Overdue Greetings!

The cemetery in Faeto.  Full of our family.  

 I may not be the best historian, but all of you are doing a great job.  I have saved every email and compiled all kinds of information.  In the next few days you will find a tab for Faeto documents, photos and perhaps some names so I connect some of you.  It is rather apparent that there are three distinct Petitti groups that came to the US from Faeto.  The Connecticut/East Coast, the Ohio Area and Chicago.  I am happy to add any of your trees, photos, etc to this blog and give contact info if anyone is interested.  Also send along any reunions that may be of interest.  Because the Faeto community is so large, I will concentrate mainly on the Petittis, but please contact me regardless, because I may have leads on your last name.

Since my last post, I have met an unknown relative.  His grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers. They dropped the i and made an e so Petitti to Petitte.  How cool is it to think that 150 years after my great grandfather's birth I would find a cousin (is he my cousin? I never know these things!) Bob Petitte and I had dinner with a group of relatives and shared pictures and will stay in touch.  He is also a die hard Cubs fan.
 
I have also met online a researcher that is out of this world.  She has a family tree like I have never seen.  It branches off to her family when a female Petitti marries a Melfi, but it starts with Domenico Petitti who was born in 1775.  Yes, think about that.  so I am lucky enough to have her tree to the early 1900's.  It's a treasure, and loaded with Petittis.  So far I can make no direct connection, but I think I found a lead and will be working on it for sure! Her short version is under one of the pages.  The long version from the 1700's is a bit bigger!

I also lost someone very special to me.  My Uncle Mike Carosielli was my personal driver all over Chicago.  He was game for any of my hair brained ideas!  We searched cemeteries for relatives (and circus acts), we wandered Mt. Carmel, Taylor Street, and North Avenue, and ate amazing food along the way.  He drove like a Chicago cabbie and I felt safe as can be sailing through the old neighborhoods and listening to his stories.  I am so blessed to have struck up a friendship with him over the last years and I miss him terribly.

My Uncle Mike Carosielli

 Through these old blog posts, my son and I met up with another relative in Mt. Carmel cemetery and found our families quite close.  His grandmother and my grandfather were siblings.  We went to his home and there on his wall are the exact photos I have of my grandfather's meat market on Taylor St.  His grandfather bought it!

Myself, Joe Martucci and my son Nic

And then there is the email with the funeral book.  The names and addresses written in the hand of my relatives.

The huge number of people who remember their relatives going to Patsy Petitti's farm in Dundee.  My Grandpa's farm. It was sold and became Chateau Louise and a few of my readers have many memories there.

So much information.  So much.  Read.  Enjoy.  Contribute.  Share.

Finally, I have to say that some of you may have found me at SweetiePetitti.com  That is another passion, the kitchen.  Please, I beg you, share your family recipes with me.  Let me cook the food of our families! When my grandmother passed, my aunt took all the lady things.  She never married, and when she died nothing was ever found of those personal effects that I know of.  So if you'd like to talk food, feel free!  It's one of my favorite things!

I promise to keep up to date!

A Family Reunion

So I blog about a lot of stuff over at Sweetie Petitti. I get a little feed back from Blogger that tells me what people are hitting with their searches. Apparently Faeto, Italy has brought me a few searchers, and here they found the food I love. And Faeto, Italy again, where they would learn about my trips there and the charm of Faeto and Celle. I am very proud of my Italian hometown. My Grandfather and Great Grandfather as well as my Grandmother all came from this charming mountain village. Another Faeto, Italy post is here with some of those details and a tribute to my dad and his ancestry. Periodically I get a comment from someone who has ancestors from Faeto. The names are familiar from the streets, the cemetery and sometimes the same as mine. Petitti.

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!