Carabettas where are you?

[Claud]

hello my name is Claudio Ferrabetta,and i have a whopper of a story if you care to listen or help,i would appreciate it very much.
Here goes.
My father ,Pasquale Ferrabetta,was born feb 1941 in Delianuova,one of eleven siblings(6 boys 5 girls)the parents being (my grandparents) Agazio Salvatore Ferrabetta(Born may 5,1912 in Guardavalle, and Maria Ferrabetta(m. Cagliostro)born sept 25,1914 in Delianuova.My great-grandfather, i dont know too much about him,neither does my father,only that he may have come from Cittanuova,and get this, his surname was Carabetta.
This is where it gets interesting.
Apparently my great-grandfather registered my grandfather as Ferrabetta.Why?Well ive heard that he may have been drunk and slured his words,or his handwriting was ineligible ,so they guessed or there was a Ferrabetta registered the day before ,hence mis-understanding.
What does puzzle me is that even if we stole the name how come theres no origin of Ferrabetta out of Italy,and the fact there are about a handfull of Ferrabettas in Sydney,Australia,who ive been told personnally by them,that they are no relation,and they say their the last of the Ferrabettas.
My family history has become very important to me,which i should have done earlier,before my Grandparents died.
I remember my grandfather many years ago mentioning he had brothers ,i think five,with the surname Carabetta with one living in Australia,his name Andrea Carabetta(i found out in feb 07 that he past away in 2004)but i was too young to take special notice and put two and two together.How i wish i could have them all in one room for one last time.
thankyou for reading this,i bet its been interesting,and if you here anything about namechanges in calabria to do with Carabetta,please let me know,as i am tracing my family history and hit a block with my Great-grandfather.


p.s One last fact is that my grandfather got into a fight in italy before he came to Australia,and stabbed his attacker,he was nearly charged and could have gone to gaol,but my father says he had a doctor friend who got him off.not bad eh!

thanks for listening again and will hear from you soon
kind regards
Claudio

[nuccia]

I have cousins that are Carabetta's and family in Guardavalle.

My guess, and only a guess is that although your grandfather was registered incorrectly he would still have been known as a Carabetta. I would think that unless someone was actually looking at the Birth Act they would probably not even know the name change happened. Back then I don't think people were as hung up on things like names and ages and birth acts were not even issued unless someone need it for marriage or that. Your grandfather may even have been a man before he himself knew about it and by then it wasn't important.

I have family where all the siblings had their surname misspelled...Macchione, Mac Chione..etc and my great grandfather had his amended in 1949 because he tried to apply for US Citizenship and realized they listed the wrong father on his birth act.

[Claud]

I found a document in naa.archives,relating to Andrea Carabetta ,my grandfathers brother.He was a prisoner of war in libya in 22.1.1941.My father confirmed this.On the document it has Antonino Carabetta as the father,his address then was Citta nuova,reg Calabria,via.Mosei,and his mother as Maria Colosi.How do i start to research this.Other details of Andre Carabetta are,
Australian P.O.W no:45353 brit P.O.W no:97163
D.O.B: 4.5.1920
Regiment no: 11031
Date of capture: 22.1.1941
Place of internment: Hay,New South Wales
Rank : Private
Unit: Infantry

You see this means Andrea was born after my Grandfather Agazio Ferrabetta,yet Andrea kept the name Carabetta.
Its just not making sense.But my father tells me that surnames back in the old country were not used as adressing people it was more like nick names like Domenico wold have been "mimo".
How do i use the info i have to find my grandfathers brothers and also my great grandfathers(Antonino Carabetta)parents.
I think im doing my head in!
i really appreciate the help,Ciao,Claudio

[nuccia]

Claudio,

Do you have a copy of the birth act which confirms this? I would suggest getting it if you don't have it.

Need to get the kids ready for school. Be back in a bit.

[Claud]

how do i obtain the birth act?
p.s its easy to forget about the time difference.Its 11.00pm and really should be in bed but this is to exciting!

[liviomoreno]

I found a document in naa.archives,relating to Andrea Carabetta ,my grandfathers brother.He was a prisoner of war in libya in 22.1.1941.My father confirmed this.On the document it has Antonino Carabetta as the father,his address then was Citta nuova,reg Calabria,via.Mosei,and his mother as Maria Colosi...

I suppose it is:
Via Moisè
89022 Cittanova (RC)

[nuccia]

Hang on Cladio..

Just going through a few records on ancestry and Ferrabetta was a name at one time in Guardavalle.



And from the National Archives..
Hopefully you can view the link and get a copy of this record if its of any use to you..

http://naa12.naa.gov.au/scripts/Items_l ... 0&T=I&C=11



Title
FERRABETTA Pasquale - Nationality: Italian - Arrived Melbourne per Roma 21 February 1964
Series number
D4881 Control symbol
FERRABETTA PASQUALE Contents date range
21 Feb 1964 - 31 Dec 1976

Access status
Open Location
Adelaide
Barcode
7203084

As for the first act of Agazio Salvatore Ferrabetta you would need to write to:
Comune di
Guardavalle
Via R. Salerno,
88065 Guardavalle, CZ
Italia
tel. 0967 82067, fax. 0967 82067.

I hope this is the correct address. If not I am sure someone will provide it.

Oh..I also have a handful of Cittanova records at my FHC. I may be able to look the next time I go there for any reference to Andrea.

[Claud]

Pasquale ferrabetta is my father,He was born in Delianuova,that is his ship record.But you see thats what im saying the only ferrabettas to come out of italy is my grandfather and his wife and siblings.Not to mention a handfull in sydney who say there not related.and i think i found at least one who migrated to america in the 1800's i think his name was paulo Ferrabetta again no relation.I do stress that we are Carabettas.Whether theres more to the story who knows but thats what im going to find out.

[nuccia]

Yes, I saw Paola's ship record as well. I also found someone married to a Carmela and going to see his sister in law, Vincenza Ferrabetta. So yes, I see what you are saying. You may never know how the name got changed but I would still request the birth acts. It will be interesting to see.

You you need the link to a basic letter for writing to Italy? There are a few you can use.

[Claud]

If thats what i have to do i will do it,but i will put this out there that if any body else comes across a story in their family about past relatives and name changes relating to Carabetta please give me a shout,thankyou,for your time and effort to help me,Ciao,claudio

[Claud]

Carrabetta related to Tassone?

[SimonC]

Claud! Just found this site and your post!

Andrea Carabetta was my nonno. He passed away on the 4th of July 2003 from a heart attack.

I remember hearing the whole Ferrabetta story when I was younger and also about how my nonno came to Australia (prisoner of war).

If you would like any further information, please reply to me on here or email me: simoncarabetta@yahoo.com.au

I also think I have you on my facebook so give me a yell sometime!

Simon

[Romano1970]

Great post to everyone who was a part of it.

Claudio, is it not great to be able to do this research and be able to come up with some very powerful information from these wondeful people on this site.

Nuccia, Livio. My hat is off to you both!!!!!

[Elisa]

Here in Sydney, Australia !