We did it! We found records of Rick's father, Desiderio Simioni, in very old local church ledgers.
Today in Salvatronda (Castelfranco Veneto) Italy, we went to the local church, Santa Maria Assunta di Salvatronda, and found records of Desiderio's baptism. They match information from the city hall for his birth. It was emotional for everyone there as we carefully searched through the ledgers together. To think Rick's father was baptized here 115 years ago, walked these streets, and maybe tried to imagine his future. Now we try to imagine his past.
With the help of Alice and her father, Emanuele Simioni, we met Sergio Simioni (above, left. Priest in center) who's father was also a Desiderio Simioni, and who also had a brother Fortunato Simioni, same as Rick's father and uncle. It's possible their grandparents were related. If so, we are related to the Simionis in Montreal: Lisa and family. We'll be following up when we return.
There are so many things we learned, like family nicknames (because there are so many Simionis here). Rick's family is part of the Cecconato branch. (translates to "born thin".)
Meanwhile, the Simioni families in the Castelfranco area have adopted us! We been treated to family dinners, shown us around, picked us up when it was pouring rain (Often!!), and just have been fun to meet. They are family group #12. They even through me a birthday party down one of their basements! And they have family in California near us! We have not been able to connect with them as direct relatives, wouldn't it have been wild to find out in Italy that the relatives we were searching for were just an hour or two away from our home?*
Mattia Simioni was my first Facebook contact in Castelfranco, and he led me to Alice and her family. Unfortunately, Mattia was in Greece when we visited.
Mattia's family:
(me, Elisa, Emanuela Zampieri,
Rick, & Germano)
Below: Lucky Alice, she's the only one in the 3 families who spoke fluent English and Italian! We kept her busy! A job that was often repeated on our trip by my other English speaking Facebook Simioni friends!
Here we are with Alice's family:
Emanuele, (me), Alice, Renata Zampieri,
Gianluca, and Rick
Barbara, Silvia, & Jennifer are also Facebook friends and cousins of Mattia & Alice. Silvia was in New Zealand while we visited.
Gabriele, me again, Jennifer, & mom Ilde,
Barbara, & Rick.
Simionis:
Giuseppe Simioni had 5 sons.
Gabriele, Emanuele, & Germano, plus Mario and Franco.
I need to check to see if it was Mario or Franco who moved to the USA. Olga and Lynda are two of the Simionis in California... update please! Alice? ;)
*Update Summer 2010: Alice Simioni came to California to visit her Simioni relatives and us. We had a wonderful time showing her around San Diego, sharing classic American movies, food, and customs. And we met her Simioni relatives who live just an hour north of us. We plan to do some additional research, and fully expect to find we are related. Here's a picture of the California Simionis.
Lynda Greene (Olga's daughter), Olga Simioni, Alice Simioni
Craig Acerboni (Olga's son) and Rick Simioni
becoming fast friends/relatives
It was just like meeting Simionis in Italy! Everyone so friendly and fun to meet.
---
0 comments:
Post a Comment