My husband’s Italian grandparents,
Domenico Santeusanio and Maria Scungio, circa 1919
Ancestral Research
Italian ancestral research is the heart of what I do—it is ALL that I do.
The vast genealogical resources of Italy can be difficult for English speakers to access online. Because of my familiarity with the Italian language, Latin, old script, and a myriad of online repositories, I can find records that you may not know exist. Depending on the where your ancestor lived, there may be online access through communal and provincial archives, Antenati, and Family Search to civil records, military records, parish records, catasti, and riveli (records similar to census records), and much more.
The “comune” of Crecchio, birthplace of Rob’s grandfather, Domenico Santeusanio
Finding your ancestor’s birth “comune”
In the US, if you want a vital record from California, you can order it from the California Department of Public Health which can issue a certified record of any birth, marriage, or death that occurred anywhere in California from 1905 to the present. Not so in Italy!
In Italy, vital records can only be issued by the “comune” or municipality in which it occurred—and this is where it gets complicated; currently there are 7,904 municipalities in Italy.
Knowledge of your ancestor’s birth “comune” is the key to any ancestral research project and central to a claim of Italian citizenship by descent.
If you don’t know your ancestor’s birth comune, I can find it…
I have a perfect track record in uncovering the ancestral towns of my clients.
Uncovering generations of your ancestor’s family tree
Once your ancestor’s birth comune is known, research can begin. In general, consistent civil records began in 1809 in southern Italy and 1820 in Sicily. Most of northern Italy, does not have consistent civil records until 1866, after the unification of Italy.
If your ancestor’s comune has a complete set of civil records from 1809 to 1910, I can usually uncover their family tree back to the late 1700’s, with the help of marriage documents. People are often surprised by how much can be discovered about their Italian ancestors without setting foot there.
Scungio family wedding, circa 1913, in New Castle, PA
Custom Ancestral Research Books
If you are interested in having your research compiled into a small book to share with relatives, I can create and have one printed for you. The book will include the history of your ancestor’s town, relevant Italian history of their day, images of their Italian birth and marriage records with translations, their family tree, their immigration record, and a summary of the social climate in the United States when they arrived, all with historic images and maps. Your ancestor’s immigration story is more likely to be passed on to future generations in book form.
