Back Traveling

This blog will document my research into a family not my own. This is the information with which I begin:

"Irene G. Bird, maiden name Angelone; 100% Italian. Related to Rizzo and Gagliardi (by marriage, I think). Her mother's name was Angeline Angelone. Her grandparents came right off the boat from Italy (she always told me Naples, but sometimes referred to it as Terme). He was a stonemason in Delaware. I don't know his name, but I think her name was Willomena or Phillomena.  Before they left for DE, he was studying to be a priest but didn't take his final vows. Grandma spent most of her life there in Wilmington DE (her biological father, Frank Angelone,  was a butcher, I believe). Her paternal grandmother was also named Irene Angelone (purportedly a fortune teller, according to family legend).

"Melvin Earnest Bird, born in PA (not sure exactly where). His parents were very religious (maybe missionaries at one point), and definitely farmers. Melvin was never sure when he was born because different family Bibles had different years. He was born Feb 11th of either 1912 or 1913. A European mongrel - English, Scottish, and a bunch of other stuff.

"Related somehow to the Freeds, and the Bairds (family lore suggests that the Bairds immigrated from Scotland and anglicized their name). Allegedly related to the Byrds - at some point there was a family rift and some of the Birds became Byrds (someone told me that the Byrds moved to TX).

"Robert D. Reifsnyder. His father's name is Robert Reifsnyder. I believe there was a relative who worked for the Reading Rail Road by the name of Rufus Trout (somehow a grandparent). Pennsylvania Dutch.

"Irene and Melvin buried in Limerick Gardens, PA, because it was the only place that offered a crypt at the time...no religious affiliation.

"Angeline had several sisters: Mary, Vicky, and another. May have had brothers."

And we're off!