Italian Research

I love doing genealogy research...and just about everything related to it. There is nothing better than finding a key document, learning about a family member's past, collecting family photos and discovering new relatives. It's all exciting and intertwined in a very cool and sometimes messy way!

I'm fortunate that I have three grandparents out of four that came from Italy. When I say fortunate, it doesn't mean that I love my Italian grandparents any more than my "American" grandparent, however, there are some facets (or many) about Italian records research that make the research very informative. Italian records are more often, than not, PACKED with lots of information about the person that the event is related to (birth, marriage, and death) and often have other information that may be very accurate, or be clues to additional information. When I first started researching, my aunt, who showed me LOTS about genealogy research always impressed upon me that primary sources documents are primary for the event which they were created for. This means that a birth record is a primary document for birth, even though it may have other information on it (parents names, parent ages, grandparents, etc.). You always need to view the document you're looking at as the primary source document for the information you're researching.

Here is an example of information that can be found on a birth record which can give a researcher other clues/information to research. This particular record is the birth record of my great grandfather, Domenico Martellono, born 30 October 1877.

You can see on the document where it says "comparso" = appeared and then has the name of Domenico's father, Tomaso Martellono. A note to readers that often times, the person recording the event had limited spelling ability. For instance, Tomaso is generally spelled Tommaso. These variations can also result in variations in spellings for last names as well.

In this particular document, it lists Tommaso as the father and there is nothing after his name. It notes his age (trentasette/37) and tells that he is a contadino (farmer). The record also notes where he lives, the time, and where he lives. The record then goes on to list the mother for Domenico (sua moglie-his wife) and it lists her maiden name (Domenica Biancetti), and it notes FU Giacomo (FU meaning, of the deceased), so a researcher knows that Domenica's father Giacomo was deceased at the time of Domenico's birth. It also notes "e di" meaning, of the living Maria Scallarone and it lists her age (trentadue/32).

From this one certificate, as a researcher, I was able to get the following information about this child and then the subsequent leads:

Child's date of birth, including time
Where the birth occurred
Father's age
Mother's age
Mother's maiden name
Mother's father's name (and living status)
Mother's mother's name (and living status)

As a researcher, I can then use the information that is "helpful" (maybe not accurate) to see if the information is true such as mother's age, etc. For instance, based on when the child was born, the mother could have a birthday after that date, or could have had one before in that year. This will take a bit of research on the researcher's part, but nonetheless, it helps narrow down further information to find.

Three generations off of one certificate...which is amazing! Had this document had information about Domenico's father's father and mother, I could have conceivably got information for three full generations from one document!

This is just one example of an Italian record, however, many of them are this rich with information. As I noted in the beginning, if you have some Italian ancestors, this doesn't mean you'll love your non-Italian ancestors any less, it will just mean that you can more easily benefit from the great record keeping that Italians kept throughout the ages! In boco al lupo (this means "in the mouth of the wolf" or Good Luck!)!