Photos

I have had a lot of fun going though old family photos.  This particular photo is from Follansbee, West Virginia.  Up front are Mary Ann Ciccolella and Pauline Ciccolella.  In the back: Maria "Gigi" Ciccolella and Mike Ciccolella.  They are the children of John Ciccolella and Christina Lamonica Ciccolella.  I am not sure what year this if from, maybe 1955?  The photo was taken off of Virginia Avenue.

Cemetery Find

During my family research, I came accross some new information, well it is new to me anyway.  I actually found photos of the head stone for my great grandfather Mike Lamonica and his wife Mary Michelle.  This confirms a few things.  first, we are able to confirm birthdates and death dates.  It also let's me know that they did not return to Italy.  They are buried next to each other in Steubenville, Ohio at the Mount Calvary Cemetery.  Also, buried here is Regina Santucci, the first wife of John Ciccolella, my grandfather.  Santucci died at an early age.  I hope to visit the grave sites on a trip back to the area.

Mom

It has been a while since I have posted anything. I am still in the process of updating our family history. This past June, 2009 my mother Maria "Gigi" Bennett died in her home in Fairmont, West Virgina. I was in Italy at the time with my son. We were able to have a great memorial for her back in Weirton. I hope I can honor her and the rest of my family who have pasted away. Family is important and should always be honored and never forgotten. So, here's to all the great mom's out there - may Gold bless you.

Heading to the Old Country

My son Alden and I are off to Italy in the morning. We will visit the home town of John Ciccolella - Pettorano sul Gizio and Christina Lamonica - Forenza. We hope to hit up the cemeteries, churches and city halls. More posts later.

Travel Prep

I am preparing to travel to Italy this summer and as I think about our family I get excited about the prospects of discovering more about our families. I will be spending the day in Forenza, Italy, home of the Lamonaca side of the family and also in Pettorano sul Gizio, the Ciccolella side. If any family members would like me to search for anything special, please let me know.

Reggimento Bersaglieri

Don't laugh at the guys with the "vaira" hats. Michele Arcangelo Lamonica served the Royal Italian Army very well. You might know him as Mike Lamonica. It seems that if you try hard enough, you can find all kinds of information on the world wide web.


Mike Lamonica represented our family well in the military. I have found records from 1899 to 1902. He was a sharpshooter during this time period. The Royal Italian Army came to be in 1860. The Bersaglieri served as the light infantry battalions of the brigades and divisions of the new army of united Italy. The name "Bersaglieri" means sharpshooter. They have always been a high-mobility infantry unit and can still be recognized by the hats they wear.

Even today there is a Bersaglieri group in the army. Today there are six regiments. Mike Lamonica was a member of the 7th Regiment which at that time must have been stationed out of Milano. Today the 7th Regiment is the Pinerole Brigade in Bari (Apulia).

I have found several dates on military documents. It seems one of the earliest dates I have is July 1, 1899, which wold have made him 20 years old. He recorded his shooting scores during May 22-23, 1900, June 9, 1900, July 10 and 16, 1900, August 18-20, 1900 and October 16 & 26, 1901. During this time, He was promoted. Interesting, because somewhere in there he had time to get married. I do not have any documents detailing his marriage, but it is believed to be around 1900.

He was injured at least twice during his career. In 1900 he spent a lot of time in a hospital and again in 1902. I have some documents and I have tried to translate but I am still learning. I think there is still a lot of information to find from his military career. I will continue to work on this and correct myself as I get better information, until then I wanted to post something new to keep you guys coming back for more.

Panfilo

John Ciccolella's fathers name was Panfilo Ciccolella. While researching Italian names, I found that Panfilo was not a usual first name. Panfilo is the Italian form of Pamphilos. Pamphilos is ancient Greek which means "friend of all". Maybe not the most interesting item I have found, but its more than I had yesterday. In the photo, John Ciccolella is shown as the far right, in the middle is Joe Ciccolella and to the far left is Tititno Dentino.