Memorial Day 2009

Memorial Day 2009 at our house represented a landmark event for two reasons: we had more than 50 people in attendance and I had invited six recently discovered second cousins and their families. Here's how it happened. Several months ago, in my obsessive quest to discover and preserve my family history, I had searched my last name on Facebook. When I found a bunch of people with the last name Sardo, I sent out a message that said, "my grandfather was born in Sicily in 1883. He immigrated to the United States in 1907 and lived on North Spring Street in Ansonia, CT. I am looking for people related to us."

I received several emails from people in Italy - two still communicate with me, even though we are not related and they send the emails in Italian, so I don't know what they say! One man, who had the same name as my grandfather, Guiseppe Sardo, told me that Sardo was a common surname in Italy and that he lived in northern Italy and did not think we were related.

Then, I received an email from a guy who lives in Shelton, CT who said his grandfather had also lived on North Spring Street in Ansonia. It turns out he is the son of my Dad's first cousin, making he and his siblings my second cousins. My grandfather Guiseppe, and their grandfather, Francesco, were brothers! It represents my greatest discovery so far! So I met Frank, his brother Joe and sister Regina. They have three other siblings. Their parents, Albert and Connie Sardo, had died in 1968 and 1969, respectively, leaving the kids without parents. At the time, the youngest was only five years old.

When they heard my Dad, at 80, was still alive and well, they just wanted to talk to him about their parents. All of their aunts and uncles on the Sardo side had passed except for one, who is in a nursing home and doesn't remember very much.

Long story short, all six of my second cousins came to our picnic with spouses and children and grandchildren. It was incredible! My cousins brought photo albums, my Dad told stories about their mom and dad. Frank later left me a phone message telling me the stories my Dad shared about his father were priceless.

The amazing part of all of this is that the people who contacted me in Italy are not related to me, yet these six people who are my second cousins live in Shelton, Beacon Falls and Seymour, where I live! They've been here all along, going about their lives while we've gone about ours.

Now that we've connected, we plan to stay in touch. Without a doubt, finding family members living is a much bigger rush than finding those that have passed. These six people that I did not know several months ago all have a unique story that is also intertwined with my family history. That's what makes it so compelling.