I've been absent and here is why...

It has been many months since my last posting - not without reason. I have a new addiction - genealogy. It has required tons of research just to get the correct names of my Italian grandparents to even begin to go back farther in the generations.

My cousin on my mother's side, Mary Ivanovich, did the research for my Serbian side but no one has done the research on my dad's Italian side of the family. The only thing I knew for sure was the correct spelling of Grandpa's last name - a name my father's generation shortened and "Americanized". I thought I knew Grandma's maiden name because I had visited my father's Uncle Joe Roberto in San Jose several times as a child. Mom told me Roberto was a shortened version, too, but was uncertain what was the correct spelling. She said it sounded like Umroberto. Grandpa was known as Nick Campopiano and Grandma was Mary Grace Roberto Campopiano.

It turns out that Grandpa was not Nicolino, nor was he Nicola as the family believed. Grandpa's name at birth was Angelo Nicola Campopiano and he was born in Lucita, Molise, Italy on Sept. 23, 1882. Gradma's name was Maria Grazia Ianniruberto, born in the same village on July 2, 1887. They were married in Lucita on Feb. 11, 1906 and their first son, Meatteo Antonio was born in Lucita on November 6 of that same year. Grandpa left Naples, Italy aboard the ship Fredrick der Grosse on March 7, 1907, arriving in NY on April 4, 1907. Three days later, he arrived in Iowa. Grandma and Uncle Matt left Italy on April 3, 1908 on the ship Konigin Luise, arriving in NY on April 17, 1908. Grandma and baby Matt were apparently traveling with Carmella Campopiano Loffreda and her baby girl, Maria Luigia Loffreda. They were joining Carmella's husband, Nicola Loffreda, in Des Moines.

It gets very tangled because so many Campopianos left Lucito between 1895 and 1920, heading for the USA. Few seem to have come to Iowa. Many went to PA and Conn. Plus there is another Campopiano family living in Des Moines that Dad always said were distant cousins. Whew!

So you can see it has been somewhat complicated, a very tortured journey, and that was for the first layer going backwards. Next generation back should be very interesting because at that level the complete record is handwritten, in Italian, of course. For Grandma and Grandpa's birth records they were printed forms with blanks to be filled in. Much easier. The handwriting was difficult to decipher then but is even worse when the entire record is handwritten! Slow, very slow going. It has me wishing I could speak/read Italian. You'll notice I've added a gadget to this blog that is called "A Word A Day", in Italian, of course. Won't help much but should help some!

I will try to do better and post at least once a week. You'll just have to be patient with me if I moan and complain about this newest addiction in a long line of addictions. I'll try to intersperse news of my older addictions (digi-scrapping, my cats, riding with DH on our Gold Wing). Later, gator.