Reunited With Cousins!

A few weeks ago I made a cold call to the phone number of a possible family member. I got to a standstill in my genealogy research of my Grandmother's family. My father told me to call my cousins, the Benedetto family in Brooklyn, NY. Their Mother was Helen Guarino and she was my Grandmother's younger sister. I was nervous but I made the call. That was over a week ago and I heard nothing from them. I figured I'd try again later or just let it go because I may have gotten the wrong Benedetto family (I had to look up the phone number and figure out if they were the right people). Today, I was taking a short nap with the baby when I heard the phone ring. My eldest son picked up the phone and I could hear him saying "Mom is asleep right now, can she call you back?" I also heard him talking about how his Grandfather was doing and I got curious. He asked the person on the phone "Who is this again?" B..Benedetto. I jumped to get the phone. Turns out the person on the phone was my second cousin, Marie and she got my message on her phone in Brooklyn while she was visiting from her second home in Florida. That was why she didn't call sooner. I asked, "So, are we related?" Did I get the right family?" She replied "Yes, we are related" but the Marie Benedetto I was calling was her father's sister and she passed away a few years ago. I was very sorry to hear that but I was almost in tears of joy that she thought enough to call me. I was ecstatic! She had me on speaker phone so that the others in the room could talk to me also. My father's cousin Nick was on the line and Marie's Mother Alberta. Well, I let them know about all my genealogical research on our family and they were very enthusiastic about it. They want copies of my research and I am happy to oblige. Later I called my Dad in Georgia to let him know about the call. He was ecstatic too!. He said, "I told you to call them, didn't I!" I think I made my Dad very happy. Well, tomorrow morning I am off to Brooklyn to see my cousins. Alberta told me to bring a notepad because they have a lot of good genealogy info for me. Who said you can't go home! Yay!

Hard to Find Census Record

Boy, my experience with subscription genealogical sites has been great but sometimes the transcription errors can send you on a desperate search. I have found all the census records for my Grandfather and Grandmother right up to 1930, the last available census. For all you "Campolongo Family" researchers, you may have had a really hard time finding that first census, the 1910 census. I searched and searched, put it aside, searched again. Nothing! After realizing how many times my Father's last name was mispelled, mispronounced and downright messed with over the years, I started searching for every single possible strange spelling I could come up with. The invaluable website Ellisisland.org helped me by listing all the possible variations of the "Campolongo" surname so I had a good frame of reference. After months of on and off searching for the 1910 census containing my Grandparents and my eldest Uncle Vincent my efforts finally produced results. I found an entry under "Liewanni Cambolonzo". Now, why I would even bother clicking on this entry just shows my passion or maybe obsession for finding the facts. Well, BINGO! It clearly read, to my eyes, Giovanni Campolongo, Antonette Campolongo, Vincent Campolongo. Who da thunk! I informed the website holding the electronic record about the error so now it may be easy to find. Look on line #86 to find the Campolongo entry. Here are all three census records:

1910 U.S. Census



1920 U.S. Census


1930 U.S. Census

1930 Census cont.