A surprise find: a picture of Eleanor Ftzpatrick Bongiovi

In today's interconnected world, sometimes you get a pleasant family history surprise. Recently, I was contacted by the granddaughter of my grandmother's adopted father. Among other things, she pointed me to an online tree that had a picture of my grandmother as a very young child being held by her adopted mother. I've shared it with my dad and neither he or his siblings have seen this before.

I've contacted the owner of the tree, but have not yet heard back from him. I have no idea how he got the photo. However, my dad thinks the older lady is his grandmother (who adopted his mother) and I see the family resemblance in the little girl, so I think it is reasonable to believe this is who the online tree says it is: my grandmother, Eleanor Fitzpatrick Bongiovi and her adopted mother, Anna Bender Fitzpatrick.

In my email exchange with my adopted cousin, she shared some stories that reminded me how special this family was. My grandmother's adopted mother, Anna Bender was first married to Frank Tscherne (or Scherne) and they had two children. My grandmother's adopted father, Charles Fitzpatrick, was also married to another lady, probably Lillian Eise, and they had one son, Charles Jr. Both of the spouses died before 1920 and Charles and Anna ended up married before my Grandmother was born in 1925. When my Grandmother's mother died soon after childbirth, Charles and Anna took her in and raised her.

This could not have been easy. Everyone in this story was first or second generation Americans living in Brooklyn, NY. According to my Grandparents, Charles was a beer truck driver. I am sure it was not easy adding another child to a family of step children in the middle of 1920s Brooklyn.

Albert and Loretta Bongiovi's Gravestone Photograph

One of the more interesting web sites I have run across in my most recent dive into our family history is Find A Grave. I've known for a while that there are people, usually genealogists or historians, who's hobby is to visit cemeteries and index who is buried there. Find A Grave assists those folks by giving a place to compile that data, but also goes one step further by encouraging volunteers to take photographs of the gravestones and by encouraging users to set up "virtual cemeteries" of the burials they are interested in and to leave "virtual memorials" for those who have died.

In any case, back in February, I came across this site and found that Albert Bongiovi and his wife, Loretta Bongiovi, were listed in this database. Albert and Loretta are my Great-Grandparents and, in fact, Loretta was alive when I was growing up -- I have clear memories of her visits and visiting her apartment in Queens.

There was no new information in the Find A Grave entry -- I already knew both of their Birth and Death dates and that they were buried at Long Island National Cemetery. But, more out of curiosity than anything, I used a Find A Grave feature to request a photo. With this feature, you request a photo, it gets put on a list of requested photos that volunteers can then pull (based on whatever search criteria they want to use). The volunteers then go out to the cemetery, snap the photo, and upload it to the site.

Bottom line: someone (Find A Grave user Paul1957) fulfilled my request. Here are the photos of Albert and Loretta Bongiovi's gravestone he uploaded two days ago. (Note that you are seeing the front and back of the same gravestone in these two photos.)

Click here to visit the "virtual cemetery" I set up on Find-A-Grave to track our ancestors. (WARNING: there seems to be a lot of pop up adds on that site. I recommend you do not click anything inside those pop up ads to avoid getting spyware on your computer.)

Angelina Bongiovi's Death Certificate

Today's mail brought a death certificate I ordered at the end of January, the death certificate for my Great-Great Grandmother Angelina (Gaurdino) Bongiovi, who died in 1950. It does extend my known family history one generation by giving the names of her parents: Albert Gaudino and Frances Crafanzano. I also now knowwhere she is buried: Calvary Cemetery in Queens. Angelina is one of my "at the shore" ancestors -- she immigrated to the United States with her husband Guiseppe Bongiovi in 1890.

Albert Bongiovi and Loretta Siggins Marriage Records

Today's mail brought Albert Bongiovi and Loretta Siggins' marriage records. Albert and Loretta are my great-grandparents (or Gabby and Sam's great-great-grandparents). I had a certificate transcribed by the church they were married in, but the transcription was done in 1964, 42 years after the marriage, which cannot be considered a reliable source for documenting the marriage. Today, New York City sent me three items:

1. An affidavit, filled out and signed by Albert and Loretta, which was required for them to obtain a marriage license. They signed this on 2 June 1922. It contains great info such as their birthplaces, occupations, residences, and parents name (including their mother's maiden names). Again, although almost none of this is new information, almost all of it can be considered well documented in my research files.








2. Their Marriage License, issued on 27 June 1922. This mostly repeats what they filled out on the affidavit.






3. Their Marriage Certificate, filed by the Priest and dated 12 July 1922, their marriage date. Not only does this document their marriage, but it gives the marriage witnesses (probably the best man and maid of honor) and the priest's name.

(Don't forget to click on the images to see the full size record).

Research Map for the Bongiovi Family in Brooklyn, NY

I've been using the location of some of the homes for the Brooklyn Research a lot, lately, so I whipped up this map in Google Earth to help me place everything. Very easy!

Found the Bongiovi's in 1900

I took on finding my great grandfather and his parents in the 1900 census last night. Once again, a simple Ancestry.com search for "Albert Bongiovi" or his parents Giuseppe (Joseph) or Angelina (Angela) did not return anything. So, much like my 1910 search, I decided to see if they were listed at the same address.

Once again, I turned to the excellent Brooklyn Genealogy web site I found. Particularly useful was this map of Ward 26 and this list of the 1900 census enumeration districts.

After a few turns of Ancestry's online images for enumeration district 457, I had them: Joseph Bongiove, his wife Angela, and four of their children (Josephine, Lilly, Francis, and Albert). Here's the detail from the image.



This is the part I like about family history research -- locating your ancestors in the distant past!

Results of New York Trip

Well, just back from New York...and the trip was a success personally (because I really think my Grandparents are neat people and they really enjoy catching up with Gabby and Sam) and for my family history research.

My grandfather was really interested in what I had discovered. He was really happy to see the passenger list with his grandfather and grandmother's name in it. He also liked seeing his name in the 1930 U.S. Census. In the end, he walked me through his whole family and gave me a box of family photos, his World War II dog tags and enlistment records, his regimental histories and funeral mass cards for many of my ancestors (which list the death dates)!

My grandmother doesn't like to discuss her past as much for reasons I'm not going to publish online. But, she also filled in the holes in her background and disproved this research I discussed earlier.

All in all a great trip to visit with family...and a great trip for moving my research along!

Got 'em!

As I was preparing for my trip to New York, I was reminded that my trail back to my Great-Grandfather, Albert Bongiovi, and his parents, Giuseppe (Joseph) Bongiovi and Angelina Guardino skips about 30 years from the 1920 U.S. Census and Albert's WW I draft and enlistment records back to 1890, when his parents arrived in America (as I discuss in this link).

I remember, back in the day, doing a Soundex search in the 1910 census, but no luck. With my new fangled Ancestry.com account, I tried to search the 1910 U.S. census, but again, no Giuseppe, Angelina, or Albert. They all should have been alive and should have been together.

So, I decided to take the dive into a manual scan of the census images on Ancestry. But, as they lived in Brooklyn, NY, I thought it might be a big project. Luckily, I had a flash of brilliance (or just common sense) and decided to start at the address listed in Albert's World War I documents and in the 1920 Census (where Albert is living alone with his mother Angelina). A quick google search turned up this site, that returns the Enumeration District given a set of cross streets. Unfortunately, my 1899 map of Brooklyn was not very easy to read and some of the road names have changed, so my first attempt was a few blocks to the east of the address I was looking for. But, I found what looks to be a great Brooklyn Genealogy site that had some better maps. With a better set of cross streets, I went right to ED 756 and very quickly found them at the same address!

What happened that they weren't indexed? Well, they were listed as Bonheor instead of Bongiovi (see the clipping below). But, the similarities are too great: Joseph (Giuseppe), Lena (Angelina), and Albert all living at the same address as in 1917 and 1920, with the correct birth years and immigration year. As an added bonus, found 4 new siblings (or my Great-Great-Great Aunts and Uncles) that I can discuss with my Grandfather. Now, I wouldn't call this a slam dunk source, but it sure helps me find some!

Also, I found something else out: using the same techniques I used in the small towns of Wisconsin when researching my wife's family works in the "big city" of Brooklyn. What a great lesson!

Found another trail to the shore...

My goal is to trace back to the immigration point for all of my family's branches. I found one more this week! By using Ancestry.com's New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, I found my great-great grandfather and grandmother's entry in the passenger list for the S/S Iniziative, travelling from Italy (Naples and Palermo) to New York, arriving 30 Jul 1890. They were travelling with a son as well (a new great-great-great uncle!). Very lucky - the entry was on a very clear part of the page!

Lost Ancestors

Today I signed up for Ancestry.com's free trial. My, how easy some of the basic genealogy research has become. Within minutes, I had found my grandfather's and grandmother's 1930 census entries.

My grandmother's entry led me down a really interesting trail. She was living with her father, his wife and a younger sister. But I found something interesting -- my grandmother's grandfather seems to be living either in the same apartment or just next door. Not conclusive, but a good start to go off and prove.

Here's where things get fun. That assumed grandfather (my great great grandfather) was living with his second (or later) wife, a daughter and a step daughter. When I searched the 1920 census, I can't find my great grandfather. I find my great great grandfather, living alone as a lodger and listed as widowed. I find that daughter from the 1930 census living alone in the New York Catholic Protectory. And I find that second wife, widowed, and living with 2 daughters. So, where is my great grandfather, and, wow, what a tough life it looks like they had. Of course this was all in New York City in the depression, so I imagine it could be really bad!

This could keep me going for months!

On my visit next weekend, hopefully I can get my grandmother to help sort this out a little.