My Tree

Kenny Dee

 B1972

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James Dee Jr.

 B1952

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James Dee Sr.

B1920-D1973

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                          Michele - Maria - Vincenzo - Giacomo - Anthonino - Francesco - Vincenza

                              Di Dia     Di Dia     Di Dia       Di Dia         Di Dia         Di Dia         Di Dia

                              B1880     ????       B1878      B1888         B1896        B1885        B1892

                                                          D1915      D1953         D1936

                                                       James Dee - Chris Dee - Tony Dee

                                       \             \          |                 |                 |               /                /

                                                   GiovanBattista Di Dia & Maria Donato

                                                           1850-1892              1852-1933

Made it to Sandusky!

Well the family and I made our way to Sandusky, Ohio, where I have meet up with the other "Dee's" in our family. I have learn that there are only 3 living second cousins of the Dee. My father James Dee, his cousin James Dee in Sandusky, my aunt Margaret. There is 2 living Dee's first generation living in Knoxville, TN and San Jose, California. Marcella Dee and John Richard Dee. I have recently made contact with Marcella and she is 91 years old. I was surprise how well she sound for being 91 years old. She was a firecracker! Hope I can meet up with her soon too. Here's a small family reunion that we had at James Dee house in Sandusky.

Of course my son had to show out. But it was nice to met dependents of the Di Dia Family. James Dee has been to Marsala acouple of time, and he really wants me to make the trip there too. I just got to get the funds together to make it happen. Anyone got about 5K laying around? :)

Di Dia in Marsala

Well I might have found distant relatives in Marsala. The research is still on going via Facebook. It seems that Di Dia is a common last name in and around Marsala, but all the Italian surname databases really doesn't detect that name, but don't be fooled by this though. Some database software out there has to have 3 or more letters before it will detect and since the name starts off as "Di" so you might have to take out the space and add it as one "DiDia".

I will be leaving to Sandusky, OH this coming July. I will be meeting my great-grandfather brother Vincenzo side of the family. I really need to get my records inline before my departure. I let you all know how it went, so stay tune!

Well I have located another distant Italian family member Bertolino. The Bertolino's immigrated to the U.S. in 1906. Michele Di Di (my great uncle) married to a Maria Bertolino. Now it's unknown why Maria and her husband came to either live or visited her brother Benadicto Bertolino. Benadicto stayed in the Boston, Mass. area it seems that the men all worked in the fishery. I do know that Michele Di Dia did in fact enlisted into the World War I Draft. So this might mean that he did plan on living here, but he and his wife return back to Marsala, Sicilia, and this is known because of letters that have been written to my father James Dee after the passing of my grandfather James Dee Sr., back in 1973. So a new chapter has been written, and I am glad that I was able to find some living Bertolino's. The funny thing about this is that in my teen years, I have lived up in the New Hampshire area and could have ran into these folks with all the visit I have made to Boston. I have past this information onto my other family that currently live up there, hopefully one of them will drop by for a sweet Ciao!
 

Facebook and your family tree

I have started a Italian Family Tree Facebook check us out! Also want to mention this desert to you all. It so Ummmmmmmmy!

Pignoli Cookies

Yield: 2 DozenPrep Time: 10 minsCook Time: 25 mins
A perfect addition to any holiday cookie tray, these delicious traditional cookies will be a hit with family and friends alike.

Ingredients:
1 (8 oz) Can Almond Paste
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
1/4 Cup All-purpose Flour
2 Medium Egg Whites, Lightly Beaten
8 Ounces Pine Nuts
Extra Powdered Sugar To Finish

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper, or use silicone linings.
Place the pine nuts in a bowl.
In a food processor, break up the almond paste into small pieces, and pulse with the two sugars and the flour.
Once the mixture is finely ground, begin to add the egg whites a little at a time, just until the dough comes together.
Depending on the humidity, or the size of your egg whites, sometimes you may need all of the egg whites, while other times you won't.
Using a spoon and slightly wet hands, scoop a small spoonful of the dough, and place this into the bowl of pignoli.
Roll the cookie arround until it is lightly coated, and then place it on the prepared baking sheet.
Continue forming the cookies in this manner, placing them 2 inches apart on the baking pan.
Bake the cookies 20 to 25 minutes, and then cool.
Dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving.

My Family Tree Update

Even though I haven't been working on my family tree lately, I just wanted to tell you all that I will still be updating my blog. So with that out of the way. I have decided to add a memorial page for my great-grandfather Giacomo Di Dia aka Chris Dee on FindAGrave.com, I've also added one for his brother Vincenzo Di Dia aka James Dee. A short bio has been added to Chris Dee, since I have the primary information on him. I have asked another family member to write the bio on James Dee. I hope to have more bio information on them both, once I heard back from a couple other folks related to the family. Check back soon!

Not Related to Chef Boy-Ar-Dee

But wish I was! As a kid I loved eating Chef Boy-Ar-Dee. I always wonder if I was related, but found out that Chef Boy-Ar-Dee was actually made from a man named Ettore "Hector" Boiardi. He decided to name his product "Boy-Ar-Dee" to help Americans pronounce his name. The same must of happen with our last name Di Dia to Dee. I was also told it was due to Italian discrimination. It makes me think about the time when people were discriminated because of skin color, and sex discrimination. I couldn't believe that the nationality of a person would be a reason to discriminate. But I truly believe that there would even be reverse discrimination. I have known people that wouldn't even serve thier food to people of certian nationally, but Itilians loved to serve their food, and were very proud to show it off. Pasta was the main reason for this. Adding pasta to meats and vegitables dishes, was something new in America. Maybe that is why I am so addicted to pasta! Please visit Hector Boiardi FindAGrave.com.