This book is dedicated to all my ancestors — Irish, Italian, and American—but especially to my maternal grandmother, Louise Ditoto Lombardo (1911 - 1991). I often think about how much she would have enjoyed the Internet and the many places she could have visited and things she could have learned, all without leaving the comfort of her favorite chair.

Also to my daughters, Hannah and Eliza, who have never known a world without the Internet. It's difficult to imagine the technology that will be commonplace when they are my age, but I can only hope that they will continue to use it to research, record, and share our family history with their children.