30 B4 30 Day 18: Create My Family Tree

My family is huge, hysterical and very important to me. (How could you not love uncles with nicknames like Rocky, Beaver, the Big Chill and Peanuts?) My mother's side is Italian and my father's side is Puerto Rican. (Can you guess which side the uncles are from?) My mother is the second oldest of eight and my father is the second youngest of six, but they chose to only have two children; my older brother Michael and me. We grew up in my grandparents' house with our parents, five of my mother's siblings and my grandparents. I love being part of a big family because holidays are truly happy and there is no shortage of love or laughter. My belief is that a full house is a happy house. So, since my extended family is so big, I decided to Create My Family Tree as today's item for my 30 B4 30 project.

Unfortunately, my family tree didn't have too many branches, but I did find out some interesting facts after paying $19.95 to use Ancestry.com. For example, my mother's father's brother Angelo (who had the same name as my mother's brother and my godfather) was in World War II and he worked in Special Services or, as I like to call it, spied on the Italians. He was executed by the Italians after they found out about his "special" job and he was buried in Florence, Italy. He received a purple heart and a silver medal for his service to our country. We even found out the exact burial plot row and number. My mother was excited about this tidbit of information and believes that we must go to Italy to find his gravesite. I say we leave tomorrow...

We also found out that my mother's grandmother (they are both named Angelina) was born in Messina, Sicily and her father's name was Giuseppe Sciacchitano and he was born in Girgenti, Italy. They have the most difficult last name to spell, not like Kuehnle is any better, but I was way off when I first typed it into the form. However, Sciacchitano is a full-blooded Italian name and I love to say it. It is pronounced SHACK-eh-tanno. Well, that's how my mom says it anyway.

Searching for my dad's side was a little less satisfying. I did find out the birth and death dates of his mother's parents, Domaso and Aurora Hernandez. They were born in Puerto Rico and died in New York. Then my father tells me that he thinks my great-grandfather had two families. (I'm sorry, what?) I am still in search of his children and the supposed other wife. Also, I heard that Domaso was too tall to fit in his coffin when he died, so they had to cut off the bottom of his legs and bury them in the coffin alongside his body. Not sure if either of these stories are true yet, but I will make sure to interrogate my family members the next time I see them.

The basic layout of my family tree has been created, but I am still not satisfied. There are several questions I still need answered. I will be taking the remaining 29 days of my month subscription to find out the names of my orphaned grandfather's parents and if I have more family out there that my father doesn't know about...yet.