I am looking for Antonio and his father Santo Versace reported to be from the little mountain village of Santo Stefano in Aspromonte, Reggio Di Calabria. Where are they from and how they relate to the Versace's of the southern coast. Any help is much appreciated.

All I know for sure is Antonio was born about 1915 to Santo and Fortunada. Beyond that I have no information.

I found a manifest for Santo Versace from Rizziconi, Reggio Calabria with his cousin? Santo is going to his brother Giuseppe in NY and his cousin is going to his brother in Du Bois LA

First Name: Santo
Last Name: Versace
Ethnicity: Italy, Italian South
Last Place of Residence: Ritticoni (Reggio Cal.
Date of Arrival: May 04, 1905
Age at Arrival: 23y Gender: M Marital Status: S
Ship of Travel: Prinz Oskar
Port of Departure: Naples
Manifest Line Number: 0029

Do you know Fortunata's maiden name, if Santo and Fortunata were married in Italy or the USA, approximate year of birth for either, other childrens names and years of birth ? Anything at all would be helpful. What is your relation to Santo and Fortunata ?

Neither Santo, his wife Fortunada, nor son Antonio are known to ever have left Italy. Antonio is the father of a rather well known design team without saying their names.

I am searchinging for my friend who is a Versace born in Bianco and his father who was born up the coast in Bovalino in southern Calabria. They are supposed to be related but I don't known how. Maybe first or second cousins. I have exhausted the possibilities on ancestry.com and need to look elsewhere. But where? Does Italy have a census like other countries? A central repository of vital data?

With most of the Versace's along the southern coastline or in the City of Reggio, why was Antonio in the Mt. villiage of Santo Stefano? Rumour is he was from a poor branch of the family but through hard work and industry he made a fairly decent life for his family.

You might want to suggest to your friend to review the films for his/her own family from Bianco first. There may be information in the records that tell if the family came from another town.

www.familysearch.org/e...Bianco+2++

If you go to www.stevemorse.org website and type in Versace for the last name you'll see 276 names come up and you can check the names of the towns they were from.

I have a few Bianco records up on Calabria Exchange - not sure they will help or if they have the surname it them but have a look and see..

www.calabriaexchange.c.../1894.html

www.calabriaexchange.c...index.html

Some links may be broken so let me know because I do have the records - I just have no time to fix everything anymore.

Ladies,

Thank you for your kind response to my plea for assistance. Here is what I know about my friend:

His father is Carmelo Versace b. 1896 Bovalino Superiore. He married Teresa Muscatello b. 1905 in Italy sometime between 1923-1928. They immigrated to the US in the 1930's and raised a family in Brooklyn, New York. My friend is computer challenged so he asked me if I could help him. I exhausted the data available on ancestry.com so I came here to search for an answer.

Thank you Nuccia, I have searched the calabria exchange to no result. Carmelo's father is uncertain but it was reported to me his name is Angelo (No dob, dod). What are my options?

You can order the film for 1896 births and look for Carmelo....it will list his parents names and where they are from. If it says they were life long residents of Bovalino then you need to search Carmelo's father (subtract his age from 1896) and determine his year of birth...look for his birth record and keep going backward. If the entire line say life long residents then you will have to search the Versace's from the mountain village and follow them backwards until you find which one left Bovalino. Hope I didn't confuse you. Here is the list of films for Bovalino
www.familysearch.org/e...ovalino+++
There are two pages of films scroll to the bottom and hit next.....the 1896 film of births is on the second page.

nffc. It's a shame you didn't post this a little earlier. I had the 1896 film for Bovalino, but it went back on April 2. I could have done the lookup for you. Right now I have 1894 until May 15. Bovalino should be in it. The FHL no. is 1801702. I am researching the "comune" of Ardore and Bovalino is usually on the same film, because they are next to each other geographically. Let me know if there is anything in 1894 that I can look up for you. I will be going back this Thursday, Apr. 8.

Mary, Please don't forget about me either! I have 1888 or 1889 Bovalino but I haven't been back to the FHC in months- they cut their hours and it doesn't jive with my work schedule anymore making it difficult but I will try to get out there as soon as I can.

Thanks Elizabeth. This looks like a good place to start. I have never ordered any microfilm before so how do I go about that?

That would be wonderful Mary, please keep me informed. If you require any more info I will supply as much as I have.

nffc, I will have a look and see if there are any Versace in 1894 Bovalino.

Mary

nffc wrote:

Thanks Elizabeth. This looks like a good place to start. I have never ordered any microfilm before so how do I go about that?

I created a step by step tutorial for looking up films. Nuccia has included this in our Resource section www.gentedimaregenealo...amp;t=2263

Once you select the films you want to order you need to locate a Family History Center (FHC) near you and go in to order your films. I'm providing the link for you to locate a center www.familysearch.org/E...et_fhc.asp

Once you locate a center you must go there to order the films. Remember to take the complete information about your films with you when ordering. The cost of each film is about $5.75 USD and takes 2-4 weeks to receive. When your films come in you will be contacted so you can go to your center to view. Films have to be viewed at the center.

If you have any questions or need help please post back.

Thanks for the tutorial Elizabeth. I have a FHC close by or the main library downtown to choose from. I will check both out to see which can provide better. This only works when you have an exact date? What if all I have is a range? I would like to find Antonio in Santo Stefano but I don't have an exact dob. Does using LDS records substitute for writing the commune for a copy of the document? Are LDS records photo reproductions or like ancestry.com a synopsis of the data contained on the original?

Is this how much international research is accomplished? I paid for the world database on ancestry but am underwhelmed by the amount of published work outside the US. Is US genealogy research more advanced or are the data not made available? If LDS has the MicroFilm why is it not on ancestry? I hope these are not stupid questions.

Jerry

nffc wrote:

This only works when you have an exact date? What if all I have is a range?

If all you have is a date range they you will have to order multiple films that cover the range and search
each film for your document(s).

nffc wrote:

I would like to find Antonio in Santo Stefano but I don't have an exact dob. Does using LDS records substitute for writing the commune for a copy of the document?

Yes it does substitute for writing the comune. When writing a comune and requesting a record you need to supply
them with the actual day, month and year. Most, if not all, will not look for your record if you don't give them
the proper information. People usually write a request if they are seeking citizenship, the films don't cover the
year(s) for the records they're researching, don't have a FHC near them to order films etc. As for finding Antonio's
records....if you have a range of years you would most likely order the films covering those years as the comune would
not search for records of an individual if all you have is a range of years. There may be multiple Antonio(s) with
that surname born within a 5 year period and the comune won't search like that.

nffc wrote:

Are LDS records photo reproductions or like ancestry.com a synopsis of the data contained on the original?

LDS records are actual scans of the original documents from the 17, 18 and 1900's

nffc wrote:

Is this how much international research is accomplished? I paid for the world database on ancestry but am underwhelmed by the amount of published work outside the US. Is US genealogy research more advanced or are the data not made available?

Yes, this is the way research is accomplished. You start with yourself and work your way backwards always searching
for clues to get you to your next point. You join genealogy sites (like this) to help point you in the right direction
for searching in other countries etc. I don't believe that USA genealogy research is more advanced I believe it's easier
for those of us that live in the USA because we understand our own language, government and procedures on where
documents are kept or where to find them. That's why we (everyone on Gente) depend on each other for help on where
to write, where to look, who to write etc. for records in Italy, Canada, England, Scotland, Croatia, Hungary etc. Other
countries have the same information but many times we don't know where to find it unless we ask each other for help.

nffc wrote:

If LDS has the MicroFilm why is it not on ancestry?

The LDS and ancestry are two separate entities. The LDS is a not for profit organization and ancestry charges people
for access. The LDS has a site that will have all images of all films they've produced and census, ships manifests etc.
available to the public free of charge but it takes time to get everything transcribed and linked. Here is the site
so you can see what information they already have pilot.familysearch.org...html#start

nffc wrote:

I hope these are not stupid questions.

No question is ever stupid. This is how all of us learned too so feel free to ask anything you'd like.