# Workbench - Family History

Append-only session log. Newest first.

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## 2026-09-29 15:45 -- [Tool: Claude Code]

**Focus:** Photo hunt across the 15+ obituary cards, then integrate into the deployed obituaries.html.

**What happened:**
- Found and downloaded 6 photos to `brain/family-history/_report/photos/`:
  1. Betty L. Galavotti portrait (J. Homer Ball tribute page, 293x440)
  2. Ursula M. Mosher portrait (Sugar & Scanlon Funeral Home, 500x514)
  3. Ray Jr Galavotti portrait in uniform (Legacy.com / Oneida Daily Dispatch, 600px)
  4. Salinsky shared headstone at Pine Plains (Find A Grave 67855972, 1268x813) — visible on stone: Uncle Joseph A. Alexander 1914-1992, Wife Bernice E. 1919-1987, Husband John L. 1924-1987, Father John P. 1895-1993. Marriage seal centered June 27, 1953. **Confirms John P. Salinsky's death year of 1993.**
  5. Galavotti mausoleum wall at Saint Agatha (Find A Grave 84686825/84686862, 640x480) — Ranato & Rose top row, Donald (1957-2002) + Muriel Nasti + Marion Willmann below. **Confirms Rose Micheletti Galavotti dates: Feb 7 1903 - Apr 1 2000.**
  6. Ray Jr's flat marker at Lenox Rural (Find A Grave 180710978, downsized to 1200x900) — his portrait shows him in a police-style uniform against US flag, worth surfacing with Alex.
- Bonus discoveries during the hunt:
  - Sugar & Scanlon Funeral Home (147 W. 4th St, Oswego) handled Ursula's funeral, **NOT Dain-Cullinan** as prior notes assumed. Corrected in obituaries.html.
  - Ranato/Rose fine mausoleum names visible on wall: Donald Galavotti (1957-2002), Muriel R. Nasti, Marion B. Willmann — these are likely more of Alex's paternal relatives to add to future family-tree runs.
  - Betty is now on Find A Grave: memorial **305541505** ("Betty L. Britton Galavotti"). Her memorial has no on-page photo yet but the Ray Jr thumbnail strip surfaced her ID.
  - Rosa Galavotti is a **Studio Technician** at WJLA-TV per ZoomInfo, not a director. Handoff note error corrected.
  - Ray Jr Legacy URL redirects: canonical is `oneidadispatch/name/raymond-galavotti-obituary?id=20004757`, older pid 185883952 forwards there.
  - Bernice's Find A Grave slug is `bernice-e-salinsky` (no underscore), corrected from the earlier `bernice-e_-salinsky` URL that was in obituaries.html.
- HTML update: added `.photo` CSS rule, dropped `<div class="photo">` blocks into 6 of 12 cards with source-link captions and click-to-source. Preserved all existing copy.
- Redeployed to Cloudflare Pages: https://alex-family-history.pages.dev/obituaries.html (deploy-specific https://d494c583.alex-family-history.pages.dev).

**Not found (documented, not fabricated):**
- Alfred F. Mosher (2008): Legacy.com uses generic candle icon, Dain-Cullinan direct URL 5307867 is dead-linked to their current obits archive. Free path exhausted.
- Charles W. "Geepa" Mosher (2005): no Find A Grave memorial in Oswego area, no online obit found. Would need Oswego Historian or Palladium-Times April-May 2005 microfilm.
- Charles W. Mosher Sr, Nellie Moody Mosher, Laura Adeline Wilson, Robert Alexander Wilson: no Find A Grave hits, no free obit hits. Wilson-side wall still holds.

**Skipped intentionally (per Tier 3 rule):**
- Raymond M. Galavotti, Rosa M. Galavotti, Jennifer M. Galavotti Mueller, Larry Britton, Martha Ann Wilson Greenwood, James & Nancy Galavotti, Jean Galavotti Lewis. These live on LinkedIn / Facebook and would need Alex's logged-in Chrome to reach without hitting login walls. Deferred for a session where Alex is at his own machine.

**Decisions:**
- [DECISION] Kept the shared headstone photo (Salinsky, Galavotti) used across both cards on the same plot, rather than sourcing separate close-ups. Rationale: the photo tells the true story of a shared family plot, which is more meaningful than two identical crops.
- [DECISION] Kept the smaller Legacy.com Ray Jr portrait (600x600) rather than the tiny 130x154 Find A Grave portrait. Rationale: Legacy version is higher-res.
- [DECISION] Corrected Ursula's funeral home to Sugar & Scanlon inline in the HTML source block, not just in workbench. Rationale: the wrong-funeral-home data would send Alex to the wrong door on the Wednesday Oswego visit.

**Key files:** brain/family-history/_report/obituaries.html, brain/family-history/_report/photos/ (6 new files, 1.4MB total)

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## 2026-09-28 22:36 -- [Tool: Claude Code]

**Focus:** Deep prep for the upstate NY family-history trip Sep 29 - Oct 2. Grandparents-focused: locate cemeteries, plot numbers, contact routes for bio-father Raymond + living family.

**What happened:**
- Roy's parents CONFIRMED at Pine Plains, Clay NY, Sect 5 Lot 21G — both John Leo Salinsky + Bernice (Poplaski) Salinsky in the same plot per Find A Grave memorials 67855972 + 67856307. Gravestone photo already exists (Cheryl Parsons, 2018).
- Pulled Julie's full voice-note archive from mom-line EC2 (Drive backup was empty — bug flagged). Unlocked the entire Wilson/Mosher line: Robert Alexander Wilson (died late 90s Oneida, NYS Dept Agriculture), Laura Adeline (Mosher) Wilson (born 1917 Oswego, died Aug 21 1973 brain tumor), maternal great-grandparents Charles W. + Nellie (Moody) Mosher, Julie's uncle Alfred F. Mosher (his 2008 obit named Laura as predeceased sister).
- Located 7 Mosher relatives at St. Peter's Cemetery Oswego via Diocese of Syracuse "Locate a Loved One" search: Charles William "Geepa" (uncle, exact plot All Saints Mausoleum · 3 St Joseph's Patio · Block 101 · Lot B · Grave 2A), Alfred, Thomas, Anne, Marion Sr, Ellen, Ursula (great-aunt-by-marriage, died Feb 5 2026 age 97 — Alex met her via Roy). Laura is NOT in either Catholic cemetery — needs cemetery office call to resolve.
- Bio-side corrections: Ranato "Ray" Galavotti (great-grandfather) + Rose Micheletti at Saint Agatha Cemetery Canastota, NOT Lenox Rural. Ray Jr + Betty at Lenox Rural per Betty's Aug 2026 obit. Betty's obit surfaced full paternal side: uncle James + Nancy (Hilton Head), aunt Jean (Galavotti) Lewis in Chester VA (previously unknown), living great-uncle Larry Britton in Munnsville.
- Half-sisters confirmed: Rosa M. Galavotti (LinkedIn, WJLA-TV director → Fox5 DC, Arlington VA) + Jennifer M. Galavotti Mueller (LinkedIn NRLA Coordinator + Facebook Coeymans Hollow FD secretary, Spokeo confirmed parents Raymond M + Tammy M). LinkedIn DMs sent to both.
- Bookings: Amtrak 281 (conf 20690F, $86), Budget Chrysler Pacifica (conf 04688343US2, $246.96), Comfort Inn Carrier Circle (conf 6329916698, PIN 7041, $387.50). All folded into calendar with real times + phone numbers per travel rule 18.
- Both of Raymond's phone numbers (315-697-9994 and 315-697-2546) are dead. Pivoted to USPS Certified Mail with Restricted Delivery. Letter drafted and saved to Google Doc (id 18bexUX2v0Dh_FItSu6ufRZ_EyPo2vq1NEB2QiVoW6Rc).
- HTML report deployed to Cloudflare Pages: https://alex-family-history.pages.dev (project alex-family-history, source brain/family-history/_report/index.html). Contains who's-buried-where matrix, day-by-day route, contact table, family tree with dual father lines, Julie's voice-note transcripts. WhatsApp link sent to Alex via Meta Cloud API.
- Calendar built: 15 events across Sep 29 - Oct 2 with addresses + phone numbers per travel rule 18. Wed = Oswego (Historian → St. Peter's Cemetery → Dain-Cullinan funeral home). Thu FLIPPED after discovering Pine Plains hours are M-F 8am-noon: Pine Plains morning (Roy's parents), Lenox Rural afternoon (Ray Jr + Betty). Tuesday 11 AM ET call block created with scripts for J. Homer Ball, St. Peter's, Pine Plains, Dain-Cullinan, Oswego Historian.
- Dispatched Explore subagent for FultonHistory/NYSHN obit hunt — Laura's exact obit text still not free online, but subagent confirmed her name in Uncle Alfred's obit and pulled Ursula = widow of Charles "Geepa" Mosher + 3 living daughter cousins: Linda Enwright (Oswego), Mary Rebeor (Fulton), Pamela Caswell (MA).
- Aunt Martha Ann Wilson (Julie's full sister) alive in Virginia, now Martha Greenwood — noted for post-trip follow-up.
- 23andMe check done live with Alex: no half-sister matches (Rosa/Jennifer haven't tested there), but Megan B + Clyde Britton showing on the Britton line + Barbara Duffy on the Galavotti line. Ancestry composition confirms Ray is bio: 1.5% Slavic vs expected ~45% if Roy were biological.

**Decisions:**
- [DECISION] Certified Mail with Restricted Delivery to Raymond, mailed from NYC Tue morning, reason: both phone numbers dead + Restricted Delivery is the postal product that forces the addressee to sign personally with ID (Tammy can't intercept).
- [DECISION] Thursday cemetery order FLIPPED to Pine Plains morning + Lenox Rural afternoon, reason: Pine Plains website says "Open Monday-Friday 8am-12pm" — ambiguous whether office or gate hours, so scheduling within the confirmed-open window removes the risk.
- [DECISION] Trip scoped to GRANDPARENTS only (Roy's parents, Ray M's parents, Julie's parents) — great-grandparents (Saint Agatha, Herkimer Calvary) demoted to bonus, reason: Alex explicitly refocused to reduce emotional load and travel time.
- [DECISION] Wednesday records-office visits pruned to Historian + St. Peter's + Dain-Cullinan; dropped Richardson-Bates Museum, Oswego Clerk, Madison County Historian, reason: those become useful only if the higher-yield stops fail; not worth the calendar weight otherwise.
- [DECISION] Report deployed to a dedicated Cloudflare Pages project (alex-family-history) rather than folded into the fall-arc private hub, reason: this is its own long-lived artifact and future-family reference, not just a trip page.

**Still open:**
- Laura (Mosher) Wilson's actual cemetery — needs St. Peter's Cemetery office call Tuesday morning.
- Robert Alexander Wilson (Julie's dad) Oneida obit — free-online paths exhausted, needs Oswego historian or Newspapers.com paid trial.
- Ray Jr + Betty exact plot section at Lenox Rural — needs J. Homer Ball funeral home call Tuesday morning.
- Pine Plains gate hours confirmation — needs cemetery office call Tuesday morning.
- Raymond's response to the certified letter (5+ days out).
- LinkedIn responses from Rosa + Jennifer (unknown timeline).
- Larry Britton response via Facebook / funeral home relay.
- Mom-line Drive backup bug — folder empty despite EC2 archive having ~25 voice notes; needs debugging when Alex is home.
- Ursula Mosher's 3 daughters (Linda Enwright, Mary Rebeor, Pamela Caswell) — real living Mosher cousins reachable independently, held for post-trip.

**Key files:** brain/family-history/upstate-ny-visit.md, brain/family-history/_report/index.html (deployed to alex-family-history.pages.dev), Google Doc "Letter to Raymond M. Galavotti - Sep 2026" (id 18bexUX2v0Dh_FItSu6ufRZ_EyPo2vq1NEB2QiVoW6Rc), 15+ Google Calendar events Sep 29 - Oct 2, brain/.claude/rules/travel-planning.md (added Calendar Event Standards section earlier in the day)

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