This photo is of my great-grandmother Maria (Bolognesi) Diamantini’s older brother Nicola Bolognesi (28 May 1870 – 11 January 1942). Sadly, he is one of the many members of my Italian extended family about whom I know nothing at all.
Italy
Throwback Thursdays #tbt – Maria Donini First Communion
I love this First Communion photo! It’s labeled as “Maria Donini”. To be honest, I don’t know exactly who she is! But the photo could be dated anywhere from, say, the 1920s to the 1940s (?)
However, I do have some clues. My great-grandmother, Maria (Bolognesi) Diamantini, had a younger sister Annuziata (born c. 1879 – died c. 1949), who married a man by the last name of Donini. (Sadly, I don’t know the name of Mr. Donini.)
I also know the Bolognesi family came from Sant’Elpidio A Mare, in the province of Fermo, in the region of Marche. Perhaps the Donini family did too?
If you might know who the Donini family is, or who Maria Donini is, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Throwback Thursdays #tbt – Lorenza Bolognesi Mataloni
This photo is of my great-grandaunt Lorenza (Bolognesi) Mataloni, the younger sister of my great-grandmother Maria (Bolognesi) Diamantini.
Lorenza was born 1877 in Italy, and she died in 1964 in Civitanova Marche, Italy. She married Giuseppe Mataloni, and had two children that I know of: Antonio and Maria.
The two sisters, Maria and Lorenza, definitely look like family. My great-grandma is on the left.
Brief Update: Ancestry ThruLines: Analysis of my mom’s lines
I was thrilled to log on to Ancestry today, and find that my mom’s ThruLines now include her paternal grandmother. (The other day, as noted here, her grandmother had been missing from ThruLines for an unknown reason.)
It’s also helpful having the different generations of ancestors grouped together under a subtitle.
Throwback Thursdays #tbt – Hugo Ferroni
Another son of Marietta (Diamantini) Ferroni was Hugo Ferroni. I know even less about him than his brother Attilo. He was born circa 1907.
Throwback Thursdays #tbt – Attilo Ferroni
Last week I published a photo of Attilo Ferroni’s presumed mother, Marietta (Diamantini) Ferroni. Today, I’m posting a photo of him.
I believe he was born circa 28 September 1905, in Italy, presumably in the Marche region. He and his wife (name unknown) are believed to have had 6 children: Giovanni, Hugo, Mario, Nello, Rina, and Umberto. All were sons, except for Rina.
Throwback Thursdays #tbt – Marietta Diamantini Ferroni
I’m going to continue to post photographs once a week on “Throwback Thursdays”, starting with some of my Italian relatives, about whom I know very little.
One thing I do know is that my Diamantini kin came from in and around the town of Fano, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, in the province of Pesaro e Urbino, in the Marche region.
Google Maps. “Fano, Province of Pesaro and Urbino, Italy”, Google (https://www.google.com/maps/place/61032+Fano,+Province+of+Pesaro+and+Urbino,+Italy/@43.4913364,14.8439515,7.01z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x132d105e7324a691:0x477a64d9766b3c0a!8m2!3d43.8398164!4d13.0194201?hl=en : accessed 7 Feb 2019).
This photo is of a woman believed to be my great-grandfather Guiseppe Diamantini’s sister, Marietta, who married Enrico Ferroni. She was born 12 February 1887 and died 16 December 1980. I believe Marietta and Enrico had 3 sons: Attilo, Hugo, and Gino. That’s all I know.
23andMe Ethnicity Update
If you’ve tested at 23andMe, have you checked out your ethnicity results lately?
In a recent post[1], Judy Russell mentioned 23andMe’s latest ethnicity update, which somehow I missed completely!
Naturally, I had to go check it out, fearing a bit that my ethnicity percentages might be “messed up”. Even though I know they are estimates, 23andMe has for some time had the percentages closest to what would be expected by my family narrative. My dad is “all Irish”; my mom is “half Italian” due to her father being from Italy. Et cetera, et cetera.
Very little has changed in my ethnicity percentages. Here, I’ve noted in an Excel spreadsheet my former ethnicities per 23andMe (as of November 2018) and my current ones as of today when I reviewed the changes.
What is interesting, though, is that they seems to have taken a page from Ancestry’s “genetic communities” playbook, and zeroed in on specific areas in Ireland, Britain and Italy where my ancestors possibly lived in the past 200 years.
Let’s take a look. We’ll start with Ireland. On my paper trail, both my dad’s parents have Irish roots. My paternal grandfather’s family left Ireland, depending on the branch of his tree, around the time of the Famine and shortly after – say, the 1850 to 1865 range. My great-great grandfather, Patrick Dempsey, reportedly came from Kings County (now Co. Offaly) – per his obituary. I don’t have more details than that. His wife Hanora Hurley (or is it Hanora Riordan) – whom he married in the U.S. — may have come from anywhere in southern Ireland. Best guess is Co. Cork or Co. Limerick. On my grandfather’s maternal line, her father’s Lamburth ancestors likely came from England, while her mother Eliza (Landrigan) Lamburth came from the town of Garryrickin, Windgap Parish, Co. Kilkenny.[2]
My paternal grandmother’s father came from Athea, Co. Limerick, as did his father, while his mother came from Cooraclare, Co. Clare. My grandmother’s mother came from Athea, Co. Limerick, as did her father, with her mother coming from Beale, Co. Kerry.[3]
In sum, my Irish heritage on my Nana’s side is from the province of Munster, specifically southwest of Ireland, around the River Shannon, while my Grandpa’s Irish heritage is from the province of Leinster, specifically Co. Kilkenny and Co. Offaly.
And 23andMe’s ethnicity determination – for the moment at least – largely agrees.[4]
County Kerry, County Clare, County Limerick and County Kilkenny are all in the top 10.
As far as Great Britain/the U.K. is concerned, I have no idea where my ancestors came from. My paternal grandfather’s Lamburth line, here in the U.S. since at least 1800, likely came from England but none of us researching this line have yet “crossed the pond”. My mother’s maternal grandmother’s Wright line has been here in the U.S. since at least 1730 or so; researchers on this line have not yet crossed the pond either. Here is what 23andMe estimates[5]:
Perhaps these areas could be clues, but it would be silly to jump ahead of myself and start researching Wrights and Lamburth/Lamberts over in England without knowing more about the family here in the U.S. in the 18th century. The references to Scotland surprise me a bit, but could be related to the Gaelic / Celtic heritage of my Irish side.
With respect to Italy, my grandfather’s parents came from the province of Marche. My great-grandfather was from Fano, and my great-grandmother was from Sant’Elpidio a Mare[6]. Some of us in my family have even gone to Marche and met our living cousins – that’s a story for another blog post.
Here is what 23andMe estimates[7].
Pretty wild, huh? Marche!! Still have to take it with a grain of salt – my brother’s estimated places of origin in Italy are completely different from mine – but still, right now, today, it “fits”.
[1] Judy G. Russell, “And still not soup…,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 27 Jan 2019 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed 28 Jan 2019).
[2] For sources, see cathymd, “Dempsey Family Tree“, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/17377380/family : accessed 26 Dec 2018).
[3] Ibid.
[4] 23andMe, Inc., “Cathy, your DNA suggests that 56.8% of your ancestry is British & Irish”, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/british_irish/ : accessed 29 Jan 2019).
[5] 23andMe, Inc., “Cathy, your DNA suggests that 56.8% of your ancestry is British & Irish”, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/british_irish/ : accessed 29 Jan 2019).
[6] For sources, See cathymd, “Serafini_Diamantini1“ tree, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/19505554/family : accessed 29 Jan 2019).
[7] 23andMe, Inc., “Cathy, your DNA suggests that 12.6% of your ancestry is Italian”, 23andMe.com (https://you.23andme.com/reports/ancestry_composition_hd/italian/ : accessed 29 Jan 2019).
I’d Like to Meet… a miscellany, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, #6
Prompt for 2019, week 4 — I’d Like to Meet…
Just as an aside, since I started the 52 Ancestors prompt series back in October, I’m off kilter with the “official” 2019 calendar, and mixing / matching prompts from this year and last year.
The current week’s prompt led me to realize that I don’t have just one ancestor I’d like to meet. It’s a cop-out, though, to say I want to meet them all (although, of course, I would — back through the mists of time), so I’ll list just a few back through the generations and why I’d particularly like to meet them.
- Elizabeth (Holst) Diamantini, my maternal grandmother. I wrote about her here. The reason I want to meet her is the most basic — of my 4 grandparents, she is the one I never knew. My mother barely knew her either, given that my mother was just a toddler when my grandmother died. It’s fair to say that my foray into genealogy started here — trying to answer questions I had, and my mother herself had.
- Eileen (Houlihan) Colbert, my paternal great-grandmother. She died in 1911[1], the first of my great-grandparents to die. She was only 34 years old at her death in San Francisco, and was a native of Athea, Co. Limerick, Ireland[2]. She left behind a sorrowing husband, and four children (three daughters and a son) all of whom were under the age of ten. Eileen was my dad’s own maternal grandmother; his mother, like my own, was a toddler when her mother died.
Thus my reasons for wanting to meet Eileen mirror my reasons for wanting to meet Elizabeth. - Caterina (Cammoranesi) Bolognesi, born ca. 1847 likely in Ascoli, Ascoli Piceno, Marche, Italy, died ca. 1915 in the same place[3]. She is one of my eight great-great grandmothers. Why do I want to meet her? Because she is only a name and approximate birth date and death date. I know nothing of her at all, have no photo, don’t know her parents or her siblings. I do not know anything about her life, or life in general for residents, in the province of Marche in the 19th century. Without any “flesh” she is barely even “bones” to me. Yet she and I share a name, although I was not named for her.
- My 3rd great-grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Copple (born ca. 1829 Washington County, Indiana – died 1911 Yavapai County, Arizona)[4]. Ben married Phoebe Harvey in 1851 in Jasper County, Missouri[5], and they moved west to California by 1861, the parents of four (possibly five) daughters. Phoebe died, apparently in childbirth, and Ben ditched his girls, leaving them to be raised by strangers in and around Healdsburg, Sonoma, California. Ben hung out in Mendocino County (adjacent to Sonoma County to the north) for about a decade and then headed down to Arizona, where he lived out his life in and around Cornville, Prescott and Sedona. He married again[6], and had 3 sons[7].
I would like to meet him to better understand why he made the choices he did. As tempting as it is for me, in 2019, to think of him as abandoning his girls, I know times and mores were different back then. And I’ve found some leads (through Healdsburg-area newspapers) that seem to point to his daughters having some contact with him[8], at least in their adult years. - My 4th great-grandmother, Margaret (Blalock) Copple (born ca. 1810 in Kentucky, died 1892 in Jasper County or Newton County, Missouri)[9]. Margaret was the mother of Ben Franklin Copple and his younger siblings. But that’s not why I want to meet her. When I was researching Jacob Copple, her husband, and reading through the records of his probate, it made me tear up to see the pitiful little she owned, priced to sell to pay for Jacob’s farm debts[10]. Jacob died in 1871; what kind of life did Margaret led after his death, and after administering his estate — he left no will — and selling what she owned for the benefit of Jacob’s creditors? Her two eldest sons were in California at the time; neither returned home to Missouri again. Her siblings were either deceased or still in Indiana. Her only kindred around her at such a tough time seems to have been her children and grandchildren. I hope they brought her some comfort.
- My 5th great-grandfather, Philip Copple, father of Jacob and grandfather of Ben Franklin Copple. He was born in North Carolina, probably in Rowan County or Randolph County[11]. He married Anna Patsy [Patsy Anne? Martha Ann?] Wright in Wayne County, Kentucky[12], and later moved to Washington County, Indiana probably by 1812 with many of his own Copple kin, as well as his wife’s family. Philip’s in-laws are famous today as southern Indiana 19th century preachers, in particular his brother-in-law John Wright. Philip was reportedly a preacher too. I would like to meet him and ask him about his religious beliefs, listen to his preaching (assuming he was a preacher), as well as ask him about his own family (to see if I’ve gotten the relationships correct, as there are multiple Philip Copples in Washington County, Indiana in the early 19th century — and multiple Jacobs, Barbaras, Margarets, etc.) Are my facts straight?
So, I could go on up a few generations, but I’ll leave off with these six ancestors for now. Ask me on a different day and you’ll probably get a completely different answer!
What about you? Which ancestor or ancestors would you most like to meet?
[1] California Department of Health Services, death certificate state file no. 11-034498, Ellien [Eileen or Helen] Colbert (1911); Center for Health Statistics and Informatics, Sacramento.
[2] Church baptismal record for Helen Houlihan, 24 Mar 1877, church not named, Parish: Athea, County: Limerick, Father: Charles Houlihan; online transcriptions (http://limerick.rootsireland.ie : accessed 27 Sep 2012).
[3] See Cathy Dempsey (cathymd) “DNA_Direct Ancestors” tree, Ancestry.com.
[4] “Arizona, County Coroner and Death Records, 1881-1971”, Benjamin Franklin Copple, death date: 7 July 1911;Ancestry.com, digital database (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60874 : accessed 15 August 2017) > Yavapai > Death > 1865-1928. Note that date of birth conflicts with censuses during Ben’s lifetime (1840 – 1910) which gave an approximate birthdate of 1832.
[5] “Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002,” Franklin Copple and Plebe [Phebe] Harvy, 21 Dec 1851; database with images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1171 : accessed 13 June 2016) > Jasper > Record Images for Jasper > 1841-1874 > img 122.
[6] “Arizona, County Marriage Records, 1865-1972,” Benjamin Franklin Copple and Marena [Marova] Jane Johnston, 28 May 1880; database with images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=60873 : accessed 13 June 2016) > Yavapai > Marriage Records, Index, 1871-1928 > img 1426.
[7] “Summons 16967 in the Superior Court of Arizona, County of Yavapai”, Prescott Evening Courier (Prescott Arizona), 26 June 1947, p 15:4; digital images, Google News (https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=MNNNGtAgD4EC&dat=19470626&printsec=frontpage&hl=en : accessed 21 Aug 2014).
[8] “B.F. Copple and son Bert Copple, ” Healdsburg Tribune, Enterprise and Scimitar (Healdsburg, California), 10 September 1908, page 2, column 2; digital images, California Digital Newspaper Collection, Center for Bibliographic Studies and Research, University of California, Riverside, (http://cdnc.ucr.edu : accessed 30 October 2018).
[9] Find A Grave, database (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 January 2017), memorial page for Margaret Blalock Copple (1809-1892), no. 91276187, citing Fidelity Cemetery, Fidelity, Jasper County, Missouri, USA; created and maintained by Dona (Wilcox) Cupp (contributor 46971570). Margaret was buried in Jasper County, Missouri, but was living in Newton County as of the 1880 census enumeration. See: 1880 U.S. census, Newton County, Missouri, population schedule, Enumeration District 98, Marion Township, (handwritten) page 12D, (stamped) page 398, dwelling 102, family 108, Margaret Coppy [Copple] household; digital image, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6742 : accessed 29 October 2016); citing National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) microfilm publication T9, roll 705.
[10] “Missouri, Wills and Probate Records, 1766-1988”, estate of Jacob Copple, file 475, Newton County, Missouri; digital database, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9071 : accessed 20 October 2017) > Newton > Probate Case Files, No 450-485 > imgs 940-981.
[11] Find A Grave, database (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 January 2017), memorial page for Margaret Blalock Copple (1809-1892), no. 45709964, citing Old Mill Creek Church of Christ Cemetery, Salem, Washington County, Indiana, USA; created by jpmgs (contributor 46910169); maintained by Bill Myers (contributor 46945321).
[12] “Kentucky, County Marriages, 1783-1965,” Phillip Copple and Anne Wright, 1804; database with images, Ancestry.com (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61372: accessed 13 June 2016) > Wayne > 1801-1860 > img 27.
How Complete is my Tree?
Are you sure that the segment of DNA you share with your DNA match is due to your common 3rd great-grandparents Joe and Sally (Harper) Booth (that’s a fictional couple, by the way) — and not due to a common ancestor you may not yet have found? How complete is your tree?
Recently, Blaine Bettinger posted in Facebook’s Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques group, about the completeness of your genealogical tree being critical to accuracy in ascertaining the correct common ancestor with your DNA matches. He referenced a post by Amberly Beck (see here) in which she discusses the completeness (or lack thereof) of her maternal line.
Rather than looking at just my maternal line or just my paternal line, or even just looking at my whole tree at once, I decided to review my results by grandparent.
I “found” 9 ancestors last year on my maternal side without using DNA at all! Instead, I used DanishFamilySearch.com, a site which has been transcribing Danish census records, and allowing registered users to post their family tree information on their site, and the newly online Danish census records (in Danish, of course!) at familysearch.org
So, yay!, that was success for my grandmother’s line. I now know 4 more of my maternal grandmother’s 16 2nd great-grandparents, and 5 more of my grandmother’s 32 3rd-great grandparents.
As for my 3 other grandparents, there was no change in the past year. Not surprising, because I spent time on the BU Certificate course for 15 weeks (during which I spent little time on my own genealogy), and I also spent some time continuing to validate with DNA matches my Copple line (which is also on my maternal grandmother’s tree).
Meaning, as I build out collateral relative trees for my Copple ancestors and find I have — more accurately, my mother has — DNA matches with descendants of those collateral relatives (siblings and 1st cousins of my own ancestors), that is slowly strengthening the case that the DNA shared belongs to the Copple line and not some other unknown line. (Well, until I am able to build further back; the shared DNA may actually relate to, say, the wife of my most distant Copple ancestor, and not to him.)
I’ve done nothing really on my maternal grandfather’s line — I know the Italian town he came from and his grandparents’ names. I also know I would likely find records on their parents via the local Catholic church. As it would likely require assistance from a researcher over in Italy or a trip to Italy myself, it just has not been a priority for me. Perhaps someday.
Like my maternal grandfather, my paternal grandmother was a first-generation American. Her uncle was Con Colbert who was executed for his role in the Easter Uprising in 1916. Consequently, he is somewhat famous in the Republic of Ireland; therefore, some of his family history was researched by a professional genealogist for the centenary in 2016. So, I have a bit more on her kin than on my maternal grandfather’s kin. I’ve also been fortunate two years ago to find some of the baptismal and marriage records for her maternal line ancestors (also Irish) online — one such place is here.
I have a “brick wall” at my great-great grandfather Patrick Dempsey. Per his obituary, he was “of King’s County”. That’s now County Offaly, but that doesn’t mean he was born and baptized there. It may just mean he was from there last before coming to America circa 1850 or so. There are about a half-dozen potential Patrick Dempseys baptised in Co. Offaly when he was thought to be born (ca. 1830), but I have no oral history as to his family. Maybe his parents and siblings died in the Famine?
This year, I’d like to find out more about my paternal grandfather’s maternal grandparents: Anderson and Ermine (Farnham? Farley?) Lamburth — Grandpa Dempsey’s one line that has reportedly been in the U.S. since at least 1800. Of course, I’d also like to break the brick walls of my 3rd great-grandmother (aka my maternal grandmother’s great-grandma) Phoebe Harvey — or her mother-in-law Margaret (Blalock) Copple. We’ll see.
How about you? Do you have a particular line you’re thinking of researching next?
Genes and Roots 