Thursday, February 21, 2008

Immigration and NaturalizationRecords

I haven't posted for awhile; just distracted with other things. But I will start getting back to business with Italian Genealogy.

To start off I want to remind everyone of a conference on computerized Family History and Genealogy at BYU on March 14 and 15. It should be good. For more info go to http://familyhistoryconferences.byu.edu .

Immigration and Naturalization Records can be a key in linking your family back to the other side of the Atlantic. Have you searched them? The Family History Library probably has the biggest collection of Naturalization Records and a good amount of Immigration records including passenger lists. Ancestry.com also has a great collection of these records that are already indexed and fairly simple to search. Two other great places to go is Ellisisland.org where you can sign up for free and search in there database and view that passenger list of your ancestor and even CastleGarden's free search website. The National Archives also holds probably the majority of all passenger lists and immigration type records. It is a little more complicated to use and costs about $25 or order one film and often times it may be necessary to actually go there.

After all this has been said let me explain a little about these records.

Passenger Lists

Unfortunately there are no complete collection of passenger lists.
From early colonial times until about 1820:

  • Kept by colonies and states where the port was located. The colonies and states made their own requirements from captains as to what information about passengers was required.
  • The records are kept in the port city or the state archives of the state


Naturalization (Citizenship) Records:


  • There was no comprehensive regulation of naturalization until 1906, when Congress established the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization, before some naturalization took place mostly within the jurisdiction of the courts. The last 75 years are confidential.

  • There are three steps in the citizenship process
    • Declaration of intention (first papers)
      • Usually filed soon after their coming to the U.S. can contain biographical information.
    • Petition for Naturalization (second or final papers)
      • Formal applications submitted to the court clerk by individuals who had met the residency requirements and who had declared their intention to become citizen.
    • Certificates of Naturalization
      • They were issued on completion of all citizenship requirements.
Passport Records
-Began in 1795
-Before 1930 these records are on microfilm at the FHL
-Not everyone, but some people would obtain a passort as they traveled back and forth between countries. You may find more out about your ancestor through this document.

Ellis Island

  • Between 1892-1954 approximately 12 million people were processed in the facilities. It is estimated that today 40% of all Americans can trace their roots to at least one person who passed through the center.
  • Statue of Liberty Ellis Island foundation-computerized the records. http://www.ellisisland.org/
  • Castle Garden, America's first official immigration center, (http://www.archives.gov/global-pages/exit.html?link=http://www.castlegarden.org) has an online searchable database of 10 million immigrants from 1830 through 1892, the year Ellis Island opened.
Immigration Books


They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins, by Loretto Dennis Szucs American Naturalization Records, 1790-1990, by John J. Newman.

A Bibliography of Ship Passenger Lists, 1583-1825 (New York: New York Public Library), third edition, 1978, by Harold Lancour.

They Came in Ships : A Guide to Finding Your Immigrant ancestor’s arrival record,Salt Lake City, UT, by John Philip Colletta.




Friday, November 30, 2007

On the website www. Italianancestry.com I found information about a newletter/magazine for Italian genealogy, called Comunes of Italy. The information about it states:
Comunes of Italy is published every other month. It consists of 20-24 pages that are packed with information. Each issue features a province in Italy. Meaning that issue will contain every ounce of information you need to research in that province, (postal codes, Roman Catholic church addresses in the province, Archivio di Stato address, tourist office address, newspaper addresses, census info, etc.) with some provincial recipes and history included for good measure. Copies of original Italian documents are displayed in the pages to give the researcher a better understanding of what they are, the information they contain, and the significance and importance of each.
This looks good to subscribe to, I am going to check it out.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

ICAPGEN

I havn't posted for awhle but I wanted to give un update on the recent family history conference I attended two weeks ago. It was held at BYU and was the ICAPGen Conference, "How to become and excellent genealogist." So I learned that you can become accredited in Italy research. Some of the main classes I attended were about how to become accredited so here is some info:

Preparation:

  • You must have 1000 hours of research in the area of interest to apply for accreditation.
  • You should extensively research a wide range of records in the area.
  • You must have a 4 generation study with well documented records, and a research log showing what records were research and if anything was found or not.
  • Have a report reflecting research experience and competence.
  • Have compliled a refernce notebook with reference materials.
  • Must be able to read all the documents in the languages of the country.

The test will include:

  • paleagraphy
  • document recognition
  • a research case
  • a pedigree analysis
  • questions and answers
  • An oral exam

Well there is alot of work to do to get ready. It shall be fun.... now to the FHL.

Saturday, October 13, 2007

Latin names- BEWARE!

I have recently seen some one's family history record who had names written down on their family tree such as "Antoniam," "Dominicus," & "Josephi." This makes me cringe! They had taken these names straight from the latin record and left them in their declined state, which is incorrect. Why? you may ask; I will tell you.

I am currently taking a Latin class and BYU. We have learned some good principles about nouns that everyone who reads latin records should be aware of. Nouns, in Latin, are declined according to the position they take in the sentence. For each position; subject, direct object, indirect object, etc.., there is an ending attached to the noun.

For example if our friend named Joseph took the position as the subject of the sentence we would add "-us" to the end of his name, making him "Josephus". If he was the direct object an "-um" would be tacked on and his name would appear as "Josephum." If we said of or from Joseph we would write his name as "Josephi." If we used his name as and indirect object we would write, "Josepho." Yet his real name, the one that should be on the PAF, is Joseph, or in Italian= Giuseppe, or in Spanish =Jose.

I hope this clarifies this for those who research in latin records.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

conference

I was reading and found out about a celebration where they will be speaking somewhat about Italian Genealogy.

Italian heritage program to be held Oct. 12
The Ann Bambino Lodge #2353, Order Sons of Italy in America will present its annual Celebration of Italian Heritage and Culture program on Friday, October 12, 7 p.m. The guest speaker is Leo Cimini, the OSIA's Literary Award chairman, and his subject will be Italian American Writers and Genealogy. The program will be held at the Massapequa Park Village Hall, 151 Front St., Massapequa Park in the downstairs meeting room. Light refreshments will be served at the conclusion. Admission is free and all are welcome. Find out more: http://www.massapequapost.com/news/2007/1003/events_&_calendar/008.html

Lucca Italy's Archives

Lucca Italy holds three main archives. The following is the information about these archives.

Lucca Dioceses Archive info:
Open M,T,W,F; from 9:30-12:30
Phone: 0583.430854
Email: archivio@diocesilucca.it
Archivist: Signora Elisa

Lucca Notarial Archive info:
Open 8:30-12:30 M-F and Mondays and Wednesdays also in the afternoon from 2:30-4:30. Located in the center of the town.

Lucca Achivio di Stato info:
Open 9:00-13:00 M-F
Phone: 0571-757858
e-mail: archivio.storico@comune.empoli.fi.it
Director: Giorgio Tori
Archivist: Sergio Nelli
Talk to Rita Giusti for microfilms.

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Welcome

This is a new blog dedicated to genealogy and family history in Italy. Soon to come is information about the search. Get ready to have fun.