It seems the greater history has taken its stories with them. As this is what I am finding out as I’ve been researching the roots of my Ancestors.
Here is what researching the family has done though, I have reconnected with cousins family members that I have not seen or spoken to in years. I first started with the American-Italian family members. I was always wondering why some of the family spelt their name Anarde, some Anardi as this was never clear and no one ever talked about. Then the search deepened and I found the people of Mattie! The one thing I knew in our American family, some things you just didn’t talk about.. Such as the past.. I had to find ones that would talk and had the stories.
As a child I would tell people I was Italian and say my last name I always got funny looks, the name Anarde doesn’t sound very Italian does it? To be fair I know the other reason I got funny looks. I’m very white in skin, blue eyed and blond. My mother is Irish and Native American, she is tall, white, blue eyed and red-haired. My father the half Italian from my grandpa Louie, his mother, my grandma Gladys is a mixed breed mostly Irish and Scottish. So here I am white skinned from the Irish and Scottish, but the lingering facial structure reads Italian. My mother is 5’10; I stand at 5’6 a bit of a shorty. I didn’t get my mothers button nose either, or round face. I was granted the Italian features long thin nose, broad forehead and the same sneaky half grin my grandfather displayed.
After my grandfather died of Cancer in 1999 there wasn’t anymore car rides to visit cousins or stops at the hardware store. There were no more phone calls of him yelling into the receiver “Paisano” or “Hey Nello!”or calling us at dinner asking “what’s for dinner?.” I suppose my research is my way of paying debt to my grandfather and his family. As a child I took it all for granted, my grandpa angered me we didn’t see eye to eye very often. Now that its gone I do want to know him, his history, the family and the things we never did talk about.. the past. I hope in some way he knows I am sorry.
My research actually began July 2007, because my brother had commented on the fact that we may have Dual citizenship to
The first thing to find was great grandparent’s birth and marriage certificates. This I knew wouldn’t be easy so I had to start with it first. The problem I kept running into was the names Louis Anardi and Melanie Anardi did not exist according to the archive records. I could not find the names anywhere,
I began to think these people never existed. I knew that was a insane thought but who were they really, I knew they were from
I knew there had to be records somewhere in my grandma’s house. I then remembered my grandpa Louie had a scrap book, mostly full of World War 2 pictures and awards. I started looking at his name Anarde , I could just feel inside that this wasn’t the real name. Towards the end of the scrap book there was many lose papers, and all my years looking through that book I had never bothered to read them. This was important not just considering the dual citizenship but I had to know who this people really were! I was a part of them and I knew nothing. After reading several articles and letters from his old friends there were some old folded paper. It was all Italian, but I could tell right away it was birth and marriage papers! On the inside was attached a note from a Second Cousin Gail who apparently had found this records in Mattie Italy and translated them. Luigi Ainardi and Meliana Benetto Ainardi , this was my great grandparents true name. Not Louis Anardi, or Melanie Anardi. I truly did not know what to think; I started to cry and rejoice and had Justin my husband read them to me. As I felt I had just found me.
more later...
