Hi Rebecca,

I just read your message of Sept. 1, 2003, and then the messages of Feb. 8th and 9th. I am surprised and excited, because until today I'd been totally unaware of any BC connection. I am sure there is one. I get my email at work, so I'll get more facts at home this evening. I am sure there is a connection, because Pietragalla is a very small place.

My grandmother was a Maria Ceraldi from Pietragalla. who married Teodosio DeNicola. My mother Maria Saveria DeNicola, born in 1907, was their first child. My grandmother and mother immigrated with Teodosio to Gary, Indiana, in 1910. The middle name can be anglicized to the name Xavieria.

My mother was named after Teodosio's mother as was the custom (I don't know whether it was a local or a national tradition).

My grandmother died of tuberculosis in 1920. I still have a letter that was sent to my mother's home after 1920 from relatives of Maria Ceraldi who had emigrated to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Did any of your family go there?

Also, there is a connection between the DeNicola family and the D'Amico family of Welland, Ontario.

More later. Marilyn Sowers