Luca:
If I am, I am not aware of it; however, I have been learning more about people and things lately than I'd imagined!


Tom

tjbrn wrote:

June 1932 Page1 img230.imageshack.us/i...ge1ag2.jpg Page2 img262.imageshack.us/i...ge2ln0.jpg Page3 img388.imageshack.us/i...ge3jj3.jpg Page4 img101.imageshack.us/i...ge4ay0.jpg

I could enlarge them!

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Belmonte Mezzagno June 4, 1937
My dearest brother,
after a long time I receive your long waited letter, and I'm pleased to hear that your health is very well, together with your dear spouse and your beloved children. As of today I can assure you that myself and my spouse and all my dear children, as well as our sisters and their spouses and children, and also your sister in law and her spouse and children [are in good health].
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I also hope that when you will receive this letter also your mother in law and all the family is well.
Beloved brother, a lot of time has passed without receiving news from you and I was worried, because your brother never forgets you and my only thought is always for you father and mother who are not here anymore (they passed away) and therefore I cannot forget you that I would be a bird to see this dear brother who left me when I was a boy and now I am the father of 6 children.
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But would be very close to come to visit you the last time and to see you dear brother if you have white hair and I would still recognize you. That's enough, my dear brother, I only have to say that I hug and kiss you together with your wife and children and my children also kiss your hands and many kisses will give to your beloved children and believe me your very fond brother that always think about you. Tano Dragotta
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Good bye Good bye don't forget of your brother that always thinks about you.
Dear sister in law
one only thought and affectionate greetings with my heart, me, your dear brother in law that always thinks about you.
Good bye Good bye I am for ever your dear brother in law Tano Dragotta
Write to me and good news that I always think about you
a kiss to you and to my brother that I love you so much.

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Belmonte Mezzagno 27 Novembre 1935.
Mio amato fratello, con molto ritardo ho ricevuto la tua desiderata lettera e ho grande piacere nel sentire che sei in buona salute così come lo è tua moglie, i tuoi amati figli, la famiglia di tua suocera e tutta la famiglia, come pure ti posso dire di me, di mia moglie e tutta la famiglia, amato fratello; ti ho scritto con un po' di ritardo ma la causa è che sono stato 10 giorni a curare la campagna, a seminare il frumento, lontano da qui al Pizzo Rame(?)...

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che tu lo puoi immaginare, amato fratello, e non sai quanto fremevo nell'attesa di tue notizie che tardavano ad arrivare e avevo il dubbio che tu potessi esserti offeso per qualche cosa che ti avevo scritto; fortunatamente leggo che non è così. L'importante è che ci sia la salute, amato fratello. Riguardo ai tuoi figli ho capito che ne hai 6 e sono 3 maschi e 3 femmine, e un altro sta per nascere, amato fratello; Dio vuole così, anche mia moglie ha avuto 5 figli, 4 femmine e 1 solo maschio e sarà (si chiama?) Stefano e un altro sta per nascere; sono contento che i tuoi figli vanno a scuola, anche i miei figli hanno frequentato la scuola, amato fratello, non ti posso.....


Ciao
Luca

tjbrn wrote:

Luca: If I am, I am not aware of it; however, I have been learning more about people and things lately than I'd imagined! Tom

Sorry, I confused Belmonte with Belpasso.
Ciao
Luca

8 June 1932 -- I think.

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tjbrn wrote:

8 June 1932 -- I think. Page1 img183.imageshack.us/i...ge1bc4.jpg Page2 img183.imageshack.us/i...ge2jj7.jpg Page3 img264.imageshack.us/i...ge3jw9.jpg Page4 img264.imageshack.us/i...ge4ej1.jpg

You have already posted this here Tom and Livio has kindly translated it for you.

Tom - just a thought...it might be a good idea if you reference each letter and 'where' you post it. I only say this because translation work is time consuming and for translators to complete a document only to find that someone else has done it too, either here
or elsewhere, is maybe not the best way to keep them on board...

Mi dispiace.

Thanks to everyone for all of the hard work you have done translating the letters I've posted. I really do appreciate your generosity. I need to clear up something. The 8 Jun 1932 letter wasn't double posted; however, I did actually post the letter translated by Livo -4 Jun 1937-- which I had listed as a Jun 1932 date, on Mar 10 at another forum, and mistakenly posted it here some days later. It was my error. I'll use what I have been able to learn from your translations and apply that to the remaining letters. Thanks again for your help.

Tom

Tom I wish you luck with your translations. I will actually miss reading them! They were beautiful.

As for errors, we all make them and there is no harm done. I have confused things more times then I can remember!

Hope you will keep us posted on your research and if you need any other help, let us know!

I'll miss reading the letters too. I really enjoyed them.

nuccia wrote:

Tom I wish you luck with your translations. I will actually miss reading them! They were beautiful.!

Thanks, but I am afraid I will need more than luck! Hopefully, what is lost in translation will not be irrevocably so.

Tom

Oh Tom, but why risk losing the meaning behind such a wonderful family treasure that these letters represent. We were all excited by them and with the opportunity that you gave some of us to be involved with their translation.

I just hope that you were not upset when I suggested that you reference where you posted any letters. This was a means of saving the duplication of 'any' translators time - nothing more, and nothing less.

You, as a poster have the perfect right to post your requests for help on any forum/site you choose, and that is how it should be. My only concern was/is that the (often time consuming) translation work would have been repeated.

Tom - if I offended you then I apologise unreservedly. That was never my intention. The opportunity to translate your letters was a pleasure, and for me a particular challenge as I had never tried my hand at 'dialect' before. So please, sooner than risk losing the meaning of those poignant letters, do give another thought to allowing us to help by posting the others here too!

Carole, I suppose I do tend to over react since I had just mentioned this site in a post here: tomarie.tzo.com/wp/200...ractions/. It's the Sicilian blood, what can I say! I did take to heart your suggestion for better organization; posting from both desktop and laptop can be problematic when trying to keep files, etc. in sync. Sorry, I didn't get back sooner. It was a beautiful day here in NC and I spent a good portion of it outside tending to flower beds, gardens and such. As the letters progress they do offer more information regarding family members, etc. There is also commentary regarding the war in the 1945 letters, the last of which is just a month before I was born. Ironically, my first spoken language was Italian as my mother and I lived with my grandparents while my father was in the Army in the Pacific Theater--I was born after he was called up, so I was over a year old before he was discharged and came home to a son babbling in a foreign language (in my father's eyes--he wasn't Italian). There is also a remote chance that more letters exist, although I have been unable to persuade this other family member to respond to my requests regarding the same. So, yes, I'll gladly upload more letters a little later. I wouldn't want to waste the lesson of William Carlos William's poem, The Red Wheelbarrow.

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens.

Tom

Tom wrote:

... I must add that I have rarely met a more generous, competent group of people who truly do come together as a community; it is my experience that the genealogists I have met tend to have a special proclivity for this sort of behavior. Through their unselfish efforts, part of my family’s saga continues to unfold and inform the present of its hardships, tragedies, joys, and its steadfast commitment to the bonds of familial love through the humble outpourings of voices from the past...

Peccando forse in modestia, mi sento lieto di averti aiutato a comprendere (e, in qualche modo, avvicinare) il tuo passato.
Se ce ne sarà l'occasione proverò a darti ancora il mio contributo.
Ciao
Luca

Luca wrote:

Tom wrote: ... I must add that I have rarely met a more generous, competent group of people who truly do come together as a community; it is my experience that the genealogists I have met tend to have a special proclivity for this sort of behavior. Through their unselfish efforts, part of my family’s saga continues to unfold and inform the present of its hardships, tragedies, joys, and its steadfast commitment to the bonds of familial love through the humble outpourings of voices from the past... Peccando forse in modestia, mi sento lieto di averti aiutato a comprendere (e, in qualche modo, avvicinare) il tuo passato. Se ce ne sarà l'occasione proverò a darti ancora il mio contributo. Ciao Luca

Luca says:
In all modesty I feel so pleased to have helped you to understand (and in some way become closer to) your past.
If the occasion should arise again I will try to help you by offering my contribution again.

Ciao