The Search for Daniel Noyes Cookson #3: Linneus and Finding Sabina and Adelbert Cookson

    Most of Daniel Noyes Cookson's family seem to have been in Linneus, Aroostook, Maine around 1839-1840. His oldest son, Daniel, is enumerated in the 1840 Census in New Limerick which shares a border with Linneus.  His second child, daughter Lucy Ann Townsend, had her first child in Linneus in 1839 (William Calvin Townsend born 30 Mar 1839 in Linneus according to Find a Grave). She and her husband are not in the 1840 Census, though, and her second child is noted as born in New Brunswick in the 1850 Census. New Brunswick is about 5 miles from Linneus. Daniel's youngest son, Calvin Gray Cookson, is found in the Army enlistment records in 1839 to fight in the Aroostook War. He enlisted at Houlton, Maine, which is 8.35 miles from Linneus. He also married Mary Ann Dow around this time. I believe that both of them are living with her father, John Dow, in 1840 in New Limerick as enumerated in the Census. The only child who is missing from Linneus in the time period is the third child, Gardiner Cookson who is listed in Unity, Maine in the 2840 Census. Because of this I feel that I should concentrate on this area.

 Aroostook County Towns Map

Linneus, Maine
     In my search I found that Family Search has a record of births and marriages for Linneus online.  No deaths, though. I went through these and found the marriage and children of Daniel Cookson (the son) and his children's marriages and some of their children's births.  Also one of David Corliss' sons had a marriage and some births listed. No Dow, though. I didn't find anything on my direct line but I did discover two new relatives.  One was a birth record for Sabina Cookson, born 6 Jun 1829 to Daniel Cookson and Maria. I had never seen her listed as a child of theirs before. The interesting thing is that Daniel and Maria were married on Aug 10, 1834. Daniel was 8 and Maria was 20 in 1829. I have seen several other trees with Daniel and Maria on them and none had Sabina. I think she is missing because she is not in the 1850 Census. If you check out the ages she is with them in the 1840 Census, she would have been 11, there is one female 10-14 listed in the Census for Daniel Cookson. there are several Sabinas in the 1850 Census in Maine, a couple of them are young married women, one of those is probably her. And then I noticed that both of her younger sisters named a daughter Sabina! I figure that Daniel and Maria just had to wait for a preacher to come by to get married.

     As I continued to read the record I found Adelbert Rigin Cookson born 23 Nov 1859 to Lusinda Cookson, no father named. Lusinda is Daniel's daughter, she was 20 in 1859.  In the 1860 census we find Adelbert with Lusinda in Daniel's family.  By 1870 Lucinda had married and we find Adelbert in the family of her and her husband, Simon Carpenter and he is listed as Adelbert Carpenter.  In all later Censuses he is listed as Cookson. He lived in Aroostook County and died there in 1950. There are men named Rigin or variations in Maine in the 1860 Census but none in Linneus. Not exactly on the subject I am trying to search but interesting and it could come in handy to know all this.

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories # 7: Jess and Angelina

     Angelina Bonino was born on the first of January 1888 in Coal City,  Illinois, the daughter of Rosa Tinetti and Louis (Luigi) Bonino.  She was named after her mother's sister, Angelina Tinetti. She is said to have looked like her Aunt and to have been as beautiful as her Aunt as well.  The family moved to Coalgate, Oklahoma in 1892. Here she grew up and met Jess Angelo Flor.  Jess was born on 6 Mar 1866 in Arsio, a community of Brez in Val di Non, Tyrol, Austria.  This is now part of Italy and the people there spoke Italian then as well as now. Jess came to the U.S. in 1903 and eventually came to Phillips, Oklahoma to work for his brother as a butcher.

     How Jess and Angelina met is not known but hey did. They were married on 19 September 1909 in Coalgate.  According to The Coal County History Book # 1, Jess and Angelina were voted "Best looking Couple" in the County Fair! Their son Louis Jess Flor was born 5 July 1910 and a second son, James Angelo Flor, was born 6 Nov 1912. At this point though, tragedy struck.  Angelina had complications from childbirth and she died on 14 Nov 1912 at age 24. A grieving Jess gave his sons to his wife's parents to raise and he never remarried. Jess died 22 years later on 28 Jul 1934 at age 47. He was buried next to her in the Coalgate, Oaklahoma cemetery.

     From them we see that physical beauty ends but the beauty of love lives forever.

 Angelina Tinetti, Rosa, Louis, Angelina and Mary Bonino about 1891

 Angie and her sister, Pearl ca 1900

 Jess and Angelina wedding 1909

 Angelina close up

 Labelled "Cousin Angie" about 1910"

 Jess close up

 Angelina and Louis about 1911

Gravestone of Angelina and Jess Flor

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories #6: Ben and Mary

     This story is more the tragic side of love.  I wasn't going to write it but I seem to be strongly prompted to do so.  Maybe they want their story told.

     Benjamin Lester Hudson was born in 1828 in Quebec province, Canada.  The family eventually settled in Bristol, Pontiac County, Quebec on the Ottawa River right across from Ontario.  Mary Yuiel (or Yuill, Yule, Yuil, etc.) was born in 1835 in Campsie, Stirlingshire, Scotland and came with her family to Pontiac County in the early 1850's.  She and Ben were married in about 1854, exact date unknown, their first son being born in October 1855. They had six children by 1865, one of whom died young. Ben and Mary moved to Saginaw, Michigan in 1866 or 67 along with most of Ben's family. Two more children were born to them in Saginaw.  Then in 1874 Mary was again pregnant with her ninth child, she was thirty-nine years old. Unfortunately Mary and the child died in childbirth on 28 Dec 1874.

     I believe that Ben was overwhelmed with grief at this loss.  He apparently couldn't cope and sent his children to live with his brothers and sisters or in the case of his three middle boys, Alfred, Robert and Ben, he put them into a logging camp. This Ben, Benjamin Melvin Hudson, my great grandfather, was only nine years old. Family records say that he "lost track" of his father. They were quite estranged until much later in life. I just think that Ben, the father,  went a little nuts at the loss of Mary.  By 1880 he had remarried a woman named Mary Ann Halliot and they had a one year old son. But in the 1880 Census she and her son are living alone in Ohio! I still haven't found Ben in the 1880 Census.  Mary Ann died before Oct 1891 when he married Elizabeth Roberts. The 1900 Census finds him living with Elizabeth and his son from Mary Ann, Bartlet Hudson. But in 1905 they were divorced on the grounds of desertion with Ben as the complainant. What this says to me is that Mary was the love of his life, when she died he went kind of crazy.  He abandoned his children, married again but them abandoned his wife and son.  When the second wife died, he married again only to get a divorce for desertion.  It appears that she deserted him but the data is not clear.

     Ben died in 1917 and was buried next to Mary in Oakwood Cemetery in Saginaw.  They lie there together still.

 Campsie, Scotland

 Bristol, Canada

 Mary Hudson Death Certificate

 Benjamin Lester Hudson with son, grandson and great grandson 1912

 Saginaw in 1867, below is Oakwood Cemetery

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories #5: Ben and Agnes

          Ben and Agnes (Cookson) Hudson were the parents of my grandmother, Bessie Hudson Peterson. They were both born in Canada, he in Quebec and she in Ontario. Their fathers were involved in the lumber trade. By the mid 1860's this was playing out in Canada somewhat but booming in the Saginaw Bay area of Michigan. So they followed the lumber and moved their families to Saginaw Bay. Ben's family arrived in Saginaw in 1866, Agnes' went to Au Gres, a bit farther north on the Bay from Saginaw, in 1870. In 1880 at the age of 15 Ben went to work in a lumber camp as a raftsman.  I don't know exactly when and where they met but Au Gres was a major logging center so it is likely that he eventually came to work there. Agnes taught school in Au Gres probably from 1885 to 1887. It was during these years they would have met and fallen in love. I never heard the story of their courtship and romance but in researching them a story seems to present itself.

         In 1887, Agnes father, John Marshall Cookson, decided to move his family from Michigan to Arkansas. It was a major move and I have no idea what prompted this. I know they had moved by 29 Dec 1887 because his wife, Elizabeth's, uncle wrote to Sarah Kay, her mother, on that date, saying, "I am very anxious to learn the outcome of John Cookson's adventure to Arkansas, hope it has turned out well but fear it was a rash act.  How does Lizzie's eldest girl get along and the rest of her children, you must send me all particulars." So, what of  Ben?  Had he proposed to Agnes before she left or not? Did she think never to see him again? I don't know.  What I do know is that less than a year later, on 20 Oct 1888, Ben and Agnes were married in Fayetteville, Arkansas as recorded in the County Courthouse. She was 20 and he was 23.  He came four states and about 910 miles to marry her and he stayed in Arkansas.  That's why I am including this in my group of love stories. I imagine it this way: Ben shows up at her door one day and says, "I couldn't live without you by me, will you marry me?" Whether he said something like that or not, that is obviously how he felt. And they were together for the rest of their lives.

       Finally I want to add one thing.  I found this photo of Agnes around 1925.  She is dressed to the hilt in the height of fashion: a cocoon coat, black leather elbow length gloves, two long necklaces, cloche hat.  She stands proud, dignified, a real personage. I thought, this is a woman a man would move half way across the country for.  Absolutely!

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories #4: Bessie and Walter

      My father's parents, Walter and Elizabeth "Bessie" Peterson, were married for over 60 years.  Theirs is the gold standard marriage I try to emulate.

     Walter and Bessie met in College. That has been a very common meeting place for couples since the 40's of 50's.  But it wasn't so common in 1912. Walter and Bessie were both enrolled in George Williams college in Chicago majoring in Physical Education.  As soon as Walter saw her in her PE outfit he was done for.  He had met his dream girl! (This is the term he used in his "Celebration of a Life" written in 1977 for use in his own eulogy). Here she is:

            Unfortunately, he was already engaged to a girl back home in Boyceville, Wisconsin. He decided that he had to break off the engagement.  The problem was that the girl's mother was adamant about the marriage taking place.  So he went to see the mother.  He explained the situation and told her that he would keep his promise but that he was afraid that her daughter would be unhappy being married to a man who didn't love her but was in love with another woman. The woman saw his point and gave him permission to break the engagement.  He then saw the girl and did so.  He didn't think it mattered to her as much as it had to her mother!

     Walter was a Lutheran and a pacifist as the country was heading into WW I. Bessie was from a strong Presbyterian family. Her family was concerned that Bessie was getting married too young and that Walter was not a good choice. She overcame their opposition and even persuaded her husband to change to the Presbyterian Church. They were married on 17 Aug 1917 at her family Church, the Hemphill Presbyterian Church of Fort Worth, Texas. The local paper had this description: "The bride entered on the arm of her father, B.M. Hudson.  She was beautifully gowned in white net satin.  An extremely graceful tulle veil was draped over the folds of the skirt, falling from a lace cap of Mexican drawnwork and held secure by two white asters and tube roses.
     "At the altar were embankments of ferns and petunias and tube roses with a background of stately palms.  The piano, which was to the right of the altar, was half concealed beneath an archway of smilax.  The lights were shaded by clusters of smilax, which lent a very pretty softness to the scene." Here she is in her wedding gown (sorry about the photo quality)

Examples of Smilax used as wedding decorations:

          Walter and Bessie were happily married for almost 65 years. When I asked my grandfather why he had become a Presbyterian Minister when he was raised Lutheran,he answered simply and with a bit of surprise that I would ask, "Because Bessie was a Presbyterian."  When he decided to go into the Seminary to become a Minister it was the middle of the Depression yet she took a job and supported the family and even helped him study Hebrew and Greek! To me these two instances show their devotion to each other.  In 1977, at their 60th Wedding Anniversary, I asked them what they attributed the success of their long marriage.  They both said. "Communication.  We were always able to talk about our difficulties and resolve any problem that way."  My grandfather stood up at the table and raised his glass and said how grateful he was to have been able to spend "Sixty years with my sweetheart!"

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories #3: Edith and Luke

          Edith Rosetta Stefani in 1913 was quite an unusual young girl.  She had been the only girl to graduate from her class at the age of 14 and had then gone on to Business College in Seattle in 1899. This was unusual at the time.  She then worked in several businesses in Seattle, taking the ferry across Lake Washington.  She lived in Seattle during the week and came home on the weekend. She walked to and from the ferry, a walk of two or more miles.  She'd been doing this for several years when in 1913 someone told her that Dr. Oakford Kells' brother also took the ferry. She met Lucas Kells at the doctor's house and they began to take the ferry together.His friend, Paul Dubar, also took the ferry and she later told her children that she had to run to keep up with them as their strides were so much longer than hers! She was 18 in 1913 and Luke was 31.  A month after they started taking the ferry he asked her out and after that he took her somewhere once a month. Luke was a Philosophy Professor at the University of Washington having gotten his PhD at Columbia University in New York. But he was switching to law during this time. I'm sure he was ready to settle down and find a wife and Edith must have impressed him.

     So he courted her.  We see pictures of her at this time and she is lovely, fashionable, outgoing.  There are several photos of them with friends and Luke is there looking out of place. Obviously he is there for her. He succeeded because they were married in her parents' home on 15 Aug 1916. His brother, Duncan, was his best man. Her sister Mary was her maid of honor. His sister Marion came and sang while his sister-in-law, Ethel, Oakford's wife, played the piano. It was truly a family wedding.  I have her wedding book which includes a newspaper account of the wedding. It says, "...The rooms, tastefully decorated with a profusion of ferns and sweet peas, presented a very festive appearance...The bride was gowned in ivory satin with a bouquet of white bridal roses.  The maid of honor's gown was of pale blue crepe de chene[sic] with a boquet[sic] of pink roses....An elaborate wedding dinner was served to the guests after which the bridal pair departed to their new home. Miss Stefani is a popular member of the younger society of Issaquah and Mr. Kells is a promising young attorney of Seattle. The community wishes to express their best wishes for the happiness of the young couple about to enter upon a new life."

     He courted her and won her and they lived rather happily with four children until he died  tragically of Parkinson' Disease in 1946. She never remarried and followed him in 1982.

     Her wedding book is full of old fashioned poetry. I'll end with two lines:

          "A minute ago two lives and two hearts,
              Through time and eternity now but one."
                                                            Anon.

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories #2: Frank and Angelina

     After Frank Stefani called off his engagement to his girl back home, Monica Remondini, he needed a wife.  In 1890 he was a miner in Norway, Michigan, although he may have lived across the river in Hurley, Wisconsin. At any rate, he frequented a Saloon in Hurley owned by Louis Bonino and his wife, Rosa Tinetti. This is where he met Angelina Tinetti.  I have four different versions of that meeting. The least romantic version is told by their son, Clement. He says that Rosa sent for her sister Angelina to come help them in the saloon so Louis paid her passage.  She came in 1890 and was working there and Frank met her.They were married in 1891. Another family version is that Frank saw Angelina working in the saloon and he told his friend, "I'm going to marry that girl!" The third Stefani family version is told by his granddaughter, Marion, in a taped interview I have.  Frank told her and her cousin Virginia that he had seen Angelina in the window of a tavern and fallen in love with her. These are basically all the same story.

     More recently I have been in touch with Ruth Marcotte who is a granddaughter of Angelina's sister, Rosa.  She wrote me that her mother told her the true story that she said Angelina's family didn't know. This is that Frank knew Rosa and Louis and really liked Rosa.  He knew that Rosa had arranged for her sister Minnie to marry a miner in Illinois and he asked her if she had any more sisters at home.  She was reluctant to suggest a sister because the man that Minnie had married beat her and Rosa felt bad about her part in arranging the marriage. But Frank said that he would pay the fare for her sister to come and if it didn't work out he would pay her fare back home as well. So she sent for Angelina.They hit it off and were married 2 Jun 1891 in Hurley. Angelina told her daughters that she wore a lavender dress with a fur collar. I believe that this is a wedding photo because you can see the fur collar!

 Frank wedding photo

Rosa, Angelina and Luigi

What I don't know is if Frank ever told Angelina about this arrangement! Would she have

felt that she'd been bought or sold? Certainly none of their children ever heard this version! At any rate I suspect that all versions are true. He did arrange for Rosa to send for her. He did see her and fall in love with her and he did tell a friend that she was the girl he was going to marry! Certainly they did marry and were married for fifty-six years and eight days! 

True love lasts a lifetime (at least).

Frank and Angelina 50th Wedding Anniversary

Valentine's Day Family Love Stories #1: Frank and Monica

     [I thought for Valentine's Day I would do some posts on family love stories, this is number 1!]

     After Frank Stefani died at the age of 90 a photo of Monica Remondini was found in his room (by one account in the night stand next to the bed). He had told his family about her at various times. This is what I have pieced together of their story.

     Frank was born Giovanni Francesco Stefani on 20 Aug 1863 in Sporminore, then part of the Tyrol, Austria.  Monica was born Cunegonda Monica Remondini on 2 Feb 1869 in the same town. He went by Francesco and she went by Monica (wouldn't you have?).  They were distant cousins as his great grandmother was a Remondini. They may have met in school but she was 6 years younger and that is a big difference at that age. Francesco (as she would have known him) left school in 1877 at the age of 14 and went to work in Germany and France.  He returned after his father's death in 1881 and stayed a bit before he left again.  I suspect that they fell in love at this time. He was 18, she would've been 12 or just 13 by February 1882.  Francesco left again to work and returned again just before his mother's death in November 1884. He was 21, she was 15. If they hadn't met and fallen in love earlier surely now was the time that happened. With his mother gone he made plans to go to America.  They planned for him to go first and then come back for her. I don't have the exact dates but I believe that he left Sporminore in about May 1885, worked in Alsace (then in Germany) to earn his passage money and took a ship to America in May 1886. He had two photos of her and the handkerchief that she had made for him with her name embroidered on it. She waited in Sporminore for him to come get her.

     Francesco's voyage to America was apparently quite horrendous for him as he was sick the entire way. Soon after he arrived in America he wrote her and released her from their engagement saying that he couldn't face another trip across the Atlantic (and it would have been two trips, one to Italy and another back with her). Francesco, now Frank, married Angelina Tinetti in 1891. They had seven children. He died 19 Nov 1953, age 90, in Issaquah, Washington with the two photos and the handkerchief still in his possession. There is no record that we have of Monica's reaction to this news of the broken engagement.

     What I found, though, is that Monica married Frank's cousin, the son of his mother's brother, Guilio Wegher, on 14 Apr 1888.  Coincidence perhaps, but this is only 12 days after Frank filed his first papers to become a US citizen on 2 Apr 1888. Monica and Guilio had eight children and she died in Sporminore in 1931, age 62.

     It is a romantic story of young love lost. But I just have to add some speculations of my own. Guilio was born in 1860, older than Frank or Monica. He possibly knew both Frank and Monica before Frank left and continued to be her friend. I suspect that he was in love with her so that by the time Frank sent his letter Monica was half in love with Guilio. Guilio could then offer his sympathy and then his hand in marriage. Perhaps by the time Frank sent his letter Monica was no longer so eager to go to America anyway. You see, my first thought on this has always been that if I was Monica and this was the man I loved, I'd have said, "No problem, you don't need to come for me I'll come to you." And I would have been off to America. Many young women went by themselves even in those days. Monica didn't do that and I suspect that Guilio was at least part of the reason.

     Now also, it occurs to me that Frank could have handled it differently.  He could have arranged for someone else to bring Monica over.  Another cousin, Alonzo Wegher, filed his Declaration of Intention n the same day Frank did and is listed on the same page as Frank.  They were likely miners together.  Alonzo returned to Sporminore not long after this.  Frank could have had him arrange for someone to bring Monica to Michigan. In studying Frank's life I see that he overcame many barriers in his constant pursuit of a better life. So it is a little surprising that he didn't find a way to have Monica.  Thus I suspect that he, too, had some misgivings about making her his wife. If they had wanted it enough they could have been together for their lifetimes.

     True love always finds a way.

 Frank age 18

 The two photos of Monica

 Monica's grave

 Monica's photo on the grave
Franks last photo

The Search for ...Daniel Noyes Cookson #2: Too Many John Cooksons!

     As previously discussed I have been searching for Daniel Noyes Cookson. I have been searching the online Land and Probate records on Family Search. In these I found probate records for Abram Cookson in the town of Freedom, Waldo Co. Freedom is about 12 miles to the east of Belmont. I looked Abram up in Ancestry trees and found one tree which noted his marriage as being from the town records of Morrill. Morrill is right next to Belmont and I thought I should check for anything of interest in that town. Belmont, by the way, is the town noted as the birthplace of Calvin Gray Cookson in his army enlistment records.

     Ancestry has a History of Morrill in full in its collection. So I read it. On page 143 (image 157) he mentions Jos. Cookson living "at the foot of the pond" before 1820, John Cookson Sen. living on the "Uriah Rowe place" in 1820 and John Cookson Jr. living on Valley St. in 1825.  He also mentions Eben Cookson, son of John sen, in 1840 and Reuben Cookson, son of Jos. Cookson drowning in Dec 1818. Joseph Cookson is the son of Reuben and Mary (York) Cookson, he is shown as living in Unity in 1820. There is a John Cookson living in Belmont in the 1820 Census between the ages of 26 and 44, his wife (presumably) is shown as 45 or over so perhaps he was 44.  There are two males 10-15 and one under 10 and two females 10-15. Eben is likely one of these three males. John Jr. might be the oldest of these three males as he would be 20 in 1825 and likely be living on his own. I just don't know who John Sen is.  If he is 44 in 1820 then he was born in 1776, if 26 then born in 1794.  It is unlikely he would be 26 and have a wife 45 or over.

     The John Cooksons I have record of don't seem to fit these dates.  John Cookson of Boston, 1672-1762, had a son John, 1706-1790, who died in Standish, Maine.  He had a son John, born 1761, who died in Jun 1790.  That John had a son John, born 1788 who died in Maine in either 1828 or 1848. He would've been 32 in 1820, this could be him in Belmont but then his wife's age is either wrong or the woman in the household is his mother and his wife had died. The data I found on Ancestry gives his wife's name as Lydia Nash but no dates for her and names no children. John Cookson of Boston also had a son Obadiah who had a son John, presumably our ancestor. This John was born in 1738 so he would have been 82 in 1820 and not the John in Belmont. As speculation, I don't have a full list of this John's children.  The only one I have is Daniel Noyes Cookson born about 1770. Given the time frame this John in the 1820 Census could be Daniel's brother, born in 1776, making it logical for Daniel to be in the area also. These Johns had other sons for whom I have no data on children so there may be other Johns that I have not accounted for.

     We may hope that this John Cookson Sen and Jr are not in our family line.  The Morrill history goes on to tell us that John Cookson, Sen abandoned his family around 1828 and that John Cookson Jr was subject to wild fits that required several men of the town to control him!  And Eben Cookson, John Cookson Sen's son, basically lived on charity in the town in from 1840 until 1884 when he died.

      The two points of history which I gleaned from this town history which are the most helpful are these.  The Belmont area was originally part of the Greene Plantation in the Waldo patent.  This area was not well supervised and by 1805 there were 500 families living there as squatters, in other words they had settled in, worked the land and so on, without buying it or obtaining any legal deed to it.  In 1808 the authorities tried to put in order and either evict the squatters or get payment.  This was met by resistance including the men dressing up as Indians and threatening violence. They were called the Greene Indians and this was known as the Greene Indian War! Eventually it was worked out that they could pay for the land and stay on it. So this tells me that Daniel Cookson may well have been living

here without any deed being recorded. For this reason he may have been reluctant to appear on a Census record as well. (And I haven't found him on any Census.)

     The other datum of interest is that  on p. 23 (image 22), it says that from 1813 to 1820 there was a "rush from the Western part of Maine...to the east, or, into the woods" and many of the settlers sold out and went further east.  We know that our Calvin Cookson was born in Oct 1820 in Belmont but was living in Linneus, Aroostook Co. by 1839 (this is the furthest east you could go in Maine and is still largely uncultivated forest.)  So likely the family moved east to Aroostook (Washington Co. at the time) at the end of 1820 or so which is over ten years earlier than I had thought.

     So there you go.  Some clues found, some new questions and so we carry on!

Tinetti Family, Signature of Giovanni Tinetti

     The records I found in the San Giovanni collection also gave me several examples of Giovanni Tinetti's signature. His marriage record also tells us that neither his bride, Domenica Zanotti, nor his father, Giuseppe Tinetti, could write.  They are called illiterate so they probably couldn't read either. Here are the signatures and notes about Domenica and Giuseppe.

Tinetti Family: Finding the Right San Giovanni

     In Italian research it's all about finding the right town.  In the US it's more about the right County but in Italy it's definitely the exact right town. I was stumped on finding Giovanni Tinetti's birth record and his father, Giuseppe Tinetti's death record because I couldn't find the right San Giovanni. In all the records I had from Torre Canavese, where he raised his family, Giovanni's birth place is listed as San Giovanni and sometimes San Giovanni dei Boschi.  There are many towns in Italy named San Giovanni. I knew where his was, it was on the map right next to Torre Canavese in the Canavese area of Torino, Piedmont, Italy.  I had even been to that San Giovanni, gone through the Church and so on in 2014. But I was having trouble finding the microfilm of that Church's records at the Family History Library of Salt lake City.  I rented two different films with no success. So, recently I tried again, I'm not sure how I found it but I saw I hadn't tried one so I sent for it. Last Thursday I went to my local Family History Library and looked at it. Bingo! Right town!

     Here was Giovanni's birth record at the same date that I had had from a photo sent to his daughter. But there was a surprise: he had a middle name which had never appeared in any record. the record is in Latin so it says Joannes Baptista, or, in Italian, Giovanni Battista Tinetti.  John the Baptist. A very common combination in Northern Italy, at least I surmise so because it appears also in the records of Sporminore in Trento. The birth records of the rest of Giuseppe and Maria Tinetti's children were also here. But now a new mystery, the records give Giuseppe's mother's name as Antonia Amosso, the birth record in San Martino gives her name as Joanna (Latin again, so, Giovanna). I am assuming that this is the same woman.  I also found Giuseppe's death record on 14 Feb 1860, a date I didn't have before.

     San Giovanni also had the marriage record of Giovanni and his first wife, Domenica Zanotti. This was different from the family record I had. That said 28 May 1846 in Cuceglio and this was 27 August in San Giovanni.  As I was not able to find a marriage record in the Cuceglio records I have to accept this one. Domenica was only 17 years old.  The next interesting find was the birth record of their first son who I knew as Giuseppe.  He was born Giuseppe Ottavio on 20 Nov 1846 so less than three months after the marriage.  Perhaps why the doctored May date (still only 6 months). Again this middle name had not appeared in any other records. Finally I found the birth record of their second son, known to me as Antonio.  His name at birth was Antonio Amedeo Secondo Tinetti.

     Obviously I was very happy to discover all the new data and glad to have found the right San Giovanni!