The indexes on the following pages have been extracted by reading the images of the records available on online. They contain basic information such as:
Also important to know is that sometimes the information in the record isn't always accurate. Ages, for example, are sometimes estimated, rounded up to nearest five or ten-year mark, or exaggerated (in the case of very old people). Names are mangled or confused with the names of parents.
Speaking of names...
One thing that will surprise many readers is that Italian women kept their birth surname after marriage (this is still the case today). So if Giuseppe Martino married Maria Fiore, Maria would still be named Maria Fiore and would be listed as such in official records up until the day she died. If they had children, they would have the surname Martino.
Italian couples would honor parents by naming children after them. The general rule went like this:
But, infant mortality was high in Italy in the 19th century and many children died in the first year or two of life. So, let's say Giuseppe named his first-born son after his father Domenico. His second son, born a year later, is named after his father-in-law Rocco. But what happens if little Domenico dies? Giuseppe has a problem - his father needs a namesake! The usual solution: the next son born is named Domenico (even though he's not the first-born son)! Or sometimes, a surviving child is renamed (especially if the couple doesn't have any more children). You will see names recycled often with children.
This leads to another problem when trying to understand the records. Let's say Vito Ruccia has four sons: Tommaso, Domenico, Nicola, and Antonio. If those four sons all get married and each have a son, under the standard naming convention, each one of those baby boys would be named Vito Ruccia. To help reduce the confusion, a patronymic was sometimes used in the records. Now instead of four Vito Ruccias, you have Vito (di Tommaso), Vito (di Domenico), Vito (di Nicola), and Vito (di Antonio). The di literally means "of". If the father is deceased, the di is changed to fu (meaning "was"). Here's some examples:
For more information...
The LDS church created a guide in the 1980s to reading extracting Italian records that includes many different helpful tools, including a script tutorial, list of common Italian words and phrases, relationships, occupations, dates, numbers, etc. Also available are lists of common male and female given names. It's now available to browse online.
- Name of the principal
- Names of the parents
- Ages
- Dates (the date the act recorded isn't necessarily the date of the birth/death/marriage - usually the act says when the event took place, but not always)
Also important to know is that sometimes the information in the record isn't always accurate. Ages, for example, are sometimes estimated, rounded up to nearest five or ten-year mark, or exaggerated (in the case of very old people). Names are mangled or confused with the names of parents.
Speaking of names...
One thing that will surprise many readers is that Italian women kept their birth surname after marriage (this is still the case today). So if Giuseppe Martino married Maria Fiore, Maria would still be named Maria Fiore and would be listed as such in official records up until the day she died. If they had children, they would have the surname Martino.
Italian couples would honor parents by naming children after them. The general rule went like this:
- First-born son named after the paternal grandfather
- Second-born son named after the maternal grandfather
- First-born daughter named after the paternal grandmother
- Second-born daughter named after the maternal grandmother
But, infant mortality was high in Italy in the 19th century and many children died in the first year or two of life. So, let's say Giuseppe named his first-born son after his father Domenico. His second son, born a year later, is named after his father-in-law Rocco. But what happens if little Domenico dies? Giuseppe has a problem - his father needs a namesake! The usual solution: the next son born is named Domenico (even though he's not the first-born son)! Or sometimes, a surviving child is renamed (especially if the couple doesn't have any more children). You will see names recycled often with children.
This leads to another problem when trying to understand the records. Let's say Vito Ruccia has four sons: Tommaso, Domenico, Nicola, and Antonio. If those four sons all get married and each have a son, under the standard naming convention, each one of those baby boys would be named Vito Ruccia. To help reduce the confusion, a patronymic was sometimes used in the records. Now instead of four Vito Ruccias, you have Vito (di Tommaso), Vito (di Domenico), Vito (di Nicola), and Vito (di Antonio). The di literally means "of". If the father is deceased, the di is changed to fu (meaning "was"). Here's some examples:
- Rocco Martino di Francesco (Rocco son of the living Francesco)
- Savino Romita fu Antonio (Savino son of the late Antonio)
- Rosa Caputo di Vito ed della fu Maria de Napoli (Rosa daughter of the living Vito [Caputo] and the late Maria de Napoli)
- Anna Fumai delli (or degli) furono Biaggio ed Domenica Battista (Anna daughter of the late Biaggio [Fumai] and the late Domenica Battista)
For more information...
The LDS church created a guide in the 1980s to reading extracting Italian records that includes many different helpful tools, including a script tutorial, list of common Italian words and phrases, relationships, occupations, dates, numbers, etc. Also available are lists of common male and female given names. It's now available to browse online.