Preface

When I was growing up, I always loved going through the photo album with my mom. Back in those days, we had books with a wooden cover, with the black pages and little pasted corners to hold the photos. I would ask mom who the people were and what their relation was to us. One thing that always stood out was a card the said Nicola Piromallo "dei duchi diCapracotta.” Mom would tell me that Nicola was my paternal great-grandfather, or my father's maternal grandfather. She would tell me that he was a duke or a count in Italy. I was always fascinated by this, but never really asked a lot of questions. Many years later, I began my research of my ancestors with Nicola Piromallo's card.

Calling Card of Nicola Piromallo

I did not set my research goals very high. In the beginning, I thought I might find something interesting about Nicola Piromallo and go back a few generations. On my mom's side, knowing that they were farmers, I expected to find out who my great-grandparents were, or maybe go back one more generation after that. I never thought that my research would lead me to create a blog, record audio and video podcasts, and write a book.

Most of us who research our family history believe there is some external force driving us to discover our genealogy. In fact, many people who I have interviewed have told me that they believe we are chosen by our ancestors to tell their story. During my interviews, I have heard

some very interesting and compelling stories about how they found a piece of documentation or met living relatives whom they had never known. Later in the book I will reveal some of these stories. Some are so intriguing that you cannot just call it a coincidence.

My goal is to share my family research and inspire people to start or continue their own research. I truly believe there is a "spiritual guidance” bestowed on some of us; we just need hear the voice.