I'm away from my work right now, staying with friends in hot, muggy, uncomfortable -er - sunny Florida. I've got another week to go before I can get back to work.  On the surface, the work doesn't appear to be exciting: staring at microfilm slowly cranked by for hours at a time, poring over indexes to spot relevant records, trying to solve apparent contradictions in the data, and cursing oneself for omissions in recording data. So, why do I miss it? 

     Because I'm painting pictures in my head. Imagining the joy of each of the many births in these large families, crying with them at the tragic deaths of infants and children, sensing the celebration of the marriages, and sweating with the day in and day out struggle for existence of the contadinos and contadinas who labored at Polizzi Generosa. Day by day I'm building a panorama of life, dramatic and tedious, that becomes as real as my own existence. 

     I miss it. 

Vacation

I'll be on a short trip for a while. Be back to blogging by mid March.

Prominent People from Polizzi Generosa

Ever heard of the designers Dolce and Gabbano?  Pictured above is Domenico Dolce who was born in Polizzi Generosa in 1958.  Dolce (usually translated as sweet in Italian) is a very common name in the town and goes back at least into the 1700s.  If your ancestors spent generations in Polizzi, you are certainly going to find at least one who was joined in marriage to a member of this large clan.  In future posts you will about the man who was almost pope, an actor, a film director, and others who can trace their roots to Polizzi.  Remember, though, that genealogy is not about finding your relationships with the famous or almost famous, but to understand more about the lives, the suffering, and the triumphs of those who came before.  We all have much to be proud of, whether our forebears were princes or peasants.

Immigration

After the unification of Italy, which began with Garibaldi's invasion of Sicily in 1860, the sharp division between the industrial North and the poorer and agricultural South continued unabated.  As a result, millions of Italians from the "mezzogiorno" sunk into even more desperate poverty.  It is estimated that Sicily alone lost over two million souls from the 1880s to the 1920s.  Over 100,000 Sicilians came to the United States alone between 1880 and 1906.  This illustration here, entitled "On the Threshold" gives some idea of the destitution of the people.

When looking for immigration records, it is important to remember two things.  First, Not all Italians came through Ellis Island, which was only open from 1892 to 1926. Many came through New Orleans, Philadelphia, Boston and other ports. Second, Sicilian women immigrated under what we would call their maiden names.  To be sure that you have found the correct female ancestor, look for the children she traveled with, if any, and the town she was coming from, if available on the record.

Given Names of Polizzi Generosa

   When one begins to research the families of Polizzi Generosa, one finds the usual Italian names.  Boys are called Giovanni, Giuseppe, Michele, Calogero, Antonio (and Antonino), Domenico, etc.  The girls names are just as common: Giovanna, Giuseppa, Maria, Rosaria (and Rosalia), Antonina,Concetta, etc.  Also, the usual naming patterns are almost always observed:

• the oldest boy is named after his father's father
• the next oldest after his mother's father
• the oldest girl is named after her father's mother
• the next oldest after her mother's mother

After that the parents have much greater latitude.
    But there is one set of names that is not only extremely common, but almost always identifies the person as hailing from Polizzi Generosa:  Gandolfo and Gandolfa.  (The respective nicknames are Muffo and Muffa.) These men and women are named after the patron saint of Polizzi, Saint Gandolfo of Binasco.  In 1216 Gandolfo heard St. Francis of Assisi preach in his hometown and felt called to join him.  Gandolfo was called to be a priest and studied under St. Anthony of Padua. In 1240 he was sent to Sicily, where he preached in many towns and cities.  Becoming exhausted, he retreated to a rural area where he was credited with a miraculous healing.  As he was now besieged with the pleas of the sick, he ascended the mountain to Polizzi Generosa, where he was warmly received in about 1260.  It was there that shortly after giving a sermon in which he miraculously quieted a flock of swallows by calling upon the name of the Lord, he passed away.  His feast day in Sicily is September 17, and Polizzi Generosa holds a huge festival.

Many Beautiful Things

This volume  is a model of truth in advertising: it contains exactly what is described on the cover - stories and recipes from Polizzi Generosa.  The village is very fortunate to have had such an eloquent and talented grandson as Vincent Schiavelli.  He did much to put this  town back on the map.  Relaxing with this book is a delightful way to introduce oneself to Polizzi and its food. And in Polizzi, just as throughout all of Sicily, food occupies a very special place in the lives of the people.  Although the book is long out of print, it is available through on-line book sellers such as AbeBooks or Alibris.

The birth record of my grandfather

This is a scan of my grandfather's birth record.  You will notice the clarity of the handwriting and the easy-to-scan column on the left.  These features are not always found in these records.  His name is given in what we would call directory style.  When translated this document reads :

In the year 1877, on the 18th of February at eleven in the morning at the town hall came before me, Salvatore Siguarino, Mayor, an official of the state in the town of Polizzi Generosa, Giacomo Russo Alesi, age 32, a peasant living in Calirri who has declared to me that at the hour of four in the morning on the 16th of the current month, Santa Gianfisco, his wife with whom he is living gave birth to a baby boy, who was presented to me and was named Calogero.

Sicilian Civil Records

As in most of the rest of Italy, births, marriages, and deaths were recorded in Sicily by the civil authorities beginning in 1820. These records are called Napoleonic records because they begin at the close of the Napoleonic era. The birth records are exceptionally complete; they contain not only the name of the child, the date of birth, and the parents, but also the maiden name of the mother ( and sometimes the mother's father name), and the day and hour of the birth. In Polizzi Generosa these records have been microfilmed by the LDS for the years 1820 through 1910, and are available for rental through local Family History Centers.
Church records began in Sicily, as in most of Catholic Europe, begin around 1590. In Polizzi Generosa they have been very difficult to access.

Left at the wheel

In the 1800s every town of any size had at least one foundling hospital. This was a place usually connected to a church or convent that took in babies whose parents were unable to raise them. Often the child was born out of wedlock, but sometimes there were other reasons. At these institutions there was often an opening in the wall with a wheel with a vertical divider. Someone would place the  baby on the wheel, rotate the wheel, and ring a bell.  Someone on the inside would take the baby from the wheel and begin taking care of him or her. This was called "putting the baby on the wheel." The nuns or a priest would name the baby and take custody. Unfortunately, the majority of these children died very young. My great-great-great grandfather was a foundling who lived a long life and founded a large family. He also left me with what genealogists call a "brick wall." My hope of finding earlier ancestors in his line is virtually non-existent.

Somethings that you find when doing genealogical research you wish you hadn't.  On Tuesday I found that two brothers, Gandolfo (aged 7) and Francesco Paolo (age 5), the sons of Mariano Russo Alesi and Rosaria Verri, both died on 1 May 1870. Today I began doing research on the births of 1870.  I soon learned that Rosaria gave birth to a boy named Gandolfo on that same day.  If one read this in a novel, one would scoff at the ridiculous coincidence.  But knowing that this tragedy befell a real couple, one can only grieve and wonder how Rosaria and Mariano got up the courage to go on.  Of the seven children they had between 1855 and 1870, four had died as children.  And don't believe that stuff about how losing a child was easier for parents of earlier ages because it happened much more frequently.  Parents who have not hearts of stone grieve for a lost child.

Polizzi Generosa

To learn all you can about your family you need to learn what you can about the place where they have lived for centuries.  This small town sits high on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. No one knows exactly how old it is or what the name means.  Most people. however, believe its originally arouse doing the Greek occupation of the island, and that its name means "the city of Isis."  The Emperor Frederick II gave it the descriptive tag Generosa for the warm welcome the people gave him.

Here's a link for those who want to learn more about the town.
The history of Polizzi Generosa

Benvenuto!

Discovering more about my Sicilian ancestry has become a passion with me over the past decade.  That's my great grandfather, Giacomo Russo Alesi,  in the middle of this photo with his four sons.  My grandfather, Calogero, is on the extreme right. They all came from the small town of Polizzi Generosa in the central western part of Sicily, about 45 miles from Palermo. It's a beautiful part of the island and an intriguing town.  In this blog, I'll recount my research and travels and, I hope, provide some help to others whose ancestors hail from the same place.

Here's a good place to start looking for ancestors.
Indices to the Civil Records of Polizzi Generosa, 1820-1910