52 Ancestors Year 2, #12 Maria Teresa Rosa Tinetti and #13 Maria Teresa Domenica "Minnie" Tinetti, twin sisters

     Maria Teresa Rosa Tinetti and Maria Teresa Domenica (Rosa and Minnie) Tinetti were born on 15 Oct 1868 in Vallia, a frazione of Torre Canavese, Piemonte, Italia.  They were the second and third child and first daughters of Giovanni Tinetti and his second wife, Catterina Zanotti-Cussio.  Domenica was born first.  On 16 Aug 1885, Rosa married Luigi Bonino.  Rosa was only 16.  Luigi had been in America and returned to Italy to find a wife.  After marrying Rosa the two of them returned to America. They went to Hurley, Wisconsin, where they ran a Saloon for the miners there, many of whom were Italian. Rosa soon sent for her twin sister, Minnie, who arrived in 1888. Shortly after arriving, Minnie married Pietro Giovanni Peretti who came from Priacco, a town not far from Torre Canavese.  A year or so later Rosa sent for their younger sister, Angelina, who married in 1891 a miner from Sporminore in Trentino, Italy.  Soon Rosa and Luigi (now Louis) moved to Coal City, Illinois, where Minnie and Pietro lived and Angelina and Frank moved to Comox, Birtish Columbia, Canada. Eventually Rosa and Louis moved to Coalgate, Coal County, Oklahoma where they are both buried. The three sisters stayed in touch, I have photos in my family collection of their children visiting each other.  Rosa and Luigi had 7 children as did Angelina and Frank Stefani, while Minnie and Pietro had 11 children.  Luigi died in 1920, Pietro in 1926 while Rosa lived to 1942, Minnie to 1946.  Angelina died in 1947 having outlived all her siblings while Frank survived them all not dying until 1953.

     Neither Rosa not Minnie had twins but Angelina's daughter, Edith, had twins (my mother, Margaret and her brother, Milton).  I was told it was passed in the female line and skipped a generation which put me in line for twins but I didn't have them. I think it interesting that the photos I have of Rosa and Minnie in their later years look quite a bit alike, you can see they are twins! Rosa seems to have been the trend setter in the family, being the first to get married, first to come to America and bringing her sisters after her. She was the first to have a child, and the first to lose a husband. I suspect the family looked to her for leadership and advice for her whole life!