back to Family Stories, Fall 2021
by Will Ciarlone
This past semester I have spent much of my time doing research on both my maternal and paternal sides of my family. This research included both traditional genealogy through countless documents, as well as genetic genealogy through my DNA samples and DNA matches through Ancestry.
One of my many interesting findings through this course included my great-great-grandfather, Giacinto (George) Ciarlone (1864- 1933). He was born in Italy in 1864 and at the age of 28, he immigrated to the United States in 1892. He traveled with his wife to begin a new life here in the states. The 1930 census confirms he did in fact travel and safety made it to the USA.
While looking more into George’s life, I was continuing to find much information pertaining to him, as well as a place called, St. Anthony’s Lodge. When George was 55, he started a group in Johnstown, PA with a handful of other Italian immigrants. This organization was created to help other immigrants that traveled to the U.S. just as he did. This was a place for people to come together and serve those in need or those struggling with adapting to the U.S. lifestyle. Additionally, this brotherhood was there for each other in times of need and through their own generosity, they were able to provide assistance and relief to those in conflict. Lastly, they wanted to perceive not only a communal feeling, but a communal building for those to come together as one, celebrate, and enjoy the culture they formed there, as well as in Italy. St. Anthony’s Lodge was a huge part of George’s life and while he may have been adapting to a new country, he was able to ground himself in his roots and create a societal group that is still in operation to this day.
This photograph below is a plaque that states all of the founding fathers of this famous society that my great-great-grandfather was a proud member and founder of!
Looking at more of a genealogical aspect of this story, Ancestry.com, a third-party site we send our DNA to, automatically matches you with “DNA Matches” or shares like DNA with you. Through this site, I was able to match with many cousins, as well as more distant relatives who I have never met or heard of. After finding out about this society on Ancestry, I took another step to try and find more information about it! I noticed that one of my matches had the same last name as one of the other founding members, Vadine. This DNA match and I share about 360 centimorgans across 22 segments. This translates to about a 5% DNA match. Given the 5%, I could assume we are about 1st cousins once removed. Given this relationship, I reached out to them, and we were able to discuss how our ancestors were both founders of this society. Through this conversation, we both could confirm the existence of this society, and the benefits that sparked from this. We both also found out the society is still working to this day and their contributions to many locals has been very beneficial. We also can confirm that both sons of those original ancestors were a part of the society when they grew up and this shows that this society is still running in both families to this day. We are proud to say our ancestors had such a huge impact on a community, and for myself, I am inspired by the works of all these men, especially my great-great-grandfather!