Family Stories

Genealogy comes to life when names and dates are coupled with family stories. Let’s hear from you! What tales of yore can you add to our anthology of family fables? Take a few moments and jot down those funny moments you remembered about Nonna, the stories your grandfather told you about the old country or memories of your childhood growing up in the Genetti clan. Send me an email with photos (if available) and I’ll post your story on this page.

Published below are articles and family memoirs that you’ll find of interest. Remember, with the passing of time and generations, historical facts are often changed, forgotten or romanticized. Such is the case with some of the information found in the accounts listed below. Today we can rely on the internet and accurate genealogy resources to correct details that may have been misconstrued in the telling or reporting of family stories. In the following ancestral accounts, information that conflicts with modern documented sources is noted within the story using bracketed “Webmaster Notes”.

Please click on the link hi-lighted in bold type to access each story.

Oscar Jewell Harvey, “A History of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania: From Its First Beginnings to the Present Time, Including Chapters of Newly-discovered Early Wyoming Valley History, Together with Many Biographical Sketches and Much Genealogical Material, Volume 2.” Compiled by  and Ernest Gray Smith. Originally published in 1909 by Raeder Press, updated in 1928. Digitized in 2008. Exert of a biographical sketch about Damiano Genetti, August Genetti and the Genetti businesses.

Costante “Stanley” Genetti, written sometime during the 1980’s, exert from personal memoir on the life of Damiano and Oliva Genetti as told by one of his sons.

Father Bonifacio Bolognani, from “A Courageous People from the Dolomites”, published 1984. Exert of text about Raffaele and Damiano Genetti, and their businesses.

William “Bill” E. Genetti, dated October 1992. “The American Beginning” text about the family of Damiano and Oliva Genetti.

Tirolesi Alpini Honors August H. Genetti, 1968.

Family Memories by Regina “Jean” Branz Daly, 2014-2015. The following memoir was compiled from email correspondence between Jean Daly and Louise Genetti Roach (webmaster of this site). Jean is the granddaughter of Oliva and Damiano Genetti.

Family Memories by Don Lingousky, 2015. Compiled from email correspondence between Don Lingousky and Louise Genetti Roach (webmaster of this site). Don is the great-grandson of Angela Maddalena Genetti Recla.

Family Memories by Helene Smith Prehatny, September 2016. The following memoir about Raphaelle and Lucia Genetti was written by Helene Smith Prehatny in memory of her beloved grandparents. Helene also contributed the family photos that illustrate this page. She is the granddaughter of Raphaelle and Lucia Genetti, and the daughter of Elizabeth Genetti Smith.

The Val di Non by Cecelia Joliat, November 2017. Cecelia Joliat, a descendant of the Genetti family. Last year Cecelia made the long journey to her ancestral home of Castelfondo in the Val di Non. Cecelia shares with us an essay she composed about her family’s homeland along with personal photos from her trip.

Bill Genetti looks back on 65 years in hotel, banquet business, February 23, 2015, article published in Standard Speaker, Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Business: A Family Affair for Genetti Clan, September 6, 2016. Article of historical importance published by The Citizens’ Voice of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania prior to the Genetti Family Reunion of 2016 held in Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

End of an Era: As Genetti’s closes, a look back at 120 years of a family business in the Hazleton area. January 4, 2021, article published in the Standard Speaker, Hazleton, Pennsylvania.

Genetti Hotel has ‘weathered many storms’ over its 100-year history. June 25, 2022, article published in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette; Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

The Myths and Facts about Barbara Libener Inama (1875-1936), August 27, 2022, by Louise Genetti Roach. A research paper using genealogical research and DNA evidence to dispute the family myth that Barbara Libener Inama, a descendant of the Marchetti family, was an adoptee Native American.