Thanks

My grandparents Domenic (who was Donatus Buongiorno’s nephew) and Bernardine Troisi had 10 children and 42 grandchildren. I have a huge, fabulous, extended family of siblings, nieces, nephews, cousins, second cousins, children, grandchildren, in-laws, spouses and partners. Many have helped with this project, and I would like to thank them.

The Ten Troisi Children

My loudest shout-out goes to my maternal uncle John A. Troisi who is my biggest booster. He’s as sentimental as I am about the family and totally involved in my project. As the current family archivist, he has pitched in copies of family documents and terrific scans of vintage photographs.

John is also an expert photographer. He documents ongoing activities of the family, and shares his digital files with me most generously. He even graciously accepts an occasional assignment. For this website, he photographed the Donatus Buongiorno paintings which are owned by family members who live near him. The guy’s a gem. Thanks, Uncle John!

Now retired, John and his brother, Robert L. Troisi (1921–2014), were the second generation to run the family’s Williamsport, Pennsylvania, men’s clothing store, so John is also a source of information on my grandfather’s tailoring career and business life.

Big thanks to the memory of my maternal aunt Anne Marie McLain (née Troisi, 1924–2003) who was an extremely capable professional secretary and project manager, and, while alive, used both of these formidable skills managing our family’s archives (including photograph albums and other mementos) to make sure they would be assembled for passing on to someone else.

Others of Domenic M. Troisi and Bernardine (Beiter) Troisi’s ten children who have helped with oral histories and stories of significant events from the family’s history are:

B. Joseph (Joe) Troisi (1923–2020), who lived and worked in New York from the 1950s to 1980s, contributed information on Nick Buongiorno (aka Nicky, 1908–1968, cousin of Domenic M. Troisi, nephew of Donatus Buongiorno) another artist in the family who lived in New York and whom Joe knew first-hand. Joe also performed design services, and had drawings of designs, for his father’s clothing store from the 1940s to 1960s, and he knew information about his brothers’ buying trips to New York for the store.

Mary E. Troisi, who carries the entire, substantial, American Troisi family tree in her head, along with a formidable amount of data on individual family members, contributed important dates about family members and first-hand recollections of Domenic M. Troisi’s sole trip back to Italy, when she accompanied her parents on a 1960s vacation.

James (Jim) L. Troisi relayed education advice Domenic Troisi gave his ten children, which was helpful in understanding why they went to different schools, and also identified the origins of artwork in the family home that was by artists other than Donatus Buongiorno, such as several paintings by Donatus’s nephew (Domenic’s cousin) Nick (Nicky) Buongiorno (1908–1968). Also, Jim provided pivotal research on the church in Brattleboro, Vermont, where Buongiorno painted murals, by visiting the site and talking to parishioners.

No slouch in the organizing department and ever the networker, my mother, Marguerite L. Carapellucci (née Troisi, 1923–2007), wrote out significant information she knew about New York when I moved to the city in 1980, in case it would be helpful. It fit on one 3 x 5 card, typed, in her inimitable executive secretary style. (Her recipe cards and personal letters were also typed.) She referred me to a good restaurant in Little Italy (which we patronized for a 2007 family reunion!) and to Donatus Buongiorno’s murals at Most Precious Blood Church. Being as organized as she was, I saved the card all this time, but I’m embarrassed to admit I lived here 25 years before seeking out the murals or the restaurant.

The Next Generation: The Cousins

Additional shout-outs to first cousins on my mother’s side:

Juliana Holm (née Hamm), who documented her 2004 visit to Solofra and generously shared her photos, both from 2004 and from the 2018 trip we made together. She has also been helpful with family information, feedback and other substantial involvement over the years.

Lisa Hamm-Greenawalt and Jeanine Troisi, who helped organized the family reunion we held in New York in 2007 to commemorate Domenic Troisi’s arrival in the U.S., and who have also been helpful with many details over the years. Lisa kick-started our family’s genealogy search in the 1980s by finding the manifest for our grandfather’s 1907 emigration on microfilm at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, back in the pre-internet days before immigration documents were digitized and available in online databases.

Steve Arney, who photographed his mother Helen (Troisi) Arney’s Donatus Buongiorno painting for me.

And Additional Generations

Thanks to my niece Erin Dunlap (nee Doonan) who photographed several churches in Boston for me.

Also many second cousins (children of my first cousins) who are helping to fill in gaps and plug holes in the morass of information.

Note to Family Members

Your pictures here are low-res, because I cribbed them from a much larger photo, which you probably recognize. If you would prefer to look better, I will be happy to oblige. Send me a more flattering headshot, and I will put it in!