Grandfather's Ship record

[Cathynap]

I have been searching for my Grandfather's ship record for many years but have never found it. My father asks me every week if I have found his father's ship record. I believe it no longer exists. I have spent way too much time for me to have missed it (unless I missed something). I am hoping someone can find it even though I have been unable to. Here is what I know. My grandfather, Guiseppe Napolitano, was born in the Parantoro section of Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza. His army papers list his birthplace as "Parendoro". He was born in November, 1892 and left Italy when he was 17. This would make his journey between 1909-1910. He came alone.
He had a cousin with the same name - Guiseppe Napolitano who was born in 1880. I found 5 of his ship records(which is why I mention it).
Can anyone find anything? I have checked many spellings but never found anything. I will know if none of you can find it, it no longer exists.
I would be grateful if anyone can check.
Thanks.
Cathy

[nuccia]

Cathy..what was Giuseppe's parents names? I' sure if I go through the spreadsheets you sent I can find it but to simplify things I'll just ask you. Did he go to New York or Chicago, or do you know?

[Cathynap]

Hi Nuccia!
His mother's name was Angelina although I think everyone called her Angela. She died in 1907 before he came over. His father's name was Domenico Enrico Napolitano - everyone called him Enrico but he died when my Grandfather was 2 1/2 years old. My great grandmother married a Raffaele DeSeta in 1898 and had 6 more children so he could have listed Raffaele or Enrico as his dad. My father has always believed his dad came in through NYC and stayed on the east coast for a short period before coming to Chicago. But then again my Dad never knew that his dad's brother and sisters had a different father so who knows. I have even looked up many of the family names and found many ship records from other people from Montalto Uffugo some of which were cousins hoping to find him. I even checked under the name Guiseppe DeSeta. But I had no luck.
Thanks as always. You are too kind!
Cathy

[Biff83]

Hello all,

Here's another "cold case file." I've been trying to locate Cathy's grandfather's ship record for a while but to no avail. I could use some help since I'm starting to miss the forest for the trees.

Biff aka Baba Luigi

[Cathynap]

You are so wonderful...Thanks Biff! To narrow things down he would have come in between 1908-1912. He was born in 1892 and according to family storys was 17 but my grandfather has been known to lie about his age. I have found 5 or 6 ship records of his cousin also named Giuseppe Napolitano (born in 1880) but never my grandfather's. Any assistance would be most appreciated.

[vj]

Cathy & Biff, may help... Valarie

For reference, may help in finding Giuseppe Napolitano's manifest
According to these 3 records (not necessarily accurate!)
Born between 1892-1895
Census - immig 1913-1914 (prob as early as 1909?)
Naturalized abt 1919 (from WWI service?, prob Lake or Cook county, IL)
1917 WWI Draft Registration Card
1920 census w/wife & his m-i-l
1930 census w/family & m-i-l

[Cathynap]

Cathy & Biff, may help... Valarie

For reference, may help in finding Giuseppe Napolitano's manifest
According to these 3 records (not necessarily accurate!)
Born between 1892-1895
Census - immig 1913-1914 (prob as early as 1909?)
Naturalized abt 1919 (from WWI service?, prob Lake or Cook county, IL)
1917 WWI Draft Registration Card
1920 census w/wife & his m-i-l
1930 census w/family & m-i-l

Yes, these are all definitely him! Thanks you. I had the censuses but never noticed the year of immigration on there - 1913. That makes sense to be because of other family that immigrated but it debunks the family story that he was 17 when he came here.
Thanks.

[vj]

Cathy, although the census may not be accurate,
it appears to be consistent between 1920 & 1930.
Or, we may be missing more than one manifest .
Since he naturalized thru his miltary service, would
there be another record anywhere?
I was trying to find a reason to 'expand' the search
parameters since it appears none of us are having
any luck .
There is a manifest, just trying to figure out what
we're missing or, his name or age is terribly
mis-transcribed 8O .
Valarie

[Cathynap]

Cathy, although the census may not be accurate,
it appears to be consistent between 1920 & 1930.
Or, we may be missing more than one manifest .
Since he naturalized thru his miltary service, would
there be another record anywhere?
I was trying to find a reason to 'expand' the search
parameters since it appears none of us are having
any luck .
There is a manifest, just trying to figure out what
we're missing or, his name or age is terribly
mis-transcribed 8O .
Valarie

I am thinking his name is mis-transcribed too. I have looked at the obvious mis-spellings like Napoledano, I have looked at every single Napolitano with no first name and even looked up other surnames that I knew came from his comune hoping he came with a cousin or friend. I have found many of his cousins and neighbor's ship records but his remains ellusive. Thanks for trying.

[peggymckee]

Dear Cathy,

I received my grandparents' naturalization papers today from NARA.

Both sets of papers show port of entry, date of arrival in the US, & name of ship.

Can you get your grandfather's naturalization papers?

All the best, Peg

[Cathynap]

My grandfather was fast tracked through naturalization by enlisting in the army. I have his original certificate and it does not list any ship information at all. It does not even give the town of his birth - only "Italy" as his place of birth/citizenship. Would NARA have records more detailed than his original "Certificate of Naturalization"?
I want to thank VJ again. You posted his army registration which confused me a little because it says "Libertyville" as his residence (we had no knowledge he was there). It make me pull out his original army documents and sure enough there is a notation on his original enlistment record (different type from the one you posted) that states "due soldier <?word I cannot make out> allowance from Atlanta, Ga to Libertyville, Ill."

[vj]

Cathy & Peg, good question on NARA!
Do they have a faq or email contact on
their website?
Cathy, congratulation to you on having your
files so well organized that you could quickly
put your hands on your grandfather's military
paperwork !
Thanks! Valarie

[peggymckee]

Of course, I have no way of knowing what's on file for your Grandfather. Here's my experience:

I received a packet for each grandparent. Neither packet contains a "Certificate of Naturalization".

Both packets contain "Certificate of Arrival", "Petition for Naturalization" & "Oath of Allegiance". In addition, my grandfather's packet has a "Declaration of Intent".

Here's where I started with NARA
http://www.archives.gov/great-lakes/chi ... cords.html

See if the information you have on the certificate is enough to locate the entire file. If it is, you can get it in a few days. Maybe it will have what you seek--and if not, the cost is small. Good luck in your search!
Peg

[Cathynap]

WOW! Great link. Thanks! I will do as you suggest. I'm curious anyway since noone in the family knows for sure if my Grandmother became a citizen - she must have but none of her papers were passed down to me and my dad does not know. I'll make a request for both of them. In fact, I will make a request for my grandmother's mother as well. Perhaps it will list her town of birth which I have been looking for over 10 years. They came from Cortale but my great grandmother was not born there.
VJ - I am ROTFL! If you knew the piles of documents I had to sift through to find that folder!! I do need to organize!! So many documents! I did start out very organized but somewhere along the way...
Thank you both for your help. And thank you Biff for resurrecting my old post!

[Biff83]

Cathy, you're welcome.

Big thanks to Valarie and Peg for helping and giving some perspective to the search.

Biff