MRodgers

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May 11th, 12:18

I have to rely something that happened just this week. I recieved an e-mail from a woman who was responding to an entry I made on Ancestry.com. Turns out she is a relation as her grandfater was my grandfather's brother. To keep it short for this comment, we knew of each others mothers and were able to fill in the blanks for the DiMarco page (also Sicilian immigrants). I was also able to connect with a cousin (mother's sister's son) who I haven't seen since 8th grade through Linked In as a result of the connection with my newly found relation. It was his 60th birthday the night we reconnected and we spent a great deal of time talking about our mothers (both passed for over 20 years now) and how we would remember them on this day. How the house they were both born in on Virginia and Tupper is still in existance. How they would cook and clean and tell us stories when we were kids about how things were growing up in the 20's, 30's and 40's in my current neighborhood.

On his call to me today, my son was filled in more about his grandmother's family and he expressed sheer appreciation over the new information. It was wonderful to be able to re-examine the need for families to keep the flow of information going from one generation to another. Our mothers were the most stable position of our families and they deserve to be remembered, not only in life, but after their passing, as well.

Thanks for the article, Elena.

ECB

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May 11th, 23:09

@joe -- Mama's still in Jtown, but I know others. Email me.

@bridgebum -- I know a lot of Trussos. One Trusso brother, now in his eighties, came to Buffalo as a young man and stayed.

And yes, there was a fair amount of prejudice in Jamestown, but the children produced from the Sicilian/Swedish unions--several of my nieces and nephews included--are shining examples of the benefits of mixing bloodlines. But you know that...look at your wife.

RaChaCha

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May 12th, 03:47

Three truly lovely ladies in that photo ;-)

A small world, indeed - I also have family connections to Jamestown and Gerry (I often have to correct people that it's pronounced "gary" not "jerry"). It's somewhat challenging to make a living in Chautauqua County given the relative dearth of professional-level work, but the people and countryside there are simply superb. For several months I worked on a project there to preserve abandoned railroad beds for recreational trail use and got to know the people and territory well, and dearly wished I could have stayed.

bridgebum

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May 11th, 21:03

Elena,

My wife's family is from Jamestown, her mother is Swedish and her father was Sicilian. It was pretty much taboo to inter-marry back then but I guess it was very common.

And her father's family emigrated from Tortirici, Sicily! The name is Trusso. They have always and still cast bells for churches.

Small world.

fill

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May 11th, 10:52

ummm................that was supposed to be "family", not "fimily".

fill

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May 11th, 10:49

I too remember growing up in Jamestown. We lived on the southside on a hill overlooking downtown (although that fimily was English, not Swedish). Across the street was a boy who would talk me into working as a substitute on his paper route in the lower area of the city where my ancestors lived when they first came from England in the early 1800's. Later they moved to English Hill. In the 1950's, there were older first generation Sicilians living there. I remember the widows all wearing black and the old men sitting under their grape arbors. I recall that it all looked very foreign and strange to me.

joeg58

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May 11th, 16:15

Elena Great story! I'm interviewing and filming Jamestown people now living in Buffalo. Can I speak to your mom?

RisingDamp666

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May 13th, 18:16

N.H.I.

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