Some 60 years ago, my brother, Ernie, and I began to assemble a collection of photographs of our family. Included were shots taken by my father and others of our grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins in the Matacia family.
At the start of the present century I became interested in the history of the personages in our photographic record, and, in conjunction with my brother and our cousins Evelyn, Joe-Joe, and Maria Matacia, I started to uncover the background of our relatives. Additional input from Sister Marie Concetta’s Genealogy of the Papania Family and from communications with Kathy Matacia of the Cincinnati branch of the Family made for new discoveries into the Matacia heritage. My work with Father Anthony Delisi on the 1542-48 Baptismal records in Termini-Imerese, Sicily added special depth to the project.
In recent times, I have been able to collect even more historical information regarding our family members from sources now available on the Internet. These sources include the US census reports, the Social Security Death Index, Ellis Island Arrivals, along with baptism, birth and death certificates.
On this site, it is my desire to present a compilation of my research into the history and times of the Matacia family of Charlottesville, Virginia and of our cousins. Although the information is not complete in every way, it is my hope that family members will fill in the gaps by way of comments to these posts.
Chick Matacia-Lehrer
