Hunting History - Finding Family

The last few days have been a whirlwind of information for me. :) First, I was contacted by Mary, who found me while searching for her family, through all things, this blog. (!) Mary then connected me with (distant cousin) Nancy, who claims Pietro Nardin's (my great grandmothers brother) line, and then to Barth Cunico, who is a veritable wealth of information, and has just given me three generations of Strazzabsoco's I did not know.  All in three days!! My initial intention for this blog is simply to record how I search, my leads and dead ends, and those precious few successes.  So now I'll be working on the Strazzabosco's, and hoping that Barth can find more info on the Paganini's and Nardin's as well. He (and I) both find it amazing that he had ONE Nardin listed in his research, and lo and behold, it is my very own great great grandfather Giovanni Nardin (who even I did not know of until just recently.) So, through Barth, I know have all the children of ...

I've been spending a lot of time trying to work on the Italian side of my family tree, simply because it's a challenge; and I love a challenge.  Records from Italy, especially Asiago, have been lost in a variety of ways, including fires, floods, and war.  So this time I'll touch on the German side of my tree; one I know intimately. I think I will start from the top, and this is really just for my own amusement, and showing what you can find in different records on different sites. My earliest known ancestor on the Heigert side is Johannes Michael Heigert , (B. 1737 D. 1778) in the Black Forest of Germany.  I found his name while researching his son Josephi Heigert (back in Germany, in the 17 and 1800's, the name was spelled Hiegert) in the 'Deutschland, Baden, ausgewählte Kirchenbuchduplikate, 1810-1869' or "Germany, Baden, Select Church book Duplicates, 1810-1869" found on Ancestry.com.  I cannot confirm, but being as Josephi and several subseque...

12/1/14 I have spent quite a bit of time trying to research the Barra bloodline, and have recently gotten much further with the assistance of ItalianGenealogy.com.  I believe the easiest way for everyone to understand is to work backwards.  All this information has been verified and is accurate to the best of my knowledge. Here goes. :) I am Valerie Heigert Simpson. My Paternal grandparents were Frank Alan Heigert Sr (B. 02/07/1915, Staunton IL D. 10/02/1963, Carlinville IL) and Mary "Nona" Barra (10/08/1920 Benld IL D. 08/14/2008, Carlinville IL) who married on 07/07/1943 in Benld IL. I will now follow the Barra line. My great grandparents were Guiseppe Antonio "Joe" Barra (B. 08/28/1878 Brossasco, Italy D. 02/09/1925 Benld IL) and Angelina Nardin (02/07/1887 Asiago Italy D. 02/08/1963 Benld IL) who married in Dec 1915. Joe and Angelina ...

Uncle Alan is a wealth of information.  At least, in my eyes.  He responded to my inquiries about the Strazzaboscos and Nardins, with a few very precious sentences. Angelina Nardin, my great grandmother, was born in 1887 in Asiago Italy.  She had a daughter, Rena, and emigrated to the USA aboard the Duca D'Aosta, leaving the port of Genoa March 16, 1915.  Rena's name is listed on the manifest as Anizara Paganini.  They arrived through Ellis Island April 1st, 1915.  Angelina was 28, Rena was 3. Her husband and why they emigrated had always been a mystery to me. Until now.  Uncle Alan gave me something very important; a name. Valentino Paganini. The only other thing he knew was that he'd died in 1912, the same year Rena was born.  I still don't know much, but I did find two ship manifests bearing his name from Asiago. Valentino Paganini arrived in NY, NY on April 12, 1908 aboard the ship "New York" from the port of Southampton.  He wa...

11/23/14 F or the longest time, the only thing I knew about my second great grandmother on my father's side was this: Not much to go on.  For the longest time, she was a complete mystery.  I had gone to Benld City Cemetery looking for Barra relations, which is where several of them are buried, including my grandmother's half sister Rena (whom I also know next to nothing about, including her given name.)  Mary is buried right next to Rena.  So on to Ancestry I went, knowing only her dates and the fact that at some point she ended up in Benld. I still do not know her proper birth date, simply that she was born in 1857, as the headstone states.  Once I had asked her granddaughter, my grandmother Mary ("Nona") where her family was from and she told be Asiago Italy on her mother's side and Brossasco Italy on her father's.  In most of my research this has turned out to be true, so I have placed Mary's birthplace as Asiago. I know for a fact that Mary ...