Researching Italian Genealogical Records

The primary research I am conducting at this time is Italian and it centers around two main areas: Carini (just outside of Palermo, Sicily) and Modugno / Grumo Appula (just outside of Bari, Puglia).

I am very lucky to have roots in Italy because FamilySearch has done a wonderful job of filming church records and state civil documents, which are available on FamilySearch and/or on the Italian government site: Antenati.

As someone who doesn't know Italian or Latin, it has been a learning experience to train my brain how to access and read the records. Let me just say, if I can do it, anyone can do the same. It just takes a little practice and dedication.

If you are new to Italian records, please take a look at these three blog posts from Fortify Your Family Tree:

• How to Read Italian Birth Records
• How to Read Italian Marriage Records
• How to Read Italian Death Records

The instructions are fantastic because they really give you everything you need to read and understand what is being told to you in the Italian records.

By the way, a big "thank you" to DiAnn Iamarino Ohama for the wonderful blog: Fortify Your Family Tree.

In addition to the Italian research, I also work on French-Canadian, English and Hungarian/Slovakian genealogy. It is a real mixed bag of places around the world. But all these places that are researched, just makes me a bit more worldly (even if it is just from the living room couch). More to come about these other places.

Missing Misseri's in 1886

Today I was looking at the FamilySearch records for Carini, Palermo, and I have found two missing Misseri's that no online family tree has in their databases. They are:

• Anna Misseri, born on 21 July 1886 to Cesare Misseri e Domenica di Lisi, record #244
• Isabella Misseri, born on 2 September 1886 to Antonino Misseri e Francesca Pizzo, record #291

It's really interesting how people can be lost in history. But not anymore for these two individuals who wanted to be found today, they are being remembered, probably for the first in 138 years.

Modugno Genealogy

 I'm just writing a short note about a fantastic website, by Frank Santoro, called: Modugno Genealogy. This is a public shout-out to Frank for doing such an amazing job of researching the records of Modugno, and also for sharing all his work, freely to the world. I've added hundreds of descendants to my family, especially di Pinto's and Zonni's. One of the best things about the site, is that all the data entries are sourced, either from: Antenati or FamilySearch.

Suzanne Russo Adams: An Accredited Genealogist & Italian Researcher

Suzanne Russo Adams is Accredited Genealogist® specializing in Italian research. The photograph above is from the icapgen.org website.

While in college she published her research thesis as Coexistence and Conflict: Popular Catholicism, the Council of Trent and the Life Cycle in Carini, Palermo, Italy (which you can download by clicking on the link). It gives a wonderful look about what life was like in Carini, Palermo, Italy in the early seventeenth century (1590–1650). As someone who researches the lives of people from northern Sicily, it is so amazing to read about very specific things that were going on with the lives of people and how the Catholic Church shaped their everyday activities regarding Births, Marriages and Deaths.

She has also published a great book on how to do Italian genealogical research called: Finding Your Italian Ancestors: A Beginner's Guide. You can find the book online for your typical retail sites. It is a well laid out book covering the basics of Italian research regarding both church and civil records. It explains how to obtain the records with sample letters and guides on how to read the documents that will be in Latin or Italian. 

If you get a chance to take a class or hear one of her lectures, be sure not to miss it, because Suzanne has so much knowledge to share with fellow researchers.

Here is Suzanne Russo Adams' current bio from Brigham Young University.

Does Nicscemi = Misseri? I think so!

 I've been researching some females during National Women’s History Month. I've been concentrating on women who lived in Palermo, the capital city of Sicily. While digging through online images of the 10-year indices on Antenati, that include birth, marriage and death dates. The 10-year indices cover the years of 1820-1895. The compiled books are awesome, and I am so thankful that they have been produced and digitized, especially because the actual records are not available online.

My goal was to find children of a mother who has the surname of Misseri. As I was working through individuals, I was getting very familiar with the different families during my time research time. I am going to show how a surname can get messed up within an index. And how you really need to pay attention the Italian naming convention to help you not miss searching or adding children or family members that you didn't know existed. And how a little luck helped me find who I was looking for. 

Here is a reminder of the Italian Family Naming Convention: 

• first born son, named for the paternal grandfather
• second born son, named for the maternal grandfather
• first born daughter, named for the paternal grandmother
• second born daughter, named for the maternal grandmother
• and then after that, a child could be names after another important family member, a saint, or someone who was important to the parents

In my example, I was searching for the children of Giuseppe La Barbera (b. 24 Dec 1840) and Francesca Misseri (b. 6 Nov 1846).

• Giuseppe's parents are Angelo La Barbera and Anna Troia
• Francesca's parents are Ignazio Misseri and Ninfa Vita Magnasco

It is important to know who the parents are, and I found Giuseppe La Barbera and Francesa Misseri's marriage details, including the date (6 Nov 1868) and the parents' names by going through the 1866-1875 matrimoni indices.

Now back to my example. I discovered the following children for Giuseppe La Barbera and Francesca Misseri:

• Anna La Barbera (b. 9 Mar 1873)
• Ignazio La Barbara (b. 1 Feb 1877)
• Rosario La Barbera (b. 27 Mar 1880)
• Ninfa La Barbera (b. 22 Sep 1883)
• Filippa La Barbera (b. 10 Apr 1887)

You can see the Italian Naming Convention was definitely in play with the first four children that I found in the records. But I was missing someone! Knowing that Giuseppe's father is Angelo, and I could see there was a gap from the marriage year (1868) and the year of the first child (1873); I realized I was probably missing a child named Angelo. So, I went back the Index Books and searched for an Angelo born between 1868 and 1873. Only two "Angelo" La Barbera's were born during the time period that and unfortunately both were born to a Giuseppe. And neither Angelo was born to Francesca Misseri. But one of the mothers of the Angelo had a first name of Francesca. Next step, what was the surname of Francesca?

This is the interesting part of genealogical research: names change! Either the name in question morphs into something new and different over time or someone changes it by mistake (usually because it sounds like something similar, they are familiar with, phonically spells it, switches or adds a letter or two, etc.).

What I found was nothing like Misseri, but it was a surname I have seen one other time before with another female Misseri; the surname I found was Niscemi. I guess the two names do sound familiar, but boy, they are spelled completely different. I have seen Niscemi in conjunction with a Giuseppa Filippa Misseri (b. 28 Sep 1821 - d. 7 Dec 1893), who was also from Palermo in Sicily. That was my luck. I am pretty good at keeping alternate names of individuals when I find them. And this time it helped.

So, was my mystery solved? Yes and no. I am adding Angelo to my tree, but until I can get a copy of his birth certificate or baptism record, I won't know for sure if my hunch is correct in thinking the Francesca Niscemi is indeed Francesca Misseri. By the way, I can't find a marriage record or any other children whose parents are Giuseppe La Barbara and Francesca Niscemi. So that is the main reason why I have attached Angelo to my tree.

Here are the details for Angelo:

• Angelo La Barbera (b. 17 May 1870), parents: Giuseppe La Barbara and Francesca Niscemi

You can see in the image above, both Francesca Niscemi and Francesca Misseri.

In the end, sometimes you have to keep an open mind when researching. Especially when you aren't finding what you are looking.

Grace Esther (Williams) Doucette

I have spent the last 10 years searching for any death information for Grace Esther Williams and today was the day she wanted to be found. (I truly believe our ancestors want to be found!) Grace Esther Williams married James Edward Doucette on 28 Dec 1913 in Melrose, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA. During the past 10 years I only knew that when James Edward Doucette got married on 25 Apr 1916 to Grace Catherine McArdle, that he was listed as a "widow." So, I knew that I had a 3-year windows to find some type of death information for Grace Williams. But she eluded me in every search I ever conducted. Until today. Newspapers.com had a free access this weekend and I decided to see what I could find if I put Grace Esther Williams or Grace Esther Doucette into the search box. And this is what it spit out at me:

Wow, I thought to myself, is this really the information I have been searching all this time for? But the newspaper article said Grace died "earlier" in the week! Now, I just needed to find the exact date of her death. Well, I went to my first go-to genealogical website: FamilySearch! I put her name in the search box and pressed enter. After reviewing several entries, I found that she died on 6 July 1914 in Belleville, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. Which all makes sense because James Edward Doucette had family in Belleville. Grace died while being pregnant, which would have been their first child. James had to bury his wife knowing that he could have been a father in the coming months. They had only been married for 7 months. Grace was buried in Eel Brook, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada on 7 July 1914. Grace's parents are William Thomas Williams and Grace Ellen Hughes, both born in Wales.

I have to admit I expected to find Grace Esther (Williams) Doucette would have died in the Boston area and I did spend quite a bit of time searching the records in and around Boston. One of the main reasons for this assumption was because I had found James Doucette in several City Directories from 1913-1917 in the Boston area. So, this is just a reminder to think outside-the-box and realize that our ancestors didn't just stay in one place. Obviously, James and Grace travelled north to visit his family in Nova Scotia and that is where Grace fell ill and died. Lesson learned!!

Thank you, Grace Esther Williams (20 Dec 1895 - 6 Jul 1914) for wanting to be found today!

One Name (actually two: Scorca & de Pinto), One Place (Grumo Appula) Study

I've been wrapping up my One Name, One Place Study, actually two names: Scorca and de Pinto (because it is fairly easy to keep track of two surnames when looking through the indexed records). I don't have the exact number, but I know that I've added about 150 Scorca family members to my Italian tree. I don't know about you, but I think that is a lot of people from a small Italian town, Grumo Appula. By the way, both Scorca and de Pinto are minor families in Grumo Appula. Some indexes can have 10-15 people with the same surname and in that same index, there might not have single Scorca or de Pinto. My family tree already has a couple hundred Scorca's and de Pinto's in it, so adding so many more, just shows how many people are not being remembered in history.