So one day not so long ago, I got a comment from a Bob Petitte. He thought his family name had changed from Petitti. He told me about his grandfather coming over, and his dad going to his cousin Patsy's farm in Dundee. Hmm. I was curious. My dad and Grandfather are both Patsy, also known as Pasquale. And, they lived on a farm in Dundee. He left his email so I contacted him and gave him some info and asked him what else he knew. He sent a picture that made me, my dad and my Uncle Mike all drop our mouths. It was of his grandfather and his great uncles. And there in that photo is my Great Grandfather. The exact photo found on his tombstone in Mt. Carmel. We were related.
The tallest gentleman is my Great Grandpa Vito Petitti
When we began planning the summer adventure, I emailed Bob and he agreed to have dinner with our entourage. So we found a pizza place, casual, loud and perfect for our large 20+ group. Bob is just a little older than I, but his grandfather was the last of something like 11 children, so his family tree is essentially a generation behind mine. It also means that most of Bob's family tree has passed. How wonderful that we could introduce him to all these new relatives. I have started this new blog in hopes that people will google and get there. I would love to have a meeting place and find family, friends, distant relatives. We hope one day to have a Faeto reunion. Now that would be quite a story!
Stumbled upon your blog, and what a surprising find. My grandfather Angelo Petitti and grandmother Concetta D'Ambrosio both came from Faeto. They settled in Columbus, Ohio. His brother Dominic (with his wife Filomena) settled in Chicago. I visited Faeto in 1975, and recognized many of your pictures. As for the dialect having a heavy French influence, our best guess is a few Normans stayed around after the invasion :). Back in the 70s, an uncle Rubino, who taught at a university in Rome, was putting out a newspaper with one column in "good Italian" and a column of a phonetic transcription of the dialect spoken in Faeto (since it is not a written language). He also made recordings of local folk sings in an attempt to preserve them.
ReplyDeleteWould love to hear more about your efforts.
Greg Petitti
I hope to visit Faeto this June in hopes of finding traces of lost relatives. My great-grandfather is Angelo Petitti (b 12/25/1890), and he emigrated to Chicago area(Taylor street area like another poster Bob mentioned). He had brothers Fred, Dan(Donato), and Joe. The cemetery mentioned in your post might be a good place to look for their parents.
ReplyDeleteHey! My great grandmother Josephine Cocco DelVecchio was from Faeto, Italy. She moved to Bridgeport, CT in the 1910s and met my great grandfather Dante DelVecchio, from Castelfranco, Italy. I was lucky enough to grow up with my great grandmother in Fairfield, CT until I was 16. She lived from 1911-2000. I am intrigued by my family history and will visit Faeto and Castelfranco soon, hopefully. Any info on Faeto would be much appreciated. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather Cesar Gallucci and grandmother Antoinette Pavia were born in Faeto/Foggia, Italy. My grandfather, parents were Pasquale Gallucci and Maria Giuseppa Petitti. I noticed there are a lot of Petitti's from this region.
ReplyDeleteMy mother's father Giovanni (John) Petitti was born in Faeto in 1898 and my father's grandparent's Anthony and Philomena Gatti (on his mother's side) came from Faeto either in 1893 or 1900 (!). Both families eventually settled in Bridgeport, Connecticut which is how my parents met. I now live in Newtown and I am wondering if the Faeto reunion continues?
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