Do I qualify for Italian citizenship?

[manckj]

My Grandfather, Giovanni Mancini, came to US in 1912 through Boston.
His WWW I draft card (chittendon, VT) in 1918 states that he was not a US citizen.
I can not find any other info on him in any census reports, etc.
He married my Grandmother in Vermont and spent they rest of their lives in Worcester, MA., USA until his death in 1970.
How do I find out about eligibility?
Thank you.
Jack

[Drew927]

Jack,
The first and most important issue is regarding Naturalization and the date your Father/Mother was born. If your parent was born after his naturalization date, citizenship was not passed down. On the other hand, if naturalization did not occur or was after their birth, you do qualify so start gathering your documents.
Send a Naturalization search request to both the USCIS and NARA. If a "no records found" letter is sent back to you, send a search request to all the County Clerk Offices your grandfather had resided.

Good Luck
Drew

[johnnyonthespot]

As Drew stated, if you are planning to go through your father and grandfather, then it is imperative that your grandfather naturalized after your father's birth or that you provide proof that your grandfather never naturalized / gave up his Italian citizenship.

There is an added burden if you are planning to go through your mother and her father (your grandfather): prior to January 1, 1948, Italian citizenship was passed only through the father. Hence, your own birthday must be on or after that date for you to have acquired Italian citizenship through your mother.

[manckj]

Thanks for all the info. My father was born in 1926 and I can't find any thing, anywhere regarding the 1930 census listing my grandfather who lived in Worcester, MA all of his life after 1920.
If he nationalized I think it was after 1930.
Jack
Rhode Island

[Drew927]

Jack,
The census records are loaded with errors. I would suggest searching for your grandfather using different spellings of the names.

[johnnyonthespot]

Thanks for all the info. My father was born in 1926 and I can't find any thing, anywhere regarding the 1930 census listing my grandfather who lived in Worcester, MA all of his life after 1920.
If he nationalized I think it was after 1930.
Jack
Rhode Island

If you would care to share your grandfather's name and birthdate, along with names of his wife and children, we are pretty darned good at finding things around here.

[manckj]

Hi,
GF, Giovanni Mancini, Birth 1886 - Sava, Italy. Port of entry Boston.
GM, Mary M. Mancini, Birth 1897, daughter of Giuseppe Nardella. Entry
from Canada to St Albans, Vermont. Residing Chittendon, VT.
Children: Rita Mancini (Allen)
Gilda Mancini (Tomashuanas)
E Mario Mancini Birth 1926 (my father)
R Frank Mancini
Relatives: Fiore and Anna Mele Anna is my GM sister. Hartford Connecticut. Children: Mary, John, Joseph and Anthony

Thanks for your help!
Jack

[Romano1970]

Just to ad to this. I may have gotten bad information from the Embassy in NY though. I was advised that my grandfather on my fathers side (after he had come to america) needed to NOT have been naturalized. Luckily he was not. He did not renounce his citizenship to italy under King Emanuel. I am not sure that if he did I would have been able to apply.

This may have changed since approx a year and a half ago.

[mler]

They either gave you the wrong information or you misunderstood. If your gf did naturalize, you would still qualify if the naturalization took place after your father's birth.

[johnnyonthespot]

Jack,

Sorry to admit that I lost track of this thread...

Is it fair to say you are certain this is your grandfather's manifest?

Boston Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1943 about Giovanni Mancini
Name: Giovanni Mancini
Arrival Date: 20 Jun 1910
Age: 24
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1886
Gender: Male
Ethnic Background: Italian (South) (Italian)
Port of Departure: Naples, Italy
Ship Name: Romanic
Port of Arrival: Boston, Massachusetts
Friend's Name: Geovanni Rinne
Last Residence: Italy
Birthplace: Sava, Italy

Line 25. Click once to enlarge; click again for maximum magnification.

[johnnyonthespot]

WWI and WWII draft registrations:

[johnnyonthespot]

Your father?

Massachusetts Death Index, 1970-2003 about E Mario Mancini
Name: E Mario Mancini
Certificate: 030887
Death Place: Worcester
Death Date: 19 May 1981
Birth Place: Massachusetts
Birth Date: 8 Feb 1926


An undated record:
U.S. Public Records Index, Volume 2 about Mario Mancini
Name: Mario Mancini
Birth Date: 8 Feb 1926
Address: 44 Fairlawn Ave
City: Oxford
State: MA
Zip Code: 01540-2274

[manckj]

Thanks for your help on this.
The draft cards for Giovanni (John) are correct. He went to Vermont where he married my GM. They then moved to Worcester, MA. Lived on Carroll Ave.
The death certificate for my Dad is correct. E. Mario Mancini married to Evelyn, two sons, I am John (called Jack), two daughters.
Port of entry and destination are correct, however, I don't have information abour GF having a brother that paid for his trip???
Thanks,

Jack

[johnnyonthespot]

Wow, I am having no luck at all on the 1920 and 1930 censuses. Very odd!

On his 1918 draft registration card, Giovanni/John listed himself as "non-declarant" - thus creating a reasonable chance that he had not yet naturalized by the time of E Mario's birth in 1926.


I think your best option at this time is to see if you can turn up naturalization papers for Giovanni. The best place to start, based on time and cost, would be the US National Archives. Go to https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonline/ , click Order Reproductions then Immigration & Naturalization Records. When filling in the order form, you may need to put xxxxxx's or 99999's in some fields where you don't have actual info; then use the comment box for additional information. Order certified copies, as that is what you would need if you proceed with a jure sanguinis case. If the archivist is unable to locate records, you will not be charged for the search (unlike with USCIS).

National Archives requests are usually fulfilled in a matter of a few weeks. If nothing turns up there, you can try the United States Citizenship & Immigration Service. USCIS has records for all naturalizations from about September, 1906 onwards; the National Archives (for most regions) only has naturalization records from the federal court system - since a very large percentage of our ancestors naturalized in state and county courts, this leaves a lot of holes in NARA's database.

For USCIS, start at http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... 18190aRCRD and click the "Order Online Now" link at top right. You will need to order an "Index Search" first, wait, wait, receive report, then come back and order a "Records Request" based on the results of the index search.

[johnnyonthespot]

Port of entry and destination are correct, however, I don't have information abour GF having a brother that paid for his trip???
Thanks,

Jack

I think it says brother-in-law, not brother. Also, I am not certain of the relationship of the person on line 26 of the manifest. Although they are both from Sava and seem to share the name Mancini, they are going to different places upon arrival in the US. Perhaps they were cousins?

Actually, that manifest sure looks like it says "Mancino" and not Mancini. Both spellings exist in the Italian telephone directory for Sava - http://www.paginebianche.it/execute.cgi ... =Sava&l=en