Mary (Crozier) Gormley and Jane (my mom) MAry and her husband Own Gormley raised my mother
Story and Photos By Anne Gabbianelli

Napoleon Bonaparte bankrupted my family in 1814 by convincing them that paper money had no value so they switched to silvery coins. I too have an antecedent who built the Catholic Church resting on a hill in Winn, Maine. Oh, and my not bad grandmother was kidnapped by the Gypsies when she was a picayune girl, and her father — who was a Major in the British ground forces — took his unabridged regiment into the Gypsy army camp to rescue his little daughter.

It is amazing the tales you tin larn when working on your family unit genealogy, and I believe I however have much more to larn on my endless journey of piecing together my lineage. What I take ascertained goes far beyond submitting a DNA sample to determine from what part of the world my ancestors came.

My quest to learn more about my roots began in 1976 while creating a family genealogy for a college form assignment. Trivial did I know this assignment would linger on all these years subsequently, and notwithstanding still offer amazement with every faded and tattered certificate I review and every email exchange I have with family.

I dove into the college assignment with the help of my parents: my mother, Jane Crozier of Irish/Scottish/French Canadian descent, and my begetter, Peter Gabbianelli of Italian descent. My mother was a keeper of documents and ancestors' wills and was quite up to date, including writing in the family unit Bible. I have many of these original documents in my possession now.

The Gabbianelli side was well documented by a relative in Italia who conspicuously mapped out a tree showing my granddaddy'southward family unit dating dorsum to the 1700s, and my mother's handwriting is seen throughout every bit the tree grew over the years. Mom was good at staying up to engagement as she learned more than of the history for both her side and dad'due south side of the family unit.

To bring the Gabbianelli side even further up to date, my aunts wrote to relatives in Italy seeking information. I take read their translated letters that span my granddad's family of eight children and the great story of Napoleon. On my grandmother'due south side — Pierina Malchiodi — I have many documents with her offset name spelled a variety of ways. A letter of the alphabet from a cousin says Pierina'southward parents were married in 1880, however, at that place was no documentation of her grandparents.

I referred to some translation websites to help me with the documents written in Italian, and I reviewed an Ellis Island website thinking my paternal grandparents came to America via Ellis Isle only to discover I was incorrect. Boston was the entry point.

Efforts to learn more than most my female parent's side of the family accept not been equally easy to follow as she had multiple families. My mom had been referred to past some every bit an orphan, yet I never considered that because she had family everywhere. Mom was built-in in 1918, and her female parent'southward decease document reads Jane Knox Muir Crozier died of the Spanish flu a month after giving nascence to my female parent. How ironic to detect during the current pandemic that the 1918 pandemic impacted my family.

Pete and Jane dating 1939-1946 when they married

My mother had an older blood brother who was raised past their father in Vermont, notwithstanding my female parent was shared among her aunts. Offset on her begetter's side and afterward her mother'south side who tended to her higher pedagogy (mom was a nurse like her female parent). All the correspondence I have seen and stories I accept heard evidence how profoundly loved she was.

Her academic years were spent in New Hampshire with the Gormley family (a Crozier aunt married a Gormley) and her summers in Millinocket, Maine with the Corrigan family (some other Crozier aunt married a Corrigan). So my research involves the Muirs and Croziers from St. Agathe going back to the mid-1800s. It as well includes the Gormley family (originally from Ireland) and the Corrigan family (originally from Canada) and all their branches.

Genealogy 101

Tips to go started discovering your own family history

Past Nancy Battick

Gear up to dive into your family unit's past and explore genealogy? Here is a list of tips to get yous started on your journeying.

  • Brainstorm by speaking with family members and family friends. Memories fade over time and aren't always correct but don't miss the chance to learn these stories earlier they're gone.
  • Make notes on all you remember about your family unit origins.
  • Make up one's mind how many generations you lot desire to encompass. Starting with Jamestown in 1607 for example is much more than work than outset with your smashing-grandparents.
  • Review documents such as family bibles, diaries, letters, bills, etc.
  • Keep your various family unit lines organized by downloading gratis pedigree charts and family unit group sheets at www.ngsgenealogy.org/free-genealogy-resources.
  • Annotation where you found your data. Y'all may need to recheck sources.
  • Include photos and humorous stories.
  • Use free genealogical sites such as FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com (at local libraries). Check www.cyndislist.com for thousands of resources. If you lot demand to inquiry on a paid site, ask for a month's membership or a trial period then you can abolish once your search is over.
  • Other good sources include libraries, historical societies, genealogical groups, boondocks/city directories, boondocks reports and newspapers.
  • On Ancestry yous can track your family unit at ten twelvemonth intervals through the U.Due south. Censuses.
  • Maine vital records (nativity, marriage, death) are at town clerk offices, on Ancestry.com and at the Maine Center for Disease Command and Prevention in Augusta. At that place are state regulations on who can admission vital records and then find out what you demand before you visit.
  • Be wary of online family trees. Don't trust until verified.
  • Ancestor naturalized? The 1910 U.S. Demography lists the date immigrants came to the U.S. and the 1920 census lists the naturalization date. The National Archives holds many, simply not all, naturalization records.
  • Picket out for other families with the same surname. Be sure you're researching the right family line. For case, think of all the John Smiths in New England lone. It'southward easy to get confused.
  • Don't worry well-nigh grammar or spelling, just write downward your story. If writing is scary, endeavor telling your story into a recorder.
  • Don't give out information near living persons without their permission.
  • If you run into a long-held family hole-and-corner how will y'all handle it? All may be dead but I advise do cipher that will hurt or embarrass descendants.
  • Finally, have fun with your project and research. When y'all're done y'all tin can write an essay, a book or a photocopied jump document and and then share your labors with your family and the future.

Over the years, I have called on my older sis to fill in some blanks and my cousins for support. Close to 20 years agone, my cousin, Bill (Corrigan) Lewis, introduced me to diverse genealogy software programs and websites such as familysearch.org, rootsweb.com, 23andme.com, tribalpages.com and more. He taught me nearly numerous other venues including The Maine State Library which has a substantial collection of genealogies, town histories and vital records; local libraries including the Bangor Public Library'southward genealogy section and The Church building of Jesus Christ of Latter-mean solar day Saints in Bangor. Most recently, he installed a plan on my estimator which details wedlock records for the Country of Maine. There are so many valuable resource beyond the popular ancestry.com.

Bill's cognition is endless and his enthusiasm for family unit history is respectable. I wish for his passion to rub off on me as I continue to sift through pages and pages of family history that he kindly saved for me on a thumb drive. Meanwhile, my cousin Bruce Muir in Vermont regularly shares the almost detailed stories via email of my maternal grandmother's lineage.

Jane and Pete'due south wedding ceremony photograph, 1946

His storytelling is captivating including the Gypsy story and a recollection shared with him well-nigh George Knox Muir (my great grandfather) attending his 30-year-sometime girl'southward funeral in Montpelier, Vermont. Bruce writes, "Beingness a Presbyterian (following Scottish religion), he returned dwelling and did country with a great deal of grief, that she (my grandmother) must take 'turned Catholic' as she had a Rosary in her mitt at the wake."

In addition to securing family history, I accept as well been digitally scanning all the documents — authentic or copies — including naturalization papers and wedlock and death certificates. I even have an original certificate of marriage and an invitation to my parents' wedding on May 11, 1946. I have also scanned pictures from a photo album showcasing people I take only heard of but never met as our lifetimes were generations removed.

My mother e'er teased me when I was a kid almost how she got me from the Gypsies. Information technology was a little joke, yet I never knew my family really had a Gypsy encounter. No uncertainty more stories will be told and much more work will be done as I proceed my family genealogy project. After all, I have over 300 years of material I am sifting through and multiple families I'm aiming to connect to my family unit tree as I thirst to learn more each twenty-four hours.

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