The Graiff Family Lineage Place
While...... ' Searching for my family in Val di Non.....'
I found the added benefit of locating some wonderful extended and distant family members.
Additionally, I was given the rare opportunity of being asked to write two articles about the search, combining the love of writing with the desire to search for our family history. Not so coincidentally, the stories share the above title and can currently be read on-line at the NOS Magazine website: www.nos.gpa.it/usa then click on the article title above. Or you can use the link to that site by clicking on the title above and then on the title at the NOS Magazine site.
"We thought we were the only with this name around" is a reframe heard repeatedly, from various new found relatives ... and now we've learned of Graiff/Graif/Griff/Greiff/Greif & Gryfe families found in Argentina, Austria, Canada, France and Italy, as well as in the USA. The Graiff family continues to grow as the search progresses. Each contact made has been well received, with interest, curiousity and graciousness. It must be a family trait.
It was the turn of the century and a difficult time in Europe when they fled famine and poverty
in the Val di Non, searching for a better life. They immigrated with Austrian passports, some went to South America and others to the USA, flocking to the mining towns along the East Coast and in the West. The perceived opportunities working in the mines did not lead to great prosperity in many cases. There were no safety precautions for miners in the early 1900's, respiratory conditions and disease developed, hastening the deaths of many Tyrolean immigrants, including our grandfather, Virginio Anselmo Graiff, and his brothers, Angelo Candido Graiff and Germano Emanuele Graiff. Some immigrants, such as their older brother Gioele, returned to their home in the beautiful Val di Non, many never returned.
Your name and e-mail address will be added to our private family website at myfamily.com, giving you access to more Graiff family history and information.
Tyrolean immigrants living in Diamondville, Wyoming about 1915 or 1916. By this time they had already worked in the gold mines of Leadville, Colorado and moved to Wyoming.
They are standing in front of a newly constructed home which had been ordered from the Sear's Catalog as a kit and assembled on the property.
This house was later disassembled and moved by train to Lava Hot Springs, Idaho where it was reassembled and remained the home of Lena & Joe DeGiorgio and their children. The house continues to stand and is still someone's home today.
From the left:
Charlie Orion (the maternal grandfather of Don Segna), ?, ? ,
Virginio Anselmo Graiff (later known as Jim Griff), his wife Emilia Pitscheider Graiff, ?,
Emanuelle (or Manny) Graiff (the brother of Virginio) , ?,
Emilia's sister, Lena Pitscheider DeGiorgio, her husband Giuseppe (Joseph) DeGiorgio.
In the foreground, the children, from the left:
Turned around, looking toward his father is Louis Joseph Graiff / Griff (my father),
Sylvia Orion (Don Segna's mother) holding Louie's younger sister Evelyn Graiff / Griff ,
Louie & Evelyn's cousins: Joe DeGiorgio (also with head turned) and his brother Arthur DeGiorgio
(the children of Lena & Joe).
If anyone out there can identify those I don't have names for, please let me know.
Come back and visit often, there will always be something new to discover. It is a work in process.
Your inquiries and/or comments are always encouraged and welcome.
Jeannie Graiff Newman at: bnjnewman@earthlink.net
(Memories & Chronical of Romeno - from the late 1800s to the 3rd Millenium)
A book authored by Dr. Andrea Graiff, formerly of Romeno & now living in Cles, Italy
and/or
view the entries made by others who have visited here.
