Progen -- Month 4, Part 4 (Research Plan-- Italian Great-grandfather)

I have been posting my research plan for finding the birth date for my Italian great-grandfather, Pasquale Ursino, in a series (it is quite long).  To see the previous posts click here, here, and here.

Here is the fourth and final installment:

Future Research

1. Find Pasquale Ursino’s birth record in the civil records microfilms for Catania, Sicily, Italy.

Now that I have an actual date of birth, I can order six microfilms to find his birth record. I still don’t know the section of Catania he was born in, so I have no choice but to order all six; but I now have a definite year. I will order microfilms containing birth records that include the year 1863: film numbers 1339640, 1339694, 1339767, 1339770, 1339773, 1338981.

a. When I find the birth record for Pasquale Ursino, I will probably learn the age of his parents at his birth, which will help me find their records as well. I would want to find their birth, marriage, and death records.

b. Any new information would be added to the family group record with the appropriate citations included.

2. Find the birth records of Pasquale’s brothers and sisters.

I will search birth records before and after Pasquale’s birth to find any siblings. All information will be added to the family group record with citations.

3. Search for any death records for the siblings and parents.

4. Find the marriage records for Pasquale’s parents.

Finding the oldest sibling for Pasquale will help narrow down the year of marriage for the parents. Marriage records from Catania are available in the LDS Family History Library Catalogue. The appropriate years spanned will be ordered. If I cannot find the marriage record in the years before the birth of the oldest child, I will search later years and nearby towns.

a. All the information will be recorded on the family group record with appropriate citations.

b. The marriage record may include a list of documents submitted to the town hall personnel at the time of the wedding. I will look to see if there are any “Processetti” or “Allegati” available in the Family History Library Catalogue. I will order the microfilm.

c. The “allegati,” or supplemental records, may include handwritten copies from the civil and church records (note: I may be able to search a specific church’s records, too, with this information). The “allegati” records usually have information regarding the births of the bride and groom and their parents, and could also include information about the bride’s grandparents and great-grandparents (paternal line), as well as the marriage banns, and a handwritten copy of the marriage record.

“Allegati” or “supplemental” marriage records are a vital source of information for Italian genealogy research. If one is lucky, they are easy to read! (Note: Besides contending with handwriting issues, any supplemental church records included in the marriage record will be in Latin.)

More Future Plans

I intend to search for the two wives who left Pasquale widowed and any children from each marriage. I also wish to find all the details for the children he had with my great-grandmother, Francesca Scuderi. When I research my grandmother’s siblings, I will also search for the three half-siblings truly fathered by Pietro Napoli. I am particularly interested in my grandmother’s half-brother who died during WWI while trying to save another man’s life.