Welcome to my personel genealogical home page. I've generated it with Family Matters genealogy shareware. My roots are Italian (my Mother's side), German (my Father's Father), and Irish (my Father's Mother). I retired in 2011 and furthering my genealogical research is one of my goals, now that I have more time available, though I've not done as much (2017) as I'd initially hoped for. Trying now (2023) to get back into it.
Read about our ancestors' immigration at Immigration Crossings, a new addition to my web site.
I've begun writing histories of specific branches of my family tree. One that among the furthest along is Ancestry From Württemburg, though still a work in progress. The rest are Ancestry From Bavaria, Ancestry From Eboli, Ancestry From Ireland, Ancestry From Liguria, Italy and Ancestry From Sicily.
My Italian side is from the Genoa region in Italy. The direct surnames in this part of my family include Capurro, Perazzo, Lagomarsino (and some other similar spellings), and Soracio (or Sorracco). They mostly came the US about the turn of the century, and we initially find them in Brooklyn, NY. Luigi Capurro (he was known in the US as Louis) came to the US alone as a child around 1890, but I haven't found a sure record of that. The record I have found is the arrival of a Luigi Capurro at age 15 on 9 May 1893, from Neirone. I have hope that this proves to be him.
My German side is from places like Bayern, Rosenfeld (a village in Württemburg), and Alsace (maybe). The direct surnames in this part of my family include Nicklas, Müller (Miller in the U.S.), Nagel, Beutter, Koeble (might have been spelled Coble or Koebel), and Link. They came to the US around 1840, and settled in Ulster County in New York State, in a small town named Shandaken. All the men worked in the Lemuel. A. Chichester Chair Manufactory.
With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, most moved down to Brooklyn, NY about 1890. Two of my G-G-Aunts married into the Chichester family (one Nicklas and one Miller). A part of the Nicklas family moved to Pennsylvania, into Lehigh County. My G-G-Uncle, John Michael Nicklas, had a 5 & 10 Cent Store in Lehighton around 1915.
My Irish side is made up of Cahill, Mona(g)han, and Smythe. They also lived in the early 1900's in Brooklyn. My Grandmother was Catherine Clotilda Monahan. Her father was Patrick Monahan, and her mother Catherine Cahill. Patrick enlisted in the Union Army in Springfield, Mass. He was mustered into Company K of the 37th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a part of the Army of the Potomac. He's buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Brooklyn. My G-G-Grandparents were John Cahill & Margaret Smythe.
Among my Irish relatives are Scott Brady and Lawrence Tierney, actors (and brothers).
Then there's my wife's family. All Italian. From the Naples and Eboli area there is Masillo, Bianchi, Marano, and Ciani. From Sicily there is Granato, Maci, and Muscio.
Here's something cool. This web site was evaluated by Ancestral Branches, and (they say) "found it informative, easy to navigate, original and an excellent contribution to the Internet genealogy community as a whole. We are happy to present you with The Genealogy Sleuth Excellence Award. Keep up the wonderful work!"
For now, Ciao!
E-mail me at RayNicklas@aol.com if you would like to contact me about my genealogy, or about this web site. This web site updated 27 Dec 2023 by Family Matters® genealogy software, Beta Version 5.00.12. This page is a pane in a frames-oriented web site. If you see only this page, and not the frames, click here. To go to the top of this page, click here.