Mi Famiglia

So the story goes...
My great grandfather immigrated to America from Italy in the 1920s. He came over with his two sons with hopes of making money for the family that remained in Italy. Not too long after they arrived the Great Depression hit America and my great grandfather lost all their savings. He had to traveled back to Italy, forced to leave behind his two sons until he could make enough money to send for them.

The sons, Pacifico and Vittorio were now stuck living in New York on their own. My grandfather, Pacifico, was only 12 or 13 when he arrived from Italy. At age 15, Pacifico joined the National Guard. Realizing that the age requirement was 18 to join, he lied about his age and changed his last name from 'Colantonio' to 'Colantino' to avoid being discovered. This is how my surname became 'Colantino'.

One of the first jobs given to my grandfather was to drive an ambulance across the US and deliver it to Oregon. Upon completing the job he continued to live in Oregon.

Unfortunately there were many hard feelings that my grandfather felt. He did not want to come to America. He did not want to leave his friends and family to come to an unfamiliar land where he did not know anyone. Then he felt abandoned when his father went back to Italy and left him behind. As a result of these feelings Pacifico lost contact with his family in Italy. He did not hear from them again for over 50 years.

In the meantime, his sisters in Italy desperately tried to find their 'long lost brother'. It wasn't until my grandfather applied for social security benefits that the family got their break. To confirm his eligibility for social security benefits the US government contacted an agency in Carrufo in order to secure my grandfather's birth certificiate. At the time my grandfather was going by the name Pat Colantino. A women working in the Carrufo agency recognized the name could be that of Pacifico Colantonio, whom she knew the family had been searching. She contacted the family immediately (realize Carrufo is a very small close knit mountain village) to confirm her findings. The family in turn called the Washington State Police department to dispatch an officer to his house. The officer spoke with Pacifico and ask them to call their number. Contact was made, and the family was reunited!

There is a news article written about the meeting between Pacifico and his sister Lidia, Brother, Sister Meet After 53 Years Apart . Some of the details in the article are not accurate, for instance my grandfather has only 3 children, not 6 as readers are led to believe in the article. In 1983 Pacifico also made a reunion trip back home, to Carrufo. He died in 1991 at the age of 77.

Fast forward to 2006...

Unfortunately, contact with the Italian family had not been maintained and I grew up hearing only the stories. By the time I was an adult I had developed a strong desire to meet my Italian relatives.

Not knowing where to start my search, I looked to the internet! Carrufo is a small place, I mean really small, so there was not much on internet about Carrufo. I turned to my original surname 'Colantonio', and again there were not many results. However I did find one interesting page had a family tree with Colantonio's listed for several generations. I contacted the web master and asked if there was any information he might have on Pacifico Colantonio.

The webmaster replied and pointed me to Mario. I contacted Mario, and it was not long before we realized that we may be related. We exchanged emails for some time, sharing stories and discovering all the similarities. As more details were shared, it was clear that he was my Cousin, a couple times removed. Turns out Mario is Vittorio's grandson.

I also learned that one of my grandfather's sister's, Lina, is still alive at the age of 94. Mario's family was making a trip out to Italy, and they suggested I try to plan a trip out as well to meet everyone and learn about my family! With just over a month's notice, I had my flights booked and bags packed!

Here are just a few photos from my amazing trip...