Polynose Genealogy

As a seasoned Family Historian with over a quarter-century of delving into the vibrant tapestry of my family’s past, I am fortunate to possess a rich collection of photographs that bring to life the fascinating narratives of my ancestors. My enthusiasm for acquiring these vintage snapshots is well-known among relatives; they often contribute to my collection (replicas are equally treasured), which I handle with the utmost care, right down to wearing white archivist gloves.

Selecting just one photograph for this week’s discussion was a formidable challenge, given the abundance of choices. After much consideration among three top contenders, each with its unique appeal, the decision became apparent. While two of the photos have been longstanding family heirlooms, the third stands out for its remarkable backstory, akin to uncovering a hidden tomb in an Egyptian pyramid. This discovery, bolstered by DNA analysis, bridged a connection to ancient forebears and their living descendants, some of whom I’ve had the privilege to meet. (Rest assured, this genealogical journey involved no disturbance of historical sites.)

Tracing the Maltese-Egyptian Lineage

As mentioned in week two’s post, my great-grandmother Teresa Gatt was Maltese.  A Christmas baby she was born in Sliema, Malta on Dec 18, 1877, the third of 6 children born to Michel Gatt and Teresa Sapienza. Growing up I heard many stories about her elder brother Alfred who had a very successful Ship Chandler business in Egypt.  He lived on an estate with exotic birds and multiple houses for family, including one for a second wife, but that’s another story for another week.  The estate backed onto the desert and was quite palatial.  I have a couple of tiny photos of Teresa with other family members on camels in front of the pyramids of Giza so I knew there had to be some truth about the Egypt connection.

Over the years, I had heard some of the names of my great-grandmother’s siblings as well. Some had stayed in Egypt or Malta and several made their way to New York City or other parts of the world.  Even though my grandfather Mackey had all kinds of fantastical stories about this family, I struggled to find any corroborating photos or family connections to this part of my family tree.  I even paid a Maltese genealogist back in the 1990s (think very early internet days), a small sum of money to trace the family for me.  Through privileged access to church records at the time, he was able to research the family and provided me a basic straight line Gatt tree back to my 12th great-grandfather Vincenzo Gatt born about 1550 in Malta. It didn’t provide the extra children in the families but just the parents of each marriage back through time. It wasn’t much to go on but at least it was something. When you are a genealogist, just like many things in life, persistence is key to success.  However, back in 2004 I had all but given up hope of ever uncovering more about this side of the family, when a simple google search Blew Me Away!

A Mirage or Oasis in the Desert?

I can’t remember specifically what the words were that I typed into google that day in 2004 but it popped up a link to somebody’s early version of a personal web site with a photo of a large family by the name Gatt.  Could this be the same family, I thought?  Within a few clicks on the page I was certain that this was a beautiful old photo of most of my Gatt Family at my great-great Uncle Alfred Gatt’s estate just outside Cairo, Egypt.  In fact, the description on the photo said, “This photo, taken at Uncle Alfred’s villa in Ain Shams, near Cairo, was taken on the occasion of Tessie Gatt and her daughter Agnes’ visit from America to Egypt.” I remember thinking, that’s my great-grandmother and great Aunt Agnes.  After years of searching, I was finally peering back in time to a 1927 family reunion photo that also included the matriarch of the family, my great-great-grandmother, Teresa (Sapienza) Gatt (80 years old at the time of the photo) sitting in the middle of the group. I was even luckier that such a large photo like this had all the names of the individuals identified. What a find!

After several email exchanges with the website owner Kathy, a newly found second cousin of mine, and exchanging of other photos and stories I was satiated but wanting more.  I had expanded my Gatt family contacts in America and Malta, some of whom I have met in person during family vacations and others with whom I have exchanged email messages over the years. More photos were exchanged and it was like a door had been opened to another side of the family.  In spite of all these connections however, I still had no connections back to Egypt. Was there any family still living there? Was Uncle Alfred’s property still in the family? It felt like I was just scratching the surface on the outside of an Egyptian sarcophagus. I desperately wanted more.

Message-in-a-bottle Lands on Foreign Shores

When doing genealogical research on the internet, sometimes it feels like you are throwing a message-in-a-bottle into the ocean and hoping someone will receive it and come looking for you…or at least write you.  Such was the case with the photo above and the online exchange I had with my cousin who had posted the photo. That message-in-a-bottle took almost a decade to reach from a California post to the shores of Egypt. In 2013 a young lady from Egypt named Nour found the photo online and wrote to me through Facebook Messenger.  It was a wonderful message explaining how we were cousins and shared the same gg-grandmother etc. Unfortunately, I didn’t see the message until two years later, in 2015, when I got a message in my Ancestry inbox from her father, Tarek (ooops). Although the amazing photo included above was new to me, it had been on Tarek’s wall for generations.  What are the odds?!  Tarek and I were both so excited to find each other that as we were messaging, he was going around his house in Cairo taking and sending me other family photos from the walls of his house that were taken at the same event in 1927.  Of course, just like any good photo session, there were smaller group photos taken with just his line of the family and mine with our gg-grandmother included.  It was probably one of the greatest experiences I have had in my years of genealogy. 

Reconnecting Family Ties…In Person

In 2016 Nour did her DNA and came up as a match…surprise, surprise! Nour was living in the US at the time and she came and stayed with me and my family in Canada for a summer long weekend.   We had a great time sharing family stories and photos.

Her parents are still in Egypt but this past September we actually met up for the first time, in almost a decade of correspondence.  Tarek and his beautiful wife Mona happened to be visiting the US at the same time that my wife and I were vacationing in Cape Cod. We were able to coordinate a dinner together and had such an AMAZING evening!  Next step…a trip to Egypt to bring the story full circle.   

In the realm of family history, each photograph not only captures a moment in time but also serves as a gateway to undiscovered chapters of our past, waiting to be explored and cherished.

Photos and article © 2024 Bob Power unless otherwise attributed.