Great Grandpa Ventura

Some important news came in the mail yesterday about the patriarch of the Ventura clan, Paul's great grandpa Giovanni Ventura. Giovanni came to America in 1914 when he was 18 years old and settled in Ohio. Here's Paul with great-grandpa and great-grandma, Augusta Rose Longo, in their backyard in Ohio when Paul was a baby in the late 1970s. Giovanni and Augusta, who was originally from Sicily, met in the States.

This family shot shows Paul with his dad in the center, and moving to the left is Augusta, Paul's grandfather Art, and Giovanni on the far left. Thanks to Paul's mom Helen for finding these photos!

Great-grandpa was from Acquaviva delle Fonti, and when we visited the town in December to trace Paul's family roots, we found Giovanni's birth certificate. However, we were still on the hunt for some additional, essential information about great-grandpa. We needed to know when he became a US citizen. If Giovanni was naturalized after he and Augusta had Paul's grandfather Art, then Paul and I could claim dual-citizenship with Italy.

The official letter from the US Immigration and Naturalization office came in the mail yesterday, in response to our records request. To our delight, great-grandpa became a citizen in 1928, 14 years after he immigrated, which was well after he had Paul's grandpa!!

If we become dual-citizens, we can travel to and from Italy anytime without a visa, and work there as well. Plus we would quality for National health care and other benefits too. So naturally we're going to go for it.

Now to tackle the massive task of gathering all of the certified birth, marriage, divorce, and death records for the application. We'll keep you posted.

Great-grandpa Ventura, we're coming around full-circle!!