Top Tips for Beginning Italian Family History Research | Ancestry

[@catherinekesseler6505]

One thing you should include- Italian married women are often listed on passenger lists with their maiden name.

[@jcortese3300]

Very useful. I wanted to add that the best "trick" I've found to discover what town you come from in Italy (although it's not always successful) is to remember that Italians tended to be somewhat clannish when marrying. Particularly the initial generation of immigrants, especially before 1900, preferred to marry people who came from the same town they came from back home. For example, my last name is EXTREMELY common in Italy, so I never thought I'd be able to find where it came from. Thankfully, my gr-grandfather married someone with a much less common name, and I was able to zero in on their birth town by looking for a town that generated that name AND my own last name. After finding his death records here in the US, I found that I was correct. Look for the intersection of two last names -- it might not work, but it might well point you in the right place!

[@NY2SB1973]

Hi, My name is also Cortese, my grandparents came from Sciacca, Paolo Cortese and Rosa Segreto, any connection?

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

Yes I think this is definitely true. It seems that Piemontese who moved to Illinois initially only married other Piemontese. And then later they would marry other Italians and still later they would marry people from other nations but only if they were Catholic -- Bohemians, Polish, Croatians, Irish, Austrian, French, etc.

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

I have found back to fifth great grandparents in Italy. Talk to family first they are the best information. My grandmother gave me the name of the town to check first in Italy. Italian is a wonderful language to learn. I found an actual website online to learn some basic Italian. And then after I started looking at actual documents I got better. Now it is like an obsession to find more documents. I have also had to learn Latin and refresh my French from high school. Records in my family's old stomping ground (Province of Torino, Region of Piemonte) can go back to 1500s for some comuni (church parish records in Latin) or some only go back to 1700s (some in French) or some only go back to 1823 (church parish records in Latin) or to 1838 (church parish in Italian) or 1866 (Stato Civile or Civil Register in Italian). Also note that within the towns it is NOT uncommon for people to have the exact same name. Three guys all named Antonio Fenoglio Gaddò in the same town all married and having babies at the same time. One was my great great grandfather. One was his first cousin. The other I do not know. You can go back as far as parish records in Latin in 1823 and STILL not be able to figure out all of the people with the same surname as your family -- how they MIGHT be related. More Fallettis in Pertusio and Peronas in Prascorsano than you can count on all your fingers and toes. I might also add that if you check ship passenger lists look at the address of the sponsor and see who all is headed to that same address. They may be from your ancestor's hometown or they could be from one nearby. Marriages are usually recorded in the bride's hometown and sometimes also in the groom's hometown (if he came from elsewhere) but then they might move to his hometown and have their children there. And there could be his relatives and her relatives on the passenger list but all headed to live with Uncle Benedetto in Peoria.

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

Also I am not aware of "counties" in Italy. The divisions I have dealt with are mainly Region, Province and Comune. On the administrative level there are other words in the records such as District or Parish. Parish is often the most important one of all. My great great grandfather and his siblings were all born in the Maternity Hospital in the City of Torino. But the family did not reside at the hospital. They resided in a parish. But, their birth records did not state the name of the parish. Therefore I cannot obtain the name of that parish from those birth records. And if the babies were baptized at the family's church, it is much more difficult to find those baptism records. Hence how important knowing the parish of the family's residence is especially in cities that have tons of different parishes.

[@dbulc5171]

Wow you are very knowledgeable. This was very interesting and true of my Italian side of the family. They were born in Calabria and Sardinia and they traveled back and forth several times.

[@ginaboucher3346]

Thank you for your videos. Very helpful. Love them!

[@laurinatividad225]

Very very excellent information! Thank you so very much 😊

[@AncestryUS]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@carolbianchi7852]

Hi Christa! I hope you all are still monitoring this video. I’m watching as a refresher, and had to laugh at your beginning subject because it’s a dilemma I have now. Have you ever discovered a resource to determine if an immigrant went back to Italy? If I think they went back, what could I look for either here or there? I am eyeball deep in Sicilian ancestors (their naming practices make it a nightmare!) and I can’t find some who were here in 1930. And, Also, yes check the FAN club, they usually end up as future relations. Lol! Thanks for your great videos. Brava!

[@CristaCowan]

Hi Carol. Excellent question. Unfortunately, the United States did not keep track of who was leaving the country, only who was coming in. So, there are no outbound passenger lists. And, as far as I know, there are not currently any inbound passenger lists for people coming to Italy available anywhere. I suspect, as you have stated, that using the FAN club will give you the best results. Look carefully at the friends and extended family who are coming into the United States to see who they list as the person they are coming TO in the U.S. and the nearest relative left behind in Italy. That may give you some timelines to work from. Good luck!

[@porthose2002]

Very helpful. Thank you very much for sharing this.

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

If you get into the actual official government Italian records - I have found that Parte II of the vital civil records (birth, marriage and death) will be the primary location of records of those events which occurred outside of Italy (including in the US). I have found such items as the death of a young man in Alexandria, Egypt (possibly working on the Suez Canal); marriage of a couple in Illinois who retained their Italian citizenship and eventually returned to Italy; and the death of a young man in a mine accident in Colorado. He was not married and his probate records in Colorado listed names and residence of his family in Italy. I have also found a very good source of family information in Italian records -- the Liste di Leva -- Conscription lists of young men eligible for military service. The specific lists I am researching are arranged by order of the years of birth of the young men in question (from 1790 to 1886). The lists were published approximately annually about the year that the men in question were about age 17. The lists are printed alphabetically by surnames for births of that year. The columns contain the full name of the prospective soldier; name of his father and name of his mother (often with her maiden name); day and month of his birth; parish of his birth. The last item is very important to find the baptism record as they are arranged by the parish not necessarily by the comune. Some comuni had more than one parish. And cities had tons of different parishes. The name of that parish pinpoints the exact place to start searching for those church records (baptism, marriage and burial). The earliest levy lists I am using were in French for the first few years and then in Italian. The surnames are usually always in Italian but the given names were initially in French and then later in Italian (for the same people). So you may find a father of one son one year being listed as Jean Baptiste Guglielmino and his wife as Jeanne Marie Perona. But in a later year for another son the same couple might be listed as Giovanni Battista Guglielmino and Giovanna Maria Perona. Some important items I've noted in that research. Also in the earlier records in French the other items (other than the given names) are also in French such as the date and name of the parish. 23 janvier AND Saint-Dalmas in the earlier records would be listed as 23 gennaio AND San Dalmazzo in the later records.

[@AncestryUS]

Hello WhyChromosomesmusic. We're so pleased to see your passion for carrying out Italian research and would like to thank you for sharing your own expertise with our community. Such insights can prove invaluable to those who are just starting out in this type of research and we hope that you will continue to build on your success with many more discoveries in the years ahead. Please feel free to call on our team if ever needed. We hope you enjoy the festive few weeks to come and we hope to chat again sometime in 2023! ☃️🎄

[@jeffreygebauer1253]

My family knew nothing about our family in Italy because every time my great-grandmother got together with her children only spoke Italian so nobody knew what they were talking about. I hired a company to do research for me because as it turns out my family does not come from a big area in Italy but a very tiny hamlet in the Ascoli-Piceno region called Illice and Gerosa. If I didn’t hire this company I wouldn’t know anything cause none of the records from this area are online.

[@AncestryUS]

Thanks for sharing a little of your own family history, Jeffrey! It's wonderful to hear about the superb progress you've made in retracing your family history all the way back to Bella Italia🇮🇹! Have you had the opportunity to visit this small hamlet yet or is this possibly on your wishlist for the future? Thanks again and please call on us anytime you need our support.🌳

[@johnmonterosso3100]

My great grandfather came from sicily

[@delena77]

As well Sicily is a region ( big one) and not a city.

[@brendascott4191]

Where do you get a birth record translated. It’s in Italian I cannot read speak or write italian

[@AncestryUS]

Thanks so much for watching, Brenda! We can recommend checking out the following research guides: support.ancestry.com/s/article/Researching-Italian-Records?language=en_US We hope these can help you in researching Italian records, and we wish you a lovely day!

[@whychromosomesmusic5766]

Is it a church parish baptism and birth or a civil register birth record? Depending on the region and province the words and structure of the records are often the same over and over. Even to the point of the earlier parish records in Latin being very similar to the later ones in Italian. You might try some of the Message Boards at Ancestry of the region and province in question. Some researchers there might be able to help you with that and you might even find potential relatives. It seems that within groups researching ancestry in particular regions and provinces there are at least a few who know Italian and love the language and love to transcribe and translate records. I am not excellent in Italian but I am taking a course online and am improving all of the time. I can probably transcribe (as long as it's not too scribbled) and translate at least 85 per cent or more of most official documents for Province of Torino, Region of Piemonte and sometimes for other regions and provinces (usually also in the north). Primarily because the words used in the official documents pretty much stay the same for years and years. If you read one document you can bet that others are going to be almost carbon copies of that one. ;-) Happy Hunting.

[@nextlifetimebrendan3940]

I know one specific town and another region but I cant find records...Benevento,Benevento,Campania and around Catania/ MT Etna Sicily. Any Help?

[@Dembonz49]

Thank you!

[@ugocappelletti6319]

Umbria is a region, not a city. You have to know the name of the city to seek

[@UniPC]

I am 5th generation that where born in Puerto Rico. my family came from Corsica, France. But I was told that we had Italian. So, I don't know what to do next. I got as far as 1856. what do I do?

[@AncestryUS]

Follow the records. What is that 1854 record? Where was it from? What does it tell you? (Crista)

[@joeymedina1351]

Eunice P C I'm Puerto Rican also and I tested really high in Italy/Greece.I uploaded to ged match and I got Corsica,Tuscany, Abruzzo and Sicily.When I was a baby my grandmother always called me Giuseppe which I thought was strange.

[@victorglaviano]

Corsica or Corsicana is or was a disputed territory between France and Italy. So if you have Corsican ancestors it's a good possibility you could be Italian.

[@RowenaIelusig-p4z]

I’m trying to find my husband last name is from Como her last name is nerigini

[@UniPC]

my maiden name is Crescioni

[@annmarch]

Actually Northern Italians emigrated more to the American continent than Southern Italians

[@CristaCowan]

Prior to 1870 about 25,000 Italian immigrants came to the U.S. - the majority of them from Northern Italy as refugees from the wars that accompanied Italian unification and independence. However, from 1870-1914, more than 4 million Italians immigrated to the U.S. The majority of them were from Southern Italy due to poverty and tax burdens.

[@pinkstar1356]

I have my mother family who were from Italy and change there last name . (Revedo to Revada) . They were some of them who move to Spain, Lugo.Then move to United State. The city that they move to was California and then to Austin, Texas. My question is How can I find more information on a place that is call Umbria, Italy.How can I find more records on this family. Thank you!

[@Federico84]

Hilliard Floyd i don't understand why people used to change their names

[@jojoohno7401]

Remember they didn’t speak English , and the person recording the info just put down what they thought they were saying