Searching For Carlo

Having found my Gramma’s family in Italy after three trips to Liguria over a six-year period, my next mission was to locate the roots of my grandfather, Carlo Giuseppe Cargni (above and below), who passed away about eight months after I was born. Even more difficult than my first search, this effort will certainly be no piece of cake.

Based on our research and what’s been gleened from my mother and grandmother over the years, here’s what we know. Born in the little village of Chialamberto in the Piedmont region near the Italian Alps in 1882, he emigrated to America in 1904, about eight years before my Gramma and her family arrived on Ellis Island in New York.

Settling first in Montana, then Cle Elum, Washington, to work the copper mines, Carlo later landed in Seattle, followed by -- of all places -- Portland.

Like my Gramma (who happened to be 11 years younger than Carlo), he was previously married. She was an Italian emigre who formerly lived in France; the two divorced by the mid-1920s.

Carlo then married my Gramma (whose first husband, Antonio, had died tragically within a year after their marriage) in 1928.

Carlo was the only male member of his family (he had two sisters). In his youth, Carlo was a guide, escorting caravans by horse and on foot and through the Alps from Italy to France and back.

Apparently, Carlo wasn’t cut out to work in the mines (pun intended), so he founded a janitorial service in Portland. After he passed away, the business was assumed and expanded by his son (my uncle), John Valentino Cargni.

Perplexingly, my search for Cargnis, other than my cousins and their immediate family, has revealed nothing: not a single Cargni to be found in all of Italy. However, it appears that “Cargnino” is a popular name in the Piedmont region of Italy near its border with France. Luca Cargnino is a popular soccer player in Turin.

So the search begins. After a week in Genoa visiting our cousins, the Sanguinetis, and a boat tour of Cinque Terre, daughter Gina and I will meet in Turin for a holiday in the Italian Alps and a trip to the small village of Chialamberto to see what we can learn. In case you’re wondering: yes, I was named after my uncle.