Another copy of the NY background check with an apostille arrived today. I think someone from the NY Secretary of State's office must have gotten the background check notarized and then they apostilled it and returned it. Very nice.
In addition, the FBI background check came today. Send it off for an apostille by the Department of State in DC.
Finally, the NY Background Check arrived in the mail. Well, actually what they sent was a signed and certified letter saying that what I received before was all I would receive. So I attached that letter to the check. Mailing the combined off for an apostille by NY.
I wanted to share some details of the story of how I finally found my grandparents’ marriage certificate.
When I started my document gathering in September, I first focused on what I thought would be the “harder” documents to get, like my great-grandparents’ Italian birth certificates and their marriage certificate, my great-grandfather’s naturalization records, and the like. I left the “easy” documents to later, in part to spread out the cost.
Well, my grandparents’s marriage certificate was not easy. I’ve mentioned many of these details in other posts, but I thought I’d collect it all into a single story.
First, my grandmother is 96 years old, in a nursing home. My aunt was unable to find a copy of her marriage certificate in my grandmother’s records. Requesting the document was a challenge. In NY State, and probably many states, you cannot order a certified marriage certificate unless you’re a spouse, unless both spouses are deceased. That’s a challenge if one of the spouses is very elderly, in a nursing home. Fortunately, my aunt has power of attorney. But the state requires a copy of my grandmother’s photo ID. Well, my grandmother never drove and never had a driver’s license, and hasn’t had a passport since the 1960s (which has long since disappeared). (So despite what George Will says, there are lots of legal US citizens, many poor or elderly, who have no photo ID.) Without an ID, you can mail a utility bill, in the person’s name, and a letter from a government agency, in the person’s name. That’s a challenge if someone’s in a nursing home – they have no utility bills. The best my aunt could do was a bill from the nursing home addressed to my aunt with a RE: my grandmother and my grandmother’s retirement check addressed to my grandmother at my aunt’s address. Fortunately, this was enough for the state to release the marriage certificate.
Second, no one was certain about the date of their marriage. Sadly, my grandmother could not help. We were able to narrow it down based on when my aunt and father were born, and based on a comment I remembered that my parents could have been married in the 25 year of my grandparent’s marriage. What this means is that the request only included a 3-year search range, not an exact marriage date. i suppose that’s an invitation for a “no record found” since searching over years requires some diligence.
My aunt sends the request off to the City of Buffalo. And we get “no record found”.
That’s odd since we knew that both my grandmother and grandfather lived in Buffalo. And it’s almost inconceivable that they would have gotten married anywhere but one of the Italian Roman Catholic churches on the West Side of Buffalo.
So we try three tacks.
First, my aunt mails off a request to NY State. We originally requested through Buffalo because it’s $10 rather than $30, and a lot quicker.
Second, I send letters and emails off to just about every city and town clerk around Buffalo, on the off chance that they might have gotten married elsewhere.
Third, I send letters and emails off to just about every Roman Catholic Church in Buffalo and the neighboring communities. We knew the church that my father was baptized in and that my grandfather was baptized in. And my grandmother’s cousin knew the church that my grandmother was active in as a young adult.
None of the towns and none of the churches had any record of my grandparent’s marriage.
So now I broaden the search even further. I try Niagara Falls. Who knows, maybe they wanted to have a reception in the Falls and got marriage in a church in the Falls – at that time, there was a large Italian community there as well as Buffalo. Nothing from them.
I’m stumped. I ask my dad, my aunt, and cousins again. Everyone mentions the churches we already tried. One of the churches suggests that we try to contact the church that my grandmother was baptized in since that church’s records might note where and when my grandmother was married, even if it wasn’t in that church. Well, my grandmother was born and baptized in Sicily, so that does not seem like an easy option. I do email my grandfather’s baptismal church, but they have no record.
I email one of my cousins who was a bit of a family historian before I took over doing genealogy. He said, you know, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was your great-grandparent’s church – my GM’s church. Well, that church closed down years and years ago. I ask my dad. He says, sure, that was my mom’s church; didn’t I tell you that. He didn’t. But I’m happy to have a new lead.
So I email a few churches and ask if they know if any church might have a record for NBVM. One does. I email that church. They email me that they found the record – I receive that email two hours after my visit to the Detroit consulate. They mail me my grandparent’s marriage record.
Now I send a copy of that back to the City of Buffalo, along with a copy of their certified “no record found” they had sent my aunt. A couple weeks later, I get a certified copy of their marriage certificate. And a few days after that, my aunt gets their marriage record from New York.
I guess one irony is that if I had just mailed NY months ago, and waited, and waited, and waited, I would have gotten their marriage certificate anyway (since we did). But of course, when we’re going through this process, you get a heightened level of impatience. And especially when I knew I had my March consulate meeting, I was working hard to try to find their marriage certificate, my only missing piece.
Another irony is that Detroit ended up not requiring my grandparent’s marriage certificate – accepting the “no record found” (along with my grandfather’s death certificate) as sufficient.
After lots of effort over the past several months, my grandparent's marriage certificate finally arrives from NY State.
The death certificate for my great-grandmother, Maria (Giambrone) Palmeri, arrives today. This lists her mother's last name as Amico/a (some other things listed it as D'amico).
death certificate, Maria (Giambrone) Palmeri
So, today I'm emailing and writing churches in the City of Buffalo to see if any have a record of the marriage of my grandparents, Joseph Palmeri and Sarina Millonzi.
I'm also writing the clerks and courts of the City of Buffalo to see if they have any record of an official name change for my grandfather from "Joseph Palmieri", as on his birth certificate, to "Joseph Palmeri", as he went throughout his adult life.
We'll see what happens.
Update 13 Feb 2012
The Erie County Clerk returned my email. This is what they said:
Mr. Palmeri: The search for a court action to change a name would be filed in our court. However, an immigrant is allowed legally to change his or her name by simply having the new name stated on the Certificate of Naturalization. So there may not have been a formal action.
If you would like us to search for the court action, you may make your request in writing to the Basement Record Room, Erie County Clerk's Office, 92 Franklin Street, Buffalo, New York 14202. The cost will be $5 for every two years searched per document type (court action). The more information that you can provide, the easier potentially it will be for us to search (and the less expensive for you.)
And:
Years ago, if the parent changed the name, the surname of the minor child was also changed, so there might not be a record of the change of name, but there would be an amended Birth Certificate. However, it is possible that the spelling of the name was not officially noted and that your grandfather just used the name as you know it.
Update 28 Feb 2012
Another response from the Erie County Clerk:
Thank you for contacting the Erie County Clerk’s Office. CHRISTOPHER L. JACOBS has requested that I respond to your email.
Your request will engender a search charge. Please make your request in writing to the Erie County Clerk – Basement Record Room, 92 Franklin Street, Buffalo, New York 14202. You may simply copy this email and mail with your check. As a suggestion, since we will not know the actual cost until the search is completed, you may send in a check with the amount blank and a note that the check is not to exceed a certain amount. We will return a receipt.
The cost for a search is $5 for every two years per name, per document.
The cost for copies is $1 per page and certification is an additional $5.
Please indicate the name(a) under which you would like us to search.
I have finally received a certified copy of the death certificate for my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri. It took several attempts, but we finally got it. No surprises. No errors. His last name is spelled Angelo Palmeri, like his birth certificate. Sending this to get apostilled.
death certificate for my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri
I have a genealogical copy of my grandfather's birth certificate. For some reason, I was able to get that a while back but I need a court order to obtain a certified copy (see below). He was born over 100 years ago. He died over 40 years ago. But I still need a court order.
So I'm going to try to compile together the information I get on obtaining and putting together that court order. I'm just getting start started.
I first emailed a help desk at the NY State Supreme Court of Erie County. The person at the City Clerk's Office in Buffalo said that it would need to be a State Supreme Court order. From the court web site, it seems that they are the only court that can order the government to take some action. This is what the help desk said:
"In order to obtain a court order you must prepare a Petition, which outlines you were are, what the relationship is to the person whose birth record you want, along with the purpose for the record. You may want to attach any documents you may have supporting your reasons for your request for a Supreme Court Order. Since you want to do this without the assistance of an attorney, you also must prepare a proposed Order for the Judge to sign if your application is approved. This office does not have any pre-printed forms for such a matter. Once you have prepared your petition & proposed order, they need to be submitted to the Chief Clerk's Office of Supreme Court in the county where your grandfather was born. If in Erie County, the address is 25 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. NY 14202."
I think from various things I found on the web, I can put together both a Petition and a proposed Order. What I am uncertain about is how to file a RJI (request for judicial intervention) and how to obtain an index number and whether I will need to do anything to issue a summons to the clerk of Buffalo, as suggested on various blog sites.
Update 11 Jan 2012
New response from the help desk:
"As previously stated, the Petition, any supporting documentation and proposed order need to be submitted to the Chief Clerk's Office of Supreme Court in the county where your grandfather was born. If in Erie County, the address is 25 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. NY 14202. Erie County does not require an index number nor an RJI unless you want the original documents to be on file with the Erie County Clerk. The petitioner can by-pass the County Clerk altogether and go straight to the Special Term Judge and take the order directly to Vital Records once the order has been signed. Regarding serving the Vital Records Office, I suggest you include a cover letter asking the judge if it is required to serve them."
Based on this, and I followed up with more questions, it sounds like I can send a cover letter, a copy of the Petition, and a copy of the Proposed Order to the Special Term Judge, which now for Erie County appears to be Judge D'Amico. He may require that I "serve" the Vital Records Office or not. Who knows, maybe I would not even need to appear before him. Fingers crossed.
Update 11 Jan 2012
Another response today:
"Your petition would go the Supreme Court Civil Special Term Judge not the County Special Term Judge. Your petition should be sent to the Chief Clerk's Office at 25 Delaware Avenue, Buffalo. NY 14202 because the application must first be logged in so that Supreme Court has a record of receiving the application and for tracking purposes. Paperwork should be sent directly to a judge only after the case has been assigned to that judge."
Update 12 Jan 2012
Response today:
"You should send your petition, proposed order and supporting exhibits to the Chief Clerk's Office. I would also suggest a cover letter, listing your complete mailing address, phone number and email address(optional) if the court needs to get in touch with you. I would also suggest including a self-addressed stamped envelope so that the order, petition, and exhibits can be returned to you once the order has been signed by the judge."
a genealogical copy of my grandfather's birth certificate from the City of Buffalo
I finally gave up on ordering genealogical records from NY State. They cashed my checks back in July and still have yet to send me any records. I wrote a letter complaining, but I'm sure that will do no good.
So instead I've been emailing and writing various town clerks to see if they might have any vital records.
The Lockport Town Clerk found the death certificate for my wife's great-great-grandfather, John Morris. It's $11 for the death certificate but they charged no search fee upfront.
The Kenmore Town Clerk found the death certificate for my great-grandfather, Samuel Wilson. Again, no search fee. Just a $22 fee for a copy of the death certificate.
Now I'm hoping that this will have the names of his parents, specifically his mother. I have that his father, my great-great-grandfather, was David Wilson, and I even have what's thought to be a photo of David. What I'm unsure about is the name of his mother. It could be Elizabeth Watts. I'm also hoping that it will confirm both his birth date and his home town of Ballymena, Ireland.
I sent my birth certificate and Amy's birth certificate to get apostilled by the NY Department of State.
They were returned today. Even though these are official birth certificates, with signatures and a raised seal, from the City of Buffalo, in order to get apostilled, they need to also be certified by the Erie County Clerk.
Ugh.
Glad we're not under any time constraint.
Update 14 Nov 2011
Found out how to request that our birth certificates be signed and certified by the Erie County Clerk. Cost: $3 a piece. Include a SASE. Mail to:
Erie County Clerk
Attn: Customer Service
92 Franklin Street
Buffalo, NY 14202
As I noted in a recent post, it looks like my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri, came to the US through Ellis Island in 1909 with his sister-in-law, Giuseppa (Baglio) Palmeri, and his nephew, Giuseppe Palmeri. The manifest says that all three were going to join Pietro Palmeri in Yatesboro, Pennsylvania. I originally thought that was simply an error, or that it could be the wrong Palmeri family entirely. But then I found census records for Pietro and Salvatore Palmeri in Buffalo that note that some of their children were born in Pennsylvania as well as Italy and Buffalo.
I've now confirmed from marriage records from Serradifalco that this was indeed my great-grandfather, Angelo, traveling with his brother Pietro's wife, Giuseppa (Baglio) Palmeri.
A new search on familysearch.org turned up Palmeris in Pennsylvania in the 1910 census in Cowanshannock, Armstrong, Pennsylvania, right outside of Yatesboro.
Salvatore Palmeri and his family, Pietro Palmeri and his family, and Angelo Palmeri living outside of Yatesboro, Pennsylvania, according to the 1910 census
That's coal country and Salvatore, Pietro, and Angelo all list themselves as coal miners. Serradifalco was a major sulfur mining area in Sicily for many many years. Indeed, some of the oldest mines in Sicily are near Serradifalco. As such, many immigrants from Serradifalco came to work in the mining industry in the US. It appears that three of the Palmeri brothers did for a time. Angelo went to Buffalo the next year to marry Maria Giambrone in 1910. It seems that Pietro and Salvatore went to Buffalo a few years later, probably around 1913 or 1914 based on when various children were born in Pennsylvania or New York.
I found some things online that indicated that Yatesboro had coal mines in the early 1900s that were run by the Cowanshannock Coal Company. I found this web site on the early history of Yatesboro at http://www.saintmaryyatesboro.org/history.html:
Until the turn of the Nineteenth Century, Cowenshannock Township was sparsely populated rolling farmland with no Catholic church. However, the discovery of abundant coal seams in the hills surrounding Rural Valley heralded the opening of coal mines and an exciting new era of change began in the valley.
In March, 1899, Lucious Waterman Robinson, president of the Commonwealth Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of the Rochester and Pittsburgh Coal and Iron Company, purchased 1000 acres of farmland from millionaire capitalist Adrian Iselan. Robinson’s intention was to open a coal mine, to erect mine buildings and build a company town for his employees. He named the town Yatesboro after Arthur G. Yates, president of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburgh Railroad (BR&P).
The rich veins of coal turned out to be very productive and, by 1901, Commonwealth Coal employed 400 men in the Yatesboro mines. By 1913, the number of miners soared to 1075 men who mined more than 825,000 tons of coal yearly. In the early years of production, nearly all of the coal from the Yatesboro mines was sold to George Eastman (the famous camera magnate) who used it to heat his Eastman Kodak laboratories in Rochester, New York. Mr. Eastman and Mr. Robinson were quite good friends and next door neighbors in Rochester.
With the opening of the mines, immigrants from Europe began to flood into the area to seek their fortune. Many Italians, Scotch, Swedes, and middle Europeans such as Poles and Czechoslovakians left their homelands to seek the riches promised in America. Not sure what they would find in this new land, many left their families behind in Europe. (The coal company especially encouraged married men to work in the mines as they represented a more stable workforce.) Coming by train straight from New York to Yatesboro, most of the immigrants boarded in the company-owned Valley Hotel until the company built the planned two hundred and fifty single and double houses that would allowed the miners to send for their families.
Eventually, Commonwealth Coal and Coke was operating five mines in Yatesboro and the company town grew to include a company-owned store (The Valley Supply), a fine hotel, a pool hall as well as a school (grades 1 – 10) and churches.
Many of the European immigrants brought with them their strong Catholic faith and traditions which were a central part of their lives in their homelands. With no church within walking distance, Roman and Greek Catholics began to congregate at Peter Mann’s Hall where the Lutherans also held their Sunday services. (Peter Mann’s Hall was a social hall and pool room located on the site of the present day William Penn club on Main Street, Rural Valley). It was at Peter Mann’s Hall, on August 15, 1901, the Feast of the Assumption, that Father John DeVille, a priest from Saint Anthony’s Church in Walston, Jefferson County (Diocese of Erie) gathered the Catholics together to celebrate their first Mass.
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Yatesboro, Pennsylvania, northeast of Pittsburgh
One of the first suggestions you get when you start doing genealogy is to talk to your relatives. Well, sometimes it takes a little work to figure out who your relatives are.
Last spring, I used a brute force approach, sending letters to about a dozen Palmeris listed in the Buffalo phone book. I included a bit of the Palmeri family tree, asking if any of them were related to Charles and Barbara Palmeri, brother and sister to my great-grandparents. One of the letters apparently went to the son of a second cousin of my father. He passed it on to his father who gave me a call. We met over the summer and he gave me a lot of information on the Palmeri family that I talk about in another post.
He also gave me some contacts on the Giambrone side. I talked to one Giambrone cousin who put me in touch with another Giambrone cousin.
From her, I learned that my great-great-grandfather, Giuseppe Giambrone, and my great-great-grandmother, Giuseppa (Josephine) (Amico) Giambrone, both came to the United States. He died around 1941. She died before him and is buried in Mount Calvery Cemetery in Buffalo. Now I know where to turn to get their death records, which should be filled with information. I'm also sending a letter to the cemetery asking them for whatever information they have on file. She also sent me a detailed genealogy of the Giambrone cousins.
In addition to the useful written information, I got a photograph of my great-great-grandfather!
Giuseppe Giambrone, probably abt 1920
And a photo of my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri, my grandfather, Joseph Palmeri, and my great-grandmother, Maria (Giambrone) Palmeri.
Angelo, Joseph, and Maria Palmeri abt 1918
Until now,this is what I know:
Based on the Social Security Death Index, found by searching on ancestry.com, I know that my great-grandfather, Angelo Palmeri, was born 27 Jan 1886 and died in Sep 1969. Based on census records, I know that my great-grandmother, Maria (Giambrone) Palmeri, was born abt 1891. I know from talking with with my dad that she probably died somewhere between 1970 and 1975.
I try calling Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Buffalo, where I know my grandfather is buried. Maybe his parents, my great-grandparents, are buried there as well. No, they're not. But the cemetery suggests calling Mount Calvary, which is right across the street.
I call Mount Calvary. Sure enough, they're buried there. Awesome!
They can tell me that my great-grandfather died 29 Sep 1969 at the age of 83 and that my great-grandmother died 11 Jul 1972 age the age of 82.
Unfortunately, they have no record in the office about their birth date. But they give me the location of the grave site.
My sister takes on my mission to find their grave. With some calls back and forth, including some searches of google maps by me while on the phone with her, she locates the grave marker and sends me a picture:
gravemarker for my great-grandparents, Maria and Angelo Palmeri
Maria (Giambrone) Palmeri was born in 1890. I don't know the day or month, but this narrows things down a lot from where I was only yesterday.
One lesson I've learned over the past couple of years is to regularly check ancestry.com and familysearch.org. New databases are added all the time.
I'm particularly interested in any records related to the date of my great-grandfather's naturalization. I'm 99% certain that he became naturalized after my grandfather was born. My great-grandfather came to the US around 1908. My grandfather was born in 1911. I'm pretty sure there was a waiting period before people could become naturalized. Also, the 1920 census listed him as "pa", which means that his first papers were filed (declaration of intent), but he was not yet a citizen. Only on the 1930 census is he listed as "na", which means naturalized.
But now I need to find proof. So any documentation will help.
My new search on ancestry.com brought up a pretty spartan record from something called the "U.S. Naturalization Record Index".
Not much to go by here. But I try contacting the National Archives in Chicago (because they were the only ones I could find easily oneline) to see if they can help find an original record to go with this index filing.
They tell me that this appears to be the naturalization of Angelo Palmeri while serving in the military during WWI. According to them, the copy of the index card, along with associated information, indicated that he was naturalized in the U. S. District Court, Western District of New York in 1918. But I needed to contact the NY office of the National Archives. I email them (twice) and am still waiting for a response.
I'm not sure if this is my great-grandfather, given that he was listed as "pa" in the 1920 census, but maybe this indexes when papers were filed not when naturalization was finalized. I also don't know whether he actually served in WWI. We'll see if they turn up anything. Leave no stone unturned.
Update (19 Oct 2011)
I received a reply. It turns out this belonged to someone who is definitely not my great-grandfather:
Military Petition Number S2-302 from the Western District Court of New York
Name – Angelo Palmeri
Address – Stationed at Fort Niagara, NY
DOB – January 14, 1887 at Perugia, Prov. Prorricia, Italy
Date of Naturalization – June 1918
Too bad. But now that I have a contact in the National Archives, I'm asking if they can search their records given the information I have. This is in parallel with a search request I submitted to Homeland Security. Still waiting.
Never underestimate what another pair of eyes can find.
Every 6 months or so I upload my family tree to ancestry.com. This time I shared it with a couple dozen family members. One of my cousins poked around the tree, pointed out a couple of obvious errors, and did some searching on his own. He unlocked an important discovery.
My great-grandfather on my mother's side, Arthur Burke, married Margaret Ogilvie de Guehery. Family lore had it that the de Guehery family escaped the French Revolution to Germany, then went to Canada, and then the United States.
Last year sometime, while searching familysearch.org I found a marriage record for Margaret de Guehery's parents, Marion Cuthbert and Emanuel de Guehery. It listed Emanuel's parents as Rudolph and Goddlibien de Guehery. More searching turned up nothing else on Rudolph and Goddlibien, including Goddlibien's last name.
This is where my cousin's searching comes in.
He thinks to do a search of google books. And finds this interesting snippet:
My great-great-great-grandfather, Rudolph de Guehery, was born abt 1820 in Dresden, Germany. My great-great-great grandmother was Gottlieben Mack.
There looks like there could be more.
So I email the Ontario Genealogical Society, where this snippet was published, to see if there was a way to find more information from wherever this snippet came from.
The OGS reply with more: Gottlieben Mack was born in 1838 in Mendelsheim, Wuerttenberg, Germany and that Rudolph and Gottlieben emigrated to Canada via Hamburg, Germany. Rudolph died in 1889 in Petawawa, Ontario. Gottlieben died in 1922 in Ebenezer, NY.
They also gave me the name of the person who posted this entry in the "Families" newsletter more than 20 years ago. That's the topic of the next post.