2004 Year in Review

Why am I here?

The Catholic Catechism answer to this question is to "to know God and to love and serve Him." But what I really want to know is why am I here in Morrison, Illinois? What forces (cosmic, economic, social, whatever) led me to this place? I had a job that allowed me to live anywhere in the world, so why choose Morrison? The basic answer is sage advice from that classic film "the Wizard of Oz" when Dorothy claims "there is no place like home." There is no more truth than this simple statement. My genealogy then must answer the question: "why is this place home?"

On my dad's side I am a descendant of Adami, Marchini, Pasquini, Bardi, Gargalini, Marelini, Stefani, Bertorelli and Ricci. All of my grandparents were born in the USA, but their parents came from the northern Italian province of Tuscany and many from an even smaller community of Matria and others from Lucca. Those that emigrated came mainly in the late 19th century to work in mines of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan or to labor in factories in New York City. During the war years factory jobs became more abundant and better paying in the Midwest and the family migrated to the Sterling/Rock Falls area of Whiteside County.

Italy became a unified country only in 1860. I'm guessing that my relatives did not have much to begin with and the opportunity to come to the USA with so much land and so much potential was too good a chance to pass up.

On another sidebar: Christianity came early to this region of Italy where my family is from, in fact, before Rome which converted in 312. Lucca was a staging point for the First Crusade to free the Holy Land and at this time the Adami name spread to Malta and Romania. A quick web search finds a number of pirates by the name of Bardi which may account for my interest in a seafaring career.

On my maternal grandfather's side I am a descendant of Hans Te Neues who was born in Germany in 1660 and died in Philadelphia in 1736. He was a protestant of the Mennonite faith who changed his name to Nice. Most of my family on this front would be farmers who migrated eventually from Bucks County Pennsylvania to Ohio and finally to Lee and Whiteside County by about 1869. Most of these relatives continued to speak German in their homes. The only German language newspaper in Whiteside County (and five adjoining counties) began publication in Sterling in 1877 to meet the needs of a large influx of German immigrants. Names on this branch of the tree include Myers, High, Alderfer, Nice, Te Neues, Bossoh, Clemmer and Leuthje.

On my maternal grandmother's side I am a descendant of Jonathon Goss who twice enlisted in the revolutionary war and was granted a pension in the newly formed state of Illinois near the end of his life. He was born in 1759 and served with the Massachusetts Continental Army as a private. He was buried in Wabash County Illinois. My grandma's family was primarily English who basically follow the westward ho described in the American History you learned in school although I doubt any came on the Mayflower. Her Grandfather Brown emigrated from Yorkshire, England in 1843 traveling via New Orleans and settled in Southern Illinois where his family had friends.

Urban legend from my grandmother's limited knowledge of her own background included a family member who was an Indian of the Blackfoot tribe. This might account for my rather severe pigeon toed walk although it is unlikely that any of my East coast relations would have ever met up with a Native American from the far west. Family names on this branch of the tree include Brown, Couch, Morton, Goss, Wilson, Tanquary, Gibbon, Hammon, Watson, Whittington, Powell, Litherland and Skaggs.

So, everyone in my family met up here in the USA, eventually in Illinois and finally in Whiteside County. To all those folks who still consider me (a descendant of original Christians, original North Americans, original Americans, original Illinoisans, etc.) to be a newcomer to Morrison, Illinois I just have to say, "Welcome to my country, home sweet home."

by Marc Adami, Guest Columnist
April 6, 2004