Dominik Kowalski, one of my paternal great-grandfathers:
In April 1942, the United States conducted what is now known as the "Old Man's" draft registration. This registration was for men who were born between 1877 and 1897 - those who were 45-60 years old. The intent of this registration was to record the amount and skills of domestic manpower available for home front war support. Two of my great-grandfathers and two of my husband's great-grandfathers registered in this draft (click on pictures below for larger images). Each card lists the registrant's name, home address, date and place of birth, name and address of employer, and a person of close contact (usually a wife, sibling, or parent). The second page of the card also lists physical characteristics of the applicant. Because this occurred in 1942, these cards are a great way of keeping track of where your ancestors lived and worked in between the 1940 Census and the 1950 U.S. Census (which hasn't even been released to the public yet). Try looking up one of your relatives at FamilySearch.org. Dominik Kowalski, one of my paternal great-grandfathers: Louis (Luigi) Licciardi, one of my maternal great-grandfathers: Lawrence Brunswick, one of my husband's maternal great-grandfathers: Anthony A. Schroeder, one of my husband's paternal great-grandfathers:
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My maternal grandparents, William Bellan and Dina Licciardi were married on September 27, 1947 at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Cleveland, Ohio. I am fortunate to have a nice collection of wedding photos from the event, some of which are posted below. Click on each photo to see a larger image. Getting Ready... Ceremony and Immediately Afterwards... Formal Pics... Reception: Euclid Ballroom at the Hotel Statler, Cleveland, Ohio
Dina's Childhood Doll Treasure Chest Thursday is a weekly blogging prompt from Geneabloggers in which we are encouraged to write about family heirlooms. I am looking forward to using this prompt every week or so to write my about ancestors' possessions AND to catalog those items of my own that I want my kids and grandkids to preserve for future generations. This week's post is about my maternal grandmother's childhood doll. She is currently sitting in a display cabinet in my mom's house, so, when we were visiting over Christmas, I took a few photos. Around the time my Grandma was preparing to sell her home and move in with us (mid-1990s), my Aunt Sharon took the doll to get cleaned and fixed up. The doll got a new dress and stockings, but she saved her original clothes and put them in a box (left pic below). In the box, Aunt Sharon also wrote down the doll's details (right pic below) - when Grandma got her, what she named her, and every address at which she "lived." I am so very thankful for these details; it makes this particular heirloom so much more personal than if we just had the doll itself. Grandma got the doll on her 10th birthday, which was 4 Sep 1924 and she called her either 'Doris' or 'Alice.' And, if I wanted to, I could now plot on a map every location in which Grandma lived during nearly her whole life. (For a geography nerd like me, that's pretty cool.)
Fancy banquet and dance at one of the fanciest hotels in Cleveland. My great-grandparents, Louis and Adele Licciardi are seated in the center of the photo - Louis' head is just to the right of the tear in the photo and Adele is seated to his left in the black dress.
Most of the old photos that I do have of my ancestors are in pretty good shape; this one, however, is not. There is a large tear down the middle. This is one photo that I would like to have restored by a professional. I don't have a lot of clear, quality photos of my great-grandparents from this time period and I just love this one for its general nostalgia, too. The fashions, the hairstyles, even the table settings just say so much about life in the 1920s. Adele Parazzini Licciardi was born on this day in 1895. She was born in Milan, Italy and immigrated to the U.S. in 1921. I write about her life and my memories of her in this blog post. Today, I'm sharing photos of her and her family members from her 90th birthday party in January 1985.
Love this photo of my maternal grandparents, Dina Licciardi and Bill Bellan. They were newly engaged after having met at a USO function after WWII (They were both veterans.). Grandpa looks pretty happy, but Grandma looks kind of bored. My husband says it looks like Grandma is reluctantly holding Grandpa's hand - I'm generally not a fan of holding hands, especially in public - After seeing this photo, my husband says it must be genetic.
My grandparents were generally very social people. My grandmother loved having people over and entertaining; I'm sure they hosted many New Year's Eve parties of their own once they were married and had a home. When we were little, my brother and I would find those obnoxious old metal New Year's noisemakers in their basement and, of course, we'd drive everyone nuts with them. ©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder We visited my parents' house this past holiday weekend and I found more neat stuff belonging to my mom's parents. I mentioned in a previous post that my Grandma, Dina Licciardi, served in U.S. Coast Guard Women's Reserve (also known as the SPARS) during WWII. I found her SPARS photo album in a box in her old bedroom closet. Unlike a lot of her family photo albums, just about every photo in the album was labeled - dates, names, places - everything. Obviously, Grandma knew that this was a special time in her life that she would want to remember always. These women (and men) were her 'family' for a couple of years; she lived, played, ate, and trained with people from all over the country - people she would have never met otherwise. I'm sure it was much like the college experience is today. My grandmother never had the opportunity to attend a university, but these ladies, some of whom she kept in touch with for the rest of her life, were her sorority sisters. Because she saved so many photos, I've created an entire separate photo page on my website devoted to her time in the Coast Guard. (I encourage you to check it out!) After glancing through the album, I soon realized that this is not only an important piece of personal, family history, but that it is also a small snapshot of the nation's WWII war effort. She has photos of the training facilities, barracks, cadets doing calisthenics, her platoon and company marching, the SPARS band performing, not to mention photos of local hotels and other buildings, some of which are probably no longer around. She trained at the U.S. Coast Guard Training Facility in Palm Beach, Florida, and explored lakes and beaches in the area, with a few trips to Miami and Tampa as well. She entitled this photo "First day out! 4 Happy "Boots." The patch on the left is from her uniform - Yeoman, Third Class. ©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
Today, in honor of Veteran's Day, I am posting a photo of the flag that covered my grandmother's casket during her funeral. I'll explain why it's in my kitchen later... My grandmother, Dina Licciardi Bellan, was a member of the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS (Women's Reserve) during WWII. At some point, I plan on doing a more detailed blog post with photos about her time with the service, but for now I'll just say that she served most of her time in Miami, FL and that she made some very good friends with whom she kept in contact for most of her life. Here she is in Miami in September of 1945: So, Grandma's funeral was on a cold, cold January day during my senior year of high school. It was on a weekday - the first day of school I had missed since freshman year. I read one of the readings during mass. We went back to the funeral home and got ready to go to the cemetery. I drove my three younger brothers, while my little sister got to ride in the limo with my parents and aunt and uncle. (To this day, I have still never ridden in a limousine.) The cemetery plot was familiar; my grandfather had passed away eight years earlier. I remember standing there and being very cold while the prayers were read. (I wore a dark navy suit with a short skirt - not my brightest decision.) I was handed her flag and told that my grandmother had wanted me to have it, which didn't come as a huge surprise because my grandfather's flag had gone to my older cousin, and I was the second-oldest. I still felt honored to have it. I took it with me to college and graduate school, and it has always symbolized my grandmother's presence.
So, why is the flag in my kitchen? Grandma was a pretty darn good cook, and she LIKED cooking for her loved ones. I am not a good cook, and I do not enjoy being in the kitchen. On those days when I really don't feel like making dinner (pretty much everyday), I can always look at the flag and remember how much she enjoyed it. Sometimes it motivates me; sometimes it doesn't. And I'm always secretly hoping that some divine intervention on her part will make me a better cook. At least I was blessed with a husband who will pretty much eat anything. :-) ©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder My great-grandfather, Luigi Licciardi, was a founding member and the first secretary of the Cleveland Chapter of the Dante Alighieri Society. (He is pictured here standing, third from the left - next to the bust). This short news article from The Cleveland Plain Dealer describes the establishment of this group in 1934. ©2012, copyright Emily Kowalski Schroeder
If you are Catholic, you probably know that today, November 1, is All Saints' Day. On this day, we celebrate and remember all of those souls who reside with God in Heaven. Usually, when we think of saints, we think of those who have been formally canonized by the Vatican because they lived exceptionally pure, kind, and compassionate lives and because miracles happened as a result of their intercession. What is intercession? There are plenty of reasons why I don't like Catholicism, but one of the reasons I DO like it is because of what the Church teaches about saints and intercession. We can ask the saints to pray to God for us; they can intercede on our behalf. Yes, we can also pray directly to God ourselves, but we believe that when a soul is so incredibly close to God in ways that really can't be understood from an earthly perspective, that God will indeed have mercy and grant what is requested. Catholics also believe that a soul does not have to be canonized to be a 'saint.' ALL souls in Heaven are referred to as saints. So, that means that each of us has ancestors who are saints and whose lives we can remember and celebrate on this day. AND it means that we each have people who we can ask to pray for us. I did this the other day; my leg was hurting pretty badly and I asked my grandma to pray for me. Yes, I suppose I am just assuming that she is in Heaven; I don't really know for sure. (If she didn't make it to Heaven, I have no chance!) Usually when I try to pray to a canonized saint, I'm always left with the impression of "Well, did they hear me? Did I get through amist everyone elses' requests?" But when I ask a loved one to pray for me, I'm SURE that he/she heard me and DID pray for me. And I am comforted by the fact that they can still be a part of my life even if they aren't here with me now. My Grandmother among the saints: So, I am grateful for the Feast of All Saints, and I am thinking of today as MY Saints' Day, a day when I can remember people in MY life who have passed on, who are hopefully with God in Heaven, and who will pray for me whenever I need it.
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