Posted by StanNajolia ( Ingargiola ) on 20 APR 2008 15:19:48
While I am very grateful for the information available on this site, a February message got me to realizing that in geneology time Ustica was basically only a waystation for our ancestors. The message said that a recent visitor to the island could find only one remaining descendent of his family line. I would find none. My paternal ancestors were among the original colonizers of the island in the 1760s and by 1861 an Ustica civil document from this site records my great grandfather as "a resident of America" and he also appears on Mr. Caravella's list of Confederate Army militiamen dated April 1862. My maternal ancestors similarly were in New Orleans by the end of the 1870's. When I checked the white pages for telephone listings of my surname on Ustica, none were listed. And a check of the surname on The Gens Project map, while showing many throughout Italy, showed none on Ustica. In essence my Usticesi connection spanned 100 to 120 years and I believe this to be the case for most of the families who emmigrated to New Orleans. While I am proud of this Ustica background, the geneologist streak in me says this is much to short a time to stop searching for more information about my ancestral family. Thats why I think Ustica was a waystation for our adventuous and motivated ancestors as they sought a better life first on Ustica and then in America. Which leads me to ask for help in trying to locate our common ancestors before the 1760s relocation to Ustica. I know many came from the nearby Lipari Islands ( my father's mother's family did ) and some from Sicily ( as my father's paternal side did ). Does anyone know of a site similar to Ustica.org that records Italian ancestors from the Lipari's or Sicily that pre-cede the 1760s info recorded here. I have been able to find a little documentation from Trapani Province on Sicily dating to the 1730s, but nothing as exhaustive and understandable as Ustica.org. If you share my interest in finding info on our families before they came to Ustica and can direct me where to research ( short of going to Lipari or Sicily myself ) I would be most grateful as I think many other Ustica descendents would be. ...Stan