HELLO ; GOOD DAY ; This letter is to inform you who I am , and what I'm trying to accomplish . Two years ago I started to wonder , how many Cira's are in this country ? And where are they now ? Who are they and who is related to whom ? Well I started by reading about genealogy and how to research for the facts , namely , the census's , ship passenger listings , libraries , Mormon family history centers , Federal government libraries , Social security death index , genealogy libraries , and through the Internet , and etc . . Its been a long and tedious research project , and a labor of love , that will go on forever , a never ending project ! Why ? because as long as there is a male Cira alive ! The surname will continue forever ??? I will be sending this letter to all the Cira families on my mailing list , which includes the United States , Canada , Sicily , about 533 people so far ! Or about 125 families ! And graciously requesting a family tree from each and everyone , a form will be included for this purpose , asking only for the bare essentials , full names and/or maiden names , birthdays , dates of any deceased members , spouses , brothers , sisters , aunts , uncles , grandfathers , grandmothers , sons , daughters , past or present . This is necessary to construct and build a family tree/genealogy . This may seem like an intrusion on your privacy , is so I'm sorry , but I'm only asking for facts about your relationships to each other , and who's related to whom ?? This way I can build a giant family tree including each and every Cira and relative past and present , that I will share with all of you , and pass along this tree to each and every one of you . . If you ever asked yourself , "Who are those other Cira's ?? This will be the way to find out ! Sharing information with each other , about your relatives , past and present , how are we related to the other Cira's ? All I ask is a little cooperation from all the Cira families and/or relatives , and that question may/will be answered ?? The TRUTH may hurt you , but I ask that you look beyond that and look at the history of ALL the Cira's who came to this country of opportunity to seek a better lifestyle than they had in Italy ! I personally believe that we are ALL related in some small indirect way , . There are too many similarities in our past history to ignore ! All the Cira's I have researched so far have came here from Southern Italy or Sicily . ! Now the question remains , How are we related ? That will come from your replies and sharing that information with each other ! There is a Internet Website that I have created for this purpose at :> "pw1.netcom.com/~kb6axk/index.html " . Its called the Cira Family Genealogy Homepage ! Also you can mail, to me ,at my home ,the filled out form . Which I will enter into the genealogy software database that I use for all the information received from you . and create family trees per family and send to your home address . If you have any questions to ask of me , feel free to call or write me and ask ? I'm here to help all of you . if I can ? Visit the web site every two months , that's when I update it ! This is a labor of love , both for myself , and others , and I will not accept any money for my efforts , just sharing histories and genealogies , is enough for me ! We do it the old fashion way , we trade info !? IF you have a computer and want to use your own genealogy software , my recommendation is use Brothers Keeper V5.2f for Windows , which is the software I use here . Once you become familiar with it , I will send you a gedcom file of every bit of Cira research information I have in it ! Right now I have bits of info on about 1026 Cira's and/or relatives of Cira's on file in the database so far in just two years ! And more coming each month ? The oldest known Cira on file was born in 1781 in Termini Imerese , Sicily !! That's 217 years ago , so the Cira surname has been around a loooonng time ! Included with this letter is the family/group sheet form I talked about , plus some info I can share with you now , different lists ....Cira work in progress , my genealogy tree , Cira email list , copy of the webpage , Surname/Relative list , My family group sheet, The first mailing of this letter/info packet will be mailed to the Cira's in the USA then Canada then Sicily ..if you know of anyone, who has not received this letter/packet , please give them a photo copy of yours or give me their mailing address and I will send them a set/copy ! If the information you supply me is to be kept private , please inform me , and I will not pass/share it with the others ? Please be specific in your request ? All the information/genealogies I have on file in my genealogy software will fit on two disc's , all the lists , gedcom file , group sheets , all of it . If you have a computer and the genealogy software , I can provide the disc's you need with all the data on it ! When you send me the filled out family/group sheet form , please specify your request for the data/info disc's ! If you have any corrections , noticed any errors , noticed any omissions , in the lists that are included ? Please send me the corrections , in a separate letter and I will correct the database ! If you started your own family tree , I'd love to see it , please send me a photo copy !!! OUR time on this earth is too short , my wish is that someone will follow in my footsteps and continue this labor of love , and continue the Cira families genealogy/research !!! All this info will be a jump start for someone else to work with ?? If you see your name , birthday , spouse on the "COMPLETE, Work in Progress" list , it was sent in to me by another family member or relative or yourself !?! CHECK it for accuracy anyway ?? Five (5) years ago , I didn't own a PC computer , now that I have one ,and the genealogy software to use , I have been a very busy researcher ..the genealogy software sure does help a lot . charts,trees,lists,etc. Warmest regards, Joseph A. Cira 64 NORTH BERKELEY AVE. PASADENA,CA 91107-3548 phone;> 626-584-9071 email ;> kb6axk@ix.netcom.com FAX:> 213-922-3830