Translation of passport

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silhouettecutter
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Translation of passport

Post by silhouettecutter »

We were lucky enough to get a copy of my Great Grandfathers Passport and need help in reading it to discover clues as to where he came from. Family lore has him born in 1866 and coming from Milan, Lombardy area and that he could be an orphan. Any help would be appreciated in reading the passport.
Thanks very much,
Pam
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Tessa78
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by Tessa78 »

silhouettecutter wrote:We were lucky enough to get a copy of my Great Grandfathers Passport and need help in reading it to discover clues as to where he came from. Family lore has him born in 1866 and coming from Milan, Lombardy area and that he could be an orphan. Any help would be appreciated in reading the passport.
Thanks very much,
Pam
Hello Pam!

The passport was issued in Sondrio (which is in the Lombardy region) on 29 march 1883, for a trip to America.
Passport was issued to Felice Benvenuto Esposto (esposto is written where the father's name would be, esposto [exposed] generally indicates that his parents are unknown).
Left column states that he was age 16 years (putting his birth about 1866-1867)
He had blond hair and grey eyes, and his occupation is listed as farmer.

I believe it gives his birth location as Como :-)

EDIT TO ADD:
Here is a possible birth record for your Felice Benvenuto from Como, dated 13 June 1866 (#476) - birth on 9 June. No parents given, birth declared by the director of a hospital, and the child was given the name FELICE and the surname BENVENUTO by the official.

Click once to enlarge and again to magnify - the birth record is on the right side of the image
Image


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Tessa78
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by Tessa78 »

In addition...

It would appear from the record that the child was found with a band of cloth, a vest of cotton canvas, a cotton diaper, a cap, and a pillow.
Half of a colored picture hung on a ribbon of red cotton.

These items would help the parent/s identify their child if/when they were able to reclaim it. :-)

T.
silhouettecutter
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by silhouettecutter »

Here is another document for the same Felice Benvenuto Birth you have posted a document for. Could you please translate for us. We are hopeful that maybe something will have his mothers name on it otherwise we will be at a dead end.
Thank you very VERY much for the help. We have found several other Felice Benvenutos and hope to narrow down to the REAl one. Do you suppose that the colored picture was a photo? Ideas on what that might mean.Also...anyone with information on orphans in Italy please let me know anything that might be helpful or of interest.
Thanks again for all your help this is great stuff!
Pam
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Tessa78
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by Tessa78 »

This is the actual document received by the town official in Como and transcribed exactly into the register as BIRTH ACT #476 above. It is from the director of the Foundling Hospital. There is no mother named.

As for the "half picture"... most likely a religious picture of some sort. The purpose was to have a way to identify the child as theirs (the two halves matching) if/when the parents later claimed the child.

You might enjoy reading the blog on foundlings posted under BLOG on the blue menu bar at the top of this page.

T.
silhouettecutter
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by silhouettecutter »

Thank you! It was a great article and very helpful in understanding researching an orphan. I do have a question...Our Felice Benvenuto has a probable birth date of May 25 if this orphan is indeed our Felice and he was born May 25th or there-about is it likely that he was baptized once already before being turned over to the Orphanage and baptized as Felice? I noticed in researching my other family members that many illegitimate children were baptized with just the mothers name.Would we have much hope of looking in Como for children born during that time to single mothers?
Pam
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Tessa78
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by Tessa78 »

silhouettecutter wrote:Thank you! It was a great article and very helpful in understanding researching an orphan. I do have a question...Our Felice Benvenuto has a probable birth date of May 25 if this orphan is indeed our Felice and he was born May 25th or there-about is it likely that he was baptized once already before being turned over to the Orphanage and baptized as Felice? I noticed in researching my other family members that many illegitimate children were baptized with just the mothers name.Would we have much hope of looking in Como for children born during that time to single mothers?
Pam
Felice was born on 9 June according to the above documents. Where do you find the birthdate of 25 May?

As to the baptism... even foundlings were baptized and the record would reflect unknown parents.

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Re: Translation of passport

Post by silhouettecutter »

I think you misunderstand me. The birth date of May 25 1866 is what we believe is a possible date of birth for Felice Benvenuto. May 1866 is listed on the find a grave web site and the 25th was on another family members tree for him. I do not have any proof that that is his actual birth date.
My question is when a baby is abandoned at a hospital it may be days, weeks or months after it's birth before the parent/parents leave it at the orphanage.If the baby is abandoned the baby is then baptized and given a name at the orphanage.Is it possible since the custom is to baptize within a day of birth that the baby Felice was baptized (with a different name) BEFORE being abandoned at the orphanage. You said the date on the form was a BIRTH date of June 9th. If a baby is abandoned and they don't even know the parents how would they know how old the baby is?? Is it possible the date you have of June 9th is the date they received the child into the orphanage? Sorry to be so much trouble I just wanted to clarify.
I do appreciate your efforts in explaining all this.
Pam
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Re: Translation of passport

Post by Tessa78 »

silhouettecutter wrote:I think you misunderstand me. The birth date of May 25 1866 is what we believe is a possible date of birth for Felice Benvenuto. May 1866 is listed on the find a grave web site and the 25th was on another family members tree for him. I do not have any proof that that is his actual birth date.
My question is when a baby is abandoned at a hospital it may be days, weeks or months after it's birth before the parent/parents leave it at the orphanage.If the baby is abandoned the baby is then baptized and given a name at the orphanage.Is it possible since the custom is to baptize within a day of birth that the baby Felice was baptized (with a different name) BEFORE being abandoned at the orphanage. You said the date on the form was a BIRTH date of June 9th. Correction: The child was RECEIVED on the 9th. If a baby is abandoned and they don't even know the parents how would they know how old the baby is?? Sometimes the child was actually left with a note giving its first name - which was usually changed by the official - and sometimes the note would identify the date of birth... Is it possible the date you have of June 9th is the date they received the child into the orphanage? YES Sorry to be so much trouble I just wanted to clarify.
I do appreciate your efforts in explaining all this.
Pam

T.
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