November 2011
Today I was listening to Willie Nelson on the radio and my mind drifted, as it often does, and I remembered learning about a Willie in my family who lived a long time ago. His name was Willie Wheeler and he died when he was really really young. I learned a little bit about him from my Aunts and Uncles who are now gone and realized if I don't tell these stories, people will be forgotten forever, or just become the names on a sheet of paper, a census, or a birth record, or a passenger list. This attempt at writing will be to focus on my ancestors and as I learn and share I'm hoping I can gain insight into their journey's on this planet and perhaps inspire others to do some searching of their own family tree.
First of all, I am an american born Italian/Swedish/English ancestry. Second and third generation American that is, and indebted to the sacrifice of those who came to this great country in search of a dream. My mother gave birth to me in a hospital in Providence Rhode Island and brought me home to live with my older brother Henry and my father Salvatore. There I remained till I was almost 20, so New England is in my blood. Yet I always longed for travel and that I got when I married Richard and we moved all over the ountry.
Now I reside in Sacramento Valley, California, and hope to remain for as long as I can. This blog is meant to be about those who come before me, so I will not go into detail about my life. Although, it's important for people to know that when I became a Latter day saint (Mormon) I also learned of the importance of one's heritage and that put me on a journey that has been life-long in learning, searching, and recording the lives of those who came before me in my family.
Early in that quest I began with pad and pencil and lots of questions and recorded everything I could get my relatives to tell me. That became the springboard into a new world of wonder for me, of discovering not only who they were, but who I was because of them.
