OURLIVES
28 REMINISCE.COM*JULY 2018
In the blink of an eye, the older
generation passes on, and we
become the grandparents,
leavinguswithamountain
ofephemera.Someofthat
memorabilia may include:
Love letters
Naturalization papers
Military medals
Photographs
Recipes
Family members often want
copies to browse and cherish.
But who should keep originals?
The oldest child?
A local repository, such
as a genealogy society
or museum?
As items are distributed,
even more generations may
want copies. I recommend
storing everything for free
onfamilysearch.org.
From the main FamilySearch
page,accessMemoriesto
upload scanned documents,
photos,storiesandmore;tag
the items; and attach them to
your ancestors’ pages. Family
membersfromaroundthe
worldmayviewandenjoythe
documents.Thesiteshares
informationpubliclyonlyabout
people with death dates.
Have fun reconstructing and
sharingyourancestors’lives.Shared Bounty
Family Tree
A
s the oldest sister,
I inherited a box
containing all the
family papers:
birth and death
certificates, citizenship
papers, military documents
and cemetery records. With
that as the starting place, my
goal was to record our family
history for future generations.
I began by listing names
I remembered: my parents,
George and Rose Solari; and
my maternal grandparents,
Antoinette and Felix Carbone,
and great-grandparents, Vito
and Rose Filomeno. Vito was
born in Lipari, Italy. Rose was
born in Staten Island, and
her parents had met and were
married in 1892 in New York’s
Little Italy.
Fifty years before starting
the project, in 1957 , I had met
Antoinette’s eight siblings
and family members in New
York. At that time, we cousins
were the grandchildren. Nowwe are the grandparents. So
I started writing to those
second and third cousins.
To fill in some other blanks,
I searched on ancestry.com and
found the name of the ship
my grandfather boarded from
Italy to America. The ship’s
manifest listed passengers’
names and the port where
it docked. After becoming
a citizen in 1911 , Grandpa
was drafted in 1917 and
sent to France. I have those
documents, too.
I created a detailed chart
and added photographs and
copies of papers, like death
certificates that included
valuable health data. I also
added funny stories about our
ancestors that my aunt had
shared over the years.
When I distributed the
entire collection to the whole
family, who was most excited
to get the information? My
sister’s youngest, who was still
in college. •Collect, record and store your family
history for generations to come.
COUSINS MEET in 1957 ,
from left, Marge Solari Holley,
Catherine Coppola, Johnny
Mustaciuolo, Prince the dog,
and Mary Louise Solari.BY MARGARET SOLARI HOLLEY • FILER, IDWRITE THAT DOWN
PEGGYCLEMENSLAURITZEN
an accredited genealogist,
writes and lectures about
family history. Visit her website:
misspeggy55.weebly.comShare your family history with us:
REMINISCE.COM/
SUBMIT-A-STORY