I hope someone on this board can give me some information. I have been trying to obtain my ggf birth certificate from the Commune of Valledolmo in Sicily. Today I received a letter from them saying they cannot find a record for him.

His name is Calogero Conti and he was born on or near February 18, 1884. Can anyone make any suggestions on how I could obtain this record. I am trying to apply for dual citizenship and need this document.

With my ggf, I was off by a year with his birthdate and they responded no record was found. I got the birthdate off of his death record. The information was supplied by his son, so I thought it would be accurate. I instead turned to the age of my ggf at the birth of my gf and did the math. I resent the request and they found it. Have you tried other routes to see if the birth year could be something else, such as checking his manifest for a birth year, birth acts of his children, wedding certificate, etc. ? Right now, I am assuming that the comune is correct. Also, there are LDS microfilms of your town. www.familysearch.org/E...umns=*,0,0
You can always look through them yourself and when you find the one on microfilm, write to the comune for the official copy. The other thing you can do is hire someone to find it for you. Riccardo on this board does this sort of work.

Thank you for the reply. I will try the microfilm; I did not know about those. I had the commune search 1881 to 1889; I have 1884 as the birth year on several document, including his application for naturalization. I also have a death certificate that has 1885, that is why I requested they search the range of 1881 to 1889.

I will check out the microfilms and if I cannot find it, I will try to contact Ricardo.

Thank you very much.

One more thing about the microfilms. From looking at the link am I right to assume I have to order the microfilm? Or do I need to go somewhere to look at them? I have never used the Family History Center before.

Go to www.familysearch.org and locate your local Family History Library. It probably will be in a Mormon church but they let the public use their library. You have to order the film at the library (no phone orders). Then a few weeks later, you return to search the microfilm at the center. Here is a link to the Family History Center's guide for doing Italian research. It could be useful: www.familysearch.org/E...cestor.asp

Order microfilm number 2014640. This microfilm contains birth records from 1864-1885. If you are lucky, each year will have an index of all names of babies born for each year. Good luck.

Thanks, I have been trying to contact the closest FHC to determine their hours, so I can order the microfilm. I have been calling for 3 days with no success. I will let you know what I find.

Thanks again.

Just wanted to let you guys know that I finally made contact with the FHC and will be going there on Saturday to order the micro film I need.

Thanks

Great! If you need help once you get them, remember us. Most of us have either been through the microfilms or ordered the actual records.

Thanks for getting back to us and letting us know how you're progressing. Cathy's right..let us know if you need a hand with anything, and continue to update us, ok!

Just an update. I went to the FHC but they were closed; even though the very nice lady assured me they would be opened. I will now have to wait until the first weekend in January and try again.

Thanks for everything

I just got an email from mine today that they decided to close for the day due to the expected bad weather...and I was going to go up, too.

Mine will be closed for the one week between Christmas and New Years. Now, did you already order your films before they closed or do you still need to do this? I hope you haven't otherwise, your time to view them will be up since the FHC is closed and you would have to pay to renew them.

I also suggest you to contact Archivio di Stato di Palermo in order to request his lista di leva (military draft card).
This is the address of Archivio di Stato di Palermo

Archivio di Stato di Palermo
Vicolo della salvezza 3
90133 Palermo
Tel 091/6163093 Fax 091/6172399
e.mail: as-pa @ beniculturali.it

Write only in Italian and try to give as many info as possible.
I hope it helps
Riccardo

Thank you for the suggestion Riccardo. I will write to them. Maybe that will help, if I cannot obtain a birth certificate.

Thanks again.