Italian Records on Ancestry.com

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Are there any birth records from Salandra, Matera, Bascilicata, Italy posted on Ancestry.com if you have a world-wide membership? I'm looking for the birth record of Angela Maria Calabrese born 24 May 1885 in Salandra & also her mother Maria Calabrese born in 1867.

[vj]

They only have some 1871 Marriage Acts for Valsinni online

[Help]

Thanks for checking. Maybe in the future they will have more from there, I hope so.

[dmt1955]

Help,
You may already know this, however...
one can order (rent) microfilmed records from the www.familysearch.org. click on "catalog" from the home page and you can sort by place, among other variables. This is how I have had to search for my ancestors in Italy, as the area of interest to me is not online.

The area you mentioned shows civil records on microfilm available to view from 1809-1929.

I hope this helps. Good luck,
Donna

[Help]

Thanks Donna,
I have viewed these records on microfilm from Salandra & they were in very poor condition & I was not able to find the information I was looking for. I did however have better luck with another microfilm I viewed from Pomarico, for another side of my family.

Sandra

[erudita74]

Although the records you are searching for are not available on ancestry.com, you can rent microfilm for the Province of Matera which will have the town of Salandra on it, and the records you need (please note though that these province films have other towns on them as well and will only give you one or two years of a particular type of record for Salandra). There are approximately 220 rolls of Matera Province film, so it can get very expensive to do the research, but the records can be found. The towns on these microfilm are in alphabetical order. For the specific records you need, these are the microfilm record numbers:

Nati 1885, Bollita - Tursi Nati 1886 Accettura - Grottole FHL INTL Film
1659955

Nati 1866, Oliveto L. - Tursi Nati 1867 Accettura - Tursi Nati 1868 Accettura - Grottole FHL INTL Film
1659707

[lcafarel]

Hi, Sandra. You don't mention which microfilm you checked for Salandra records, but the only one I see in the FHL catalogue with the dates you mentioned is Film #1742921 with
Processetti (marriage records) for 1863 and 1870-1898 and Atti diversi (miscellaneous records) for 1809-1859.

The films you need are the Matera province films that include the Salandra records for the appropriate years. These are:

Nati 1866, Oliveto L. - Tursi Nati 1867 Accettura - Tursi Nati 1868 Accettura - Grottole (FHL Film #1659707)

Nati 1885, Bollita - Tursi Nati 1886 Accettura - Grottole (FHL Film #1659955)

The majority of birth, marriage, and death records are on the provincial films, not the town films, with the exception of processetti, pubblicazioni, and occasional other records. (The processetti films sometimes have baptismal records for the same years, for example.) The processetti films can be a goldmine of information, because they include birth and death records too, but they're not indexed and are often harder to read.

To see the list of provincial films, click "catalogue" on FamilySearch.org and then enter Italy, Matera, as the place name, then click on "civil registration."

The records on the provincial films are organized by year, then town, usually but not always in alphabetical order. For the years you are searching, there is usually an index of names that is usually but not always after the title page for the town and before the records. It's sometimes at the end of the records or even in the middle. The name are usually, but not always, in alpha order by surname. Make a note of the record number and birth date listed; you may need the date to find the record if the number in the index doesn't match the actual record number.

I suggest taking a photograph (multiple shots) of each record you want so that you can enlarge the image on your computer to read it and also so you have an image for your records. I think this gives you a much better quality image than using your FHC's scanning application.

If you don't find the records in the years where you expect them, start searching the years before and after. If the dates you have are from census records or death records, they may not be exact. For example, my husband's grandmother's birth date on her death record was 1861, most likely a guess by the informant, her youngest son. Her actual birth date is 1858.

I am also researching Matera province records, but for different towns, and I have mostly earlier records or processetti. If I can be of help after you look for these two birth records, though, let me know.

I'll reply separately concerning the Salabreco surname.

Lesley

[lcafarel]

As you can probably tell from my message, you have to be persistent when doing family history research. Don't expect it to be as easy as clicking on a shivering leaf and, presto, the correct record appears.

Good luck!

Lesley

[Help]

Thank you Lesley, I will order these two films you suggested. The film # I previously viewed was indeed #1742921. I have been working at this for over 3 years so I know you have to be patient & learn to take the good with the bad. It is always so very exciting when you find the information you are looking for, it makes all the time & effort you put into it worth while! Also having people like yourself helping is wonderful!

Sandra

[lcafarel]

Sandra, I just wrote a reply to one of your other posts and when I clicked on "submit" (it took a while) it told me I had to log in again, and my post had disappeared. Phoo; I hate it when that happens. I don't have time now, but will write the message again tomorrow. I think I'll write it in Word first and paste it in, so I don't lose it again.

It helps to know which film you had already ordered. Do you still have it on loan?

One thing I wrote in the message that just disappeared--I suggest that you start with the film for Angela Maria Calabrese's birth. You may want to hold off on ordering the other one. I'll explain tomorrow. Also, do you have names and approximate birthdates of any of Angelina's siblings?

There are a lot of Calabreses in the Pagine Bianchi for Salandra. Some may be your relatives.

Finally, I found two family trees with Angela Maria Calabrese on Ancestry, one with photos. One of these may be yours, but if not, you may want to check them out.

More soon.

Lesley

[lcafarel]

Also, there's a "Salandra (Lucania)" group on Facebook, in case you haven't joined it. You might want to check it out and see if anyone there knows your family or is related. I searched members and didn't find any Calabreses.

Lesley

[Help]

Hi Lesley,

Yes, I have a "private" tree on Ancestry with photos of Angelina Maria Calabrese in her wedding photo to my grandfather Giuseppe Dominic Scandiffio. They were married in Pomarico on May 2, 1901. On this document her father is listed as "unknown". Angelina apparently only had one brother who died in infancy (date of birth & death unknown to me). Mother's maiden name on this document is Maria Calabrese. Microfilm #2096628 BMD records from Pomarico, Italy 1901-1910. This film was in excellent condition. I took a photo of it & made it a document & sent to the forum for translation.

Sandra

[lcafarel]

Hi, Sandra. I saw the wedding photo when I searched on Ancestry. Perhaps it's also on someone else's tree. That's great that you found Angelina's wedding record and interesting about Maria's name on that.

Well, with her father unknown on one record, Fredo as her father on another, and the brother, it sounds like you have an interesting mystery to solve. With some more digging, though, you might be able to sort this out.

I'd still recommend locating Fredo and Maria's marriage record next. You can also search for the brother's birth and death records and they may list his father; you just have to begin with an estimated year and location and work out from there.

Lesley

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Thanks Lesley, I will try all those suggestions. I hope someday to finally get this family mystery solved! The wedding photo is on a second cousin of mine's public Ancestry tree, who sent me the photo. Her mom is a first cousin of mine.

Sandra