Where does Family and Genealogy Fit in Our Lives?????
Family is such an important word. Having people to share
our lives with is the most important part of our lives.
The people whom came before us on this search is meaningful
documentation of our family history, known as genealogy.
Genealogy consists of tracing families backwards in time
on paper, through photographs, dates, cemetaries, documents
and through living relatives.
Once you get the force within you to start, the journey
is endless. For me, it started and ended in other countries
of the world. Now my search continues within these countries.
I discovered my Italian heritage I knew little about. This
journey has required me to make trips to Italy. Other things
I have needed along the way are patience, determination,
dedication, persistance and a force within me to know the
unknown.
Sometimes its easier to focus on one specific line within
a family, but, I've chosen to do several lines at one time.
To do this, I have had to keep careful, organized notes and
remember to keep an open mind to all families I come across
during my search. Sooner or later they should all tie together.
I happen to love collecting photographs. A photograph given
to me of my great grand mother is un-replacable and worth all
the effort in my search.
As for me, living quite a distance from any of my DiCredico/
DeCredico relatives, my grand parents deaths were even a secret
kept from me.
Needless to say, I got no photographs, documents or any other
family valuables usually passed down to the eldest and first
grand daughter. This means I had to ask for the help from my
only living uncle for a start and if I wanted to know more
about my family, it was all left up to me to research.
My determination from the beginning was to retrace my italian
grand parents from Italy to the United States, now that I
knew where my grand parents originated from.
There are lots of resources out in the world. The computer
internet has a wealth of information on it. There are hundreds
of search engines to search on. Always new web sites showing
up to explore.
For me, many paper trails, collecting all the documents and
storing them in plastic liners in binders has been not only
time consuming but interesting and fun.
A good start to genealogy would be the mormon church. There are
branches of this church through out each state. Believing very
strongly in "the family," this church has been collecting
genealogical records of all kinds from all over the world for
well over 100 years.
The family history center in Salt Lake City, Utah,is one of,
if not, the biggest resource for genealogy records in the United
States.
It's estimated that almost eighteen million americans are very
active in looking into their families history's. The thrill of
knowing the answers to questions and seeking this information
out is self-rewarding.
On the internet you can join email groups, newsletters and go
through thousands of web sites, personal web pages and posting
boards. There are even tons of surname submission pages to
submit your family surnames.
I offer a surname submission page, for free, non limited to
help others. It is a great resource for now and years to come.
I update as often as I can and it has generated a lot of mail
from possible cousins comparing our surname history's.
At first, I kept all my information in notebooks and binders.
Once my research grew so large, I have now treemaker. Lucky for
me using posting boards, now I have discovered a new cousin
Joseph Sbaraglia. He is a great genealogist. Combining our two
family history's we both searched out, we have combined a wealth
of information by working together.
For me, it's been since 1994 that I have had a yearning to
know who I am, where my roots are from and where I feel I belong.
How important was finding cousins in Italy? Well, on my first
trip to Italy, having a whole day on a plane with so much anxiety
on how our families got seperated was a start. But, stepping off
of the airplane, standing face to face with my reunited cousins,
left me speechless. Standing in front of where my ancestors are
burried at the cemetaries left me over-whelmed.
On my second trip to Italy, coming face to face with more
cousins I only knew through letters, was exciting. And being
published in a book in my relatives city for wanting to know
them was happiness. Then there was when I attended church where
my great grand parents were married that was so thrilling.
All these factors that have played a part in my research mean
so much to me. I can only express my journey in my first book
called "Abruzzo Segreto" by Liza DeCredico. I am in the process
of writing this wonderful book. A book I am proud of and that
will inspire others to follow my foot steps. My family history
that I deserved to know and fought to find.
All of this started with a suitcase full of photographs.
Photographs I found examined and searched out. Why wasn't this
important to any one else in my family? It was all left up to
me? I don't know, but I am happy to know my Italian-American
discoveries. I will keep searching every day to keep adding
more and widen my knowledge. I am making a difference.
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