Giacomo Galli’s Box

After Nonnie died, my mother Barbara and I, with grandparents Bill and Viola, visited her home on Fayette Street. At that point other family members had already been there, and in general her possessions had been distributed amongst the family. I went to the basement to poke around, always being curious and loving to explore. On a very high shelf, or perhaps it was a basement wall ledge, I spotted a brown antique-looking small suitcase, about the size of a lunch box. I took it down and opened it up and inside I found such a treasure! The yellowed documents with sweeping Italian calligraphy were certainly of another age. As I looked further, I found passport for Giacomo Galli, a few old photographs, Giacomo’s spectacles, razor blades, mirror, button fastener, pencil, and many many documents. It was definitely a time capsule into another era.

At some point I remember giving the box and contents to Bill and Viola to have someone loosely translate the documents so we could understand what they were. It was my intention to always get these up on the website for the family to see. I finally carefully scanned each document which are below. They each link to a page with their loose translations. The documents show Giacomo’s travel back and forth from Italy to the United States, as well as his affairs in Italy, health treatments he was taking in Italy. Perhaps these will help us continue to unwrap the story of our ancestors. —Kristin