DeLemmi family from Chieti / Castel Quendone

[jbogle4422]

I am trying to trace my Italian heritage. What part of Italy is the name DeLemmi from? Great great grandfater John DeLemmi came to the US in 1909 and changed his name to John Ricci. I am told that the DeLemmi family owns Castel Quendone, which is still there today. Any help would be greatly appriciated.

[jcsm400]

Hi jbogie 4422,

Welcome to the forum!

Here is a distribution map for surnames in Italy. Under Cognome type the surname & then click on the red arrow.

http://www.gens.labo.net/en/cognomi/genera.html

In order to trace family in Italy, you need to know the exact town information. If you can provide more specific information (birth year, wife's name & birth year, names & birth years for their children & where they settled in the US) on your ancestor & his family, we maybe able to help obtain the town information for you or point you to records that may contain this information.

What documentation have you already obtained for John DeLemmi aka John Ricci? Census records? Manifest? Death certificate? Others?

jcsm

[Esperanza]

Do you mean the city of Castelguidone: Abruzzo Region?

http://en.comuni-italiani.it/069/019/

Just did a google on "Castel Quendone" and it took me to Britain...

Can you tell us how is listed on the Ellis Island data base since you know of his arrival in 1909?

[jbogle4422]

I am still waiting on the Ellis Island information. The only other information I can provide is that John DeLemmi (aka: John Ricci) married Margeret Tenaro in 1911 - here in the USA. She may have lived in the same town as John. Also, John Delemmi's father was a wealthy lawyer who purchased the castel which should still be in the family. I also did a search for Castel Quendone which turned up nothing. I also searched for a list of castels in Italy, which turned up nothing.

[Esperanza]

Thank you for quick reply!

I am having a heck of a time with the Ellis site... (through Steve Morse's pages....) maybe the site is down...

I keep getting "zero" results for the surname DeLemmi... I will check again later.

Ancestry .com does show an Ohio death record of a person who's mother's maiden name was "DeLemmi" and who's fathers surname was DeMarco..

But that's it... one record only for DeLemmi... on Ancestry... is this surname correct? Could it be DiLemme(i, a, o)

I'm wondering how one goes from being DeLemmi to Ricci....

Do you have a year of birth for John and Margaret?

[jbogle4422]

Esperanza, I should be thanking you for the help. The Ellis Island site gave me the same difficulty. I am trying to get a birth year on both. As for the name change, I have no idea. I am still waiting on verification on the spellings of the names. Again, thank you.

[jcsm400]

Would you please answer my questions? Perhaps if we can find census information, we'll have better luck with the manifest(s).

jcsm

[Esperanza]

Hi again,

Don't mind helping at all...

I finally got some results... it seems like the surname could be DiLemme.

[jbogle4422]

I am still trying to locate any birth/death certificates. John DeLemmi's town is unknown at this time. Census / ship manafest's are inconclusive since the exact spelling of DeLemmi is questionable. Any of the surviving relatives in the US, who may have this information, have not been located yet.

[jbogle4422]

Ellis Island search for John DeLemmi or John Ricci turned up no results.

[jcsm400]

What documentation do you have on your great grandfather, son of John DeLemme (your gr. gr. granfather/)?
What is your great grandfather's 1st name? Was he ______ DeLemme or ______ Ricci? When & where was he born?Where did he live? His mother's name? Siblings?

jcsm