Many people in the Veneto community are interested in their family history. Sometimes, they have pieced together details and information through researching on the Internet, finding sources in archives, newspapers and talking to relatives who hold stories and information about the forebears. When families migrated, it created more challenges to understand the complete history of previous generations.
In this blog, I’ve gone back to several family stories that were posted in 2020 – which as we all remember was during the Pandemic. Perhaps people had more time to follow up family history. It is interesting to note that two of the guest bloggers were writing from Italy and Canada.
To access the blogs, just click on the image and it will take you to the stories. The featured image is a map of the Veneto region with its seven provinces. (th-1.jpg)
Examples of family histories on the website
In April 2020, not long after the Pandemic became very serious, the Rebuli family was featured in a blog. The story in Australia begins with Brunone Rebuli who arrived in July 1927 with three brothers-in-law – Gelindo, Adeodato and Angelo.
Two months later in June, Silvano Ballestrin contributed a blog about the Ballestrin family and their history of migration to Adelaide. He also explained the Veneto tradition of fiò and his family’s experience of visiting other Veneto m.
Irene Zampin, who lives in Caselle di Altivole, wrote about her family tree in August. She explains why it is important to her to know more about her parents’ families. Irene explores the family experience of migration and the need to pass on this knowledge.
From Canada, in September the same year, Cathy Crenna provided the first part of a blog about how she had embarked on developing a family tree for her nonna who had been born in Caselle di Altivole. The second part iwas posted two weeks later.
The urge to discover the circumstances of the lives of earlier generations seems to grow more significant as we get older. Many of us wish we had asked our parents or our grandparents more questions about their experience and memories. Through the blogs about different Veneto families, we gain more knowledge about shared stories of migration and settlement. We also learn about the differences in the experience of what it was like to leave the familiar world of family, village, language and customs and meet the challenge of building a new life in a new country.
Madeleine Regan
16 June 2024