my father’s first cousin).

Jean has been writing of the many memories she has of her mother, her grandmother Oliva and other family members. She was close in age to my father and they actually played together as children!

EllisIsland-2In her last email, Jean shared something about Ellis Island that I found intriguing. In 1982 Lee Iacocca (the Founding Chairman of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation) was raising funds to create The Family History Center and The American Immigrant Wall of Honor. Many grandchildren of Oliva and Damiano Genetti were contacted and asked to make a donation. This would entitle the name of a family member who had immigrated to America to be inscribed on the stone wall memorial. Jean believed many of the grandchildren had contributed and knew her mother’s name was there, since two of Erma’s great-granddaughters had visited the wall and taken a photo of the inscription.

I was curious about this wall! What other family names were inscribed there? And did their descendants even know of the memorial?

A visit to the Ellis Island website offered answers. The American Immigrant Wall of Honor contains over 700,000 names “representing all ethnicities, all years of arrival, all points of entry, and all modes of travel … The common element that ties these names together is the celebration of American immigration.” Wow! I had no idea there was a memorial to immigrants. What an incredible tribute since the modern United States was built by our ancestors, who were all immigrants.

Next I did a search for “Genetti” to see who was inscribed on the wall. Here’s what I found:

  1. Albert V. Genetti
  2. Angela Genetti McNelis
  3. Damiano Genetti
  4. Dominic Genetti
  5. Dora Genetti Bott
  6. Enrico Genetti
  7. Erma Genetti Branz (Jean’s mother)
  8. Esther Genetti
  9. Frank and Erminia Yanes Genetti
  10. Gus Genetti
  11. Oliva Zambotti Genetti
  12. Stanley V. Genetti

Almost all of my family – great-grandparents, grandaunts and granduncles – were there plus several Genettis from other families. But I was a little disappointed not to see my grandfather’s name, Leon Genetti, on the list. Then it occurred to me, my grandfather had been the only member of his family who was actually a natural America citizen. Leon was born in 1887 in Lattimer, Pennsylvania. Damiano and Oliva returned to Tyrol when he was still an infant. The rest of their children were born in Castelfondo, Austria. My grandfather had spent his youth in Castelfondo, then returned to the United States with Damiano as a teenager. He could not be a part of the wall since he was officially a US citizen returning the country of his birth – not an immigrant. Another mystery solved!

If you would like to know more about The American Immigrant Wall of Honor, go to: https://www.wallofhonor.org/wall_of_honor.asp

To do a search for a family name, go to: https://www.wallofhonor.org/search.asp

 

 

Books, Resources, Trentini, Tyrolean History

Filo: A Journal for Tyrolean Americans

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FiloIf you are Tyrolean American and would like to learn more about your heritage, you need to subscribe to Filo Magazine. First published in 2011, this quarterly magazine is available as a paper version or online – both are free. Filo (pronounced fee-lo) was the Tyrolean word for the daily gathering in the stables of the Trentino. Each day after work and chores, villagers would come together to tell stories, sing and socialize. Filo Magazine is published in the United States, but has many ties to Trentino. Their goal is to reach as many Tyrolean Americans as possible “to provide you with the background of your roots and ancestry.”

I have been receiving Filo since 2012. Through the magazine I have learned so much about our culture, food and language, as well as been intrigued by family stories that are publish in each issue.

To receive the free magazine, simple register at: http://filo.tiroles.com/registration.html.

Or to browse their extensive site, go to: http://filo.tiroles.com. If you are interested in learning more about dialect and in particular, the Nones language of the Val di Non (which is what the Genetti ancestors spoke), check out their dialect section. Quite fascinating!

In closing, here is a bit of dialect from Filo: ‘sa fente, nente o stente? Which translates into: What should we do, stay or go?

 

Ancestors, Family Trees, Genetti Family

Why am I a genealogist?

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Family1916

The family of Raffaele and Lucia Genetti,
circa 1916.

Many people find my hobby of family genealogy interesting – but exceedingly tedious when they learn how much research is required to accurately compile all of those names and dates. Often they ask “Why do you spend so much time digging into the past?”.

So here are a few musings as to why I am a family genealogist.

Whenever I pass by an abandoned home, usually sitting isolated and alone on an old farm or open prairie, I wonder who once lived there. What memories were created in this house with peeling wallpaper and shutters hanging askew? Why did they leave?

Or who are the long-gone people in period dress peering out from a sepia photograph that I found at the flea market? And who once cherished this memento, but now they are gone too.

Like the vacant home or the family portrait, people are also forgotten. It only takes three or four generations before an ancestor passes from living memory. And truly the only thing that is left after we pass is our memory. As a genealogist, I try to capture and preserve the memories of those who came before me. My charts and trees, names and dates are to honor the ancestors in an attempt to keep their memory alive. In some small way, I hope someone in the future will do the same for me. We all want to believe that our life counted for something, that it had purpose and enriched those we came in contact with. I believe every ancestor created a stepping-stone for the next generation. Their knowledge, courage and life choices made each of us who we are today. Shouldn’t we in the very least remember their names?

The pursuit of genealogy is an awe-inspiring calling and one that I don’t take lightly. The Genetti clan was very fortunate – many relatives throughout the centuries took up the task of recording our ancestry. I am just one in a long line of family historians preserving the memory of past ancestors by compiling a family tree generation by generation. For in remembering and sharing a family’s genealogy, you join the lives of the past with those living today and those to come in the future.

Ancestors, Castelfondo, Italy, Maps

Take a Walk with Google Earth

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Castelfondo-6

View of the town’s fountain with the Genetti home in the background. Look for this landmark while you are walking around Castelfondo using Google Earth.

If you find genealogy a tad on the dry side, here’s a tech tip that will make it a whole lot more interesting. Why not take a walk through your ancestral village using Google Earth!

This is SO cool! You can be transported directly to a town in Europe (or anywhere else!) without leaving your home. I spend hours on Google Earth exploring places I’m going to visit on my next trip. So let’s zero in on Castelfondo, the ancestral village of the Genetti family and see what we can find.

If you haven’t already played with Google Earth, you will first need to download the basic software from the site. Go to https://earth.google.com. It’s free and only takes a few minutes to load. After you finish downloading you’ll see an icon on your desktop that looks like a blue marble with white swirls. Click on the icon and you are ready to explore!

Let’s get started. In the upper left corner you’ll see a search box. Type in Castelfondo, Trentino, Italy and hit the search button. In an instant you’ll be whisked to a small village in the Italian Alps. From this perspective you will see an aerial view of Castelfondo, the surrounding countryside and nearby villages. Zoom in using the “plus” sign found on the right side of the screen. Or for a lot more fun, grab the little orange man located on the right and drag him into the village. Now you are at street level and can take a stroll through town. Yes, really! You can walk the very streets your ancestors called home, all from the comfort of your desktop!

If you click and hold on the little orange man before you move him into town, you’ll see blue lines pop up on the screen. This tells you where you can and cannot walk. Once you are moving around town, just click on the yellow line to move forward. You can also click on the left or right of the screen to turn around and take in the surrounding view. To return to the aerial view, just toggle the button marked “Exit Street View” found in the upper right of the screen.

Of course, you won’t be able to adventure down every street, but you can maneuver around most of the town and see quite a few sites. Here are a few landmarks to look for: the castle on the edge of town (only seen from the aerial view), the town bar (right over the bridge and on the left side of the stream that runs through town), San Nicolo Church, the town’s central fountain, the village grocery store, apple orchards and vineyards that surround the town and Amici di Castelfondo (the local cultural and historical society). If you find the town fountain, look just beyond it and you will spy the Genetti homestead. Unfortunately you can’t walk right up to the house, but you can see the fresco that is displayed on the side of the home.

Have fun with Google Earth and happy exploring!

 

Family History, Genetti Family, Photos

New Photos in the Gallery

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FourBrothers-2

Four Genetti brothers at the opening of the Laurel Street market in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, 1939.

I just added new photos to the website Gallery section. Come by and take a peek, just click here!

Do you have old family photographs tucked away in a shoe box in the attic? Why not dust them off and send then to me via email. I’ll post them in the Gallery along with dates and details. Since I’ve heard from many of you, I know for a fact that other family members would love to see them too!