Hunting History - Finding Family

I knew this ancestor spotlight would come sooner rather than later, and I didn't have to think real hard for this weeks 52 in 52 submission, which the prompt is "Challenge."  Eventually, I will probably compile all my facts and write a book about great grandma Angela (Which will be a challenge in and of itself, I'm just a hobby novelist) but for now a spotlight blog will do.  Angela is perfect for the "Challenge" prompt, as you'll see when you read about her life, she was faced with one challenge after another, but she always rose above.  I can only image the strength this woman had. I never got to meet her, but I bet I would have loved her.  As the mother of one of my favorite people in the world (my Nona Mary) I expect them to be very much alike.  Nona always said she spoke "very broken English," as of course Italian would have been her first language.  Nona never said she herself  knew Italian, she certainly never spoke it and had no accen...

Two years I've been knocking on a brick wall.  Two. Years. And today, that wall has come Last year I wrote to the Comune Di Asiago asking for records for Valentino Paganin, not the Valentino who emigrated to America and lived a rich, full life, but the Valentino who died tragically leaving my great grandmother Angelina no choice but to move to America herself and start over.  It was quite the process.  Within about a month they emailed me back saying they found 18 records, and I'd need to send $58 american dollars to them for the copies.  They wanted this done through an international wire transfer.  No big deal, or so I thought. My bank does not do international wire transfer, only domestic, and it was going to e pretty expensive anyway, on top of the $60.  Despite my efforts I couldnt locate anyone else to do the transfer.  So another email was sent, asking if theyd do PayPal or credit or debit card.  Another few weeks go by, and I get the res...

So, Barth Cunico, fellow genealogist/researcher to the Strazzabosco family, helped me send a few emails to Asiago searching for family records, one of which was family info for Valentino Paganin.  What I got was this: Good morning from research done in the historical records, we found that parents of PAGANIN VALENTINO n. 05.22.1885 died on 15.01.1913 who married NARDIN ANGELA are PAGANIN DOMENICO and BONOMO GIUSTINA and not PAGANIN Antonio and Strazzabosco Sunday. However, it also a PAGANIN Valentino born 11.20.1883 emigrated to North America in 1912 married to Cristina RODEGHIERO son PAGANIN ANTONIO and Strazzabosco Domenica. Which, if nothing else, gave me Valentino's Birth and Death dates.  So, the birth date I had before was incorrect, and I had an estimated death date of 1912, which was pretty close, as he really died in Jan 1913.  But it also tells me that the parents I had thought were his were for the OTHER Valentino, the one I traced to America.  Of cour...