DePAMPHILIS FAMILY OF ARGENTINA
This is the story of the discovery of the DePamphilis Family in Argentina. In the early 1900's my father, Luigi, came to America, and at the same time his sister, Graziella, went to Buenos Aires to live with several aunts. For years they communicated with each other and sent photos of their families to each other. When World War II began the mail became very unreliable -- sometimes even unavailable -- and brother and sister lost touch with each other. I remember my father telling us after the war that he believed that Graziella had died.
Many years later while going through my parents' possessions after they had died I came across some old photographs that were from Argentina. I found a photo of a young boy about the age of four, and across the bottom of the photo was written " . . . Carlo Alberto Caporale, Buenos Aires, 1923". I thought that it must be a photo of Zia Graziella's son. I went to my computer and found a chat room in Buenos Aires and asked in Spanish and in English if someone might know of this Carlo Alberto Caporale. Witin two weeks a woman contacted me and said that she thought she knew the Caporale family and gave me an address. I sent a letter with a copy of the photo and my e-mail address and asked if anyone recognized this boy. A week or so later I received an e-mail from a woman declaring that the photo was of her husband who just died a few months earlier and asking to know how I happened to have it. It turned out that the photo was of my father's "cousin", the son of his aunt Virgina, and not of his "nephew" as I had originally thought.
By corresponding with the Caporale family I have also learned that my father had two other aunts -- Asunta and Conception -- and one uncle -- Ricardo -- all in Argentina. What a bonanza! I never knew that we had such a presence in South America! I have managed to communicate with several relatives there and have received photographs of their families. I have found my father's cousin Lina, the daughter of Zio Ricardo, who lives in Texas with her son, Alex, and his family, and she and I e-mail each other regularly.
Unfortunately (and ironically) I was not able to find any information about my Zia Graziella or her children . . . . .
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