Basic Background

My name is Lauren Milatzo. I am 22 years old, born and raised in Cheyenne, Wyoming where I have lived all my life. But this hasn't always been the case for my family. Our roots started somewhere and now we are here. I do not know much about my mother's parents as they died when I was at such a young age. They also never talked much about our family history but I know some information. My father's side of the family, on the other hand is very proud of where we came from such as our culture, language and religion. From a young age, my Grandma ahs taught us about our family. She loves to inform us often about our family and our upcoming. 
It is interesting to me for what I know about my families, but my interest has sparked recently to know a little bit more. This blog will mostly be about my father's side, as I do not have easy access to detailed information on my mother's family history.

To start out, I will talk about my mother's parents: John Haney Quirk and Mary Elaine Quirk (Rodgers). From what I know as of now, my Grandpa was German and my Grandma was Irish. What a mix! My Grandpa's father died at a young age, so my Grandpa was adopted which makes things a little bit harder to narrow down the history. On my Mom's side of the family, she has one brother and two sisters. They are all married, but not all of them have children. I have three cousins between two of them. My Grandpa retired as a United States Marine and my Grandma was a housewife.

With my Dad's family basics and parents: Vito Milatzo (Vic) and Maria Gloria Angelina Milatzo (Naranjo). My Grandpa was born in Palermo, Sicily Italy and is full Italian. My Grandma was born in Mora County, New Mexico and she is full Spanish. There are some discrepancies in our family history as some say we originated  in Spain and others say Mexico.  She is very proud of our family history so I have semi got it sorted out. We have a very large family. My Dad has one brother and four sisters which are all married. Combined, I have 20 cousins from the five of them. Things tend to get a little chaotic when we are all together, but we love having such a big family!

For this blog I will be discussing my father's family history dealing with culture, language, religion, and how we became established here in Cheyenne, Wyoming!