Both family information and my research have established that my Gt Grandparents both came from Scala.

Rafaele Staiano b about 1873 and Maria Custoda Oliva b about 1879 supposedly ran away and married in Naples and emigrated to England.

The 1901 English census has them living in London with Rafaele's brother Frank.

Can anyone help me to trace my family back further.

Hi Will,

You should write away for the birth and/or marriage acts for your Great Grandparents. You may also want to try renting microfilms from the local Family History Center nearest you. Not sure if I gave you the information in your other post or not so forgive me if I am repeating myself here but I haven't had my first cup of coffee yet.

I have checked the LDS and they do not even offer Italy as a choice of European Country so I guess they do not have any records.

You say to write for the birth and marriage records. Sorry to be dumb but this is my first foray into Italian Genealogy. Who do I write to?

Will..

Do you go to www.familysearch.org ? If you do, then go to the drop down for Library, then Library Catalog and then you are given choices on how to search, like place search. Input the name of the Comune and a list will come up for films available in that area. You can also use the Library menu to search for the address of a Family History Center nearest you so you can go there and order the microfilms available and review them.

As for writing away to Italy you would need the address of the Comune (Town Hall) where your relatives were born. You would send a letter requesting the births acts in Italian (Acts are the long version birth certificates, not extracts) and include a lot more information on them.

There are no stupid questions. We all had to start somewhere and I remember my first few months I was clueless. I felt like a complete ass because I couldn't even use the www.ellisisland.org site, nor could I read a ship manifest. But slowly I caught on. I still have lots of questions but there are so many people available here to help that I don't worry about it anymore/ And you shouldn't either.

I will post the address for the Comune in the morning unless one of our members in Italy does it first. I have to look it up and make sure I give you the right one. I find it better when they do it! At least I'm sure its right then.

Scala is under Salerno Province in Campania region and is not too far from Naples. Unfortunately the LDS did not microfilm this town acts, so the only thing to do would be writing to the Town Hall and request birth certificates for your ancestors. The Town Hall doesn't have a website so you will have to write to

Ufficio Stato Civile
Piazza Municipio
84010 SCALA (SA)
Italy

For form letters

Letters

The surnames Staiano and Oliva are common in this town so this should be the correct place.

Scala is located in a beautiful area: The Amalfi Coast which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Scala is listed among other towns, click on it to read a description of the village.

Amalfi Coast .

Hope this will help.
Ada

Many thanks indeed for your patience and help. I was given this link by a moderator on the British Genealogy site where I also make some contributions.

I Will request the documents and then wait patiently. We are a little spoilt here in the UK where we get them in a few days.

My first request from Italy came in 15 days. Since then, I have had to sometimes wait months for documents. The only good thing ws that it gave me something to look forward to in the mail (besides bills! )

WillUK wrote:

Both family information and my research have established that my Gt Grandparents both came from Scala. Rafaele Staiano b about 1873 and Maria Custoda Oliva b about 1879 supposedly ran away and married in Naples and emigrated to England. The 1901 English census has them living in London with Rafaele's brother Frank. Can anyone help me to trace my family back further.

Hi Will
I think we might be related in some way. My great grandfather was Antonio Staiano from Scala. He had a son Gaetano Staiano who lived in Southwark, London with a bunch of other Staianos born about the time Rafael was. Ther are a couple of Rafaels but the surnames don't match. There is a Francesco Staiano born in 1888 but I have him listed as being born in London.
Let me know if any of this is of interest to you.

Hi Will
I think we might be related in some way. My great grandfather was Antonio Staiano from Scala. He had a son Gaetano Staiano who lived in Southwark, London with a bunch of other Staianos born about the time Rafael was. Ther are a couple of Rafaels but the surnames don't match. There is a Francesco Staiano born in 1888 but I have him listed as being born in London.
Let me know if any of this is of interest to you.

Raphael (this is I believe his spelling but later in the family reproduced as Rafaele, Raffaele etc). Raphael & Maria Custoda are my great grandparents. Both came from Scala. They had eleven children but the names vary from birth certificate to the names known in the family and then also to the names used by the children.

Barbara Agnes b 1899 my Grandmother
Antonio 1901
Joseph 1903
Rafaele 1904
Maria 1908
Michale 1910
Teresina 1913
Alberto 1913
Iolanda 1915 Known as Aunt Hilda
Grazia Lorenzo 1916
Maddelena 1919

These are the registrations I can find based on the maiden name Oliva

According to family notes from my Mother Maria Custoda the children were.

Thomas
Joseph
Rafaele
Michaele
Alberto
Lorenzo
Ulanda
Florence
Madelaine
Maria Custoda - My mothers aunt

Family history says that Raphael moved here just before the 1900 and sold fruit and vegetables from Borough Markets. They lived in the Old Kent Road in a large house and sponsored south londoners who went hop picking in Kent by funding their living costs until they were paid. He also ran a string of snooker halls.

They were interned near Andover for the second world war and on their release returned to Camberwell where Maria died. Raphael returned to Italy to place a memorial in the church at Scala but died en route. His body was returned to England.

My grandmother Barbara Agnes Staiano married Charles henry Pike. Their daughter, Maria Costoda married Leonard Newman making me William Raphael Newman. William Henry Cable Pike was my other Gt Grandfather

Thats my family, is it yours?

Cheers

Hello Will,
I hope that you have had some success in finding out more about your great grandparents. My sister travelled the same route tracing our family tree on my fathers side visiting both the communes of Ravello and Scala.

I believe that I am correct in saying that your great grandfather Raffaele Staiano was a cousin of my grandmothers, Giovanna Staiano.

My great grandfather was Antonio Staiano who emigrated from Scala to England in the 1880's when my grandmother, Giovanna, was six months old. They lived in the Tooley Street area of South East London where my grandfather was nicknamed 'Uncle Tony' and my grandmother was known as the 'Belle of Bermondsey'.

In 1903 my grandmother married and together with her husband ran a greengrocers shop in Deacon Street at the Elephant and Castle in South East London until 1936, when they retired back to Italy.

In 1947 your grandfather did actually reach Scala accompanied by a son ( this may have been Alberto as my mother who is still alive remembers something like Alby). On the 10th August, the feast day of San Lorenzo, my grandparents, an aunt and uncle and my own parents had dinner with your great grandfather at his house in Scala. I was born 4 days later and your great grandfather died either 20th or 21st August. His body later being taken back to England.

My father called your great grandparents 'Zio Raffaele and Zia Mariuccia' and together with my mother spoke of 'Zio Raffaele Staiano' often, so I grew up knowing of him. I have in my possession a studio photograph of your great grandparents. On the reverse of this postcard there are two messages written by your great grandmother, one to a goddaughter and one to a cousin, one she signs of as 'Maria Staiano' and the other as 'Cugina Mariuucia'. If you like I would happily scan this photo to you.

I hope that the above is of interest to you even though I can't take you any further back.

Kind regards,

Giovi

Posts like the two above are what really make everything worth while here at "Gente"...

The coming together of long lost families - isn't it wonderful? And for me an 'adopted' Italian, but still a Brit, at least they are talking about places I know of. My parents families lived and grew up south of the Thames in London in the periods beig discussed here. I remember Tooley Street full of huge dockland warehouses and the surrounding housing that could certainly have been better - and the famous Elephant and Castle - still a London enclave thought the old 'pub' has long gone...



Aah - memories, memories. Keep 'em coming!

Giovi

Great news. Thank you. I have posted a private message to you

Will

A big thank you to all at Genti di Mare. We have exchanged photographs to confirm we are referring to the same people. It was the same photograph taken at a studio in New Kent Road, London. This has answered so many questions already, thanks to you all.

Will

You're very welcome Will! We're all very pleased for you and Giovi. Please keep us updated on your progress and let us know if we can help in any other way.