FOUND! "MY" Buildsheet........

[69LM1]

And I'm not talking about a car! I also suspect a VIN swap at some point.
BEWARE- Long Read, and only 1 car story.


My Dad passed a few years before Katrina. Grandma (paternal) lived w/ mom and dad in an attached apartment. Grandma stayed with mom after dad's passing. She suffered from Demetia, etc. She is now in a home, and pretty much out of it.

In short, my mom is having an issue finding a death certificate and marriage license, and the records in New Orleans were either misplaced or destroyed in the hurricane. I was working on a network for the Judical system in St. Bernard Parish, and mom asked if I would stop by the house and see if I could find her little metal box and see if perhaps her paperwork was legible. It was an offshot at best. Her house had not been gutted yet (two weeks ago).

I went over after work, and waded through the destroyed house, over the moldy sofa, through the kitched with the fridge and cabinets still on the floor (stayed WAY clear of that fridge). Pictures of my kids, and my siblings kids, blurred but recognizable still held onto the fridge with magnets. Funny thing, with all of the destruction, the key holder and a few pictures were still on the walls. Down the hallway, where the contents of the attic were a mound on the floor, past the room that my two brothers and I shared. Past my sisters room, and into what was my parents room. I never could find her metal box.

On the way out however I passed the hallway that led to my grandmothers apartment. I saw a glint of metal and thought, Ah Ha! the water must have moved it. I dug it out of the mud (there was still 1/2ft of dried nasty oily mud in the house) and proceeded to take it outside to open it. It was one of those old standard gray metal boxes with the cheap keylock on the front.

It was not locked.

As I opened it, I quickly realized that it was not my parents box, but my grandmothers. I had always heard stories about my great grandparents on my dad's side. How they came over from Italy, how they settled in Kansas City, MO and Independance, LA (worked the strawberry farms). They were dirt poor, but honest hard working people. I heard the stories of my grandfathers side, but only two stories of my grandmothers side. One where the only brother Vito, died at 3 years old from pnemonia(sp). How he could not talk as his throat was swollen, and he would point to his throat when he wanted my grandmother to drip some water into his mouth. That left the five sisters to work the fields as if they were boys.

The Second Story, the car one:
Cars had just become somewhat affordable. My grandmother's father was known for a bad temper. He used to take the produce to the market in the french quarter after retiring. He was actully known for beating the mules bloody when they would not go where he wanted, when he wanted (remember, this is the same guy who had his daughters working the strawberry fields at 12, 13 years old!). He finally bought one of those there "automobiles", called a truck. Seems as if it broke down on the bridge on the way to the market. He got a club and beat the truck! Dented it all to heck and broke the glass! He went back to mules until the day he died!


Inside I found a treasure trove of family history, going all the way back to Corleone in the province of Palermo, Sicily, Italy. I found some type land deeds, written in italian. Some sort of church proclimation (marriage license?)with the most artistic calligraphy(sp) dated 1887.

The Build Sheets -

Then I found my paternal, maternal, grandparents U.S. Naturalization Cerificates. I quickly saw that the seal on my great grandmothers certificate has been "carefully" cut out (The VIN swap ). I can only wonder what for!
I previously did not even know their names. Biagio and Nicolina.

I also found both great grandparents death notices from the newspaper and great grandfathers retirement paperwork from the Kansas City Railroad. The survivors included a son I had never heard of, Dominick! Apparently, once he retired, they moved back to New Orleans to be near their daughters.
After finding this, I called my uncles (dad's brothers) and discussed this with them. It seems as if there WAS another brother besides poor little Vito.
He was born retarded, and lived in a home in Kansas City until sometime in the 80's when he passed. I never even knew! They explained that those things just were not talked about back then. I knew my grandparents would visit Kansas City when they could, and my uncles told me that they went to visit uncle Dominick.

The very next weekend (last weekend) mom's house came up on the list from a church group to be gutted, and they totally gutted and cleaned out the house. Everything in the house was sent to the dump, along with many others..... If I would not have gone looking for that paperwork, I would not have found my grandmothers metal box.

On my (what should be weekly, but is often by-weekly, or even monthly) visit, I tried to talk to my grandmother about the paperwork, but alas, she is too far gone. She does recognize me, and I am named after my granfather, so she knows my name.

I have learned that it is a sicilian tradition that all first born males be named after their paternal grandfather, then their middle name after their maternal grandfather. The second born male is named after their maternal grandfather, then the father. Thus, I am Richard Dominick, and my brother is Dominick, Leon. Of course, I did not know about this until last week, and boy is my wife glad! My son would have been Leon, Lawrence!

On a last note: I have started looking into the town Corleone, that my paternal, maternal kin come from.
Here is the description I found on the web:

<<<<<<<<<<<<&l t;<<snip>>>>>>>>> >>>>>>>
*Corleone is a small town of approximately 12,000 inhabitants in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, Italy. It is known primarily as the birthplace of Mafia bosses Michele Navarra, Luciano Leggio, Leoluca Bagarella, Salvatore Riina and Bernardo Provenzano. The Mafia has dominated the local community for decades, and only recently have segments of the population begun to rebel against this influence.
In literature and film:
The name of the town was used as the adopted surname of the title character in Mario Puzo's book and Francis Ford Coppola's film, The Godfather. In the novel, Vito Andolini emigrates from the village of Corleone, his last name gets changed by a miscommunication between the man helping Vito and the man logging in the names at Ellis Island by saying "Corleone" instead of "Andolini". In the theatrical release of The Godfather, Part II, young Vito is assigned the Corleone surname while passing through emmigration at Ellis Island. Shy and unable to speak English, Vito is unable to respond when asked for his proper name, and is given the last name of Corleone by an immigration official.
<<<<<<<<<<<<&l t;end snip>>>>>>>>>>>&g t;>>>>>>>

Know I know where the revenge streak comes from.

Pictures of some of the paperwork here:
http://www.69lm1.com/italia/proclomation.jpg
http://www.69lm1.com/italia/nicolina.jpg
http://www.69lm1.com/italia/biagio.jpg

Rich

[scuncio]

That is too cool!!

[427king]

You dont find it odd that there is a birth certificate listed with a Gagliano last name that lists height at 4'10 on the certificate. That can only mean that Belair is your brother !!!!!!!!!! http://www.69lm1.com/italia/nicolina.jpg

[Rixls6]

I wonder if the cut out area may have had a picture of the person applying for naturalization (Petition)?

[indyjps]

truly amazing

[69LM1]

You never know. My poor kids, never had a chance at 4'10", guess we are "BV" coded!

[69LM1]

[ QUOTE ]
I wonder if the cut out area may have had a picture of the person applying for naturalization (Petition)?

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I think it was the offical seal. I suspect that someone, probably a brother, uncle, etc that needed a naturalization certificate to get a job or something "borrowed" it.

Seems as if the fam was quite industrial in those days!

[Belair62]

[ QUOTE ]
You dont find it odd that there is a birth certificate listed with a Gagliano last name that lists height at 4'10 on the certificate. That can only mean that Belair is your brother !!!!!!!!!! http://www.69lm1.com/italia/nicolina.jpg

[/ QUOTE ]

Damn Rich...my family has been here since the late 1800's. I am pretty sure they may have come thru N.O. but not positive. They made their way to Rock Island , Illinois somehow, and then on to Chicago. Great great grandfather and Great Grandfather were Domenico (Dominick). How strange. They came from Siculiana Sicily.

[ANDY M]

Rich, my wife is a genealogist.
Try starting here:
http://www.italianancestry.com/
Every link Italian is here.
If you think the folks on this site are helpful, wait til you make some contacts with the Italians.

Searching your roots is the 2nd or 3rd biggest hobby in the US.
As for the seal, I'm thinking that another relative was brought into the country with a "doctored" document.
And you thought only car docs were changed?
Send me a PM if you need any help.
Andy

[MrsBillyBobcat]

VERY COOL story Rich! I LOVE this stuff! I am so glad you found that box when you did...it sounds like you got it just in time!

If this story was not interesting enough, now you find out that you might be related to Bob! SMALL WORLD!!!

Rita

BTW...I just recently ran across a photo of my paternal grandfather and his family when he was a teenager. Someone had wrote names on it and I realized that I never knew his parents names. They were Joseph and Josephine (I found that kinda funny! )