Learning to Read Italian Records-Part One-Birth Records

Italian records are a treasure trove of information, but where do you start when you can't read Italian?

Luckily, most Italian records are neatly written on forms. With a few handy words, you can make out the basics without knowing the language. I am far from an expert, and all my Italian came from the television. If I can do it, so can you.

The place to begin would be the Italian site Antenati (Ancestors)

Antenati in Italian

Don't get scared off just yet, there is an option to use English on the home page. Just click the little British flag in the top right.

Ancestors in English

You can begin your search using Find Names, although only a small percentage are indexed.

Here are some basic facts:
Italian women keep their maiden names for life, and do not take their husband's last name.
Records often give a baby's first name only, but if the father is listed, the last name is inferred.
Ages, occupations, and places of residence are usually given for all people on the form, and usually in that order.
Records begin with the date at the top, which is the date the info was reported to the town official, and not necessarily the date of the event.
Births had to be reported within three days, and the official had to actually see the child.
There had to be witnesses for all events.

Searching for Fratoddi in Find Names yields 7 results. If you are using an option that automatically translates to English, you may want to turn it off, as the results will come over garbled up. Here's what I got:

Apri by the way means open.

The basic types of records are:
Births...Nascite
Deaths...Morti
Marriages...Matrimoni

Birth Record of the above Pietro Fratoddi. 

Enlargement can be found by clicking here (opens in new tab)

At the top of the record is the date. This is always the date the event was reported. For help with months and days see Italian for Genealogists. (opens in new window)

You don't have to worry about translating the year, as the antenati website will always have the year of the record at the top of the page. In this example, the year is 1896, the day is tredici (13), and the month Agosto (August).

Next is the time reported, followed by the town official's name and titles that the event was reported to, and the commune (town). 

Then comes the good part.

Look for the word comparso or comparsa (appeared) after the name of the town. This will be the name of the person reporting the birth, (usually the father or midwife) in this case Orazio Fratoddi, di anni (of years-age) trentanove (39) followed by his occupation. I can't make out the first word, sorry, but the 2nd I believe is postale (postal) so maybe he's a mailman? His domiciliato (town he resides in) is Taranto. 

He declared the birth was A.M., quattro (5) (so born 5am, minutes are blank). The next field is the day of the month, dieci (10), the next blank is for the month, in this case corrente (current, so August), followed by where born (in this case a street name). 

This is followed by the mother's name, Erminia Sartori of Verona, di (of) Pietro (her father's name). If her father was deceased it would be du, so he is living. The next word is her age trenta (30).  

This should be followed by her occupation which again I can't make out. I don't see any words referring to married, but the last one is convivente (cohabitant).

The next part we see maschile (male) and the child's name Pietro Guilo. The rest of the document are the witnesses, who are usually not relatives.

So, for genealogy purposes, we have Pietro Guilo Fratoddi, born 5am on the 10th of August, 1896, in Tarento. Father is Orazio Fratoddi, 39, of Tarento, and mother Erminia Sartori, 30, of Verona, daughter of Pietro, who is still living.

Here are some Italian words for family to get you started:

bambino...male baby

bambina...female baby

convivente...cohabitant

daughter...figlia

father...padre

female...femina

husband...marito

male...maschio, maschile

midwife...ostericia, levantrice

mother...madre

single...celibe, nubile

son...figlio

spouse...cogiuge

wife...moglie


All birth records follow basically the same format, so once you know what fields to look for, you can get the basic facts.

I highly recommend the Facebook group Italian Genealogy if you get stuck, they are very knowledgeable with both the records and the language.

I would love to hear of any finds you make in the Italian records.

Next time I'll cover Morti, the death records.

Ciao!

How Can You Have an Anonymous Mother?

I requested the Certicati di Nascita (birth record) of my great grandmother Giulia Montagna from Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. I had her date of birth from her death certificate in Alabama, Her parents' names from her marriage in Manhattan, NY and the place of her birth from her husband's naturalization papers.
I sent an email to the State Archives in Bologna and requested they look for the certificate and notify me of any charges:


 Gentile Direttrice:

 Sono alla ricerca della mia storia famigliare, gradirei, se le fosse possibile, richiedere il suo aiuto.

 Per favore, mi potrebbe spedire i Certicati di Nascita di Guilia Montagna, nato il 10 ottobre, 1878 e tutte le informazioni sui suoi genitori. Credo che siano Georgio Montagna e Elisabetta Bonnine.  Se questi certificati includono anche i nomi dei loro genitori, se per cortesia, potrebbe inviarmi anche i loro. Se ci sono altri bambini nati da loro sarei grato per queste informazioni.

 Se vi è una tassa per le informazioni, si prega di avvisare che cosa è e come si vorrebbe pagamento.

 Gentile Direttrice, la ringrazio infinitamente del suo aiuto. Nel caso che i dati non siano disponibili la pregherei di inviarmi comunque una nota negativa.

 Inoltre, se i documenti non ci sono per quel periodo, o se Lei conosce altre fonti, Le sarei grata se potesse suggerirmi come proseguire la mia ricerca.

 Le invio i miei piu' sinceri e cordiali saluti.
 
 Beverly Norman

No, I do not speak Italian, but there are forms to be found on the Internet, and Google Translate. I had my fingers crossed That it would be understandable.
38 days later, I had a response in my inbox! There was no charge for the document (whew!)

Translated:

SUBJECT: sending reproduction birth certificate of Julia Maspucci then Recognized As Giulia Montagna born in Bologna in 1878. With reference to the request object, I send photo reproduction of the document taken
from register of civil status of the town of Bologna Relating To Those born in 1878. best regards Signed DIRECTOR

Giulia Elvira Teresa ... Maspucci. I never has a middle name before, and was not expecting a different last name!

Maspucci ?? So what the heck happened? Was she adopted? This was not the typical fill in the blank form I was expecting. I needed some help. I turned to the Italian Genealogy group on Facebook .

They came through with a translation for me. Here is a mashup of the conversation:

October 10, 1878 Born at 11 am and the child was presented to the officer of vital records in the town of Bologna before 12 on the same day / same month and residing in the same city by a woman named Maria Massucci, (not Maspucci) age 57 years, midwife, residing at (street) # 28 "Via Republicana" (?) (she was presenting the child born to a woman / lady -that Wished not to be Identified) (Did not give consent) Child was given the name Giulia Elvira Teresa and the last name of Massucci. On 27/02/1896 marriage act # 449 for Giorgio Montagna & Elisa Bonini (?) Could the "9" be "7"? the marriage act 27 February 1876? It looks like she (Julia) was the "legitimate" daughter of Giorgio Montagna (sp?) And Elisa (sp?) Bonini / Bonnini (sp?) and that they (her parents) were married (marriage Celebrated in) Rome - Feb. 27, 1896.
The notation on the other side is where she is recognized as the daughter of Georgio Montagna, hence her new last name.
The information was entered into the ledger in 1882.

One of the members of the group went the extra mile and requested a translation from http://www.tuttogenealogia.it/ in Rome. Here is Their response:
Giulia Massucci was born in Bologna on Oct. 10 1878 to a woman who does not want to be mentioned, and she was given the name "Giulia Elvira Teresa" and surname Massucci (this is the first line of the second page).
The side note on the first page states that on Oct 14 1886 she was recognized by her father Giorgio Montagna. (From now on her surname should be Montagna)
The side note on the second page states that Feb 2 1896 Giorgio Montagna married Elisa Bonini and they both legitimated Giulia.

The double "s" in old documents was Often written as "sf". This portion of the document has notes about the marriage.

What could be the reason for the anonymous mother? She could have been unwed. She could have already have been married to someone else. The father could have been married to someone else.

After doing some reading in the excellent resource, "Italian Genealogical Records" by Trafford R Cole, Psy.D., I found another possibility. 

Beginning in 1866, the town officials were responsible for recording all births, marriages, and deaths. The child had to be personally presented to the town official to register the birth.
After the Kingdom of Italy was formed, Pope Pius IX was totally against the new country. He had controlled the city of Rome and the central portion of the country know as the Papal States. The Church lost the battle (literally). The Pope did not give in quietly, and prohibited all faithful Catholics from participating in the political system. 

A power struggle arose between the Officials and the Church. Many people were married by the Church, but did not register the marriage with the city officials. The town would not recognize the marriage and would record all of the children resulting from these marriages as illegitimate. The couple would finally be forced to remarry in a civil ceremony and recognize their "illegitimate" children. From 1865 to about 1880 there are many cases of the marriage being recorded after the couple had several children. 

I may at some future date try to see if there is a church record in Bologna for the marriage of Georgio Montagna and Elizabetta Bonini. Giulia's baptism should be there too.

If you have any thoughts on this, I would love to hear them.

Georgio Julius Montagna of Italy #52Ancestors #36

I know very little about Georgio Montagna. He was born in Italy by my estimate about 1850.
Update 22 April 2018:
I have located documents naming him

Giorgio Giuseppe Geremia Montagna

He was born 1 October 1853 in Mirandola, Modena, Italy to Domenico Montagna and Teresa Ceretti.

Map of unification of Italy, 1815-70. Public Domain

He was married to Elizabetta Rosa Bonini. This is the official record of the marriage in 1896, but probably married about 1876 by the Church.

Marriage of Giorgio Montagna and Elisa Rosa Bonini in Rome

After doing some reading in the excellent resource, "Italian Genealogical Records" by Trafford R Cole, Psy.D., I found the reason for two marriages.

Beginning in 1866, the town officials were responsible for recording all births, marriages, and deaths. The child had to be personally presented to the town official to register the birth.
After the Kingdom of Italy was formed, Pope Pius IX was totally against the new country. He had controlled the city of Rome and the central portion of the country know as the Papal States. The Church lost the battle (literally). The Pope did not give in quietly, and prohibited all faithful Catholics from participating in the political system.
A power struggle arose between the Officials and the Church. Many people were married by the Church, but did not register the marriage with the city officials. The town would not recognize the marriage and would record all of the children resulting from these marriages as illegitimate. The couple would finally be forced to remarry in a civil ceremony and recognize their "illegitimate" children. From 1865 to about 1880 there are many cases of the marriage being recorded after the couple had several children.

He is named in the marriage of his daughter Juilia to Bernardino Fratoddi in Manhattan, New York:
Name: Bernardino Fratoddi
Spouse's Name: Juilia Montagna
Event Date: 09 May 1905
Event Place: Manhattan, New York, New York
Father's Name: Giuseppe
Mother's Name: Flavia Salirae
Spouse's Father's Name: Georgio
Spouse's Mother's Name: Elizabeth Bonnine

He is given as Juilia's father on her death certificate as Julius:
Name: Julia M. Fratoddi
Death date: 08 Dec 1957
Death place: Birmingham, Jefferson, Alabama
Gender: Female
Age at death: 78y
Estimated birth year: 1879
Father's name: Julius Montagna
Mother's name: Rose

Giorgio and Rosa had at least three children, all born in Bologna:
Edgardo born 13 August 1877
My great grandmother Giulia 10 October 1879
Italio born 6 March 1886
I'm sure there were other children but I haven't found them yet.

I will continue to search for more records. If you have any info on this family I would love to hear from you.