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RESEARCH OUTLINE

CONTENTS HELPS FOR USING THIS RESEARCH OUTLINE Introduction ...... 1 Helps for Using This Research Outline ...... 1 Before using this outline you need to choose the Italian Search Strategies...... 2 information you would like to learn about one of Records at the Family History Library™ ...... 5 ® your ancestors, such as a birth date or a maiden FamilySearch ...... 5 name. Maps of Italy...... centerfold Records Selection Table ...... 7 Archives and Libraries...... 8 After you have decided what information you want Biography ...... 10 to find, look at the “Record Selection Table” in Census...... 10 this outline. It lists the kinds of information you Church Directories...... 11 may want and the best types of records for finding Church History ...... 11 that information. Church Records...... 12 Civil Registration...... 15 There is a section in the outline for each type of Court Records ...... 24 record listed in columns 2 and 3 of the “Record Directories...... 24 Selection Table.” The sections give more Emigration and Immigration...... 24 information about these records and how to find Gazetteers ...... 26 them. The sections are in alphabetical order. Genealogy ...... 27 Heraldry...... 29 References to the Family History Library Historical Geography...... 29 Catalog™ History...... 30 Jewish History...... 31 The Family History Library Catalog™ is a listing of Jewish Records ...... 31 all the records available at the Family History Language and Languages ...... 32 Library™. The catalog is available at the Family Maps ...... 32 History Library and at each Family History Military Records ...... 34 Center™. Staff there can help you learn to use the Minorities ...... 35 catalog. Names, Personal ...... 35 Nobility ...... 36 This outline gives instructions for finding Notarial Records ...... 37 information in the catalog. For example, in the Periodicals...... 37 section of this outline called “Census” you may Probate Records...... 38 find the following statement: Schools ...... 38 Social Life and Customs ...... 38 Societies...... 38 Other Records ...... 39 For more information about census records, For Further Reading...... 40 look in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog™ under: INTRODUCTION ITALY - CENSUS ITALY, [] - CENSUS This outline can help you find information about people who lived in Italy. It gives information about records of genealogical value for Italy and This tells you to look in the catalog under: helps you decide which types of records to search. • Italy and then the subject CENSUS.

• A province in Italy and then the subject CENSUS.

• A town in a province in Italy and then the subject CENSUS. This outline includes many references to specific Next, decide what you want to learn about your records. The references include call numbers and ancestor, such as where and when he or she was computer numbers and are listed in parenthesis. married, or the names of his parents. You may want to ask an experienced researcher or a • Call Numbers. The call number is used to find librarian to help you select a goal that you can a record in the Family History Library (FHL). successfully achieve.

• Computer Numbers. Each record is assigned a Step 3. Select a Record to Search number to identify it in the catalog. If you are using the Family History Library Catalog on Read this outline to learn about the types of computer or compact disc, you can search for records used for Italian research. To trace your the record by the computer number. This is the family, you may need to use some of the records quickest way to find the listing of the record in described in each section. Several factors can the catalog. affect your choice of which records to search. This outline provides information to help you evaluate For additional information on using the catalog, see the contents, availability, ease of use, time period Using the Family History Library Catalog™ covered, and reliability of the records, as well as (30966). the likelihood that your ancestor will be listed. The Records Selection Table can also help you decide References to Other Family History Library which records to search. Publications Effective researchers begin by obtaining some The Family History Library has many other background information. Then they survey publications which may be helpful to you in your previous research. Finally, they search original research. Some are referred to in this outline. Their documents. titles are in italics and their item numbers are in parenthesis. They are available at the Family Background Information Sources. You may need History Library and the Salt Lake City Distribution some geographical and historical information. This Center. can save you time and effort by helping you focus your research in the correct place and time period. ITALIAN SEARCH STRATEGIES • Locate the town or place of residence. Examine maps, gazetteers, and other place-finding aids Step 1. Identify What You Know about Your to learn as much as you can about each of the Family places where your ancestors lived. Identify the major migration routes, nearby cities, Begin your research with family and home sources. provincial boundaries, other geographical Look for names, dates, and places in certificates, features, and government or ecclesiastical family Bibles, obituaries, diaries, and similar jurisdictions. Place-finding aids are described sources. Ask your relatives for any additional in the “Maps,” “Gazetteers,” and “History” information they may have. It’s very likely that sections of this outline. your second cousin, great-aunt, or other relative already has some family information. Organize the • Review local history. You will need to information you find and record it on pedigree understand Italy’s history because it has greatly charts and family group record forms. affected the development of records of genealogical value. If possible, study a history Step 2. Decide What You Want to Learn of the areas where your ancestors lived. Look for clues about the people, places, religions, Select a specific relative or ancestor, born in Italy and events that may have affected their lives for whom you know at least a name, the town or and the records about them. Records with parish where he or she lived in Italy, and an information about migration and settlement approximate date when he or she lived there. It’s patterns, government jurisdictions, and very helpful to also know their religion and the historical events are described in the “Church names of other family members born in Italy. History,” “History,” “Gazetteers,” and “Minorities,” sections of this outline. If you don’t have enough information on your Italian ancestor, review the sources mentioned in • Learn about Italian jurisdictions. You will step one which may give his birthplace or need to know about how Italy is divided into residence. For suggestions on how to find the name [province], [comuni], of his birthplace, see the “Emigration and and hamlets [frazioni]. See the “Historical Immigration” section of this outline. Geography” section of this outline.

2 • Use language helps. The records and histories • Each place where your ancestor lived. of Italian places will usually be written in Italian or . You do not need to speak or • Each parish of your ancestor’s religion in each read Italian to search the records, but you will place of residence. need to learn some key words and phrases. Some helpful sources are described in the • The time period when he or she lived there. “Language and Languages” section of this outline. • All jurisdictions that may have kept records about him (town, parish, and province). • Understand naming patterns. Many families in Italy followed distinct naming patterns. Many types of original documents are described in Understanding these customs can help you this outline. For genealogical research in Italy most locate missing ancestors. See the “Names, family information is found in the records Personal” section of this outline for more described under: information. • Civil Registration [Registri dello stato civile]. • Understand local customs. Local customs may have affected the way individuals were • Church Records [Registri ecclesiastici]. recorded in the records. Illegitimacy, marital customs, and local conditions are discussed in For each record type, the paragraph heading used the “Social Life and Customs” section of this in this outline is the same as the heading used in paper. the Family History Library Catalog.

Previous Research Sources. Most genealogists do Step 4. Obtain and Search the Record a survey of research previously done by others. This can save time and give you valuable Suggestions for Obtaining Records. You may be information. There are few sources of previous able to obtain the records you need in the research presently available for Italy, but you may following ways: want to look for: • Family History Library. You are welcome to • Printed family histories and genealogies. visit and use the records at the Family History Library. The library is open to the public. There • Biographies. are no fees for using the records. If you would like more information about its services, • Local histories. contact the library at the following :

• The International Genealogical Index®. Family History Library 35 N. West • Ancestral File™. Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA • The Family Group Records Collection. • Family history centers. Copies of most of the Records containing previous research are described records on microform at the Family History in the “Biography,” “Genealogy,” “History,” Library can be loaned to more than 1800 “Periodicals,” and “Societies” sections of this Family History Centers. There are small outline. Remember that the information in these duplication and postage fees for this service. sources may contain some inaccuracies. Therefore, you will want to verify the information you find in The library’s books cannot be loaned to the such records with other records. centers, but copies of many books not protected by copyright are available on microfilm or Original Research Sources. After surveying microfiche. You can get a list of the Family previous research, you will be ready to begin History Centers near you by writing to the original research. Original research is the process Family History Library at the address above. of searching through original documents often copied on microfilm which are usually handwritten • Archives and local churches. Most of the in Italian or Latin. These documents can provide original documents you will need are at state, primary information about your family because church, and local archives or in local parish they were generally recorded at or near the time of offices. While the Family History Library has an event by a reliable witness. To do thorough many records on microfilm, additional records research, you should search records of: are available only at these archives. You can request searches in their records through

3 correspondence. (See the “Archives and for a child who may have been overlooked. Libraries” section of this outline for more Consider looking at other records and in other information.) places to find a missing family member.

• Libraries and interlibrary loan. Public, • Search each source thoroughly. The academic, and other research libraries may have information you need to find a person or trace some published sources for Italian research. the family further may be a minor detail of the Many libraries also provide interlibrary loan record you are searching. Note the occupation services that allow you to borrow records from of your ancestor and the names of witnesses, other libraries. godparents, neighbors, relatives, guardians, and others. Also, note the places they are from. • Professional researchers. You can employ a private researcher to search the records for you. • Search a broad time period. Dates obtained Few researchers specialize in Italian records. from some sources may not be accurate. Look Lists of qualified professional researchers are several years before and after the date you available from the Family History Library. think an event, such as a birth, occurred.

• Photocopies. The Family History Library and • Look for indexes. Many records have indexes. some other libraries offer limited photo However, many indexes are incomplete. They duplication services for a small fee. You must may only include the name of the specific specify the exact pages you need. Books person the record is about. They may not protected by copyright cannot be copied in their include parents, witnesses, and other incidental entirety. However, a few pages can usually be persons. Also, be aware that the original copied for personal research. You may request records may have been misinterpreted or names copies of documents from the archive or library may have been omitted during indexing. or office where the records are stored. Photocopying facilities are available in Italy. • Search for prior residence. Information about previous residences is crucial to continued When requesting services from libraries or successful research. professional researchers through correspondence, you are more likely to be successful if your letter is • Watch for spelling variations. Look for the brief and very specific. Enclose a self-addressed, many ways a name could have been spelled. stamped envelope (SASE) when writing within Spelling was not standardized when most early your own country. When writing to other countries, records were made. You may find a name enclose international reply coupons (available from spelled differently than it is today. large post offices). You will usually need to send a check or money order in advance to pay for Record Your Searches and Findings. Copy the photocopy or search services. information you find and keep detailed notes about each record you search. These notes should include Suggestions for Searching the Records. You will the author, title, location, call numbers, be most successful with Italian research if you can description, and results of your search. Most examine the original records (on microfilm). In researchers use a Research Log (31825) for this some cases, handwritten transcripts of the original purpose. records are available. These may be easier to read, but may be less accurate than the original records. Step 5. Use the Information

Follow these principles as you search the records Evaluate the Information You Find. Carefully for your ancestor: evaluate whether the information you find is complete and accurate. Ask yourself these • Search for one generation at a time. Do not questions: attempt to connect your family to others of the same who lived more than a • Who provided the information? Did that person generation before your proven ancestor. It is witness the event? much easier to prove parentage than descent. • Was the information recorded near the time of • Search for the ancestor’s entire family. The the event, or later? records of each person in a family may include clues for identifying other family members. In • Is the information consistent and logical? most families, children were born at regular intervals. If there appears to be a longer period between some children, reexamine the records

4 • Does the new information verify the few of these books are available in microform. information found in other sources? Does it These include such books as: differ from information in other sources? • Atlases and maps • Does it suggest other places, time periods, or records to search? • Archive inventories

Share Your Information with Others. Your • Biographical encyclopedias family’s history can become a source of enjoyment and education for yourself and your family. • Records of nobility Contributing your information to Ancestral File is a good way to share your information (see the • Gazetteers “FamilySearch” section). In addition, you may want to compile your findings into a family • Handbooks and manuals history. You can then share copies of your history with family members, the Family History Library, • Histories and other archives. FAMILYSEARCH® If you are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, be sure to submit information about your deceased family members so you can FamilySearch is a powerful computer system that provide temple ordinances for them. Your ward helps to simplify family history work. The family history consultant or a staff member at the FamilySearch system includes computer files of Family History Library or your Family History family history information. The files are gathered Center™ can assist you. You can also use Members from many different sources, and more files will be Guide to Temple and Family History Work (34697) added in the future. available through Church distribution. Once a person using FamilySearch selects a file RECORDS AT THE FAMILY and types in a name, the computer will search the ™ selected file to find any names that match. The HISTORY LIBRARY computer even matches last names that are spelled differently but sound the same. It can guide users Microform Records from the matches they find to full screens of information, including dates and places of birth, The Family History Library presently has about marriage, and death and names of parents, 60,000 microfilms and microfiche containing children, and spouses. information about people who have lived in Italy. Most of the library’s records have been obtained FamilySearch is available at the Family History through an extensive and ongoing acquisition Library in Salt Lake City; at hundreds of Family program. The library has microform copies of History Centers; and at some public and private records found in government archives, church libraries in the , , and a archives, and private collections. These records number of other countries. include: The FamilySearch files useful for Italian research • Birth, marriage, and death records from include: churches and civil officials. • Ancestral File. This file contains family history • Church—Certificate of Family Status. information linked in family groups and pedigrees that has been contributed since 1979. • Notarial documents. Its millions of records include many from Italy. It can print pedigree charts, family group • Military records. records, and individual summary sheets for any person in the file. For more information, see ™ The library does not have records for every time Using Ancestral File (34113). period or locality in Italy. You are invited to contribute your family Printed Records history information to Ancestral File. For instructions, see Contributing Information to ™ The library has some books and other printed Ancestral File (34029). You can also correct materials helpful for Italian research. Copies of a incomplete or inaccurate information in the file. For instructions see Correcting Information in

5 Ancestral File™ (34030). For information contact:

Ancestral File Operations Unit 50 E. North Temple Street Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA Telephone: 801-240-2584 Fax: 801-240-4606

• Family History Library Catalog. The Family History Library Catalog on FamilySearch is an automated edition of the Family History Library’s catalog. The automated edition simplifies use of the catalog. It allows you to quickly find information, including library call numbers, on sources held by the library.

• International Genealogical Index. The International Genealogical Index provides the names and vital information—including birth, christening, or marriage dates as well as Latter- day Saint temple ordinance information—of more than 1.5 million deceased people who lived in Italy. The index includes names extracted by volunteers from parish registers and civil registrations and names submitted by other researchers.

• Social Security Death Index. The Social Security Death Index lists all the people in the United States who held social security numbers and who died between 1962 and 1988. The index can lead to other social security records which may provide your ancestor’s birthplace in Italy.

6 RECORDS SELECTION TABLE The table below can help you decide which records The terms used in columns 2 and 3 are the same as to search. the topic headings used in this outline and in the In column 1 find the goal you selected. Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog™. Find in column 2 the types of records that are most likely to have the information you need. Then turn Records containing previous research (genealogy, to that section of this outline. biography, history, periodicals, and societies) could provide information for nearly all of the goals. Additional records that may also be useful are listed These have not been repeatedly listed unless they in column 3. are especially helpful for the goal. 1. If You Need 2. Look First In 3. Then Search Age Census, Civil Registration, Church Military Records Records Birth date Civil Registration, Church Records Military Records Country of foreign birth Church Records, Census Emigration and Immigration, Military Records Boundaries and origins Gazetteers, Historical Geography Maps, History Children Census, Civil Registration Church Records Death information Civil Registration, Church Records Historical background History, Genealogy Maps, History Immigration date Emigration and Immigration, Military Records Census Living relatives Directories, Civil Registration Societies, Periodicals Maiden name Civil Registration, Church Records Marriage information Church Records, Civil Registration, Biography, Nobility, Periodicals Genealogy Occupations Civil Registration, Church Records Notarial Records Other family members Census, Civil Registration Church Records Parents Census, Civil Registration Church Records Physical description Military Records, Emigration and Biography Immigration Place-finding aids Gazetteers, Historical Geography, History, Periodicals Directories, Church Directories Place of residence Census, Church Records, Directories, Civil Registration Place of residence when you Directories, Census, Civil Church Records, Military Records know only the province Registration Previous research Biography, Genealogy, Societies, Nobility, Periodicals FamilySearch® Record-finding aids Archives and Libraries, Genealogy Societies, Periodicals, Church Directories Religion Church Records, Biography, Civil Cemeteries, Genealogy, History, Registration Church History Social Activities History, Social Life and Customs

7 ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES The provincial archives of Italy are open to the public. In addition, the Family History Library has microfilm copies of many of the records from these Archives collect and preserve original documents archives. created by organizations such as churches or governments. Libraries generally collect published Local Civil Offices [] sources such as books, maps, and microfilm. This section describes the major repositories of In Italy all records created by the genealogical and historical records and sources for since 1865, including birth, death, and marriage Italy. records, are kept in local civil offices. These records are available to the public. Civil offices are If you plan to visit one of these repositories, comparable to town halls in the United States. contact the organization and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees. Duplicates are kept at the tribunale. You can get information or copies of the records kept at the Although the records you need may be in an comune or tribunale by correspondence. You can archive or library in Italy, the Family History find a list of archival in: Library may have a microfilm copy of them. The library has copies of many records from numerous Archivum; revue internationale des archives publié Italian archives, as noted below, but from only a e avec le concours financier de l’Unesco et sous few libraries and other record repositories. les auspices du Consil internationale des archives (International review on archives In Italy there are several major types of published by the International Council of genealogical repositories: Archives with the financial aid of Unesco). Paris: Presses Universitaires de , 1952. • Provincial archives and libraries (FHL book REF 020.5 Ar25 v. 38; computer number 36460.) • Local civil offices For more information about civil offices and their • Church archives records, see the “Civil Registration” section of this outline. • Church parish offices Church Archives • Other libraries (public, academic, research) Some dioceses of the have • Historical and genealogical societies gathered duplicates of their older church records into a diocesan archive. You can write to these Provincial Archives [Archivio di stato] archives and request brief searches of their records. See the “Church Records” section of this outline. In Italy each province has its own archive. Most records of genealogical value are kept by Church Parish provincial archives. They serve as repositories for records about their particular area. Catholic records are usually kept by the local parish. You can write to local parishes and church Records of genealogical value at provincial archives for information. See the “Church Records” archives include: section of this outline.

• Church records (some). Jewish archives, which were mostly destroyed during World War II, are found at the synagogue • Civil registration. for each city where a Jewish community existed or exists. The archives of the Waldensians, the oldest • Census. Protestant group in the world, are in Torre Pelice in the province of Torino. For more information • Court records. regarding these groups, see the “Church History” and “Jewish Records” sections of this outline. • Military records.

• Notarial records.

8 Other Libraries ` Send and receive e-mail.

Some of the sources you will want to use are also ` Search large databases. available in major libraries in Italy. These sources include local histories, ancient manuscripts, and ` Search computer libraries. unpublished works regarding heraldry and genealogy. Contact these libraries and ask about ` Join in computer chat and lecture sessions. their collection, hours, services, and fees. A good source regarding Italian libraries and their You can find computerized research tips and collections is: information about ancestors from Italy in many sources at local, provincial, national, and Annuario delle biblioteche italiane (Yearbook of international levels. Italian libraries). 3 vols. Roma: Fratelli Palombi, 1958. (FHL book EUROPE 945 J5an, The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most 1958; film 962678, item 1–2; computer number information is available at no cost. Many sources 26217.) on the Internet are in English and provide valuable information regarding research tips, letter-writing, Historical and Genealogical Societies addresses, archives, and so forth.

Italy has some organized historical and Addresses on the Internet change frequently. As of genealogical societies. Some of these societies October 1998, the following sites were important maintain libraries and archives that collect valuable gateways linking you to many more network and records. For more information, including bulletin board sites: addresses, see the “Societies” section of this outline. ` www.homepage.interaccess.com/~arduinif/tool/ roots01.htm Inventories, Registers, Catalogs Contains resources and references, a guide to Some archives have catalogs, inventories, guides, stato civile, form letters, word lists, description or periodicals that describe their records and how of records, and so forth. to use them. If possible, study these guides before you visit or use the records of an archive so that ` www.italgen.com you can use your time more effectively. The Annuario delle biblioteche italiane, mentioned Contains the Italian Genealogy Homepage. above, is a guide to Italian archives and libraries. Includes a large surname database.

The Family History Library has copies of some ` www.archivi.beniculturali.it Italian libraries’ published inventories and other guides, catalogs, directories, and inventories. To Lists the following information about all Italian find them look in the Family History Library provincial archives: addresses, telephone Catalog under: numbers, fax numbers, e-mail addresses (if one exists), hours, and services available. In Italian. ITALY - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES ITALY, [PROVINCE] - ARCHIVES AND ` www.cyndislist.com LIBRARIES Provides links to hundreds of Italian Computer Networks and Bulletin Boards genealogical sites.

Computers with modems can be useful tools for ` infospace.com/intldb/intl-it.html obtaining information from selected archives and libraries. In a way, computer networks themselves Contains the unofficial “white pages” for Italy. serve as a library. The Internet, certain computer Includes a business finder, people finder, e-mail bulletin boards, and commercial on-line services addresses, and street addresses. help family history researchers: ` www.members.aol.com/pointhompg/home.htm ` Locate other researchers. Contains the homepage of POINT (Pursuing ``` Post queries. Our Italian Names Together).

9 ` jsoft.com/archive/pie/1998/index.html Archivio biografico italiano (Italian biographical archive). [München; ]: K. G. Saur, Contains a weekly posting of queries and 1992. 1,046 microfiche. (FHL fiche 6002169 answers from PIE (Pointers in E-mail). A-Z, 600228 supplement A-Z; computer number 794422.) An index to this work is: ` www.ansa.it Indice biografico italiano (Italian biographical Contains the homepage of the Italian news index). 4 vols. München: K. G. Saur, 1993. agency. In Italian. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D32i v. 1–4; computer number 794422.) ` www.italiangen.org You can find more biographies under: Contains the homepage of the Italian Genealogy Group. Archivio biografico italiano. Nuova serie (Italian biographical archive. New series). München: K. ` www.italianclubs.com/genealogy/htm G. Saur, 1997. 690 microfiche. (FHL fiche 6109292–6109322; computer number 788758.) Contains Italian-American genealogy posted by The index to this work is: the Italian-American Cultural Society. Internationaler biographischer Index (World ` www.cimorelli.com/pie/piehome.htm biographical index). 3rd compact disc ed. München: K. G. Saur, 1997. (FHL disc Contains Anthony Cimorelli’s homepage, AUTOMATED RC CD no. 50; computer which includes every kind of help possible in number 794615.) Italian research through PIE (Pointers in E- mail). To find collective biographies at the Family History Library, look in the Locality Search of the BIOGRAPHY Family History Library Catalog under: ITALY - BIOGRAPHY A biography is a history of a person’s life. In a ITALY, [PROVINCE] - BIOGRAPHY biography you may find the individual’s birth, ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - marriage, and death information and the names of BIOGRAPHY his or her parents, children, or other family members. Use the information carefully because CENSUS there may be inaccuracies.

Thousands of brief biographies have been gathered A census is a count and description of the and published in collective biographies, sometimes population. Various governments of Italy and some called biographical encyclopedias or dictionaries. ecclesiastical officials have taken censuses at Usually these references only include biographies different times, mostly for taxation purposes. of prominent or well-known citizens of Italy. Other single volume biographical collections feature Italian census records do not provide as much specific well-known artists, craftsmen, engineers, information as census records of other countries. and so forth. Church records and civil registration records are usually better sources for Italy. Census records, A significant biographical encyclopedia or however, can be valuable because they list much of dictionary is: the population, and they can provide certain information if other records are incomplete or Dizionario biografico degli italiani (Biographical missing. dictionary of the ). Roma: Istituto della enciclopedia italiana fondata da Giovanni A record called the stato delle anime is similar to a Treccani, 1960–. (FHL book EUROPE 945 census. See the “Church Records” section of this D3db; computer number 162306.) This is an outline for more information. ongoing publication. Understanding the Census A major collection of Italian biographies is: The first census of Italy was taken in 1871. Since then, a census has been taken every 10 years.

10 You will generally find more complete family • They provide the complete address and information in censuses taken from 1911 to the telephone numbers of parishes, the address of present. The censuses contain the following the diocese headquarters, and often the address information: of the archives of the diocese where additional records may be kept. • 1871–1901. These censuses are of limited use and are not uniform in content. In most , A church directory that lists all Italian dioceses is: the census named only the head of household, his occupation, and the number of persons in Annuario delle Diocesi d’Italia, 1951 (Yearbook of the house. the dioceses of Italy, 1951). Torino: Marietta, 1961. (FHL films 780555–780556; computer • 1911 and later. These censuses list the names, number 31291.) The yearbook’s index lists all ages, occupations, relationships to the head of of the towns in alphabetical order, names the the household, and birthplaces of each member Catholic parishes of each town, and indicates to of a household. which diocese the town belongs. When you find an index entry, you can use the yearbook to find Use census information with caution, however, more information about the town and parish. since the information may have been given to a Information provided includes parish census taker by any member of the family or a population; date of creation; the name of the neighbor. Some information may have been parish priest; and number of births, marriages, incorrect or deliberately falsified. and deaths for that year. It also includes information regarding affiliated organizations, Availability of Census Records such as convents, monasteries, orphanages, hospitals, and so forth. Since this directory was Census records up to 1991 are held in the state published in 1951, some information, such as a archive of each province. Census records from priest’s name, will be out of date. The addresses 1911 or 1921 to 1991 are also usually found in and histories are still valid. each comune’s anagrafe (register’s office). The availability to the public differs from comune to To find other church directories, search the Family comune. History Library Catalog under:

The Family History Library has the census records ITALY - CHURCH DIRECTORIES of one Italian province on microfilm. You can find it by looking in the Locality Search of the Family CHURCH HISTORY History Library Catalog under:

ITALY, - CENSUS Research procedures and genealogical sources are different for each religion; therefore, it is helpful to CHURCH DIRECTORIES understand the historical events that led to the creation of records in which your family was listed, such as parish registers. A church directory lists church officials, dioceses, and parishes. There are many genealogical uses for Roman Catholic church directories: The Roman Catholic Church has been the dominant • They list all of the parishes in a diocese so you for over 1,500 years. The can determine if your ancestor’s village had a Reformation had little effect except in small areas parish church. Many directories list all villages in the north. Even today, most of the Italian belonging to a parish. population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church.

• They sometimes provide the earliest dates for Waldensians which the church records of each parish exist. In 1170, three centuries before Martin Luther, a • They may include historical information about merchant named Peter Valdo began a religious each parish. movement in Lyons, France. At first, Valdo advocated merely simplifying the Catholic Church; • They usually group parishes by clerical he did not want to create a new church. However, so you can easily determine all neighboring since church officials saw him and his followers as parishes. a threat, the Waldensians were excommunicated.

11 Because of heavy persecutions in southern France, CHURCH RECORDS the Waldensians moved into the Piemonte mountain valleys and the Lombardia of Italy. Although the Italian government recognizes other religions, the Roman Catholic Church is Many Waldensian “heretics” were burned at the traditionally recognized as the state church because stake during the 1300s and 1400s in Italy and most Italians are Roman Catholic. All references to France. Persecution continued for centuries, and church records in Italy, unless otherwise specified, the religious group moved frequently between refer to Catholic records. For more information France, Italy, and . They finally settled about other churches in Italy, see the “Church several valleys in the that were virtually History” section of this outline. inaccessible. This allowed the Waldensians to remain a somewhat isolated but still persecuted Church records [registri ecclesiastici] are excellent religious group until the sixteenth century. sources for accurate information on names; dates; and places of births, marriages, and deaths. Nearly In the sixteenth century the Waldensians aligned every person who lived in Italy was recorded in a themselves with the Protestant Reformation, and church record during the last 200 to 300 years. the following century of persecution and religious wars forced many Waldensians to move to other Records of births, marriages, and deaths are parts of Italy and to other parts of the world, such commonly called vital records. Church records are as . vital records kept by priests and are often called parish registers or church books. They include In 1690 the Duke of Savoia granted them records of christenings (), marriages, and acceptance, which eliminated most of the deaths (burials). In addition, church records may persecution. In the 1800s Napoleon recognized include confirmations, first communions, and them as part of the Reformed Church of France. church census records. Freedom of worship in Italy was granted to them by law in 1848. Although Protestants have made Church records are crucial for research before the up only a small fraction of the total Italian civil government started keeping vital records, population, most Italians who emigrated to the which began about 1809 to 1820. After that, church United States before 1820 were Waldensians. records continued to be kept but often contain less information. Eastern or Greek Orthodox For more information about government vital In 1431 the king of Albania surrendered to the records, see the “Civil Registration” section of this Turks. For many years, the Muslim Turks outline. persecuted the Christian Albanians. As a result, many Albanian Christians migrated to Italy. General Historical Background

Few of the settlements along the coastline existed In general the church began keeping records in for very long. In Sicilia, however, Albanian 1563 because of reforms proclaimed at the Council immigrants settled entire towns. As a result, in of Trent. Not all parishes conformed until much many of these settlements the major religion was later. Most parishes, however, have kept registers Eastern or Greek Orthodox. Many Italians found it from about 1595 to the present. A few parishes convenient to attend the closer Eastern or Greek kept records as early as the 1300s. The church Orthodox Church until a Roman Catholic Church records of , for example, start about 1350, was built nearby. Consequently, many Italian and the baptistry in Firenze has records from the families may be found in the registers of both early 1400s. A few examples of important dates churches. are:

Other Churches 1563 The Council of Trent required priests to begin keeping records of baptisms, Since the turn of the century, major cities have marriages, and deaths. seen the establishment of congregations of Evangelists, Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, and 1595 Papal proclamation reinforced record- so forth. Many of these congregations are made up keeping practices. of non-Italians who live in Italy. In more recent years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 1800s Early Printed forms started to be used in Saints has also established congregations. the area.

12 1900s Duplicate copies were made to be kept by Baptisms the diocesan archives [curia vescovile]. Children were generally baptized within a few days Unfortunately some Italian church records were of birth. Baptismal registers usually give the names destroyed in the various wars throughout Italy’s of the infant and parent, status of legitimacy, names history. Other records were destroyed when parish of witnesses or godparents, and the date. churches burned down. Some were lost, and still You may also find the child’s birth date, father’s others have been badly worn and destroyed by occupation, and the family’s place of residence. insects, vermin, and moisture. Death or marriage information has sometimes been added as a note in the margin. The street name or Duplicate Church Records family’s address may also be given for larger cities.

If the original church records that you need have Earlier registers typically give less information. been lost or destroyed or are illegible, you may be They may give only the names of the child and able to find a duplicate church record. father and the baptism date. They may not contain Unfortunately it was not standard practice to keep the mother’s name, or they may contain only her duplicate records until the 1900s. But some . Early records only record the baptism dioceses, such as that of Torino, started making date; later records may include the birth date. duplicates as early as 1820. Marriages Duplicates, when they exist, are normally located at the curia vescovile (diocesan archives). Couples were generally married in the home parish of the bride. Typically, girls married between ages Information Recorded in Church Registers 18 and 25. Men married in their twenties. Marriage registers give the date of the marriage and The information recorded in church books varied the names of the bride and groom. They also over time. Later records generally have more indicate whether the betrothed were single or complete information than the earlier ones. widowed and give the names of witnesses. They usually also include other information about the The most important church records for bride and groom such as their ages, residences, genealogical research are baptism, marriage, and occupations, names of parents, and birthplaces. For burial registers. These registers were usually second and later marriages, the records may name written in freehand with about three to eight entries previous spouses and their death dates. A note is per page. Sometimes you will find an alphabetical sometimes made whether a parent or other party index arranged by Latinized given name at the gave permission for the marriage. beginning or end of the volume. Frequently the name of the principle person or persons identified In addition to the marriage date, marriage registers in the record will be noted in the left hand margin. sometimes give the dates on which the marriage Another helpful church record is the stato delle intentions (banns) were announced. anime or status animarum (church census). Marriage Banns Catholic records were written in Latin into the twentieth century, but some have been written in A wedding was generally was announced for three Italian. Protestant church records were generally consecutive Sunday masses prior to the wedding. kept in Italian. In both Catholic and Protestant These announcements, called banns, gave records from areas near the country’s borders, you opportunity for anyone to come forward who knew will find records written in French, German, and of any reasons why the couple should not be other languages. Local dialects may have affected married. the spelling of some names and words in the church records. In addition to or instead of the actual marriage registers, some Italian churches kept separate books In most areas, printed forms were not used until to record marriage banns. the late nineteenth or early twentieth centuries. Printed forms were used as early as 1820 in the -Alto Adige region.

13 Burials belonged to so that you will know which parish registers to search. Larger towns frequently have Burials and deaths were recorded in the church more than one parish. record of the parish where the person died or was buried. The burial usually took place within a day Your ancestor may have lived in one village and or two of the death in the parish where the person belonged to a parish in a nearby larger town. For died. more information, see the “Gazetteers” and “Map” sections of this outline. Burial registers give the name of the deceased and the date and place of death or burial. They usually The headquarters of the parish is the town where also include the person’s age, place of residence, the church building is located. Although most and cause of death and the names of spouses and if church buildings were usually named for a saint, they are living or deceased. The registers, the Family History Library Catalog may refer to a especially early registers, may also give the date parish by the name of the town where the parish and place of birth and even the parents’ names of church was located. In large cities that have many the deceased. The birth date and birthplace on a parishes, the catalog usually uses the parish church burial record may not be accurate since the name (such as San Giovanni) to distinguish the may not have had complete information. records of different parishes.

Burial records may also exist for individuals who Records at the Family History Library were born before the earliest birth records and marriage records, and they may start later than the The Family History Library has records from many baptismal and marriage records of the same parish. Italian parishes up to 1900 and some up to 1925. However, if a record has been destroyed, was never Stillbirths were sometimes recorded in church kept, has not been microfilmed, or is restricted baptismal or burial registers. In most cases, from public access by the law, the Family History however, the birth is not recorded. Library does not have a copy.

Church Census To find out if the Family History Library has the records you need, check the Family History Library In Italy the parish priest was often required to Catalog under the name of the town where the collect taxes for the state from his parishioners. He parish was. (The parish may not be in the town would sometimes record information about his where your ancestor lived.) Look in the Locality parishioners and the tax in a special set of Search under: volumes, which were called church censuses. In Italian the church census is called the stato delle ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - CHURCH anime. In Latin it is status animarum. Both terms RECORDS mean “state of the souls.” New records are continually added to the Family Not all priests regularly kept church censuses. History Library collection from many sources. Do Where the censuses do exist, the registers list all not give up if records are not available yet. Check family members living in a household and their the Family History Library Catalog again every ages or birth dates. Deceased children were not year or two for the records you need. listed. Married children, if living in the same household, were recorded with the family but as a Records Not at the Family History Library separate household. Familial relationships and addresses were also noted. Italy has no single repository for church records. If the baptism, marriage, and burial records have not Finding Church Records been microfilmed, you will have to contact or visit the local parish or archive in Italy. Church records were kept at the local parish church. The term parish refers to the jurisdiction of • Local Parishes. Virtually all church registers a church priest. Parishes are local congregations, are still maintained by the local parish. Some usually in one town only, but sometimes they duplicates, for limited time periods, may be included other villages in their boundaries. housed at the central archives of the diocese. For example, duplicates exists for the Diocese To find church records, you must know the town of Torino from 1820 to about 1899. where your ancestor lived. You should also determine the parish that your ancestor’s town

14 Parishes will sometimes answer 5. Search the death registers for all family correspondence. You may send an inquiry to: members.

Il parroco di [name of parish, town, province] Records of Non-Catholic Religions Italy Although the Roman Catholic Church is the • Church Archives. The Family History Library dominant religion in Italy, other churches do exist has microfilmed records at the diocesan and have kept records. archives in Caltanisseta, Torino, , and Parma. The library has planned microfilming The Family History Library has some records for projects at other Italian church archives. This is the following denominations: a major project that will continue for several years. ` Waldensians [Valdesi]. These records follow the format of most church records but are When you write to Italy for genealogical written in French. information, your letter should be written in Italian. Send the following: ` Eastern Orthodox [Chiesa Ortodossa or Chiesa Greca]. Where they exist, these records are • Check or money order for the search fee in virtually identical to Roman Catholic Church local currency, when possible. records and are available at the local parishes.

• Full name and sex of the person sought. ` Jewish [Ebrei]. Jewish records are somewhat sparse. Two main record sources are available: • Names of the parents, if known. the book of circumcisions and the marriage books. To identify where these records are • Approximate date and place of the event. today, contact an Israeli consulate. See also the “Jewish Records” section of this outline. • Your relationship to the person.

• Reason for the request (family history or CIVIL REGISTRATION medical). Civil registration records are the vital records made • Request for a complete copy of the original by the government. Records of births, marriages, record. and deaths are commonly referred to as vital records because they refer to vital events in a • International reply coupon, available from the person’s life. post office (optional). Civil registration records [registri dello stato Search Strategies civile] are an excellent source for accurate information on names as well as dates and places of Effective use of church records includes the births, marriages, and deaths. In addition, civil following strategies in addition to the general registration may include documents required for strategies in the “Italian Search Strategies” section: marriage, miscellaneous records (such as stillbirths), deaths occurring in other cities or 1. When you find an ancestor’s birth or baptismal countries, and legitimations or parental record, search for the births of siblings. acknowledgments [ricognizioni].

2. Search for the parents’ marriage record. Civil authorities began registering births, Typically, the marriage took place one or two marriages, and deaths in 1809 in many areas (1820 years before the oldest child was born. You can in Sicilia). By 1866 civil registration became law. also use information from the marriage record After this date, virtually all individuals who lived to find the parents’ birth records. in Italy were recorded.

3. Search for the parent’s birth records. Because they cover most of the population and because they are usually indexed and mostly 4. If you do not find earlier generations in the accessible, civil registration records are one of the parish registers, search neighboring parishes. most important sources for genealogical research in Italy.

15 For birth, death, and marriage records before 1809 In most areas, the civil records began in 1866 and or 1820, see the “Church Records” section of this continue to the present. outline. Civil authorities did not record many of the births, General Historical Background marriages, and deaths that happened between the end of the Napoleonic era and the time when the Napoleonic Records (1806–1815) Italian government began keeping civil registration records. You must rely on church records as your The earliest vital records in Italy were kept by the main source for these years. churches. In 1806 Napoleon, Emperor of France, annexed large parts of Italy, including Roma, Information Recorded in Civil Registers Venezia, and the Piemonte region. He also initiated civil record keeping at that time. As he gained Birth, marriage, and death records are the most control of most of Italy, he enforced new laws that important civil registration records for Italian required local civil registration. research. Most of these records retained the basic format introduced by Napoleon in the early 1800s. ` . In the area formerly known as the The registers are divided into separate volumes for Papal States—which included from what is each year. Records kept in the south used now , , , and to standardized forms. Many records in the north are -Romagna—Napoleonic records cover handwritten, although they contain basically the the period of 1810 to 1814. same information.

` and Lombardia. Napoleonic records The records were almost always kept in Italian, began about 1806 and ended in 1814 or 1815. except for records kept during the rule of foreign powers such as France and . ` Piemonte. Napoleonic records cover 1804 to 1814. In the northern regions, many records are in French and German, and given names were often written in These records do not exist for areas that Napoleon the “ruling” language even though the person’s never ruled such as Sardegna, Sud Tirol, and name was Italian. For example, Giuseppina Sicilia. Bertaldo may have been recorded as Josephine Bertaldo. Later Records (1815–Present) Some church records were transcribed into civil After Napoleon’s defeat in 1815, many areas registration records. This transcription usually discontinued civil registration. happened to meet documentation requirements for marriages [processetti or allegati]. Transcribed ` Regno di Napoli (comprising most of southern church records are in Latin, and each volume is Italy from Napoli and down to usually indexed. and Puglia), Toscana, and the region. These areas continued to keep Births [nati/nascite] civil registration records after Napoleon’s defeat. Birth records generally give the child’s name, sex, birth date, and birthplace, and the parents’ names. ` Ducato di Savoia. This area in Piemonte began Many of the early records and all of the later keeping records again in 1839. records provide additional details, including the parents’ birthplaces, ages, and occupations and the ` Areas under Austrian rule such as Veneto, mother’s maiden name. The baptism date is usually Trento-Alto-Adige and parts of Lombardia. In included with the civil birth record. these areas, parish priests took over the civil registration. Births were generally registered within a day or two of the child’s birth, usually by the father of the ` Sicilia. The island of Sicilia began civil family or by the attending midwife. Corrections to registration in 1820 using a format nearly a birth record may have been added as a marginal identical to the Napoleonic records. note. In later records, marginal notes are frequently found, providing marriage and death information. Italian civil registration began officially as Italy became a unified country between 1860 and 1870.

16 Marriages [matrimoni] former spouses and their death dates are also provided. After 1809 Napoleonic law required that the marriage ceremony be performed first by a civil Marriage Records. You may find the following authority and then, if desired, by a church records that document the legal completion of the authority. It was then recorded in the civil records. marriage. At first, some people resisted this law and had their marriages performed by church authority only. • Certificates [certificati]. The individual who Later when it became legally necessary for their performed the ceremony or the civil office children to be recognized as legitimate, a civil where the ceremony was recorded may have ceremony was performed. In rare cases, you may given the couple a certificate of marriage. This find a marriage record for a couple in their 50s may be in the possession of the family, and the who were actually married 30 years earlier. In civil registrar may have copies. Usually, most cases you may find marriages recorded in however, when writing for information and both civil and church records. requesting a certificate, you will receive only a transcription of the most pertinent information. Marriages were usually performed and recorded Extracts [estratti] will give you the complete where the bride lived. In some provinces, these information. records date from 1809 or from 1820. The early civil marriage records may include more • Marriage registers [registri dei matrimoni]. information than the church records. When Civil officials recorded the marriages they available, search both the civil and church records performed in registers, usually preprinted forms of marriage. bound in a book and kept in the civil office.

If you believe a marriage took place but cannot Marriage registers give the date of the marriage find a record of the marriage, search records of and the names of the bride and groom. They intent to marry. also indicate whether the bride and groom were single or widowed and give the names of Marriage Banns [pubblicazioni, notificazioni, witnesses. They often include other information memorandum]. You may find records that show a about the bride and groom, such as age, couple’s intent to marry in addition to or instead of birthplace, residence, occupation, name of actual marriage records. The following are various person giving consent, and names of parents. In records that may have been created to show a cases of second and later marriages, the couple’s intent to marry. marriage registers may include the names of previous spouses and their death dates. The • Proclamation, allegations, or banns registers usually include the date of the church [notificazioni, pubblicazioni, memorandum]. ceremony. These notifications were made a few weeks before a couple planned to marry. The couple Divorce Records may have been required to announce their intended marriage to give other community Before 1970 divorces were illegal in Italy. Divorce members the opportunity to raise any records are not open to the public. The Family objections to the marriage. If one member of History Library does not have any Italian divorce the bridal party lived elsewhere, banns were records. posted in that community also. If you know that a marriage took place but cannot find it in Deaths [morte/morti] the marriage records of the community, search the marriage banns. It may be posted there and Death records are especially helpful because they lead you to the community where the marriage may provide important information about a actually took place. person’s birth, spouse, and parents. Civil death records often exist for individuals for whom there • Supporting documents [processetti or allegati]. are no birth or marriage records. These documents were often filed by the bride and groom in support of their intent or “solemn Deaths were usually registered within a day of the promise” to marry. Records proving their births death in the town or city where the person died. and their parents’ births and deaths and Early death records generally give the person’s sometimes documentation on earlier name and death date and place. After about 1815, generations may be included. The names of death registers usually include the age, place of birth, residence or street address, occupation, burial

17 information, and the informant’s name (often a In addition to the town, you need to know at least relative). They usually provide the names of an approximate year in which the birth, marriage, spouses and parents and whether or not they were or death occurred. Annual indexes are usually still living. Information about the deceased’s found in each town’s civil registration. parents, birth date, and birthplace may be inaccurate since the informant may not have had Indexes to Civil Registration Records the correct information. Births, marriages, and deaths were written in the Stillbirths are recorded in separate registers civil registration records as they occurred and thus entitled morto. In later records they are are arranged chronologically. Where available, included in the allegati. They were not recorded in indexes can help you find your ancestor more either the birth or death records. If an infant died easily. within hours after birth, the birth and death records should both be found. Annual Indexes. Some years have an annual index. These indexes usually include dates, names of State of the Family [Stato di famiglia] parents (including the mother’s maiden name), and the page number or record number of the entry. A civil record unique to Italy is the stato di Many times the record was an entire page and the famiglia, or state of the family certificate. The page number corresponded with the record number. comune keeps a record of each family and updates In some indexes no number appears at all and you each change, including births, marriages, deaths, must use the date that is provided to find the and emigration. All individuals in a household are record. included. Some households include more than one family. In many areas during the earliest years of civil registration, records were indexed by the given Historical states of the family [stato di famiglia names. Therefore, you must search every entry in storico] are kept at the provincial archive [ufficio the index to make sure you find every individual dello stato civile]. These records document past who had a certain surname. generations of families. Not all areas have kept this record, but where they exist, they are a valuable Eventually, however, indexes were alphabetized by research tool. surname. Women are always found in the indexes under their maiden names. Finding Civil Registration Records Ten-year Indexes. Ten-year indexes [indici Civil registration records were and are kept at the decennali] are common. They usually began the local registrar’s office [anagrafe] in each town or year when civil registration became the law and city. Therefore, you must determine the town cover ten-year periods. Ten year indexes typically where your ancestor lived before you can find the exist from 1866 to 1875, 1876 to 1885, 1886 to records. Your ancestor may have lived in a village 1895, and 1896 to 1905. They include the date and that belonged to a nearby, larger town. Large cities register number but do not contain names of may have many civil registration districts. parents.

A copy of each record is sent to the procura della Ten-year indexes are kept at the town level and are repubblica—which is similar to a district court in not separate records in the Family History Library the United States—in the provincial capital. Catalog. They will be included with the records of Because the civil records are legal documents and the town they index and a note will be in the needed for government purposes, such as military catalog entry reflecting that fact. draft, the duplicate is held by the tribunale (district court). Records at the Family History Library

You may need to use maps, gazetteers, and other The Family History Library has microfilmed the geographic references to identify the place where civil registration records of hundreds of towns and your ancestor lived and the civil registration office provinces up to 1866 and many towns up to 1910. that served that place. See the “Maps” and Most of these records are from the central and “Gazetteers” sections of this outline for southern area of Italy, but many records are also information on how to find civil registration available from the northern regions. offices.

18 19 Italy (Present-day Regions)

Trentino- Alto Adige - Venezia Giulia Val d’ Lombardia Veneto

Piemonte

Emilia-Romagna

Liguria Republic of San Marino

Toscana Marche

Umbria

Lazio Abruzzo

Molise

Campania Puglia

Sardegna

Calabria

Sicilia

20 Italy (Present-day Provinces)

21 14 23 19 8 22 31 33 12 30 1 4 20 26 32 10 11 29 6 17 28 9 15 7 13 24 27 18 16 3 25 2 43 39 42 5 34 45 37 38 44 36 52 41 104 35 40 46 51 54 48 55 53 60 47 57

56 59 50 61 58 49 62 71 67 65 70

69 68 66 72 63 73 76 64 81 80 79 74 82 85 103 78 75 84 83 77 102 101

87 100 88 86

90

89 95 96 99 93 94 91 92 98 97

21 Italy (Present-day Provinces)

Valle D’Aosta 36. 70. 1. Aosta 37. 71.

Piemonte Molise 2. 72. 3. Asti Emilia-Romagna 73. 4. * 38. 5. 39. Puglia 6. 40. Forlì 74. 7. Torino 41. 75. 8. Verbano-Cusio-Ossola* 42. Parma 76. 9. 43. 77. 44. 78. Lombardia 45. 10. 46. Campania 11. 79. 12. Toscana 80. 13. 47. 81. 14. * 48. Firenze 82. Napoli 15. Lodi* 49. 83. 16. Mantova 50. 17. Milano 51. Basilicata 18. 52. - 84. 19. 53. 85. 20. 54. 55. * Calabria Trentino-Alto Adige 56. 86. 21. 87. 22. Trento Marche 88. * 57. 89. Veneto 58. 90. * 23. 59. 24. Padova 60. e Sicilia 25. 91. 26. Umbria 92. 27. Venezia 61. 93. 28 62. 94. 29. 95. Lazio 96. Palermo Friuli-Venezia Giulia 63. 97. Ragusa 30. 64. Latina 98. Siracusa 31. 65. 99. Trapani 32. 66. Roma 33. 67. Sardegna 100. Abruzzo 101. 34. Genova 68. 102. 35. 69. L’Aquila 103.

22 To find out what records the library has, look in • Local towns. Most civil registration registers the Locality Search of the Family History Library are still maintained by the comune. Catalog under: To obtain civil registration records, you can ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - CIVIL write to the town. Civil officials will generally REGISTRATION answer your correspondence in Italian. Your request may be forwarded if the records have The library’s collection continues to grow as new been sent to the tribunale or the provincia. records are microfilmed and added to the collection. Do not give up if records are not yet • Provincial archives. Copies of the pre-1866 available. The Family History Library Catalog is records are in the provincial archives. Many of updated regularly, so check it yearly for the these records have been microfilmed and are records you need. available at the Family History Library. For records not microfilmed, write to the provincial The Family History Library has records from many archives if your request to the comune was not towns and provinces. However, the library does successful. not have records that have been destroyed, were never kept, were not available in the registrar’s Addresses for obtaining civil registration records office at the time of microfilming, were not from the provincial archives are in: microfilmed, or are restricted from public access by Italian law. The library does not issue Cole, Trafford R. Italian Genealogical Records: certificates for living or deceased individuals. How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Other Records in Family History Research. Salt The Family History Library has few provincial and Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1997. (FHL book statewide collections. The library does have one EUROPE 945 D27c; computer number large regional record for Toscana. This collection 753243.) includes approximately 250 communities and their frazioni (hamlets). The records are arranged by Archivum; revue internationale des archives publié year and are, for the most part, in alphabetical e avec le concours financier de l’Unesco et order by the name of each town. Most records sous les auspices du Consil internationale des include the years from 1809 to 1865. To find this archives (International review on archives collection, look in the Author/Title Search of the published by the International Council of Family History Library Catalog under: Archives with the financial aid of Unesco). Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1952. TOSCANA (REGIONE). UFFICIO DELLO (FHL book EUROPE REF 020.5 Ar25 v. 38; STATO CIVILE computer number 36460.)

Or, look in the Locality Search under: In addition, you can find a complete list of archives and their hours, services, and fees on the Internet. ITALY, TOSCANA - CIVIL REGISTRATION For more information about useful Internet sites, see the “Computer Networks and Bulletin Boards” Finding Records Not at the Family History portion of the “Archives and Libraries” section of Library this outline.

You may be able to find birth, marriage, and death You may also find archive inventories that describe records by contacting or visiting local civil the record-keeping systems and available civil registration offices or archives in Italy. To protect registration records in Italy. These and other guides the rights of privacy of living persons, most are found in the Family History Library Catalog modern records have restrictions on their use and under: access. ITALY - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES Italy has no single repository of civil registration ITALY, [PROVINCE] - ARCHIVES AND records. The present location of records depends LIBRARIES on several factors, which are listed below. Records may be available from several locations by After you have determined what office has correspondence. Write your request in Italian jurisdiction over the records you need, write a brief whenever possible. request to the proper office.

23 • Cashier’s check or international money order The Family History Library has Italian telephone (in local currency) or the search fee. directories. These are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under: • Full name and the sex of the person sought. ITALY, [PROVINCE] - DIRECTORIES • Names of the parents, if known. The library also has some older telephone • Approximate date and place of the event. directories on microfilm. In addition, the library has the following compact disc: • Your relationship to the person. Indirizzi e numeri di telefono di tutta Italia • Reason for the request (family history or (Addresses and telephone numbers of all of medical). Italy). Mannheim, Germany: Topware CD Service, 1996. (FHL disc AUTOMATED RD • Request for a complete extract of the record CD 4500 no. 64, CCD 808625; computer number 808625.) • International reply coupon, available from large post offices (optional). Church directories can help you find diocese and parishes. See the “Church Directories” section of If your request is unsuccessful, search for duplicate this outline for more information. records that may have been filed in other archives or church registers. EMIGRATION AND IMMIGRATION COURT RECORDS

Emigration and immigration sources list the names Italian court records date from the 1400s, and those of people leaving (emigration) or coming into that are indexed are done so by the names of those (immigration) Italy. These sources are usually arrested. Most crimes never reached the courts but found as passenger lists. The information in these were settled on a local level. Search court records records may include the names of the emigrants; as a last resort. their ages, occupations, and destinations; and often their places of origin or birthplaces. Since the unification, police records have been kept on every Italian citizen. When applying for Records were created when individuals emigrated certain jobs, a felony certificate [certificato from or immigrated into Italy. Separate records penale] is required to prove that the applicant’s document an ancestor’s arrival in his destination record is clean. These police records are held by country. This section discusses: the court [tribunale] of each province and copies may be requested from the court office [casellario • Finding the emigrant’s town of origin. giudiziale]. See also the section in this outline on “Notarial Records.” • Emigration from Italy including the historical background of Italian emigration. DIRECTORIES • Records of Italian emigrants in their destination countries. Directories are alphabetical lists of names and addresses. They often list all adult residents or • Immigration into Italy. tradespeople of a city or area. Unfortunately, few Italian emigration records exist. Telephone directories sometimes have city maps You can, however, find many records in the United and may include addresses of churches, cemeteries, States of Italians who moved there. Some South civil registration offices, and other locations that American countries also have records of Italian may be of value to you. These directories can also immigrants. help you determine the areas where particular are common. Finding the Emigrant’s Town of Origin

Once you have traced your family back to your immigrant ancestor, you must determine the city or town from which he or she came.

24 Several sources may give this information. You East Coast. Many emigrants from may be able to find it by talking to older family settled in the coal and mineral mining towns members or by searching documents, such as: across the United States. Other northerners later settled in northern California where a climate • Birth, marriage, and death certificates. similar to their own existed.

• Obituaries. Besides going to the United States, many Italian emigrants went to , , , • Journals. , and Canada.

• Photographs. Passenger Lists

• Letters. During the 1800s, most Italian emigrants left through the ports of Le Havre, Marseilles, and • Family bible. Nice in France, and Genova, Napoli, and Palermo in Italy. Although some of the records of • Church certificates or records. departures from these Italian ports exist, they are usually shipping lists and do not list passengers. • Naturalization applications and petitions. Each individual shipping company maintained its own lists, and most lists have been lost or • Passenger lists. destroyed. However, other sources of emigration information are described under “Records of • Passports. Italian Emigrants in Their Destination Countries” and “Finding the Emigrant’s Town of Origin” in • Family heirlooms. this section.

Although few emigration records exist for Italy, Other Records of Departure several other sources can help you track your immigrant ancestor’s place of origin. See the In 1869 the Italian government began requiring “Records of Italian Emigrants in their Destination people to obtain passports to move within Italy. Countries” in this section, below. However, the United States and many other countries did not require passports, so many Additional information about finding the origins of Italians left Italy without an official passport. immigrant ancestors is given in the Tracing Immigrant Origins (34111) research outline. The Italian government used passports to make sure young Italian men did not emigrate to avoid Emigration From Italy the military draft. Consequently, police were responsible for passports. Passports are still issued Italian emigration can be divided into two major today by the questura (head of the internal police) periods, with about 10,000 emigrants leaving prior in each province. Although you may write to to the first period. request passport information, the archives where these records are kept are not open to the public. • 1848 to 1870. More than 20,000 emigrants left You will generally find passports among the Italy and migrated to the United States. This personal papers of the emigrant’s family in his or wave of emigration was caused by political her destination country. upheaval and revolution as Italy struggled to become an independent, unified state. Because passport records can be hard to find and access, you may want to check with the anagrafe • 1870 to 1914. From 1870 to 1880, an estimated (registrar’s office) in each comune. This office 55,000 Italians came to the United States. From keeps records of residency changes and emigration 1880 to 1890, more than 300,000 others along with dates and probable destinations. arrived. As word arrived in Italy of the opportunities in America and as economic Records of Italian Emigrants in Their problems increased in Italy, nearly 4 million Destination Countries Italians came to America between 1890 and 1914. Sometimes the best sources for information about your emigrant ancestor are found in the country to Most emigrants were from and which he or she emigrated. Emigrants from Italy in settled in New York, Chicago, and along the the earliest period of emigration settled in New

25 Orleans, New York, and along the eastern Unfortunately, very few immigration sources exist seaboard. Later, emigrants settled in New York, for Italy. Instead, look for emigration records of Chicago, , Colorado, California, and the country from which your ancestor moved. elsewhere. GAZETTEERS Records in the places where emigrants settled sometimes provide the town of origin and other information. To learn about these records, use A gazetteer is a dictionary of place-names. handbooks, manuals, and research outlines for Gazetteers describe towns and villages, parishes those areas. and or provinces, rivers and mountains, sizes of population, and other geographical United States features. They usually include only the names of places that existed at the time the gazetteer was • Passenger lists. Most Italian emigrants to the published. The place-names are generally listed in United States arrived at the ports of New York, alphabetical order, similar to a dictionary. New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Boston. The Family History Library has microfilm copies of Gazetteers may also provide additional information the records and indexes of each of these ports about towns, such as: from 1820 to 1945. If your ancestor emigrated after 1893, the passenger list will probably list • The different religious denominations. the place of birth and last known residence. See the United States Research Outline (30972) for • The schools, colleges, and universities. more information about United States passenger lists. • Major manufacturing works, canals, docks, and railroad stations. • Immigration lists. A published list and index of Italian emigrants to America is: • Court and military districts.

Italians to America, Lists of Passengers Many places in Italy have the same or similar Arriving at U.S. Ports, 1880–1899. names. You will need to use a gazetteer to identify Wilmington, : Scholarly Resources, the specific town where your ancestor lived, the 1992–. (FHL book US/CANADA Ref 973 province it was in, and the civil and church W2it v. 1–9; computer number 653664.) This jurisdictions that may have kept records about him work contains passenger lists for those ships or her. with Italian passengers. Gazetteers are also helpful for determining Immigration into Italy provincial jurisdictions as used in the Family History Library Catalog. Many people moved to Italy during the following periods: Finding Place-Names in the Family History Library Catalog • Early 1200s. Waldensian emigrants from France moved to northern Italy as a result of The Family History Library Catalog uses the religious persecution. names of the towns and provinces as they existed in 1954. Regardless of the names a place may have • 1431 to about 1450. Thousands of Greek and had at various times, all Italian places are listed in Albanian Christians moved into Italy as a result the Family History Library Catalog by the name of persecution under the Muslim Turks. They used in the following gazetteer: settled in coastal areas of the and in Sicilia. Nuovo dizionario dei comuni e frazioni di comuni con le circonscrizioni amministrative (New • 1492 to 1692. Thousands of Jewish emigrants dictionary of communities and hamlets of moved into Italy because of religious communities with their administrative persecution. Most of them came from Spain jurisdictions). 22nd edition. Roma: Società and Portugal. Many settled in Roma and other Editrice Dizionario dei Comuni, 1954. major cities. (FHL book EUROPE 945 E5n 1954; computer number 432697.) This gazetteer includes court and military districts and indicates boundary and name changes.

26 If you are not sure which province that a town or telegraphic localities in [The city is in, use the Locality Search of the catalog. It kingdoms of Serbia, , and .]). provides “see references” for the names of towns Dresden: W.V. Baensch Stiftung, 1931. (FHL that it recognizes. If you are using the catalog on book EUROPE Q 949.7 E8e; film 0583459 compact disc, you can also use the Locality item 3; computer number 320771.) Browse feature. Kredel, Otto. Deutsch-fremdsprachiges Modern Place-Names Ortsnamenverzeichnis (German foreign language name dictionary). Berlin: Deutsche For some research purposes, such as Verlagsgesellschaft, 1931. (FHL film 590387; correspondence, it is useful to learn the modern additional film 583457; computer number jurisdictions for the area where your ancestors 260956.) lived. Modern jurisdictions are also helpful if you want to find an ancestral town on a modern map. These and similar sources are listed in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog You can find the following modern gazetteers at under: many large libraries and archives: ITALY - GAZETTEERS Touring Club Italiano. Annuario generale dei ITALY, [PROVINCE] - GAZETTEERS comuni e delle frazioni d’Italia (General yearbook of the communes and fraziones of GENEALOGY Italy). Milano: TCI, 1993. (FHL book EUROPE REF 945 E5t 1993; computer number 390016.) This yearbook includes churches, The term genealogy is used in this outline and in schools, colleges, public works, and postal the Family History Library Catalog to describe a codes. variety of records containing family information gathered by individuals, researchers, societies, or United States. Board on Geographic Names. Italy archives. These records may include pedigree and Associated Areas: Official Standard Names charts, compiled information on families, Approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic correspondence, ancestor lists, research exchange Names. Washington D.C.: U.S. Government files, record abstracts, and collections of original or Printing Office, 1956. (FHL book EUROPE copied documents. These records are excellent REF 945 E5u; film 0874451; computer number sources of information that can save you valuable 331622.) time. Because they are compiled from other sources of information, they must be carefully Similar national sources are listed in the Locality evaluated for accuracy. Search of the Family History Library Catalog under: Additional sources of genealogy for noble families in Italy are described in the “Nobility” section of ITALY - POSTAL AND SHIPPING GUIDES this outline.

Historical Place-Names Major Collections and Databases

Because names and boundaries of some places The Family History Library has several sources have changed or no longer exist, you may need to that contain previous research or that can lead you use sources that describe places as they existed to others who are interested in sharing family earlier. Some of the historical national gazetteers information. These sources include: that identify places in Italy are: • International Genealogical Index. The index Crusius, Christian. Topographisches Post-Lexicon provides names and vital information for aller Ortschaften der kais. königl. Erbländer. thousands of deceased persons who lived in (Topographical postal directory of royal lands). Italy, mostly before 1900. This valuable Wien: Druck von Mathias Andreas , research tool lists birth, christening, or marriage 1799–1828. (On 8 FHL films beginning with dates. The index for Italy includes names film 1187844; computer number 55958.) extracted from a few parish registers and civil registration by volunteers and names submitted Verzeichnis der Post- und Telegraphenanstalten in by other researchers. Jugoslawien (Königreich der Serben, Kroaten und Slovene, S.H.S.) (Index of postal and

27 The International Genealogical Index is can establish contact with the appropriate available on microfiche and on compact disc as individuals. part of FamilySearch. If you are using the microfiche, you need to know which province Many Italian family histories are indexed in: to search. If you are using the compact disc edition, however, the computer will search the Archivio biografico italiano (Italian biographical entire country for any name. archive). [München; New York]: K. G. Saur, 1992. 1,046 microfiche. (FHL fiche 6002169 • Ancestral File. This file, which is part of A-Z, 600228 supplement A-Z; computer FamilySearch, contains family history number 794422.) An index to this work is: information linked in family groups and pedigrees that has been contributed since 1979. Indice biografico italiano (Italian biographical As of 1992, the file contains the names of index). 4 vols. München: K. G. Saur, 1993. millions of persons, including thousands of (FHL book EUROPE 945 D32i v. 1–4; Italian families. Ancestral File can print computer number 788758.) pedigree charts, family group records, and individual summary sheets for any person in A new series of this work contains biographies: the file. Archivio biografico italiano. Nuova serie (Italian • Family Group Records Collection. More than 8 biographical archive. New Series). München: million family group record forms have been K. G. Saur, 1997. 690 microfiche. (FHL fiche microfilmed in the Family Group Records 6109292–6109322; computer number 792574.) Collection. This includes many Italian families. An index to this source is: There are two major sections: the Archive Section and the Patrons Section. The film Internationaler biographischer Index (World numbers for both sections are listed in the biographical index). 3rd CD-ROM ed. Author/Title Search of the Family History München: K. G. Saur, 1997. (FHL disc Library Catalog under: AUTOMATED RC CD no. 50; computer number 792574.) FAMILY GROUP RECORDS COLLECTION Genealogical Collections • Social Security Death Index. The Social Security Death Index lists all the people in the The Family History Library has a few collections United States who held social security numbers of genealogical material for Italian families. These and who died between 1962 and 1988. may include published and unpublished collections of family histories and lineage. Some of the major Family Histories genealogical collections are:

A few Italian families have produced histories or Archivio genealogico (Genealogical studies). newsletters that may include genealogical Firenze: Società Italiana di Studi Araldici e information, biographies, photographs, and other Genealogici, 1961–. (FHL book EUROPE 945 excellent information. These histories and B2as; films 908856, item 2 and 97317, item 2; newsletters usually include several generations of computer number 19265.) the family. Bolletino della Società di studi Valdese (Bulletin of The Family History Library has a few published the Society of Waldensian studies). [Torre Italian family histories and newsletters. You can Pellice, Italia]: Società` di Studi Valdesi, find them in the catalog by using the Surname 1935–. (FHL book EUROPE 945 F25b; Search. Not every name found in a family history computer number 199054.) is listed in the Family History Library Catalog because it only includes the major surnames Genealogical collections are listed in the Family discussed in the family history. History Library Catalog under:

Some individuals in Italy have unpublished family ITALY - GENEALOGY histories. These histories pertain mostly to ITALY, [PROVINCE] - GENEALOGY descendants of Italian nobility. Some individuals ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - have collected a variety of unpublished records GENEALOGY pertaining to their own families. These materials are generally not accessible for research unless you

28 If you find your surname in any of the sources HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY described in this section, determine whether the entry actually pertains to your family. All persons with the same surname are not necessarily related. You may find that the name of the place where Often, you will have to do some original research your ancestor came from has changed or that the before you can connect your ancestry to families name of the province or even the name of the listed in these sources. country has changed. This section describes the changes that have taken place in Italy. This HERALDRY information can help you find records in the Family History Library Catalog for the place your ancestors lived. This section will describe the In Italy only the noble class was entitled to bear jurisdictions used in the Family History Library coats of arms. The kings rewarded persons who Catalog. performed a heroic deed or notable achievement or who held a prominent position in government by Italy has been divided into various city states, granting them a noble title and the right to use a duchies, and kingdoms under several different coat of arms. These grants were documented. rulers throughout history. Parts of modern Italy used to be part of Austria, Switzerland, France, and Various authors in Italy have prepared armorials, the former Yugoslavia. The country that controlled or heraldry books. An armorial is a collection of Italy determined what records were to be kept. descriptions of coats of arms and the families that bear them. It also briefly describes the family’s During the reign of Napoleon (from about 1808 to entitlement to a particular coat of arms. It may also 1815), Italy was divided into provinces, note early bearers of a coat of arms, sometimes communes, and hamlets. These political with relationships, birth dates, and other boundaries are basically the same today. genealogical information. Each armorial is different from others and includes different names. Most of Italy was unified into a single kingdom in Some minor noble families are not included in any 1861. Venetia became part of the kingdom in 1866 books. The following sources are of particular and the city of Roma in 1870. Roma became the interest in Italy: capital in 1871.

Rivista Araldica (Heraldic magazine). Roma: Italy is divided into 20 regions—much like the Collegio Araldica, 1904–. (FHL book states in the United States—and 103 provinces, EUROPE 945, D65r; computer number 50150.) which correspond to counties. Most regions and provinces have remained the same for the last 150 Guelfi Camajani, Piero, conte, 1896–. Dizionario years. araldico: terza edizione notevolmente ampliata e corredata di 573 illustrazioni (Heraldic Six new provinces have been recently created dictionary: third edition, enlarged and improved because of a population increase. These provinces with 573 illustrations). Bologna: Arnaldo Forni, are Crotone and Vibo Valentia in Calabria, Prato in [1966]. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D66g; Toscana, Rimini in Emilia-Romagna, Lecco and computer number 66424.) Lodi in Lombardia, and Biella and Verbano-Cusio- Ossola in Piemonte. The Family History Library has collected some armorials, which are listed in the Locality Search The following books explain more about Italy’s of the Family History Library Catalog under: historical geography. You can find these and similar material at the Family History Library and ITALY - HERALDRY many other research libraries:

Sources about the Italian nobility are listed in the Cole, Trafford R. Italian Genealogical Records: Locality Search of the catalog under: How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Other Records in Family History research. Salt ITALY - NOBILITY Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1997. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D27c; computer number Noble families are often subjects of published 753243.) genealogical books or articles. See the “Genealogy” and “Nobility” sections of this Flechia, Giovanni. Nomi locali del Napolitano: outline. derivati da gentilizi italici (An etymological place-name dictionary of Neapolitan localities).

29 [Sala Bolognese]: Forni, [1984]. Ristampa 1559– Spain ruled most of Italy. dell’edizione di Torino, 1874. (FHL book 1713 EUROPE 945 E26f; computer number 506847.) 1713 Treaty of Utrecht ended Spanish rule and established the Austrian Hapsburgs as You can find other sources about boundary Italy’s dominant power. changes in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under: 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, drove the Austrian rulers from northern ITALY - HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY Italy. ITALY - HISTORY ITALY, [PROVINCE] - HISTORICAL 1804– Napoleon ruled most of Italy. In 1806 he GEOGRAPHY 15 began requiring that civil registration ITALY, [PROVINCE] - HISTORY records be kept.

Also, the historical atlases described in the “Maps” 1814 Napoleon was defeated. Most of Italy is section of this outline contain maps that depict returned to its former sovereigns. Civil boundary changes, migration and settlement registration ended in 1815. patterns, military actions, and ethnic and religious distribution. 1821– A series of revolts, known as the Risorgimento, HISTORY 31 occurred against local rulers. The rebels sought political unity for Italy. These rebellions were eventually crushed. Effective family research requires some understanding of the historical events that may 1848– Revolts began in every major Italian city have affected your family and the records about 49 opposing Austrian rule. New governments them. Learning about wars, governments, laws, were established. Austria put down the migrations, and religious trends may help you revolts and regained control of the Italian understand political boundaries, family cities. The pope, backed by the French movements, and settlement patterns. These events army, won back Roma. may have led to the creation of records such as land and military documents that mention your 1858– Count Cavour, prime minister of the family. See the “Historical Geography” section of Kingdom this outline. 59 of Sardegna, and Napoleon III of France signed a defense agreement. To maintain Your ancestors will become more interesting to its Italian holdings, Austria declared war you if you use histories to learn about the events in on the Kingdom of Sardegna. French and which they may have participated. For example, by Italian troops defeated the Austrians. Much using a history you might learn about the events of northern Italy was united under the that occurred in the year your great-grandparents Kingdom of Sardegna. were married. 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi freed Sicilia, southern Some key dates and events in the Italy, and the city of Napoli from the that influenced record keeping are: French.

1300s– . This cultural 1861 After a nationwide vote, the Kingdom of movement Italy was formed with Vittorio Emmanuele 1600s began in Italy and spread to England, II as king. The kingdom united all of Italy France, Germany, and the Netherlands. It except the city of Roma, the region of was characterized by a revival ancient Venezia, and the country of San Marino. Greek and Roman art and philosophy, the development of humanism, and the 1866 In exchange for Venezia, Italy supported beginning of modern science. in its war against Austria. A month later, Prussia defeated Austria, and Venezia 1543 The Council of Trent required parishes to became part of the . Civil begin keeping records. registration became law.

30 1870 The Franco-Prussian War forced France to Local Histories withdraw its troops from Roma. Italian troops conquered all of Roma except for Some of the most valuable sources for family the Vatican. history research are local histories. They describe the settlement of the area and the founding of 1871 The capital of Italy moves from Torino to churches, schools, and businesses. You can also Roma. find lists of soldiers and civil officials. Even if your ancestor is not listed, information on other 1911 After a war with Turkey, Italy gained relatives may be included that will provide Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, and Tripoli. important clues for finding the ancestor. A local history may also suggest other records to search. 1915– Italy sided with the Allies in and Local histories can also provide background 18 gained Trentino and Trieste from Austria- information about your family’s lifestyle and the Hungary. community and environment in which they lived.

1922 King Victor Emmanuel III made Benito The Family History Library has some local Mussolini the premier of Italy. By 1925 histories for towns in Italy. Similar histories are Mussolini reigned as dictator. often also available at major public and university libraries and archives. 1936 Italy conquered Ethiopia. JEWISH HISTORY 1939 Italy and Germany agreed to be allies if war were to break out. Italy conquered Albania. Jewish settlements have existed throughout Italy and Sicilia since the time of the . 1940– Italy entered World War II on Germany’s From the time of the Republic through the Middle side. Ages, Jews lived mostly in Roma and in the Regno 43 delle due Sicilie. Few lived in the north until they began migrating there in the thirteenth century. 1946 Italians voted to establish a Republican Jewish migration to Italy increased dramatically in form of government. 1492 when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, rulers of the Regno delle due Sicilie, exiled 1947 Italy signed a peace treaty at the end of all Jews who would not convert to Christianity. World War II. As part of the treaty, Italy The Spanish Inquisition forced many Jews to move gave up its African empire (Libya, Italian to Roma and the surrounding area and also to Somaliland, and Eritrea), gave the major cities in the north such as Milano, Torino, Dodecanese Islands to , and gave Genova, Firenze, and Venezia. Albania its independence. Trieste was made a free territory that was divided into The Jewish population reached its highest mark in two zones under Anglo-American and the seventeenth century at about 50,000. Since then Yugoslav control. Minor changes were it has suffered a steady decline, especially during made to the French-Italian border. World War II. 1954 Trieste was given to Italy in a treaty with JEWISH RECORDS Yugoslavia.

The Family History Library has some published Genealogical records for Jews in Italy are not very national and local histories for Italy. You can find complete. Before civil registration, families them in the Locality Search of the Family History recorded births, marriages, and deaths. After civil Library Catalog under one of the following: registration, civil authorities recorded Jewish births, marriages, and deaths. Around 1900, rabbis EUROPE - HISTORY began registering births. This registration, ITALY - HISTORY however, was strictly voluntary. ITALY, [PROVINCE] - HISTORY ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - HISTORY

31 Circumcision and Marriage Books LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES The circumcision books [libro della circoncisione] and marriage books date from the sixteenth Most materials used in Italian research are written century. in Italian. However, you do not need to speak or read Italian to do research in Italian records. You ` Circumcision Books. These books record the will, however, need to know some key words and circumcisions of the males, providing the phrases to understand the records. infant’s name, parents’ names, birth date, and circumcision date. These books are kept in the Because the Roman Catholic Church is synagogues but can be consulted only by predominant, most church records are in Latin. members of the Jewish community. Because of the various political situations through the years, you may also find records from the ` Marriage Books. These books are one of the northern areas in French or German. few genealogical source for females. They provide the names of the bride and groom, their Latin grammar may affect the way names appear in parents’ names, and the marriage date. These the church records. For example, the names records are also held by the Jewish community Dominica and Dominicam refer to the same and are not open to the public. person. Translated into Italian, this same person would be Domenica. If the records are in Italian, Originally, these books dated back for as long as the spelling of your ancestor’s name will not be the community existed, but the Nazis destroyed affected by grammar. most Jewish records during World War II. As a result, Italian-Jewish research is very difficult. Language Aids

The government of Israel is trying to preserve the The Family History Library has genealogical word remaining circumcision and marriage books lists for Italian and Latin. throughout the world, including the Italian books. Jewish researchers may access the documents The following English-Italian dictionaries can also available in Israel and the computerized indexes to aid you in your research. You can find these and them. similar material at many research libraries or bookstores: You may find it easier to search the records held in Israel than the ones in Italy. Contact an Israeli Orlandi, Giuseppe. Dizionario italiano-inglese, consulate in the United States or Canada regarding inglese-italiano (Italian-English, English- these records. Non-Jewish researchers do not have Italian dictionary). Terza ed. Milano: Carla access to them. Signorelli, 1957. (FHL book EUROPE REF 453.21 Or5d 1961; computer number 26921.) Cemetery Records Il nuovo dizionario inglese Garzanti (The new Jewish cemeteries are also a good source of Garzanti English dictionary). Milano: A. information. Unlike the Italian Catholics, who Garzanti, 1984. (FHL book EUROPE REF reuse the same plots again and again, Jews leave 453.21 G199n; computer number 702076.) cemeteries undisturbed. There are tombstones and family plots at these cemeteries that date back MAPS hundreds of years.

Other Sources Maps are an important source to locate the places where your ancestors lived. They help you see the If you are of Italian-Jewish heritage you should neighboring towns and geographic features of the contact the rabbi at the synagogue in the city in area from which your ancestor came. which you believe your ancestors lived. Maps locate places, parishes, churches, To find books on Italian Jews, use the Subject geographical features, transportation routes, and Search of the Family History Library catalog to proximity to other towns. Historical maps are search under: especially useful for understanding boundary changes. JEWS - ITALY

32 Maps are published individually, or as atlases. An • The province your ancestor came from. atlas is a bound collection of maps. Maps may also be included in gazetteers, guidebooks, local • The name of the parish where your ancestor histories, and history books. was baptized or married.

Different types of maps can help you in different • The towns where related ancestors lived. ways. Historical atlases describe the growth and development of countries. They show boundaries, • The size of the town. migration routes, settlement patterns, military campaigns, and other historical information. Road • The occupation of your ancestor or his or her atlases are useful because of the detail they relatives. (This may indicate the size of the provide. Street maps are extremely helpful when town and the industries supported there.) researching in large cities such as Napoli, which is divided into specific sections, or quartieri. • Nearby localities, such as large cities.

Using Maps • Nearby features, such as rivers and mountains.

Maps must be used carefully for several reasons: • Industries of the area.

• There are often several frazioni with the same • Dates when the town was renamed. name. For example, there are 10 towns called Rochetta in present-day Italy. • Dates the town existed.

• Comuni with the same name were given an • Other names the town was known by. additional name to distinguish them from the others. For example: in For additional information see the “Gazetteers” Cosenza and San Giovanni La Punta in Catania. section of this outline.

• The spelling and even names of some towns Finding Maps and Atlases may have changed since your ancestors lived there. Some localities have different names in Collections of maps and atlases are available at different languages. For example, the town many historical societies and at public and presently known as Vipeteno was named university libraries. when it was part of Austria. The Family History Library has an excellent • Place-names are often misspelled in Anglicized collection of Italian maps and atlases. They are sources. Difficult names may have been listed in the Locality Search of the Family History shortened and important diacritic marks Library Catalog under: omitted. For example, Livorno may be found as Leghorn on some maps. ITALY - MAPS

• Political boundaries are not clearly indicated on A helpful atlas for Italy is: all maps. Touring Club Italiano. Atlante stradale d’Italia Finding the Specific Town on the Map (Road atlas of Italy). Scale 1:200,000. Milano: TCI, 1988. (FHL book EUROPE REF 945 E7t To do successful research in Italy, you must 1988; computer number 505527.) identify the town where your ancestor lived. Because many towns have the same name, you A helpful collection of maps at the Family History may need some additional information before you Library is: can find the correct town on a map. You will be more successful if you already have some Carta d’Italia (Map of Italy). Scale 1:100,000. information about the town. Before using a map, [Italy]: Istituto geografico militare, 1954–1969. search gazetteers, histories, family records, and 277 maps. (FHL EUROPE 945 E7m; film other sources to learn all you can about: 1053709; computer number 635413.)

•The tribunale your ancestor’s town was in. This information will distinguish the town from other towns of the same name.

33 MILITARY RECORDS Draftee Curriculum of Service Record [registro dei foglie matricolari]. These records include details of the young man’s military service, Military records identify individuals who served in including such items as promotions. the military or who were eligible for service. From 1865 on, all young men were required to serve in Discharge Records [foglio di congedo illimitato]. or register for military service in Italy. Evidence These records prove a soldier’s discharge from that an ancestor actually served may be found in military service. They include birth information, family records, biographies, census, probate parents’ names, physical description, vocation, and records, civil registration, and church records. educational information. They also give information regarding the date and place of draft, Church records and civil registration records have length of service, transfers, campaigns, medals, much the same information as military records, and and wounds. One copy was given to the soldier, they are usually easier to access. However, you and one copy was kept in his file. must know the name of a town before you can search them. Service Records [registro di ruolo]. These also contain details of the man’s military service. If you do not know the name of a town, provincial military records can identify a man’s birthplace. Finding Military Records Even if you know only the region, you can check the records of all military districts within the Italian military records are kept by military region. districts. The archive of the military district stores the records. Most military districts are within the Historical Background geographical boundaries of a province. A province can have up to three military districts, and in rare In some regions, military records begin about 1792 cases a military district may encompass two and give information about the man’s military provinces. career, such as promotions, places served, pensions, and conduct. They also usually include A copy of the records is held at the archive of the information about his age, birthplace, residence, tribunale (court). After 75 years, this copy is occupation, physical description, and family moved to the provincial archives and made members. available to the public. Each provincial archive has the records of the military district within its Conscription of all males at the age of eighteen provincial boundaries. was instituted in 1865. Every Italian male—even those obviously disabled—was and still is required Military records can be of great genealogical value, to report to the draft board for a physical exam. and the Family History Library has begun to Therefore, draft records list every native Italian microfilm them. As of this publication, the library male who was born from about 1850 to the present has the following records: and do who did not leave the country at an early age. • Parma, 1820–1915

Military Records of Genealogical Value • Cosenza, 1842–1901

The military records that are most useful to family • Catania, 1840–1913 history researchers are described below. • Torino, 1875–1910 Conscription Records [registro di leva]. These records list all males by year of birth and provide To find Italian military records in the Family the name, parents’ names, place of residence, birth History Library Catalog, check the Locality Search date and place, vocation, literacy, and physical under: description. They also show the draft board’s decision regarding the draftee’s fitness for service. ITALY - [PROVINCE] - MILITARY If the draftee had emigrated, the date and RECORDS destination are noted. You can also write to the provincial archives for information. See the “Archives and Libraries” section of this outline for more information.

34 MINORITIES NAMES, PERSONAL

Italy has had many ethnic and religious minorities Understanding surnames and given names can help including Jews, Albanians, Gypsies, and you find and identify your ancestors in the records. Waldensians; consequently, it is important to learn the history of the ethnic, racial, and religious Surnames groups your ancestors belonged to. For example, you might study a history of the Jews in Italy, Before record keeping began, most people had Germans in Italy, or Waldensians in Piemonte. only one name, such as Giovanni (John). As the This historical background can help you identify population increased, it became necessary to where your ancestors lived and when they lived distinguish between individuals with the same there, where they migrated, the types of records name. The problem was usually solved by adding they might be listed in, and other information to descriptive information. Giovanni became help you understand your family’s history. Giovanni (John the ), Giovanni di Matteo (John son of Matthew), Giovanni Basso For some Italian minorities there are unique (John the short), or Giovanni di Napoli (John from records and resources available, including Napoli). At first, surnames applied only to one histories, gazetteers, biographical sources, person and not to the whole family. After a few settlement patterns, and handbooks. generations, these names were passed from father to child. The Family History Library collects records of minorities, especially their published histories. Surnames developed from four major sources: You can find these histories by looking in the Locality Search of the Family History Library • Patronymic. These surnames are based on a Catalog under: parent’s name, such as Giovanni d’Alberto (John son of Albert). ITALY - MINORITIES ITALY, [PROVINCE] - MINORITIES • Occupational. These surnames are based on the ITALY - JEWISH HISTORY person’s trade, such as Pietro Contadino (Peter Farmer). You can find other sources in the Subject Search of the catalog under the name of the minority, such as • Descriptive or Nickname. These surnames are JEWS, GERMANS, or WALDENSIANS. Some based on a unique quality of the person, such as sources are listed under ALBANIANS - ITALY. Andrea Amabile (Andrew Amiable).

Examples of books on minorities are: • Geographical. These surnames are based on a person’s residence, such as Maria Pugliese Nasse, George Nicholas. The Italo-Albanian (Mary from Puglia). Villages of Southern Italy. Washington D.C.: National Academy of Sciences—National Surnames were first used by the nobility and Research Council, 1964. (FHL book EUROPE wealthy land owners. Later they were used by 945 H6n; computer number 84628.) merchants and townspeople and eventually by the rural population. This process took between two Pons, Teafilo G. anni fa alle valli, il and three centuries. In Italy the practice was mostly problema dell’emigrazione (One hundred years established by the 1400s. ago in the valleys; Waldensian emigration in 1856). Torre Pelice: Società di studi valdesi, Women’s Surnames. Women are referred to by 1956. (FHL book EUROPE 945 K2po; their maiden name in most documents. computer number 19510.) Alias Surnames. In some areas of Italy, individuals Roth, Cecil. The History of the Jews in Italy. may have taken a second surname. In records this Farnborough, England: Gregg International, second surname may be preceded by the word 1969. (FHL book EUROPE 945 F2r; computer detto, vulgo, or dit. This practice was used to number 72289.) distinguish between different branches of the same family, especially when the families remained in the same town for generations.

35 Grammatical Effects On Italian Names • The second girl was often named for the mother’s mother. With a few exceptions, names in Italy follow the same pattern as the rest of the language: masculine If a child died, often the name was given to the names end in o, and feminine names in a. next child of that gender.

Italian genealogical records may be in Italian or Several books discuss Italian names and their Latin and occasionally in German or French. Your meanings. Some of them also indicate the cities or ancestor’s name could be in Latin on the birth regions where many names are most common. One record, in Italian on the marriage record, and in such book is: Latin again on the death record. Names are often spelled quite differently when translated into Fucilla, Joseph G. Our Italian Surnames. Evanston, different languages. Ill.: Chandler’s, Inc., 1949. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D4f; computer number 26277.) Italian Latin English Elisabetta Elisabetha Elisabeth NOBILITY Giovanni Joannes John Giuseppe Josephus Joseph Historically, Italy was made up of several Di Andrea Andrei Andrews or son kingdoms and principalities, each of which had its of Andrew own nobility; therefore, titles of nobility were common in Italy. Titles of nobility were granted to The following book translates given names into 23 people who did favors for royalty, people who different European languages (including English): performed military service, and some people who were wealthy enough to purchase them. Janowowa, Wanda, et al. SÙownik Imion (Dictionary of Names). Wroclaw: OssoliÛski, Noble titles include principe (prince), duca (duke), 1975. (FHL book EUROPE REF 940 D4si; marchese (marquis), conte (count), cavaliere film 1181578 item 2; fiche 6000839; computer (knight). number 26595.) Most family traditions of a noble ancestor turn out, Given Names on investigation, to have little foundation in fact. Most members of the noble class did not emigrate Italian given names are often derived from Biblical to the United States. In addition, contrary to names, such as Giuseppe (Joseph) or from the prevailing opinion, it was not customary to disown names of a saint, such as Francesco (Francis). members of noble families for unacceptable behavior. Thus traditions of an ancestor being When baptized, children were usually given erased or eliminated from all records are several given names. Some of these may be the unfounded. names of parents or other relatives. In some areas, names given at baptism were not the same names Illegitimate children, while not entitled to noble that the child used during life. Civil registration status, were often recorded. The father’s name, records may only list a child’s first given name, but however, may not have been recorded. church records (such as baptism registers) would list all of the given names. Grants of nobility were documented. Because of frequent false claims to nobility, families had to In Italy a particular naming pattern was very document their nobility. Some original records common and continues to be used in some regions (such as the grant of nobility) still exist. However, today. The following pattern may be helpful in you can adequately accomplish most nobility researching family groups and determining the research by using published or manuscript parents of the mother and father: genealogies of noble families. Because the noble class has been anxious to preserve their identity, • The first male child was often named for the many Italian noble lines have been published. father’s father. If your research indicates that your ancestor was • The second boy was often named for the actually of the Italian noble class, there are mother’s father. additional records that will be helpful in your research. Some good sources to begin with include: • The first female child was often named for the father’s mother.

36 Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana (Historical • Helpful articles on research methodology. encyclopedia of Italian nobility). Milano: Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana, 1928. • Information about local records, archives, and (FHL book EUROPE 945 D56s; computer services. number 85657.) • Book advertisements and book reviews. Libro d’Oro della Nobiltà italiana (Golden book of the Italian nobility). Roma: Collegio Araldico, • Research advertisements. 1910–. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D5ln; films 833316, 873994 and 823793; computer number • Queries or requests for information about 9236.) specific ancestors that can help you contact other interested researchers. The Family History Library has collected many records of the Italian nobility. These records are North American Periodicals listed in the Locality Search of the catalog under: A few historical and genealogical societies publish ITALY - NOBILITY periodicals focusing on the Italian immigrants to ITALY, [PROVINCE] - NOBILITY . These are often published ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - NOBILITY quarterly and may focus on the emigrants to a particular region or state. An example is: For more information, see the “Heraldry” and “Genealogy” sections of this outline. POINTers: The American Journal of Italian Genealogy. Published by POINT (Pursuing Our NOTARIAL RECORDS Italian Names Together), P.O. Box 2977, Palos Verdes Penninsula, California, 90274. 1987–. (FHL book US/CANADA 973 D25po; Notarial records are of limited value in Italian computer number 498288.) research. Other sources, such as church records and civil registration records, cover a larger percentage Italian Periodicals of the population, and notarial records are difficult to access. Few notarial records have been A helpful list of periodicals published in Italy is: microfilmed. Stolp, Gertrude Nobile. Cataloghi a stampa di Sometimes notarial records predate church and periodici delle biblioteche italiane civil registration records, and they can cover gaps (1859–1967): bibliografia descrittiva in those records. Since they contain wills, (Descriptive bibliography of periodicals in purchases, sales, and legal disputes, notarial Italian libraries). Firenze: Leo S. Olschki, 1968. records are useful for researching families who (FHL book EUROPE 945 B23s; computer owned property or were involved with legal number 64417.) matters. Obtaining Periodicals To find notarial records in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog, see: Copies of periodicals are available from the local societies that publish them. Major archives with ITALY, [PROVINCE] - NOTARIAL genealogical collections will have copies of many RECORDS periodicals, particularly those representing the area they serve. PERIODICALS The Family History Library subscribes to many Italian periodicals. These are listed in the Family Most genealogical and historical societies in North History Library Catalog in several ways. If you America and in Italy publish magazines and know the title of a periodical, look in the newsletters. The articles often include: Author/Title Search. To find periodicals in the Locality Search, look for: • Family genealogies and pedigrees. ITALY - GENEALOGY - PERIODICALS • Transcripts of church records, migration lists, ITALY - HISTORY - PERIODICALS and cemetery records. ITALY - PERIODICALS ITALY - SOCIETIES - PERIODICALS

37 ITALY - [PROVINCE] - GENEALOGY - SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS PERIODICALS ITALY - [PROVINCE] - HISTORY - PERIODICALS Effective family research requires some ITALY - [PROVINCE] - PERIODICALS understanding of the society in which your ITALY - [PROVINCE] - SOCIETIES - ancestor lived. Learning about everyday life, PERIODICALS religious practices, customs, and traditions will ITALY - [PROVINCE] - [TOWN] - help you appreciate your ancestor and the time in GENEALOGY - PERIODICALS which he or she lived. This information is ITALY - [PROVINCE] - [TOWN] - particularly helpful if you choose to write a history HISTORY - PERIODICALS of your family. Research procedures and ITALY - [PROVINCE] - [TOWN] - genealogical sources are different for each area and PERIODICALS time period and are affected by the local customs ITALY - [PROVINCE] - [TOWN] - and traditions. SOCIETIES - PERIODICALS [STATE] - GENEALOGY - PERIODICALS The Family History Library has a few sources that [STATE] - HISTORY - PERIODICALS discuss a variety of subjects related to Italian social [STATE] - PERIODICALS life and customs. These records are listed in the [STATE] - SOCIETIES - PERIODICALS Family History Library Catalog under:

For more information, see also the “Societies” ITALY - SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS section of this outline. ITALY, [PROVINCE] - SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS PROBATE RECORDS SOCIETIES Probate records are court records that describe the distribution of a person’s estate after he or she dies. Genealogical and historical societies and Information in the records may include the death organizations may have information of value to date, names of heirs and guardians, relationships, your genealogical research. You can find a few of residences, an inventory of the estate, and names of these societies in Italy and some in the country to witnesses. Probate records in Italy are included in a which your ancestor immigrated, especially the notary’s official record. For more information, see United States. You may find it helpful to join one the “Notarial Records” in this outline. of these societies. SCHOOLS Most societies publish helpful periodicals, transcripts, and compiled genealogies, and they may have special indexes, collections, and projects. If your ancestor was educated in the universities of Some publish inquiries and queries about Italian Italy, he or she may have been recorded in the ancestors or maintain a list of members’ research matriculation records of that school. interests. Some specialize in the immigrants to a specific area. These records may contain valuable information about your ancestor such as his or her name, age, The following societies may be of interest: hometown, and date of enrollment or graduation. Sometimes the records contain biographical Istituto genealogico italiano information including names of parents, spouse, Via Torta 14 and children. 50122 Firenze Italia The Family History Library does not have any Italian school records. The original records (and Italian Genealogical Group any published versions) may have been kept by the 7 Grayon Drive university. In some areas, local or provincial Dix Hills, NY 11746 archives may have these records. USA

38 Order Sons of Italy in America OTHER RECORDS OF ITALY National Office 219 E Street N.E. Washington D.C. 20002 For more records used in Italian research, search USA for the place in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog. Search under all localities Fraternal Societies where the place may be listed, such as:

Your ancestor may have belonged to an ITALY - [TOPIC] association, lodge, or secret society whose ITALY, [PROVINCE] - [TOPIC] membership was based on common interests, ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN] - [TOPIC] religion, or ethnicity. These societies were involved in political, social, and financial Though not discussed in this outline, the following activities, including life and burial insurance. catalog topics may be useful to your research:

Several sources, such as local histories, ALMANACS biographies, obituaries, tombstones, family BIBLIOGRAPHY records, and artifacts may give you clues that an BUSINESS RECORDS AND COMMERCE ancestor belonged to a fraternal society. CEMETERIES COLONIZATION For more information about fraternal societies in CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS North America, see: COURT RECORDS DESCRIPTION AND TRAVEL Schmidt, Alvin J. Fraternal Organizations. ENCYCLOPEDIAS AND DICTIONARIES Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980. ETHNOLOGY (FHL book US/ CAN 973 C47sa, computer FOLKLORE number 62409.) HANDWRITING LAND AND PROPERTY The records of fraternal organizations may exist in LAW AND LEGISLATION a society or business archive. You may be able to MANORS obtain some of this genealogical information MEDICAL RECORDS through correspondence. MERCHANT MARINE MIGRATION, INTERNAL Guides to Societies and Associations MILITARY HISTORY MINORITIES Current addresses, functions, and membership NAMES, GEOGRAPHICAL requirements of fraternal, ethnic, veteran, NATURALIZATION AND CITIZENSHIP hereditary, and other associations are listed in: NEWSPAPERS OBITUARIES Encyclopedia of Associations. 22nd ed., annual. OCCUPATIONS Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1988–. (FHL book OFFICIALS AND EMPLOYEES US/CANADA REF 973 E4gr; computer ORPHANS AND ORPHANAGES number 32244.) United States associations and POPULATION international associations are listed in separate POSTAL AND SHIPPING GUIDES volumes. PUBLIC RECORDS RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS LIFE Additional information on societies and other SCHOOLS sources of information about Italy are in: TAXATION VISITATIONS, HERALDIC Wasserman, Paul, and Alice E. Kennington, eds., YEARBOOKS Ethnic Information Sources of the United States. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale Research Co., 1983. (FHL book US/CANADA REF 973 F24w; computer number 255.)

39 © 1999 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. FOR FURTHER READING Printed in USA. First edition February 1999. English approval: 2/99

More detailed information about research and No part of this document may be reproduced in any form records of Italy can be found in: without the prior written permission of the publisher. Send all requests for such permission to:

Cole, Trafford R. Italian Genealogical Records: Copyrights and Permissions Coordinator How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical, and Family History Department Other Records in Family History Research. Salt 50 E. North Temple Street Lake City, Utah: Ancestry, 1997. (FHL book Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA EUROPE 945 D27c; computer number FAX: 801-240-2494 753243.) FamilySearch and International Genealogical Index are Colletta, John P. Finding Italian Roots. Baltimore: registered trademarks of Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Ancestral Genealogical Publishing, 1996. (FHL book File, Family History Center, Family History Centers, Family History Library, and Family History Library Catalog are US/CANADA 973 F2cf 1996; computer trademarks of Intellectual Reserve, Inc. number 663358.) 36113 Guelfi Camajani, Guelfo. Genealogy in Italy. Firenze: Istituto genealogico italiano, [1979]. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D27g; computer number 151434.)

Nelson, Lynn. A Genealogist’s Guide to Discovering Your Italian Ancestors: How to Find and Record Your Unique Heritage. Cincinnati: Betterway Books, 1997. (FHL book EUROPE 945 D27n; computer number 813502.) COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS

The Family History Library welcomes additions and corrections that will improve future editions of this outline. Please send your suggestions to:

Publications Coordination Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-3400 USA

We appreciate the archivists, librarians, and others who have reviewed this outline and shared helpful information.

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40 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy Historical Background

History

Effective family research requires some understanding of the historical events that may have affected your family and the records about them. Learning about wars, governments, laws, migrations, and religious trends may help you understand political boundaries, family movements, and settlement patterns. These events may have led to the creation of records such as land and military documents that mention your family. Your ancestors will become more interesting to you if you use histories to learn about the events in which they may have participated. For example, by using a history you might learn about the events that occurred in the year your great-grandparents were married. These key dates and events in the history of Italy influenced record keeping: 1300s–1600s Italian Renaissance. This cultural movement began in Italy and spread to England, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. It was characterized by a revival of ancient Greek and Roman art and philosophy, the development of humanism, and the beginning of modern science. 1545-1563 The Council of Trent required parishes to begin keeping records. 1559–1713 Spain ruled most of Italy. 1713 The Treaty of Utrecht ended Spanish rule and established the Austrian Hapsburgs as Italy’s dominant power. 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte, emperor of France, drove the Austrian rulers from northern Italy. 1804–1814 Napoleon ruled most of Italy. In 1806 he began requiring that civil registration records be kept. 1814 Napoleon was defeated. Most of Italy is returned to its former sovereigns. Civil registration ended in 1815. 1821–1831 A series of revolts, known as the Risorgimento, occurred against local rulers. The rebels sought political unity for Italy. These rebellions were eventually crushed. 1848–1849 Revolts began in every major Italian city opposing Austrian rule. New governments were established. Austria put down the revolts and regained control of the Italian cities. The pope, backed by the French army, won back . 1858–1859 Count Cavour, prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardegna, and Napoleon III of France signed a defense agreement. To maintain its Italian holdings, Austria declared war on the Kingdom of Sardegna. French and Italian troops defeated the Austrians. Much of northern Italy was united under the Kingdom of Sardegna. 1860 Giuseppe Garibaldi freed Sicilia, southern Italy, and the city of Napoli from the French. Sweden, Historical Background

1861 After a nationwide vote, the Kingdom of Italy was formed with Vittorio Emmanuele II as king. The kingdom united all of Italy except the city of Rome, the region of Venezia, and the country of San Marino. 1866 In exchange for Venezia, Italy supported Prussia in its war against Austria. A month later, Prussia defeated Austria, and Venezia became part of the Kingdom of Italy. Civil registration became law. 1870 The Franco-Prussian War forced France to withdraw its troops from Rome. Italian troops conquered all of Rome except for the Vatican. 1871 The capital of Italy moves from to Rome. 1911-1912 After a war with Turkey, Italy gained Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, and Tripoli. 1915–1918 Italy sided with the Allies in World War I and gained Trentino and Trieste from Austria-Hungary. 1922 King Victor Emmanuel III made Benito Mussolini the premier of Italy. By 1925 Mussolini reigned as dictator. 1936 Italy conquered Ethiopia. 1939 Italy and Germany agreed to be allies if war were to break out. Italy conquered Albania. 1940 Italy entered World War II on Germany’s side. 1943 Italy surrendered to Allied forces, and Mussolini was forced to resign. 1946 Italians voted to establish a Republican form of government. 1947 Italy signed a peace treaty at the end of World War II. As part of the treaty, Italy gave up its African empire (Libya, Italian Somaliland, and Eritrea), gave the Dodecanese Islands to Greece, and gave Albania its independence. Trieste was made a free territory that was divided into two zones under Anglo- American and Yugoslav control. Minor changes were made to the French-Italian border. 1954 Trieste was given to Italy in a treaty with Yugoslavia.

The Family History Library has some published national and local histories for Italy. You can find them in the Locality Search of the Family History Library Catalog under one of the following: EUROPE- HISTORY ITALY- HISTORY ITALY, [PROVINCE]- HISTORY ITALY, [PROVINCE], [TOWN]- HISTORY

Local Histories Some of the most valuable sources for family history research are local histories. They describe the settlement of the area and the founding of churches, schools, and businesses. You can also find lists of soldiers and civil officials. Even if your ancestor is not listed, information on other relatives may be included that will provide important clues for finding the ancestor. A local history may also suggest other records to search. Local histories can also provide background information about your family’s lifestyle and the community and environment in which they lived. The Family History Library has some local histories for towns in Italy. Similar histories are often also available at major public and university libraries and archives.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 02/15/01 GENEALOGICAL WORD LIST Italian

This list contains Italian words with their English Articles and adjectives take !e as the feminine plural translations. The words included here are those that ending, and !i as the masculine plural ending. Buona you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the figlia becomes buone figlie (good daughters) and buono word you are looking for is not on this list, please padrino becomes buoni padrini (good godparents). consult an Italian-English dictionary. (See the “Additional Resources” section.) Verb tense. Verbs also vary depending on mood, who is acting, and whether the action is in the past, present, Italian is a Romance language derived from Latin. or future. For example, the Italian verb sposare (to Many of the words resemble those of Latin. See Latin marry) could appear with various endings: Genealogical Word List (34077). Present Past Tenses Italian is spoken in Italy and the southern part of Switzerland in the cantons of Ticino and Graubünden. marry married, was married Italian is also spoken in Yugoslavia near the border (she/he) sposa è sposato, fu sposato, sposò with Trieste. Some of the records of Corsica, Nice, (they) sposano sono sposati, furono sposati, and Savoy were written in Italian before those areas sposarono became part of France. Clusters of Italian immigrants in major cities like New York, Chicago, Montreal, Diacritic Marks Toronto, and also speak Italian. The has several additional letters with Sicilian, Neapolitan, Romanesque, and Venetian are diacritic marks: à, è, ì, ò, and ù. These diacritic marks major dialects of Italian, and they use words similar to indicate a change in pronunciation, but do not affect the words on this list. Several other minor dialects are alphabetical order. They are more often used in recent spoken in the various . documents. LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS Spelling Spelling rules were not fixed in earlier centuries when In Italian, the endings of most words vary according to records of our ancestors were written. The k, j, and w the way the words are used in a sentence. Who— are only used in foreign words. The following spelling whose—whom or marry—marries—married are variations may be found: examples of words in English with variant forms. This word list gives the most commonly seen form of each y or j used for i Italian word. As you read Italian records, be aware i used for j that almost all words vary with usage. Only some variations are explained in this guide. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES Gender. Italian nouns are designated as masculine or This word list includes words most commonly found in feminine. For example, vicinanza (neighborhood) is a genealogical sources. For further help, use an Italian- feminine word, and villaggio (village) is a masculine English dictionary. At the Family History Library, the word. Generally, nouns ending in !a are feminine, Italian dictionaries are cataloged with the call number nouns ending !e may be either masculine or feminine, 453.21. The following dictionary is also available on and nouns ending in !o are masculine. microfilm for use in family history centers: Adjectives and articles (a, an, the) will have either Orlandi, Giusseppe. Dizionario Italiano-inglese, masculine or feminine endings for the noun they Inglese-italiano [Italian-English, English-italian modify: !a for feminine singular nouns, !o for Dictionary]. Milano: Carlo Signorelli, 1957. masculine singular nouns. For example, in Italian you (FHL film 1181660 item 5.) write ava paterna (paternal grandmother) or avo paterno (paternal grandfather). KEY WORDS Plurals. For nouns ending with !a, the plural is To find and use specific types of Italian records, you formed by replacing the last letter with !e; for nouns will need to know some key words in Italian. This ending in !o or !e, replace the last letter with !i to section gives key genealogical terms in English and form the plural. For example, figlia (daughter) the Italian words with the same or similar meanings. becomes figlie (daughters), and padrino (godfather) becomes padrini (godparents). For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriage. In the second column you will find Italian words with meanings such as marry, Italian English marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, and other words used in Italian records to indicate marriage. abbiente owner abbracciatutto jack-of-all-trades English Italian abiatico grandson abitante inhabitant banns pubblicazioni, notificazioni abitare to live baptism(s) battesimo, -i abitazione home, residence birth(s) nata, nascita, -e a cagione di because of burial(s) seppellimento, sepolto, a casa at home sepolture, -i accanto beside child neonato, neonata, infante, accusato accused, charged bambino addì on the day christening(s) battesimo, -i adesso now confirmation(s) cresima, -e adottato, -a adopted death(s) morte, morire, decesso, -i adultero, -a adulterer father padre affinità relationship husband marito, sposo affittuario, -a renter, tenant index indice agente agent marriage(s) matrimono, sposato, agosto August coniugato, maritato, -i agricoltore farmer month mese albergatore innkeeper mother madre albero genealogico pedigree name nome alcuni, -e some parents genitori alcuno, -a any, some parish parrocchia alias alias, also known as surname cognome alla nascita time of birth wife sposa, moglie allegati supplements year anno alle ore at the hour allevatore animal feeder GENERAL WORD LIST allora then all’uopo to this end almeno at least This general word list includes words commonly seen alto high in genealogical sources. Numbers, months, and days altresì also, too of the week are listed both here and in separate altre volte formerly sections that follow this list. altro other, else ambedue both In this list, optional versions of Italian words or amico, -a friend variable endings (such as some plural or feminine amministratore steward, manager endings) are given after a hyphen. Parentheses in the amministrazione administration English column clarify the definition. amogliato took a wife anche also In Italian, some words have both a male and female ancora yet, still form, such as: andiamo right away, immediately anime parish census neonato = male child annegato drowned neonata = female child anni years anniversario anniversary When a word has both a male and female version, this anno year word list gives the feminine ending of words after a annotazioni annotations hyphen, such as: annuale annual, yearly antenato, -i ancestor(s) neonato, -a male child, female child anzidetta aforesaid cognato, -a brother-in-law, sister-in- anzitutto first of all, initially law appartenenza religiosa religious affiliation cugino, -a male cousin, female cousin appartiene pertains appena as soon as Italian English apprendista apprentice appresso after, the next † = morto, -a died aprile April araldica heraldry A aratore plowman archivi archives a at, to archivi di stato state archives abbiamo we have arrivo arrival, immigration

2 Italian English Italian English artefice maker bis-bisnonno second great-grandfather ascesso abscess bisnonna great-grandmother asma asthma bisnonno great-grandfather assessore comunale alderman boaro cattle hand attacco seizure borghese burgher, citizen attesa awaiting bottaio cooper, barrel maker atti diversi miscellaneous records bottegaio shopkeeper atto di matrimonio marriage certificate bovaro cattle driver atto di morte death certificate bracciale laborer atto di nascita birth certificate bracciante farm laborer austriaco Austrian bucataia washwoman ava materna maternal grandmother buio dark avanti di before buono, -a good ava paterna paternal grandmother burraio dairyman avere to have avi ancestors C avo ancestor avo materno maternal grandfather cacciatore hunter avo paterno paternal grandfather caduto fallen avoro, -a grandfather (grandmother) cafone peasant avvocato lawyer calderaio tinker calzolaio shoemaker B cameriera maid, servant girl cameriere waiter babbo father cameriere di casa house steward bambina illegittima illegitimate girl countryside, rural bambini children campagnuolo, -a countryman, countrywoman bambino, -a child, baby cancro cancer bambino illegittimo illegitimate boy cantante singer banchiere banker cantatrice singer bandi di matrimonio marriage banns, notices capofamiglia family head barbiere barber capostipite family founder, earliest barca, fabbricatore di boat maker ancestor barcaiolo boatman cappellaio hatter barilaio cooper, barrel maker carabiniere policeman barista bartender carbonaio coal dealer barone baron carraio wheelwright basso low carte maps, charts bastardo, -a illegitimate child casa house battesimale baptismal casaro dairy farmer battesimo baptism cassa chest, cash, cashier battezzare baptize cassetta chest battezzarono they baptized castaldo land agent battezzato, -a baptized castello castle battezzo baptized catasto land register beccaio butcher cattolico, -a Roman Catholic beccamorti grave digger cavaliere knight becchino grave digger ce us benché although celebrare il matrimonio solemnize a marriage benestante wealthy person celibe bachelor, bachelorette, beni immobili real property, real estate single, unmarried beni stabili real property, real estate censimento census bettoliere tavern keeper centesimo, -a hundredth bianco white cento hundred biblioteche libraries certificato certificate bidello janitor certifichiamo we certify bifolco plowman cfr. = confronta compare biografia biography che which, than, what, who, birraio barkeeper, brewer that, whom bisavo, -a great-grandfather (great- chi who, whom grandmother) chiesa church bisavolo, -a great-grandfather (great- chiesa ortodossa Greek Catholic grandmother) chilometro kilometer

3 Italian English Italian English chimico chemist così thus, so chirurgo surgeon costruttore builder chiunque whoever cresima confirmation ci there, us, to us cresimato, -i confirmee(s) ciabattino cobbler cristiano, -a Christian (or Catholic) cimitero cemetery croato Croat cinquanta fifty cucitrice seamstress cinquantesimo, -a fiftieth cugino, -a cousin cinque five cuoco cook ciò that cuore heart cioè that is, namely circa about, approximately D città city, town cittadinanze citizenship d. = don respectful male title cittadino, -a citizen da from, of cocchiere coachman dagli from the (plural) cognato, -a brother-in-law, sister- dal from the in-law dalla from the cognome, -i surname(s) dalle from the (plural) col consenso with the consent dallo from the colera cholera danaro money collina hill data date colono farmer, colonist debolezza della weakness of old age coltivatore cultivator, farmer vecchiaia come as, like, how decennale decennial come sopra as above decennio decade commerciante di vino wine merchant decesso, -a deceased, late commissionario broker decimo, -a tenth compenso fee defunto, -a deceased person comprare to buy degli of the comune degno worthy comunione communion dei of the, from the (plural) comunità community, township del of the con with della of the conciatore tanner delle of the (plural), some concubina concubine dello of the condizione status, condition del mese di of the month of conducente driver denaro money confermazione confirmation dentizione teething confettiere confectioner descrizione description congiunto related destra right (direction) coniugati married d’età di of the age of coniugi married couple detto said, alias, also known connessione relationship as consenso consent di of, about, concerning conservato preserved di anni age counselor diarrea diarrhea contabile accountant di buon’ora early (A.M.) contadino, -a farm laborer, peasant dicembre December conte count, earl dichiarante informant contea dichiarare to declare conto account, bill dichiarato che declared that contrada town quarter dichiarazione declaration contratto di matrimonio marriage contract diciannove nineteen contro against diciannovesimo, -a nineteenth conversione conversion diciassette seventeen convulsione,-i convulsion(s) diciassettesimo, -a seventeenth copie civili di parish register diciottesimo, -a eighteenth registri parrocchiali transcripts diciotto eighteen cordaio rope maker dieci ten corrente current dietro behind corriere courier dietro scritto after signed corte court difterite diphtheria

4 Italian English Italian English di ieri yesterday’s elenco list, directory di mattina in the morning elenco dei membri membership list diocesi diocese ella she di pomeriggio in the afternoon ella stessa herself discendente descendant emigrante emigrant di sera in the evening emigrazione emigration disopra above è morto died di sotto below è nato was born dispensa di matrimonio marriage license enfiagione swelling disposto disposed ép. = é sposato married dissenteria dysentery epilessia epilepsy disteso extended eppure yet, nevertheless distretto di district of erbivendolo green grocer diventare become eseguito, -a executed (a marriage) diversi miscellaneous essa she, it, her, this, that divorziare divorce (verb) esse they, them divorzio divorce (noun) essendo being, acting as dizionari geografici gazetteers essere to be dizionario dictionary essi they, them documenti records esso it documenti emigration records esso stesso itself d’emigrazione est east documento record è stato celebrato was celebrated dodicesimo, -a twelfth è stato presentato was presented dodici twelve esterno outside doganiere, doganieri customs officer(s) estratto extract domani tomorrow estrema unzione last rites domenica Sunday età age domestica housekeeper evento event domiciliato residing don respectful man’s title F donazione donation donna respectful woman’s title fa ago donna di casa housewife fabbricante manufacturer dono donation, gift fabbricante di tessuto cloth maker, draper dopo after fabbro smith dopodomani day after tomorrow factotum handyman doppio duplicate record falegname joiner, carpenter dottore doctor famiglia family dove where fanciulla maiden, young girl dov’è? where is? fanciullo young boy droghiere druggist, grocer fante foot soldier duca duke fatta, -o done, made ducato duchy fattore farmer, creator, maker duchessa duchess febbraio February due two febbre fever duecentesimo, -a two hundredth fede di nascita birth certificate two hundred femmina female dunque therefore femminile feminine duplicato duplicate record femminino femininity durante during ferraio blacksmith feudo fief, manor E fiacchezza weakness fidanzamento betrothal, engagement to e, ed and marry èis fidanzarsi to become engaged ebanista cabinetmaker fidanzata fiancée (female) ebreo, -a Jew, Jewess, Jewish fidanzato fiancé (male) eccetto except fidanzato betrothed, engaged ecco here is, here are, there figli children is, there are figlia di daughter of è comparso, -a appeared figliastro, -a stepchild ed, e and figlioccio, -a godchild egli he figlio di son of

5 Italian English Italian English filatore spinner guardiano watchman filatrice spinner fioraio florist H firma di signature of firmato signed ha (s)he has, you have fittaiolo tenant farmer ha contratto has contracted marriage fiume river matrimonio foresta forest hanno you have, they have forestiero foreigner, alien fornaio baker I forse perhaps, maybe fortezza fortress i, gli, le the (plural) fosse was idropisia dropsy, edema fra between, among ieri yesterday francese French ignoto unknown fratellastro half brother il, lo, la the (feminine singular) fratello brother il deceduto the deceased frazione hamlet il giorno di ieri the previous day frontiera border il giorno prossimo the following day fruttaiolo fruit dealer illegittimo illegitimate fruttivendolo fruit merchant il loro their (masculine fu late, deceased, was singular) fu battezzato was baptized i loro their (masculine plural) fu cresimato was confirmed il (la) più vecchio, -a oldest, eldest funzione di membro membership list il registro di tassa tax ledger fuori out imbianchino plasterer furono were immigrante immigrant futuro future immigrazione immigration imperiale royal, imperial G impero empire impiegato di tribunale court clerk gemelli twins impiegato d’ufficio clerk gemello, -a twin in in gendarme policeman incinta pregnant genealogia genealogy incisore engraver generato born indi from there genitora, -e mother(s) indicati indicated genitore, -i father(s) indice index genitori fathers or parents indici decennali ten-year indexes genitori ignoti parents unknown indietro behind gennaio January indigente indigent gente per bene gentry inerenza inheritance già already infante infant giacchè inasmuch as ingegnere engineer giammai never inoltre also, besides giardiniere gardener in questo luogo in this place gioielliere jeweler in questo posto in this place giornale newspaper inquilino, -a renter giornaliero day laborer insieme together giorno day intagliatore wood carver giovane young interno interior giovedì Thursday intorno around gioventù youth invece instead giovinezza youth io I giudaico Jewish istesso (stesso) same, self giudice judge italiano, -a Italian giugno June itterizia jaundice giurato juror ivi there gli, gl’ the, to him gotta gout L grande large, great , grande big, great la the, her, it, you guardaboschi forester là there guardia guard 6 Italian English Italian English la decima, le decime tithing massaia housewife la loro their (feminine matrigna stepmother singular) matrimoni marriages lasciare let, leave, allow matrimonio marriage lascito legacy, bequest mattina morning lavandaio laundry worker mattonaio brick maker le the, she (plural), to her, me me them medesimi same, alike, similar legale legal membro member legato legacy, bequest mendicante beggar legatore di libro bookbinder mendico beggar legge law mensile monthly legittimo legitimate mensuale monthly lei her, she, you (polite) mercante merchant, trader le loro their (feminine plural) mercato market l’età maggiore of legal age mercoledì Wednesday letto di morte deathbed mese month leva military draft messaggero courier, messenger levatrice midwife mestiere trade, occupation lì there mezzanotte midnight libero free, unmarried mezzodì midday libri stirpe lineage books mezzogiorno midday libro book mi me, to me licenza di matrimonio marriage license miei my, mine lo the, him, it miglio mile località locality militare military loro they, their, theirs, them, mille thousand you, your , -a thousandth lo stesso giorno the same day minatore miner l’ufficio parrocchiale parish office minoranza not of legal age luglio July mio my, mine lui he, him modista milliner, hat seller lunedì Monday moglie wife luogo place (location) montagna mountain lustrascarpe bootblack, shoeshine monte mount, mountain morbillo measles M morì died morì di vecchiaia died of old age m. = matrimonio married morire to die ma but, however morì senza prole died without issue macchinista driver, machinist morte, -i death(s) macellaio butcher morto, -a dead, died, deceased, madre mother late madre ignota mother unknown mt. = maternità mother madrina godmother mugnaio miller maestro, -a schoolteacher mulinaro miller maggio May (month of) mulino mill maggioranza legal age, majority municipio town hall maggiordomo butler muratore mason maggiore eldest maggiorenne to be of age N magistrato judge locksmith n. = nato, -a born mai never nacque was born malattia disease nascita birth mandriano herdsman nata born, maiden name manente sharecropper natamorta stillborn female child marina navy nativo di native of marinaio marine, seaman, sailor nato, -i born (births) marito husband nato morto stillborn marmista marble cutter natomorto stillborn male child martedì Tuesday nazionalità nationality marzo March (month of) necroforo sexton maschio male, masculine negli in the (plural) 7 Italian English Italian English negoziante dealer ora hour nei in the (plural) orciolaio potter nel in the orefice goldsmith nella in the orfano, -a orphan nelle in the (plural) orientale eastern nello in the orologiaio watchmaker neonato, -a newborn child, baby oste innkeeper, wine store nero, -a black keeper nessuno no, none, no one, ostetrico, -a obstetrician, midwife nobody ottanta eighty niente nothing ottantesimo, -a eightieth nipote nephew, niece, ottavo, -a eighth grandchild otto eight nipotina, nipote granddaughter ottobre October nipotino, nipote grandson ovest west nobile nobleman nobiltà nobility P noi we, us noi, da by us padre, -i father(s) nome, -i name(s) padre ignoto father unknown nome assunto alias, also known as padrini godparents nome di battesimo Christian name, given padrino godfather name padrone landlord nome proprio Christian name, given paesano peasant name country, village, state nomi names pag. = pagina page nominare to name pagina page nominato named parente relative non not parrocchia parish non ancora not yet parroco priest nonna grandmother parziali partial nonni grandparents, ancestors passaporto passport nonno grandfather passato past nono, -a ninth pastaio pasta maker nota remark pasticciere pastry maker notaio notary pastore minister, pastor, notamento account, notably shepherd notificazioni marriage banns, notices patria country, town, or place notte night of birth, fatherland novanta ninety patrigno stepfather novantesimo, -a ninetieth pecoraio shepherd nine pensionato, -a formerly employed, novello new retired novembre November per for, through, by nozze wedding per causa di because of, motive, nubile unmarried woman reason numero number perchè why nuovo new periodici periodicals nutrice nurse periodo period of time permesso permission O però however pescatore fisher, fisherman oor pescivendolo fishmonger occidentale western peste plague occupazione occupation piccolo little, small odierno today’s piccolo proprietario small land holder oggi today di terra ogni each, every piroscafo ship oltre in addition pittore painter onde from where più more onesto honest più piccolo lesser, smaller operaio laborer più recente more recent, later operaio avventizio journeyman più vecchio, -a older, elder oppure or, otherwise poi after, then 8 Italian English Italian English poichè since quindicesimo, -a fifteenth poliziotto policeman fifteen polmonite pneumonia quinto, -a fifth pomeriggio afternoon quivi there popolazione population porre place, put, impose R portalettere mailman possidente property owner rada bay, nautical course precedente former ragazzo, -a boy (girl) prefetto re king prefettura prefecture reale royal prenome given name regina queen presentato presented regione region presenza di in presence of registri registers presto early (A.M.) registri matrimoniali marriage records prete priest, clergyman registri parrocchiali parish registers previo previous, preceding registro register primo, -a first, before registro parrocchiale parish register primo assessore mayor’s assistant regno kingdom principato principality relativo, -i relative(s) principe prince religione religion principessa princess restare left, remaining proavi ancestors ricerca genealogica genealogical research pro avo al terzo grado third great-grandfather ricevere received processetti marriage supplement richiesta request matrimoniali documents richiesto requested professione profession ricordo record progenitori ancestors, grandparents rimessa removed proietti foundlings rimesso submitted pronipote great-grandchild ritiro retirement proprietario landlord riti ultimi last rites prossimo next riveli tax lists, declarations prostituta whore, prostitute rosolia German measles protestante Protestant red prova proof rubriche directories provincia province ruoli matricolari matriculation rolls provinciale provincial prozio, -a great-uncle (great-aunt) pt. = paternità father S pubblicare publish pubblicazioni publications (marriage sabato Saturday banns) sacerdote priest pure also salasso bleeding, bloodletting puttana prostitute, whore saponaio, -a soap maker sarto, -a tailor, seamstress Q scapolo bachelor scarlattina scarlet fever scheda d’emigrazione emigration file qua here schedario card index quale what, which, who schede index cards quando when scriba scribe quaranta forty scultore sculptor quarantesimo, -a fortieth scuola school quarto, -a fourth se if, whether quattordicesimo, -a fourteenth sè himself, herself, itself, quattordici fourteen oneself, themselves quattro four secolo century quei those secondo according to quel that secondo, -a second questa, -o this sedicesimo, -a sixteenth quest’oggi this day sedici sixteen questo luogo this place seguente following questo posto this place sei six questura police station sempre still (adverb) qui in this place 9 Italian English Italian English senza without stato d’anima parish census sepolto buried stato delle anime censuses sepoltura burial, interment stato di famiglia family register seppellimento burial stazione termale spa, bath sera evening stemma coat of arms serva maid, servant girl stesso same, self servizio service, employment stipettaio cabinetmaker servo, -a servant stitichezza constipation sessanta sixty storia history sessantesimo, -a sixtieth storico historian sesso sex (gender) straccivendolo rag man sesto, -a sixth strada road, street settanta seventy stradino road maker settantesimo, -a seventieth su on, upon, onto sette seven sua his, her, hers, its, your, settembre September yours settentrionale northern succursale branch, affiliate settimana week sud south settimo, -a seventh suddetto aforesaid sezione section, district sugli on the si her or himself sui on the siccome since, inasmuch sul on the sig. = signore Mr. sull’ on the sig.a = signora Mrs. sulla on the sigaraio cigar maker sullo on the signora Mrs. suo his, her, hers, its, your, Signore Lord yours signore Mr. suo his own, its own signorina Miss (reflexive pronoun) sindaco mayor suòcera mother-in-law situazione di famiglia family list register suòcero father-in-law situazione patrimoniale estate superiore upper società societies svizzero Swiss soffiatore blower soldier T solenne solemn solennizzare il solemnization of tagliapietre stonecutter matrimonio marriage tagliatore cutter solo, -a only tappezziere upholsterer sommario delle materie contents (table of) tardo, -a late (P.M.) sono are tassazione taxation sono, ci there are tavole decennali ten-year indexes sopra over, on, above te you (after a preposition) soprascritto aforewritten tedesco German sopravvivente surviving, still living tempi times sorella sister tempo time sorellastra half sister, step sister temporaneo temporary sotto under, beneath tenente lieutenant sotto il giorno on the day terrazzano peasant sottoscritto the undersigned terzo, -a third sovente often tessitore weaver sp. = sposo, -a spouse testamento will (testament) spaccalegna woodcutter testimonio, -a witness speditore dispatcher testo text sposa bride, wife ti you, to you sposarsi to marry tifoide typhoid sposato married tintore dyer sposi husband and wife tisi consumption, sposini newlyweds tuberculosis sposo bridegroom tomo volume staffiere footman, groom tosse cough stare to be tosse canina whooping cough stato state (government) tossire cough stato civile civil registration tra between, among 10 Italian English Italian English trattore restaurant keeper ventisettesimo, -a twenty-seventh tre three ventitre twenty-three tredicesimo, -a thirteenth ventitreesimo, -a twenty-third tredici thirteen ventottesimo, -a twenty-eighth trenta thirty ventotto twenty-eight trentesimo, -a thirtieth ventunesimo, -a twenty-first trentunesimo, -a thirty-first ventuno twenty-one trentuno thirty-one verde green tribunale court, judicial, vergine virgin courthouse verso toward trisavolo second great- vescovo bishop grandfather vi there, to it, at it trovatello foundling vi, ci you, us tu, voi you via road, street tumore tumor vicinanza neighborhood tutore guardian vicino neighbor tuttavia nevertheless vicino a next to, near tutto all, everything vigile policeman vignaiolo grape grower U villaggio village vita living, alive ubriacone drunkard viticultore grape grower ucciso killed viv. = vivo, vivente flourished, lived uditore auditor vivere to live ufficiale official (of) voi you ufficiale del comune village official volontà will (testament) ufficiale dello stato registrar volume volume civile vostro your, yours ufficio office ultimo testamento last will Z un (una) a, an undicesimo, -a eleventh zio, -a uncle, aunt undici eleven zitella old maid, spinster unirsi in matrimonio to marry uno, -a one NUMBERS uomo man In some genealogical records, numbers are spelled out. V This is especially true with dates. The following list gives the cardinal (for example, 1, 2, 3) and the vaccaio cowboy ordinal (for example, 1st, 2nd, 3rd) versions of each vaiolo small pox number. Days of the month are usually written in Valdese Waldensian cardinal form. Note that all ordinal numbers are valle valley adjectives and will end with !o or !a depending on vario various the gender of the word it modifies. vasaio potter vecchio, -a aged, old man (woman) Cardinal Ordinal vedere see vedovato widowed 1 uno 1st primo, -a vedovo, -a widower, widow 2 due 2nd secondo, -a venditore seller, vendor 3 tre 3rd terzo, -a venerdì Friday 4 quattro 4th quarto, -a ventesimo, -a twentieth 5 cinque 5th quinto, -a venti twenty 6 sei 6th sesto, -a venticinque twenty-five 7 sette 7th settimo, -a venticinquesimo, -a twenty-fifth 8 otto 8th ottavo, -a ventidue twenty-two 9 nove 9th nono, -a ventiduesimo, -a twenty-second 10 dieci 10th decimo, -a ventinove twenty-nine 11 undici 11th undicesimo, -a ventinovesimo, -a twenty-ninth 12 dodici 12th dodicesimo, -a ventiquattresimo, -a twenty-fourth 13 tredici 13th tredicesimo, -a ventiquattro twenty-four 14 quattordici 14th quattordicesimo, -a ventisei twenty-six 15 quindici 15th quindicesimo, -a ventiseiesimo, -a twenty-sixth 16 sedici 16th sedicesimo, -a ventisette twenty-seven 17 diciassette 17th diciassettesimo, -a 11 Cardinal Ordinal English Italian 18 diciotto 18th diciottesimo, -a October ottobre 19 diciannove 19th diciannovesimo, -a November novembre 20 venti 20th ventesimo, -a December dicembre 21 ventuno 21st ventunesimo, -a 22 ventidue 22nd ventiduesimo, -a Days of the Week 23 ventitre 23rd ventitreesimo, -a 24 ventiquattro 24th ventiquattresimo, -a Sunday domenica 25 venticinque 25th venticinquesimo, -a Monday lunedì 26 ventisei 26th ventiseiesimo, -a Tuesday martedì 27 ventisette 27th ventisettesimo, -a Wednesday mercoledì 28 ventotto 28th ventottesimo, -a Thursday giovedì 29 ventinove 29th ventinovesimo, -a Friday venerdì 30 trenta 30th trentesimo, -a Saturday sabato 31 trentuno 31st trentunesimo, -a 40 quaranta 40th quarantesimo, -a Times of the Day 50 cinquanta 50th cinquantesimo, -a 60 sessanta 60th sessantesimo, -a Italian birth and death records often indicated the 70 settanta 70th settantesimo, -a exact time of day when the birth or death occurred. 80 ottanta 80th ottantesimo, -a This is usually written out. 90 novanta 90th novantesimo, -a 100 cento 100th centesimo, -a English Italian 200 duecento 200th duecentesimo, -a 1000 mille 1000th millesimo, -a afternoon pomeriggio at the 16th hour alle ore sedici (4:00 P.M.) DATES AND TIME before noon ante meridiane day giorno In Italian records, the registrar often indicated the evening sera exact time of day when an event occurred. This is hour ora midday mezzogiorno generally written out, for example: midnight mezzanotte L’anno del Signore milleottocentocinquantasette ed month mese alli undici del mese di gennaio alle ore sei della monthly mensile morning mattina mattina [In the year of our Lord one thousand eight night notte hundred fifty-seven on the eleventh of the month of of the month of del mese di January at six o’clock in the morning] on the day addì year anno To understand Italian dates, use the following lists as yesterday ieri well as the preceding “Numbers” section. yesterday evening iersera Months yesterday morning iermattina © 1997, 2005 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. English Italian Printed in the United States of America. English approval: 1/05.

January gennaio No part of this document may be reprinted, posted on-line, or February febbraio reproduced in any form for any purpose without the prior written March marzo permission of the publisher. Send requests for such permission to: April aprile May maggio Copyrights and Permissions Coordinator Family and Church History Department June giugno 50 East North Temple Street, Rm 599 July luglio Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 August agosto USA September settembre Second Edition 2005 Latin

Genealogical Word List

Table of Contents Language Characteristics Additional Resources Key Words General Words

Numbers Dates And Time This list contains Latin words with their English translations. The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the word (or some form of it) that you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Latin-English dictionary. (See the "Additional Resources" section below.) Latin is the mother language for many modern European languages. Many words in English, Spanish, French, and other languages resemble Latin words and have the same or similar meanings. Latin was used in the records of most European countries and in the Roman Catholic records of the United States and Canada. Because Latin was used in so many countries, local usage varied. Certain terms were commonly used in some countries but not in others. In addition, the Latin used in British records has more abbreviations than the Latin used in European records.

LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS

Variant Forms of Words

In Latin, the endings of most words vary according to how the words are used in a sentence. Who—whose— whom or marry—marries—married are examples of words in English with variant forms. This word list gives the most commonly seen form of each Latin word. As you read Latin records, be aware that almost all words vary with usage. Gender. Latin words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, rex (king) is a masculine word, aetas (age) is a feminine word, and oppidum (town) is a neuter word. Words that describe persons, places, or things (adjectives) will have either masculine, feminine, or neuter endings. For example, in Latin you would write magnus rex (great king), magna aetas (great age), and magnum oppidum (large town). This word list gives only the masculine form of adjectives. For example: noster, nostra, nostrum (our) is listed as noster magnus, magna, magnum (great, large) is listed as magnus nobilis, nobile (noble, known) is listed as nobilis Some words have both a male (-us) and female (-a) form, such as patrinus (godfather) and patrina (godmother). This word list usually gives only the male form even though a female form may occur in Latin records. Thus, given the word famulus (servant), you can conclude that famula is a female servant. Similarly, this word list gives only natus est ("he was born"). You can conclude that nata est means "she was born." The plural form nati sunt means "they were born." Plurals. Plural forms of Latin words usually end in -i, -ae, or -es. Thus patrinus (godfather) becomes patrini (godparents), filia (daughter) becomes filiae (daughters), and pater (father) becomes patres (fathers). However, these same endings may also indicate other grammatical changes besides plurality. Grammatical Use. The endings of Latin words can also vary depending on the grammatical use of the words. Latin grammar requires a specific type of ending for a word used as the subject of the sentence, used in the possessive, used as the object of a verb, or used with a preposition. Latin words fall into several classes, each with its own set of grammatical endings. If you do not find a Latin word in this list with the same ending as the word in your Latin document, find a similar ending in the examples below to see how the word in your document is used: filius son (pater) filii (father) of the son (baptizavi) filium (I baptized the) son (ex) filio (from) the son vidua widow (filius) viduae (son) of the widow (sepelivi) viduam (I buried the) widow (ex) vidua (from) the widow pater father (filius) patris (son) of the father (sepelivi) patrem (I buried the) father (ex) patre (from) the father Other noun endings change as follows to show possession: -as may change to -atis -ns may change to -ntis

-or may change to -oris -tio may change to -tionis Example: sartor (tailor) changes to sartoris (of the tailor) Words that show action (verbs) also vary depending on who is doing the action and whether the action is past, present, or future. For example, the Latin word baptizare (to baptize) will appear with various endings: Present Past baptize have baptized, baptized (I) baptizo baptizavi, baptizabam (he) baptizat baptizavit, baptizabat (they) baptizant baptizaverunt,

baptizabant is baptized was baptized (he) baptizatur baptizatus est

Spelling

Spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries. The following spelling variations are common in Latin documents: i and j used interchangeably u and v used interchangeably e used for ae (æ) e used for oe (œ) c used for qu Examples: ejusdem or eiusdem civis or ciuis preceptor or praeceptor celebs or coelebs quondam or condam

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

This word list includes only the words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Latin-English dictionary. Latin-English dictionaries are available on each floor of the Family History Library. The call numbers begin with 473.21. The following Latin-English dictionary is available on microfilm for use in Family History Centers: Ainsworth, Robert. Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary, rev. ed. London: F. Westly and A.H. Davis, 1836. (FHL book British Ref 473Ai65a 1836; film 599,788.) Additional dictionaries are listed under LATIN LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES in the Subject section of the Family History Library Catalog. Most bookstores carry useful, inexpensive Latin-English dictionaries. The following sources can also be helpful for reading Latin records: Baxter, J. H. and Charles Johnson. Medieval Latin Word-List From British and Irish Sources. London: Oxford University Press, n.d. (FHL book 942 A8bm.) Grun, Paul A. Schlüssel zur alten und neuen Abkürzungen: Wörterbuch lateinischer und deutscher Abkürzungen des späten Mittlealters und der Neuzeit. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: Starke Verlag, 1966. (FHL book 943 B4gg vol. 6.) Key to ancient and modern abbreviations: Dictionary of Latin and German abbreviations of the late middle age and modern times. Jensen, C. Russell. Parish Register Latin: An Introduction. Salt Lake City: Vita Nova Books, 1988. (FHL book 475 J453p.) A guide to understanding Latin as it appears in continental European church records. Martin, Charles Trice. The Record Interpreter: A Collection of Abbreviations, Latin Words and Names Used in English Historical Manuscripts and Records, 2nd ed. London: Stevens, 1910. (FHL book 422.471 M363re 1910; 1892 edition on FHL film 547,182, item 3.) McLaughlin, Eve. Simple Latin for Family Historians, 2nd ed. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1987. (FHL book 471.1 M273.) This booklet lists Latin words frequently used in English parish registers.

KEY WORDS

To find and use specific types of Latin records, you will need to know some key words in Latin. This section lists key genealogical terms in English and gives the Latin words that have the same or similar meanings. For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriage. In the second column you will find Latin words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Latin records to indicate marriage. English Latin birth nati, natus, genitus, natales, ortus, oriundus burial sepulti, sepultus, humatus, humatio christening baptismi, baptizatus, renatus, plutus, lautus, purgatus,

ablutus, lustratio child infans, filius/filia, puer, proles death mortuus, defunctus, obitus, denatus, decessus, peritus, mors,

mortis, obiit, decessit father pater godparent patrini, levantes, susceptores, compater, commater, matrina husband maritus, sponsus, conjux, vir marriage matrimonium, copulatio, copulati, conjuncti, intronizati,

nupti, sponsati, ligati, mariti marriage banns banni, proclamationes, denuntiationes mother mater name, given name nomen name, surname cognomen parents parentes, genitores wife uxor, marita, conjux, sponsa, mulier, femina, consors

GENERAL WORDS

This general word list includes words commonly seen in genealogical sources. Numbers, months, and days of the week are listed both here and in separate sections that follow this list. In this list, some grammatical variations of Latin words are given in parentheses. Some Latin phrases and their translations are listed [in brackets] under the most significant Latin word, not the first word, of the phrase. Words in parentheses in the English column clarify the definition.

A

a (ab) from, by abavia great-great-grandmother abavus great-great-grandfather, ancestor abdormitus died abdormivit he/she died ab hoc mense from this month on abiit he/she died abinde since abitus est he/she died, went away abjectarius cabinetmaker, woodworker abjuro to renounce by oath ablutus est he was baptized abs from, by abscessus death absque without, except abstersus baptized abuo I baptize, I wash ac and acatholicus non-Catholic, Protestant accipio to take, receive, take possession of accola local resident acicularius needle maker acquiescat he/she reposes, dies, is content with acquietus est he died acra acre actum record ad to, at, in, for, towards adhuc as yet, still adjutor assistant adjuvenis assistant adolescens young man, adolescent adulterium adultery advenit he appeared, came advocatus lawyer aeger sick aegyptus gypsy aequalis equal aetas (aetatis) age aetate (being) in the age of, age affinitas relationship by marriage affirmavit he/she affirmed, confirmed, asserted agentis of the official agnatus blood relative in the male line agonia cramps agricola farmer ahenarius coppersmith albus white alemannus German alias also, otherwise, or, at, another, called alibi elsewhere, at another time aliud (alius) other, another allemania Germany altar alter the next, the other alutarius tanner ambo both, two together amita aunt, father's sister amitinus cousin, (child of father's sister) ancilla female servant ancillus male servant anglia England anima soul, spirit [animam reddidit [he/she returned the soul to his/her Lord (died)] domino suo] anno in the year (of) anno domini in the year of (our) Lord anno incarnationis in the year (since/of) the incarnation (of the Lord) annus year andedictus aforesaid ante before, in front of, prior to antiquus old, senior apoplexia stroke aprilis of April apud at the house of, at, by, near aqua water archidiaconus archdeacon archiepiscopus archbishop archivum archive arcularius carpenter arma coat of arms armentarius herdsman armiger gentleman, squire armorum of coats of arms at but atque and augusti of August aurifaber goldsmith auriga driver aut or autem but, however, moreover auxentium Alsace ava grandmother avi ancestors, grandparents avia grandmother aviaticus nephew avunculus uncle (mother's brother) avus grandfather

B

bacallarius bachelor baillivus bailiff bannorum, liber register of marriage banns, announcements bannum bann, marriage proclamation baptisatus baptized baptisma baptism [necessitate [(being) an emergency baptism] baptismo] baptismatis of baptism baptismus baptism baptizatorum, liber register of baptisms baptizatus est he was baptized, has been baptized baptizavi I baptized, have baptized baro baron beatus blessed, deceased bene well bergarius shepherd biduum space of two days, two-day period biennium two-year period bona possessions bonus good bordarius cottager, tenant, border borussia Prussia brasiator brewer burgensis citizen, burgess

C

cadaver dead body, cadaver caelebs bachelor, single man caelum heaven, sky caementarius stonemason calcearius shoemaker calciator shoemaker caledonia Scotland caligator shoemaker cambria Wales cameranius chamberlain, valet, groom capella chapel capellanus chaplain capitis head, chief capt et jurat taken and sworn caput head, chief carbonarius collier, coal miner carecarius carter carnarius butcher carpentarius carpenter carta deed, charter, map casale estate, village casatus cottager cataster land, property record catholicus Catholic caupo (cauponis) innkeeper causa cause, sake, because of [ex causa] [on account of, for the sake of] celator turner celebraverunt they celebrated, were married census census centenarius a person one hundred years of age centesimus hundredth centum hundred cerdo (cerdonis) handworker chartarius paper miller chirotherarus glover chirurgus surgeon chramarius merchant cimeterium cemetery cingarus gypsy circa about, around, round about circiter about, approximately civis citizen clausit he/she finished, closed [diem clausit [(died) he/she finished the last day] extremem] claustrarius locksmith clausum closed, finished clericus clergyman clostrarius locksmith coelebs bachelor, single man coemeterium cemetery cognationis blood relationship cognomen name, family name, surname collis hill colonus colonist, settler, resident, farmer, peasant colorator dyer comes count comitas county comitatus county comitissa countess commater godmother commorantes living, residing comparatio presence, appearance comparuit he/she appeared, was present compater godfather compos in possession of concepta est she was pregnant concessit consented conditione, sub conditionally conjugatus married conjuges married couple conjugum of/from the married couple conjuncti sunt they were joined (in marriage) conjux spouse consanguinitatis of blood relationship (such as cousins) consobrina female cousin (usually on the mother's side) consobrinus male cousin (usually on the mother's side) consors (consortis) wife contra against, opposite contracti contracted, drawn together contraxerunt they contracted (marriage) convulsionis of convulsions cooperta married (of a woman) copulationis of marriage copulati sunt they were married, joined copulatus married, joined copulavit he married (performed wedding) coquus cook coram in the presence of coriarius tanner, leather worker corpus (corporis) body cotarius cottager cras tomorrow creatura dei foundling (creature of God) cuius whose cuiusdam of a certain cultellarius cutler cum with cuprifaber coppersmith cur why curia court currarius carriage builder custos (custodis) custodian, guard

D

datum date, given de of, from, by, concerning, about debilitas illness, weakness decanatus deanery, section of a diocese decanus deacon decem ten decembris of December decessit he/she died decessus died, death decimus tenth decretum decree decubuit he/she died, lay down dedit he/she gave deflorata deflowered, no longer a virgin defuit he/she departed, died defunctorum of the dead (people) defunctorum, liber register of the deceased defunctus est he died defungitur he/she dies, is discharged dei of God deinde then, thereafter, next denarius coin, penny, money denatus deceased, dead denatus est he died, has died denunciatio publication of marriage banns [factis tribus [after the publication of three marriage banns (three denunciationibus] marriage banns having been published)] desponsationis engagement desponsatus engaged deus God dexter right dictus said, stated, known as didymus twin die on the day dies (diei) day dignus worthy dimidium half diocesis diocese discessit he/she died disponsationis permission divortium divorce doageria dowager dodum formerly, recently domi at home young lady, servant, nun domicellus young nobleman, junker, servant, servant in a monastery domina lady dominica Sunday dominus lord, rule, the Lord (Jesus Christ) domus home, house, family donum gift dos (dotis) dowry duae two ducatus duchy ducentesimus two hundredth ducenti two hundred ducis See dux. dum while, when, until, as long as duo two duodecim twelve duodecimus twelfth duodevicesimus eighteenth duodeviginti eighteen dux (ducis) duke, leader dysenteria dysentery

E

e out of, from eadem the same eam her ebdomada week ecclampsia convulsions ecclesia church [in facie ecclesiae] [in front of the church] ego I ejusdem the same elapsus past, elapsed empicus lung disease enim for, namely, truly eodem the same [eodem die] [on the same day] episcopus bishop equalis equal eques (equitis) knight, cavalry soldier erant they were ergo therefore, because of erratum error esse to be est he/she is et and, even etiam and also, and even eum him ex from, out of (places of origin) exhalavit animam he/she breathed out his/her soul (died) extra outside of, beyond extraneus stranger, foreign extremum last extremum munitus last rites provided exulatus exile

F

maker, smith factus made falso falsely, incorrectly familia family familiaris relative, slave, friend, follower famulus servant feber (febris) fever februarii of February fecunda pregnant femina female, woman fere almost, nearly feria day, holiday festum feast, festival, wedding fidelis faithful figulus potter filia daughter filia populae illegitimate daughter filiaster stepson filiastra stepdaughter filiola little daughter filiolus little son filius son filius populi illegitimate son finis border, end firmarius farmer fluxus dysentery focus hearth, fireplace, home foderator fuller, cloth worker fodiator digger folium page fons (fontis) baptismal font, spring, fountain fossor grave digger, miner frater brother fuerunt they were fui I was fuit he/she was furnarius baker

G

garcio boy, servant gardianus church warden gemellae twins (female) gemelli twins (male, or male and female) geminus twin genealogia genealogy gener son-in-law generis See genus. generosus of noble birth, gentleman genitor father genitores parents genitus est he was born, begotten gens (gentis) male line, clan, tribe, lineage genuit he/she was begotten genus (generis) sex, type, kind, birth, descent, origin, class, race germana real sister (by blood), German Germany germanus real brother (by blood), German glos (gloris) sister-in-law (wife's sister) gradus degree, grade gratia grace, sake gravida pregnant guardianus guardian gubernium domain

H

habent they have habet he/she has habitans resident, inhabitant habitatio residence habitavit he/she resided, dwelt habuit he/she had, held haec (hac) this, the latter haereticus heretic haud not hebdomada week helvetia Switzerland heres (heredis) heir heri yesterday hibernia Ireland hic here hinc from here his this, the latter hispania Spain hoc this, the latter hodie today homo (hominis) man, human being honestus respectable, honorable hora hour hortulanus gardener hospes (hospitis) innkeeper huius of this, of the latter humationis burial humatus est he was buried humilis humble, lowly hungaricus Hungarian hydropsis dropsy hypodidasculus schoolmaster, usher

I

iam already ibi there ibidem (ib, ibid) in the same place idem the same ignotus unknown iit he/she went illegitimus illegitimate illius of that, of the former impedimentum hindrance, impediment (often to a marriage) [nulloque detecto [and no hindrance to the marriage having been uncovered] impedimento matrimonio] imperium empire imponit he imposes, places upon impositus imposed, placed upon, given [cui impositum est [to whom was given the name] nomen] imposui I placed upon impraegnavit he impregnated impregnata pregnant incarnationis of the incarnation (of the Lord) incola inhabitant, resident index (indicis) index inerunt they entered into (marriage) infans (infantis) child, infant inferior lower infirmus weak infra below, under infrascriptus written below, undersigned iniit he/she entered, began initiatus est he was baptized injuria injury, worry inter between intra within, during intronizati sunt they were married, have been married intronizaverunt they married, have married inupta unmarried invenit he/she found, discovered ipse himself, herself, itself ita so, thus item also, likewise ivit he/she went

J

januarii of January jovis, dies Thursday judaicus Jewish judicium court, judgment julii of July juncti sunt they were joined (in marriage) junii of June junior younger, junior juravit he/she swore, took an oath jure legally, lawfully juro I swear, testify jus (juris) law juvenis young man, young woman, young person juxta near to, beside

J

januarii of January jovis, dies Thursday judaicus Jewish judicium court, judgment julii of July juncti sunt they were joined (in marriage) junii of June junior younger, junior juravit he/she swore, took an oath jure legally, lawfully juro I swear, testify jus (juris) law juvenis young man, young woman, young person juxta near to, beside

J

januarii of January jovis, dies Thursday judaicus Jewish judicium court, judgment julii of July juncti sunt they were joined (in marriage) junii of June junior younger, junior juravit he/she swore, took an oath jure legally, lawfully juro I swear, testify jus (juris) law juvenis young man, young woman, young person juxta near to, beside

N

nativitas birth naturalis natural, illegitimate natus est he was born nauta sailor nec neither, nor necessitatis of necessity necnon and also negotiator merchant (commerce) nemo (neminis) no one neosponsa newlywed (female) neosponsus newlywed (male) nepos (nepotis) nephew, grandson neptis niece, granddaughter neque and not nescit he doesn't know niger black nihil nothing nisi if not n.n. = nomen nescio I do not know the name nobilis noble nobilitatis of nobility nocte at night nomen name nomen nescio name not known nominatus est he was named nomine by/with the name (of) non not, no nonagenarius a person in his nineties nonagesimus ninetieth nonaginta ninety nongentesimus nine hundredth nongenti nine hundred nonus ninth nonus decimus nineteenth nos we, us noster our nota bene note well, notice notarius notary nothus illegitimate child novem nine novembris of November noverca stepmother nox night nudius earlier nudius tertius three days earlier nullus no, none numerus number nunc now, at this time nunquam never nuntius messenger nuper lately (sometimes denotes a deceased person) nupserunt they married nupta married woman, bride nuptias wedding nuptus married nurus daughter-in-law nutritor foster father nutrius foster child nutrix (nutricis) foster mother

O

on account of, for, according to obdormitus est he fell asleep, died obierunt they died, have died obiit he/she died, went away, departed [obiit sine prole] [died without issue] obitus death, died obstetrix (obstetricis) midwife octavus eighth octavus decimus eighteenth octingentesimus eight hundredth octingenti eight hundred octo eight octobris of October octogenarius a person in his eighties octogesimus eightieth octoginta eighty officialis official olim formerly, once (sometimes denotes a deceased person) omnis all, every operarius day laborer oppidum city, town orbus orphan origo (originis) origin, birth oriundus, ex originating (from), born orphanus orphan ortus origin, birth ovilius shepherd

P

pacatio payment paene almost, nearly pagina page pagus village, district palatium palatinate panifex baker papa pope parentes parents pariochialis parochial, parish pariter equally, also parochia parish parochus parish priest pars (partis) area, region partus birth, childbirth parvulus very little, small parvus little pastor pastor, shepherd pater (patris) father patres forefathers, ancestors patria fatherland, native land patrina godmother patrini godparents patrinus godfather patruelis cousin on father's side patruus uncle (father's brother) pauper poor pax (pace) peace pedegogus schoolteacher penult the last but one, next to the last per through, by means of peregrinus foreign, strange perendie day after tomorrow perfecit he/she completed, did periit he/she perished, died peritus deceased, dead peritus est he died pestis plague phthisis consumption, tuberculosis pictor painter pie piously pigator dyer piscator fisherman pistor baker pius pious plutus baptized, sprinkled pomerid afternoon (p.m.) pons (pontis) bridge popula people post after posterus following posthumus born after death of father post partum after birth postridie on the day after, a day later potuit could preceptor teacher, instructor predefunctus previously deceased (such as before the birth of a child) predictus aforesaid prefatus aforesaid prefectus magistrate pregnata pregnant premissus published previously (such as marriage banns) prenobilis respected, honorable, esteemed presens (presentis) present, in attendance preter besides, also, past, beyond pretor village mayor pridie the day before primus first princeps prince principatus principality privigna stepdaughter privignus stepson pro for, in behalf of, as far as proclamationis bann, decree procurator lawyer, monastic official progenitus firstborn proles issue, child, offspring (gender not given) promulgationis decree, bann prope near, close to propter because of, near prout as, accordingly provisus provided (with) proximus previous, preceding [anni proximi elapsi] [of the preceding year] pudica chaste, upright puella girl puer boy, child puera girl puerperium childbirth purgatus baptized, purged, cleansed puta reputed, supposed

Q

quadragesimus fortieth quadraginta forty quadrigentesimus four hundredth quadringenti four hundred quaestor treasurer, paymaster quam how, as much as quando when quartus fourth quartus decimus fourteenth quasi almost, as if quattuor four quattuordecim fourteen -que and (as a suffix) qui (quae, quod) who, which, what quidam (quaedam, a certain person or thing quodam) quindecim fifteen quingentesimus five hundredth quingenti five hundred quinquagesimus fiftieth quinquaginta fifty quinque five quintus fifth quintus decimus fifteenth quod because quondam formerly, former (refers to a deceased person)

R

recognito examination, inquest by jury rectus right, direct regeneratus est he was baptized regimine pedestre infantry regiment regina queen registrum index, list regius royal regnum kingdom relicta widow relictus widower, surviving religio (religionis) religion relinquit he/she left behind, abandoned renanus of the Rhine renatus est he was baptized repertorium index, list requiescat in pace (may he/she) rest in peace restio rope maker rex (regis) king ritus rite, ceremony rotulus roll rufus red rusticus peasant, farmer

S

sabbatinus, dies Saturday sabbatum Saturday sacellanus chaplain sacer sacred sacerdos (sacerdotis) priest sacramentum sacrament, ordinance, rite [omnibus sacramentis [(he/she) was provided with all the last rites] provisis] [sacramentis totiis [(being) fortified by all the last rites] munitiis] sacro fonte baptismi in the sacred font of baptism saeculum a generation, century, age, eternity, world saepe often salarium salary sanctus holy, sacred, a saint sanus healthy sartor tailor satis enough saturni, dies Saturday scabinus judge, lay scarlatina scarlet fever schola school scorbutus scurvy scorifex (scorificis) tanner scorta unmarried mother, whore scotia Scotland scribo I write scripsit he/she wrote scriptum written secundus second sed but sedecim sixteen sellarius saddler semel once, a single time semi half semper always senex (senicis) old man senilis weak with age senior older, elder senium old age sepelivi I buried septagenarius a person in his seventies septem seven septembris of September septemdecim seventeen septigenti seven hundred septimana week septimus seventh septimus decimus seventeenth septingentesimus seven hundredth septuagesimus seventieth septuaginta seventy sepultorum, liber burial register sepultus est he was buried sequens (sequentis) following serdo (serdonis) tanner servus servant sescentesimus six hundredth sescenti six hundred seu or sex six sexagesimus sixtieth sexaginta sixty sextus sixth sextus decimus sixteenth sexus sex si if sic thus, so, yes sigillum seal signum sign, mark signum fecit he/she made a mark, signed silva woods, forest sine without sinister left sinus bosom, breast [in sinum maternum [given into the maternal breast (buried)] conditus] sive or smigator soap maker socer (socris) father-in-law socius apprentice, comrade, associate socrinus brother-in-law socrus mother-in-law sol (solis) the sun solemnicationis marriage solis, dies Sunday solutus unmarried, free from debt soror sister sororius brother-in-law (sister's husband) spasmus cramps spirituales, parentes godparents sponsa bride, spouse, betrothed sponsalia marriage banns sponsalis betrothed sponsatus married sponsor godparent sponsus groom, spouse, betrothed spurius illegitimate statim immediately status condition, status stemma pedigree stinarius plowman stirps origin, source stuprata pregnant (out of wedlock) stuprator father of an illegitimate child sub under, beneath, below subscripsit he/she undersigned subscriptus undersigned subsequentis following, subsequent subsignatum marked or signed below subsignavit he/she marked (signed) below suevia Sweden sum I am sunt they are superior upper superstes surviving, still living supra before, above, beyond supradictum above written surdus deaf susceptor godparent (male) susceptores godparents susceptorix godparent (female) sutor cobbler, shoemaker suus his/her/its own, their own synergus apprentice

T

taberna inn, tavern tamen however tandem at first, finally tegularius brick maker teleonarius tax collector tempus (temporis) time terra land, tertius third tertius decimus thirteenth testes witnesses testibus by witnesses testimentum will, testament testis witness textor weaver thorus status of legitimacy, bed [ex illegitimo thoro] [of illegitimate status] tignarius carpenter tinctor dyer tomus volume tonsor barber tornator turner (lathe) totus entire, all trans across transitus est he died trecentesimus three hundredth trecenti three hundred tredecim thirteen tres (tria) three tribus clan, lineage tricesimus thirtieth tricesimus primus thirty-first triduum space of three days, three-day period trigemini triplets triginta thirty triginta unus thirty-one tum then tumulatus buried tunc then, at that time, immediately tussis cough tutela guardianship tutor guardian tuus your typhus typhoid fever, typhus

U

ubi where ultimus last, final unctio extrema extreme unction, the last rites, annointing unde wherefore, whereupon, whence undecim eleven undecimus eleventh undevicesimus nineteenth undeviginti nineteen ungaricus Hungarian unigenus only (born) son, unique, only begotten unus one, only, together urbs (urbis) city ut how, as, that, therewith, in order that uterinus on mother's side of family, of the same mother ut infra as below ut supra as above uxor wife uxoratis married

V

vagabundus wanderer, vagabond vagus tramp variola smallpox vassus servant, vassal vel or velle will, testament venerabilis venerable, worthy veneris, dies Friday venia permission, indulgence vero, die on this very day vespere in the evening vester your vetula old woman vetus (veteris) old via road, way vicarius vicar vicecomes sheriff, reeve vicesimus twentieth vicinus nearby, neighborhood vicus village vide see videlicet namely vidua widow viduus widower vigesimus twentieth vigesimus nonus twenty-ninth vigesimus octavus twenty-eighth vigesimus primus twenty-first vigesimus quartus twenty-fourth vigesimus quintus twenty-fifth vigesimus secundus twenty-second vigesimus septimus twenty-seventh vigesimus sextus twenty-sixth vigesimus tertius twenty-third viginti twenty viginti duo twenty-two viginti noven twenty-nine viginti octo twenty-eight viginti quattuor twenty-four viginti quinque twenty-five viginti septem twenty-seven viginti sex twenty-six viginti tres twenty-three viginti unus twenty-one villicanus reeve, steward vir man, male virgo (virginis) virgin virtuosus virtuous, honorable vita life vitam cessit he/she departed from life (died) vitriarius glassmaker vitricus stepfather vivens (vivus) living vos you vulgo commonly, generally

Z

zingarius gypsy

NUMBERS

In some genealogical records, numbers—especially dates—are written out. The following list gives the cardinal (1, 2, 3) and the ordinal (1st, 2nd, 3rd) versions of each number. Ordinal numbers are adjectives and may sometimes appear with the feminine ending (-a) or the neuter ending (-um). In written dates the ordinal numbers usually end with the grammatical ending (-o). Example: quartus=the fourth quarto=on the fourth Cardinal Ordinal 1 unus 1st primus 2 duo, duae 2nd secundus 3 tres, tres, tria 3rd tertius 4 quattuor 4th quartus 5 quinque 5th quintus 6 sex 6th sextus 7 septem 7th septimus 8 octo 8th octavus 9 novem 9th nonus 10 decem 10th decimus 11 undecim 11th undecimus 12 duodecim 12th duodecimus 13 tredecim 13th tertius decimus 14 quattuordecim 14th quartus decimus 15 quindecim 15th quintus decimus 16 sedecim 16th sextus decimus 17 septemdecim 17th septimus decimus 18 odeviginti 18th duodevicesimus 19 undeviginti 19th undevicesimus 20 viginti 20st vicesimus or vigesimus 21 viginti unus 21st vicesimus primus 22 viginti duo 22nd vicesimus secundus 23 viginti tres 23rd vicesimus tertius 24 viginti quattuor 24th vicesimus quartus 25 viginti quinque 25th vicesimus quintus 26 viginti sex 26th vicesimus sextus 27 viginti septem 27th vicesimus septimus 28 viginti octo 28th vicesimus octavus 29 viginti novem 29th vicesimus nonus 30 triginta 30th tricesimus 40 quadraginta 40th quadragesimus 50 quinquaginta 50th quinquagesimus 60 sexaginta 60th sexagesimus 70 septuaginta 70th septuagesimus 80 octoginta 80th octogesimus 90 nonaginta 90th nonagesimus 100 centum centesimus 101 centum unus 101th centesimus primus 150 centum quinquaginta 150th centesimus quinquagesimus 200 ducenti 200th ducentesimus 300 trecenti 300th trecentesimus 400 quadringenti 400th quadringentesimus 500 quingenti 500th quingentesimus 600 sescenti 600th sescentesimus 700 septigenti 700th septingentesimus 800 octingenti 800th octingentesimus 900 nongenti 900th nongentesimus 1000 mille 1000th millesimus

DATES AND TIME

In Latin records, dates are often written out. Numbers generally end with -o when used in a date. For example: Anno Domini millesimo sescentesimo nonagesimo quarto et die decimo septimo mensis Maii [In the year of (our) Lord one thousand six hundred ninety-four, and on the seventeenth day of the month of May] To understand Latin dates, use the following lists as well as the preceding "Numbers" section.

Months

English Latin January Januarius February Februarius March Martius April Aprilis May Maius June Junius July Julius August Augustus September September, 7ber, VIIber October October, 8ber, VIIIber November November, 9ber, IXber December December, 10ber, Xber

Days of the Week English Latin Sunday dominica, dies dominuca, dominicus, dies Solis, feria prima Monday feria secunda, dies Lunae Tuesday feria tertia, dies Wednesday feria quarta, dies Mercurii Thursday feria quinta, dies Jovis Friday feria sexta, dies Veneris Saturday feria septima, sabbatum, dies sabbatinus, dies Saturni

Phrases Indicating Time

Latin English anno domini in the year of the Lord anno incarnationis in the year (since/of) the incarnation of the Lord annus bissextus leap year ante meridiem before noon (a.m.) altera die on the next day biduum space of two days, two-day period cras tomorrow die sequenti on the following day die vero this very day ejusdem die of the same day eodem anno in the same year eodem die on the same day eodem mense in the same month eo tempore at this time hodie today longo tempore for a long time mane in the morning meridie noon nocte at night nudius tertius three days earlier nunc dies tertius three days earlier nunc temporis of the present time perendie day after tomorrow pomerid after noon (p.m.) post meridiem after noon (p.m.) postridie on the day after, a day later pridie the day before pro tempore for (at) the time triduum space of three days, three-day period tunc temporis of former time vespere in the evening

Paper publication: Second edition 1997. English approval: 4/97

LETTER-WRITING GUIDE Italian

INTRODUCTION • Determine where records from your ancestor’s hometown are stored. Records for This guide is for researchers who do not speak smaller localities may be stored in repositories Italian but must write to Italy or parts of in nearby larger villages. You can use a Switzerland to request genealogical records. It gazetteer to determine which parish or civil includes a list of sentences you could use in a letter jurisdiction serves your ancestor’s locality. You requesting genealogical records and the Italian may also use the Italy Research Outline for help translation for each of these sentences. in locating records.

The best sources of genealogical information in RESEARCH BY MAIL Italy are records of births, marriages, and deaths kept by churches and civil registration offices. The Church records are obtained from parishes, and Family History Library has microfilmed copies of civil records are obtained from civil registration these records for many, but not all, localities. Use offices. Both kinds of records may be stored in the Family History Library Catalog to determine archives. Genealogical societies may also be able what records are available through the Family to help you find some of the information you need. History Library and family history centers. If records are available from the library, it is usually Parishes. Most of the earliest church records date faster and more productive to search these first. from the mid-1500s, and some were kept even The library’s publication Italy Research Outline earlier. The records may be stored in a local parish (36113) explains how to research records at the or a regional archive. You should request library or at family history centers. information from the local parish first. In your letter, ask where you can write to request records If the records you want are not available through that are no longer stored locally. the Family History Library, you can use this guide to help you write to a church or a civil registration Civil registration offices. Civil registration records office to obtain information. The Italy Research begin in 1866 in most of Italy and as early as 1809 Outline can help you decide whether church in some areas. In Switzerland they begin in 1876. records or civil registration records will be more They are generally kept at a local civil registration helpful to you. office (Ufficio dello Stato Civile), but older records are sometimes deposited in provincial or district BEFORE YOU WRITE archives. These records include birth, marriage, and death records as well as family certificates, Before you write a letter in Italian to obtain family known as stato di famiglia storico or stato di history information, you should do three things: famiglia originario certificates. Write to local offices first. Registrars may be able to tell you • Determine exactly where your ancestor was where to write to obtain records they no longer born, was married, or died. Because most have. genealogical records were kept locally, you will need to know the specific town where your Archives. If the records you need have been ancestor’s records were kept. See the library’s deposited in an archive, you may ask the archivist publication Tracing Immigrant Origins (34111) to recommend a private researcher you can hire. for help in finding hometowns. Archivists usually do not have time to search records. • Determine your ancestor’s religion. Because most early records were kept by churches or Genealogical societies. Genealogical societies synagogues rather than civil registration offices, usually collect genealogies, periodicals, and some you may need to write to the parish church your original records from their area and recommend ancestor belonged to in his or her hometown. If researchers you can hire to search local records. you are not sure what your ancestor’s religion was in Europe, determine what religion he or she practiced after immigrating. Usually people did not change religions when they moved from Europe to their new home. How to Address the Envelope How to Send Return Postage and Money

For a Catholic parish: When you write to someone in Europe, send an international reply coupon (available at most large Reverendo Parroco post offices) to pay for return postage. When (Street address, if known) writing to Italy, some people have had more (Postal code followed by the name of the success sending an international bank draft. locality, including the province abbreviation) ITALY Ruesch International bank drafts. An easy and inexpensive way to send money from North For a Protestant parish: America to Europe is to telephone Ruesch International Financial Services at 800-424-2923. Reverendo Viccario Ask for an international bank draft for the (Street address, if known) equivalent of $15.00 (or another amount) in Italian (Postal code followed by the name of the lire. There is a $3.00 service charge. Have the locality, including the province abbreviation) check made payable to the organization, the Ufficio ITALY di Stato Civile (civil registration office), or the Parrocchia (parish). Ruesch will give you a For a civil registration office: transaction number to write on your payment check. Send the payment to: Egregio Sindaco Commune di (name of the locality) Ruesch International Financial Services (Street address, if known) 700 11th Street NW (Postal code followed by the name of the Washington, D.C. 20001-4507 locality, including the province abbreviation) ITALY When they receive your payment, Ruesch will promptly send you a foreign currency draft (check) You can find some archive and society addresses that you can mail to Europe. in the Italy Research Outline, or you can call the Family History Library at 801-240-3433. Writing to a parish. When writing to a parish, it is also a good idea to send a donation of $15.00 as a Postal Codes courtesy. Do not send a personal check, which is difficult and expensive to exchange in Europe. Every Italian town (comune) has a post office. Cash is most easily converted to European Smaller villages, known as frazioni, fall within the currency, but sending cash is always risky. jurisdiction of a comune. If you cannot locate a postal code for your locality, check a gazetteer to Writing to other offices or organizations. Some determine the comune (see the Italy Research researchers do not send money when writing to a Outline). International postal codes can be found civil registration office, archive, or genealogical on the Internet at: society for the first time. These organizations may prefer to bill you for their services. Some may ask www.nonsolocap.it you to make the check payable to their account www.micronet.it/italian/cap/p.html number. If you want, you may write an institution to determine their fees before making a request. A listing of Internet sites that contain postal codes However, this will significantly increase the time it by country can be found at: takes to get information. www.grcdi.nl/linkspc.htm Checklist for Mailing a Letter to Europe When addressing your letter, write the postal (zip) code in front of the name of the town to which you G Keep a photocopy of your letter. are writing. For help in finding postal codes, use G Enclose payment for the return postage. a gazetteer or call the Family History Library at G Convert funds to foreign currency. 801-240-3433. G Mark the envelope Air Mail.

2 WHAT TO EXPECT Be brief and simple. Do not ask for too much at one time. It may take six months or longer for you to receive a reply to your request for information. The results The English-to-Italian translations on pages 4–6 of of writing to parishes or civil registration offices this guide will help you compose your letter. Read can vary greatly. You may get a great deal of the sentences in English and choose those that best information, or you may get no answer at all. Some express what you want to say. Be sure that your pastors and civil registrars are willing to do sentences are arranged logically. You may want to considerable research. Others will not answer until write a letter in English first, using the suggested money is sent or offered. Some may be unable to sentences, and then rewrite the letter, using the provide information. Italian translations. Make sure you type or neatly print your letter and, when necessary, add any Because some information is not easily obtained diacritical marks and special characters (such as é by writing directly to a pastor or registrar, you may or è) with a pen. need to hire a local private researcher. We suggest that you inquire about a competent local researcher Do not use this guide as the letter itself. That might when you write. insult the recipient and lessen the chance of a reply.

When you receive a reply, send a note of thanks or Writing Dates acknowledgment. You may wish to do this in a follow-up letter requesting further information. Write dates in the European style: day, month, Refer to your earlier letters and their return letters year. Write the month and the year in full. For by date. If they have assigned you a reference example, for December 10, 1889, you would write number, include that number as well. 10 dicembre 1889, not 12-10-89 or 10-12-1889.

Use Italian-English dictionaries to help you January gennaio understand the reply. Sometimes you can hire February febbraio accredited genealogists or others to translate for March marzo you. April aprile If you do not receive an answer, write again and May maggio send a copy of your first letter. Do not send more money unless you verify that your first letter did June giugno not arrive. July luglio August agosto HOW TO WRITE A LETTER IN September settembre ITALIAN October ottobre Your letter should include: November novembre December dicembre • The date (at the top). • The name and address of the addressee. • A greeting. • A brief introduction. • Biographical information about your relative. • A short, specific, genealogical request. • A referral request (see page 5). • A comment about payment. • Closing remarks. • Your signature. • Your return address (including your country).

3 English Italian

Greetings 1. Dear Mayor / To the Civil Registrar 1. Signor Sindaco / All’Ufficiale dello Stato Civile 2. Dear Pastor, 2. Reverendo Padre, Introductions 3. My name is ______. I am researching my 3. Mi chiamo ______. Sto facendo una ancestors and need information from your records. ricerca sui miei antenati e ho biosgno delle informazioni dai vostri registri. 4. My ancestors come from (locality). I would like to 4. I miei antenati provennero da ______. know more about them. Vorrei sapere di più di loro. 5. The following individual is my ancestor. Below is 5. L’individuo seguente è il mio antenato. all the information I have about this person: Quanto segue è tutto ciò che so di questa persona: Biographical Information

[Give information about your ancestor using the terms from the following list.] 6. a. Given name and surname: 6. a. Nome e cognome: b. Date of birth: b. Data di nascita: c. Place of birth: c. Luogo di nascita: d. Father’s given name and surname: d. Nome e cognome del padre: e. Mother’s given name and surname: e. Nome e cognome della madre: f. Husband’s given name and surname: f. Nome e cognome del marito: g. Wife’s given name and maiden surname: g. Nome e cognome della moglie: h. Date of marriage: h. Data di matrimonio: i. Place of marriage: i. Luogo di matrimonio: j. Date of death: j. Data di morte: k. Place of death: k. Luogo di morte: l. Date of emigration: l. Data d’emigrazione: Genealogical Requests 7. Could you please check your birth registers from 7. Potrebbe cercare l’atto di nascita o battesimo (year) to (year) for the birth or christening record di questa persona nei Suoi registri dal of this person? ______fino al ____? 8. Please send me a complete extract of the birth or 8. Vorrei richiedere che mi spedica l’estratto christening record (1) of this person. (2) of these completo dell’atto di nascita o battesimo di persons. 1) questa persona. 2) queste persone. 9. Please send me a complete extract of the marriage 9. Vorrei richedere che mi spedisca l’estratto record (1) of this person. (2) of this person’s completo dell’atto di matrimonio 1) di parents. questa persona.2) dei genitori di questa persona.

4 10. I believe that (name of ancestor) died in your 10. Credo che _____ sia morto/a nel vostro locality about (year). I would like a complete paese circa nel ____. Vorrei l’estratto extract of the death record. completo dell’atto di morte. 11. I would like to know more about the family of this 11. Vorrei sapere di più della famiglia di questa person. I would be grateful if you would provide persona. Sarei grato/a se posteste fornire i the names and birth dates of the brothers and nomi e le date di nascita dei suoi fratelli e sisters and an extract of the marriage record of the sorelle, e anche l’estratto dell’atto di parents. matrimonio dei genitori. 12. I would like to locate any relatives who may live 12. Vorrei mettermi in contatto i miei parenti in (town). My ancestor was (name). If you know che abitano ancora a_____. Il mio antenato any relatives of the family, I would be grateful if si chiamava ______. Se conoscete dei you would give this letter to them so that they can parenti della mia famiglia le sarei grato/a se contact me. potrebbe dare loro questa lettera affinchè possiamo metterci in contatto. 13. Please send me a copy of the family information 13. Per favore, vorrei richiedre che mi spedisca on (husband’s name) and (wife’s name). They una copia delle informazioni familiari su were married (1) (date). (2) approximately (date). e . Si sono sposati il 1) 2) circa nel . 14. For my family research I need information from 14. Per la ricerca sulla mia famiglia avrei the Jewish records of births, marriages, and deaths bisogno delle informazioni contenute nei from your community. Do you know where such registri Elbraici delle nascite, dei matrimoni, records were created and where they are currently e deie morti del suo commune. Sa dove tali located? registri sono stati mantenuti, e dove attualmente sono collocati? 15. Would you please inform me if it is possible to 15. La prego di informarmi se sia possibile obtain photocopies of your records and tell me the ottenere delle fotocopie dei suoi registri e di cost of such copies. farmi sapere il costo delle copie. Referral Requests 16. If you do not have the necessary records, could 16. Se non ci sono i registri in question, you provide the address of the place where the potrebbe fornirmi l’indirizzo dell’archivio records can be found? dove tali registri possano essere reperiti? 17. If you are unable to do this research for me, could 17. Qualora non le sia possible e seguire questa you please recommend a local researcher I could ricerca, potregge raccomandarmi un hire for this purpose—someone who speaks some ricercatore che potrei asumere a English if possible? questo fine - possibilmente qualcumo che parli un pò d’inglese? Payment 18. To cover your expenses, I am enclosing a donation 18. Per coprire le spese, accludo um contributo to your parish as well as payment for the return alla sua parrocchia ed il pagamento per postage. l’affrancatura di ritorno. 19. Please let me know the cost of your help and how I 19. La prego di farmi sapere il costo del suo can pay. aiuto e come posso effettuare il pagamento. Closing Remarks and Return Address 20. I thank you in advance for your help. 20. Vi ringrazio in anticipo per il vostro gentilezza e premura. 21. Sincerely, 21. Distinti saluti, 22. My address: 22. Il mio indirizzo:

5 Follow-Up

[Use these sentences in follow-up letters as needed.]

23. Thank you for the information you sent on (date). 23. Grazie per le informazioni che mi ha It has helped me very much. mandato il _____. Mi hanno aiutato molto. 24. I need further information about one of the 24. Avrei bisogno d’informazioni aggiuntive su individuals you mentioned in your letter: (name). uno degli individui a cui ha accennato nella sua lettera: ______. 25. I have already received from you the following 25. Ho già ricevuto da lei quanto segue su information about this person: questa persona: 26. I am enclosing a copy of a letter I sent you on 26. Accludo una copia della lettera che le ho (date). Please write and tell me if you can do this mandato il______. Le sarei grato/a se potrà research. fare questa ricerca.

6 EXAMPLE LETTER

Date 4 novembre 1000

Addressee Ufficio dello Stato Civile via XXV Settembre 67010 L’Aquila (AQ) Italia

Greeting Signoro Sindaco

Introduction Mi chiamo Jane Doe e sto facendo una ricerca genealogica sulla mia famiglia. Averi bisogno delle informazioni contenute nei suoi registri. I miei antenati vennero da Succiano di Beffi, nella provincia di L’Aquila. Vorrei sapere di più di loro. L’individuo seguente è il mio antenato. Quanto segue è tutto ciò che so di lui:

Biographical Nome e cognome: Pietro Francesco Lapioli Information Data di nascita: 30 gennaio 1852 Luogo di nascita: Succiano di Beffi Nome e cognome del padre: Andrea Lapioli Nome e cognome della madre: Maria Antonia Di Luzio Nome e cognome della moglie: Aquila Delfina Di Camillis

Genealogical Vorrei richiedere che mi spedisca léstratto completo delátto di nascita di questa Request persona.

Referral Se non ci sono i registi in questione, potrebbe fornirmi l’indirizzo dell’archivio Requests dove tali registri possano essere essere reperiti? Qualora non le sai possible e seguire questa ricerca, potrebbe raccomandarmi un ricercatore locale che potrei assumere a questo fine - possibilmente qualcuno che parli un pò d’inglese?

Payment La prego di farmi sapere il costo del certificato e come posse effettuare il pagamento.

Closing La ringrazio in anticipo per il sua gentilezza e premura.

Signature

Return Jane Doe Address 334 G Street Salt Lake City, UT 84103 USA

7 © 2000, 2004 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS in the USA English Approval 7/04 The Family History Library welcomes additions No part of this document may be reprinted, posted on-line, or and corrections that will improve future editions of reproduced in any form for any purpose without the prior written this guide. Please send your suggestions to: permission of the publisher. Send all requests for such permission to: Copyrights and Permissions Coordinator Family and Church History Department Publications Coordination 50 E. North Temple Street, Rm 599 Family History Library Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-3400 35 North West Temple USA Salt Lake City, Utah 84150-3400 Fax: 1-801-240-2494 USA

March-April 1982 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER, Dedicated to "helping more people find more genealogy" Pacen The Origin, Meaning and Changes in Major Italia.n Surnames By Trafford R. Cole Accredited Genealogist Via Livenza 20 35010 Pionca di (PO) Italy A fact of interest to most people from literature and art of the Mid· name forms. One spelling variation is to know just what their surname die Ages and Renaissance period, can be typical of just one village or means, what origin it has, what such as: Dante, Tiziano, Lancil· of a restricted geographical area. changes it has undergone, and lalla, etc. Each of these names be- For example, while the family names: what relationship it has to other came the root for the many varia· Negri, De Negri, Negroni, Negrollo similar surnames. What many don't tions that then stemmed from that etc., are common in much of North· know is that, at least in Italy, often name. For example, examining the ern and , the form Ne­ the source of their family name name Andrea, taken from the Greek grinolti, the author has found orig· can be traced, and its formation root 'andros' which means 'man', inating in only one small village in and modifications identified. Not we find a fairly common root. This the Bergamo province, and it is only, but at times the surname it· name was diffused throughout the still found just in that mountain self can become a valuable gene· Roman Empire and affirmed itself valley. In another case, a client alogical tool, and be used to trace in Italy.due to the prestige of the knew only that his ancestor Giu· the exact origin of their family. Apostle Andrea, brcther of Simon· seppe Avondoglio came from an In Italy there are millions of dif- Peter, .who was an evangelist, area somewhere near , or ferent surnames, so it would be im· preaching the gospel throughout near Switzerland. Since no other possible to even mention a small . This name has record source was available to iden· part of these, however, fortunately, become the root of at least sixty tify the exact origin of the family, most surnames are spelling and different surnames, including: De by going through the phone book ~alectic differences of fewer com· Andrea, Andreolli, Andreini, Andre· of several provinces, the author ,on roots. In this article, I wish to ani, Andreacchio, Andreacci, was able to limit the research to give an idea of some of the major Andrat, Deri, Dreossi, etc. Each of just a few villages where there was categories of origin of surname these variations then has a spe- a concentration of that surname, roots, explain how these form part cific meaning, according to the and subsequently pinpoint the or­ of a genealogical research, and ex- word ending. In Italian, the endings igin of the family. So, at times, plain their meaning and the changes ollo, olli, one, ani, all give a con- when dealing with unusual names, in form that can occur. notation of something large. There· the specific village of origin can be Different experts divide and sub- fore if the Andrea in a village who located using this method. divide the surname roots in various gave life to this surname in that Another most interesting sub­ ways. I wish to examine four major town was a big man, it is probable division of this first group of sur­ categories of family names which that the surname became Andreot- names are those called 'augurale', originate from: 1) personal names, to or Andreone, whereas, if he were that is, 'of best wishes'. These sur­ 2) nicknames, 3) names of locali· a small or short man, the family names were most commoniy given ties and 4) names of vocations. name most probably would be to those children who were orphans, In the first group, the surname Andreini, and if he had a bad temper i1ligitimate, or foundlings left on originates from the name of the it might be Andreaccio, as the 'ac· some neighbor's doorstep, and de­ founder of the family household. cia' ending has a negative con- noted a form of greeting, or a 'lles-' The names most commoniy used, notation. Another important factor sage for the child, such as: Ben­ and that therefore most commonly of these variations is that they vary venuto (Welcome), Conforto (Con­ became roots for surnames, were according to locality, so that, where- fort), Bonaventura (Good Furtune), those of religious origin or of a as, the root 'Andrei' is diffused in Innocente (Innocent), etc. They social cultural, literary origin. Ex· all of Italy, the D'Andrea and De could also explain his origin such amples of those of religious origin Andrea forms are typical of the as: Trovato (Found), or Esposito are those most frequently recog- South, the Andrean, Andreasi, Andrat (Orphanage), or else give less cheer­ nized, such as: Domenico and Or· forms instead, are found in North· ful comments, as: Sventura (Un­ sola of Latin origin, or Latin varia- East Italy, and the Slavic varia· fortunate), Brullo (Ugly), Aflillo (Af­ tions of Greek, German and He· tions, such as Andrich, Andreassich flicted) etc. It is interesting to note brew names, such as: Giovanni, and Drei, are found only in the that this one type of surname ori­ Maria, Alberto, Alessandro, etc. Friuli· Giulia region near Yugo- gin accounts for about 10% of all .amples of those surnames of a siavia. Italian surnames. Also, the family _specific cultural connotation are The regional differences of a sur- name Esposito was taken from the either Latin origin: Augusto, Laura, name can, at times, be very help- tradition that in the orphanages Mario, etc., or of German origin: ful in genealogical research in 10- the children were lined up, and Guido, Rudolfo, etc. .. Finally eating the town of origin of a fam- shown off (esposti) to the families there are those names, although i1y. This is particularly the case for that desired to hire them as servants just a small percentage, taken less common surnames, or sur- or such. This surname is the most Page 12 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER. Dedicated to "helping more people lind more genealogy" March-April 1981 common family name at . diffused in its various forms. This gins it was often necessary to Some names such as Giovanni surname was often given to those change also their surname, and form more than one root, accord­ of presumed Islamic or Moorish thus it became common practice ing to dialectic differences, so there origin. to take on the name of the city ~.iI are the roots Gianni, Vanni and A third class of surnames is that town of residence. 1111 Zanni, which, in turn, are roots for which denotes the ethnic or topo­ The last category of surnames hundreds of surname variations in graphical origin of the family. This are those that were derived from all of Italy. The entire category of large group of surnames includes the work or profession of the fami­ surnames deriving their origin from almost 37% of all Italian family ly. It was most normal that the sons personal names includes about names. If one examines the con­ learned and took on the profes­ 38% of all Italian surnames. centration of this type of surname, sion of their fathers, and thus en­ The second category includes, one finds that the great majority tire families worked for generations perhaps, those surnames best are found in the populous cities of as smiths, or farmers, or lumberers known, and most commonly found. Central and Northern Italy. Thus at or SUCh. As a result the family often They are fam iIy names taken from Genova, Parodi is the most com­ took on the name of their vo­ the nickname of a person. During mon surname, originating from a cation, and so there are numerous the Middle Ages when there were smallish town, , which, such surnames: Sartori (tailors), .few written documents, and few during the Middle Ages was the Segato (lumberers), Fabbro or Fer­ established family names, each scene of a mass emigration to­ rari (smiths), Massaro or Masiero person was known by his name wards the coast, and in particular (farm hands), Cardinale (Cardinal), and was distinguished by some to Geneva. In other areas we find: etc. Ferrari is the second most personal characteristic. Thus we Mantovani, meaning 'from Mantova' common surname root in Italy after find names such as Big John, or is the most common surname at , with hundreds of root vari­ Frederic red beard. In many cases Ferrara, and Furlan ('from Friuli') is ations: Favero, Faveron, , once written records began to be the leading family name at Trieste. Del Favro, etc. This seemingly at­ kept, these nicknames became the In most areas of Italy, during the tests that, although Italy presently surname of that family. The nick­ Middle Ages and even until recent­ has scarce mineral and iron re­ names usually underlined some ly, there was very little migration sources, at least at one time, there physical trait such as: Biondo from one village to the next. Every­ was sufficient ore to provide work (blonde), Rossi (red), Moro (dark), one knew each other, in their vil­ for many throughout the peninsula. Piccolo (small), Grasso (fat), Sordo lage, for generations, and so when Although these are four major (deaf), and so on. In many cases someone new came to live in the divisions of the surname roots however it was intellectual or be­ village, for years and even genera­ in Italy, it is equally true that nr" havioral characteristics that were tions he and his famiy were re­ all surnames clearly follow thes' emphasized, and these were not al­ ferred to as 'the family from .. .' specified differences. For example, ways compiimentary: Astuto (clever), whatever the name of their village the surname Ferrera or Ferrea can Tardo (retarded), (drinks of origin might have been. This be derived both from. the root Fer­ water), Fumagalli (chicken thief) was true even if the village was reri, which refers to the vocation of etc. Other nicknames have origina­ only five or ten miles away; they a smith, and which is commonly ted from events that can no longer still were 'foreigners', and many found, in this form in , or else be reconstructed, but which un­ times their surname became that a village named Ferrea, and as doubtedly had to do with some of their village, even when they al­ such is found in Ligury. Therefore feat performed by the family head. ready had an established family the same surname finds itself clas­ Examples of these could be: Mag­ name. Since much of the migration sified in two separate categories. navacca (ate a cow), Maccaferri was towards the larger cities There are many such examples. (dented iron), etc. This second cate­ where more work opportunities An interesting addition, found gory of family names with a nick­ were availabie, this explains the throughout the Venetian and sur­ name origin includes about 15% of concentration of this type of sur­ rounding areas, is the use of a all Italian surnames. It is interesting name in the cities. Since Italy is second family name. Some authors to note that the most common sur­ situated among the many Mediter­ mistakenly refer to these as fami­ name in Italy comes from this cate­ ranean countries, and has been ly nicknames, as are found in all of gory, and is the name Rossi. This ruled by several foreign powers, it Italy, however there are consider­ is rather surprising if one reflects is not surprising to find surnames able differences. Whereas the fam­ that 'rosso' means red, and usually denoting other countries or ethnic ily nickname is a distinguishing described someone with red hair groups like: Greco (Greek), Tedes­ feature of one or more members or a red beard. In Italy, a land of co (German), etc. of a family, which accompanies dark haired people with dark com­ Another interesting particularity them during their lives, but rarely plexions, one wonders why this about this group of surnames is lasts more than one generation, surname is so diffused, not only in that it became the family name of these second family names, or as Northern Italy where there could many christianiz,?d Jews. During one author states: 'sub·surnames', have been German influences, but the Middle Ages, and in particular were usually acquired through also in Southern Italy, in the local in the epic of the Holy Inquisition, marriage or heredity, were statBt derivate, , of the same root. the Jews were severely persecuted in all historical records, and lasteo Less surprising is the fact that throughout Europe, and to survive, centuries with little variation. This Moro which means dark haired or were forced to become converted second family name was used to of dark complexion, is also quite Christians. To hide their Jewish ori- distinguish the several branches Marcb·April1982 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER. Dedicaled 10 "helping more people find more genealogy" Page 13 of the same family line, and was tion of a certain Bartolomeo DA or has found two variations today: used mostly for those surnames GAVA who settled in the area, PRETI and DE PRETIIS, of what commonly found in the village. For originating from the village of Gava. was once the same family, but example, in a small village in the In 1388 there is mention of one of which were Italian and Latin forms, Boite Valley, Belluno, the surname his descendents named Rizzardo that at a certain point were used Zangrando is found, which means (dialectic form of Richard) who to distinguish two branches of the 'big John'. This surnam\l, in that was a 'faber' (smith), and who had family. village was divided into at least six two sons, who were also smiths, distinct family lines: Zangrando named Zambono and Rizzardino Many surnames have changed Del Vecchio, Saccon, Savio, De (little Richard), who was also called in recent years due to the emigra· Zoppa, Mupitto, and Protor. This familiarly Zardino. Zambono went to tion to other countries, and in division appears in early parish live at Peaio, and being the first particular to the United States. To­ records and continues even today. smith there his descendents were day in America many of Italian The division of the family depended given the surname DEL FAVERO origin do not retain their original much upon the prosperity of the meaning 'of the smith', and so he be­ surname, but rather this has be· family. For example in the nearby came the family head of this fami· come "Americanized." Usually this village of S. Vito di Cad ore, the Iy name. Zardino instead resided happened at the entry to the United Belli surname was first divided in· at Borca, and had two sons; Pietro States. In the period between 1890 to nine nuclear family units in the who established the DEL FAVERO and 1914, almost four million Italians early 1600's, which, as the family surname at Borca, and Antonio entered the U.S. through the New grew and multiplied, were expanded who took on the surname ZARDINO. York port. At Ellis Island where to twenty-one and then to thirty Another descendent of Bartolo­ they were quartered for quaran­ different family branches, each meo was named Galleazzo, men· tine, before being permitted to with a different second surname; tioned in the records in 1416, and enter, they were interrogated as to gradually then these have been re­ he became the head of the GAL­ their name, place of origin, age, duced to the thirteen still existing LEAZZI family. Therefore from this etc. so that documents could be today, of which seven are still of one family head we find the follow­ made out for each one of them. the original nine. These second ing surnames, all still existing in Since many were illiterate, the family names usually were acquired the area: DA GAVA which derives immigration officials would write through marriage, using the sur­ from the topological location, DEL their name and surname as it name of the wife of an important FAVERO which originates from a sounded to them, and in most family, or when the wife came from vocation, and GALLEAZZI and cases this varied from the original. another village, or when the man ZARDINO which come from the As one person wrote me recently, inherited property through his wife's names of the respective family her grandfather's surname was family. These second family names heads. changed from CHINiCE to KINISH. were clearly written in the parish This example also most clearly Not only, but the relatives who re­ and vital records. In the Piedimont demonstrates the changes that oc­ mained in Italy kept writing to Mr_ region, which for many years was curred in the surname from its ori­ Chinice and their letters were never under French rule, these second gin. In fact, most surnames were delivered. Other times the literal family names became hyphonated established with the advent of writ­ meaning of the surname was trans­ surnames, and are part of the sur· ten documentation, which were lated into English, and thus PAPA name. Thus there are surnames instrumental in keeping a fixed became POPE, MARTINO became like: Corgiat·Bondon, Sandretto­ family name. Therefore most sur· MARTIN and so on. These surname Locanin, etc. names were formed in the three variations can sometimes frustrate centuries from the 13th to the 16th research possibilities in that ship­ I have dwelt on this peculiarity centuries, but new additions or ping lists or naturalizations papers because it is quite useful in gene­ changes occurred to even a more might not properly identify one~s alogical research for two reasons: recent period. ancestor. First, it gives clear famiiy divisions When searching parish, notary .. Another recent influence which for many generations, within the or historical records, many are dis· changed some surnames was the same surname, much facilitating concerted in finding different forms nationalistic sentiment during the the correct choice of family connec­ or speiling changes in their sur­ fascist regime in Italy. During the tions; and second, in earlier rec­ name. Usually th is was due to period from 1922 to 1944 under the cords, often there was confusion changes from Italian to Latin or rule of Benito Mussoiini, Italy was between the two surnames, and so dialect in the writing of the docu­ relatively isolated both poiitically at times only the second surname ments. For example, the surname and culturally from the surround­ was used to identify the famiiy, or appears as ROSSI when the rec­ ing countries, in an attempt to pro· eise a second family name, be­ ords are written in Italian and as hibit Italians any confrontation ,came a new surname for a family. DE RUBEIS when they are in Latin with other societies. As a result An examination of how a sur· and could be ROSCIA when found, emigration was drastically limited name originated and evolved should in this case, in Trentino dialect. except towards the countries under be useful to understa~d what has Usually this change in form did not Italian influence such as Ethiopia been explained so far. 1aking an reflect an actual change in the and Lybia. Also in the name of example from the same locality al· surname, however at times it be· patriotism, foreign newspapers ready mentioned, we find, in the came a source of minor variations. were banned, and it was even pro· historical records in 1240 AD, men· For exampie, in one town the auth· hibited to use foreign words that Page 14 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER, Dedicaled to "helping more people find more genealogy" March-April 1982 were already part of the Italian From what has been stated, it our heritage, it has an origin, a vocabulary such as 'garage', sport', should be clear that whereas cer­ meaning and a story to tell. Find­ 'radio', etc., and Italian substitutes tain names are specific of one geo­ ing and understanding this heri__ were made up. Not least among graphical area, many others are tage, one can add value and this nationalism was the law re­ diffused throughout Italy, so that sight to his own family history. quiring all Italians with foreign meeting someone with the same surnames to Italianize them. These surname does not necessarily mean surnames are particularly common that there is some relation. Also, BIBLIOGRAPHY in the border regions and many small variations in a surname can had to change their family names; speak of great differences in the 'Dizionario dei cognomi italiani' by thus Kucel became Cucelli, Lull­ origin of the same. At the same Emidio De Felice Arnoldo Mon­ man was changed to Lullini, Pouls time, it is extremely exciting to dador! Editore 1978 Milano became Purli, and so on. Although, find someone of the same family 'II cognome nelle Pievi Cadorine di after the war, some families went name and discover your relation­ e ' by Vincen­ through the iegal process to retake ship. zo Menegus Tamburin; Istituto their old surname, many of these As can be readily seen, a name di Stud! per l'Alto Adige Firenze new variations remained. is not just a name, but is part of 1973

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TRACE YOljR REVOLl:T10!'iARY WAR A!'iCESTOR EASILY WITH REVOLUTIONARY WAR GENEALOGY

88 pages. 407 sources, location & description of all major Revolutionary War genealogical sources with exact instructions for obtaining the most ancestor information in the shortest time for the least money. -

Chapter I. THE REVOLLTIO:\,AR Y WAR: • Introduction (duration, character, records) • Background (colonies. causes) • Beginning (earl}' battles) • Combatants (Colonists, British) • Colonial War (war in north) • Expanded War (French, war in south) - Conclusion (Yorktown, surrender. peace) - Recommended readings. Chapter II. THE ARCHIVES: • Original Records (types available) - Initial Approach (1st steps) - "alional Archins (serYice, pension. bounty land records) - Slate Archives (addresses, records, obtaining them) - AM HI (army records) - Other Archives (addresses. records. obtaining them). Chapter III. :"lATIO~AL Pl'BLICATIONS: - Libraries (locations, use) - Rolls, Rosters & Usts - Pension Records - Bount}' Land & Other Claims - Other Patriot Lists - Loyalist lists. Chapter IV. ST.-HE Pl:BLlCAT10!'iS: • For CT, DE, GA, :\10, !'iH, !'iJ, !'iV, !'iC. PA. RI, SC, VA and Utter Slales (AL Ihru WI), Chapter \'. lOe:AL SOLRCES (city. town, count}' records): - Place of Enlistment - Post-War Residence· Place of Dealh. . Chapter VI. HISTORIES: - Individual (diaries, journals, autobiographies) • Regimenlal - Battle - State - Groups (French, German, l.o~'alists, Blacks, !'iavy, Marines) • Continental Army - Maps. . Chapler VIl. SITES, MLSELMS. & ME:\10RIES: • libraries (War collections) - Hislories Sites (battlefields, markers. monuments) - Museums (Iocalions) - Palriotic Organizations (addresses, records) - Books & Bookshops (Re\'olulionary-­ War specialists) 57 poslpaid from Dr. Geo. K. Schweitzer, 7914 Gleason Road, C·1I36. Knoxville, TN 37919 Italy, Under Napoleon—1812

Italy, After Napoleon—1815

Italy Present day Regions

Valle D’Aosta Emilia-Romagna Puglia 1.Aosta 38.Bologna 74.Bari 39.Ferrara 75.Brindisi Piemonte 40.Forlì 76.Foggia 2.Alessandria 41.Modena 77.Lecce 3.Asti 42.Parma 78.Taranto 4.Biella* 43.Piacenza 5.Cuneo 44.Ravenna Campania 6.Novara 45.Reggio Emilia 79.Avellino 7.Torino 46.Rimini 80.Benevento 8.Verbano-Cusio- 81.Caserta Ossola* Toscana 82.Napoli 9.Vercelli 47.Arezzo 83.Salerno 48.Firenze Lombardia 49.Grosseto Basilicata 10.Bergamo 50.Livorno 84.Matera 11.Brescia 51.Lucca 85.Potenza 12.Como 52.Massa-Carrara 13.Cremona 53.Pisa Calabria 14.Lecco* 54.Pistoia 86.Catanzaro 15.Lodi* 55.Prato* 87.Cosenza 16.Mantova 56.Siena 88.Crotone* 17.Milano 89.Reggio Calabria 18.Pavia Marche 90.Vibo Valentia* 19.Sondrio 57.Ancona 20.Varese 58.Ascoli Piceno Sicilia 59.Macerata 91.Agrigento Trentino-Alto Adige 60.Pesaro e 92.Caltanissetta 21.Bolzano Urbino 93.Catania 22.Trento 94.Enna Umbria 95.Messina Veneto 61.Perugia 96.Palermo 23.Belluno 62.Terni 97.Ragusa 24.Padova 98.Siracusa 25.Rovigo Lazio 99.Trapani 26.Treviso 63.Frosinone 27.Venezia 64.Latina Sardegna 28Verona 65.Rieti 100.Cagliari 29.Vicenza 66.Roma 101.Nuoro 67.Viterbo 102.Oristano Friuli-Venezia Giulia 103.Sassari 30.Gorizia Abruzzo 31.Pordenone 68.Chieti Repubblica di San Marino 32.Trieste 69.L’Aquila 104.Repubblica di San Marino 33.Udine 70.Pescara (A separate republic on the Italian 71.Teramo peninsula.) Liguria 34.Genova Molise * added in 1993 35.Imperia 72.Campobasso 36.La Spezia 73.Isernia 37.Savona

Italy Present-day Provinces

AIIJ111Ell ITALY! 'DIE FAMILIES OF 'DIE PIEIHIl:r

Hugh T. Law

Bom :In Utah. Resides:ln Salt Lake City. Utah. Research specialist. Genealogical Department. lbe QlUrch of Jesus C1rist of Latter-day Sa:lnts. M.A •• Brighsm Young University. Author. genealogist.

The Waldensian (Vsudois or Valdese) century many scholars believed that it Church is believed to have begun in originat~ :In the time of the original Lyons. France, in sbout 1179 under the Apostles. leadership or Pierre Valdes or Valdo. His followers, strongly persecuted. The Waldensians were severely persecuted sought refuge :In the alpine valleys of and obliged to take ama :In their defense , near the French border of on many occasions fraa the time they northem Italy. became established in the Piedmont valleys until about 1850. One of these Samuel Mours, prominent historian of occasions was a defensive war in 1560 and French Protestantism, describes their 1561 which ended with a peace treaty early history as follows: signed at Cavour. It provided for a complete am1sty and a partial liberty of "The Waldensians called themselves conscience and freedca of worship. Public •brothers or poor men of C1rist' They Protestant worship was forbidden :In the offered the rare and edify11l8 spectacle larger tOW118 where Catholics also lived. of an exemplary life, sheltered from This was sjso the case before the monkish exaggerations. As peddlers while hostilities. Another provision was that selling precious objects, they offered the Waldensians could live and farm only holy books (sections of the Bible). This in the mountains and :In limited mountsin was their only study. Their lay manbers valleys. not :In the rich plain below. had the right to preach. While constituting a Church within the In the autUllll and winter of 1686 these (Catholic) C1urch, they did not want to God-fearing people were subjected to a leave the latter. Valdo even requested cruel edict of their sovereign. the Duke the authorization of the pope. of Savoy, inatigated by King Louis XIV of France. About 12,000 of them were :iJIr­ "But the Church became alarmed at this prisoned. of which two thirds died of activity. Valdo and his disciples were sickness, cold. hUIl8er, and bad treatment soon pursued as heretics. Ferreted out in the prisons and fortresses of in the sane time as the last Albigenses Piedmont. Those not imprisoned sought by the famous court of the Inquisition, refuge in the Protestant cantons of they had to limit themselves to a Switzerland. where they were kindly clandestine activity which didn't remain received and assisted. Some went on to without fruit. Some communities Protestant areas of Germany. In 1689 the subsisted however until the Protestant Waldensian army. strengthed by other Reformation in certain mountainous Protestsnts. secretly entered Savoy with regions of the Alps. Their peddlers swords in hand and re-took their valleys. continued to go far and ':1de to The IUke of SavoY. no longer allied with disseminate the holy scriptures." France, allowed them to remain and their f lIII1lies to jo:ln thElll. It can thus be seen that the Waldensian Church began four centuries before the Their Cathol1c neighbors respected thElll Protestant Reformation and has persisted for their highly moral conduct. On more until the present time. In the last than one occasion when an invading army 529/Law 2 threatened, the Catholics sent their Crushing Protestanti.. in the Cluson wives and daughters further up the Valley caused- 840 refugees to flee anft mountains in the care of the Waldensians join the Waldensian colonies in Germany. to preserve them from .fhe merciless treatment of the soldiers. This century was characterized by the theft of Protestant children who were put The War of the League of Augsburg (1688­ in Catholic convents or hanes. Jean 1697) in which Louis nv of France sought Jalla states, "The kidnappings of to extend the French borders in Alsace, children, above and below the legal age in Piedmont and in other areas must have (10 for girls and 12 for boys), were very thoroughly frightened the Waldensians • m."erous , without one being able to cite They ranembered his part in the imprison­ a single case where the protests of the ment and exodus of 1686 and knew this poor parents obtained satisfaction. "Roi Soleil" (Sun King) as the most Foreigners were also the victims of these powerful in Europe and the most dedicated infsoous criminal attanpts. A captain of to the destruction of Protestanti8lll. an English vessel, whose child was kidnapped at Nice, couldn't get it back A former secret agreanent of the Duke witho~t threatening to bombard the required the exile of between 3,760 to city." 3,770 Waldensians named in 1698 and 1699 on relief lists in Germany, Switzerland, The caning of Napoleon and his troops , Holland, England, and Ireland. Though undoubtedly feared at first, brought sane many of these people returned to their relief to the Waldensians. Though many Piedmont valleys in 1705, others ranained young men were drafted for service in to leave numerous descendants in the Germany and Russia, the population was countries named and in the . granted freedan of religion. They could They came fran the upper Cluson valley, work at professions, hold public office, where Protestantism was crushed in about and live and farm outside of the 1730 and also fran the Valley of Luce5"e mountains and valleys to which their and from , where it survived. ancestors had been restricted since 1561. But this was all changed with the Battle Protestant parish registers are preserved of Waterloo. The Protestants then groaned in print for the town pf Mentoules in the again in silence under their old upper Cluson Valley from July 1629 to restrictions. Their populati6n had 6 October 1685. Those of sixteen parishes greatly increased and their farms had in the Pellice Valley (formerly Lusema) , been subdivided to the point that many the Germanasca Valley (formerly St. families could scarcely survive. Martin), and the Perosa Valley, beginning in various years fran 1690 to about 1740, Reverend William Stephen Gilly fran Essex have been preserved fran then to the Co., England, visited the Waldensian present and were microfilmed in 1948 by valleys in 1823 and in 1829. He tells uS the Genealogical Society of Utah. much of the life of the people of that time: "!bst of than have a few rods of A Map of the Waldensian valleys and land, which they can call their own parishes is at the end of this paper. property, varying in extent, fr

Both men and wcmen carried hay or sheaths meat was connrved in sacks made of of wheat and firewood. They also spaded scraped pig skin, salted, and kept ~ the the fields in autumn or spring. cellar for use throughout the year. Housework was done almost exclusively by the wanen. The men took care of the Preservilll meat in the nineteenth century stable snd livestock, worked in the was not moch of a problem because farm gallery of talc, graphite, carvedlfttones, families ate it only on special and baked bread in outdoor ovens. occasions, using especially chickens or rabbits that they raised themselves. Once We quote again fran Reverend Gilly: "No or twice a year, at festival times, they books of instruction or devotion, for the would kill a lamb, which would be use of the protestants may be printed in consumed without delay. Cows were raised Piedmont, and the duty upon the for workilll in the fields, for milk, and importation of such books is enormoUS. • to prodoce veal to sell. Beef was not ••The Protestants are obliged to observe eaten unless sane misfortune camn to the festivals of the Papists, and to their cattle or those of a neighbor. abstain from work on those days. This is another excessive hardship. There is one Below 1,000 meters (within about 3,300 holiday at least every week, and feet of level) fruits, nuts, and sometimes two or three; so that the berries are quite abundant in the protestant peasant has never more than Piedmont valleys: walnuts, chestnuts, five days in a week for labour, and prunes, apples, pears, peaches, amands , sometimea only three. The Sabbath day he figs, and grapes are grown. The latter keeps with scrupulous observance, while are used for wine much more than for the roman catholic cares not for raisins. There are also strawberries, vio1atiq: it. A poor Vaudois peasant was raspberries, blackberries and eglantine, accused of irrigating his little meadow eaten as fruit or male into excellent upon a festival day, and condemned to pay perflllled jellies. a fine for not observing the sanctity of a saint's day••• The protestants have to Above 1,000 meters apples, prunes, pears, pay a land tax of 20 1/2 percent, while cherries, and chestnuts are almost all the Ranan Catholics pay but 13 percent. wild. Their fruits are eaten in season and also used for j8lllS and marmalade. In "Fifteen sous (pennies) a day in the the last century, nuts were still used winter, and twenty in the sUlllller, is the for the producticn of oil which was used utmost a peasant can earn: take away two to light the houses and season ~. or three days fr(]l\ his weekly earnlq:s, Nuts were also eaten as dried fruit. and what a pittance is left! Roasted chestnuts, potatoes, and breal, if any, Bread normally was baked in outdoor of the blackest and most ordinary sort, ovens j potatoes, apples, and carrots, and are thf9 principal food they can other items were stored in cellars under obtain." the houses.

A historian born in 1895 writes that the Some Waldensians had prospered enough to basic fonds of the f8lllilies liviq: in the buy land outside of their crowded mountains were rye bread, cornmeal soup, valleys. This was a necessity admitted potatoes cooked in various manners, and for a long time. But the Catholic soup , seasoned sometimes with butter and reaction working with the king male it milk, and other times with baccn or pork necessary in 1841 for owners of these grease. Pigs were truly precious in the lands to appear before the king' s senate life of the mountain people. Nearly where they were ordered to sell their every family bought a young pig each land. A forced sale could only be male spriq: at a fair in the cities of the with a great loss. Where could these plain. They fattened it until December dispossessed families go? They appealed or January, when it was butchered. The to their king. Thereasollll of right and 529/Law 5 of hlD8ll1ty were 00 their side. S(JIIl! many of the former -were native sons of relief was gained fraa the unwillqness the area, all before 1855 were educated of SaDe of the ministers to carry out in other countries. mostly at Geneva, this order. IkJt 110tsries were denied the Lausanne, Basel, or Zurich in Switzerlaoo right to draw up further deeds of trans­ but som"2F IIolland, France, Germany, or fer between Catholics and Protestants, to EnglaOO. prevent the 2~tter fraa obtsini'1l addi­ tional lands. In 1855 a school for training pastors was built at . In 1860 it was Reverend Gilly believed that the moved to Florence and in 1922 to Rome in Waldensian Church had developai frlJll the an effort to help propagat"27 the primitive church of Jesus and his Waldensisn church throughout Italy. Apos tles am dated back to their t:lme • He seems to have seen it and its IIlSIlbers Williall Heille in his book, II Risveglio through rose-colored glasses. We quote del 1825 nelle Valli Valdesi. (The him again: "They live together in such ReAwakening of 1825 in the WaldensIan undisturbed harmony, that, during the Valleys) ststes that good faith tended to whole time I passed in their valleys, I disappear. ••• Religion became only a observed ro SymptlDS whatever of broils question of lIlSIlories, of traditions, of or quarrels. I heard ro angry disputes, habits, not a life and personal ~8 am saw ro rudeness amo'1l the children, perience but finally a pure formalism. but on the contrary, witnessed two or three instances of forbearance. and lie asks, "The Church of the Martyrs is disinterestedness, which were uncllllllllonly therefore the only one to have forgotten gratifying. At P

CODtr1butiClll _ in esl:ablishill!i schools Minister of State, though Catholic, was for chUdren in sbloBt every IIIOUIItsin also a liberal man aod tried to change village. Be paid the teachers' salaries public opinion by contacting Catholic 8IIll for books to begin w:Lth 8IIll then bishopa aod inviting th'" to favor the lUBed the church aod the c.-unities to grantill!i of civil rights to Protestants. asll\8e this re&pousibility. In 1808 there There was much opposition, however, aod were seventy-eight schools in the Wald­ loiIen the new revision to the constitution ensian area lIIId thirteen pari~3schools. was announced OIl 8 February 1848, the By 1846 there were 120 schools. rights of the Waldensians and the Jews were lIIIitted. D' and his friends "His [Colonel Beckwith's] picture, loiIich renewed their efforts. am the resistance sho.. him lean1ll!i on a ClIDE! aod with a of the minister and of the king himself wooden leg. was for decades in all of the was finslly overCaDe. On 17 February he schoola. in the pastors' hlllles. the signed the Emancipation Edict. The part Waldensian hlIIIes because IIlI personage. dealing with the Waldensians can be not even Gianave1lo [Josue Janavel, a resumed in these words: "The Waldensians military hero of the Vaudois] has are Bitted to enjoy all of the civil penetrated so profoundly into the soul of and political rights of ()Jr subjects, to the Waldensian people. He was attem schools and Universities and to affectionally known as the ;ereatest earn acadElllic degrees. However, there is benefactor of the Waldensians." DO change as for the exercize of their worship 3§lr in the schools that they Colonel Beckwith hed the IIle8DIl to help direct.: with many works of charity. particularly 8IDOll!i the Waldensians. but also 8mOll!i the Although this last sentence was not Catholic inhabitants of the valleys. Be encouraging, the Waldensians understood called upon their kill!i, the kill!i of Sard­ that the Edict was nevertheless a great inia (called 9OIIIet1mes SavoY), lIIId he was victory for thElll. influential in helpi'¥; brill!i about their emancipation in 1848. In the night, Bert (chapelain at the Protestant Embassies in Torino) sent Be took part in the meetill!iS or ~es messengers to carry the happy news of all the pastors of the valleys. On to the two valleys, invitill!i thElll to one occasion, several months before the celebrate with fires of joy. The great events of 1848. he announced to the message, arrived at right in pastors. "Either you will be missionaries the middle of the market (of the or you will be IIlIthiDg.- lbis becae a followill!i day), spread like fire on DIOt to aod an ideal to the Waldensian a line of gunpowder up to the h1g~ Church, which developed a missionary est cottages. And there was no progr_ throughout 1I:aly. lilw there are delay in seeing these mountaineers many of -]feir churches throughout their gather in the churches. loiIere the country. pastors thanked the All-Powerful. Then they united in patriotic The years frllll the fall of NapoJ.eon to banquets. loiIere the faithful frail tbe emancipation of the Waldensians aod the two religions, fomerly rivals. the Jew in 1848 offered many problems to found th...selves side by side like the Vaudois, who lacked civil and the members of the s_ fllllily. The religious rights. "The kidnapping of priest of Saint-Jean (San Giovanni) Protestsnt children resuaed with vigor. had his bells rung; then he went to Among them were Dalmas children from the banquet, arms hooked with the Villar Pellice and Arnand r Cardon pastor Bonjour. children fr.. Torre Pellice." Young people, and even older people, Bri~ll!i about the PDancipation was DOt overc

so~. In the eveniIll houses were he deputation frOll had _e of its ilha.1nated. and the mountain topa members "arrJ: heartfelt signs of were "rownEd with hundrEda of fires. "ongratulation to the Waldensians on while eehoa of ''Vive" (long live) their re"ent l!IIIan"ipation. "And now and of soIlls went bacl< ani forth aerosa these "-ense streets .mere their from 0fl6 side of the valleys to the naae hal been heard only ae"ompanied with other. 1nault. a eontinual cry JUde itself heard "LoIll live the Waldensian brothersI LoIll In 1898. fifty years after the live the eman<:1pation of the VaudoisI Elnandpatioo. the Waldensian Historieal 5o"iety published its Bulletin completely While passing. hands sear"hed and in "OIIIDBIlOratioo of this most signifieant squeezed eaeh other; more than one of event. An artide by J.J. Parander is these YOU'll people with a wam and basEd 00 his own parti"ipation in the generous heart threw themselves from glorious days of February 1848. the lines and ran to embrace these grave lIlOUI1ta1neers ....,. astonished He tells of the joy that was felt ani over"..... rould only weep. JUt throughout the valleys when the ...., ean deseribe the l!IIIOtion 'foid"h Elnandpatioo was signEd and of pla"ards took possessioo of thea 'When they posted in the dty of Torino telling arrived on the square of the Castle people of the "omiqg "elebration. on this square "elebrated by the martyr of so many of their brothers On Saturday. 26 February. great "rows of they heard. fraa the "enter of this Waldensians from the valleys eaDe do"", to 1Dmense multitude >ih1eh surrounded Turin to take part in the festivities of thl!lll. insteal of the aocient cry: that and the following day. "The 'Death to the WaldensiansI Death to Waldensians didn't WBIlt to miss the eall the heretiesI' riIll out. issued from in spite of "ertain threateniqgs fran thousands of mouths. and with their enemies; in spite of the rumor that demonstrations of the most "ordial hal spreal through the valleys that the sympathy. this cry so sweet to their population of the Waldensian towns had hearts: "Long live the Vaudois been invitEd to the "apital so their brothersI Long live 4'1'e l!IIIaneipati<>n throats rould be more eaSily "ut. The of the Waldensia118." "rue! treaehery of other days justifiEd this mistruat and a "ertain instioctive When the Fmancipation of 1848 took pl..,e. fear of some persons. quite a n1Dber of Waldensians were al­ ready in emaer"e. industry and in the A "OIIIIIlittee of the people of Turin liberal professiol18 ani liviIll in Torino. was "bargEd to re"eive ani lodge the under the prote"tion of the Russian best it "ould the mmerous visitors. Ambassador. Beginning in that year. • .A great parale was preparEd with others went out into the rest of Italy representatives from all the pro­ >ihere they made knololIl the willingness to vioces of Piedmont:Sardiniana. Ligu­ work bard. and their righteousness. rians. people from Ni"e. and Savoy. honesty. and intelligence. wh1dl for a long time they had to keep hidden. One of Fate de<:1dEd the plaee of eaeh troup their own benefa"tors was Joseph or in the parade. but by an exquisite Giuseppe Malan. banker at Torino • ...., loBS show of good will. the "CIIIIlittee. ele"tEd as a Deputy to Parlillllent from presided by the noble Marquis 1850 to 1860 and tlIo loBS able to proteet d'Azegllo. deddEd by aed.....tion the eause of the Wsldensia118 when that that the Waldensians would mar"h in body reformed the penal "ode as it 44 front of the "orporatiol18 of the pertsinEd to notH:atholies. eapital: "They have been the last 10Ill eIIOIlgh ...y they be the first JUt most of the Waldensians were not 80 for oacel" fortunate. Several years of poor _ther 529/Law 8 for raisiqJ crops, a s1ckneas in the used to buy wool and hemp to furnish work grapes and potato plants, and poor grain to 80IIle of the _en. Part was used to I harvests caused an econca1c depressioo. in pay for wemen to spin and weave this wool the Piedmont area. Many ....ll family and hemp. There were also projects of fanu lacked fertility. People could DOW fabr1catiqJ coarse cloth. Made in hemes. move outside of the old restrictive thia cloth was very strong SlId in demsnd boUDdaries to the r1dt plain below, but at Geneva. that required money, mich .... not easy to obtsin. To this wem added plag.- of In 1854 a girls' orphanage ""lfti fowded cholera 1854-1856 the devastating Crimean and a school for poor children. war in the Ukraine, with Russian troopa pitted against those from Turkey, Let's look at the life cycle of the England, France and Piedillont. Waldensians in the last century. Births were attended often only by the Information in the correspondence of the grandmother of the baby. or another wcman pastor Giorgio Appia to his mother in experienced as a Drldwife. After the those difficult years, helps us to baptillll of a baby, there was nonnally a UDderstand how distresslqJ the situation dinner offered to friends SlId relatives was in the greater psrt of the Waldensian at the parents' hOBle, often "zllrsing valleys: financial hardship to the parents.

Many people fast a good part of the A yoUqJ man often made small objects of day. •• in one fIDily four persons wood with great SlId loving care for the were seen dividing an egg among girl who hal premised to beccme his wife. themselves ••• in another four At the actual engagement he gave her persons sleep in the same bed. made presents such as a slJMdle for spinn1~ of beech tree leaves. Else""ere the or a small silk shawl. only food is a kind of bread made frem the rEIIl8illll of nuts after the At the time of marriage the church oil is extracted. At La Tour (Torre offered the couple a family Bible. There Pellice) there is a f_ily whose would then be a dinner at the h

This author tells of some itema in the Clothes were made by mothers of families haDe that Reverend Gilly did not naoe in or by tailors, mos tly wcmen, found in his account: a bread kneading area, a esch town. Many fathers did their best sieve, a stove-when the fireplace did to make wooden shoes for the winter. with not warm the house enough - chairs and the soles of willow. birch or walnut. stools, and places to keep flour and These rendered precious service. Those salt. "The stable consists of a single who could afford it invited the shoElllaker spacious roCIII because it is the roCIII of the village or town to CaDe to their given to CO"'ll, sheep, and pigs, and must home and make shoes for the whole family. also contain the ares for hay storage, lie would eat his noon meal with the piled in a corner, opposite the family's family and would be paid when he ares. It has almost always a side toward finished. Usually only the children of the mountain COIIIpIetely under the esrth; larger families, or the poorest. went the walls are thick, with the door and barefoot. Professor Pons added that he window not very large: all for rElllElllbers well that in a case verified at protection against the rigors of winter the beginniqJ of this century the sons of and to avoid ~7much as possible the a shoElllaker were the ~y children in the escape of heat." The smaller an:Imals town to go barefooted. were placed in pens with the cattle beyom thElll in the far em of the stable, The Waldensian parish registers tell of where families l;8ved in the winter with children who died fraa falling over their livestock. , cliffs. of men who fell frCIII ladders or trees. of drowniqJs in streams. and of The SIIIIIIIer homes high in the mountains avalanches that destroyed several hCIIIes were s:lmilar in construction but much and killed the inhabitants. Deaths frca smaller and the furniture was reduced to cholera of mmerous young children and of the most essential and was very rustic. many wanen following childbirth are also It is not surprising that foreign recorded. Death records of 300 married visij:ors in the last century were g~ten men and wallen in the 1850s show that very poorly :Impressed by them. A seventeen husbands and fifty wives (one Scottish minister in 1854 ~led thElll out of every six) died during or before more like stables than houses. their fortieth year.

A current appraisal of the beds of the Even today some families go up in the last century in the Waldensian Valleys 1IIO\D1tains in the s\lDlDer with their flocks states, "The beds were made of wood, very and herds. The pastors of the mountain siJapIy made, because they were usually parishes go up to 7Jisit thElll am hold made by the head of the f ....ily. But in services with thElll. That this was the the winter homes they were romally ~e case in 1824 is also told by Reverend by the cabinet maker of the village." Gilly. lie tells of their meetings in natural ....phitheatres. shaded frail t?~ Baths were rot frequent in the last cen­ rays of the sun, and on the green turf. tury. They were received bY persons sur­ prised by rainstorms when far from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 529/Law 12

Saints sent missionaries to Italy in Woodward of the. London Conference in Aug1.et 1850. They were Apostle Lorenzo England be Bent to join them, and Snow, J.B.H. Stenhouse, and Joseph eventually Joseph Toronto returned from Toronto, natives respectively of the Sicily. United States, .Scotland, and Italy. Elder Toronto was ill and allowed to We quote frClll the life BtOry of Madeleine return to visit his relatives in Sicily Malan Farley: and build up his health, leaving Apostle Snow and Elder Stenhouse in Genoa. Ours waB the first family that Finding that the CatholicB there did not joine! the Church of JeBus Christ of krow the Bible am were not intereBte! in Latter-day SaintB in Italy. Our their mesBage. they went to the Walden­ father Daniel Kalan met Elder Jabez sian pariBhes, where people were well Woodward at la Tour (Torre Pellice) acquainted with the Bible and BOIIIe wuld in January 1851 and invite! him liBten to them. It is intereBti"il to home. 1.'hen sent invitations to our note that two yearB and nine months village neighbors to C

Doctor RichardB quoted the following from We left our native village in a Latter-day Saints publicatioo of the February 1855 and travelled in time: "There is an English gentleman, a coacheB fran La Tour to Pinerolo • retired colonel, whose name has an almoBt Fran this city to Turin, the capital magical effect upon the ProteBtantB,­ of Piedmont, to the town of Suza by whose name Elder Snow has not Been fit to railway. Then up the Bteep Mont divulge; but he is known in the modern Cenis in a large padded coach placed hiBtory of this people as 'Bienfaiteur 011 BIeda drawn by Bixteen enonmualy deB VaudoiB' (Benefactor of the large government muleB, the way WaldenBeB). It appearB that Brigham bei"il cWred with perpetual BIlOW Young, as governor of Utah, had given and ice. ApoBtle Snow a letter of recoomematioo, _ and that with thiB letter the latter They reached the SUDlDit and after a reBt procure! a cheerful introductioo to this Btop proceeded, arrivi'1l on the other EngliBh colonel, which reBulted in Bide at about midnight. The coacheB were Beveral intereBti"il intervie.... ~ one of taken off fran the sledB and continued on theBe occasions the colonel said. 'You to Lyon, France. Fran there they went to Bhall receive no oppoBitioo on my part; Paris by raU aDd thence to Calais. where and if you preach the GoBpel as faith­ they boarded a Bteamer to London. "1.'hen fully to all, in these valleys as to me, again by rail to Liverpool remaining you need fear.- IIO reproach in the day of there about three weeks waiting for the judgement.' ,,/0 Bhip Juventa, which Bailed about the firBt of April with 573 BaintB on board You will remember our mention of thiB in charge of Elder Ia. Glover and arrived outBtanding man, Colonel and later at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania the 6th of General Olarles Becblith. May. Fran there they went to PittBbutgh, then on steamboat down the

"The Minister wrote without delay a In 1893 a group emigrated to North letter to the Chief of Police at Ia Carolina and called their 'lftllony norida, don Giovanni Caravia, and "Valdese" (Italian for Waldensian). d1a1ssed Mr. Pendleton, reassuring h1JII of the statua of his proteges. In the 1890s another, larger wave of In fact, when Baridon em:lgration frca the Waldensian Valleys to presented h1JIIaelf at the Office of Utah occurred. Relatives of the earlier the Police, the next day, which was em:lgranta chose the DlOtmtain valleys of the day 1itIich had been set, he was Utah and the COIIlpsny of their countrymen 529/Law 15

88 they relocatsl m 1mprave their lot. the:> there have bee:>- additional bishops, A nUlllber of these became IIIl!IIIbers of the stake presidents, patriarchs, mission Latter-day Saint Church, and others presidents aDd other church officers, as affiliated with the Presbyterian OIurch well as university professors, attorneys, 10 the Ogde:> ares. Scme of these caae and prOlllinent busine,~en who bear directly frOlll the Piedmont region and Waldenaian family names. others frOD the Waldensian colony in Valdese, North Carolina. Their 8Ul"IIBIIles "When President Lorenzo Snow first include Avondet, Balmas, Bert1o, Beux. visited the Vaudois valleys he Bouchard, Clapier, COIIIbe. Long, Martinat, encountered one of their hymna which Pons, Prochet, Reynaud, RicT' Rivoire, forceably :Impressed h:Im with the aptness Robert, Soulier, and Vincon. m the circlDstances of both the Vaudois and the ~rmon pioneers 10 their mountain In the second half of the nineteenth hlllle1aDds. lie translated the words into century Torre Pellice became an English and upon his return to Utah industrial city, and the University % hUllllled the tUlle m Evan Stephens who Luserna and San Giovanni IoiBS founded. arranged the music," as it is known 10 The Waldensiana have given to their the Latter-day Saint Church. we quote country a .mole army of school teachers the first verse as it IoiBS COIIIpoaed by the and not a few university professors, many Vaudois poetess, Felicia Bemana, and soldiers in wars, three Waldensian translated by President Snow: delegat"§l m the legislature, and one senator. For the stre~th of the hills we bless Thee, In 1948, less than one half of the Our God, our father's God. Waldenaian Church mElllbers and le8B than a Thou has made Thy childre:> mighty third of their pastors lived in the By the much of the mounta1o original parishes of the valleys. They sod. were throughout Italy and in several Thou has fixed our ark of refuge other countries. There were Waldenaian Where the spoiler's foot ne'er churches 10 Marseilles, Paris, Geneva, trod. London, New York, etc•.with a whole For the strength of the hUla we· string of thEIII 10 Uruguay and Argentina. bless Thee, 94 In New York City there was a true Our God, our father's God. Waldenaian OIurch with a psstor £r0lll the valleys as a rffult of the Vaudois If we bear 10 mind the Waldensians who EIIIigration there. remained in Germany and elsewhere followi~ the forcsl exits of 1686, 1698 Tho!.J8b the number of Waldenaian converts and 1730, and the large QUlllbers of thEIII to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter­ named in the records of Switzerland, day Sa10ts IoiBS not large, they and their France and other countriea of Europe, one descendants have made significant contri­ can well imagine that there are now butions m the OIurch. In 1960 Archibald hundreds of thousands of Waldensian F. Bennett wrote a paper entitled, "The descendants in Europe and in the Vaudois of the Alpine Valleys and their , lIl8I1y of lot1aa are no longer Contr:lbutioo to Utah and Latter-day Saint aware of their herit.. If they know it History." lie listed a IlIJIlber of members and are 80 incl1oed, they can rejoice 10 of Waldenaim descent the:> 10 positions counti~ the early God-fearing Vaudois of responsibility 10 the OIurch. Since aIIOlI8 their ancestors. 529/Law 16

(The word 1lulletin refers to Le Bulletin de la Societe d' Histoire Vaudoise and since 1934 to the BoUettino deUa Societa di Storia Valdese.) 1 SaIIluel !burs, Le r.rotestantisme en France au se1zieme sieele (paris: Librsirie protestant, 1959), p. 1 • 2 See Alexis !iJston, L'Israel des Alpes, 4 vola. (Paris, fucloux, 1851). 3 Jean Jalla, Histoire des Vaudois des Alpes et de leurs Colonies, 4th ed. (Torre Pellice: Libreria Editrice "Bottega Della Carta", 1934), p. 118. 4 Ibid, p. 106; C.H. Stro~, A Brief Sketch of the Waldenses (Lawrence, KIm., 1893), p. 47.

5Alexandre Vinay, "Liste des Vaudois exUes en 1698 et 1699," in 1lul1etin, 10:21-75; Jalla, Histoire des Vaudois pp. 278-79.

6Alexandre Vinay, "Begistre de l'ancienne Eglise Evangelique Vaudoise de Mentoules en Val ClU800 de juin 1629 a Octobre 1685," in Bulletin 22:51-292.

7Jal1a, Histoire des Vaudois p. 238. 8 Ibid., pp. 237-38.

9Ibid., p. 249; Teofilo G. Pons, Vita Kontanara e Folklore neUe Valli valdesi (Torino: Claudiana Editrice, 1978), p. 11.

l°David Jahier, "01arles Albert et les Vaudois avant 1848," in 1lul1etin 15:2. 11 . . in Willillll Stephen Gilly, Narrative of an Excursion to the !buntaina of Piemont! the ear MDCCCXXIII and researches amon the Vaudois or Wa1denses rotestant inhabitants of the (London: Printed for C. and J. R1vi~ton, 1 2 ! p. 132. 12 ibid., p. 147.

13Teofilo Pons, Cento ann! fa aUe Valli. I1 problema dell'emigrazione (Torre Pellice: Societa di Studi Valdesi, 1948), p. 3.

14Ibid• 15 Teofilo G. Pons. Vita !bntanara, p. 117. 16 Ibid. p. 122. 17 Ibid., p. 124.

lll.reofilo G. Pons, letters of 31 January and 4 March 1980.

19Gilly, Excursion to the Piedmont p. 119-20. 20 Pons, Vita Montanars, p. 147; his letter of 31 January 1980. 529/Iaw 17

21 Pons, letters of 31 Jsnuary and 4 March 1980. 22 PolIS, Vita Montsnara p. 158.

23Pons, letters cited; Oavaldo Coisson, letter 25 February 1980. 24 David Jahier, "Charles Albert et les Vsndo1s," pp. 18-19. 25 Gilly, Excursion to the Piedmont pp. 198-99. 26 1beophile J. PolIS, "Pastori sUe Valli Valdesi dal 1692 a1 1854," in Bulletin, 88: 283-324.

27A. Ribet, "Cento snni di Vita religiosa ed ecclesiastica," in Bulletin 89: 16. 28 William Meille, 11 Riaveglio del 1825 nelle Valli Valdesi (Torino: Editrice C1audiana, 1978), p. 22.

29Ibid., pp. 22-23. 30 Ibid., pp. 56-57. 31 Giorgio Tourn, I Valdesi, (Torino: Editrice Claudiana, 1977), p. 170.

32 Ibid•

33Luigi Micol, "I Valdesi e gli Iatituti di Iatruzioni," in Bulletin 89, p. 27. 34 Ibid., p. 170.

35David Jahier, "Per una nuove Biografia del General Carlo Beckwith," in Bulletin 88, p. 84.

361beophile J. Pona, "Actes des Synodea des F€l1ses Vaudoiaea, 1692-1854," in Bulletin 88, p. 248. 37 Tourn, I Valdesi p. 129 38 Jesn Jalla, Hiatoiredes Vaudois pp. 266-67.

-39Ibid • pp. 269-70. 40 Ibid., pp. 270 and 272.

41J .J. Parander, "La Fete du 17 Fevrier," in Bulletin 15, p. 65. 42 Ibid. pp. 65-66. 43 Ibid. pp. 65-66.

44Auguato Armand-Hugon, "I Valdesi in Italia da1 1848 al 1948," in Bulletin, 89:11; G. Meille, "Cinquant'snni di Vita civile," in Bulletin 15:127.

45Teofilo Pons, Cento snni fa, p. 4. 529/Law 18

47pons , Vita IIIOntanara, p. 33. 48 Ibid., p. 34.

49Ibid., p. 60. 50 Ibid., p. 64.

51 Ibid •

52Ibid • p. 65.

53Ibid., 54 Ibid., p. 40. 55 Ibid. p. 68. 56 Ibid., p. 70.

57 Ibid., pp. 70-71.

saSee note 33.

59GUly, Excursion to the Piedmont pp. U9-30.

6OMiCol, "I Valdes1 egli Instituti di Istruzioni," pp. 29. 61 Pons, letter of 31 January 1980. 62 . Gilly, Excursion to the Piedmont pp. 129 and 131-

63Ibid., p. U9. 64 Pons, Vita IIIOntansra, p. 150.

65Ibid " p. 151. 66 Ibid •. , pp. 151-152.

67Ibid., p. 155. 68 CoisSClD, letter cited. 69 Pons, Vita IIIOntansra, p. 156. 70 Pons, Cento amd fa, p. 2. 71 Poaa, letter of 31 January 1980.

72Ibid•

73Coiason, letter cited. S29/Law 19

74 Gilly, Excursion to the Piedloo~, p. 125.

75nam.el B. Richards, The Scriptural Allegory, (Salt Lake City: Magazine Printina Co., 1931), pp. 63-65; aicrofU. ar. III 4140 in L.n.S. Church Historical Department. The suraaae Gay, apparently written with an open ~ _s interpreted _ a~, renderina the typescript with the naae ~ iDcorrect.

76Richards, Scriptural Allegory, p. 28.

77Madeleine Kalan Farley's life story, "Genealogical Olarts and Biographical Sketches of M...bers of the Latter-day Saint Church, Ogden Stake, Vol. 15, Ogden Seventh Ward, F.K. (In SLC Geneslogicsl Library).

78Ibid• 79 Richards, Scriptural Allegory pp. 297-308. 80 T(eofilo) G. Pons, "Jean Piene Baridon, ... pionnier de notre "'!gration," in Bulletin 96, p. 23, and his letters cited. 81 Ernesto Tron, "I Valdesi nella regione Rioplatense," in Bulletin 89:46.

82pons , "Jean Pierre Bsridon," p. 38.

83Ibid., p. 40. 84 Ibid.,p. 42.

85Ibid., 86 Ibid., p. 43.

87Teofilo Gay, "Notes ·historiques ecrites il y a 50 ana par Jean Francois Gay, pasteur a Villar Pellice," in Bulletin 25:14.

88See George B. Watts, The Waldenses in the New World of Waldensians in North CaroliDs, (I>urtu-, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1941

89Ibid • Marriner cardon, "The Relationship of the Waldensian People to the L.n. S. Church," (typescript of August, 1978), p. 8. 90 Arnoldi Pittavino, Storia di Pinero10 e di Pinerolese (Milano: Bramante Editrice, 1963), p. 389. 91 Augusto Araand-Hugon, "I Valdesi in Italia dal 1848 al 1948," p. 11.

92 See note 44.

93cardon, "Relationship of Waldensiana to Latter-day Saint (llUrch; p. 8.

94Marriner Cardon, "Children of the Valleys; (typescript of the sound track on an S- doc\Dl!Dtary motion picture made and narrated by Marriner Cardon and Stephan Cardon for presentation at the Louis Paul Cardon fally reunion, 25 Nov..ber 1977). pp. 13­ 14. lie quotes all six verses of the original translated version of this hymn. FAMILY LIFE IN ITALY: PAST AND PRESEIl'l'

LeolUll'd W. Moss

Born in Michig8ll. Resides in Oak Park, Michig8ll. Professor of 8Ilthropology, Wayne State University. Ph.D., University of Michig8ll, Author, lecturer.

The very nature of our discipline leads ethnographers to record the details of toward generalization. It is to be ooped the little people. that extensions of our data are neither facilely nor simplistically drawn. Even where records exist, it is difficult Students of introductory theory are to reconstruct history-along with its cautioned against breathing life into nuances and past meaning_to achieve a their models. Warnings are issued in our signific8llt view of events long gone. courses on quantitative techniques The nature of the traditional against confusing averages with family--undocumented until the early realities. Perhaps such warni~s need years of this century--remained elusive, not be posted for the journeymen of the at best, to nearly the present. craft. However, it is beat to err on the side of the angels and remind ourselves Fran the period of the unification until of possible distortions of reality. the end of the nineteenth century, the population of --il The title "Italy" is, in itself, a Mezzogiorno--accelerated. Numerous reaffirmation of the problem. Which social problema--absentee land ownership, Italy? North, central, south, and illiteracy, poverty, and disease--plagued differ markedly one fran the rural and urban residents of the another. The geographic national entity former Spanish domain. Northern we call Italy has been with us for little intellectuals, their consciences pricked more than a century. The experiential by the squalid conditiona, turned their gaps between the various regions reveal attentions to the preVailing situation. dissimilarities in history, language, Parliamentary inquiries (Franchetti and economic factors, and sociocultural ) and other studies (Giolitti, characteristics. Within a region and Villari, Corbino, Luzzatti, and others) even within a town, grosa differences may ill\lllinated the depths of the southern be found. Under such circumstances, question. D'Azeglio, the state8lll8Il, felt general statements are fraught with the problems to be insoluble and peril. suggested that the south ought be cast loose. lie argued thst even the best cook On!Y in recent years has a aufficient will never make a good dish from a body of literature been accunulated to stinking piece of meat. Only the safety il1\111inate the varying conditions of the valve of enigration prevented the rupture family in Italy. For the most part, of southern society. historians tended to ignore such mund8lle social units as village, farm, factory, and family. By their very nature, These investigations and inquiries form a chroniclers of history were DIOst often solid core of evidence regarding the products of a bourgeois environment. social conditions under which the family Urban, urbane, and elite, they focused operated. The writings of Alexandre their studies on the great leaders and Dumas the Elder and Giovsnni Verga, to the important events. There were no name but two men of letters, provided us 527/MDss 2 with a thinly fictionalized body of National Archives in Rcme is the central materials. The novelist, liIo is after depository for all govel"llllental bureaus all an ethnographer who !

Gypsies (xsnam1k) • Tlx>ugh hundreds of a plot OIl the part of the fEmales to Italians have been quizzed, no lIlIIle for encourage males to think that they run this unit is forthcaning. Being fr(lll the show ani to assume the trappings of Missouri, I raised a hypothetical ques­ the "big man." In reality, it is MsDma tion: Might it be possible for one of who wields considerable clout in running these 1d.n to borrow lIIOlley £roo the other the flllllly. For centuries the male has member unit without paying interest? The been defined as the legal authority answers allayed any lingering doubts in figure. Yet the breadwinner was gone for my mind. Though lip service is paid to many oours each day. The mother, who had the existence of such a tie, there is no little authority but much power, made the functioning reality to such a grouping. working decisions. She meted out punishment to the children ani SWllllped There is agreEment in the literature that thEm with her love. the structure of famlly is best described as pyramidal. The oldest surviving male The prestige of the male is derived, in in both the larger famiglis ani in the part, from his role as breadwinner, but nucleus occupies the position of ~ this is not simply an economic (head) and holds a mod1cun of authorItY phe_enon. Though the ~ may be too (legitim,ate power) by virtue of his old to work, he is accorded rispetto, his prestige position. The Italian census advice is sought, ani is treated as well further reinforces this definition in as c1rcUllStanees allow. The dall1nant that the oldest male, even one wOO has traditions of the culture tend to be not reached the age of majority, is supportive of the male role; hence, the listed as head of family. An male exhibits a greater degree of unsophisticated analysis might lead one traditionalism than the fEmale. In any to think of the famlly as constituting a event, though the advice of the father is rigid patriarchate. It is father­ sought before children engage in new daninated, but mother-centered. In a undertakings, it is mother who blesses land Viere a strict division of labor their new steps. based 00 sex is maintained by tradition, it is anticipated that a double standard The wclear family rEmains the stage upon of morality would exist. Up to the last which life's dramas are played dally. decade, this was indeed the case. There is general agreement that the core IIowever, it does not follow that sex values are to be seen in the interaction roles are simply and neatly defined. of husband-wife-resident children. Though she wields power, the mother is subservient and submissive in ,the Different behavioral patterns and presence of the daninant husband. Yet, differing degrees of prestige accrue to the mother-son relationship, as the the varying roles of wanen. The nubile psychologist Parsons noted, "makes for an (unwed) fEmale is looked 00 as an evll unbroken continuity of the primary tEmptress. She is at once an family" (Parsons 1960:59). "The themes Empty-headed but conniving vixen. The of love, devotion, service, and married mother, oowever, is set upon a sacrifice. • have produced the pedestal and shares in the mana of the classic mother-martyr: (Cronin:77). The Mother of God. The postmenopausal Jewish mother syndrane is clearly not grandmother can tell earthy stories and limited to Jews. swear like a trooper. Basic value themes are resounded in the The male in this father-d(lll1nated society famlly over the generations. On a dally is surrounded by all the prerequisites of basis, there may be specific targets­ rank, that is being maschio (masculine). concrete ani verifiable objectives--which It has been argued that the male in both include such needs as ...ployment oppor­ Italian and Spanish cultures basks in the tunities, better roads, ani water supply. glory of machi.->. This, oowever, lISy be K:>re distant gnals Emerge as ainant 527/MDss 8 norms or, more precisely, ss the core actually predates the medieval period and values of the people. Though the finds its roots in imperial Rcme. This emphasis and priorities assigned to these intricate network of "you scratch my back values may differ based upon one's and I'U scratch your back" gives a sense political orientation, Feliks Gross found of solidity and continuity to the life of that the peasants' ideologies all the village. In a bureaucratized world, contained the same cOlllllQ1 values: work, the peasant has learned to treat govern­ political freedom and freedom of ment and church with a feeling of movement, public order, justice , sfiducia (mistrust). Where centralized equitable distributive order, dignity, power is distant and the autorita (power­ and respect (Gross 1973). holders) unfeeling, the raccOlllllllndazione (reconmendation) of the powerbrokers is In her study of family, an essential tool to shortcircuit the Cronin identifies the criticsl values of bureaucracy for the welfare of the this unit ss: family. (Lopreato 1967.)

1. the DllClear faily must operate ss an In recent decades, Italian society has integrated unity; been subjected to increased pressures for sociocultural chqe. As a member of the 2. the ••• faily must get ahead and European Econanic CooIIIunity, Italy has if necessary it must advance itself undergone the same social forces ss SaDe at the expense of other nuclear of the more recent industrializing families; natioD8. Prior to World War II, its labor force remained heavily in the rural 3. the husband must earn enough to agricultural- sphere. Even today, Italy maintain his faily; maintains a large segment of its working population in agriculture (circa 21%). 4. legal, moral, and social obligations Land refoIm, the deliberate introduction must be met-visits must be made, of technologicsl innovations, mechaniza­ bills must be paid, doctors and tion, and attempts at creating new fOIms lawyers must be seen, children must of social organization have all exerted be cared for, and daily emergencies pressures on the countryside. Demo­ must be delt with (Cronin:69) • graphic expansion, without an increase in local economic opportunity, forced There is a firm feeling of dovere emigration to the cities and abroad. (obligation) rather than cooperation Yet, the strength of the faily per­ (defined ss voluntary action conducted sisted. Many villages survive today only outside the famUy) which pervades the because of the remittances fraD husbands social scene. di fsmiglia (faily and sons working in the north and else­ honor) is the treasure of rich and poor where in Europe. With the decline of alike. The maintenance of mnor and la ecoDaDic activity in Europe, there has bella figura (face) by the avoidance or been a return migration in the past few vergogna (shame) underly the public years. For the first time in this actions of the members of the faUy. century, we are witnessing more popu­ One struggles to retain a sense of lation flowing into rather than out of civilta (civility) and gentilezza Italy. (gentility) in a hard, cruel world. One holds rispetto for others and demands it New ideas are being introduced into the for oneself. (Silverman 1975.) villages by the men who have worked in the cities. Migration is but ooe of the Tb:>ugh outside the realm of faUy, the factors influencing change. CaDpulsory ties of patronaggio-clientelaggio military service likewise exposes the (patron-client relations) add another rural males to a new milieu. The d:llllension of 80Cial intercourse. This isolated village, if it ever existed, is pattem, 80 feudal in its orientation, a thing of the past. Coamunications 5271!'Dss 9 media (radio, television, movies, and agricultural labor unions have made newspapera, and manifestos of the inroads into the southern hinterland. government and political partiea) all Only recently have voluntary associations aerve to bring the world to the village begun to have an impact in thia area. doorstep. Canpulsary education has made nte new technologies and consumer goods a literate population IIIOre receptive to which seemed so inaccessible to the change. The horizons of the villagers peasantry can now be obtained in the have been expanded far beyond the provincial capital. Upim and standa, boundaries which formerly defined their functioning like K~rt and Iloolworths, world. In many ways the village has serve to bring the market closer to the always been a microcosm of the total peasant. society. Given the social structure, villagers have been presocialized to an Though formally organized activities have urban way of life. Today, urban values been introduced at the village level, and desires are making inroads on the much of the recreation indulged in by the rural hierarchy of beliefs. Perhaps only - peasant is centered around family: the desire far agricultural land remains reunions, weddings, baptisms, and a high priority rural objective. festivals. For the male, hia dOllla1n is the poazza (town square) and the bar• The inclusioo of urban values has tempted His games of scopa (a card game) at the many a rural dweller to go mere the taverna and his politico-philosophical actioo is. In many instances, with the discussions during the passegiata rise of new industries introduced by (evening stroll) reinforce his maleness. govermental plan, a new mode of econanic Married WOlllE!D tend not to participate in behavior does not necessitate a lIIOVe. the p&Sseg!ata and where the younger, Many men, and an increasing number of UIIIlarried girls join the procession, they women, become pendolari (pendulums are always chaperoned. For the women, swinging back and forth fran factory to there are the activities of the church. field). They live on the farm or in the For the young, school activities and the village and journey to the factory each play of peer groups take them outside of day. If the distance is too great, the the family. The impact of the ~ cOlllDutatioo pattern may be restricted to lavoro (after work organizations, a weekends. When migration takes place, retention from the days of fascism) has the pattern differs, depending on the had minimal impact in the rural areas. economic circumstance of the migrant. In the north it is not unusual for an entire It is difficult to obtain statistics on family to engage in migration. The the amount of participatioo in voluntary emigrant fran the south leaves the family associations. Certainly, observation and, if successful, may initiate a chain alone would support the argument that of migration. Very often, the southerner women participate to a greater degree fears that migration is temporary and than men in church-associated retains hia ties to the land. This organizations. There is also some econanic hedge constitutes his cushion evidence to indicate that wanen are more should the new venture fail. Often, too, likely to join voluntary associations this removes IIIOre land from agricultural than are men. Apparently women tend to exploitation. be IIIOre receptive to change. Given the sumberged role of the female in rural The changes of urban industrialization society, perhaps any change is viewed as and rationalized agriculture, which swept progress by the wanen. Conversely and the north earlier in the century, are now cogently, tradition is supportive of the exerting a great impact on the south • dominance of males. Men are less The rugged individualism of the peasant inclined to alter a status quo that is has been a cherished value and often has supportive of their position. worked against finding mutusl solutions to mutual problems. Farming cooperatives Though the family has exhibited a high 527/Moss 10

degree of unity over the centuries, it class and desire to remove this shackle. has not been :lDmune to problems. Hcmes The myriad of problems within the cities, broken by desertion and separation have engendered by vast and unplanned not been rare. For our purposes, population movements, is typified by unfortunately, such statistics are housing shortages, utility breakdowns, difficult to reconstruct. In recent and the general dislocation of years, legalized divorce has threatened individuals and families. Rising rates the sanctity of marriage. Though many of crime and delinquency are symptanatic attenpts were made by the church to block of the breakdown of familial mechanisms such legislation, in the last decade a of control. public referendum effectively established the legality of divorce. The heavy A changing morality, experienced affirmative vote (59%) was viewed by many elsewhere in Western urbanized societies, as a sharp rebuke to the Vatican. A few is exerting itself in Italy. The years later, by the same margin, another expansion of work opportunities for wanen referendUDI laid the foundations for­ in the factories and business ""rld has abortion. Even the legal restrictions taken them out of the fields and the against the sale of contraceptive devices home. The burden of babysitting has have been swept away. fallen on the grandparents.

Modern soci"l problems have impinged on Access to transportation, expanded the solidarity of the traditional family. leisure time, readily available birth Economic instability, in the form of control devicea, and a somewhat more double-digit inflation, has wiped out ample supply of cash have contributed to many gains in the agricultural sector. a mode of -teenager behavior well known to The lack of coherent govenmental policy, the American. in part a product of unstable political coalitions, has wreaked havoc on long A feeling of distrust of govelTllllent and term plans in an agricultural market outside agencies has long permeated the which cannot adjust to weekly or daily attitudes of Italian families. Yet this shifts. An inequitable tax structure has not prevented such agencies from places an inordinate burden on the rural making inroada. During the fascist peasant family. The reduction of the period, govenment and church encouraged agricultural labor force has made demographic expansion by promoting large emigration a logical necessity. However, fllDlilies. Govenmental agencies began to the econanic distress of the cities has intrude on the family. There is ample reduced the peasant illlllligrant to the indication that the family is abdicating status of the sub-proletariat. Poorly its autonomous position by placing educated and lacking the skills demanded increasing reliance on social welfare by contemporary business and industry, agencies. the peasant is inadequately equipped to grope his way. This is occurri~ at the In this most Catholic of countries, the same time that political party activity church occupies a niche that is looked has involved, for the first time, the upon as a "mixed bag" by varying segments rural peasantry as part of the of the population. Though many important functioning electorate. With rising religious minorities exist, this paper expectations and political indoctrina­ must focus on the predominant Roman tion, this segment of society bec(Jlles a Catholic majority. The physical presence potential cadre for revolutionary change. of the Vatican in Italy is only a partial explanation of its influence on the total The social order, so deeply rooted in society. The Christian medieval feudalism, had dominated the is the secular political arm of the village and the city to the present day Church. The weight of the Church is felt (Moss 1974). The peasant and the ""rking in the economic sector, in labor, and _in class now perceive the cramp of social many aspects of the law. This is not to 527/Moss 11 suggest that all of Italian society is and the Coomun1st Party. At a time when church oriented. There remains a outward religious participation seems to traditional pocket of anticlericalism be increasing; i.e•• Sunday and festival among the intellectuals (Mangia-preti • attendance at religious functions is priest eaters). Sizable portions of the apparently on an upsurge, the Canmun1sts population do not attend church have garnered more voting power. Yet, regularly. Since religion is made up there is a residual strength to the largely of traditional rites and Christian Democrats in that they are able festivals, the men are inclined to say to rely upon sane 37% of the electorate that it 18 particularly suited to the in national elections. The increasing weaker members of the family. "Wanen are "hard line" of the Vatican has been long on hair and short on brains" (Silone demonstrated by Paul VI and John 1937:123). It 18 argued that, "Religion Paul II. The "window to change" which is to wanen what salt is to pork; it had been nudged opened by the rough preserves freshness and flavor" (Silone peasant hand of John XXIII has been all 1937:147). A traditional male expression but slammed shut by the silk gloved hands holds: "The wanen and the old folks are of his successors. If, indeed, there has for the church, we look after our awn been a "religious revival" following business." In essence, men are content Vatican II, the stolid resistance to to be in church three times during their change manifested by the present Pope may lives: when they are hatched, matched, have a further impact on the fllllily. and dispatched. Other belief systems are present in the marketplace and can rapidly fill what Though regular attendance at formalized many perceive as a V8CUID. religious functions affecta a minority of the Italian population, the force of The Italian family has fared well in the religion permeates the lifestyle of the process of migration abroad. The society. Many observers have mted the coherence of its structure and the differences between the formalism of the solidity of its values have enabled both official religion and the paganism of the southerners and northerners to adjust to Village and family (Levi 1947; Tentori life in .uerica. This process has not 1975) • The exercise of religion at the been without its problems. A lIIlal1, but level of family is the curious mixture significant, minority abandoned their (syncretic blend) of localism pIllS dogma. Catholicism and sought roots in other Other related contrasta are to be found religious movements (Re 1979). Some few in contemporary Italian life. The abandoned all faitha. The picture in anthropologist Gruber, in his discussion Italy is mt that clear. of a religious festival, cites the important distinction between paese and The tower of strength which had been the campagna (village and countryside). The southern family was a form adapted to the procession of the Madonna which demands of a medieval feudal society. It encompasses village and field is a now faces the task of adjusting to an symbolic attempt to resolve and harmonize urbanizing-industrializing society. The this distinction. "In that time of coherence of village life is being reunion and communion, envies and altered by outmigration and return hostilities, ambivalences and anxieties, migration. The little town 18 no longer born of fam11ial disruption and a self-contained insularity. The peasant unrealized expectations are dissolved as in the city 18 often ill prepared to all join in the procession and grope his way. Handicapped by illiteracy festivities auch it generates" (Gruber and without the techniques of organizing 1979) • voluntary associations, the 1Dm1grant in his own country faces a cruel wrld. Recent political struggles have been Even when accanpanied by his family, they punctuated by attempta to initiate the are reliant on their own resources. "historic compraniae" between the church Economic and political forces have a 12 527/lbss

hunor of the Italian greater impact on the solitary social Perhaps the gallows good stead. Some might units. will hold him in regard the situation as serioua, but disaster. The Italian would Whether the family has the strength to short of a the problen is a disaster, meet the challenge of this different retort that serious. world ia a question I cannot answer. but it is not

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Society. Glencoe: The Banfield, Edward C. 1958. The Moral Basis of a Backward Free Press. Cambridge: Schenlanan. Chapman, Charlotte Gower. 1971. Milocca: A Sicilian Village. in Sicily and Australia. Cronin, Constance. 1970. The Sting of Change: Sicilians in an Italian Village. Gross, Felik.a. 1973. 11 Paese. Values and Social Change New York: New York University Press. Unpublished manus c rip t • Gruber, Jacob W. 1979. La Festa di Madonna di . Philadelphia: Tenple University. G. Einaudi. Levi, Carlo. 1947. Christo si e fermato ad . Torino: Cudahy. 1963. Words Are Stone. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Chandler. Lopreato, Joseph. 1967. Peasants No More. San Francisco: Modem Italy: Topical Moss, Leonard w. 1974. "The Passing of Traditional Society." York: New York Uni­ History. E. R. Tannenbaum and E. P. Noether, eds. New versity Press. Evil ~ss, Leonard W. and Stephen C. Cappannari. 1976. "The Mediterranean."The Eye. C. Maloney, ed. New York.: Golumbia University Preas. Village." American • 1962. "Estate and Class in a South Italian Hill Anthropologiat, 64:287-300. in a South Italian • 1960a. ''Patterns of Kinship, Comparaggio and Coamunity Village." Anthropological Quarterly, 33:24-32. Journal of American • 1960b. "Folklore and Medicine in an Italian Village." Folklore, 73:95-102. Human 1959. "The South Italian Family: Literature and Observation." Organization, 18:35-41. 527/l'It:Jss 13

Parsons, Anne. 1960. Patriarchal and Matriarchal Authority in the Neopolitan Fanily. Unpublished paper delivered at American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis.

Pitre, Giuseppe. 1899. Usi e constumi, credenze e pregiudize del popolo Siciliano. Palermo: Laurill di Clausen.

I'It:Jss, leonard W. and Stephen C. Cappannari. 1976. "The Mediterranean."The Evil ~ C. Maloney, New York: ColtDDbia University Press.

1962. "Estate and Class in a South Italian Hill Village." American Anthropologist, 64:287-300.

1960a. "Patterns of Kinship, Compsraggio and Coamunity in a South I tal ian Village." Anthropological Quarterly, 33:24-32.

1960b. "Folklore and Medicine in an Italian Village." Journal of American Folklore, 73:95-102.

1959. "The South Italian Family: Literature and Observation." HtDDan Organization, 18:35-41.

Parsons, Anne. 1960. Patriarchal and Matriarchal Authority in the Neopolitan Fanily. Unpublished paper delivered at American Anthropological Association, Minneapolis.

Pitre, Giuseppe. 1899. Usi e constumi, credenze e pregiudize del popolo Siciliano. Palermo: Laurill di Clausen.

1910. Porverbi, IOOtti, e scongiuri del popolo Siciliano. Torino: Clausen.

Reber. --· 1913. La faniglia, la cass, la vita del popolo Siciliano. Palermo: 1910. Porverbi, IOOtti, e scongiuri del popolo Siciliano. Torino: Clausen. · 1913. La faniglia, la casa, la vita del popolo Siciliano. Palermo: Reber. Re. Vittorio. 1979. History of the First Presbyterian Church of Detroit. Detroit: Ethnic Studies, Wayne State University.

Silone, Ignazio. 1937. Bread and Wine. New York: Harper.

• 1956. 11 segreto di Luca. Milano: Mondadori.

Silverman, Sydel. 1975. Three Bells of Civilization: The Life of an Italian Hill Town. New York: ColtDDbia University Press.

Tentori, Tullio. 1975. "An Italian Religious Feast: The Fujenti Rites of the Madonna dell'Arco, Naples." Cultures, 3:135-40.

Vailland, Roger. 1958. The Law. New York: Knopf.

Verga, Giovanni. 1943. Tutte Ie Novelle. Milano: Mondadori. 14 527/Moss

• 1950. Mastro Don Gesualdo. Milano: Mondsdori.

1955. The House by the Medlar Tree. New York: D:>ubledsy. Septer•• ber-October 1980 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER, Dedicated to "helping more people find more genealogy" Page 9 Italian Genealogical Record Sources

By Trafford R. Cole, Accredited Genealogist Via Zais 6, 35100 Padova,ltaly Italians, possibly more than any d'Aosta, Lombardia, Trentino-Alto ing out the names and dates that other people, have emigratE(d to all Adige, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia­ are desired. parts of the world, and in partic­ Giulia, Liguria, Emilia·Romagna, Since the vital records in the ular to North and South America. Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio, town archives only date back to This can be easily explained by ex­ Abruzzi, Molise, Campania, Puglia, 1865, the most available source of amining the geographical con­ Basilicata, Calabria, Sicilia, and records prior to this date is the ditions of the country. Italr has a and Sardegna. In turn, each region parish registers. Italy has a very land surface of 300,000 km , about is divided into provinces, for a total strong Catholic tradition, and one thirtieth of that of the United of 95 provinces in Italy. Each pro­ every town and village, no matter States, with a population of over 58 vince then contains many towns how small, has its own church. million inhabitants. Almost two called "comuni" which may in­ The parish priests, ever since the thirds of this land surface is clude several villages called sixteenth century, have been mountainous area, with the "frazioni" under the town's polit­ scrupulously keeping record of Appennine mountains running ical jurisdiction. This political di­ their flock. The records that most north-south, and the Alps in the vision exists since the unification commonly were kept are the bap­ north running east-west. With just of Italy and its beginning as an tismal, marriage and burial re­ a small area suitable for agri­ independent country in 1865. Each cords. Since it is part of the Cath­ culture, and with few natural re­ "comune" keeps its own records olic faith to baptize each infant sources for industry, Italians have and those for the "frazione" under that is born, this register contains been forced to emigrate to more its jurisdiction, and there are no the name and surname of the prosperous countries for more general indexes for the province or child, and of his parents, the date than a century, enhancing these the region; for this reason it is im­ of baptism, the name of the God­ new cultures with their industri­ portant to find out the exact parents, and often the date of ousness and traditions. "comune" from which one's an­ birth. The information given in all The most well known character­ cesters emigrated. Besides the of these records varies greatly lCS of the Italians are their vital records (birth, marriage and with the antiquity of the document ~ng family ties and their senti­ death record~) the town archives and from one region to another. As mental attachment to their home­ also contain other useful records, can be seen, in the recent records land and in particular to their vil­ such as the "certificato di resi­ (19th & 20th century) more com­ lage of origin. Almost everyone in denza" and the "certificato di plete information is supplied in Italy has a brother, cousin, or stata di famiglia". The first docu­ each annotation, giving not only friend who has emigrated, and ment is a record of where each the name of the parents but also many still keep in touch by corres­ family lived in the town, and of any of the parental grandfathers, and pondence. This fact is very import­ changes in residency, including also in this case the family nick­ ant to whoever is about to begin emigration to another town or name, whereas in the older records their Itaiian genealogy, because country. This record may state ex­ the grandparents' names are omit­ the first source of records are actly when one's ancestry emi­ ted, the Godparents are often omit­ those documents, or letters to grated from this town. ted, and often not even the sur­ relatives, or even family stories The first major census in Italy name of the wife is given. Often, about the "homeland", that can was held in 1911, and was made in older marriage records the only trace their ancestor to his original by famiiy unit. Each family was information given is the name and village In Italy. This preliminary re­ listed with the birth and marriage surname of the spouses and the search, particu larly when the town dates of each member of the fam­ date. It was an Italian tradition of origin can be determined, will ily, and the records were after­ that the groom was married in the later. save much time and effort in wards updated with the death or parish of the bride, even if after­ continuing the geneaiogical re­ burial date of each family member. wards they lived in his parish. search in Italy. All of this information may be ob­ When the bride was from another Once one's ancestors have been tained by writing to the "Ufficio di village, therefore, the marriage will traced to Italy, either through their Stato Civile" of the "comune" not appear in the groom's parish family documents or through U.S. requesting "il certificato di stato register. immigration, naturalization or di famiglia originario." In the big­ The death record contains the passport records, the most reward­ ger towns and cities normally it is name, age, and parents' name of ing part of the research can begin. required to state the exact name those buried in the parish ceme­ To better understand how to pro­ and birthdate of the person one tery. Often, in the more antique -'d, it is necessary to understand seeks to obtain any certificate, register, only the name and sur­ political breakdown of the because otherwise it takes too name of the husband is given for country as this influences the much time for them to search for their wives, with no mention of her source of records. the necessary record; however in the parents or of her maiden surname. Italy is divided into twenty re­ smaller towns often the officials This means that at a certain point gions, namely: Piemonte, Valle will help with the research, search- in the records (usually towards the Page 10 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER, Dedicated to "helping more people find more genealogy" September-October 1984

17th century) it becomes difficult lect. The handwriting and the poor Northern Italy because he had blue to trace the female lines unless quality of paper and ink used many eyes," this is not sufficient to blllll their marriage record is found as times render the more ancient reo gin research in Italy, and mar. their surname does not appear on cords all but illegible. Due to this preliminary searching should be any of the other parish records. problem and the scarce infor­ done. There are no records kept on Ancther important parish record mation supplied in these earlier re­ a regional basis. that· can often be found is the cords, research becomes very dif· Before 1865 there are no draft "stato delle anime" or "Status ficult and time consum.ing. records; however, in most pro· Animarum." In many areas of Italy, The civil vital records and the vinces records of those who the priest took a regular survey of parish records are the primary served military service can be all his flock, listing the names of sources of genealogical infor­ found dating back to 1780 circa. all of the people living in each mation but when these records are In some regions like there household, with their parentage not available they can be supple· were many who engaged in mili· and their age. At times other infor· mented or substituted by other re­ tary service and much the same in­ mation was added, like emigration cord sou rces. formation can be gathered for information, or date of death, etc. When Napoleon came to power them, as found on the draft reo This record is similar to the "stato in France, much of Italy was al­ cords. di famiglia" of the civil records, ready under French influence, and The notary records, which in­ and can be very valuable for gene· within a few years he managed to clude wills, land and property alogical research since usually the expand his power to almost all of transactions and dowries for mar­ entire family is listed, and often Italy. One of the many important riges can also become an excel· several generations appear to· innovations which Napoleon initio lent source for genealogical re­ gether. Nevertheless, some ated in Italy was that of civil re­ search. These records, normally caution should be used with this cord keeping. Therefore varying found at the state archive, often record. First of al" it does not list from 1809 to 1812, each town in date back to 1480 or even earlier. those children who were not living Italy began to keep vital records. All prop.erty sales and transactions in the household, that is, who had In the regions that remained under had to be registered by law by a died before the survey was made, French influence (most of South­ notary. Each notary then main­ or who had moved away from ern and Central Italy) this practice tained a record of the transaction, home. Also, as is often the case, was continued up to the unifica­ and a copy of the same was re­ the ages listed were not always tion of Italy. These vital records gistered and filed in the di~ very accurate, as seemingly, some from 1809 to 1865 are not kept in trict notary office. These recordll priests did not have a very good the town archive, but rather in the prior to 1905 have been gathered at eye for judging ages. In the photo· state archive in each province. In the state archive where they are graph of this record, two gener­ much of Northern Italy these re­ catalogued. The Indexing of these ations of children are shown for cords only date from 1812 to 1817 records reflects the two registra­ one family, with birth dates for all and then were discontinued. The tion procedures; there is a collec­ the children, and marriage and data from these vital records in tion of all the transactions, Wills, death dates for several. many provinces has starte.d to be etc. made by each notary, which The baptismal, marriage and microfilmed by the LDS Church is indexed by the surname of the death records in the parishes can and is available on file. notary, but without an index of the be found as early as 1520, but nor­ If one is unable to trace his an­ contents. A second collection of mally started from 1595 or from cestor to the exact town of origin, the acts is catalogued in the chron­ when the parish was established. but it is known that he was from a ological order of the registration at The Status Animarum records are certain province, it is still possible the district office and includes the of more recent date, the earliest of to find him. In Itaiy, since its uni-I acts registered by all the notaries which the author has found dating fication, there has been a draft ob· in that district (usually from 50 to from 1690. It is obvious that in the ligation for all males. Each young 80), again without an index of con­ course of time many of these reo man at 18 years of age had to tents. This chronological order cords have been lost or destroyed. appear before a council to deter· does not correspond to the date of When one thinks of the fires, mine if he was fit to serve a two the act itself but rather to the floods, invasions and wars that year military service. The name of date it was registered at the dis­ have occurred, it is surprising how the person, his birth date, his par­ trict, with sometimes several years well kept most of these records ents' name and the town of origin difference. are. In almost all cases these re­ were all listed. These lists are in· Since at one time many Italians gisters are still found in the parish dexed by the year of birth of the were property owners of some valu~ble archives of the village or town of drafted. Therefore, if the name and type, it is probable that origin. However, in some cases approximate birth date of one's an­ information can be obtained (Arezzo, Catania, Valdi, Lucerna) cestor is known, his town of origin through the use of these recordS•. these records can be found pre· and other useful information can Also, in some areas It was trad served in the archive of the "Curia be obtained using the draft records tion that a dowry accompanied th Vescovile" for each diocesan. at the state archive. If instead one marriage of a' daughter and at These parish records are normally only knows that his ancestor was limes this consisted of property handwritten in Latin or Italian, donations so some marriage Sicilian, or as one patron wrote ca~ although in some areas like Ven­ me, "He must have been from dates be obtained by this eto they can also be found in dia· means. At the death of the family September·October 1980 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER, Dedicated 10 "helping more people find more genealogy" Page II

ad, legal heredity of the pro­ Iy from one region to another, how­ is the archive of nobility. In Italy, rty was often determined by a ever generally they do not date be­ at one time, there were several ~ will, again registered by the fore 1700. In some areas the par­ thousands of noble or distin­ notary. This often gives the names ish tithing recOfds date much far­ guished families. The history and and family connections for an en­ ther back, even until the early genealogical data of most of these tire generation or more. Therefore 1500's. These records contain the families have already been through the notary ··records, names of the property owners gathered and published, and are deaths, marriages and family (sometimes listing the entire easily obtained. A word of caution, groupings can be obtained, and in family) with a list of all their prop­ however, just because one has the the lack of the primary source of erty and how much they were same surname as a noble family records, these are a valuable sub­ taxed. This type of record is very does not mean that they are from stitute. The difficulty in research­ valuable in those areas where the same branch of the family, or ing these records consists in the there were many small property even distantly related. For ex­ fact that it is necessary to know owners, however in much of South­ ample, one of the most distin­ the name of the notary engaged by ern Italy where large parts of the guished noble families in Italy is the ancestors, or otherwise one land was owned by a few noble the Rossi family from Florence. has to research all the notaries in families, there is little to be However the surname Rossi is a given area in each period of time, gained. diffused in all of Italy, and is one of which is very time consuming. One of the most ancient the most common surnames, and Other records that at times can sources of records is the univer­ in most cases there is absolutely prove useful are probate records, sity records. Italy is privileged to no relationship to the Rossi of records of land disputes, minutes have two of the oldest universities Florence. of city council meetings, and his­ in the world at Pad ova and Bolog­ Italy is a land of history and of torical records. These records may na, both of which date back to the tradition; in each small Village be preserved in the state archive, 1200's: Each university contains a there are centuries of history in the in libraries or in private collections. list of the students who were en­ old stone houses, and cobble­ For example, many noble families rolled, the name of their parents, stone streets. The families in these had political jurisdiction over sev­ their age, and their place of origin. towns have lived there and inter­ eral villages and were the law Since, in earlier years, the univer­ married there for centuries. They akers and judges for that area. sity was restricted to the well-to-do have herded their flocks on the eir acts and judgment are often families, this source of data will mountain slopes and tilled their ~ound in private or civil libraries not be helpful in many researches. fields and grown their grape vines and can offer both historical back­ On the other hand, if it is found and olive trees since the time of ground information and at times that an ancestor attended univer­ Christ and before. This is what genealogical dates and names. sity, this can become a very valu­ genealogical research tries to re­ There are some parchments that able source of information, as it is create, not just names and dates date back to the 11th and 12th cen­ probable that other members of but people and traditions, and to turies. his family will have likewise stu­ do this there are the many record Another useful source of infor­ died. Also, other sources, such as sources than have been stated. mation found at the state archive scientific and literary pUbli­ We hope that you will want to dis­ is the census, and tax records. The cations can be consulted. cover your Itaiian heritage and that dates of these records vary wide- A last important source of data this article may be of help.

The civil vital records (birth, 'certificato di nascita'; marriage, 'certificato di matrimonio'; death, 'certifi­ cato di morte'), and the record of the family, 'certificato di stato di famiglia', that date after 1865, are found in the individual town archives. Extracts of these records may be obtained by writing to the 'Ufficio di Stato Civile' of the town, 'Comune', of origin of your ancestor, using the following sample letter as a guide:

Ufficio di Stato Civile Comunedi . (name of town and province) Egregi signori, scrivo per ottenere i dati relativi al mio antenato nato II a . In particolare desidero I'estratto del'atto di nascita integrale e 10 stato di famiglia. Vi ringrazio anticipatamente per la vostra collaborazione. Distinti saluti, I TRANSLATION Dear Sirs: I am writing to obtain information about my ancestor " .(name) born (date) in . (Place). In particular I would like his brith certificate and his family certificate. Thanking you in advance for your kind consideration. Sincerely, Pag~ 12 THE GENEALOGICAL Helper. Dedicated to "helping more people find more genealogy" Seplember·Oclober 1980

Before 1865 in some regions there are vital records kept at the State Archive and not the town archive, however, normally the easiest and most complete record source before this date is the parish archive. Each parish kept the records of christening, 'battesimo', marriage, 'matrimonio', and death 'morte', for all the members of the parish. The information from these records, at times, may be obtained by writing directly to the parish of the town of origin of your ancestor, using the following sample letter as a guide:

Reverendo Parroco Parrocchia di . (name of town and province) Reverendo parroco, Ie scrivo per ottenere tutli i dati possibili relativi al mio antenato nato (verso) II . a In particolare desidero conoscere la data dl nascita esatta, II nome dei genitori, e la data di matrimonio e morte. La ringrazio molto per la sua cortese collaborazione e allege 10 dollari per coprire Ie spese postali e II suo disturbo. In fede, TRANSLATION Reverend parish priest, I am writing to obtain all the possible information about my ancestor (name) (born) (about) (date) in " ..(place) In particular I would like to know his exact birthdate, the name of his parents, and the date of his marriage and death. I am very thankful for YOIJr kind collabor­ ation and I am enclosing ten dollars for your trouble and to cover postal expenses. Faithfully yours,

Photograph I (Doc. 24) is a copy of a parish christening record of 1813, and since it is of fairly recent date it gives a wealth of information. It states the place, Telvi (a small town in Valsugana in the province of Trento) and the date of christening, 8 August 1813. It also gives the address of the family, house number 110. The name of the baby is given, Prosper Joannes Habacue, with the exact date of birth, at 7 AM on July 25th. The name and surname and place of origin of both parents is given, father - Petro MARCHIORETIO from the town of Lamoni in the diocesan of , mother - Elizabeth FRANCESCHI from Telvi. Also the name of both grandfathers are given and it is indicated that both are deceased, Joannis Maria MARCHIORETIO and Prosperi FRANCESCHI. The name of the priest who baptized the baby is stated, Francisco VINCIGUERRA; and finally the name of and godmother, who held the baby at the holy baptismal font are given: Elias ZANETII and Camilla CIBBINI. Seplember-October 1980 THE GENEALOGICAL HELPER, Dedicated 10 "helping more people find more genealogy" Page 13

Photograph 2 (Doc. 8·25) is a copy of a parish christening record of earlier date, and therefore gives a much scarcer quantity of information. In fact, the only data shown is the date of christening, 10 December 1647, the name of the child, Simeon, the name and surname of the father Tomas TALLAMINI, and the name of the mother Cattarina, and finally the name 9f the godfather Leonardus TALLAMINI:

--_._- ..._-----

Photograph 3 instead is a copy of a 'Stato delle Anime' of the parish of , showing three generations of the same family BALDI. The name and surname of the father is given Giovanni BALDI, Stating his occupation, weaver (tessitore'), and the place and date of birth, 27 December 1816. The same information is given for his wife and for each of their chiidren. Then for Alessandro son of Giovanni, his wife is named and also their children, and the record continues with the names and birthdates of the children of the other sons of Giovanni. As can be seen this is a very useful document. Millions of Italians poured into the United States in search of an economic dream come true. By American standards most never made it. By their own measurements many succeeded admirably. One such individual was Alfred E. D'Amico, barber, politician, unionist, church trustee, tireless civic leader, and history buff. I first met Allie D'Amico, a short, gray-haired, distinguished looking gentleman, when he was in the twilight of his life in Oswego, New York, with his eyesight failing, his circulation troubled by a failing heart. But his spirit was as resolute as on that day some seventy years before when, as a boy of eight in 1B96, he arrived in America via steerage to join his father, a shoemaker whom he had never known. After receiving some minimal schooling he served as a barber's apprentice for three years earning fifty cents (plus any tips he could wrangle from the customers he assisted at the bathing services provided by barbers at that time) for a six and a half day week. When he became a barber at the age of twelve, he was so short that he had to stand on a wooden crate to cut the hair of his customers. In those days, he liked to say, adjustable chairs had not come into use yet. Joining the A.F.L. in 1905, he remained a respected and effective unionist and barber for the next sixty-five years. Yet, he found the time to do much more. When he was fifteen years old he began interpreting for members of the Italian community involved in industrial and railroad accidents and became one of the official interpreters for the Democrat party. He served as a Democrat ward committeeman and tax assessor. Later, he was the first of his nationality to be elected to the county Board of Supervisors. He also held numerous honorary positions such as Commissioner of Health, and Water Board member. One astute observer of life in Oswego described Allie as a political figure "whose counsel was sought and heeded, and whose influence was significant." Allie was a charter member of the Sons of Italy, one of the founders of St. Joseph's, the Italian church, and the first Italian to be admitted to the local Knights of Columbus group (in 19101. The active role he played in these groups as well as in numerous other organizations testified to his genuine concern for the growth and progress of the community in which he lived. It also led people to exaggerate his financial position. In 1912 extortionists demanded he pay $30,000 or suffer the consequences. He was flattered that anyone should think him capable of raising that kind of money, but promptly teamed with the local district attorney and other leading Italians to identify and put to rout the criminals_ Soon thereafter so-called crimes disappeared from the community_ When Allie died in 1971 he left a modest legacy to his survivors: his wife, four sons, a daughter, fifteen grand-children, and a great-grandchild. Two of his children are college educated and all of them are successful and well-thought of. One of his grandchildren is a stock-broker, an occupation that was simply unthinkable to the masses of Italian immigrants in the early 19OOs. Allie would have been especially proud of him. On the occasion of D'Amico's death, Professor C. M. Snyder, author of the best study of Oswego's history, commented publicly: '" cannot recall when I first met him, but it was probably at a social hour following a program at the Historical Society. But I found that his keen memory, his interest in people, his basic optimism and good spirits made him an unusual

THE BALCH INSTITUTE HISTORICAL READING LISTS NO.:12 resuurc~ fur lUCdl nlstury, cl!ILl I c0nsulleu /lIlTl rndny umes tnrougn tne yedrs.... ~\.Inen no one was waiting for the chair in his shop, a hair-cut might stretch into an hour or longer, while by-gone days...came to life... Mr. D'Amico wore many hats, and his shop wasa cross section of Oswego life. Though an ardent union man and an officer in the barber's union, his only label was that of a good citizen. He had a quiet dignity and unshaken fJith in mankind-qualities which he exemplified daily as he made his accustomed rounds. Oswego was a better place for his seventy-six year residence here. We shall miss him." Snyder's remarks echoed the feeiiog of many an Oswegonian including the editorial writer of the local newspaper. Allie never got rich in the classic economic sense. He could have. Other Italians did. One example is that of the padroni who charged or overcharged their countrymen for every little service they provided. Allie could have been a padrone and an especially good one. He preferred not to be. He often helped his countrymen gratis. Maybe he is the kind of person Erik Amfitheatrof had in mind when he concluded in The Children of Columbus: "The Italians who reached the New World, were usually outsiders struggling against great odds, and the best of them were brave, beautiful human beings full of warmth and a large-hearted concern for humanity." In this sense the life of Alfred E. D'Amico was a rich one and so typical of the masses of Italian immigrants who made it in America.

SECONDARY Amfitheatrof, Erik. The Children of Columbus: An Informal History of the Italians in the New World. Boston: Little, Brown, 1973.

Relying heavily on secondary works and checking the latest scholarly research in the field, the author has produced a well-written, popular history which stretches from Columbus to the 1970's. A section on sources and references is included.

Mangione, Jerre. America is Also Italian, New York: Putnam, 1969.

A aisply written brief survey which il sprinkled with anecdotes and personal experiences which focus mainly on the customs and life-stYles of the Italian-American masses. Lacking footnotes, its principal appeal will be to young students, though others may also appreciate the ins~ht and warmth brought to the subject by this well-known Italo-American author.

Marinacci, Barbara. They Came from Italy: The Stories of Famous Italian-Americans. New York: Dodd, 1967.

Using standard secondary sources the author relates the stories of de Tonti, Mazzei, Brumidi, di Cesnola, S1. Cabrini, Toscanini, Giannini, laGuardia, and Fermi. The book is attractiwly set UP. well-written. and contains pictures, bibliography, and a useful index.

Musmanno, Michael A. The Story of the lta'ians in America. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1965.

Reads like a Who's Who of Italians in America lind will appeal mostly to members of that ethnic group.

Pisani. Lawrence F. The Italian in America: A Social Study and History. New York: Exposition Press. 1957.

A useful survey.

Rolle, Andrew. The American Italians: Their History and Culture. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 1972.

This slim volume in the Minorit. in Americln Lif. series is a first-rate narrative, analysis, and interpretation. The author draws from his own researches as well as t~e latest efforts of the sdlolars in the field. Highly recommended as a text.

UNDERGRADUATE Albini, Joseph L. The : Genesis of a Legend. New York: Appleton, 1971.

A Clreful study which includes information obtained from police and . The author concludes that "syndicated crime in the United States has functioned in the same manner irrespective of the social and ethnic beckground or deriwtion of its participants."

Covello, Leonard. The Social Background of the Italo-American School Child: A Study of the Southern Italian Mores and Their Effect on the Schoof Situation in Italy and America. edited and with an introduction by F. Cordasco, Totowa, : Rowman & Littlefield, 1972. Reprint of 1967 edition.

A c"Iassic by "the creator of the community school concept." Valuable for hiSlory and for the lessons it contains for all@61 tll@Dillenhlstorles dealing With i{lil5RS ih me onn;:; States; cohtlriun t6 mer" _1801 ihiRtiSH.

Gambino, Richard. Blood of My Blood, The Dilemma of Italian·American•. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1974.

A personal and provocative interpretation of ltalian·American history with heavy emphasis on Sicilian things and the modern scene.

Green, Rose Basile. The Italian-American Novel: A Document of the Interaction of Two Cultures. Rutherford, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1974.

The author has selected over sixty individuals' autobiographies and novels on the basis of literary quality, aesthetic value, cultural documentation, and thematic variety. For each author, she furnishes biographical information and follows with 8 synopsis, an analvsis, and finaltv an ewluation of the works under consideration. The student, the general reader. and the scholar. will find this first .....te study informative and useful. ianni, Francis A. J. and Elizabeth Reuss-Ianni, A Family Business: Kinship and Social Control in . New York: Russell Sage, 1972.

Done from extensive academic investigation and personal in'lo'OIvement with certain crime families. The authors conclude that Italian-American aime is a family business, not a national conspiracv, Valuable chapters on the history of the Mafia and immigrants in organized et'ime are included. lorizzo, Luciano J. and Salvatore Mandello. The Italian-Americans. New York: Twayne, 1971. Survey which seeks to integrate the story of Italian·Americans with American history. Original research by authors on the padrone system and Italo-American protestants is especially not8VllorthV.

LaGumina, Salvatore J. Vito Marcantonio, The People's Politician. Dubuque, lowa~ Kendall, 1969. A concise, sympathetic portrait whidl relies heavily on the 'Io'OIuminous Marcantonio papers and interviews.

Wop: A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Disaimination in the United States. San Francisco: Quick Fox, 1973.

Despite the gross stereotype on the cover, this is • serious work which traces the roots of such stereotyping in the cartoons, drawings, newspaper artietes, and other written aCOJunts presented.

Lopreato, Joseph. Italian American., New York: Random House, 1970.

An excellent sociologiDilI study whidl summarizes and brings up to date "our knowledge of major aspects of the Italian-Americans' social experiences as they bear on continuing assimiliation," Those parts dealing with the family, education, and the work of others in the field ar. espedaliy commendable.

Moquin, Wayne, (editor) and Charles Van Doren and consulting editor, Francis A, J. Ianni. A Documentary History of the Italian American•. New York: Praeger, 1974.

As much a r.der as it is a volume of documents, the bulk of the book is devoted to patterns of settlement, making a living, the controversy over Italian immigration, and the emergence of the Italian·American. Two sections of photos are not only of high qUl1itV but also are relevent and complementary to the text.

Nelli, Humbert S. The Italian. in Chicago, 1880-1930: A Study in Ethnic Mobility. New York: Oxford University Pre.., 1970.. .

A valuable study done from careful researdl into r.1 estate records, parish documents, and personal interviews and cont.ins manv penetrating insights.

Rolle, Andrew F. The Immigrant Upraised: Italian Adventurers and Coloni.u in an Expanding America. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1968.

The best book on Italians in the West.

Schiavo, Giovanni E. The Italians in America before the Civil War. New York: , 1974. Reprint of 1934 edition; and Italian·American History. Two volumes. New York: Arno, 1974. Reprint of 1947-49 edition.

The earlier 'Io'Olume deals mainly with ltaiian-AmeriCllns and music, and the later one describes their contributions to the Catholic Church, Schiavo wrote other books on Ital'an-American history _His work is uneven in Qualitv, often difficult to u•• llnd filiopietistic in nature. But, it represents a lifetime of toil and thought with which historians must reckon. The bibliographical items alone have placed many researchers in his debt.

Toma.i, F. (editor). The Italian in America: The Progressive View, 1891·1914. New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1972. Center for Migration Studies, 1970.

Widely acclaimed for its diverse, original, and pro\lOC8tive articles. Includes valuable bibliographical material. GRADUATE • American Italian Historical Association. Annual Proceedings. 1968, "Ethnicity in American Political Life, The Italian-American Experience," Salvatore J. LaGumina (editor). 1969, "The Italian American Novel," John M. Cammett (editor). 1970. "An Inquiry into Organized Crime," Luciano J. lorizzo (editor). 1971, "Power and Class: The Italian-American Experience Today," Francis X_ Femminella (editor). 1972, "Italian-American Radicalism: Origins and New World Developments," Rudolph J. Vecoli (editor). 1973, ''The American Churd1 and Italian Mass Immigration to the United States: 1880-19205," Silvana M. Tomasi, C.S. (editor) (in press). 1974, "The Interaction of Italians and Jews in America," Jean Sc:arpaci (editor) (in press).

These proceedings serve as a wluabJe gauge as to what is happening in scholarship in ltalian·American studies. Take, for example, "The Italian-American Novel," subtitled: "The Literary Value and Social Significance of the ltalian­ American Novel:' Rose B. Green spoke on "The Italian·American Novel in the Main Stream of American literature." "The Italian-American Literary Subculture: An Historical and Sociological Analysis," was R. J. Vecoli's topic. "Alienation, The Quest for Identity, and Social Conflict in The Italian-American Novel," was presented by Frank Rosengarten. Scholars and authors followed these talks with a spirited discussion on "The History and the Future (-..1 the Italian-American Novel" which was also printed. Caroli. Betty Boyd, Italian Repatriation from the United States, 1900-1914. New York: Center for Migration Studies, 1973.

This slim volume;s based extensively on Italian IOUrces, especially the reports in the Bolletino deU',migrazione, and intet'"vlews with repatriates whose stories woutd otherwise have been largely unrecorded. It is well-documented, but lamentably lacks an index.

Cordasco, Francesco and Salvatore J. LaGumina, Italians in the United States. A Bibliography of Reports. Texts, Critical Studies .nd R.I.ted Materills. New York: Oriole Editions, 1972.

The best book on the subject:. Only a few items are annotated but the authors have included a foreward anel headnotes to sections that furnish helpful, critical commentary. An index of names is provided.

De Conde, Alexander. Half Bitter, Half Sweet, an Excursion into Italian-American History. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971.

Devoting more attention to relations between the United States and Italy and to the post-1920's than other scholars, De Conde has produced the best overall book on the subject. Omitting the usual documentation with in the narrative, the author has furnished a bibiographical essaY,taken mostly from printed sources, which is the fullest one to yet appear in such a work in English.

Dore, Grazia. La democrazia italiana e I'emigrazione in America. Brescia: Morcelliana, 1964.

PeJceptive account of Italian immigration to the Americas. Scholars will want to take partic... lar note of the 112.page bibliography.

Italy. Commissariato Generate dell'Emigrazione. BoUetino dell'emigrazione. Rome: 1902 to date.

Invaluable reports of Italian-American communities-when they were settled, how they were settled, what the people did for a living, how they were treated, etc. Written by consular agents.

Italy. Commissariato Generale dell·Emigrazione. Annuario statistico della emigrazione italiana dal1876 aI1925. Rome: 1926.

Official Italian statistics on allaspeds of Italian immigration with u.ful notes and analysis. Indispensable.

Gli ltalioni ""lIli Stati Uniti. Istituto di Studi Americani Universita degli Studi di Firenze. New York: Arno, 1974. Reprint of 1972 edition.

Composed of Plipet"s deli.....ed by leading Italian and American scholars on Italian immigration at the Symposium on Immigration hetd at Florence, Italy, May 1969.

Vecoli, Rudolph J. "Prelates and Peasants: Italian Immigrants and the Catholic Church:' Journal of Social Histdry 2 (Spring 1969), 217·268. Stirred consider.ble debate and activity among those who believed the Catholic Church's role in Italian immigration to~ be more positive thlin herein portrayed.

C THE BALCH INSTITUTE June, 1975 ROMAN LEGACY: LEARNING ABOUT YOUR ITALIAN ANCESTORS. PART I

Enzo Settesoldi

Born in Italy. Resides in Florence. Italy. Archivist, historical archive of Santa Maria del Fiore. University training (psleography and archival studies). Author. archivist ..

To get to know our I talian ancestors is remote, profound ancestral happenings to learn about the history of the Italian rooted in the soul of those populations people. Italy could contribute a great who have determined events we observe deal to the theme of this World Con­ today. Unfortunately these observations ference because it is a nation rich in are often superficial, comparable to the tradition and history, full of men who analysis of the facade of a building, made history and of manuscripts and without knowing or studying the archi~ documents that have served and continue tecture and technical graphs necessary to serve history. Events that took place for its construction. Deepening the in the course of the centuries in which knowledgeable analysis of our country we are living can be linked to the means entering into a world that is rich history of families who lived in specific in events and interesting episodes. regions. It is clear. as well, that becoming aware of the historical nothing spontaneous happens Without the importance of a few family trees which in intervention and thoughts of man. the development of a few generations Imlltiply themselves giving birth to other Too often history is looked upon only in families and the resulting development of relation to wars or personal episodes in groups of people down to today. the lives of men instead of examining more closely the manuscripts that can be The relationship of the first timid mani­ found in local archives. In this way the festations of these people with the land genesis. development, and importance of is immediate and spontaneous, almost families as living entities. operating in cosmic. They obtain sustenance and power the vast area of secular episodes, is from the land, they take their name and ignored. The study of our ancestors. of wealth and nourishment from it. Each their families or of the human nucleus individual, rich or poor, was proud to beginning in the year 1000 (the period belong to a line that contributed to and also referred to in the preceding lecture increased the character and strength of on genealogical research) blends in with the environment where he lived and the history of our towns; It is an worked, maintaining close ties wi th extremely important science because it is relatives, a custom that was continued in linked to heredity, to genetic and the countryside up to the beginning of biological relationships, and it is the the Second World War (1939). hub around which the wheel of knotlledge of our ancestors turns. They wrote the About 700 years ago the great Florentine history which recounts the facts as they poet, Dante Alighiere (1265-1321), whom happened, while we almost invariably I'm sure many of you know. in his poem. ignore the causes of these historical The Comedy (called The Divine Comedy by events, which were often linked to very his successors), wrote a beautiful line Settesoldi/52l 2

in The Inferno, X, 42, rich in meaning hygienic conditions and empirical care and reflecting the theme of this Con­ that did not allow the newly born to ference. When together with the poet overcome the first years of life or even Vergil, Dante stopped before the tomb of in some cases the first days of life. Farinata degli Uberti (who died in 1264), Those who succeeded in overcoming this Farinata saw him, but in order to be sure critical phase lived on to a ripe old age he recognized him, Farinata asked the and almost never fell ill. We might say poet, "Who were your ancestors?" This that they died healthy. Babies were shows that even then knowing who your baptized the same day they were born, or ancestors were, or those of your family, within a few days of birth because of the your line ,or extraction, was important. imminence of death. The first son was Each of us today with the help of named after the paternal grandfather and , documents, should know who our predeces­ the second son after the maternal grand­ sors were if only as an act of homage father. Each successive child was named towards our forefather, gaining knowledge after paternal and maternal relatives. and the ability to analyze these docu­ The same applied to daughters, so that ments, through the various branches of there were few offspring who were named relatives, would reveal a hidden world after those who were not their relatives. which influences what we know today about Babies were always born at home, even if customs, economy, sociology, and family hospitals were available, and the mother­ heredity. to-be was usually taken care of by an expert neighborhood midwife who together THE BIRTH OF OUR A"'CESTORS with boiling water and clean sheets, went about her work mixing amulets and good Beginning with the Middle Ages, through luck charms, as she recited prayers to the centuries, on up to the beginning of St. Anne and St. Margaret, which were of the twentieth century, the birth of our dubious aid to the health of the mother­ forefathers has always had a common to-be and the unborn child. This is a theme. I am speaking, obviously, of custom that has still not completely those families from the middle and lower disappeared from the countryside. classes, deliberately omitting those who belong to the nobility, who probably have In past centuries there were also many nothing in common with us, even if in my babies who were born without their opinion the nobility of the soul is parents' names and who were abandoned in without doubt superior to the nobility of public hospitals which were created for lineage. this purpose, especially in big cities. These hospitals or orphanages still Married couples would have many children exist, and the infants are called N.N.; in towns, cities and the countryside, but 1.e., children who belong to no one. Or easy as it was to be born, it was just as they are referred to as "Innocenti"--the easy to die. Infant mortality was very Innocents who have been abandoned through high and often sudden. For example, many no fault of their own. Or they were married couples who had a dozen children referred to as "Exposti"-after the way would often find themselves after twenty in which some hospitals "exhibited" years of marriage having only three or babies as merchandise and offered to the four surviving children. pity of those who were compassionate enough to take the children into their There is an old proverb which says: own families and treat them as if they "Many children much divine providence." were their own. but this was not the reason for producing many offspring. Rather, large families THE LIVES OF OUR ANCESTORS were due to the fact that nature, through

natural selection t took care to eliminate Children who reached the age of about those who were weakest. The causes of eight or nine years began school with a mortality were often to be sought in poor gramnar teacher, who was paid by the Settesoldi/52l 3 community. The teacher taught the first university was much different then than elementary rules of reading, writing and it is today and students received their arithmetic. Female children did not degrees in those professions that were generally participate in these lessons most common at the time, such as but stayed home. medicine, jurisprudence, literature (which also included learning Greek, Many other children began to liOrk helping Latin and antique writings), mathematics, their parents, especially in farming and applied sciences such as physics, families where muscles were necessary to optics, astronomy, and other scientific work in the fields. Animals such as subjects. All this meant great sacrifice horses, mules, and oxen were rarely used. on the part of the parents, who were Farm eqnipnent was scarce and spades, repaid however by the satisfaction of shovels, hoes, pitchforks, sickles, having sent their children through the pruning hooks, and plows were used to university to obtain knowledge through till the soil and cut the furrows. discipline. Because of the difficulties Harrows were used to level the ground of family life, however, few children after sowing time. all this was done by were able to choose university careers. hand. Others helped relatives who ran small businesses such as those of bakers, Many children chose a religious environ­ locksmiths, shoemakers, barberships, and ment, often desired or imposed by their tailors. Still others preferred to learn parents who saw no alternatives for their a trade, especially in the vast area of offspring's future. Access to religious craftsmanship, which has always flour­ institutions was fairly easy, and often ished in Italy. They began by working as children entered seminaries against their apprentices to carpenters, spinners, wishes and studied to become priests, weavers, marble and stone cutters, br~ck while others entered monasteries which masons, silk weavers, wax makers, gold­ were divided into various orders. This smiths, silversmiths, sculptors, and took place mostly between the tenth and painters. Some artisans who began as the thirteenth centuries. young apprentices and who became masters of their craft became universally famous Female children were often forced to such as: become nuns if they did not marry. This was, unfortunately, the only way for a Giotto di (1266-1337), painter woman to leave the family. Otherwise she and architect. was sentenced to remain unmarried and an old maid for the rest of her life, or she Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), inventor, became a servant or governess in the precursor of modern technology, inimita­ house of a noble family. ble painter. This religious phenomenon was a con­ Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), venient outlet for those families who sculptor and painter. were unable to support many children. In addition, a religious vocation was Benvenuto Cellini (1500-1571), incom­ prestigious and parents were able to parable goldsmith. boast about their daughters or sons who had chosen to serve the church. They Raphael (1483-1520), painter. also hoped that in this way their own souls would benefit in the end. The fact There are many others who deserve to be that many men and women entered the mentioned but time and space do not allow church resulted in a significant increase me to include all of them. in the construction of churches, con­ vents, monasteries, and sacred places Children who showed an apptitude for which were convenient from the point of studying were encouraged to continue view of giving refuge, as well as being through the university. Access to the lovely to look at architecturally. Un- Settesoldi/52l 4 fortunately, as the years went by and men succeeded in overcoming these fewer and fewer people chose religious difficulties by tempering their bodies,· vocations, the buildings. were abandoned they were able to carry out enviable and fell into progressive decay. tasks and keep healthy as horses until they died of old age. Death, in the The religious phenomenon of the past period of the plague or in the periods of centuries, which continued in part Wltil economic misery, was always dignified. the first decades of the twentieth Everyone received a worthy burial which century) can be compared, in a certain for centuries took place inside churches, sense, to the phenomenon of immigration, monasteries, convents, and private as a natural outlet for survival. chapels beneath the pavement or alongside the side walls, as well as outside, Man's labor, whatever kind it was, beneath the arcades or in spaces in front embraced the entire day, beginning at of the arcades in common tombs, family sunrise and ending when the SWl dis­ tombs, and fWleral monuments, according appeared over the horizon, arriving at to the economic status and importance of the maximum of fourteen or fifteen hours the deceased, and the position he of work daily during the SU11lIller months occupied in the community or family and at the minimum of about ten hours during his lifetime. Many holy places, daily during the winter months. The especially churches, still bear witness length of the workday has more or less to this custom which began to disappear remained Wlchanged since the beginning of between the end of the eighteenth century the twentieth century and the advent of and the first half of the nineteenth the age of technology. century, both for hygienic reasons and for lack of space, as urban and communal HOW OUR ANCESTORS DIED cemeteries began to appear outside the cities away from places of habitation. As has already been mentioned, the greatest threat to the population was It must be remembered that Italians infant mortality, which often reached the reached significant heights of freedom as heights of 70 to 80 percent of the total they created democratic forms of politi­ number of births. How many small white cal and civil life around the tenth to coffins our predecessors must have seen, the fourteenth centuries, a period in and how many times they must have heard which Italy gained a great deal of the church bell toll for someone who experience, inaugurating free communes died. How often they have watched supported by popular elections. It is funerals go by--so often that they also true that the free man has no probably became a daily ceremony to which creative limits, and in fact it was at passersby were accustomed, and funerals this time that basic civic institutions probably were the principal subject of were formed which are still strongholds daily conversations. that bear witness to the passage of time.

Another public calamity was the plague, Italy fOWlded the first famous Illliversi­ or "black death" which for centuries ties that served as examples to the rest struck every Italian region, devastating of the world, such as the University of pitilessly entire populations in cities, Salerno for medical research, the towns, and cOWltrysides, leaving behind a University of Bologna for law and juris­ frightening emptiness. prudence, then the Universities of , Pavia, Pisa, Naples, etc. At the same So many things happened in such an time, the four splendid maritime repub­ uncommonly violent manner. The most lics of Alamfi, Pisa, Genoa and recent in the order of time was the enjoyed honor and glory as masters of the "Spagnola" (named for the country of sea, serving as principal mercantile origin), which struck Italy in the ports for trade and commerce with the beginning of the twentieth century. If East. Settesoldi/521 5

The first hospitals were founded as alms Pietro da Crescenzio da Bologna (1233­ houses to care for the sick poor who were 1320), who compiled a treatise on abandoned along the streets or at the agriculture, still famous today. edge of town, as well as for travelers and pilgrims who had nowhere to sleep. Francesco Borghesano, merchant from They were very convenient in periods of Lucca, who in 1273 built the first contagious diseases such as the plague, spinning wheel for the processing of malaria, leprosy, and other epidemics. silk.

These hospitals were nonprofit, chari­ Giovanni, called Cimabue (1240-1300), table orga'lizations financed by private painter, who began what we know today as citizens ·who donated money and private modern painting, breaking away from the property, as well as other gifts. They antique canons of Greek painting. were also subsidized by the communes themselves, ',;ho considered the institu­ Marco Polo (1254-1324), Venetian tions of great public utility. merchant, who for many years traveled in far regions of the East, about which he The care of the sick was usually free of wrote in his book, The Million or The charge. Male patients were looked after Travels of Marco Polo. by male personnel and female patients were taken care of by female personnel, Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), Genoese as well as by those belonging to navigator, who discovered the new conti­ religious orders and by doctors, all of nent knotVIl as America, and in whose name whom were highly experienced in their a national holiday is still celebrated. professions. Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512), the The history of which we are a part is the Florentine navigator for whom this history traced by generations of people is named. who preceded us, a period of time that goes from father to son. Just think of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), physicist, all our ancestors who participated in the astronomer, philosopher from Pisa, evolution of time and cultural tradi­ inventor of the telescope. tions, each one leaving behind his own contribution. Many names should be Filippo Mazzei (1730-1816), man of mentioned in this regard, but there are letters from Pistoia, who supported too many to be listed here. So I shall American independence, collaborating on limit myself to naming a few, without the writing of the Declaration of the taking anything away from those who are Rights of Man and of the citizen. left out. I shall give special emphasis to those who worked in the field of Antonio Meucci (1808-1889), Florentine, inventions that have been useful to man: inventor of the telephone.

Guido d'Arezzo (c. 995-1055), Benedictine Guglielmo Marconi (1874-1937), from monk, for whom the musical notes inserted Bologna, inventor of the wireless in the pentagram were named. telegraph.

Leonardo Fibonacci (1170-1240), from I think these names are sufficient to Pisa, who wrote a treatise on geometry, give you an idea of what our

Enzo Setteso1di

Born in Italy. Resides in Florence, Italy. Archivist, historical archive of Santa Maria del Fiore. University training (paleography and archival studies). Author, archivist.

Everybody knows where and when he was identification of ancient modes of born. Many of us gathered here Imow the witing • This will enable you to read date and place of birth of our own and interpret the records. parents, but few of us Imow the family data concerning our maternal and paternal GENEALOGY grandfathers; very few persons have only the slightest acquaintance with the name, As you know, genealogy is a term derived date, and place of birth of their own from the (genea = race or great-grandparents (maybe they will have family, plus 10gia or logy = word, just heard their names at home), and so reason, account, speech), and it is the on. Going further back this information science which deals with the history of is less and less known and less available the origins of peoples and nations and to the average man on the street, finally with the descent of a person or family reaching the point at which darkness is from an ancestor or ancestors t sovereign. irrespective of whether the person or family is of great, noble, or humble Any genealogical research is indeed a descent. challenging adventure, and I !mow that some of you have had the rewarding Students and eminent scholars of experience of devoting your efforts genealogy, lineage, and family towards the identification of those who history--which is the primary subject of have preceded us and have given us the my briefing--have always existed in every gift of life. Genealogy is like a huge century. I can say that the genealogist patchwork composed of many large or small was born at the 'same time the great pieces of information which, duly family groups came into existence in our assembled, make up a complete picture of earthly history. the family and its components. The study and reconstruction of the To carry out research on your ancestors family lineage is a praiseworthy ambition you should have a working knowledge of common to each one of us. The study of the records in which you can find the genealogy belps us to better understand necessary information, be familiar with ourselves and to explain historical the various types of doctJllents in the events and happenings, our time, and our records, the years which they cover, and lives. Penetrating into this wonderful the methods in obtaining data from them. world is a fascinating adventure. Reading and studying the doctJllents and In addition to the above requirements­ records of the historic and demographic especially as the research moves back process developed through the centuries, through the centuries-you should also thanks to which we exist today, is just have a sufficient knowledge of the like living with our dearly beloved regulations and procedures which govern ancestors who, like us, to a greater or the arrangement and keeping of archives, lesser extent, experienced problems, as well as a certain experience in pleasures, and sorrows. They are those paleography, the study, deciphering, and who contributed to the entire historical Settesoldi/531 2 process. If you want to study and develop a docunented genealogy, you need to have a SURNAME (Family Name) deep and clear knowledge of the sources from which you can obtain the basis of Since ancient times one of the most each item of information; that is, of the important social requirements was docunents themselves. distinguishing individusls by their own appellation, that is to say the name or THE SOURCES title by Which a person is called or known. This later became essential not Church Records only for personal identity, but also for identifying a stock or family to which The great majority of Italian citizens the individusl belonged by the second are Roman Catholic, and the Roman name which was borne in COIII!IOn by family Catholic Church was the only established members. Among the ancient Romans this church in Italy for many centuries. was called cognomen, the family name or Church records, therefore, are of surname. paralllOunt importance for a research of one's ancestors. The surname as we know it today in Italy from the legal, social, and judicial The church organization is the only point of view has its origin around the structure that has come to us essentially ninth and tenth centuries. At this time, unchanged since its origins, as compared the surname had the essential to political institutions which have characteristic of continued inheritance always been subject to many changes. The or transmission from a father to his own major bases of the church are the parish children. and the goverrunent of the bishop who is the chief of a diocese (a diocese is the The development of family names has had district under the pastoral care of a various and different origins, some of bishop). easy identification, others of much IIIOre difficult identification; as a general For purposes of church government the rule they were derived from the name of Italian national territory has always the father or of an ancestor; from a been subdivided into episcopates (the nickname; from a trade, craft, administrative residences of bishops) and occupation, profession; from positions, each episcopate has religious offices, and titles; from the birth­ jurisdiction over a certain territory place; from the mother's name; fran a (diocese) in which is located an feudal estate; from a castle, church, a indefinite number of parish churches lIIOuntain, river, or a piece of land; from which in turn have pastoral care over all plants, flowers, or animals; from some the families residing in the territory quality or achievement; from some under their sphere of jurisdiction. physical defect or merit. The first rural and urban churches were In Italy, the ultimate or definitive use started around the end of the third of the surname can be traced back to a century, and with the passing of the period between the end of the sixteenth centuries, the parish and episcopate and the beginning of the seventeenth systems went through a great expansion. centuries. Such use was never covered by any particular law until the The parish priest or rector of a church establishment of civil registration has many duties to carry out, among the throughout Italy (1865-1870), and since most important being the sacraments, then the right to a name and surname is Le., baptism (birth), marriage and protected and governed by the Italian extreme unction (at death), but for many Civil Code. centuries the church never kept a record Settesoldi/53l 3 of these activities. parents--in case of legitimate children-plus the name of the godfathers Only at the beginning of the fifteenth or godmothers, and day, month, and year century, and very exceptionally a little of birth (sometimes even the hour). earlier, did a few parish priests, particularly those of the great urban The register of marriages (liber parish churches, feel the need to take matrimoniourum) in which all the note of the administration of the marriages celebrated in the parish had to sacraments by keeping records. These be recorded, indicating the name churches were: (Christian name and family name) of the parties (wife and husband), the name of (Chieti) in which are kept the witnesses plus day, month, year, and records of baptism, marriage, and death place of the marriage. since the early fourteenth century. The register of deaths (liber CAVA DEI TIRRENI (Salerno) in which are defunctorum) in which all deaths kept the baptism records since the mid­ occurring in the parish were recorded, fourteenth century. indicating name and age of the departed one plus hour, day, and place of death. LUCCA, PlSA, and SIENA where they have kept the baptism and death records since The entries made by the parish priest had the mid-fDurteenth (second half) century. not only a spiritual value, but they also accomplished the function of civil In Florence the most ancient baptism book registration in that Roman Catholic dates back to 1423. Some death books religion was the only state religion up dating back to 1290 have also been found to the Napoleonic military occupation in other I talian towns. (end of 1700s and early 1800s) or even up to the establishment of the Italian Civil The Council of Trent (1545-1563; Trent is Registration (1865-1870). a town in northeastern Italy) first established the requirement for each In addition to the church archives, there parish church to record the baptism, . are diocesanarchives and the archives of marriage, and death of all Catholics. It the diocesan curia (the episcopate), in also required each parish church to set which are kept many records of the up church archives to maintain and parishes which were abolished or of preserve records of such activities. The parishes still active within a diocese. Council of Trent also established the These parish records, or part of them, requirement to keep the following church have come to us thanks to the obligation registers: imposed on the parish priests to make a copy of their registers so that they The first register was to be the book could be kept and controlled by the called status animarum (the equivalent of church authorities. the present famny situation register), which contains the names of all persons Often the records of a parish are located under the religious jurisdiction of the partly inside the parish itself, partly parish church, subdivided into individual in the archives of the diocesan curia, families, with entries concerning sex, and sometimes in the state archives and age, and the type of sacraments the town archives where they have been administered. gathered at different times and for various reasons, especially at the time The register of baptisms (liber of the establishment of the civil baptizatorum) in which were recorded the registration offices in the towns children who received the sacrament of (1865-1870). baptism, whether legitimate or illegitimate with the names of the A typical example of such transition- is Settesoldi/53l 4 given by the church archives in Umbria, there was already a certain concern about and (regions in central Italy), how to ensure the maintenance and where the parish churches and the preservation of records under the seal of diocesan curias no longer maintain most notaries; this was accomplished by of their church registers. These are gradually assigning all the records to kept today in the town and state archives notaries who were replacing those who had of those regions. died or by imposing the obligation of collecting and storing all the docunents The records in the parish archives are into special archives. often preserved poorly and incompletely, and this is due to disasters and Though with different laws and criteria, calamities such as wars, floods (like the the same care was shown by the Italian last one in Florence on 4 November 1966 states which followed the communes or when the water level rose five meters, city'-states till the Italian unity•A equal to almost sixteen feet, and flooded uniform and unique legislation was libraries, archives, churches, shops, established at the time of Italian unity etc.), earthquakes, and fires. It is over the whole Italian territory, and the also very often due to carelessness, lack state or civil archives passed under the of attention, and poor maintenance. Ministry of Interior. Now they are under the jurisdicion of the Ministry for Myway, where available, this material is Cultural Affairs. and will always be the most important for successful genealogical research as it The importance of notarial records can enables us to study and understand the never be overemphasized in the develojJllent of a single population-both performance of complete genealogical great and humble-the demographic research. This importance is due to evolution, religious and civil antiquity and uniformity. Thanks to the activities, and, in particular, the lives antiquity of records dating back to of our beloved ancestors. thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, we are able to carry out genealogical THE crvn. ARCHIVES studies back to those times ,. which would otherwise be very hard to fully docunent. Notarial Records Also, the uniformity or homogeneity of the records drawn up in the same place by For genealogical research you must also the same notary--who usually was an consider the importance of the civil individual known by the family to whom archives, in particular those archives they used to turn in any occasion-­ which keep all the notarial acts of the enables us to locate, identify, and area. The institution of the notary is effectively carry out our research. very old; it was already known, though with a different structure, to the Usually notarial records include ancient civilizations and as well to contracts of sale and purchase, wills, medieval society. Only in the twelfth dowries, lawsuits, and any other century, however, did the figure of the instruments which enable us to make up notary assume a clear, well-defined genealogies based on very reliable and character and the status of "officium interesting documents. Unfortunately, as publicum quo varia hominum negotia, is obvious, such docunents exist only for diversique actus, in publicam et families who possessed property, and one authenticam formam scripti rediguntur finds few traces in notarial records of atque ita plena dignaque fide ad the poorer families. For them the parish perpetuam posterorum memoriam registers, from which no one is omitted, referentur." are indispensable.

In the legislation of the ancient Italian All notarial documents dating from the city-states of the thirteenth century beginning of such records up to 1800 Settesoldi!531 5

through 1850 are kept in the state At present, a state archive is located in archives; all notarial records drawn up each main city (the capital of each after are kept in the notarial archives. Italian region), and also in some minor Incidentally, it must be taken into cities or towns. In this case it is accoWlt that up to about 1700, notarial called the subsection of a state archive. records were drawn up in Latin (which is the mother of the Italian language). Town or Municipal Archives Since then they have all been written in Italian. The municipal archives dating back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries contain The State Archives both documentary and internal papers such as census of the local population, These archives consist of a great number family-taxation lists (a tax levied on of documents received from the different the families residing within the states of Italy (Le., the various states municipality or borough except the existing in Italy before the unity of the so-called needy ones), military drafting country), which in turn had received such lists from about 1800 to the present docunents from the seigniories (manors), time, parish documents, notary deeds principalities, and free cities, and concerning the life of the municipality, today even from the above-mentioned municipal ordinances or decrees, and so notarial archives. on. Such material may be usef1l1 in carrying on in-depth genealogical The material preserved by the state research. archives is often huge and is extremely diverse. For example, cadastre or land Vital Statistics (Stato Civile) Office registry office records, which often date and Public Record (Anagrafe) Office back to the fifteenth century; trade guild records (Arti e Mestieri, corpora­ Civil registration records represent the tions to which persons in the same trade private rights of each individual, thus often belonged); the civil registration determining their own condition with records from 1806 to 1866 (before the respect both to the society and to the unity of the country); different types of family. They also tell whether the licenses (gun licenses, licenses for the individual is adult or minor, father or construction of bridges, roads, build­ son, married or widowed. They are formed ings, etc.); official government corres­ on the same basis as the church records, pondence plus all the papers concerning Le., the family status (status animarum the domestic affairs of each government; or church census), with birth (baptism), police archives (Archivi di Polizia), marriage, and death of all citizens, which originated in 1800 ana contaIn the irrespective of their religious or most varied information on anyone who was political beliefs. involved with the justice system; emigration visas or passports; church Generally speaking the establishment of registers; military conscription records civil registration of birth, marriage and or la Leva, (usually such documents go death records originated with Napoleon' s from the early 1800s to 1890; aftel' this occupation of Italy (1795). His reign period they are kept by the military separated the church from the state, district of each main city); population ordered the setting up of municipal censuses; family archives; and various offices of births, marriages, and deaths other records in which you can find some and the setting up of public record good documents useful to your research. (anagrafe) offices entrusted to the In all of this, though, you may need a municipality of each town or city for the good deal of patience, both to locate organization of the offices and the these records and to examine them for the drawing ·up and preservation of the information you need. relevant documents. The anagrafe offices Settesoldi/531 6 have issued certificates of families family name, age, height, color of the (certificati di stato di famiglia) since skin and hair, distinguishing physical about 1870, whIle the stato civile marks, and the reasons for the trip), and offices issue birth, marriage, and death they were issued by the authorities certificates or extracts. concerned, duly signed, stamped, and sealed in such a manner that could not be This separation of offices between civi! easily forged or counterfeited. and church authorities began only after the year 1800 A.D. As a matter of fact, This type of document was used till the in Tuscany we have a complete collection invention of photography (1860-1870); of the civi! registration records of all afterwards the passport was more or less the regional municipalities. This similar to the one used today. special collection in the state archives at Florence, on film at the Genealogical In the past centuries, passports or safe Society of Utah, covers the period from conducts were issued by a state authority 1808 to 1866. Likewise in the regions called Buon Governo (the Good constituting the ancient kingdom of Government) • Then, fran about 1800 to Naples and Sicily, the archives for the 1860-1870 they were issued by the civil registration papers of the Passport Section of the Police Office or population of this huge territory cover Prefecture, and from 1870 onwards they the period from 1806 to 1860-1870 and are have been issued by the Questura (Police kept in the state archive of Naples. Headquarters) after investigations carried out by the Carabinieri (Italian Following the proclamation of the un!ty Military Police) in the town, city, or of Italy under the Savoy monarchy village concerned. (1865-1870), all the municipalities located on the Italian territory began to All the relevant documents issued by maintain a general register office of all Police Offices, Prefectures, and Police Italian citizens and foreigners, even Headquarters up to 1920-1930' are kept by those in transit, recording the three the state archives. .most important events in the life of an individual: birth, marriage, and death. HOW ro CONDUcr GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH AND This practice is still being carried out. MAKE A PEDIGREE Civil registration therefore pertains today to the status of each individual Only two methods may be used to wrk out within his or her family and also a pedigree: upward pedigree and downward includes: adoption, emancipation (act or pedigree or descent chart. procedure of legally freeing from paternal power), interdiction (a judicial The upward method identifies all the restraint placed upon a person suffering ancestors of an individual along the male from mental weakness with respect to acts and female lines. It is drawn up on a which may affect his estate), and few tables of upward lines, thus making acknowledgement. The entire procedure is up a complete pedigree. It is called governed by special laws which safeguard direct genealogy or pedigree when we the name and the right of each study just the main direct line going individual. back (upward tracing) from son to father, without considering the maternal and side Passports or Emigration Visas (collateral) branches.

A long time ago these instrunents were This downward method aims at defining all called safe conduct and were issued to an the male and female descendants from a individual who found it necessary. for comnon known progenitor (founder of the whatever reason, to travel outside Italy. family). This pedigree is wrked out on They were drawn up as a letter describing various tables of downward lines. the person concerned (first name and Settesoldi/53l 7

In working out the pedigree of a certain plus you need the capability to read and clan or lineage, you have to note the interpret these docunents so often in birth or baptism data plus the name and Latin. location of the parish in which the baptism was administered; this applies No elements, even if marginal, should be also to the marriage and death of each disregarded. Often, for instance, the individual concerned. Biographical and place of origin of the godparents at a h.istorical details help complete the baptism or the careful examination of the history of the lineage and are also very family names that are found in the useful in helping you know and understand registers may enlighten you on where and the local history of the place (village, how to locate a long searched-for town, borough, region) where the family document of marriage, taking into account lived and flourished. that marriages used to be celebrated always in the bride's home. Sometimes Let me show you, now, how to trace a experience may make up for any existing pedigree or genealogy. deficiency, gap, or data which is lacking, as for instance the sudden IOOve UPWARD PEDIGREE BY DIRECT LINE AND WITH of a family frOlll one place to another, SIDE BRANCHES (Ascending Genealogy) thus putting you on the right track to discover precious documents or This is- the IOOst simple lineage-tracing information. method. It is worked out by going back from son to father starting from well­ TRACING BY QUARTERS known documents, researching those ancestors which are not known till you By quarters we mean the genealogical come to establish. the most ancient branches of the four grandparents. generations. Starting from the present Studying and tracing the pedigree of an members of a family and from known data, individual, you will find first of all you can go "upstream" (dating back to the two parents, then the father's and your ancestors) searching the docunents mother's parents, that is to say the four of each period or age to obtain the grandparents, and so on. 'This is the necessary genealogical evidences. most complete method for making a genealogical study on a certain First you must identify the father's individual but is also the most difficult data, i.e., his birth, marriage, and one because the number of ancestors death; then you can look for the father's continuously doubles in geometric brothers and sisters, thus defining the progression. whole generation. 'This data is essential in tracing the cOlllDOn father. When you Considering this progression and the fact have identified him with all relevant that we estimate, on the average, one details, you will proceed to discover his Italian generation every thirty years, if brothers and sisters, and so on. Once we start from the first generation (that you have reached the most ancient fully­ is to say the present individual, in the documented cOlllDOn ancestor in direct line year 1980) and go back for twenty-five you will move in the opposite direction generations, we will get to the year 1260 searching for the children of each and have 16,777,216 ancestors, equivalent brother and of each son, thus defining to about half the population of Europe in the side branches. Of course, this may the Middle Ages. not always be an easy job. You will meet difficulties peculiar to the research It is therefore obvious that each one of itself. For this work what you need is a us descends numerous times from the same lot of experience, practice; persever­ ancestors. ance, and, above all, a certain knowledge of the various archive dossiers, which DOWNWARD PEDIGREE (Descending Genealogy) may contain the searched-for evidences, Settesoldi/53l 8

If the upward tracing of a pedigree is progenitor being located at the base of not easy, it is even "",re difficult to the trunk. This tree was drawn up to use the downward approach, which is resemble a real plant with the main stem designed to locate and identify all the (trunk) and all its larger and smaller descendants of a known ancestor down branches, plus rich ornaments of leaves, through our days. flowers, and grass. Usually, at the base of the tree there was a portrayal of the In this type of research you can apply country, town, or place of origin of the (in the opposite direction) the method ancestry. used for the upward genealogy, but if the ancestry has made many movements during If you want to trace a pedigree by the centuries, it will be rather quarters, the most important thing is the difficult to establish the place of numbering of each person. This is the transfer, and thus the archive to be method used by Stephan Kekule Von explored. Stradonitz, also called the Stradonitz or Sosa-Stradonitz method, as Stephan Kekule The rwo methods often supplement each Von Stradonitz had revived this method in other, and one must follow his own 1898 from the de Sosa, a Spaniard who had experience to carry out the research-, published this method in 1676. With this according to the different problems that method each member of the family tree is may be faced. numbered as follows:

HOW ro LAY OUT 'llIE GENEALOGICAL TABLES No. 1 - the person tracing the family tree; no. 2 - his or her father; no. 3 ­ There are two met~ods used to layout the his or her mother; nos. 4 & 5 - paternal tables of the upward pedigree: the grandparents; nos. 6 & 7 - maternal horizontal method, that is, arranging the grandparents; nos. 8, 9, 10, 11 - mater­ quarters (i.e., the four grandparents) on nal grandparents and so on. -the left side of the paper and proceeding to the right; and the vertical method, This numbering offers several advantages which starts frOlll the bottOlll of the paper such as always giving the male members of and moves upward. the family an even number and the female members an odd number. The father' s Both methods have a few advantages and number would also always be the double of both have been used for a long time. his child's number. The mother's number would be the double of her child's number The horizontal method has the advantage plus one. of requiring less space for the description. Of course, you can layout It will thus be easy to layout a horizontal tables not only for pedigrees pedigree chart or even more charts by quarters, but also for direct line assigning to each progenitor his or her pedigrees, which method was excessively_ position. Even if there is an unknown used by ancient genealogists. member, you may have the opportunity to fill the vacancy at a later time. Anyway, the vertical (upward or dowm.ard) method is still the ""'st COIImon one. It You may also assign to each ancestor a is generally used all over the world. card or page of a register (or record) Personally I use this method as I find writing all the information that you have that it gives you the advantage of being collected on the card. Thus through the easily understandable. From a schematic respective number it will be 1Il1Ch easier point of view, it can be easily to locate and identify a particular visualized as a real "family tree." member in the pedigree. A reliable pedigree card should always have the Many ancient authors used to layout the following data: name, father, mother, pedigree tables as real trees, the place and date of birth (indicated with Settesoldi!53l 9 an asterisk); place and date of marriage a complete pedigree according to this (indicated with the special sign cD ) rule. I consider it much easier, and name of the bride; place and date of particularly for those who have little death (indicated with a small cross). genealogical experience, to trace a Prcminently displayed is the numher which pedigree with direct lines ascending in a the name occupies on the pedigree chart. vertical geometric shape. It is very easy to locate the card pertaining to the father, mother, Well, I have come to the end of my long grandfather, etc. of any person in the briefing. I just hope that the things I family tree. have told you may be of help to you who set out on the long journey of genealogy. Such a pedigree involves a great deal of work and as a matter of course very few Thank you for your kind attention, and families are able to successfully draw up good luck in this challenging adventure! Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy Church Record Baptism 1809-1865

Guide

Introduction

After 1911 the churches still required their clergy to keep baptism (or christening) records. The records may include birth dates. Information may be recorded on or after the date of birth. Information found in a baptism depends on how detailed the minister made his record. Many ministers stopped keeping detailed records because the civil registrar was required to. For more information on church baptism records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a baptism entry: • The name of your ancestor. • The date of your ancestor's baptism. • The name of your ancestor's parents. • The names of the witnesses or godparents. • The date of your ancestor's birth. • The place of your ancestor's birth. • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • Whether your ancestor was of legitimate or illegitimate birth.

Steps

These 5 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian church records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's baptism or christening record.

To find the christening records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's parish is listed. When looking for your ancestor's baptism record, remember: • Baptism records are arranged chronologically. • Baptism records may be intermixed with marriage or burial records.

For helps in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy Church Record Baptism 1809-1865

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last name, which is often clearly written; then look for the given name. If you do not know the names of your ancestor's parents, you may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • Find the entries for all the children with the same given name and last name as your ancestor. Start with the year when you think your ancestor was born. Then check the entries for five years before and five years after. You may find several entries for children with the same name but with different parents. • Eliminate the entries that contradict what you know about your ancestor. Check death records to see if any of the children died before your ancestor did. Check marriage records to see if any of the children married someone other than your ancestor's spouse (but remember that your ancestor may have married more than once). • Try to make sure the baptism entry is of your direct line ancestor. Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct entry.

For more help in finding the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 3. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 5.

Step 3. Find the entries for each brother and sister of your ancestor.

Once you have the entry for your ancestor, find the entries for your ancestor's brothers and sisters: • Search the baptism records for entries of your ancestor's brothers and sisters. • Search local death records or the baptism records from surrounding parishes, especially if gaps of 3 or more years are between the christening of siblings. Gaps of 3 or more years may indicate there was another child. • To make sure you have found entries of all the family members, search death records and baptism records of surrounding parishes for any additional children. • Search for children born before the parents' marriage. Children may have been baptized under the mother's maiden name. Often the father's name is not given.

For help in finding the entries for the ancestor's brothers and sisters, see Tip 4.

Step 4. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Baptism 1809-1865

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, and so forth). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 5. Analyze the information you obtain from the baptism record.

To effectively use the information from the baptism record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the baptism entry of my direct line ancestor? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the minister identify both parents, and is the mother's maiden name given? • Were additional event dates, such as marriage and death given in the entry's margin? (The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) • Did more than 3 years pass since the baptism of the last child? If so, another child may have been baptized in a neighboring parish or died before it could be baptized. • Did you search 5 years without finding any earlier baptism entries of children? If you find no other entries, then begin looking for the parent's marriage record. • Did the minister identify the order and gender of the child being baptized, such as "the 5th child and 2nd son"?

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 5.

Background

Description

Baptism records go back to the 1500s, when they began after the Council of Trent. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed along with all or part of their records.

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was baptized?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor if they are available: • Confirmation records. • Marriage records. • Death or burial records. • Census records. • Probate records. • Citizenship records.

By subtracting the ancestor's age from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of baptism.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Baptism 1809-1865

Tip 2. How do I find the entry of my ancestor?

Look for the surname and Latinized given name. Priests commonly Latinized the given names. A person born and baptized under the Latin name of "Josephus," for example, may have later married and had children under the name Giuseppe, the Italian form of Josephus. For help with name variations, see the Names, Personal section of the Italy Research Outline.

Tip 3. What if I can't read the record?

Catholic church records are usually written in Latin, and most Protestant church records are written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 4. How do I find the record for each brother and sister?

Remember, within the family, one or more children may have the same given name(s). When more than one set of parents has the same given names and surnames (for example two John and Mary Smiths), use the following identifiers and records to separate the families: • The place of residence of the family. • The father's occupation. • The witnesses or godparents. • Other sources, like census and probate records, that list family members as a group.

Tip 5. How do I verify the baptism of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a parish has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be baptized within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years on each side of the supposed baptism year, and copy the entry of every child with the same given name and surname as the ancestor. • If one or more entries exist, check church burial records to eliminate those entries of children who died before your ancestor. • If burial records do not exist or you are not able to eliminate all of the possible entries, check marriage records to eliminate those who married someone other than your ancestor's spouse. • If you still cannot eliminate 2 or more possibilities, trace all lines to see if they go back to a common ancestor. Then continue research back from the common ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding parishes, and repeat the above process until you find the baptism entry for your ancestor.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Baptism 1809-1865

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of baptism records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian baptism records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available on the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Parish Offices

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the baptism records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the parish office. For assistance in writing, please see the Italian Letter Writing Guide.

Research Guidance 5 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy Church Record Baptism 1866-Present

Guide

Introduction

After 1866 the churches still required their clergy to keep baptism (or christening) records. The records may include birth dates. Information may be recorded on or after the date of birth. Information found in a baptism depends on how detailed the minister made his record. Many ministers stopped keeping detailed records because the civil registrar was required to. For more information on church baptism records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a baptism entry: • The name of your ancestor. • The date of your ancestor's baptism. • The name of your ancestor's parents. • The names of the witnesses or godparents. • The date of your ancestor's birth. • The place of your ancestor's birth. • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • Whether your ancestor was of legitimate or illegitimate birth.

Steps

These 5 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian church records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's baptism or christening record.

To find the christening records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's parish is listed. When looking for your ancestor's baptism record, remember: • Baptism records are arranged chronologically. • Baptism records may be intermixed with marriage or burial records.

For helps in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy Church Record Baptism 1866-Present

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last name, which is often clearly written; then look for the given name. If you do not know the names of your ancestor's parents, you may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • Find the entries for all the children with the same given name and last name as your ancestor. Start with the year when you think your ancestor was born. Then check the entries for five years before and five years after. You may find several entries for children with the same name but with different parents. • Eliminate the entries that contradict what you know about your ancestor. Check death records to see if any of the children died before your ancestor did. Check marriage records to see if any of the children married someone other than your ancestor's spouse (but remember that your ancestor may have married more than once). • Try to make sure the baptism entry is of your direct line ancestor. Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct entry.

For more help in finding the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 3. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 5.

Step 3. Find the entries for each brother and sister of your ancestor.

Once you have the entry for your ancestor, find the entries for your ancestor's brothers and sisters: • Search the baptism records for entries of your ancestor's brothers and sisters. • Search local death records or the baptism records from surrounding parishes, especially if gaps of 3 or more years are between the christening of siblings. Gaps of 3 or more years may indicate there was another child. • To make sure you have found entries of all the family members, search death records and baptism records of surrounding parishes for any additional children. • Search for children born before the parents' marriage. Children may have been baptized under the mother's maiden name. Often the father's name is not given.

For help in finding the entries for the ancestor's brothers and sisters, see Tip 4.

Step 4. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Baptism 1866-Present

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, and so forth). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 5. Analyze the information you obtain from the baptism record.

To effectively use the information from the baptism record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the baptism entry of my direct line ancestor? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the minister identify both parents, and is the mother's maiden name given? • Were additional event dates, such as marriage and death given in the entry's margin? (The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) • Did more than 3 years pass since the baptism of the last child? If so, another child may have been baptized in a neighboring parish or died before it could be baptized. • Did you search 5 years without finding any earlier baptism entries of children? If you find no other entries, then begin looking for the parent's marriage record. • Did the minister identify the order and gender of the child being baptized, such as "the 5th child and 2nd son"?

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 5.

Background

Description

Baptism records go back to the 1500s, when they began after the Council of Trent. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed along with all or part of their records.

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was baptized?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor if they are available: • Confirmation records. • Marriage records. • Death or burial records. • Census records. • Probate records. • Citizenship records.

By subtracting the ancestor's age from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of baptism.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Baptism 1866-Present

Tip 2. How do I find the entry of my ancestor?

Look for the surname and Latinized given name. Priests commonly Latinized the given names. A person born and baptized under the Latin name of "Josephus," for example, may have later married and had children under the name Giuseppe, the Italian form of Josephus. For help with name variations, see the Names, Personal section of the Italy Research Outline.

Tip 3. What if I can't read the record?

Catholic church records are usually written in Latin, and most Protestant church records are written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 4. How do I find the record for each brother and sister?

Remember, within the family, one or more children may have the same given name(s). When more than one set of parents has the same given names and surnames (for example two John and Mary Smiths), use the following identifiers and records to separate the families: • The place of residence of the family. • The father's occupation. • The witnesses or godparents. • Other sources, like census and probate records, that list family members as a group.

Tip 5. How do I verify the baptism of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a parish has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be baptized within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years on each side of the supposed baptism year, and copy the entry of every child with the same given name and surname as the ancestor. • If one or more entries exist, check church burial records to eliminate those entries of children who died before your ancestor. • If burial records do not exist or you are not able to eliminate all of the possible entries, check marriage records to eliminate those who married someone other than your ancestor's spouse. • If you still cannot eliminate 2 or more possibilities, trace all lines to see if they go back to a common ancestor. Then continue research back from the common ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding parishes, and repeat the above process until you find the baptism entry for your ancestor.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Baptism 1866-Present

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of baptism records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian baptism records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available on the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Parish Offices

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the baptism records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the parish office. For assistance in writing, please see the Italian Letter Writing Guide.

Research Guidance 5 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy Church Record Christenings

Guide

Introduction

Beginning about 1520, many churches required their clergy to keep baptism (or christening) records. The records may include birth dates. Information may be recorded on or after the date of birth. Information found in a baptism depends on how detailed the minister made his record. For more information on church baptism records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a baptism entry: • The name of your ancestor. • The date of your ancestor's baptism. • The name of your ancestor's parents. • The names of the witnesses or godparents. • The date of your ancestor's birth. • The place of your ancestor's birth. • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • Whether your ancestor was of legitimate or illegitimate birth.

Steps

These 5 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian church records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's baptism or christening record.

To find the christening records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's parish is listed. When looking for your ancestor's baptism record, remember: • Baptism records are arranged chronologically. • Baptism records may be intermixed with marriage or burial records. • Baptism records of iIlegitimate children may be listed separately.

For helps in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy Church Record Christenings

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last name, which is often clearly written; then look for the given name. If you do not know the names of your ancestor's parents, you may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • Find the entries for all the children with the same given name and last name as your ancestor. Start with the year when you think your ancestor was born. Then check the entries for five years before and five years after. You may find several entries for children with the same name but with different parents. • Eliminate the entries that contradict what you know about your ancestor. Check death records to see if any of the children died before your ancestor did. Check marriage records to see if any of the children married someone other than your ancestor's spouse (but remember that your ancestor may have married more than once). • Try to make sure the baptism entry is of your direct line ancestor. Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct entry.

For more help in finding the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 3. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 5.

Step 3. Find the entries for each brother and sister of your ancestor.

Once you have the entry for your ancestor, find the entries for your ancestor's brothers and sisters: • Search the baptism records for entries of your ancestor's brothers and sisters. • Search local death records or the baptism records from surrounding parishes, especially if there are gaps of 3 or more years between the christening of siblings. Gaps of 3 or more years may indicate there was another child. • To make sure you have found entries of all the family members, search death records and baptism records of surrounding parishes for any additional children. • Search for children born before the parents' marriage. Children may have been baptized under the mother's maiden name. Often the father's name is not given.

For help in finding the entries for the ancestor's brothers and sisters, see Tip 4.

Step 4. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Christenings

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, etc.). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 5. Analyze the information you obtain from the baptism record.

To effectively use the information from the baptism record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the baptism entry of my direct line ancestor? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the minister identify both parents, and is the mother's maiden name given? • Were additional event dates, such as marriage and death given in the entry's margin? (The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) • Did more than 3 years pass since the baptism of the last child? If so, another child may have been baptized in a neighboring parish or died before it could be baptized. • Did you search 5 years without finding any earlier baptism entries of children? If you find no other entries, then begin looking for the parent's marriage record. • Did the minister identify the order and gender of the child being baptized, such as "the 5th child and 2nd son"?

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 5.

Background

Description

Baptism records go back to the 1500s, when they began after the Council of Trent. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed along with all or part of their records.

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was baptized?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor if they are available: • Confirmation records. • Marriage records. • Death or burial records. • Census records. • Probate records. • Citizenship records.

By subtracting the ancestor's age from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of baptism.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Christenings

Tip 2. How do I find the entry of my ancestor?

Look for the surname and Latinized given name. Priests commonly Latinized the given names. A person born and baptized under the Latin name of "Josephus," for example, may have later married and had children under the name Giuseppe, the Italian form of Josephus. For help with name variations, see the Names, Personal section of the Italy Research Outline.

Tip 3. What if I can't read the record?

Catholic church records are usually written in Latin, and most Protestant church records are written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 4. How do I find the record for each brother and sister?

Remember, within the family, one or more children may have the same given name(s). When more than one set of parents has the same given names and surnames (for example two John and Mary Smiths), use the following identifiers and records to separate the families: • The place of residence of the family. • The father's occupation. • The witnesses or godparents. • Other sources like census and probate records that list family members as a group. Tip 5. How do I verify the baptism of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a parish has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be baptized within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years on each side of the supposed baptism year, and copy the entry of every child with the same given name and surname as the ancestor. • If one or more entries exist, check church burial records to eliminate those entries of children who died before your ancestor. • If burial records do not exist or you are not able to eliminate all of the possible entries, check marriage records to eliminate those who married someone other than your ancestor's spouse. • If you still cannot eliminate 2 or more possibilities, trace all lines to see if they go back to a common ancestor. Then continue research back from the common ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding parishes, and repeat the above process until you find the baptism entry for your ancestor.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Church Record Christenings

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilm(s) of baptism records from the Family History Library. The library charges small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian baptism records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available from the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Parish Offices

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the baptism records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the parish office.

Research Guidance 5 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy, Church Record Marriage 1809-1865

Guide

Introduction

Beginning about 1520, many churches required their clergy to keep marriage records. The records may include birth dates. Information found in a marriage depends on how detailed the minister made his record. For more information on church marriage records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a marriage entry: • The names of your ancestors. • The date of your ancestors' marriage. • The name of your ancestors' parents . • The names of the witnesses. • The date of your ancestors' birth (usually their age at the time of marriage). • The place of your ancestors' birth (and/or where they were residing when married). • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • The dates of the marriage proclamations or banns.

Steps

These 4 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian church records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's marriage record.

To find the marriage records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's parish is listed. When looking for your ancestor's marriage record, remember: • Marriage records are arranged chronologically. • Marriage records may be intermixed with baptism or burial records.

For helps in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy, Church Record Marriage 1809-1865

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last names, which are often clearly written and underlined; then look for the given names. You may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • If the entry gives the ages of the bride and groom, they should be compatible with their ages at death or on census or other records.

For more help in finding the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 3. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Step 3. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, etc.). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 4. Analyze the information you obtain from the marriage record.

To effectively use the information from the marriage record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the marriage entry of my direct line ancestors? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the minister identify both parents, and are the mothers' maiden names given? • Were additional event dates, such as christening, death, etc., given in the entry's margin? (The minister may use symbols such as * for birth, oo for marriage, and + for death.)

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Background

Marriage records go back to the 1500s, when they began after the Council of Trent. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed along with all or part of their records.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Church Record Marriage 1809-1865

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was married?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor's first child if they are available: • Baptism record of the first child • Death or burial records of the first child

By subtracting the first child's age plus one year from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of the parent's marriage.

Tip 2. How do I find the entry of my ancestor?

Look for the surname and Latinized given name. Priests commonly Latinized the given names. A person born and baptized under the Latin name of "Josephus," for example, may have later married and had children under the name Giuseppe, the Italian form of Josephus. For help with name variations, see the "Names, Personal" section of the Italy Research Outline.

Tip 3. What if I can't read the record?

Catholic church records are usually written in Latin, and most Protestant church records are written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 4. How do I verify the marriage of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a parish has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be married within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years before the birth of the first child. • If one or more entries exist, check church burial records to eliminate those entries of couples that died before or after your ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding parishes, and repeat the above process until you find the marriage entry for your ancestors.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of marriage records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Church Record Marriage 1809-1865

Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian marriage records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available from the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Parish Offices

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the marriage records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the parish office.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA Italy, Church Record Marriage 1866-Present

Guide

Introduction

Beginning about 1520, many churches required their clergy to keep marriage records. The records may include birth dates. Information found in a marriage depends on how detailed the minister made his record. For more information on church marriage records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a marriage entry: • The names of your ancestors. • The date of your ancestors' marriage. • The name of your ancestors' parents . • The names of the witnesses. • The date of your ancestors' birth (usually their age at the time of marriage). • The place of your ancestors' birth (and/or where they were residing when married). • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • The dates of the marriage proclamations or banns.

Steps

These 4 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian church records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's marriage record.

To find the marriage records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's parish is listed. When looking for your ancestor's marriage record, remember: • Marriage records are arranged chronologically. • Marriage records may be intermixed with baptism or burial records.

For helps in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy, Church Record Marriage 1866-Present

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last names, which are often clearly written and underlined; then look for the given names. You may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • If the entry gives the ages of the bride and groom, they should be compatible with their ages at death or on census or other records.

For more help in finding the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 3. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Step 3. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, etc.). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 4. Analyze the information you obtain from the marriage record.

To effectively use the information from the marriage record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the marriage entry of my direct line ancestors? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the minister identify both parents, and are the mothers' maiden names given? • Were additional event dates, such as christening, death, etc., given in the entry's margin? (The minister may use symbols such as * for birth, oo for marriage, and + for death.)

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Background

Marriage records go back to the 1500s, when they began after the Council of Trent. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed along with all or part of their records.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Church Record Marriage 1866-Present

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was married?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor's first child if they are available: • Baptism record of the first child • Death or burial records of the first child

By subtracting the first child's age plus one year from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of the parent's marriage.

Tip 2. How do I find the entry of my ancestor?

Look for the surname and Latinized given name. Priests commonly Latinized the given names. A person born and baptized under the Latin name of "Josephus," for example, may have later married and had children under the name Giuseppe, the Italian form of Josephus. For help with name variations, see the "Names, Personal" section of the Italy Research Outline.

Tip 3. What if I can't read the record?

Catholic church records are usually written in Latin, and most Protestant church records are written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 4. How do I verify the marriage of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a parish has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be married within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years before the birth of the first child. • If one or more entries exist, check church burial records to eliminate those entries of couples that died before or after your ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding parishes, and repeat the above process until you find the marriage entry for your ancestors.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of marriage records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Church Record Marriage 1866-Present

Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian marriage records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available from the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Parish Offices

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the marriage records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the parish office.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy, Church Record Marriage 1520-1808

Guide

Introduction

Beginning about 1520, many churches required their clergy to keep marriage records. The records may include birth dates. Information found in a marriage depends on how detailed the minister made his record. For more information on church marriage records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a marriage entry: • The names of your ancestors. • The date of your ancestors' marriage. • The name of your ancestors' parents. • The names of the witnesses. • The date of your ancestors' birth (usually their age at the time of marriage). • The place of your ancestors' birth (and/or where they were residing when married). • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • The dates of the marriage proclamations or banns.

Steps

These 4 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian church records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's marriage record.

To find the marriage records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's parish is listed. When looking for your ancestor's marriage record, remember: • Marriage records are arranged chronologically. • Marriage records may be intermixed with baptism or burial records.

For helps in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy, Church Record Marriage 1520-1808

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last names, which are often clearly written and underlined; then look for the given names. You may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • If the entry gives the ages of the bride and groom, they should be compatible with their ages at death or on census or other records.

For more help in finding the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 3. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Step 3. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The minister may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, etc.). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used.

Step 4. Analyze the information you obtain from the marriage record.

To effectively use the information from the marriage record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the marriage entry of my direct line ancestors? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the minister identify both parents, and are the mothers' maiden names given? • Were additional event dates, such as christening, death, etc., given in the entry's margin? (The minister may use symbols such as * for birth, oo for marriage, and + for death.)

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Background

Marriage records go back to the 1500s, when they began after the Council of Trent. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many churches were destroyed along with all or part of their records.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Church Record Marriage 1520-1808

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was married?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor's first child if they are available: • Baptism record of the first child • Death or burial records of the first child

By subtracting the first child's age plus one year from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of the parent's marriage.

Tip 2. How do I find the entry of my ancestor?

Look for the surname and Latinized given name. Priests commonly Latinized the given names. A person born and baptized under the Latin name of "Josephus," for example, may have later married and had children under the name Giuseppe, the Italian form of Josephus. For help with name variations, see the "Names, Personal" section of the Italy Research Outline.

Tip 3. What if I can't read the record?

Catholic church records are usually written in Latin, and most Protestant church records are written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 4. How do I verify the marriage of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a parish has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be married within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years before the birth of the first child. • If one or more entries exist, check church burial records to eliminate those entries of couples that died before or after your ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding parishes, and repeat the above process until you find the marriage entry for your ancestors.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of marriage records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Church Record Marriage 1520-1808

Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian marriage records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available from the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Parish Offices

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the marriage records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the parish office.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy Civil Registration Birth 1809-1865

Guide

Introduction

As a result of Napoleon's rule, a large part of Italy began keeping civil registration records in about 1809. In many of the areas of the north, keeping records ceased in 1815 but continued in the south up to 1865. Information found in a birth entry depends on how detailed the civil registrar made his record. For more information on civil registry birth records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a birth entry: • The name of your ancestor. • The name of your ancestor's parents. • The names of the witnesses or godparents. • The date of your ancestor's birth. • The place of your ancestor's birth. • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • Whether your ancestor was of legitimate or illegitimate birth. • The name of the midwife, if she reported the birth.

Steps

These 5 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian civil registry records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's birth record.

To find the birth records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's town is listed. When looking for your ancestor's birth record, remember: • Birth records are arranged chronologically. • Birth records may be intermixed with marriage or burial records.

For help in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy Civil Registration Birth 1809-1865

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last name, which is often clearly written on printed forms; then look for the given name. If you do not know the names of your ancestor's parents, you may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • Find the entries for all the children with the same given name and last name as your ancestor. Start with the year when you think your ancestor was born. Then check the entries for five years before and five years after. You may find several entries for children with the same name but with different parents. • Eliminate the entries that contradict what you know about your ancestor. Check death records to see if any of the children died before your ancestor did. Check marriage records to see if any of the children married someone other than your ancestor's spouse (but remember that your ancestor may have married more than once). • Try to make sure the birth entry is of your direct line ancestor. Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct entry.

For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Step 3. Find the entries for each brother and sister of your ancestor.

Once you have the entry for your ancestor, find the entries for your ancestor's brothers and sisters: • Search the birth records for entries of your ancestor's brothers and sisters. • Search local death records or the birth records from surrounding civil registries, especially if gaps of 3 or more years are between the birth of siblings. Gaps of 3 or more years may indicate there was another child. • To make sure you have found entries for all the family members, search death records and birth records of surrounding civil registries for any additional children. • Search for children born before the parents' marriage. Children may have been born under the mother's maiden name. Often the father's name is not given.

For help in finding the entries for the ancestor's brothers and sisters, see Tip 3.

Step 4. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The civil registrar may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Civil Registration Birth 1809-1865

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, and so forth). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 5. Analyze the information you obtain from the birth record.

To effectively use the information from the birth record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the birth entry of my direct line ancestor? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the civil registrar identify both parents, and is the mother's maiden name given? • Were additional event dates, such as marriage and death, given in the entry's margin? (The civil registrar may use a symbol such as + for death.) • Did more than 3 years pass since the birth of the last child? If so, another child may have been born in a neighboring civil registry district. • Did you search 5 years without finding any earlier birth entries of children? If you find no other entries, then begin looking for the parent's marriage record. • Did the civil registrar identify the order and gender of the child being born, such as "the 5th child and 2nd son"?

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Background

Birth records go back to 1809 because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many civil registries were destroyed, along with all or part of their records.

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was born?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor, if they are available: • Confirmation records. • Marriage records. • Death or burial records. • Census records. • Probate records. • Citizenship records.

By subtracting the ancestor's age from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of birth.

Tip 2. What if I can't read the record?

Civil registry records are usually written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Civil Registration Birth 1809-1865

• The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 3. How do I find the record for each brother and sister?

Remember, within the family, one or more children may have the same given name(s). When more than one set of parents has the same given names and surnames (for example two John and Mary Smiths), use the following identifiers and records to separate the families: • The place of residence of the family. • The father's occupation. • The witnesses. • Other sources, like census and probate records, that list family members as a group.

Tip 4. How do I verify the birth of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in an area has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be born within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years before and after the supposed birth year, and copy the entry of every child with the same given name and surname as the ancestor. • If one or more entries exist, check civil registry death records to eliminate those entries of children who died before your ancestor. • If death records do not exist or you are not able to eliminate all of the possible entries, check marriage records to eliminate those who married someone other than your ancestor's spouse. • If you still cannot eliminate 2 or more possibilities, trace all lines to see if they go back to a common ancestor. Then continue research back from the common ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding civil registries, and repeat the above process until you find the birth entry for your ancestor.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of birth records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers section of Family History Library Services and Resources.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian birth records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Civil Registration Birth 1809-1865

You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available on the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Civil Registry

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the birth records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the civil registry. For assistance in writing, please see the Italian Letter Writing Guide.

Research Guidance 5 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy Civil Registration Birth 1866-Present

Guide

Introduction

After 1866 the government required civil registrars to keep birth records. Information found in a birth entry depends on how detailed the civil registrar made his record. For more information on civil registry birth records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a birth entry: • The name of your ancestor. • The name of your ancestor's parents. • The names of the witnesses or godparents. • The date of your ancestor's birth. • The place of your ancestor's birth. • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father. • Whether your ancestor was of legitimate or illegitimate birth. • The name of the midwife, if she reported the birth.

Steps

These 5 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian civil registry records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's birth record.

To find the birth records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's town is listed. When looking for your ancestor's birth record, remember: • Birth records are arranged chronologically. • Birth records may be intermixed with marriage or burial records.

For help in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy Civil Registration Birth 1866-Present

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last name, which is often clearly written on printed forms; then look for the given name. If you do not know the names of your ancestor's parents, you may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • Find the entries for all the children with the same given name and last name as your ancestor. Start with the year when you think your ancestor was born. Then check the entries for five years before and five years after. You may find several entries for children with the same name but with different parents. • Eliminate the entries that contradict what you know about your ancestor. Check death records to see if any of the children died before your ancestor did. Check marriage records to see if any of the children married someone other than your ancestor's spouse (but remember that your ancestor may have married more than once). • Try to make sure the birth entry is of your direct line ancestor. Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct entry.

For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Step 3. Find the entries for each brother and sister of your ancestor.

Once you have the entry for your ancestor, find the entries for your ancestor's brothers and sisters: • Search the birth records for entries of your ancestor's brothers and sisters. • Search local death records or the birth records from surrounding civil registries, especially if gaps of 3 or more years are between the birth of siblings. Gaps of 3 or more years may indicate there was another child. • To make sure you have found entries for all the family members, search death records and birth records of surrounding civil registries for any additional children. • Search for children born before the parents' marriage. Children may have been born under the mother's maiden name. Often the father's name is not given.

For help in finding the entries for the ancestor's brothers and sisters, see Tip 3.

Step 4. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The civil registrar may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Civil Registration Birth 1866-Present

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, and so forth). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 5. Analyze the information you obtain from the birth record.

To effectively use the information from the birth record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the birth entry of my direct line ancestor? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the civil registrar identify both parents, and is the mother's maiden name given? • Were additional event dates, such as marriage and death, given in the entry's margin? (The civil registrar may use a symbol such as + for death.) • Did more than 3 years pass since the birth of the last child? If so, another child may have been born in a neighboring civil registry district. • Did you search 5 years without finding any earlier birth entries of children? If you find no other entries, then begin looking for the parents' marriage record. • Did the civil registrar identify the order and gender of the child being born, such as "the 5th child and 2nd son"?

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 4.

Background

Birth records go back to 1866, when they began. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many civil registries were destroyed, along with all or part of their records.

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was born?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor, if they are available: • Confirmation records. • Marriage records. • Death or burial records. • Census records. • Probate records. • Citizenship records.

By subtracting the ancestor's age from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of birth.

Tip 2. What if I can't read the record?

Civil registry records are usually written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Civil Registration Birth 1866-Present

• The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 3. How do I find the record for each brother and sister?

Remember, within the family, one or more children may have the same given name(s). When more than one set of parents has the same given names and surnames (for example two John and Mary Smiths), use the following identifiers and records to separate the families: • The place of residence of the family. • The father's occupation. • The witnesses. • Other sources, like census and probate records, that list family members as a group.

Tip 4. How do I verify the birth of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in an area has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be born within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years on each side of the supposed birth year, and copy the entry of every child with the same given name and surname as the ancestor. • If one or more entries exist, check civil registry death records to eliminate those entries of children who died before your ancestor. • If death records do not exist or you are not able to eliminate all of the possible entries, check marriage records to eliminate those who married someone other than your ancestor's spouse. • If you still cannot eliminate 2 or more possibilities, trace all lines to see if they go back to a common ancestor. Then continue research back from the common ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the surrounding civil registries, and repeat the above process until you find the birth entry for your ancestor.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of birth records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers section of Family History Library Services and Resources.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian birth records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy Civil Registration Birth 1866-Present

You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available on the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Civil Registry

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the birth records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the civil registry. For assistance in writing, please see the Italian Letter Writing Guide.

Research Guidance 5 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1809-1865

Guide

Introduction

As a result of Napoleon's rule, a large part of Italy began keeping civil registration records in about 1809. In many of the areas of the north, keeping records ceased in 1815 but continued in the south up to 1865. Information found in a birth entry depends on how detailed the civil registrar made his record. For more information on civil registry marriage records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a marriage entry: • The names of your ancestors. • The date of your ancestors' marriage. • The name of your ancestors' parents . • The names of the witnesses. • The date of your ancestors' birth (usually their age at the time of marriage). • The place of your ancestors' birth (and/or where they were residing when married). • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father.

Steps

These 4 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian civil registry records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's marriage record.

To find the marriage records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's town is listed. When looking for your ancestor's marriage record, remember: • Marriage records are arranged chronologically. • Marriage records may be intermixed with birth or burial records.

For help in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1809-1865

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last names, which are often clearly written and underlined; then look for the given names. You may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • If the entry gives the ages of the bride and groom, they should be compatible with their ages at death or on census or other records.

For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 3.

Step 3. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The civil registrar may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, and so forth). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used.

Step 4. Analyze the information you obtain from the marriage record.

To effectively use the information from the marriage record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the marriage entry of my direct line ancestors? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the civil registrar identify both parents, and are the mothers' maiden names given? • Were additional event dates, such as birth, death, etc., given in the entry's margin? (The civil registrar may use symbols such as * for birth, oo for marriage, and + for death.)

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 3.

Background

Marriage records go back to 1809. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many civil registries were destroyed, along with all or part of their records.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1809-1865

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was married?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor's first child if they are available: • Birth record of the first child • Death record of the first child

By subtracting the first child's age plus one year from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of the parent's marriage.

Tip 2. What if I can't read the record?

Civil registry records are usually written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 3. How do I verify the birth of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a civil registry has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be married within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years before the birth of the first child. • If one or more entries exist, check civil registry death records to eliminate those entries of couples that died before or after your ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the civil registries of surrounding towns, and repeat the above process until you find the marriage entry for your ancestors.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of marriage records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers section of Family History Library Services and Resources.

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian marriage records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1809-1865

You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available on the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Civil Registry

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the birth records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the civil registry. For assistance in writing, please see the Italian Letter Writing Guide.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Family History Library • 35 North West Temple Street • Salt Lake City, UT 84150-3400 USA

Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1866-Present

Guide

Introduction

As a result of Napoleon's rule, a large part of Italy began keeping civil registration records in about 1809. In many of the areas of the north, keeping records ceased in 1815 but continued in the south up to 1865. Information found in a birth entry depends on how detailed the civil registrar made his record. For more information on civil registry marriage records, see Background.

What You Are Looking For

The following information may be found in a marriage entry: • The names of your ancestors. • The date of your ancestors' marriage. • The name of your ancestors' parents . • The names of the witnesses. • The date of your ancestors' birth (usually their age at the time of marriage). • The place of your ancestors' birth (and/or where they were residing when married). • The residence of the parents. • The occupation of the father.

Steps

These 4 steps will guide you in finding your ancestor in Italian civil registry records.

Step 1. Find the year of your ancestor's marriage record.

To find the marriage records available at the library, look in the Family History Library Catalog. Go to What to Do Next, select the Family History Library Catalog, and click on the tab for Town Records to see if your ancestor's town is listed. When looking for your ancestor's marriage record, remember: • Marriage records are arranged chronologically. • Marriage records may be intermixed with birth or burial records.

For help in finding the year, see Tip 1. Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1866-Present

Step 2. Find the entry for your ancestor.

Look for the last names, which are often clearly written and underlined; then look for the given names. You may have to check further to make sure you find the correct entry: • If the entry gives the ages of the bride and groom, they should be compatible with their ages at death or on census or other records.

For help in reading the record entry, see Tip 2. For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 3.

Step 3. Copy the information, and document your sources.

If you can, photocopy the record. If you can't, be sure to copy all the information in the entry, including: • All the people listed and their relationships to each other. (Remember, witnesses are often relatives.) • All the dates in the entry and the events they pertain to. (Sometimes birth, marriage, and death information pertaining to the child or parents may be included. The civil registrar may use a symbol such as + for death.) Be sure to look for additional dates in the entry's margin. • All the localities in the entry and who was from the places listed.

On the copy, document the source of the information. List: • The type of source (a paper certificate, a microform, a book, an Internet site, and so forth). • All reference numbers for the source. Carefully record any microfilm, book, or certificate numbers or the name and Internet address of the site you used. Step 4. Analyze the information you obtain from the marriage record.

To effectively use the information from the marriage record, ask yourself the following questions: • Is this the marriage entry of my direct line ancestors? Because names are so common, you must be sure you have the correct record. • Did the civil registrar identify both parents, and are the mothers' maiden names given? • Were additional event dates, such as birth, death, etc., given in the entry's margin? (The civil registrar may use symbols such as * for birth, oo for marriage, and + for death.)

For help in verifying that you have the correct record entry, see Tip 3.

Background

Marriage records go back to 1809. Because of wars, natural disasters, and accidents, many civil registries were destroyed, along with all or part of their records.

Research Guidance 2 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1866-Present

Tips

Tip 1. How do I find the year my ancestor was married?

The following types of records may give the age of the ancestor's first child if they are available: • Birth record of the first child • Death record of the first child

By subtracting the first child's age plus one year from the year of the record in which they appear, you can determine the approximate year of the parent's marriage.

Tip 2. What if I can't read the record?

Civil registry records are usually written in Italian. The language used in the record may also be affected by: • The language of bordering countries. • An invasion by foreign countries. • The movement of ethnic groups into Italy, such as the Albanians.

For publications that can help you read the languages, see the Italian Word List, and the Latin Word List. Tip 3. How do I verify the birth of my direct-line ancestor?

Often more than one family in a civil registry has the same family name. Because the same children's given names are used in every family, several children with the same given and family names could be married within a few years of each other. To identify the correct direct-line ancestor and his or her parents: • Check 5 years before the birth of the first child. • If one or more entries exist, check civil registry death records to eliminate those entries of couples that died before or after your ancestor. • If you eliminate all the possibilities, check the civil registries of surrounding towns, and repeat the above process until you find the marriage entry for your ancestors.

Where to Find It

Family History Centers

Many Family History Centers can borrow microfilms of marriage records from the Family History Library. The library charges a small fee to loan a microfilm to a Family History Center. Family History Centers are located throughout the United States and other areas of the world. For the address of the Family History Center nearest you, see Family History Centers section of Family History Library Services and Resources.

Research Guidance 3 Version of Data: 03/13/01 Italy, Civil Registration Marriage 1866-Present

Family History Library

The Family History Library has microfilmed many of the Italian marriage records. There is no fee for using these microfilms in person. You may request photocopies of the record from the library for a small fee. You will need to fill out a Request for Photocopies—Census Records, Books, Microfilm, or Microfiche form. The Family History Library microfilm number is available on the Family History Library Catalog. Send the form and the fee to the Family History Library. See Family History Library Services and Resources for information about contacting or visiting the library.

Civil Registry

If the Family History Library has not microfilmed the birth records for your locality, you will need to write in Italian to the civil registry. For assistance in writing, please see the Italian Letter Writing Guide.

Research Guidance 4 Version of Data: 03/13/01

Other Resources Italy

Handy guide to Italian genealogical records / by Floren Stocks Preece and Phyllis Pastore Preece. HBLL Call Number CS 752 .P73x 1978

Cyndi’s List Italy Links http://www.cyndislist.com/italy.htm

Italian Ancestry.com http://www.italianancestry.com/

Searchable Database of Italian Archive Locations(In Italian) http://www.archivi.beniculturali.it/UCBAWEB/

Italian National Libraries, Archives, and Museums http://www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/cgi-bin/browse.pl?id=201829

Piedmont project family group sheets Family group sheets compiled from the microfilmed parish records pertaining to the Protestant Waldenses in the Piemonte region of Italy, especially the . Surnames are arranged in alphabetical order. http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=title details&titleno=327231&disp=Piedmont+project+family+group+sheets%20%20&colum ns=*,0,0

FamilySearch Wiki https://wiki.familysearch.org/en/Portal:Italy