The Great War

Today I reached another indexing milestone on the Omignano records on FamilySearch.org - I've completed indexing the deaths from 1897 - 1917.  The last few records were heartbreaking, as they were records of deaths outside Omignano reported back to the town of soldiers who died in World War I.  Word was sent to the town in 1917 about the deaths of three soldiers that had occurred in the summer of 1915.

One of the deaths recorded in 1916 is that of Giuseppe Cammarota, my first cousin 3x removed through his grandparents (my 3x great grandparents), Giuseppe Cammarota and Antonia Petillo.  Giuseppe served in Italy's 48th infantry regiment.  He was injured with an abdominal wound at the Ninth Battle of the Isonzo, in Gorizia, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy.  After his injury, he was transported to the hospital at camp 79, where he died of his wounds.

Prior to this, I didn't know of any blood relatives involved in WWI - only in-laws.   But now, with a blood relative on the field, this part of history became more important to me.  The death record, of course, does not indicate that my cousin participated in the Ninth Battle of the Isonzo.  Learning of his death as a soldier at Gorizia on 3 Nov 1916, I did a little research on WWI to find out what was going on at that time and place.  The Italians fought the Austro-Hungarians along the Isonzo river throughout the war.  The conflict occurring Nov 1-4, 1916 was termed the 9th such battle.

According to the death record, Giuseppe was buried in an Italian military cemetery in Gradisca, Italy.  I may need to visit someday!

Crossing the Pond - Italy!

I did a quick stroll through Family Search this evening and found they have posted images of records from the hometown of my great-grandfather Francesco Giordano (Frank Jordan), Omignano - I found my first Italian record, of my great grandfather's birth! (His is the last record on the page, the last for 1887.)

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-28331-2765-67

His parents are Giuseppe Giordano and Rosalia Cammarota. Now I need to learn some Italian....

Update 10/22/2013: Marriage record for Frank's parents, Giuseppe Giordano and Rosalia Cammarota: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-28331-2028-14

Update 10/31/2013: And Giuseppe and Rosalia were kissing cousins!!! His grandparents were her great-grandparents, making them 1st cousins 1x removed. This is the first set of married cousins I've found in my direct line. So now one set of 4th great grandparents double as a set of 5th great grandparents.