Mickey Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 Many of you may have read the story in the Buffalo News by Sean Kirst relating the story of Bartolo Stancampiano, a 95 year old Bills fan. The article caught my eye because my great grandma, Giuseppa "Josephine" Stancampiano's youngest son was named Bartolo. A quick double check on ancestry.com and I was able to verify that yes, indeed, the Bart in the story is my grand uncle Barty. Josephine from the Sicilian town of S.Agata was left by her father in a Sicilian orphanage when he came to the US after his wife died. He later raised the money to come back for her and brought her to America. She married Bartolomeo Stancampiano and they went back to Sicily to see his family and by the time they came back to the US, she had had her first child, Anna Rose Stancampiano. Bartolomeo died at the age of 38 leaving Josephine with a large family to care for on her own. Anna Rose died at the age of 40, long before I was born. She was married to Edward "Leo" Vilardo who was born Liborio Vilardo. In the Kirst article, Bart describes how his love for the Bills started. It was when my Grampa, Edward Vilardo took him to see Bison baseball games and the original Bills of the All American Football Conference. I can't tell you how crazy it was for me to open a newspaper in 2021 and see the name of my Grampa, who died in 1971, and the name of the Gramma I never met. And for it all to be because of the Buffalo Bills family connection that I am sure we have all experienced is beyond description. https://buffalonews.com/opinion/sean-kirst-at-95-retired-letter-carrier-still-believes-bills-will-deliver/article_d50bf670-5f20-11eb-9dfe-b73b1fba4ca9.html "Little Gramma" (Josephine Stancampiano) 2 5
billsfan1959 Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 What a great story! I have done extensive genealogy work with many of my family lines. I love working on my family history and have documented so many interesting things about the lives of many of my ancestors. For years I was at a dead end on the family line of my surname and recently had a breakthrough and made some amazing discoveries through a YDNA project I am involved in. How cool is it that you have a famly history story that involves the Bills? Thanks for sharing
machine gun kelly Posted January 28, 2021 Posted January 28, 2021 Mickey, I don’t have a BN subscription, but you did a nice job describing. Reminds me when my grandparents were alive they had such a long memory handed down from generation to generation of how my family moved to PA in the 1800’s from Ireland and England (can’t believe back then they married with all of the bad blood 150 years ago between those countries). The sad part is as each generation passes my family loses more of the history and memories. I know I can’t remember everything my grandparents told me as a child. I’m glad you had a nice recollection of you’re family history. Go Bills!
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