When tracing your Italian Family History in the USA, you will likely be confronted with various records. These may include church, civil registration and probate records. In addition, you need to be familiar with how to find Italian genealogy records, like the passenger lists of emigrants from Italy and other civil documents.
Civil Registration
Civil registration is registering vital events, including births and deaths. Governments use the foundation for life-cycle data to inform decisions and tailor their policies and programs. Without inclusive and high-quality data, governments are “flying blind,” unable to monitor progress toward key development goals, such as health, gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals. Many countries are pursuing a more direct link between civil registration authorities and the health sector, which helps reduce or eliminate registration errors and improve register coverage. Some are also experimenting with new ways to verify information in registration records, such as by linking across government databases. In the USA, The National Archives provides access to an index of over 800,000 Italians who migrated to the United States between 1855 and 1900. This collection includes each passenger’s name, age, the town of last residence, destination, sex, occupation, literacy, and country of origin, among other details.
Diocesan Records
If you’re tracing Italian Family History in the USA, you will likely come across some Diocesan Records. They contain information that can help you uncover your ancestors’ names, dates and locations. These include church records, such as baptismal certificates and marriage and death records. They also contain information about religious celebrations, ethnic traditions and church buildings. Some of these church records are held at the local diocesan archives. Others may be found in the parish archives of the local Catholic Church, such as family books kept by the priests. These can be a genealogical gold mine as they give details of many generations of people living in the same household. Another good place to begin your research is the National Archives in Washington, DC. They have an index of over 800,000 Italians who emigrated to the United States between 1855 and 1900. These records will provide details such as name, age, destination, sex, occupation, literacy and country of origin.
Parish Records
Parish records are a vital resource when researching your family tree. They contain information about baptisms, marriages and burials before civil registration in England. These records can be accessed at your local County Record Office or websites offering searchable transcripts and original images. The contents of these records vary from parish to parish, but you can expect to find a lot of names of people who were baptized or married, the date and place of their births and deaths, and sometimes even more details. This information can give you an idea of the family’s origins, including where they came from and what religion was followed.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, parish registers were kept in individual churches throughout the land. These were then transferred to local record offices.
In addition to baptisms, marriages and burials, parish records can include settlement records, quarter-session illegitimacy records, and care of the poor records. These can be useful when tracing Italian Family History in the USA. As with other types of records, it is important to search the entire catalog first to understand what may be available before deciding on a particular collection. This will give you the best chance of finding records for your ancestors, as some are not easily searchable.
Cemetery Records
Cemetery records can be very useful in helping to uncover important information about your family. They can offer a great range of details, including full names, birth and death dates, and places your ancestors lived in at the time of their death. An excellent place to start is with local councils, who often digitize these records and make them available online. These digitized records are a good source of information when trying to trace families who are difficult to locate in the public records, as they will often have their names, ages and parents’ names, as well as details about the cause of death and date of burial. Another type of cemetery record is called the sexton’s book, a registry of graves kept by the caretaker or sexton. These lists usually include the name, plot, burial date, and plot description. They usually contain a few abbreviations, a useful resource for tracing various families. You can also use the inscriptions on tombstones to help with your research. These inscriptions can help identify your ancestors’ relatives and can be especially helpful when tracing family history in Italy. They will also provide insight into how your ancestors lived and can reveal some interesting clues about their family relationships.
Passenger Lists
When tracing Italian Family History in the USA, you will most likely find your ancestors on ship manifests (also known as passenger lists) and records of people boarding and disembarking ships at various ports worldwide. Passenger lists are an important source of information as they often contain details about the person’s birth date, occupation, age, and where they were from when they arrived in America.
While these records can be helpful, they still need to be completed. For example, early manifests may record only some passengers aboard a particular ship or not list all the European destinations a passenger traveled to on their way to America. These lists usually include the name of the ship and the master, the port of embarkation and arrival, and the date of the voyage. They also sometimes have some other details, such as the country the ship sailed to, whether or not it was a passenger ship, and where the port was located. The most common ports for immigrants were New York, Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. However, many smaller ports were also popular with immigrants. You should also search for your ancestors on other ship manifests, especially those that departed from other ports. For instance, if your ancestors were from a small town in Italy, try searching for records of passengers who left from a nearby port.
