User:Peonygirl

First, what is a Peonygirl? Well, I am my mother’s daughter. My mother, Angelina, planted bushes of peonies in every home we had. As an adult, with my own family, I am doing the same. The subtext to this is the spreading of positive happiness, cheer, beauty, and love. My father, Sabatino, more commonly known as Sam, was a strong, independent and steadfast man. Both of my parents died in early 2000s. My interest in genealogy stems from the curiosity of knowing more about my grandparents. My paternal grandparents died before I was born. I vaguely knew my maternal grandmother, who died when I was 7. I’d like to see through the folklore and find out more about them and the reason why they left their little commune in Italy to come to New York. My goal is more a quest to build a narrative around their lives and, hopefully, understand the texture of their stories. Both sets of grandparents came from villages in Italy, to the north in Alanno, part of Pescara, Abruzzo, not far from Rome, and Castrofilippo, a part of Sicily. What possessed them to come across the ocean, in a steamship traveling for 2 weeks, to arrive at a foreign shore? As I learn more about their towns and their history, I would like to post it on the Wiki to help others make the journey through their own past. A secondary interest is in my adopted home of Massachusetts and New England. As I learn more about my grandparents and their parents who stayed (I think) in Italy, it is surprising to me that they traveled similar paths. They went from New York to New Jersey; from Jersey to Connecticut, from Connecticut to Massachusetts. I love indexing for FamilySearch. Being allowed to delve into the private stories of those before me seems more like a privilege. When I discovered FamilySearch had a wiki, I jumped right in. How nice to have a user page! I hope I can contribute.

In my former life, before retirement, I was a senior technical writer for Westinghouse in the Pittsburgh, PA area for several years, editing nuclear documentation. In addition, my work experience includes research for ISI in Philadelphia, developing in Lotus Notes, and massive amounts of training and presentations. In both the corporate and community settings, I’ve taught Microsoft courses at community college, specializing in Microsoft Project.

I am a member of the National Genealogical Society.