Joe Caniglia was born 92 years ago during the Santa Lucia Festival in Omaha, NE. “When I was growing up I thought it was a big birthday party until I got old enough to realize it wasn’t,” he said. The festival and a birthday party do have something in common: family. “The whole neighborhood came from Carlentini,” said Caniglia. “And we’re all probably interrelated in some way or another.”
Saturday, genealogists walked Caniglia through historical records, photos, and his family tree. He said he learned “a lot that I knew. It just refreshed me.” Others were hearing their history drawn out for the first time, something genealogist Nicholas Cimino enjoys seeing. “It’s like igniting a little candle that hopefully starts to grow into a huge bonfire of passion in their family history,” said Cimino.
