I had a genetic cousin contact me early Sunday morning, asking how we are related. I could tell immediately she was related through my Dad’s family but that is all. A little deeper digging and I could tell she was my Dad’s paternal line.

Unfortunately, that is as far as I could get. Unlike my mom’s family, I do not know much of the family history. My Grandpa, Tony, died when I was very little and most of his family stayed in the old country. What I do know has been pieced together from a document shared with my Dad from his cousin and what I have found.

Another reason I haven’t gotten to far is the Italian naming pattern of son’s. Oldest son gets named after the paternal grandfather. Today I made a minor break through.

I was able to find out when my great grandfather came to the United States in 1880 with his parents. I also love that European women traveled under their maiden names as it gives you one more piece of the puzzle. I also discovered a tiny hint of where my first name came from. My Great Great Grandmother’s name was Chiara (I need to discover what her maiden name was as I do not think the spelling I have is  correct). I am excited to have found some more connections.

I am trying to learn about the different naming traditions as I think once I do that I will be able to break a couple of walls especially as I get back into Ireland, Italy and Norway. Below is my husband’s Norwegian line.

I found a baptism record for Bergetti Netland, I think, but am not 100% sure as from what I have discovered the Scandinavian countries did not have set last names until the late 1800s and what I have read confused me so I put them off to the side until I found a rather high match for my genetic cousin on MyHeritage.

So everyday I am learning different things and moving out of my comfort zone.