WHAT TO EXPECT FROM LIBBY’S LISTS OF RECORDS
Like all genealogists with an itch to preserve a piece of history, I wondered what I would have done without the efforts of those who went before me. I have benefited from the efforts of other researchers whose work to preserve and publish records and other historical data has made my research path just a little smoother. And since what goes around comes around, I decided to make my own contribution to the effort. Hence, this website.
I have spent countless hours at my local Latter Day Saints Family History Center cranking microfilm and jotting notes. And aside from discovering the records of events in the lives of my own ancestors, I have discovered a few other things too. I have learned about the day-to-day lives of the people of these small Italian towns-- things that are not necessarily reflected in the records, but, when pieced together with other historical data, trends in the records and basic knowledge of human nature, form a picture that is powerful indeed. I have ached along with parents when the records showed me that all the children of a family died within a few days of each other. I have put myself in the place of the young bride who gave birth to her first son and named him after her husband who died a few weeks earlier. I have imagined the expression on the faces of young men who walked slowly and stoop-shouldered beside their fathers or brothers to the town hall to report the death of their mother, wife or child. Those same young men smiled broadly and with pride and they walked a little quicker when they went to report the birth of a son or daughter. This is what genealogy and family history research is all about, not merely gathering names and dates, but “putting flesh on the bones” of history.
As for the “nuts and bolts” of Italian records research, there is much to learn. I had no idea how little I knew about the political and social history of Italy until I had to place my ancestors in historical context. I wondered why all the microfilmed civil records of my ancestral towns began in 1809. We can thank Napoleon Bonaparte. When he conquered Italy, he decreed that civil governments begin keeping records of births, marriages and deaths separate from church records. He declared that these records shall be copied and archived in central record repositories within each province. He also dealt with the problem of the spread of disease by ordering that cemeteries be placed outside the towns, and that all deceased persons be buried within 24 hours of their death. To most of the world Napoleon was considered a despot and an egomaniacal tyrant, but to those of us who are drawn to researching their Italian family’s history, he was a godsend.
As with any group of records anywhere in the world, there are inconsistencies, errors and confusion in Italian civil records. This becomes obvious the longer one sits cranking microfilm. But for the most part, these records accurately reflect the life of the town and its people. One can see the evolution of procedures, the types of information gathered and rules about who can be an official witness to the record of an event. For example, in 1812, the death of a child was almost always reported by the father, but by 1815 it was usually the duty of a neighbor or family friend. The witnesses listed in these records are scrupulously documented. The record will give their name, age, occupation, and in some years, the names of their parents. In fact, in many cases, one is able to get more information about the witness than about the person who was born, married or died! This is why in some of my record lists you will see the ages of parents listed after their names when in the following year, there is simply a name.
There is also some confusion as to the way names are written. The actual writing of the record was done by a clerk or scribe, not the mayor or civil record official. Each record was signed by the mayor, and in some of these records, the mayor’s handwriting was appalling, which makes us researchers glad for that clerk with the beautiful flowing script. The problem was that each clerk had his own ideas about how names were to be recorded. One will see a woman named Anna Maria Palombo listed as the mother of a deceased child, then several days later upon the death of another child, her name will be shown as Annamaria. There was also the problem of nicknames. I don’t mean men named Nick! I mean men named Nicolantonio who appear sometimes in the records as Nicola. Or Antonio. What’s a determined researcher to do? Check other records of people with similar names, ages, parents and spouses, then make your best educated guess. Now you’d think that surnames would be fairly consistently recorded, right? Nope. Up until about 1820, the Petruccios were a prominent family in Castellino del Biferno, but after that, while they were still prominent and as numerous, their name suddenly lost the “O” at the end. You will see many different variations of the name Giarusso. Sometimes it is Giarrusso, sometimes Giaruso. It is obvious that these are all the same family, but to a novice researcher, it can create some confusion. But I have tried to give the names as they appear in each record. While the DiSanto families who came to America nowadays usually spell their name with capital “D”, in the old records of Castellino, it is spelled “di Santo”, so I have kept the same spellings in most of my lists. The yearly indices of the records are even more confusing. The di Santo family appears under “S”, the di Pardo families’ names are under “P”, etc.
Which leads me to my first apology. Some of the lists on this site, especially those entitled “DiSanto Marriages...” or “DiFabio Births...” or with specific family names such as these, were compiled early in my research before I learned about the importance of giving names and data exactly as they appear in the records. They were compiled for the benefit of some cousins I had discovered in my research and I didn’t at that time intend them for wide publication. I wrestled briefly with the idea of retyping them, and decided against it, though that may change sometime in the future. So, I officially apologize for confusing my site’s visitors this way. I’m getting better at this all the time, and I hope to improve even more in the future.
My second apology is to those who find a mistake or a typographical error, or some other bit of information that doesn’t seem to jibe with what else they have found. In these cases, I offer a profound and heartfelt mea culpa. I have tried my best to be as accurate as possible, but this is a HUGE project and most often, my typing is done late at night when all good genealogists are snug in their beds with visions of acid- free sheet protectors and certified copies dancing in their heads. So there are bound to be human errors. If you have any questions about a record, please do not hesitate to e-mail me about it. I will check my handwritten abstracts and answer you as promptly as I can. My e-mail address is on the site’s main page and I check my e-mail every single day without fail, so unless the sky is falling I will answer you, I promise.
Now I offer a word of caution. Several of them, in fact. These lists are not intended to replace your own careful research. They are intended to be a guide and jumping-off point for it. Good genealogical documentation is paramount to any worthwhile research project. Remember that if someone else cannot replicate your findings by following the same path, then your finished product is not worth the match to burn it cinders. If you find your ancestors among my lists, that’s wonderful and I’ve done what I set out to do. But the next step is yours. You must obtain a copy of the record itself for your own documentation. Check the online catalog of the Latter Day Saints Family History Library and order the film at your local Family History Center. You can find the addresses of these centers in your local phone directory under “Churches” or on the LDS Family Search website. There is a link to that site on the front page of my site. And please check the other links I have as well. Cyndi’s List of Genealogy Sites is a wonderful resource for genealogy research all over the world. You will find thousands of links pertaining to every aspect of genealogy and other research on the Internet. Ancestry.com is also a treasure trove of information and databases, many of them free. Others are available only to subscription members. And the most important caution of them all: Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet!! Many people have published pedigrees and articles which smack of shoddy research. And other people have pounced on this information and believed it and wound up having to start all over again. Don’t let this happen to you. Read all you can about good research and documentation techniques. You will be glad you did. I promise!
If you are a beginning researcher, you have nowhere to go but up. If you begin your research on the right foot, you will save yourself a lot of time and heartache. There are several books I recommend for the beginning and intermediate genealogist. My personal favorite is The Genealogy Sourcebook by Sharon DeBartolo Carmack. She is a Certified Genealogical Records Specialist and well-known lecturer and author. This book is informative, clearly written and downright funny sometimes. It is a basic “how-to” with information on different record types, where to find them, how to get them, and what to do with them when you do. There is a bibliography and list of addresses that will have you scribbling for days!
I also highly recommend Italian Genealogical Records by Trafford Cole. This book gives a great deal of information about the social and political history of Italy as it pertains to the different types of records to be found there. It gives addresses for provincial record repositories and church archives and sample letters to send to record offices, along with advice on how to get the most out of your research efforts. It has many examples of records and their translations. There is an interesting chapter on the origins of given names and surnames which I found fascinating and has colored my thinking on every record I’ve read ever since. You will also find information about the various occupations commonly listed in Italian records that will help you learn a lot about your ancestors lives and how they made their livings.
These books can be found in many libraries with genealogy sections, or perhaps in the reference department. Or they can be purchased in any bookstore. (Despite what it looks like, I don’t get a commission.) These two books in particular have helped me a great deal, but there are many more out there that can help you learn more about genealogy and history. Read all you can about the social history of the area in which your ancestors lived and you will find more than you bargained for. You will find the way they lived, not just the when.
In conclusion, I offer you the best advice I ever got. Remember at all times that the ancestors you uncover were living, breathing people who lived, loved, laughed, cried, fought, struggled, and died. They are not just names on a page. My cute dimpled chin may very well have come from Nicola di Santo who was born 240 years ago. Maybe from his wife Domenica. I’ll never know since they both died before photography was ever heard of in their little town. But I like to think that maybe I have something from them that will live on. So I will find out what I can about them and the way that they lived. This way, I can keep some little part of them alive.