Prompt #3 FAVORITE PHOTO                                                                              January 15, 2024

Who is that elegant woman walking down the boardwalk in Atlantic City? It’s clear everyone wants to know. Look at them all turning to look at her! She walks with dignity and grace. People can’t even get close to her because she’s so special. She wears a wide brimmed hat to shade her from the hot sun which protects her silky-smooth skin. Her white gloves scrunched down to her wrists for a fashionable statement. A string of pearls encircles her neck. A simple dress for a daytime stroll, with hose and heels. 

Who took this photo? The photographer blurred the boardwalk’s throng into a haze leaving only this lovely lady to be the star.  Is she a celebrity, a socialite, a wealthy individual or even someone of royal descent?  She looks off and wears a Mona Lisa smile. What is she thinking? Who was she thinking about?

 

 

This is no celebrity, no socialite, no one of royal descent.  This is my great grandmother, Angelina Beccherini nee Bianchi. Nona was born in Treviglio, Italy on the 3^rd day of July 1883 and died in Islip, New York on the 4^th of December 1965. I remember playing a card game with her - “Steel the old man’s pack”. Nona was a tiny lady.  I remember being about 6 or 7 years old and being the same height as her.  Her curly hair was her gift to me. Her speech had a strong Italian accent pronouncing her words with stress on different syllables - for example comfortable was "comFORtable"

Angelina, along with her sister Arturina, arrived in New York on 4 June 1904 on the S.S. La Lorraine. They had $100.00 and they were going to their "brother Bianchi" on 78 Charlton St. New York. Her nationality was Italian, but her last permanent address was Havre France. 

She married Carlo Beccherini on the 14^th of October 1907 in New York City at St. Vincent De Paul and their original marriage certificate is written in French!  

She was very close with my father whom she called “Sonny”. Nona was a very special lady and I'm glad I got to meet her. 

 

 

“I Can Identify”                                                                                        February 16, 2023

 As I embarked on my genealogical journey for both Mark and me, it was important to know who came to the United States and when.  Who was the FIRST to arrive?

For my side of the family I identified the following:

• ·       Andrea Titone arrived 1899 – Santa Margarita, Sicily, Italy
• ·       Carlo Beccherini arrived 1903 – Borghetto, Lodigiano, Italy
• ·       Angelina Maria Bianchi arrived 1904 – Treviglio, Italy
• ·       Philip Vampatella arrived 1913 – Vittoria, Sicily, Italy
• ·       Sebastiano Rapuano arrived 1889 – Benevento, Italy
• ·       Mariella Fazio arrived 1897 – San Valentino, Italy

For Mark’s side of the family I still struggle.  So far I have identified the following:

• ·       Charles Francis Gallagher arrived 1908 – Ballyshannon, Donegal, Ireland
• ·       Edward Duffy arrived about 1890 – somewhere in Ireland
• ·       Katherine McMahon arrived about 1895 – somewhere in Ireland
• ·       George Huneke unknown arrival but likely from Germany
• ·       George Huneke’s wife???
• ·       Anthony Rush arrived 1853 – ROSCOMMON, Ireland
• ·       Ellen McLaughlin arrived about 1860 – somewhere in Ireland
• ·       Leo Mendus arrived 1878 – probably from Lipiniak, Galicia, Poland
• ·       Pauline Kreher arrived 1897 – possibly from Austria or Poland Przemysl (pronounced Shemmish) in Galicia Poland

 

When doing any kind of genealogical research it is very important to find the country, the county and then the town the ancestor came from.  At this moment, Anthony Rush won the prize for being the first of our ancestors to arrive in the United States!! Yay, Anthony!! But Anthony does not say where he came from in Ireland. I know, you see Roscommon next to his name---read on.

 an Gorta Mór – The Great Hunger

Anthony was born 16 November 1835 or that’s what he always claimed.  Birth dates were not always accurate.  Nonetheless, he was probably a happy little boy playing on the farm with his parents and siblings (I do not know of any siblings at this time). The fields were lush, lots of rocks, and the sun shone through from time to time.  In 1845 a fungus caused the potatoes, a main staple of the Irish farmer, to turn black and inedible. They could not eat them nor sell them causing a great deal of starvation and homelessness.  This blight ended about 1852. What did he endure during those years? Did he lose his parents? Siblings? Did he have to stay in a workhouse? What we do know is that he came to the US in 1853. Did he go to England then to the US? Or just come to the US directly?

 Here is a wonderful article regarding the potato famine: https://tinyurl.com/d68ek76h

 

Civil War

Details about where Anthony was and what he was doing in the United States after he arrived is unclear, but we do know he entered the Civil war 31 March 1862.  He volunteered for the 78^th NY Infantry company C.  He was in the war until the end, mustering out on 21 July 1865.  Usually, military documents are a wealth of information, but Anthony was less than forthcoming regarding where he came from in Ireland.

I decided to obtain his complete pension files and Compiled Military Records from National Archives and Record Administration (NARA). Hundreds of pages to read through and I found out where and when he was married and the name of the priest who married them, where he was living, who his wife and children were, how tall he was and how much money he was receiving from his pension, but still no location in Ireland, Listing only the country and not the county, as the Irish normally would.

Anthony was requesting an increase in pension for the gun shot wound he got to his left index finger during the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863. (Mark and I visited the battle site and were able to track his unit’s moves on preserved and marked maps.)  He was deposed many times, but on the 3^rd of March 1905 in the state of Tennessee at the Mountain Branch National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, he finally says he was born in Roscommon, Ireland!!  

After many years of searching, I finally was able to Identify the county in Ireland from which he came! Now to identify a town in Roscommon!! Sigh……