Apr 172012
 

I had emailed some churches looking for my grandparents' marriage certificate. Someone at one of the churches I wrote actually did some research for me – finding a bunch of things out I already knew, but it was really generous of them to do the searches. One things they found that I didn't have was my great-grandparents' obituaries from one of the Buffalo newspapers.

The one thing these list is names (including married names) of siblings. I had them for my great-grandmother's siblings, but I didn't have them all for my great-grandfather's siblings, and I wasn't sure how many siblings he even had. Turns out a couple I thought were his sisters must have been cousins. They immigrated with my great-grandparents, listing right before them on the Ellis Island manifest, but they were either his cousins or nieces or something.

Feb 092012
 

Today I did some searches of marriage records from Montemaggiore Belsito. Two of my great-grandfather, Rosario Millonzi's, great-grandparents were Giuseppe Maggio and Providenza Tripi, married in 1820; their parents were Giuseppe Maggio and Oreola Civillo, and Castrenza Tripi and Carmela Difrancesco. Two of my great-grandmother, Carmela (Parisi) Millonzi's, great-grandparents were Nunzio Parisi and Nunzia Dolce, married in 1822; their parent were Giacomo Parisi and Francesca Buscaino, and Antonino Dolce and Carmela Arcana. These great-great-great-great-great-grandparents were born in the 1700's.


marriage of Nunzio Parisi and Nunzia Dolce, 1822 in Montemaggiore Belsito

Jan 022012
 

My grandmother's cousin from Montemaggiore Belsito sent me a copy of the Parisi genealogy going back to the early 1800s. This will help make sense of my searches of the Montemaggiore records. One thing this really helped me on was the fact that my great-great-grandmother, Agata Sciolino, married one brother, Rosario Parisi, and then married another brother Angelo Parisi.

My grandmother is Sarina Millonzi Palmeri and my great-grandmother is Carmela Parisi (daughter of Angelo Parisi and Agata Sciolino).

Oct 302011
 

Until a few months ago, I was 1/2 Italian, on my dad's side, and 1/4 Irish and 1/4 French, on my mom's side. My mom's parents were both 1/2 Irish and 1/2 French.

Now, things are a little different. My dad is still full Italian. So that 1/2 is intact. My mom's side is a bit more complex now. 

My maternal grandmother is a Wilson and Cruice. I now know that Wilson side is probably "Scotch-Irish" since census records list Samuel Wilson's parents as being from Belfast and since Samuel Wilson listed his religion as Presbyterian on his marriage record. The origins of the Scotch-Irish lie primarily in northern England and the lowlands of Scotland. They came to Northern Ireland in the 1600s. According to lore, the Cruice family escaped the French Revolution to Ireland. While we considered that part of the family "French", given that Patrick Cruice's wife is Bridget Sweeney, and given that Patrick Cruice's mother appears to be Mary Golden, both decidedly non-French last name, it seems likely that the Cruice side is more like 1/4 French and 3/4 Irish. 

My paternal grandfather is a Burke and de Guehery. The Burke family is Catholic Irish, but we don't know what the Brady family is (Anthony Burke married Maria Brady), but we'll list her as Irish until we know more. We now know more of the history of the de Guehery family. Margaret de Guehery's mother was Marion Cuthbert, who was Scottish. Her father was Emmanuel de Guehery, who was 1/2 French and 1/2 German.

So that makes me:

1/2 Italian (1/8 Palmeri, 1/8 Giambrone, 1/8 Millonzi, 1/8 Parisi)

7/32 Irish (1/16 Burke, 1/16 Brady, 1/16 Sweeney, 1/32 Golden)

1/16 French (1/32 de Guehery, 1/32 Cruice)

1/32 German (Mack)

1/16 Scottish (Cuthbert)

1/8 Scotch-Irish (Wilson)

Oct 012011
 

While I'm aiming to gain dual citizenship through my grandfather and his father, I need copies of my grandmother's and great-grandmother's birth certificates as well. Unlike the paternal birth certificates, these apparently don't need to be official long-form birth certificates, so I'm trying to obtain them on my own rather than pay $50 a piece to go through a place like myitalianfamily.com. We'll see how this goes.

The first step was to figure out where to ask for them. I found several places online that suggested sending requests to the Ufficio dello Stato Civile in the town that the ancestros were born. I was able to find the mailing address in Montemaggiore Belsito for my grandmother and in Serradifalco for my great-grandmother.

The next step was to figure out how to make the request in Italian. Io capisco un po l'italiano. So I needed help. I tried google translate (http://translate.google.com/). To check the quality of the translation, after I translated a sentence from English to Italian, I back-translated the result from Italian to English.

This is what I produced. It says that I need a birth certificate for Rosaria (Sarina) Millonzi, who was born in Montemaggiore Belsito. It gives her birth date and names her parents, Rosario Millonzi and Carmela Parisi. It does ask for them in long form, "formato internazionale" or "estratto per riassunto", just to be safe. It says I will be willing to pay for the processing and shipping. I included a 5 Euro note because we had some Euros in the house from my last trip to Europe. Maybe that'll pay for the shipping. Or it will be a tip for the clerk. If it works and I get the birth certificates, it will be money well spent.

Hopefully this will all work.

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Comunie di Montemaggiore Belsito
Piazza Roma
PA 90020 Montemaggiore Belsito
ITALY

Egregi Signori,

Mi chiamo Thomas Palmeri, ed abito negli Stati Uniti all'indirizzo sopradetto. Cerco informazioni sulla mia nonna, Rosarina (Sarina) Millonzi. Nata nel comune di Montemaggiore Belsito. Cerco questi dati per conoscere meglio la mia famiglia, e per trovare i miei parenti rimasti in Italia.

Vi sarei molto grato se poteste spedirmi l'estratto dell'atto di nascita di Rosarina (Sarina) Millonzi. Nata nel 14 Ottobre, 1915. I suoi genitori erano Rosario Millonzi e Carmela Parisi.

Ho allegato copia del certificato di nascita di mio padre e mio certificato di nascita. Si prega di inviare come "formato internazionale" o "estratto per riassunto" con il nome della madre e del padre.

Vi ringrazio in anticipo per la vostra gentilezza e premura, e vi prego di addebitarmi tutte le spese postali e dei certificati.

Ho incluso 5 euro per alcuni dei costi.

Distinti saluti,

Thomas Palmeri

Sep 122011
 

As I search LDS records for Montemaggiore Belsito, I am recording, in some way, all members of the Millonzi, Salemi, Parisi, and Sciolino families. My great-grandfather Rosario Millonzi's parents were Ignazio Millonzi and Rosaria Salemi. My great-grandmother Carmela Millonzi's parents were Angelo Parisi and Agata Maria Sciolino.

Maybe my efforts will be useful to someone else searching for their families from Montemaggiore. I make no promises for completeness or accuracy. In some cases, I could not read the stylized hand writing.

Click on the link below to access the transcriptions.

Registri dello stato civile Montemaggiore Belsito (Palermo), 1820-1910
Nati 1852-1858 | FHL INTL 2004859

Sep 052011
 

My great-grandmother, Carmela Parisi Millonzi, was born in Montemaggiore Belsito, Province of Palermo, Sicily on 2 Sep 1892. Her parents were Angelo Parisi and Agata Maria Sciolino.

Here is her birth certificate, which I found on a microfilm I ordered through a local Family Research Center at an LDS church in Madison, TN, just north of Nashville. Thankfully, the LDS church records and their microfilm readers are open to anyone. The FRC in Madison is open only a few hours a week, which requires a bit of flexibility to find a time that works for me. Ordering is easy. You pay $6 per microfilm and it arrives in about 2 weeks. You can keep it for about 3 weeks, but they often let them linger for a week or two longer. From what I understand, they are moving the ordering process online (new.familysearch.org) which should make things even easier.

Atti di Nasciti for Carmela Parisi, my great-grandmother

Transcribing these is the tricky part.

First, they're in Italian. I can read only a tiny tiny bit of Italian (but I'm learning). So Google translate is my tool of choice.

Second, they are written in a fairly stylized cursive handwriting. It does take a bit of calibrating to read the text. For example, in "Parisi" the central "s" almost looks like a cursive "f". I've found that after reading them for a while, I can start to pick up on the style. One nice thing is that all the records in a volume are written by the same hand in a very consistent style. Some of those styles are easier than others, to be sure.

Here is my loose translation of the Atti di Nasciti. I haven't been able to figure it all out. But I've been able to pull out what seems to be the most salient information. After I used Google translate I also found some places online where others had translated similar Italian documents (including this http://www.conigliofamily.com/Pa.htm). Unfortunately, google translate doesn't suggest words when there are misspellings.

In the top left corner it gives the birth number for that year and notes Parisi Carmela. I can't read the writing underneath.

I put XXX on the words I just couldn't read and translate.

L'anno milleottocento   novantadue    addi   otto   di   Settembre   a ore   XXX   meridiane XXX e minuti             , nella Casa comunale.
The year eighteen hundred   ninety-two   on the day  eighth   of September at   XX   o'clock   am or pm   and minutes               in the Town Hall.

Avanti di me   XX Pietro XXX delegato XXX XXX XXX Stato Civile  .
Before me   <name and title of the official in the Town Hall>  .

Uffiziale dello Stato Civile del Comune di   Montemaggiore Belsito  
Official of Public Records of the Town of   Montemaggiore Belsito  

è comparso   Parisi Angelo  , di anni  trenta     XXX   domiciliato   quella?   il quale mi ha dichiarato che alle ore   XXX   meridiane   sei   e minuti           del di   cinque   del   corrente   mese, nella casa posta in   Via Giardino   al numero   seidici  , da Sciolino Agata di anni trentacinque sua legittima moglie XXX convivente
appeared   Angelo Parisi  , age   thirty  ,   <job description>   living in   <somewhere>   who has declared to me that at   six 'clock   on day   five   of the   current   month, in the house located at   Via Giardino   number   sixteen  , by Agata Sciolino age thirty-five his wife living with him.    

e nato un bambino di sesso   femminile   che   egli   mi presenta e a cui da il nome di   Carmela  .
is born a baby   girl   who was presented for me to see, and who was given the name   Carmela  .

A quanto sopra e a questo atto sono presenti quali testimoni   Nafia Rosalia  , di anni   venticinque  ,   casalinga  , e   Peri Rosalia   di anni   ventiotto   casalinga  , entrambi reidente in questo Comune.   
To the above, and to this record, are present the witnesses   Rosalia Nafia  , age   twenty-five  ,   a housewife  , and   Rosalia Peri  , age   twenty-eight    a housewife  , both residents of this community. 

Sep 052011
 

As I search LDS records for Montemaggiore Belsito, I am recording, in some way, all members of the Millonzi, Salemi, Parisi, and Sciolino families. My great-grandfather Rosario Millonzi's parents were Ignazio Millonzi and Rosaria Salemi. My great-grandmother Carmela Millonzi's parents were Angelo Parisi and Agata Maria Sciolino.

Maybe my efforts will be useful to someone else searching for their families from Montemaggiore. I make no promises for completeness or accuracy. In some cases, I could not read the stylized hand writing.

Click on the link below to access the transcriptions.

Registri dello stato civile Montemaggiore Belsito (Palermo), 1820-1910
Nati 1847-1852 | FHL INTL 2004858

Sep 052011
 

As I search LDS records for Montemaggiore Belsito, I am recording, in some way, all members of the Millonzi, Salemi, Parisi, and Sciolino families. My great-grandfather Rosario Millonzi's parents were Ignazio Millonzi and Rosaria Salemi. My great-grandmother Carmela Millonzi's parents were Angelo Parisi and Agata Maria Sciolino.

Maybe my efforts will be useful to someone else searching for their families from Montemaggiore. I make no promises for completeness or accuracy. In some cases, I could not read the stylized hand writing.

Click on the link below to access the transcriptions.

Registri dello stato civile Montemaggiore Belsito (Palermo), 1820-1910
Nati 1884-1910 | FHL INTL 1965501

Aug 312011
 

As I search LDS records for Montemaggiore Belsito, I am recording, in some way, all members of the Millonzi, Salemi, Parisi, and Sciolino families. My great-grandfather Rosario Millonzi's parents were Ignazio Millonzi and Rosaria Salemi. My great-grandmother Carmela Millonzi's parents were Angelo Parisi and Agata Maria Sciolino.

Maybe my efforts will be useful to someone else searching for their families from Montemaggiore. I make no promises for completeness or accuracy. In some cases, I could not read the stylized hand writing. 

Click on the link below to access the transcriptions.

Registri dello stato civile Montemaggiore Belsito (Palermo), 1820-1910
Nati 1862-1884 | FHL INTL Film 1965414 Items 2-4