Unexpected Inventors!

 Last week I was catching up on my free Family Tree podcasts and listened to Lisa Louise Cooke interview Randy Seaver on their Best Genealogy Websites. Mr. Seaver started his blogging in 2006 and blogs nearly 1000x in a year–all about tricks, tips, and his own family history on a Blog called Genea-Musings. I have only just scratched the surface on my explorations of his website but I signed up to read his postings. On Saturdays, he hosts “Saturday Night fun” and invites everyone to join in and blog!

So, this blog is me joining in on the fun with the prompt “Share something unexpected that you’ve found while researching an ancestor”. I am constantly amazed by findings and I often write about them in my blogs, so this entry is just one of the most recent unexpected findings.

Searching for Patents

In the recent article of Family Tree Magazine, “How to search for patents for your ancestors” by Lisa Alzo, she offered a (new to me) Google application called Google Patents (patents.google.com). I hadn’t heard any stories or knew of any inventors in the family so I randomly chose surnames to plop into the search field. As expected, there weren’t any hits for a while, until I entered Mazziotti!

Great Uncle John is 2nd from the right in the back row.
My Uncle Bob is 2nd from the right in the front row.

My great-grandparents, Emanuel and Concetta Mazziotti had 6 sons

and 1 daughter, with my grandfather Rocco Joseph Mazziotti being the oldest son. One of my grandfather’s younger brothers was John Paul Mazziotti (1912-1979). He was the third son and the last to be “born on” the J.D. Rockefeller Estate, Kykuit, in Pocantico Hills. According to his obituary he spent his working career as a millwright for General Motors.

His name popped up with one patent, filed in 1947, for a golf club! I was so surprised, who knew?! The next day I asked my 84 year old father, who knew his uncle well, if he knew about a patent in the Mazziotti family. At first, nothing came to mind and then I shared a copy of the patent and he said, “Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Actually, I have one of the clubs, he had a bunch made up and gave them to his brothers.” (My dad’s dad kept it and so did my dad.) 

You might be wondering, a patent for a golf club? Well, it turns out that the Emanuel Mazziotti family were heavily influenced by John D. Rockefeller, Sr, who happened to be an avid golfer. He had a 9 hole (played forward and backwards for 18-holes) golf course built on Kykuit so that he could play everyday. He thought that playing golf would keep him active so he could live to 100 (he made it to 97). Stories through the family say Emanuel caddied for him on occasion and shared the interest in golf with his sons. The 2nd son, Joseph Anthony Mazziotti (1910-2002), was a member of the PGA (Professional Golfers Association) since 1929 and played on the PGA tours in the 1930s and 1940s and served as a Golf Pro teaching lessons at country clubs (obituary).

So, maybe it was my Uncle John’s own interest in golfing or it was something he shared with his brother? I don’t know. But after I told my dad about this patent he said that Uncle John was an inventor and he thought had many patents while working for GM. I didn’t find others but I’m guessing he may not have received credit for those done in the line of work.

The Big Surprise!

My Uncle Bob

Tonight, as I was revisiting the work I did this summer, I came across another Mazziotti who submitted a patent. My dad’s brother, Robert Mazziotti/Massey (1941-2014), had a patent! My Uncle Bob was a lifelong friend of Mike Ilitch and worker for Little Caesar’s Pizza, starting with the Ilitch’s nearly from the beginning in 1959. He eventually became the Senior Vice President in charge of franchising and was well-known to franchisees for his inspirational speeches in Las Vegas at the annual convention. 

His patent? “Method of Providing Managers an Opportunity to Own Their Own Businesses”.

My Uncle Bob was all about helping others, he used to answer his phone with “Thank you for letting me brighten your day, what am I going to do for you today?” He loved Little Caesar’s and wanted anyone willing to work hard and invest a little money to become an owner. In a little googlesearch I came across an article about Vicky Dunn-Marshall, a CEO of VDM Managing Group that owns 24 Little Caesar’s in Franchising.com who credits Mr. I and Bob Massey with where she is today.

What fun to know that he actually held a patent for his ideas about how to help others in their businesses!