When I first started researching, I remember thinking to myself "I hope that I don't have any Smiths or Jones'!" They are such common surnames that I was afraid that I would never be able to sort them out. Well, there were a few but I remember being relieved that I did not have much difficulty with them.
However, I do have problems with the Italian side of my family! My grandfather Charles Christmas Bonadio, is first generation American. His parents Pasquale Bonadio and Rose Dicello came here separately from Italy and did not, as far as I can tell, continue the traditional Italian naming order. They had 11 children. Just as an explanation of Grandad's name, I should say that Charles was not born as Charles. He told us his birth name was Angelo Natale Bonadio. However, his delayed birth certificate and baptismal certificates say Angelo Charles Bonadio. Somewhere along the line he himself changed it. We don't know why, unless he just wanted to anglicize it. Natale could mean Christmas. And I'm not sure if Charles could come from Angelo.
Below is the traditional naming order for Italian families as found at italianamericanpodcast.com
- Your first son is named after his paternal grandfather; your first daughter after her paternal grandmother.
- Your second son is named after his maternal grandfather; your second daughter after her maternal grandmother.
- Then, if you’re blessed (or crazy) enough to have more children, you can, after all four grandparents have had their names passed down, start picking from siblings, aunts, uncles, and patron saints.
But anyway, my issues started with the siblings of Pasquale & Rose. We have this photo from 1940 that Charles' sister conveniently labeled with names. You would think ok this is great. But....
Mom and Pop are the easy ones because they are Charles' parents Pasquale Bonadio & Rose Dicello, they lived in Pennsylvania
Uncle Tony is Pasquale Bonadio's brother and lived in Wisconsin
Uncle Frank is Rose Dicello's brother also lived in Wisconsin
The two Mary's are harder because are the names their maiden or married names?
Uncle Frank Dicello has a sister Mary Dicello married to Joe Romano and a wife Mary Bonadio(different family), sister Mary Dicello Romano also lived in Wisconsin
Uncle Tony Bonadio also married a Mary Butera
The dilemma is - are the Mary's sisters or wives or a mix in the photo?
My first thought was wives, as both Frank and Tony married Marys but if they are wives then they are either standing behind the wrong husband or the IDs are mixed up because Mary Dicello would be Frank's wife and Mary Bonadio would be Tony's wife, if they are behind their husbands and if those are their married names. Also, in Italy, married women would keep their maiden name. Pasquale's wife, Rose, did that on her Passenger List but in America took her husband's name Bonadio.
Same ladies with a 4th that cannot be identified
So partially because of the naming tradition from Italy or maybe because parents who came over here wanted to remember people left behind, we have too many Marys and Tonys and Franks and Roses etc and the same surnames keep marrying the same surnames and before you know it....chaos. I pretty sure that I have them straight on paper, but this photo, I'm not 100% sure yet.. This was just one example.
*********************************************************************
A second popular name that was very confusing is Zachariah Nixon, or should I say 12 Zachariah Nixons and I am descended from 6 of them. The rest are uncles or cousins of different degrees.
I think that I have them sorted out now. I have numbered them for my own use. 1 - 6 are ancestors, the rest numbered by birthdate. There are 5 Johns sprinkled in the mix as well. One between ancestors 1 and 2 and again between ancestors 4 and 5. The other 3 Johns are brothers to Zachariahs 5, 6 and 9. Almost all of them are from the same area of North Carolina and when they did move several went
to the same county in Indiana.
The Nixons also like the names Elizabeth (9), Francis (6), Mary (8), William(5) and Sarah(6). Fortunately, I am only descended from one of those, a Sarah.
I sure do understand honoring parents, grandparents and other special people by naming a baby after them, but it so confuses things for us today trying to figure them all out. I really can't complain too much tho, my son is a Junior!
Please give credit and post a link to my blog if you intend to use any of the information written here. My blog posts are © Ann M Sinton 2022. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment