Surname Saturday -- FESSIA [with connections to Antonipieri, Felice, Pozzallo, Ciochetti]

Well today, I'll cover my second surname, from my mom's side of the family --- Fessia.
I haven't been able to trace back as far as I'd like, as it's Italian, and the records in the civil area only go back to 1867. But the LDS church has microfilmed the records from the main town I'm interested in, so I've been trying to fill in the blanks.

My lineage in this line is

3. Margaret Fessia --- Mom

6. Augusto Secundo Fessia -- My grandpa. Grandpa was born 1 April 1890 in Gaglianico, Piemonte, Italy. He was sent to Lyon at the age of 11 ( according to Mom) to apprentice in silk weaving . His brother did dyes for the silk and Augusto worked with the design and machines. He served in the Italian Army and was in the Italo-Turkish War [guerra di Libia, "the Libyan war" September 29, 1911 to October 18, 1912.] He received a commemorative medal which my uncle had framed. The letter accompanying it stated ' il Soldato del 6 Reggimento Artiglierria de [da?] Fortezza". He emigrated to the US in 1913 to work in the silk mill in Utica NY. His younger sister Felicita and her husband, his younger brother Giovanni Battista (John) also came, but an older brother went to work in the beginning textile industry in Chile, and stayed there. Augusto married the widow Maria Antonetta (Tonina) Jacomina Teresa Antonipieri Felice in Utica 1 Jul 1917. He received his US naturalization in 1922. Grandpa was a very quiet reserved man. He had the most wonderful vivid blue eyes. He was diabetic and died 4 Jan 1968 of pancreatic cancer.

12. Giovanni Battista Fessia (b. 18 May 1847 Gaglianico, Piemonte, Italy-- 1903 Gaglianico, Piemonte, Italy). He married Margherita Anna Pozzallo ( 3 May 1866 Donato -- 28 May 1943 Utica, Oneida, NY) in Gaglianico. She later came to the US (12 Aug 1916- held for special inquiry!) to live with her children and grandchildren. There is a tale someone told me ( in my early days before I used proper citations!) that she was his second wife, and that when his first wife died, the children of that marriage went to live with her family in southern France. I have not been able to validate or disprove this tale, and that is one of my future tasks.


24. Pietro Fessia -- this is the furthest back ancestor.... unfortunately, his data is in the pile of unsorted research. I think that his wife's maiden name was Ciochetti. I will post more on him when I finish my 2010 GB Olympic task of filing and properly sorting!

Surname Saturday-- FAIRCHILD

Thanks to Randy and his wonderful blogging prompts, I may actually get my research info published at least in pieces! This is for Surname Saturday! I have lots of surnames, and will try to tackle them in the ahnentafel format so as to have some continuity. [ if you don't know what an ahnentafel is go here:
http://genealogy.about.com/cs/research/p/ahnentafel.htm]

For this first post, I'm going to choose FAIRCHILD, my patrilineal line. Based on my research, and that of many others, we can only trace the line back to JOhn Frederick FAIRCHILD, born 1800 in Athens (or Hudson) NY, although we have been trying to link back to the CT Thomas FAIRCHILD as several lines do.

I have a FAIRCHILD tree at ancestry.com, have listed lineage in the back (unaligned) section of Jean Fairchild Gilmore's books "Early FAIRCHILDS in America and their Descendants" and " More Fairchilds in America".

My lineage back is

1. Susan Jane FAIRCHILD [now Barry] moi!

2. Robert Edwards FAIRCHILD - my father (1923 Olean, NY- 1990 Phoenix, AZ) m Margaret Therese Fessia
He was a dentist, served in the Navy for 20 years, the army for 1 year out of college, attended University of Ohio and University of Buffalo [now SUNY Buffalo] and took us to live in 7 states and one foreign country! He had a wonderful sense of humor, was a patient and kind man whom I miss very much!

4. Victor Miller FAIRCHILD - ( 1895 Portville, NY-1958 Olean, NY)married Jennie Gertrude 'Jane' EDWARDS (1891 Merlin, Kent Ontario CAN-1974 Olean, NY).

Grandpa was also a dentist [ as were a couple of his non-Fairchild cousins]. He served in the US AEF in France in 1918. He died when I was only five, but I remember him also as kind and funny, so I'm sure that's where Dad got his sense of humor! He was an elder and Deacon in the Presbyterian Church, and had a step mother as his mother died when he was only 2. He and his sister Marion and their cousin Daisy were the " orphans" and were mostly raised by their grandma and aunts. That will be the topic for another whole post in itself!

8. Fred William FAIRCHILD ( 1872 Belfast Allegany, NY - 1932 Portville, Cattaraugus, NY) married Lucy Gertrude MILLER.

Fred Fairchild was the entrepreneurial type. He was the owner of a Mercantile and president of the Portville Broom Company. He was the second of five sons, and he eloped with Gertrude to get married. She died in childbirth of their second child, and he later remarried. He was a pillar of the community, serving on the school board, volunteer fire dept., and other positions. He loved to camp and hunt, and pictures of his deer, bear and other hunting kills were shown and passed down in the family. Dad said there was a stuffed bear in the entry to his home, and I never knew if he was kidding or not!

16. James H(enry) Fairchild ( 1841 Rochester, NY - 1906 Portville, NY). married Roxey Rosalia 'Rose' PETTY

James was one of 11 children. He and 3 of his brothers served in the Union army in the Civil War. He served in company E of the 93rd NY Volunteers. He was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness, spent time in the hospital, and I imagine walked with a limp, although that's not mentioned any where. He owned and operated a shingle mill in Portville, was co-owner with 2 brothers of a patented washing machine, active in the Presbyterian church, local GAR post, and a man whose "word was as good as his bond" as stated in his obituary. It was his obituary among my grandparents' things that started me on this genealogical journey 35 years ago. I am very proud of him, and named my son James in his honor.

32. John Frederick B(ackus?) FAIRCHILD ( Jan 1800 Athens [or Hudson] NY - 1869 Belfast, NY) married Sally HOYT ( abt 1802 Catskill, NY- 1857 West Sparta, NY)

He was a cooper and worked on the Erie and Genessee Canals, hence the various stays in Rochester , Dansville, Belfast. He was orphaned at the age of three, lived with maiden aunts and uncle who mistreated him and he ran away. His mother was supposedly a Backus.


If anyone is descended from any of these persons, or knows of any info on the Fairchild name, or is a Fairchild male willing to take a genealogy DNA test, please contact me at barry.sf(at)gmail.com and let's compare notes on the families involved. I am tired of this brick wall!

My Top 10 genealogical moments of 2009

Well, even though it's Wordless Wednesday, I'll add this today! [ thanks for the nudge, Randy!] This was a big year for me in genealogy!

10. Attending the ftDNA conference in March. I still have so much to learn about the uses of DNA in genealogy. But this conference helped a lot!
9. Getting my full mtDNA test kit for Christmas! Wonder what my haplogroup is???
8. Helping several DAR prospects complete their application papers
7. Finally starting on my husband's genealogy, and showing all his relatives at the October family reunion the wonderful ancestral history they have!
6. Joining DUVCW [Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War]. It made me go back and look at some civil war data I had collected years ago. Looking at it with fresh eyes, it allowed me to connect another branch of the family!
5. Spending a week in D.C. using the National Archives, Library of Congress, and DAR libraries. I could have spent a month!
4. Donating time to the DAR descendant's project typing in application data for 100 applications. Part of my "giving back" for all the help I have received over the years!
3. Attending SCGS Jamboree in Burbank in June. I was one of the Boy Scout genealogy badge councilors and signed off on about 30 badges!!! It als0 allowed me to reconnect with old friends, and meet many new blogger friends.
2. Identifying my Mayflower ancestors! John Howland, his wife Elizabeth Tilly and her parents ( John Tilly & ? who both died in the first year ). Which is great for a 3/4 non-American person!!!!
and
1. Finding my mother's Chilean cousins! Through Facebook of all places!!! Never turn down any opportunity to search on surnames!

I wonder how I'll top this in 2010.... Happy New Year!

Fessia in Italy, Chile and ??; Antonipieri in Italy and ??

Well now for surnames on my mother's side of my genealogy.
FESSIA -- My great grandfather was Giovanni Battista Fessia, b. 18 May 1847 in Gaglianico, Vercelli, Piemonte, Italy. I believe his parents were Pietro Fessia and Felicita Ciochetti. He married Margherita Anna Pozzallo b 3 May 1866 Donato, Piemonte, Italy on 29 Oct 1887 in Gaglianico. He died in 1903 in Gaglianico.
Children:
1. Pietro who emigrated to Chile, and married in Tome, Chile, Alejandrina Espejo. To them were boren 10 hildren. [I am still searching for theose cousins!].
2. my grandfather Augusto Secundo Fessia, b. 1 Apr 1890 in Gaglianico. He was sent to Lyon France to apprentice as a silk weaver. He served in the Italian army in the Italian -turco War. He emigrated to the US on the ship Stampalia, arriving in September 1913. He married a widow, "antonina" who was Maria Antonina Jacomina Theresa Antonipieri Felice [ or Felix]. They were married in 1917. Antonina had a daughter ( my Aunt Mary) from her first marriage. She also worked in the silk mills in Utica.
3. Felicita who was born 14 Feb 1892 in Gaglianico. She married Remo Leandro, who emigrated with my grandfather in 1913 on the ship Stampalia. She died in 1968.
4. Giovanni Battista Fessia, better known as John. He was born 14 July 1897 in Gaglianico . He also married a Margaret. He arrived a year later in 1914.

My the three siblings brought to the US their widowed mother Margherita to help with the grandchildren. She died 28 May 1943 in Utica.

Fessia is a fairly rare name in Italy, but Antonipieri, my grandmother's name is even rarer. She was born in Enemonzo, in the Friuli region of Italy, and the residents there considered themselves more "German" than Italian. She met her first husband in Buia when she attended a wedding there. There are many stories, about her family, which will have to wait until the next posting!

Footnote freebie- 1930 US Census

Thought I'd list that Footnote.com is having the 1930 census for free the month of August!
Pass the word!

SCGS Jamboree Highlights

Well this post is different, as I wanted to post some of my highlights of attending the 2009 SCGS Jamboree. In the past I have served on the committee, and of course, working the Jamboree means you can't get to go to many lectures, or browse through the vendor hall. But the past few years, I have tried not to be so involved, so I could attend the conference instead of working.

This year, the first highlight came before the "regular" portion of the Jamboree. I substituted at the Kid's Camp, held Friday morning. Genealogy has some bright new folks, as I reviewed and signed off on 29 Boy Scout Genealogy badges! That's more than I have signed in the past 3 years!!! Only one young man didn't have enough of the data to get my signature. And I was only one of 3 Counselors reviewing and signing! And with all the popularity of genealogy in the US, can you believe it is one of the "rarer" badges with only about 5,000 awarded 2 yeas ago? We need to change that, and this seems to be a wonderful way to do it! Kudos to Michael Melendez for his work on this!

I volunteered to sit the DAR table in the Vendor's Hall on Friday. We managed to help not only prospective DAR members but SR & SAR prospective members. The new on-line member's site allows us to do more than we could before, and we passed out many request for application forms, so the folks at NSDAR national headquarters are about to be really busy! We definitely saw more attendees from out of state, as well as an increased northern California contingent!

Actually got to go to some lectures this year.... They had some wonderful new speakers, and some of my old friends! The blogger's panel was terrific and I learned some great new ideas, both in techniques and content, and also encouragement. So maybe I'll try to set aside more time for blogging! I have already sent for some British vitals after listening to George Morgan, and the first one has already arrived!

Many of the lectures were recorded, and a couple of us went together on an order of ones we missed or wanted to lessen the cost per CD. I transferred a few of the CDs to my iPod so I could listen to them on the plane and while walking in DC where I spent the week following the 4th doing genealogy and attending DAR Congress. ( more on that later!). Although the quality differs from one to another, it was a great way to hear the lectures I missed! ( And yes, Paula, I will fill out a survey!)

Paula and the rest of the SCGS Jamboree committee are to be commended on a fabulously successful Jamboree! It is definitely the best conference !

Barry, McCalla, Lau, Flickinger, Thompson in US & Ireland

the "catchy" title ( names, places) is credited to the Son-of Blogger discussion at SCGS Jamboree-- "hook 'em with the title so they will read the blog" ----

Well here are some of my husband's names I am researching:

Barry- first known ancestor is Robert H. who immigrated from County Wexford to Opalousas LA in 1820. His father is probably Sylvestre/ Sylvester Barry born & remained in Ireland. Robert's brother John Barry became the second bishop of Savannah Georgia, and has been written up in several Catholic histories. He states birthplace as Oilgate, County Wexford.

McCalla Bob's earliest found McCalla relative is George McCalla found in 1860 census in Licking county, Ohio. According a family document, his wife Eliza J(ane) was the daughter of Robert Thompson and Susan McCoubrie of County Down and from the family home named Cherry Vale
Other children of Robert Thompson married and went to Canada. Have been tracing those descendants in hope of making farther back connections.....

Lau Bob's mom was a Lau, and the family connects back from Ohio to the Lau families of Lancaster county PA.



Flickinger The Lau brothers who went to Ohio married Flickinger sisters also from Lancaster County PA