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I apologize, thank you very much. Your name is? Toni Vassello-Wetzel. And today is July 3rd, 2023.

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The interviewer is Shannon Nagel and we are going to talk about Peter Vassello, who was a local Avalon business owner. And can you tell me what you know

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about him starting from the beginning of the story? So he would have been my great-uncle and he lived in Avalon for 44 years

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from what we know. He owned a liquor store, we believe he sold to the Gallagher's, and it's now Fred's Liquor Store.

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It's still here, I think. And then he tragically died in a fire in September of 1959 on 22nd and the Boardwalk.

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It was called Pete's Place. The other stories we heard about him was that he would visit my dad's family, who their grandfather and their father died before him,

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so he probably just visited the kids and stayed in their lives. And he was just somebody that seemed to like people and people liked him, and so

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I've been looking to find somebody that has known him or knows anything about him. And I haven't seen a picture of him, so I'd like to see a picture of

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him also. I looked a little bit. I did. I tried to find something with a picture.

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Yeah. Sometimes it's really hard to find if somebody doesn't have direct descendants. And my father, my grandfather, and it was

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about 5'4", 5'5", and thin on the thinner side. And he had gray eyes, which to us is interesting because we have blue eyes or

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light eyes, a lot of us kids. But yeah, we don't know as much as we'd like to about him, so I'm just starting my journey in Ancestry.

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I met his other great nieces and nephews recently through Ancestry. My 94-year-old cousin remembers walking with Uncle Pete in South Philly from Reed Street

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to Rittner Street to visit my dad's family. And so their last name is D'Amico, so they are descendants. There's another family, Curtie, that's a descendant.

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And then Fiore, we found in the newspaper, would be another. That was Mary. That was Mary.

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She was the Fiore. So his siblings were Mary, and I can actually give you the birth dates from Ancestry, but Mary was born in 1863.

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We believe she married somebody with the last name Fiore, and was the person mentioned in his obituary as being the only one still alive.

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She lived in Maple Shade. Then there was Louisa Vassello Curtie. She lived from 1871 to 1941. And then there was Louis Vassello.

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He lived from 1873 to 1897. And then it was Katerina Vassello. She married Santo D'Amico, and she lived from 1874 to 1957.

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That's the family that I just met through Ancestry this week. And then there was my grandfather, who lived, who died in 1911 at 30 years old.

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So my great, he was my great-grandfather, which would have been Pete's brother. And then, so my grandfather was three when he died.

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So he really did not know him. We didn't know many stories about him or his family, which is why I went on Ancestry.

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And then Pete was born 1880, and he died in September of 1959. So they're all his siblings. From what I understand, having met the D

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'Amicos, the sister, Louisa Vassello Curtie, lived with them. I don't know many stories about Lois or Mary, who I think is Fiore, but that's,

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that would be his siblings. And from what I found on Ancestry, I believe his parents were Giuseppe Vassello. He died in 1883, and Anna Beretta Vassello.

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And the reason that I think that is because both Louisa and Katerina had them listed on their death certificate. Okay.

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So my grandfather had nobody listed on their death certificate, and I don't know that I found Peter Vassello's death certificate to see who his parents were.

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But he was an informant on Katerina's death certificate, Pete was, and I believe he was on my grandfather's death certificate. That's great though, because that helps prove that

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relationship. Yes. And I verified some of the street names with this cousin that I just met.

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He remembered the street names. From what I understand, from what other people have said who have memories of Pete's place, is that he was locally known as Uncle

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Pete. Like that he really took everyone under his wing. I love that.

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Like a really great guy who people just automatically wanted to feel related to. Oh I love that. So that's really great.

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Yeah. I also can verify on the census that he was listed as a liquor store owner, and it was at 2200 Dune Drive.

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They didn't really give, so like yeah, that wouldn't really care. So I think that's really interesting, because everybody remembers Gallagher's.

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Yes. They remember Fred's, which is there now, but like I love that. Do you know what it was called when

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he owned it? So no, didn't have an exact name. It just said, because all I could find from that was that he was a liquor

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store proprietor. I can find more maybe later. Okay. Because there still may be ads.

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Depends on if he advertised. Okay. And I'm wondering what year he sold it to the Gallagher's, but that probably would be

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easy to find. Yeah, that's easy enough to find out when it when they opened up. I don't know off the top of my

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head, but we have a lot of information on that. Do you know how long he owned Pete's Place?

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It was a while. It was there in the 20s. Really? He was listed.

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I would have to, don't quote me directly. I can get you exact dates, because I do have that, but yeah, it was a while.

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Okay. I'm trying to think of like what else, what we found or what you've heard. I probably would know more information had my

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great-grandfather lived longer and if my grandfather knew him, but they all seem, the stories that I hear is they do remember Uncle Pete.

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That seems to be something that they don't remember a lot, but my Aunt Kathleen being 80, she does remember him. And we knew about his patents.

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We knew about the inventions. My aunt had the invention wrong. Okay, but what did she think it was? She thought he invested in something related to

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cinderblock or developed something related to cinderblock. I don't know. I don't know where that came from, but I keep telling her these are the patents

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I didn't find. That could be true somewhere else down the line. Maybe, maybe, maybe he just, maybe that was

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what he invested in and that was not his patent, but he had the other patents are, you know, the one is related to, I think it's the refrigeration of some liquor

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something, which makes sense. He was a liquor merchant. And the other two, I have to look them up, but you sent them to me.

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I feel like one was, I'm sorry, I'm like trying to remember off the top of my head. It was something stacked.

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It was. There was something, there was something on a cabinet, there was a refrigeration thing on a cabinet thing, and they were, they were very

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unrelated, which was interesting. Oh, and a type setting. Yes, the type setting machine. Yeah, and possibly, possibly, possibly something for mine

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sweepers to make mine sweepers in World War I more efficient. Wow. I found that.

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I couldn't find exact, I don't know if you've obviously been online and done a lot of research recently. There's been a lot of things where it's

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a really weird dodgy site that's sort of just trolling the web and pulling things, and it pulled just this much information. All of the other patents say Peter Vassallo,

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Avalon. Yes. So we know that it's him. Yeah.

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This one just said Peter Vassallo, but considering his other patents, it is possible that it was him. Okay.

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Well, if you find that information, I'd be happy to know about it. Yeah. Definitely want to find more about that, because

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that's interesting. You're like, it's just all so diverse. Like, he obviously had a very diverse interest, and he was a very intelligent man, and

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obviously, like, very involved with the community. Yeah, and, and the great nieces and nephews who lost their grandfather and their father, because he, my, my grandfather died before him.

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I think he died in 57. But there's four, there were four Joseph Vassallos, so it was very hard for me to find my information leading to Uncle Pete, because

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there were so many of them. I had to really look at dates, and where they lived, and those kinds of things. But you said you thought he might be

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listed as Pietro, because of the, the immigration connection. His parents were immigrants, right? His parents were, and, and also because I

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found, Katie's name was Katerina. I found that somewhere. His father's name was Giuseppe, and that would have been my grandfather's name, and Katherine, Katie,

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or Katerina, goes by all those names, had a Pietro herself. I found that on the document, and that would be my cousin that I found at

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94, Joe, his dad. So it was, she was even still naming her kids Pietro, and the Italian versions. So I wouldn't be surprised if, you know,

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the Vassallos were, as immigrant, children of immigrants, probably having those names, and then just not using them. And maybe Americanizing them, like a lot of

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people do. Yes, yeah, yeah. It's unfortunate for those of us who are trying to track them down.

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Yes, exactly, and, and they're all spelled, every census, it was spelled wrong. Their last name was spelled wrong. It wasn't even close.

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It wasn't just one s missing, or one l missing. It was Vassilli, Vassallo, Vassal, Vassallo. It was just very hard to find, because

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I don't know that they even asked people how to spell it. No, they probably didn't, and I feel like maybe they just asked how to.

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What did it sound like? Right, yes, mm-hmm. Now, what part of Philadelphia is your family from?

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They were from South Philadelphia, so when Uncle Pete visited, the Vassallo children, which would have been my dad and his siblings, lived at 4th and Reed, and then this cousin I

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just met that remembers walking there, he lived on Rittner Street, and I don't know what 100 block, but he just says, I don't remember the kids.

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I don't remember their names. I just remember it was a long walk from Rittner Street to Reed Street when I was a kid, so that was a nice

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memory. That was, really thrilled me, that somebody remembered walking to meet my dad and his family, because like I said, they all died young.

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Even my dad died from a heart attack at 54, so by the time I got to the age where I wanted to ask about family, nobody was around, and my dad

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lost his dad when he was 17, so you know, you're not really into those kinds of questions back then at that age, but now with Ancestry, I waited a long time

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to match with his family. It took a lot of patience. I almost thought maybe they don't exist. Maybe there wasn't an Uncle Pete.

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Maybe this is just a story, you know, and you know, I don't even know why I didn't think to Google a fire in Avalon until more recently, but as I started

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to find out these people are real, because I did DNA match with three generations of the D'Amico family, who was Katerina's siblings, I mean, I'm sorry, bloodline, that Uncle Pete

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really does exist. There is an Uncle Pete, so then I started Googling, and I found a lot of your information here at the History Center, which

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was great. Just sounds like somebody you really want to know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he sounds really neat.

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I wish I would have known him, or somebody could remember a lot more about him. There were a few, I'll have to dig back and see the comments, because some people

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did comment that they remember him, so like some, I know like sometimes you put something out there, and you're like, anybody do you remember him?

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Anybody, yeah. And but somebody's commented ages before, and maybe they just didn't see that post, so A, mentioned it again, did you join our, we

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have Avalon Memories is another group that we have from this, join that, because it's got, it's a smaller amount of people, but they're definitely a dedicated group, and maybe not.

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And when I posted on the Avalon History Center, I said, does anybody remember him? And somebody says, I was a kid, but what I remember was he was reserved and

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quiet, which that could be true, but for people to call him Uncle Pete, he seemed a little bit more, it didn't sound, I didn't expect somebody reserved or quiet, you know

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what I mean? So I would love to know more information about him. I guess it depends on what stage too.

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Yeah, you know, she might have been a child or whoever knows what age she was, but I would love to hear more about him.

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I'll try the memory site that you said, so I'm gonna look a lot more into Uncle Pete. We will too from our side as well.

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I found it interesting that he was like on his draft card for World War Two. He was in his 60s, so he obviously was not going to be drafted, but like

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he put that the person who would know my address would be the Avalon Postmaster. I'm like, you know, I'm like, well that is true.

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That is absolutely true, because if your only sister lives in Mapleshade, New Jersey, why put her? He's like, I live in Avalon.

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You'll know where I am. Exactly. I saw that at first. I almost searched for that person, and then

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I was like, that's the Postmaster. I bet you. So I stopped searching for him, but yeah, I was like, is that a cousin?

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There is a person that we do have, and she is such a great resource. Her name is Dee Phillips, and she was married to a Phillips who was married to,

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who was related to Walter Smith, who was the very first Postmaster, and she remembers everything, and there were stories from her family, like, you know, her husband's family that were passed

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down. They lived in the original house. They gave us the safe. If you go out there, that's the safe.

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It's the original, very first Postmaster safe in Avalon. Right. But she might actually have some memories of

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people, so I will maybe try to, I will reach out to her and see if like I can put you in touch with her.

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Yeah, that would be awesome. Any information I would love, and you know, a lot of my family went to Wildwood, so we knew nothing about Avalon.

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We were driving in today like, wow, it's so nice here, you know, and that's also a question for me. You know, my whole family went to Wildwood.

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Why did he end up in Avalon? I mean, I can see why now that I'm here, but just any information just helps you to kind of fill in the dots.

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It might have been too, but maybe Avalon was slightly less developed, or it was a better business deal at that time, and he was just like, hey.

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I bet you that had a lot to do with it. There was a license available. Think about the way the liquor licenses happen

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now. People are always talking about that in the news. Maybe there were, there was one available here,

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and there wasn't there. So when I find out when he bought the liquor store, you know, he was here for 44 years, so from 59 back to

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44. If I find out when he bought the store, and then when he transitioned to the candy store, that will tell me a lot

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more about what was happening at the time, and you know, so that makes sense. That makes sense that, you know, if he wanted to start a business, and I wonder

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if he owned any liquor related stores in Philly before he came here, so I'm going to look into that as well. Yeah, that would, I found nothing in Philadelphia.

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Okay. Again, there was just, I haven't dove in, I haven't, have not dove in that far, but again, there were a lot of the

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sellers, so the information that you have given me can help talk. Yeah, yeah. I tracked down at least to the point

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where I would know his parents because they were on death certificates, and I have spoken to one of the cousins from the sister's family who's still alive, and as I said,

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my Aunt Kathleen and I are the last Vesellos from Joseph Vesello, who would have been Pete's older brother, so Pete was the youngest, and then I think it was, was it

00:14:45.610 - 00:14:52.710

Kaplan? Let me see who was just above him. I have to, it's hard for me to see here.

00:14:52.790 - 00:15:02.510

Yeah, so my grandfather was born in 1875, and Kaplan was born in 1874, so they were a year apart, so it is Peter the youngest, and then my grandfather is right

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above him, and they were, um, your grandfather's first name again? Joseph. Okay.

00:15:09.170 - 00:15:17.790

Joseph, and so they were five years apart, so Joseph was five years older than Peter, and Kaplan was one year older than my dad, my grandfather, Joe.

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So, and as I said, I think they might, he might have been Giuseppe in some documentation, so yes, it's exciting. It's really great to get these stories.

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Yeah, yeah, especially having DNA match. Now I know, it's just, because there's so many Vesellos, like I'm now certain that I have the right family, yeah.

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Now, you said something about, like, you thought it was interesting with the gray eyes, and you guys all had light eyes. Are you Northern Italian?

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We are, and so I asked about that when I talked to my cousin. I said, where is Uncle Pete's mother from, Anna Beretta, and he said Genoa, so that's

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Northern Italy, so we DNA matched from Northern Italy. It was very specific. It wasn't that these cousins, the D'Amico's

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that I matched with, we didn't just match Italy. We matched Northern Italy, so I knew one of Pete's parents had to be from Northern

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Italy, because it's that specific on DNA. When I was a kid, I do, I thought I'd remember people saying to me, well, you must be from the Northern part, because

00:16:11.450 - 00:16:18.170

you have light eyes, and I had dark hair. I don't know that that's true, but I did hear that when we were younger, and

00:16:18.170 - 00:16:28.770

I have fairer skin, and yes, lighter hair. I have cousins that have, you know, darker hair, fairer skin, and blue eyes also, you know, so yeah, and I don't know where

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Pete's mother's family was from, so a lot of this stuff is leading me to Sicily, but I don't know how true that is, because if one was from Northern Italy, the

00:16:39.930 - 00:16:47.030

other one was from Sicily, I don't know how they would have met, but that's the documentation I'm finding. I just need to really dig deeper and

00:16:47.030 - 00:16:54.070

see, because I have nothing from, no DNA showed up for me for Southern Italy. Okay. Yeah, but it might not.

00:16:54.330 - 00:16:58.250

You still could be. I could be, yeah. It just depends on which parts of the area that you got.

00:16:58.470 - 00:17:06.670

But I definitely know one of Uncle Pete's parents were from Genoa. Okay. Yeah, because this cousin that's 94 knew that

00:17:06.670 - 00:17:12.850

information. He actually is trying to get some sort of Italian citizenship or something, so he had to document all kinds of stuff, and that

00:17:12.850 - 00:17:21.710

was really helpful, because he sent me all kinds of information about that line, that bloodline. That's great. You think it might be possible to Are

00:17:21.710 - 00:17:25.570

you new? You just met him. I just met him. Have you met him in person?

00:17:26.870 - 00:17:36.890

I have not met him in person. His kids were sort of like, they called me, and they had him in the background, and when I would say things, he was

00:17:36.890 - 00:17:44.170

just shocked, because I would mention people, and he probably hasn't thought of them in how many years, you know? And he's like, that's a cousin, you know?

00:17:44.750 - 00:17:56.030

So yeah, so I just met him, and I don't know if he would ever get citizenship there, but his entire mother's family that wouldn't have been related to me was also

00:17:56.030 - 00:18:02.470

Italian, so he has a totally different family influence than I would have had. I don't know that he'll ever get dual citizenship.

00:18:02.710 - 00:18:11.650

I mean, he's 94, but, and this is something maybe he did in the past, but he sent me that page, and it said Anna Baratta Vassallo, who would have been Pete's

00:18:11.650 - 00:18:18.190

mom, was from Genoa, and they had to do research to find that, so I think it's pretty accurate. I would say that it might be fun

00:18:18.190 - 00:18:23.430

to, like, try to, like, get his, if these kids can set him up on Zoom, and, like, you can do Zoom, and, like, we can just sit there, and, like, you

00:18:23.430 - 00:18:29.370

guys can just talk, just like you did. That would be fantastic, because there was a lot of questions I didn't think to ask him, you know?

00:18:29.910 - 00:18:36.490

Being 94, he, I didn't get a chance to ask him about Uncle Pete, like, what do you remember about him? I was asking him more, like, do you

00:18:36.490 - 00:18:40.970

remember my dad? Right, right. So now I'll go back, and I'll ask more about Uncle Pete, and what he remembers

00:18:40.970 - 00:18:44.490

about that. He just remembers a long walk with Uncle Pete. Did he remember your dad, though?

00:18:44.850 - 00:18:50.750

No, he did not. He said, the only thing I remember about that, because I was young, was it was a long walk for a kid, and if

00:18:50.750 - 00:18:55.150

you know the city, it's, it's not a, it's, it's a pretty long walk for a kid. Yeah, they aren't, like, street blocks.

00:18:55.190 - 00:19:02.510

Right, especially, not only are the blocks between Rittner and Reed far, but they were, my dad was at 4th and Reed at the time, and from what I know, they could

00:19:02.510 - 00:19:07.290

have been on 11th Street from Rittner. I don't know where they were. I have to ask him. That's more information I'm gonna have to ask

00:19:07.290 - 00:19:12.570

him. So I will set that up. I think he would probably like that, because he really liked talking to me on the

00:19:12.570 - 00:19:18.290

phone. I was on for two hours with him and his daughter, Elena, her name is. So I think he'd probably like doing that.

00:19:18.470 - 00:19:22.750

That's awesome. Yeah, and I'll do a little bit more research on my end based on some stuff you gave me and see what else I

00:19:22.750 - 00:19:27.050

can find. That would be great. I would love any information. I very much appreciate you coming in and

00:19:27.050 - 00:19:29.150

talking to me. This is great. Yeah. Thank you.

00:19:29.350 - 00:19:29.930

Yeah, it was fun.