P.O.I.N.T.
Italian Genealogy Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

B. ITALIAN GENEALOGY IN GENERAL

B1: What reference books are there dealing with Italian genealogy?

Manual For Italian Genealogy

Annuario Generale, Comuni e Frazioni d'Italia

Annuario Cattolico d'Italia

Handy Guide to Italian Genealogical Records

Genealogy in Italy

Handy Guide to Italian Genalogical Records

Records of Genealogical Value for Italy

Italian Americans: Looking Back-Moving Forward

Dewayne J. Lener has published the following books about researching Italian roots.

Possible sources for purchasing books concerning Italian genealogy:

AGLL has an advertisement in the "Genealogical Helper" which states that their e-mail address is: sales@agll.com

A listing for their homepage shows: http://www.xmission.com/~agll/

B2: Is there a mail order business that specializes in ethnically oriented items, such as T-Shirts, jewerly, regional symbols, etc., and has a catalog?

Carmy Destito Buttice is the owner. This is a small family business and while she does not have a fancy catalog, she does have many nice items for you to purchase and at reasonable prices. She does have mailings that she can send.

B3: What organizations provide help with Italian genealogy?

There are numerous local Italian-American genealogy organizations, and at least 3 national organizations:

PURSUING OUR ITALIAN NAMES TOGETHER (POINT), was founded in 1987 and has over 1000 members. Dues for members in North America are US$30.00 per year, overseas dues are US$50.00 per year. POINT publishes a quarterly journal of at least 60 pages called "POINTers," and maintains a data base of all names being researched by members. You can get info about POINT by sending an e-mail to:POINTer01@aol.com (the characters after "POINTer" are a zero and a number one - not the letters "O" and "L".)

The ITALIAN GENEALOGICAL GROUP (IGG), founded in 1994, publishes a newsletter 10 times a year, conducts monthly meetings, and has an excellent new member packet. Dues are US$15.00 annually. E-mail contact is: JDeLalio@aol.com. Mailing address is:

The ITALIAN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA (IGSA) is based in New England, was also founded in 1994, conducts several meetings and has a quarterly newsletter called LO SPECCHIO. Dues are US$15 per year. Mail inquiries to:

B4: Is there any computer software to assist in writing and/or translating Italian?

Italian Assistant is a reasonably priced product that makes reasonable translations of Italian documents. There is some follow up work required to make a completely understandable English translation and requires some time spent with an Italian/English dictionary. However the more you use the product and the more words you add to the software's dictionary the better translations you get. To help the beginner (of the software) there is a supplemental dictionary available from PIE user John Gerrard at johng@aztec.asu.edu just for the asking that gets the new user off to a start by adding a lot of words including genealogical terms to the product. This supplemental dictionary can also be downloaded from Tony Cimorelli's web page at: http://www.cimorelli.com/pie/tools.htm.

B5: Is there any computer software or are there any books to help me learn Italian?

Software

Title: Berlitz Basic Italian

Title: First Steps in Italian

Title: Hotel Europa Italia: Business Italian Multimedia CD-ROM

Title: Italian Jr

Title: Italian Now!

Books

A large volume with the Title "1st 1000 Words in Italian" [ISBN 08602d0-768 4]. It portrays various settings and situations and the words and phrases that fit those situations. This is a book that someone who has never been exposed to the Italian Language would get benefit from. It is a colorful and well presented book. For those of you who are interested in buying this book, you could call or write.

The price of the Book is $12.95 plus shipping and handling. They will accept phone credit card orders. To all of you that are beginners or new to the Italian language, this would be a good start.

B6: Where can I obtain maps of Italy?

You can write to one of the following addresses to ask for a catalog:

B7: How can I obtain copies of maps of Italy from the Library of Congress?

Write to:

Make sure to list (if possible) the comune, town, village, city, province and region. Also some maps are available for certain time periods (such as 1890 or 1920).

B8: What resources will help me find towns in Italy and their postal codes?

The "Annuario generale, comuni e frazioni d'Italia". 1993 Milano: Touring Club Italiano, 1968 and published every 5 years thereafter. The book claims to list EVERY town in Italy, even those that are no longer populated. So far, I have been able to locate- given the right place name-every town asked about, including places with populations of less than 100 persons.The information given includes:

Using the World Wide Web (WWW) you can find a postal code in Italy by pointing your browser to: http://www.crs4.it/~france/CAP/icap.html

B9: How can I find out what my family name means?

There are books that you can find in your library or which you can purchase which may have information about what your family name means.

B10: How can I find out the English equivalent to an Italian first name?

Sources for Given Names translations:

Click here to link to a web page containing English equivalents to Italian first names: http://www.tju.edu/~johnsto1/givename.html

B11: How can I find a list of Italian occupations?

Click here to link to a web page containing a list of occupations: http://www.tju.edu/~johnsto1/italjobs.html

B12: I know how to access the World Wide Web, are there any web sites that specialize in Italian genealogy or other Italian subjects?

Here is an annotated list of useful Web sites gleaned from PIE during the beginning of 1996. Obviously, no such list can ever be totally complete or totally objective, but this probably hits the ones that the most people have found the most useful for Italian genealogy work. (Sorry, no Italian recipes here -- the list is long enough)

If you know of (or personally maintain) alternate Web sources for similar information (such as various lists on private home pages), it would be helpful if you could contact the page owners and encourage them to contribute to a single source that everyone could link to directly (such as the Italian Genealogy Homepage). Multiple versions of information on the Web often do more harm than good.

http://www.italgen.com/ - Italian Genealogy Homepage well-focused and professional many useful links, including:

http://www.italgen.com - Italian Surname Database (online subset of POINT directory)

http://www.italia.com/epi/city_loc/form.html - Italian Village Locator (not detailed, but very complete, including regional map, CAP postal code and telephone prefix)

http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/~saw/genealogy.html - Genealogy Homepage (extremely wide-ranging)

http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/~saw/FHC/fhc.html - locations of LDS Family History Centers

http://www.saritel.interbusiness.it/pge/LoginPgeEn.html and http://www.saritel.interbusiness.it/cgi-bin/pge/ANONYMOUS/anonymous/sess/02 - Italian Yellow Pages (plagued by chronic error messages) enter category "religione" to list all active churches in a comune

Note: There is still no online Italian residential directory.

http://www.albany.net/allinone/ - well-organized collection of several dozen general search utilities particularly recommended are:

http://www.switchboard.com/ - USA white page directories (telephone, address, zip) wildcard logic works reliably in white pages *ONLY IF* first name is blank -- otherwise, "no matches found" can mean "more than one match found" printing/saving is deliberately made inconvenient for bulk queries

http://www.bigyellow.com/ - USA yellow pages

http://www.xmission.com/~americom/aclookup.html and http://www.555-1212.com/aclookup.html - USA area codes

http://www.usps.gov/ncsc/lookups/lookup_zip+4.html - USA zip codes

http://www.iaf.net/ - Internet Address Finder

http://www.four11.com/another E-mail directory service

http://www.altavista.digital.com/ - search Web or Usenet by word or phrase

http://savvy.cs.colostate.edu:2000/ - query about 20 search engines simultaneously

http://www.infoseek.com/ - very popular general-use search package

http://www.c2.net/~buttle/tel/ - collection of on-line international telephone directories

http://lcweb.loc.gov/z3950/mums2.html and http://marvel.loc.gov/z3950/mums2.html - Library of Congress author-title search limited hours of availability

http://www.vtourist.com/vt/usa.htm - simple outline map of the lower 48 United States

http://www.census.gov/stat_abstract/profile.html - simple outline map of all 50 states; click to select state/county detail excellent on screen, but color shading makes printouts difficult to read

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/county_outline.html - county outline maps of all 50 states large files are slow to view or print, but very clear and detailed

http://www.cimorelli.com/maps.htm - detailed maps of Italy and regions (from Touring Club Italiano)

http://ragno.ats.it/ and http://www.ats.it/wpages/ - search Italian E-mail addresses and Web sites (Ragno = Italian Spider = WebCrawler) extremely incomplete -- even on the Italian Internet, US search engines are usually much more thorough

http://www.willamette.edu/~tjones/forms/italian.html and http://dictionary.logos.it/query.html - "experimental" translation dictionaries already linked into hundreds of Web sites, but still woefully primitive -- TJones did not know rother=Fratello; Logos did not know Sister=Sorella! so forget these for a while; invest a few lire in a paperback dictionary

http://www.globalink.com/xlate.html - E-mail version of "Barcelona" translation software 500-word documents currently processed free within 24 hours excellent idea, but could not get it to work properly

http://www.cimorelli.com/italasst.htm - John Gerrard's supplemental dictionary for Italian Assistant software (file requires unzipping)

http://www.tju.edu/~johnsto1/geneindx.html - Italian occupations, Italian given names, and their English equivalents new submissions are automatically forwarded to PIE for comments

gopher://unix6.nysed.gov:70/11/research-service - index to New York State Archives info

http://www.csp.it/reti_civiche.html - Italian Civic Networks links to information on dozens of cities in Italy, US, and elsewhere -- history, culture, shields/flags, local news, directories, photos, etc. various mixtures of Italian, English, and other languages

http://www.initaly.com/initaly/ and http://www.lainet.com/initaly/ and http://abruzzolink.nautilus.it/ and http://csi2000.csi.it/~piemonte/ and http://www.sicily.cres.it/ - similar information on the various regions of Italy

http://www.city.net/ - similar information on 2000 cities around the world can be extremely slow

http://www.italyemb.nw.dc.us/italy/bbs/msgs.html - Italian Embassy Homepage (Washington DC) bulletin board for posting messages or queries not clear how productive this will be

http://diemme.diemme.it/italiani/ and http://www.diemme.it/italiani/ - Italians in the World names and brief messages submitted by users, sorted by region of Italy, edited and updated haphazardly by site managers -- not even alphabetized(in other words, authentic Italian disorganization!)

http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Internet/WWW/HTMLPrimer.html - the basic technical guide for producing your own Web pages

http://www.dsi.unimi.it/Users/sadun/cshp.html - an Italian version

http://www.sunysb.edu/cis/ - Center for Italian Studies State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook, New York 11794-3358 - Phone: (516) 632-7444

B13: Are there any books I can read about my Italian heritage?

B14: Are there any books I can read about Italian history?

B15: What is the "Certificato di Stato de Famiglia" and how do I obtain it?

Italian cities keep a record called "certificato di stato di famiglia" [Certificate of Family Status]. This document shows the composition of the family unit, including names and dates and places of birth, etc. of all family members living when the document was prepared.

Although some towns kept this record from about 1870 on, the keeping of the 'certificato' did not become wide-spread until after about 1911. The certificato is obtained from the Ufficio di Anagrafe (Office of the Census) of the town or city. There may also be a second document with the same name prepared by the ufficio di stato civile {Office of Vital Records]. This document is sometimes called "stato di famiglia originario" [Original State of the Family].

This document includes not only those members present at the time the document was prepared but all members of the family, past and present, including those who have moved away or died. On rare occasions, even where the document does not exist, the archivist may search other vital records for the information that would otherwise be included in the certificato.

A genealogist once requested the certificato. The archivist advised that it was not kept for the period of interest. However, he included copies of 11 other birth, death and marriage certificate which extended the genealogist's family by at least 2 generations!

B16: How do I research my ancestor’s arrival in the United States of America via ship?

This is a many-sided problem. Needed to pin this down are the port, the date and the passenger list itself or secondary information from some indexing source.

Step 1. Hunt for personal papers - a diary or journal, perhaps - or a passport. That would make it easy.

Step 2. Determine an approximate time for the transoceanic trip or trips (since many came for a while, worked, returned home for a bride and then came as a family). Sources for this would include:

Step 3. Access indexed information, with a caution as to problems encountered with spelling (you may have to try a dozen or more!), with the number of people with the same name and age, with strange interpretations of handwriting, with hard-to-read copy, with women traveling under their maiden name (and sometimes the listing of the children accompanying the mother didn't give their correct surname), etc.

Step 4. Necessary if the ancestor doesn't appear in any form of index. Consult the passenger lists themselves. Knowledge of the approximate date is essential. This is a slow and tedious process and success is elusive - pages may be missing or damaged or faded, passengers may be listed only by the equivalent of Mr.(surname), etc.

Notes:

References:

B17: How can I find the passenger list of the ship that brought my ancestor to the U.S. and what information will I find on the passenger list?

How to find your immigrant ancestor on the passenger lists at a Mormon Church Family History Center

Additional Points:

B18: [Temporarily Not Used]

B19: [Temporarily Not Used]

B20: How can I get a picture of the ship my ancestor came to America on?

Ship pictures can be obtained from the following sources; in all cases, along with the name of the ship, include the date it was operating and/or bringing your ancestors to the U.S.A and the probable ports from which it embarked and landed since there were often many ships with the same name in different years.

Fee $10.00 for one-half hour of research. If they find something, they will let you know and send you an order sheet. Photo 3.5 x 5.5" to 5x7" about $10; larger available at higher costs. Photocopies considerably less (pricelist will give current cost). If you wish to go there, phone ahead for an appointment since their staff is small and you need to find someone there.

[This source is mainly for steamships.]

The Peabody & Essex Museum East India Square Salem, MA 01970-3783 (508) 745-1876 or 745-9500

Mariners' Museum 100 Museum Drive Newport News, VA 23606 (804) 595-0368

Mystic Seaport Museum Blunt White Library Mystic, CT 06355 (203) 572-0771 (Mystic Seaport complex (203) 536-4218 or (800) 243-0416)

[Suggested as a source for sailing vessels.]

San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park Hyde Street Pier San Francisco, CA 94123 or National Maritime Museum at San Francisco Foot of Polk St. San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 556-8177

[Excellent coverage of the West Coast. They have 250,000 pictures ]

Another Marine Collection (not sure about pictures here but it has the complete run of Lloyds Registers from 1844 to the present)

B21: Is there an index of names of Italians who came to America on ships?

There is a new series that many of you may be interested in containing passenger list information on Italian immigrants. I am forwarding a press release for the series.

Italians to America is the first indexed work devoted to Italian immigrants to the United States. This new series, expected to include 12 volumes, contains passenger list information on the first major wave of Italian immigration, during the last two decades of the nineteenth century.

As with the highly regarded companion series on German immigrants, Italians to America presents the passenger lists in chronological order, including information on each person's age, sex, occupation, village of origin, and destination [where available on the original list-DEZ]. Each volume will also contain an introduction on the history of Italian immigration with a full name index, which will greatly simplify the researcher's job.

Over 900,000 Italians migrated to the United States between 1880 and 1899. Over 300,000 came during the 1880's, with a doubling of the rate in the following decade.

Although Italians departed almost entirely from ports in their home country, this study includes Italian departures from all foreign ports. The vast majority of Italians immigrated to New York City, so that the first eight (est.) volumes of the series will deal with arrivals in New York. Later volumes will cover other U.S. ports.

Approximately 6 volumes will be released per year [they have not been able meet this schedule]. Special 10 % discount for standing orders. Standing orders may be canceled anytime without penalty.

The volumes are also avaiable at many public and university libraries. If your library does not have the series ask about borrowing through Inter-Library Loan .

B22: Did all Italian immigrants arriving in the U.S. at New York enter through the Ellis Island processing center?

No, here is some background on immigration into the Port of New York.

First, a chronology of New York arrival points and some information about records:

The State of New York opened the very first examining and processing center for immigrants in 1855, Castle Garden, on an island off the southwest tip of Manhattan. Immigration remained purely an affair of State, not federal, government until 1875. In that year Congress asserted its Constitutional prerogative to legislate immigration affairs by passing a law forbidding entry into the USA of criminals and women "brought for lewd and immoral purposes".

From 1875 the reception of immigrants was handled as a joint State/Federal system. The Secretary of the Treasury signed a contract with the New York State Commissioners of Emigration to continue its services at Castle Garden. On April 18, 1890, the Secretary terminated the contract and the Treasury Department assumed total control of immigration at the Port of New York. The New York State authorities refused to allow the federal government to use the Castle Garden facilities.

On April 19, 1890 the US set up a temporary center in the old Barge Office near the Customs House on the southeast foot of Manhattan. Ellis Island opened on January 1, 1892. On June 14, 1897 the original wooden structure burned to the ground. ALL administrative records for Castle Garden for the period 1855-1890 and MOST records for the Barge Office and Ellis facilities were lost. [Ships passenger lists still exist as these were in the custody of other agencies] The barge Office was reactivated and used until the new Ellis Island facility opened on December 17, 1900.

Adapted from:

B23: What other ports did Italian immigrants enter the U.S.?

If the immigrants first entered Canada they often then entered the United States through:

B24: Do I have to go to Italy to gain access to the birth, death and marriage records of the village where my ancestor was born?

There are several methods to obtain the information that is in the civil and church records in Italy.

B25: What sort of information is on an Italian birth certificate and how do I obtain if from Italy?

Birth Certificate (Atto di Nascita)

In order to properly register a birth, the new infant had to be physically taken to the town’s recorder of vital records (ufficiale dello stato civile) and presented to him. Usually the presenter was the father of the new infant and the recorder was the mayor (sindaco). The record of the birth usually contains the following information:

About the presenter:

About the mother:

About the father:

About the infant:

About witnesses to the presentation (usually two):

In many of the towns in Italy, the information about the birth of an infant was written on the left side of the birth act, and information about the baptism of the infant was written on the right side, usually giving only the date and parish of the baptism.

B26: What kind of information is on an Italian marriage certificate and how do I obtain it from Italy?

Marriage Certificate (Atto della Solenne Promessa di Celebrare il Matrimonio)

According to John P. Colletta, in his book Finding Italian Roots, the bride and groom, along with four witnesses, had to appear before the recorder of vital records (ufficiale dello stato civile) of the town where the marriage took place. The record usually contains:

About the groom:

About the bride:

About the witnesses:

If the bride or groom is a widow or widower this will also be stated, sometimes with the name of the former spouse included. Those principals present when the act was recorded would sign their names at the end, if they could write. In many towns, the above information was written on the left side of the act and a brief record of the sacramental union which followed in the church, was recorded on the left. This often was only the date and parish of the marriage.

B27: If I know where and when my ancestor died in Italy, how do I obtain the death certificate and what sort of information will be on it?

Death Certificate (Atto di Morto)

According to John P. Colletta, in his book Finding Italian Roots, the Italian death certificate is usually quite brief. It provides the following:

Sometimes it also includes:

B28: If I know where and when my ancestor died in the U.S., how do I obtain the death certificate and what sort of information will be on it?

How do I obtain the death certificate?

Death certificates are usually registered at county level at the Register of Deeds or Vital Statistics offices and also at the state level vital statistics offices. There are some places, usually large cities, where the records are kept at the city level.

Descriptions and addresses of the appropriate offices for the various states can be found in the following sources, usually available at any public library:

The degree of access to death records varies considerably from almost full access, at least to an index, to needing to prove with various certificates that you are a direct descendant. The fees assessed for search and copy also vary widely; some places will do non-certified copies for less than the notarized official copies.

Older records may have been microfilmed and it is useful to check the files at the LDS Family History Centers to see if it is possible to view via microfilm. This is usually restricted to records at least 72 years old.

Personal visits to these offices to get information may require an appointment made a considerable time in advance. When writing for information, it is usual to enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope (SASE).

What information is on the death certificate?

This too varies from one location to another and from one era to another. Minimally, one gets the name and age of the deceased (although sometimes I have seen just Mrs. J. Surname, for example), the date of death and place of death.

Other items which may be included are:

A word of caution! All the information may not be correct and must be assessed in reference to other records on the individual. The person reporting the information may not have been well informed and just made guesses on the age, names, dates, spelling, location. etc.

B29: How do I obtain obituaries from English or Italian language newspapers in the U.S.?

First and easiest. Search family scrapbooks and memento collections for the newspaper clippings that may have been saved by someone in your family.

The prayer or mass card or folder from the individual's funeral may supply a type of obituary information.

Funeral homes may maintain a file of obituaries from the local newspapers of whatever time period and may be very nice about supplying these.

Armed with the date of death and location, look up what newspapers were published in the area. Include both the big city papers, local suburban or town weeklies and foreign language (in this case, Italian) newspapers of the area. Usually, there are no indices but often the obituary page is in the same part of each paper. "The smaller the paper, the more informative the obituary" is the pattern. Local news chat items may tell who attended the funeral. These newspaper files are often on microfilm at the library in the area of the death and microfilm can be borrowed through your local library on interlibrary loan.

To locate newspapers holdings, it is possible to consult national listings in the following books, which may be found in many libraries:

Professional journals often have obituaries, so sometimes one can find a doctor in the J. Am. Med. Assoc., and similarly, lawyers, chemists, etc.

B30: What kind of information will I find in my ancestor's application for naturalization?

There is a lot of valuable information contained in a Declaration of Intent. It gives the name of the person, her/his age and the country from which s/he departed. It will give the port and date of entry into the United States. It will also give the name of the ship. If the person is married at the time s/he applied for a Declaration of Intent, the spouse's name and occupation is listed. It will list the children's names and ages.

If your relative was issued a green card you can request a copy of her/his application to register as an alien from the INS. The application contains the same information as the Declaration of Intent. It may not contain the spouse or children.

B31: How can I obtain the information in my ancestor's application for naturalization?

Naturalization [to include Alien Registration]

An application for Italian citizenship may require copies of immigration and naturalization documents from the US Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service [INS] or from a US Federal or state court or other federal or state agency. This file describes the procedures to follow to obtain immigration and naturalization documents and other documents. The file also decribes the steps necessary to obtain INS documents to be used for purposes of genealogical research apart from any application for Italian citizenship.

Here are the instructions for requesting the Declaration of Intention and Naturalization papers.

This form may be obtained at the nearest Immigration and Naturalization Service Office. You can also obtain Form G-639 by telephone. The number is 1-800-870-3676. Be prepared to give the number of the form, your name, address, and telephone number. You should receive the form in about 2 weeks.

If you intend to use the document to apply for Italian citizenship, you would request the Certificate of Naturalization. [Or, when appropriate, a declaration of no record found.] The Certificate of Naturalization is the end-product of the application for citizenship process and confirms that your relative is now a US citizen. If you want to use the documents to search your Italian roots, be sure to request the Declaration Of Intention.

The Declaration Of Intention is the first paper filed, the application, which should contain detailed information about date of birth, town and Province of birth, names of parents, etc. If in doubt, order a copy of the entire file. In this way you will never have to deal with this Agency again! Each document to be submitted to Italian government - birth certificates, marriage certificates, naturalization papers, etc.- for the purpose of applying for citizenship must have Apostille applied to them.

Apostille is the equivalent of an international certification. In the USA, it can be only applied by the United States Department of State or the local state government that issued the specific document. You will need to contact the Department of State or the state agency that issued the documents to find out the steps to obtain Apostille. The costs generally run from $5 to $25 per document.

If you intend to use the documents to apply for Italian citizenship, be sure to so advise the INS and ask that the document be prepared suitably for application of Apostille. Once you receive your naturalization papers or documentation of no record found, you will need to send it the US Department of State for application of Apostille. See Step 6 below.

Apostille is the equivalent of an international certification or authentication. In the USA, it can only be applied by the United States Department of State or the local state government that issued the specific document.

For INS documents:

When writing to each agency, be sure that your letter indicates that you intend to submit the documents in application for Italian citizenship.

For documents issued by a State:

The procedures may differ from state to state. In California, the document is certified by the issuing agency, usually the county clerk. The certification is a rubber stamp or seal stamped on the document. The document is then sent to the California Secretary of State for application of Apostille. You should contact the Secretary of State for your State. Better yet, contact your local representative and let him or her figure out who you write to!

NOTE:

You may be able to obtain the documents you need without having to make application to the INS. If you can identify the Court that issued the Certificate of Naturalization, you may be able to obtain the records from that Court. Until the 1950's petitions for naturalization could be heard EITHER in Federal District Court OR in an appropriate State Court.

The State Court may be known by different names. In California it is called the Superior Court in each of the counties. In New York it is called the Supreme Court. In other States it may be called the District Court or the Court of Common Pleas. You would contact the Clerk of the court for further information.

You may be able to locate and view copies of court records through the Family History Center system.

B32: What sort of information will I find in my ancestor's application for a social security number?

The Social Security Application is referred to as: Form SS-5. The information provided by the applicant on the form used in 1936-37 is as follows (the form may have changed in later years):

B33: How can I obtain the information in my ancestor's application for social security?

Copies of Form SS-5 may be obtained by writing to the following address:

If the social security number of the individual is known, the cost is $7. If the social security number is not known and a search will have to be made, the cost is $16. (Prices in 1995) Personal checks are accepted.

B34: How do I obtain dual U.S.-Italian citizenship?

The following is a copy of a fact sheet obtained from the Italian Consulate in Los Angeles in August, 1994.

INFORMATION ON ITALIAN CITIZENSHIP FOR U.S. CITIZENS OF ITALIAN DESCENT

If you were born in the United States you may also be considered an Italian citizen if any one of the situations listed below pertains to you:

IF #1 APPLIES TO YOU, you must obtain the following documents:

IF #2 APPLIES TO YOU, you must do **all of the above**, but with regards to your MOTHER.

IF #3 APPLIES TO YOU, you must obtain your paternal grandfather's birth certificate from Italy, his marriage license, and all of the documents listed for #1, except for your father's naturalization certificate, because in this case you will need your paternal grandfather's naturalization papers.

IF #4 APPLIES TO YOU, you must obtain your maternal grandfather's birth certificate, his marriage certificate, and all the documents listed for #2, except for your mother's naturalization certificate, because in this case you will need your maternal grandfather's naturalization papers.

If you are a resident of the jurisdiction of this Consulate General (Arizona, New Mexico, California (counties of San Luis Obispo, Kern, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Imperial Valley, and Orange), you should bring all the pertinent documentation to this Office between the hours of 8:30 and 12:00 noon, Monday through Friday. We will forward all the certificates issued in the United States to Italy to be recorded there. After we have been notified that the documents have been accepted and recorded, a process which generally takes four to six months, you may apply for an Italian passport.

If you are a male under the age of forty-five, once your documents are recorded, you will have military obligations to Italy, which can generally be fulfilled by completing the necessary paperwork. However, this means that if you are under the age of twenty-six you may not permanently reside in Italy for reasons other than study unless you wish to serve in the Italian armed forces.

PLEASE NOTE:

IF YOU ARE CONCERNED THAT ANY OF THE ABOVE PROCEDURES MAY AFFECT YOUR U.S. CITIZENSHIP YOU SHOULD CONTACT THE LOCAL U.S. AUTHORITIES.

B35: How should I send money to Italy?

The most reliable way is to buy a check in the currency of the country, which can then be cashed by your payee in a bank in country.

This can be done through:

Telephones:

You specify the exact amount of the check in the currency of the country (in this case Italian lire), name the payee, and they will furnish you with a bank draft that you can include directly with your correspondence. Their service charge is $2.00 beyond the U.S. dollars required to be converted.

B36: I know the name of the church in Italy where my ancestors' records are, how do I find its address?

The various methods suggested for tracking the location of Italian church records seem to be:

Postal codes can be found online through the Italian Village Locator.

Follow the Web links from Tardio's Italian Genealogy Homepage: http://www.italgen.com

Or else use the direct URL address: http://www.italia.com/epi/city_loc/form.html

http://www.saritel.interbusiness.it/cgi-bin/pge/ANONYMOUS/anonymous/sess/02

Be patient with the error messages you're likely to encounter along the way. Inactive parishes probably won't be listed here at all.

If it's an LDS library, request microfilms 0780555-556.

It's hard to say which of these different methods is better in which circumstances, but it's clear there's no shortage of approaches.

B37: How do I get information about my ancestor's service in the Italian military?

In the book "In Search of Your European Roots" by Angus Baxter, he discusses "Conscription Records". Since he doesn’t mention military records otherwise, that may be the records you can obtain. As to Conscription Records, (Registri degli Uffici di Leva) he says:

"These started in 1869 and continue to the present day. They include name, birth date, town of residence and whether the draftee served, was refused, was exempted, died or emigrated before the call-up age of eighteen. The records are in the custody of the local Military District (Distretto Militare). The address for the area in which you are interested can be obtained from your nearest Italian Embassy or Consulate."

In his book, "Finding Italian Roots", John P. Colletta says, "Shortly after the unification of Italy, military service became mandatory for all 21 year old males. since about 1870, therefore, registri degli Uffici di Leva (registers of the Offices of Conscription) have been kept. These registri list the name, comune of birth, date of birth, parents' names, and physical description of all young men eligible for the draft, together with an explanation of their military status - whether they ever served, or deserted, or were exempted, and so forth. The registri are divided into annual classe di leva (conscription classes or groups), each of which is indexed by the names of the draftees who composed that classe di leva - that is, the names of those who turned 20 since the previous classe di leva. Registri degli Uffici di Leva are maintained by Distretto Militare (Military District) - a provincia may contain perhaps 5 or 6 distretti militare - and those created since WW I may still be in the custody of the Distretto Militare where they were created. But older registri di leva have been deposited in the archivio di stato."

Mr. Colletta's book contains further details about this subject and would be a worthwhile addition to an Italian genealogical researcher's library.

B38: Are there lists of Latin/English and Italian/English genealogical terms?

B39: If my ancestor had an Italian passport, what sort of information is on file and how can I obtain it?

According to Trafford R. Cole, in his book Italian Genealogical Records: How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical, & Other Records in Family History Research, the passport of an ancestor is typically found among the personal documents in the land of destination. It provides:

Later passports contain a photograph of the passport holder.

Obtaining information about a passport from Italy is another matter and often quite difficult. Since one of the first reasons for issuing passports was to regulate the travels of young men of draft age, the passports were the responsibility of the police and were issued by the questura in each province. The archives of the questuras are not open for public consultation. A request can be made to the prefettura (district attorney’s office), however, Mr. Cole reports in his book that he has not had any success obtaining passport information from this source predating the beginning of the 20th century.

Since all requests for passports had to be approved by the ministero degli interni (minister of internal affairs) in Rome, another source is the registri delle vivmazioni dei passaporti. It is necessary to know the passport holder’s comune of origin and the year the passport was released. The record gives the name of the passport holder, birth date, town of residence. and date of application. In some case the port of emigration departure and the destination are also indicated.

Mr. Cole’s book contains more complete information and is a must have for any serious researcher of Italian genealogical records

B40: How can I find out when the Mormon Family History Center is going to film the records in the village in Italy I am interested in?

With regards to whether or not records have recently been, or are in the process of being filmed by the LDS Family History Department, it is strongly recommend that you send a note to the following individual asking about the towns that you are interested in.

A letter was sent asking if records for Sassoferrato, Ancona, Marche, Italy were going to be filmed, etc. The response received 2 weeks later was helpful in saying that it should not be expected to find any for that area for the forseeable future. So now ONE KNOWS one needs to contact the local parishes, etc., or get someone to go there, or go there personally to view those records.

B41: I recently received an offer from Halbert's in Bath, Ohio.

They offered to sell me The World Book of (Surname)'s. Their claim is that the book will include all people with the same surname who "immigrated to the new world between the 16th century and the early 20th centuries. "Has anyone had any dealings with companies offering such a service?

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