Misseri's living on via Misseri

While going the Carini - 1886 Birth records on FamilySearch, I discovered something for the first time that relates to my original surname, Misseri. I found a Salvatore Misseri (record #261) who was born at the street address of via Misseri, 33. Yes, this is the first time I have found a family with the last name of Misseri who lived on via Misseri in Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy. Salvatore's parents are Vito Misseri and Maria di Maria.

Missing Misseri's in 1871

As I continue to dig through the records of Carini, the birth records of1871 reveled three new individuals with the Misseri surname. If you are doing Carini genealogy research, be sure to add these people to your tree. But today was the day that these three distant cousins wanted to be found. Let's not forget them as history has for the last 153 years.

• Vito Misseri, born on 4 January 1871 to Croce Misseri and Teresa Scavo, record #5
• Teresa Misseri, born on 20 August 1871 to Angelo Misseri and Crocifissa Purpura, record #149
• Cesare Misseri, born on 1 September 1871 to Salvatore Misseri and Anna Lo Geloso, record #231

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.