Grandfather's Naturalization record only, how to find m

[sensini66]

I have a copy of my grandfather's Naturalization Certificate only and nothing else on him or his parents. It's from Massachusetts and dated 1920 as the year he was granted citizenship at 27 years old.
I have a birth date for him (12/11/1893) but NO birth certificate and nothing else. I only know his father's first name but not his mother's. There are no records about his parents in our family.

I searched Ellis Island records (but he may have arrived in Boston instead of NY) and found only one viable possibility but the town he came from doesn't exist or is mis-spelled "Capriglo" which may be "Capriolo" as the only likey spelling.

How do I find more with just his Naturalization certificate? Is there a port record in Boston that I can look into in case he arrived here and not in NY?
THanks for any help!

[misbris]

Hi and welcome to the forum,

Ancestry has records for Boston and Philadelphia as well as census records. If you don't have a subscription you can post your grandfather's name and other info (father's name,wife, children, place of residence) and we will help you find the records you need.

You are lucky, because naturalization info is often the most difficult to find.

[johnnyonthespot]

With the certificate (and thus certificate number), you can go to the USCIS and/OR National Archives and order the rest of the naturalization file. I am not certain about 1920-era records, but these generally contain place of birth (including for spouse and children if applicable). Once you have place of birth, you can write to that comune and request his/their birth certificates and so on.

For USCIS, start here http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/ ... 18190aRCRD and click the "Make a Genealogy Request" link on the right side of the screen. You can skip the "Index Search" and go directly to the "Records Request". When filling in the records request form, add a "C" in front of the certificate number and place that in the field labelled "C File Number". You should also find the Petition Number on your certificate; enter that in the appropriate field.

As I said, you can also try the US National Archives For general info: http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/natur ... ation.html

To order records, go to https://eservices.archives.gov/orderonl ... chives.gov

Click "Order Reproductions", then "Immigration and Naturalization Records". On the next page, click "Naturalization Records" and on the next page, use the dropdown "Select a Delivery Format" to select "Certified Paper Copy" (you'll eventually need a certified copy for your citizenship petition, but you can begin with a non-certified copy for research purposes if you prefer).

The National Archives response time is generally very fast (as little as a few weeks) and not terribly expensive. On the other hand, in many areas including New York, the National Archivies holds records only for naturalizations which took place in the federal court system. At the time in question, a majority of naturalizations actually took place in state and county courts.

Another advanage of National Archives vs USCIS is that for the past few years the USCIS has been "redacting" naturalization documents. For the most part this means that birthdates of everyone listed on the document other than the actual petitioner (in other words, spouse and children) will be blacked out. To the best of my knowledge, the National Archives does not redact.

[sensini66]

His name was: Eugenio Felice Modugno. His wife was Rose or Rosina (the nickname but used on Naturalization Certificate as "wife"). There are 3 children listed on Ceritificate as: Salvatore, Eugenio, Arturo. Address is: 24 Chase St., Beverly, Massachusetts.
The Certificate says it was done on September 18, 1920 at the Superior Court of Massachusetts held at Lynn, Massachusetts.
Information at the top says:
No. 1356664. Petition, Volume 35, Number 8695.

His wife Rose (Rosina) Tucci was born in Boston 07/01/1897 and her parents were born in Italy but we have no info on them either.

[johnnyonthespot]

I left out after "Make a Genealogy Request" click "Order Online Now" on the next page.

Or, just go to the order page directly with this link, https://genealogy.uscis.dhs.gov/

[misbris]

Ignore the age differences on the manifest, it is the same person travelling with the people named above in both manifests. Eugenio Modugno travelling to father Salvatore, leaving mother Antonia in Capriglia. (Probably Capriglia Irpina, province of Avellino)

For some reason there are two records for this one group of people, have no idea why.

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0005

p2

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0005



http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0013

p2
http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0013

[misbris]

This is probably Salvatore's manifest, but I can't pull it up on Ellis Island. Can someone try Ancestry?

http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passR ... 2758060301

[vj]

This is probably Salvatore's manifest, but I can't pull it up on Ellis Island. Can someone try Ancestry?

http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passR ... 2758060301

here you go mj , from ancestry. com

23 May 1902, SS Spartan Prince, Naples to NY
line 1
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9241/1902.jpg

[misbris]

TY vj,

You always come through!

[sensini66]

Eugenio Felice Modugno was born in 1893 so why does it give two sets of papers for the same person and two different ages?
I looked at the links posted but the writing is hard to read. Was his mother's given name "Antonia" and was she and her husband Salvatore already here when Eugenio arrived? He also had a sister "Mary" or "Maria" who was a few years younger than he.
How can I find more info on his parents? Will his Naturalization papers have anything filed like their birth certificates or anyhting?
Thanks so much for your help everyone!!!
I'm going to Italy within 6 months and really want to find my unknown relatives.

[carmine1917]

I had the same situation. I did know the town my grandfather was born. I my uncle John was named after the father Giovanni. But I knew nothing else.

In NYC I went to where the marriage certificates are and on it were his parents names, as well as my grandmothers parents names, the towns the came from, birth dates. It was a pot of gold.

Definitely check the area they lived for marriage certificates.

[misbris]

The only way you will know his birth date for sure is to see his birth certificate. Ellis Island dates are estimated. Census records are notoriously inaccurate, and the date on naturalization and social security papers may be correct or misremembered.

Salvatore was here already. If the manifest I posted is correct, he came in 1902. Eugenio came in 1907 to meet his father and left his mother Antonia in Italy. The manifest does not give her maiden name.

Usually if a manifest is lined out it, means the person didn't sail at that time. I have never seen a record where the dates are identical. Perhaps they had two reservations on the same ship?

Did Maria come to the states?

The people he was travelling with, Alfonso De Blasi and his wife Maria Sarnelli might be cousins. do either of those names sound familiar?

[carmine1917]

On one of my set of great-grandparents it took me 2 years to find their manifest and I found it on ancestry. I finally got ellis island to correct the spelling of my grandfathers last name in their database, you can see clearly on the manifest that is a U not a V. But also, his manifest is not on ancestry.

I am also learning that if relatives enetered the miliatary they needed birth certificates. Did you go on ancestry and check the WWI or WWII registraion cards?
Get a subrscription to ancestry and search for various spellings on different types of records. I also like stevemorse.org

[misbris]

Have you seen this record?

http://search.labs.familysearch.org/rec ... me=modugno

[sensini66]

NO, I never saw that! THANK you so much! It gives details we never knew, like his mother's maiden name!
Can I find more on "Family Search" about his mother, father, sister, etc?

Funny, it lists "Capriglia" and a mis-spelled "Capriglo" as his last residence.
A second uncle told me long ago that they were Northern Italian (quite a few were blonde, redheads, with blue eyes) in some line of this family. Maybe it was Eugenio's mother Antonia Spinella's side. There is a "Capriolo" in the Veneto region and another "Capriglia" about center of Italy in the east.

Any other ways to find out if his parents were naturalized or any details about them? Were would I find their borth records in Italy?
Thanks everyone again!