52 Ancestors, Week 4….. Maria Aurelia Guglielma ORSI - Grandma’s Sauce!

 It’s week 4 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge.  Today I am spotlighting my great-grandmother, Maria Aurelia Guglielma ORSI. She was known simply as ‘Aurelia’ in most documents I’ve found. I didn’t realized she had ‘Maria’ and ‘Aurelia’ as part of her name until a couple of years ago when I started researching my Italian roots in earnest.

Aurelia was born in Compito Sant’ Andrea, Capannori, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy November 23, 1868. She was the daughter of Innocenzo Orsi and Maria Domenica di Menco, [633] and married Roberto Petrini on May 12, 1894.[ She immigrated to the United States with her three young children in October of 1907 to join her husband, who had come over previously.

Aurelia died in her home in St. Louis, Missouri on November 23, 1930. She is buried in the family plot in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis.

Umberto and Aurelia had three children.

• Ida aka Chena/China (ca1899-1928)
• Frank (1901-1976
• Giovanni Olivi Adelindo aka William (1904-1948)

I don’t have a picture of Aurelia. I wish I did. Maybe a cousin somewhere has one and someday they will share it with me. I hope so!

I don’t have a photo, but I do have a story for you, shared by my grandma when I was a girl. 

Grandma made a great spaghetti sauce and we all loved it as kids. It was a recipe that was handed down to her from her mother-in-law, my great-grandma Aurelia Orsi Petrini. The story goes that Aurelia really didn’t like my grandma very much at all. She’d apparently had a ‘nice Italian girl’ picked out for my grandpa to marry. Instead he married my grandma, who was NOT an Italian girl — her family immigrated from the slovakian region of Austria-Hungary! When it came time to share the family sauce recipe with her new daughter-in-law, Aurelia did so. She cooked with her and showed her how to make it, but when all was finished, it just didn’t taste right! You see, Aurelia had decided to leave one ingredient out of the recipe. Lucky for Grandma — and for all of her grandchildren! — Aurelia’s daughter took pity on her sister-in-law and shared the ‘secret ingredient’.  I’m so glad that she did! I never was told what the missing ingredient was, but I’m sure it must have been one of the spices.

I may not have a photo of Aurelia, but I do have a photo of the sauce! Yum!!

Grandma Petrini's Spaghetti Sauce

You can view the family group sheet for the family of Umberto Petrini and Aurelia Orsi here.

Sources

• “1930 U.S. Census,” PETRINI, Albert household, St. Louis City, MO, Ward 26, ED 194, 2 Apr 1930, NARA microfilm, T626, FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22813-7745-88?cc=1810731, image 1 of 44, accessed 11 Jul 2016.
• “1920 U.S. Census,” PETRINI, Albert Family, St. Louis, Missouri, Ward 5, ED 89, 16 Jan 1920, NARA Microfilm, T625, FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-23020-17174-54?cc=1488411, image 22 of 24, accessed 11 Jul 2016.
• PETRINI, William, “Death Certificate,” File #67924, St. Louis, Missouri, 28 July 1948, Bureau of Vital Records, St. Louis, Missouri.​
• PETRINI, Aurelia, “Death Certificate,” File #7142, St. Louis City, Missouri, 26 Feb 1930, Missouri State Archives, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/, accessed Mar 2007.
• PETRINI, Giovani Olivio Adelindo, Birth Certificate, Capannori, Italy, 19 Feb 1904, Commune di Capannori.
• PETRINI, Roberto - ORSI, Aurelia, “Marriage Record,” Lucca, Italy, 5 Mar 1885, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-32572-1873-82?cc=2043811, 30 Mar 2015.
• ORSI, Maria Aurelia Guglielma, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 23 Nov 1868, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-32563-13413-85?cc=2043811&wc=M9SF-9DQ:n381663377, accessed 29 Dec 2013.
• 1PETRINI, Aurelia, “obituary,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, 26 Feb 1930, pg 23, Newspapers.com, accessed 9 Jul 2016.
• 1ORSOLINI, Ida, “obituary,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, 8 Jul 1928, pg 71, Newspapers.com, accessed 12 Jul 2016.
• PETRINI, Frank L, “obituary,” Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1 Jun 1976, pg 23, Newspapers.com, 17 Jul 2016.

52 Ancestors, Week 3….. Roberto aka Umberto aka Alberto Petrini

 

Umberto Petrini - May 1930
photo from the collection of Susie Petrini
digitized by KM Kolk Feb 2017

It’s week 3 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge and this week I want to introduce you to Umberto Alberto Petrini — or is it Roberto Petrini? My great-grandfather was a man of many names! I have a birth record and a marriage record that both refer to him as ‘Roberto’ Petrini. His death record refers to him as ‘Umbeto Alberto’ Petrini, while his obituary refers to him as ‘Umberto’ Petrini, His son’s birth record from Italy records his name as ‘Amberto’ Petrini and the same son’s death certificate lists his father as ‘Albert’ Petrini, the name he is enumerated under in 1920 census the 1930 census, and the 1940 census. I never met him, but the story I’ve been told is that his name was Umberto in Italy “which is Italian for Albert” so when he got the the United States, he became ‘Albert’. I don’t know when or why he became Umberto and later Albert, but I am convinced that all of these records refer to the same man!

However you choose to refer to him, Roberto Petrini was born August 18, 1873, in the small hamlet of Compito Sant' Andrea, just outside of Capannori in the Lucca region of Tuscany, Italy. He was the son of Bartolomeo Petrini and Maria Eufrosina Pineschi. 

While still in Compito San’t Andrea he married Maria Aurelia Guglielma Orsi, the daughter of Innocenzo Orsi and Maria Domenico di Menco, on May 12, 1894, where they were both farmers.  Umberto immigrated to the United States prior to the arrival of Aurelia and their children October 1907. I have found more than one record on the Ellis Island website for an Umberto Petrini, but have not yet verified that this is my great-grandfather. It is possible he traveled back and forth between the countries more than once. I need to do more research about this.

Umberto may have been lived in Chicago at some point, and he was in Alton, Madison County, Illinios, when his family joined him, but eventually the family settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where Umberto worked as a cook in a restaurant. He is listed in the 1930 census  as the proprietor of a restaurant. I will do a separate post on this at another time when I have my information more organized. 

Umberto and Aurelia had three children.

1. Ida aka Chena/China (ca1899-1928) 
2. Frank (1901-1976) 
3. Giovanni Olivi Adelindo aka William (1904-1948)

Umberto died November 7, 1953 in St. Louis, Missouri at the age of 80. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

There are some questions I have that I need to research more including:

1. When did Umberto arrive in the US?
2. Where was Umberto’s restaurant in St. Louis?
3. When and why did Roberto become Alberto?

You can view the family group sheet for the family of Umberto Petrini and Aurelia Orsi here.

 

Sources

• “1930 U.S. Census,” PETRINI, Albert household, St. Louis City, MO, Ward 26, ED 194, 2 Apr 1930, NARA microfilm, T626, FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-22813-7745-88?cc=1810731, image 1 of 44, accessed 11 Jul 2016.
• “1920 U.S. Census,” PETRINI, Albert Family, St. Louis, Missouri, Ward 5, ED 89, 16 Jan 1920, NARA Microfilm, T625, FamilySearch, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-23020-17174-54?cc=1488411, image 22 of 24, accessed 11 Jul 2016.
• PETRINI, William, “Death Certificate,” File #67924, St. Louis, Missouri, 28 July 1948, Bureau of Vital Records, St. Louis, Missouri.​
• PETRINI, Umberto, “Death Certificate,” File #40992, St. Louis City, Missouri, 7 Nov 1953, Missouri State Archives, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/, accessed 5 Mar 2007.
• PETRINI, Giovani Olivio Adelindo, Birth Certificate, Capannori, Italy, 19 Feb 1904, Commune di Capannori.
• PETRINI, Roberto, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 18 Aug 1873, Family Search, familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-32553-2775-86?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-468:349802601,350153701,350154001, accessed 11 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Roberto - ORSI, Aurelia, “Marriage Record,” Lucca, Italy, 5 Mar 1885, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-32572-1873-82?cc=2043811, 30 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Umberto, “obituary,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, 10 Nov 1953, pg 37, Newspapers.com, accessed 9 Jul 2016.
• PETRINI, Frank L, “obituary,” Poughkeepsie Journal, Poughkeepsie, New York, 1 Jun 1976, pg 23, Newspapers.com, 17 Jul 2016.

52 Ancestors - Week 2...Maria Eufrosina Pineschi Petrini

This is week 2 of my 52 Ancestors in 2017 challenge. You can read more about the challenge here.
This week I am highlighting my great-great grandmother, Maria Eufrosina Pineschi Petrini.
(I need to mention here that even though I am listing my great-great granmother as Maria Eufrosina Pineschi Petrini, she never used the name Petrini as part of her name. In Italy it was common at the time, as it is today, for women to use their birthname for their entire life. I only include her husband's surname here to make it more likely that other researchers will recognize her as part of the PETRINI family.)

Eufrosina Pineshci
Photo from the collection of AM Bain
digitized by KM Kolk - 2016

 

Maria Anna Eufrosina Pineschi was the daughter of Massimiliano PINESCHI and Isabella MATTEUCCI, born and baptized on March 11, 1850 in Compito Sant’ Andrea, Capannori, Lucca, Tuscany, Italy. The birth date comes from a family tree prepared by her great-granddaughter Irene in the early 1970s. The year 1850 correlates well with the age given on Eufrosina’s marriage and death  records. I've not been able to confirm the day of birth, however it was common at that time for babies to be baptized the day of their birth. The death certificate of her oldest son Umberto states that his mother’s name was Rosena (with surname unknown). It took me more time than it should have to realize that Rosena was a shortened form of Eufrosina.

Eufrosina was a farmer and housewife in Compito Sant’ Andrea, where she probably lived her entire life. She married Bartolomeo Daniele Petrini on July 19, 1873 in Sant’ Andrea. She was the mother of at least ten children:

1. Roberto aka Umberto Alberto (1873-1953)
2. Giovanni Egisto (1876- )
3. Maria Enrichetta (1876- )
4. Maria Argentina Dina Annita (1881-)
5. Maria Armida Argentina (1883-1971)
6. Maria Amabilia (1885-1926)
7. Giovanni Alessandro (1887-1979)
8. Maria (1892-1892) (634)
9. Gemma
10. Armando

Eufrosina died at age 75 on July 13, 1925 in Sant’ Andrea, Capannori, Lucca, Italy, just a few months after her husband, Bartolomeo Petrini. Her burial site is unknown.

Questions for further research:

1. What is the exact date of Eufrosina's birth?
2. Where is Eufrosina buried?
3. Is her godmother related to our family?
   

You can view the family group sheet for the family of Bartolomeo and Eufrosina here.

 

Sources

• PETRINI, Umberto, “Death Certificate,” File #40992, St. Louis City, Missouri, 7 Nov 1953, Missouri State Archives, http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/, accessed 5 Mar 2007.
• “PETRINI Family Tree,” Irene Petrini Wichmann , Apr 1973, updated 27 July 2002.
• PETRINI, Roberto, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 18 Aug 1873, Family Search, familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-32553-2775-86?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-468:349802601,350153701,350154001, accessed 11 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Giovanni Alessandro, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 12 May 1887, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99W7-KVJY?wc=MCR6-4WL%3A349802601%2C350153701%2C350154701&cc=2043811, 11 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Maria Amabilia, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 5 Mar 1885, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-32569-21023-28?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-4WL:349802601,350153701,350154701, 28 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Maria, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 19 Jul 1892, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-32562-6908-70?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-429:349802601,350153701,350155101, 31 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Maria Argentina Dina Annita, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 8 Mar 1881, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-32554-15865-32?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-4M9:349802601,350153701,350154501, accessed 31 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Giovanni Egisto, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 28 Jan 1876, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-32558-15676-36?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-438:349802601,350153701,350154201, 31 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Maria Enrirchetta, “Birth Record,” Lucca, Italy, 28 Jan 1876, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1961-32558-15456-33?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-438:349802601,350153701,350154201 : accessed 31 March 2015, accessed 31 Mar 2015.
• PINESHCI, Eufrosina, “Death Record,” Capannori, Lucca, Italy, 14 Jul 1925, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1951-32572-17087-72?cc=2043811&wc=MCR6-2WL:349802601,350153701,350168401, 30 Mar 2015.
• PETRINI, Bartolomeo - PINESCHI, Eufrosina, “Marriage Record,” Lucca, Italy, 19 Jul 1873, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-32571-9416-63?cc=2043811, accessed 15 Feb 2016.
• PETRINI, Bartolomeo - PINESCHI, Eufrosina, “Marriage Allegati,” Lucca, Italy, 19 Jul 1873, Family Search, https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-32580-11502-19?cc=2043811, accessed 30 Oct 2016. 

52 Ancetors, Week 1…..Nancy Jacqueline Schneider Siglock, New Years Baby 1945

 As mentioned in this blog post, in 2017 I am attempting to complete a 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. Since I am starting this at the first of the year, it seems appropriate to start with a New Years baby! My cousin Nancy was the first-born of all my cousins and the first baby born in her home town in 1945. Happy New Year!

Nancy Siglock - July 2005
photo by KM Kolk

 

Nancy Jacqueline Schneider was born on January 1, 1945  at 2:56 a.m. in Alton, Madison County, Illinois, at St. Jospeh’s Hospital. (1049) Nancy was the daughter of Jack Robert Schneider, who at the time was stationed in Florida while serving as a Lieutenant with the U.S. Army, and his wife, Alice Marie Kolk (1049). Nancy’s birth was the first birth in the Alton area in 1945, and she had her moment of fame when she was acknowledged as the first baby of the new year.

Nancy graduated from Alton Senior High School in 1963. The caption on the photo from her high school yearbook lists the many organizations she was active with while in high school including the Future Nurses of America, the chorus, the dramatics club, the Latin club and the pep club.

After graduation, Nancy pursued her dream of becoming a nurse, training at St. Joseph’s Hospital, the same hospital in which she was born. After graduating from nursing school, Nancy had a career as a psychiatric nurse and a surgical nurse at area hospitals, and later as a home health nurse.

Nancy married her high school sweetheart in 1966 at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in Alton. (639) It was a beautiful wedding and reception, and as one of the first weddings I remember attending, it left a lasting impression on me. Nancy was a lifelong Catholic; after her marriage she was a member of St. Kevin’s Catholic parish in Wood River and Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Bethalto. ​

Nancy died 12 Nov 2011 after a battle with multiple myeloma. She was survived by her husband, 3 children, 2 brothers, 4 sisters, and many friends, cousins, and grandchildren.

Sources:

• SIGLOCK, Nancy, “obituary,” The Telegraph (Alton, Illinois), viewed 14 Nov 2011.
• SCHNEIDER-SIGLOCK, “Wedding,” Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois, 23 Aug 1966, pg A8, NewspaperArchive.com, 9 Apr 2015.
• The Tatler 1963 Yearbook, Alton Senior High School, Alton, Madison County, Illinois, Jim Crane, editor, The Internet Archive, Hayner Public Library Genealogy Collection, https://ia601204.us.archive.org/29/items/AltonHS_Tatler_1963/tatler1963.pdf, viewed 29 Dec 2016.
• ​SCHNEIDER, Nancy Jac, “birth,” Alton Evening Telegraph, Alton, Illinois, 2 Jan 1945, pg 2, NewspaperArchive.com, 29 Dec 2016.

 

52 Ancestors in 2017

 I have been very inconsistent in blogging about my genealogy research, and have done nothing about writing my stories down and sharing them, so I have decided that 2017 will be the year I will do something about that! One way I will work towards this goal is to participate in a 52 Weeks challenge.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is a challenge created by Amy Crowe Johnson in 2014 to motivate her to blog about her research. Her ‘rules’ were very simple — blog about a specific ancestor each week! It doesn’t have to be a research thesis; 3 or 4 sentences that summarize what you know about the person is good enough!

If you want more details, you can refer to Amy’s blog here, or visit the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks blog post on the Family Search site.

This is a 3 year old challenge and I’ve thought about participating in the past, but I’ve just never done it for various reasons…’it is the middle of the year’…’I don’t know where to start’…’I don’t have a blog’…..
well, you get the idea! But I am going to make a real effort to blog more this year. And the help me keep my focus, I am keeping my rules very flexible.

• Ideally, I will blog about an ancestor each week, BUT if I miss a week, I am NOT going to let it get me off track. I can catch up by doing 2 (or 3 or 4) posts in the following weeks.
• I will not worry about WHO to write about, but will write about whoever interests me that particular week. This may be a direct ancestor or it may be a distant cousin. It MAY even be a friend or a friend I come across in my research and find interesting!
• I will not ‘wait until I have time to do more research’. Telling what I know NOW is good enough, and if it motivates me to do more research, I will update the post when I have more to tell or do a second post!

​One more minor detail is WHERE I plan to post. Because I have individual blogs for several of my family lines, if the person I blog about belongs to one of those lines, I will post on the blog for that line. If not, I will post here, with the option to move the post someday when I set up a blog for that line. And no matter where I post, I will post a small reminder on this blog to go look for the post. I will also keep and index post here, linking the blog posts by week. And I will tag the relevant posts with ’52 Weeks’.

Ok, I think I’m all set! How about you? Are you doing anything to record the history you’ve learned about your ancestors? If you are doing anything like the 52 week challenge, feel free to include a link to your blog in the comments and I’ll come read it.​

Happy New Year and happy ancestor hunting!