Did You Know

From Eliafamily

Revision as of 14:14, 8 October 2008

Every month, the administrator of this site will select a factoid about our family for the front page. If you have a good idea for a Did You Know?, please post your idea on the Discussion page (see link at the top). Each month the front page also highlights a featured page.

2008 Did You Know? Features

October

Maria Elia had a sister, Vincenza, who married Phillip Casemento. The couple raised 9 children in Norwich, NY. The children were Joseph, Antonio, Angelo, Santa (who married an Ocello), Sara Spasaro, Mary Cincotta, Rose D'Amico, Maria, and Mary. There was a variation in the name Mary, but "Mary" was the nickname for three of the girls.

August and September

Sam Elia was the first of the Elias to graduate from college, earning a Bachelor's Degree at LaCrosse State College. He later earned a Master's Degree through course work at the University of Minnesota and Cortland State.

May

Mary Murray married John Murray in 1964. Nearly 20 years later, Mary's sister Rose married John's brother Peter.

March and April

Several Elias are homeschooling their children, including Steve and Maureen Moreau, Hans and Carolyn Ritschard, and Steven and Rebekah St. John. Of course, teaching as a profession is also strong in the Elias.

February

Hans Ritschard, a long-time member of the United States Air Force, is currently serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan. We express to him and all of the other American service men and women our profoundest thanks and wish for a soon and safe return to Carolyn and their six children.

January

Maria Elia was once at the center of a strange news story in the New York City papers. Neighbors had lost a ball over her fence, and she had refused to give it back. The children resourcefully picketed in front of her house, and the story - Children Picket Grandma - was picked up by at least one big city paper.

2007 Did You Know? Features

December

Marie Barbarossa did "line work" in several mills and factories, including making sophisticated antennae for U.S. Naval ships at sea.

November

Tony Elia was once known as "The Cocoa Kid": his boxing skills, and dark complexion, resembled those of a black boxer with the same nickname.

October

Jason Majewski recorded 3 CDs with the a capella singing group The Buffalo Chips, a group that originated at his alma mater, the University of Buffalo.

September

Recently engaged Christopher Hansen and Mariella Tinoco met through a computer dating service - though it turned out that for 5 years they lived within a mile of one another, shopped at the same grocery store, and worked out at the same gym!

August

The 50-acre farm of Nick Elia that hosted the original yearly Elia reunions was purchased in the early 1970s for just $25,000!

July

Maria Elia had three brothers and two sisters. One of the sisters, Francesca, wed Nicola's brother Antonio. The couple intended to settle in the United States, but because of an eye disease that Antonio had, he was not allowed entry at Ellis Island. Instead, they settled in Buenos Aries, Argentina. The brothers and sisters kept in touch by mail but never saw one another again.

June

Including the deceased and those married into the Elia family, there are, by my count, 74 Elias who share their birthday with at least one other Elia. Some cheated, like Nicholas and Kristina Murray, the only two twins born in the last 100 years of Elias and the only two Elias born on the same day and year. (But Christine Barnes promises twins on the way.) Only two dates on the calendar - February 1 and November 1 claim 3 Elia births. But the champion day is September 9, the only day to see 4 Elias born: Rose Natoli Elia, Theresa Genchur, Steven St. John, and David J. Patchin. A very good day indeed.

May

As was common with immigrant families, many of the Elias have both an Italian name and an Americanized name. Names were changed by doctors, schoolteachers, or the kids themselves. Uncle Tom, for example, was born Carmello, Uncle Charlie was born Rosario, and Aunt Mary was to be named Natale.

April

Sam Elia was the Athletic Director of Norwich High School until 1977.

March

Steven and Rebekah St. John were wed ten years ago by the lake of the historic Lakeside Inn in Mt. Dora, Florida. Among the notable events of the wedding weekend was the wetting of the old inn's lobby wood floor by the spilled beer and drink cooler of the bride and groom's dear friends. Mostly Steve's grad school buddies, naturally.

February

Brown Station, New York, the birthplace of Charlie, Mary, and Rose, was a burgeoning, vibrant town when the Elias moved there from Hoboken - but now, nearly all of the buildings that stood in their time were moved or destroyed to make way for a giant reservoir in Ulster County that still serves New York City. Very likely the spot where the Elia house once stood is now under gallons of drinking water!

January

Jennifer Majewski was born in Augsburg, West Germany, in 1971 making her the first Elia born in Europe since Angela Ocello in 1903.

2006 Did You Know? Features

December

Like many Mediterraneans, Maria Elia was an ardent believer in the malocchio, the Evil Eye. Infants and the elderly were especially susceptible; intentionally or unintentionally if one were glanced at by a person afflicted with jealousy or other disreputable emotions, the victim of the malocchio would suffer sickness. She would advise her children and grandchildren that a hand gesture, the manu cornuto, could ward off the malocchio, but this gesture was itself fraught with spiritual dangers. Maria could diagnose the evil eye by noting if olive oil dripped in water took the form of an eye; and could cure it with recitation of prayers, confirmed when the oil no longer formed at the top of the bowl. More information.

November

Rose Modica went to school until she was 14, and then began working at the Norwich Knitting Mill (an employer of many Elias). Because she was underage, her boss asked her to hide in the ladies restroom whenever the male inspectors came to look over the factory's operation.

October

Having named her first daughter after her mother Angela, and her second daughter after her father Michele, Marie Barbarossa resorted to thumbing through movie magazines as she looked forward to another daughter. Movie star Debra Padget's name struck her as pretty - and thus Debra Barbarossa (Dorward) was named.