Shaking the (family) tree

Ever heard of Wells, Nevada? It's a small town in the northeastern part of the state. I know of it because my mother grew up there. My great-grandfather, Sebastiano Quilici, came to Wells from Lucca, Italy, back in the early 1900s, and he brought with him his two sons, Gino (my grandfather) and Leone. At some point they established a general store on the town's main street, and called it S. Quilici & Sons. Sebastiano went back to Italy, but the two sons ran the store for many years, and kept that name. The store has been vacant for some time, but it still has the name on the storefront, and exists as part of a historic row of facades on what used to be a busy street. I was surprised to see Wells in the news this morning as the victim of an earthquake, and even more surprised to see a photo accompanying the story showing my grandfather's old store. It looks like it fared a little better than its neighbors. I read that the historic 140-year-old brothel across the railroad tracks was especially hit hard. Thankfully, no one was seriously injured. (Photo credit: AP Photo/Elko Daily Free Press, Ross Anderson)