I'm hoping this starts a lenghty thread discussion...

So after you've exhausted most USA records (manifests, census, registration cards, SS index, newspapers, - not to mention your older relatives who now hide when they see you coming with a family tree chart )

And then you've exhausted the Stato Civile records from the LDS to the point that you know all the common last names of the town your researching so well, that you can't even watch the ending credits of movie without thinking "i wonder part of Puglia that guys from..."

And then you've even be able to acquire some info via the magical and mystical (-at least to me) Catasto Onciario....

What else is there? Especially for those pesky years between the Catasto Onciario and the Stato Civile?

I've tried writing to churches, but i'm positive they just throw my letters out the window when they receive them I'm wondering if there is a road less traveled by? For example, Google Books offers some interesting leads...any other suggestions out there?

What about a two months holidays in Italy (not in August, however )?
Bring with you a good camera, a local genealogist for the first two or three days, an italian-english dictionary, a good-luck charm, a dozen californian wine bottles for a nice gift to the priests and a pair of pain pills in case you'll go confused!
Otherwise you can try with this files.splinder.com/9f5...70e9b.jpeg ( )

Luca

I'd love a two month holiday in Italy with or without genealogy research, especially if I could find that bar Luca hinted at some time ago

I'm with Luca! Bring your bride to Italy and try to get at those church records! (my dream!!)....of course the bar is a great idea for the evenings!!! But do not forget what the provinces have to offer! Cosenza Province is working at getting certain records online. Vibo Valentia offers papers and documents of notaries that cover several hundred years. The notary records of Tropea go back to the late 1400's! There are libraries In Catanzaro Province that offer all kinds of records. There may be something like that in Bari.
Maybe I will win that big lottery and we can all go to Italy! I will hire Luca to read the church records, and Livio and Carole as translators and Riccardo can help us at the archives! I think 260 million would cover that! LOL

What i meant is that it's not easy to perform a genealogical research even living in Italy and close to the Archives you need for (there are a lot of causes but, maybe, they have not relevance for your question) and it's near impossible to complete it living in America (there is some lucky exception, but it's not the rule).
I don't want to discourage you (at all) but i think that, by now, your research will became more difficult.
Good luck

Luca

Even as the research becomes more difficult and the journey never ending, the disappointment is lessened by the friends and acquaintances we have made along the way. We are a unique family, we humans, and the quest to discover who we are by investigating the intricate webs of our antecedents is both humbling and ennobling.

tjbrn wrote:

Even as the research becomes more difficult and the journey never ending, the disappointment is lessened by the friends and acquaintances we have made along the way. We are a unique family, we humans, and the quest to discover who we are by investigating the intricate webs of our antecedents is both humbling and ennobling.

Dear tjbrn.

That is the nicest sentiment I have read in a long, long time. You are absolutely correct about the friends and acquaintances, particularly on this site, where everyone is trying to help everyone else and it is done with grace and humor.

May you all have a peaceful, healthy New Year!
qnana

I agree Tom! Great sentiment! I like to beleive that they are all watching over me...call me crazy but I really hope they are. It is a labor of love. All the hard work I do is to honor them. It may be difficult to get into archives and church records but not impossible. Do your other research first...you may find an "in" through a family connection. How far are you Mauro?

Tom I love what you said. As I was telling Carole this morning, I was feeling rather low the last few days and then I read your comment and Ada's and I remembered why we started this forum. Not to research only but to make friends and share our experience. Suddenly I feel much more motivated.

Mauro, since I read your statement about Church records I have been analyzing all my records and checking for notations on Acts about the Churches that my ancestors may have married in or were baptized in. I used Google maps to determine the distances of the Churches from there homes and such. It may seem useless but I am curious as to how far they had to go. I get the feeling that I just may write to one or more of these Churches just for fun and see what happens. I have nothing to lose. And then there's always the cemeteries. Contacting them might be interesting, no?

I don't think we're truly ever finished. We're just on standby for a while so we can use the time to organize and share what we have or to do something else (like make mice jokes).

I am also curious, Mauro. How far are you on your research and how is your website coming along?

Ever think of writing a book? Even just for family use?

I dont know about anyone else..but, just by looking thru the records of the towns, to find my people..and then finding them..you can almost put together a story. There were periods where there must have been a lot of illnesses. I know on my husbands side..one of his GG or GGG grandfathers buried his wife, mother and a child, in a short period of time. Then there were the women who gave birth to little antonio, only to have him die, then have another antonio and then another.

We read a lot of these things..and never really take them to heart..but as mothers and fathers..can you imagine how devistating it was for these people to lose one young child after another?

Anyway..if you take the information from your documents..and put that with what seemed to be going on in that era..you could probably come up with a good story.

Oh..and I like it here. There is something about being with your own people..I dunno..maybe its because we all eat the same..lol..and have had the same traditions...there is something very family-like when Italians are with other Italians. I dont know if I got my thought across..but, I know what i mean..lol Theres a bond.

Quote::

Oh..and I like it here. There is something about being with your own people..I dunno..maybe its because we all eat the same..lol..and have had the same traditions...there is something very family-like when Italians are with other Italians. I dont know if I got my thought across..but, I know what i mean..lol Theres a bond.

Yes...you most certainly did and I agree!

The feelings expressed here were precisely what I was trying to explain when I re-wrote the new 'Home Page' news item for "Gente" recently.
>"Why bother" - I'll tell you 'why'!<

When we are researching, everyday is an adventure. Some are wonderful, some sad - but they're ALL exciting in some way. Every new page that we find just 'might' be that page... the one that holds the vital missing link to allow a family branch or story to be completed.


And so many of us have - over the years of research - had to battle against those family skeletons that they hid in their cupboards. Now I know about those first hand and beleive me the subterfuges our ancestors used were nothing, if not imaginative, innovative, ingenious and often utterly inspired! My own grandmother was a past master (mistress) of creating such stories...

So I suppose for all of us, in one way or another, our next step will never be the last one, but just be our continual search for our family truth's - good, bad, happy or sad - no one more important than another. But all creating a better understanding of who we are and why we are!

Hi Nuccia,

I actually just came across a book about Molfetta that lists all able men (circa 1794) by their street and parishes! So i'm guessing that this will help me pinpoint what parish my ancestors belong to

As far as the website goes... I'm still compiling data (im working on adding family trees now) and creating and uploading pages when i get a chance. I never officially released the site to gente members because i figured that i would once it was more complete... But then again, i may be adding stuff on there forever.... So why wait.

for those of you who are interested.... here is my site www.historelli.com (PS, the site is best viewed with internet explorer... Firefox makes it look weird)

I'm trying to create more of historical perspective rather than a straight genealogy website... please all comments are welcome... good or bad

ciao,
Mauro

Well its about time you announced your website. I have been there a few times and I think its great. I prefer the historical content anyway when I go to a website (and then the family tree is a bonus). I like to get an idea of my ancestors lives and of the times.

And firefox didn't make it look weird when I looked at it but I am going to look at it again in both and let you know.

Mauro, on my PC there is very little difference between the browsers. Perhaps its the version of firefox you are using or the resolution on your PC? I found a couple of my pages look really weird from the FHC computers or from work. I made some minor adjustments but we sometimes just have to accept the changes from PC to PC. As ong as the content is intact it should be ok.