Maiden Name Information Help Request

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donnawright
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Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by donnawright »

My mother's mother's name in ellisisland.org is Catarina Curcio (Pianopoli). She lists her family member in Italy clearly as her mother Angela Rizzo. I know from my mother that Curcio is the maiden name and she was married when she came over.

My mother's sister Rosina Tomaino (Pianopoli) came over after Catarina. Her ellisisland record shows her family member in Italy as her GM Maria Rosa Mazza.

Is Mazza the GM's married name, or do they always use the maiden name?
Is Mazza perhaps the GM on Rosina's father's side? And is this HER maiden name. I know nothing about any of these great grandparents of mine to use as a point of reference.

Please clear up the maiden name thing and let me know how this goes. I want to request records from the church in Pianopoli soon.

I got some baptism records from a church in Ohio for the Tomaino children that were born here, and there is nothing there about grandparents. All the godparents' names are new names for me.
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eyetalgal
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by eyetalgal »

in Italy women keep their maiden names for life.
PeterTimber
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by PeterTimber »

Why do you specify the need for church records in lieu of civil records like Birth,marriage and death certificates at Municipal offices which in Italy are free of charge???=Peter=
~Peter~
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donnawright
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by donnawright »

Peter, when I started recently thinking about looking for the ancestors, I started first reading about the process from various web sites. I remember reading somewhere that church records are better kept than civil records. Then I read (I believe on this forum) that civil records are the way to go. I also have been in touch with a man in Rome who has the same last name as my maiden name. I don't know if we are related yet or not, but when I mentioned getting civil records, his comment was pretty much that the civil records are not the way to go.

The experienced forum members on here whose responses to others that I have read and who have responded to me surely seem to know what they are talkig about and have been helpful to me and many others in their quest.

So, I think I will take your advice and first seek civil records. I appreciate the nudge.
Donna
Looking for Biagianti, Modesti & Vincenti in Tuscany and Tomaino, Curcio, Mazza, & Rizzo in Calabria
PeterTimber
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by PeterTimber »

Believe me you will want to avoid church records if at all possible!! Its a maybe thing and dependent upon the whim of the prelate in charge.

Go to www.angelfire.com/ok3/pearlsofwisdom/saviello2.html for Italian records which come with form letters in Italian language.

If you want to find cities,towns or villages go to www.nonsolocap.it and click on the name when it comes up and if you are sending form letters for documents use the Municipio address that will appear on the town webopage. =Peter=
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jcat
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by jcat »

correct me if I'm wrong, but is there a certain year in which there may be a cutoff between obtaining records from the church and the Townships ? I thought I had read somewhere that birth records before 1860s or in that timeframe, are kept at the churches either in the Comune or provinces offices?
if at all possible you will want to obtain your records from the Comune for sure!
jamescatizoneitaliandualcitizenship.com
PeterTimber
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by PeterTimber »

Prior to 1806 vital records were kept by the church, presumably in the libri d'anime, In 1806 Napoleon controlled large parts of Italy and enforced civil registration laws which ended abruptlhy after 1814 inthe Papal States, Veneto and Lombardia and Piemonte. The remaining areas of Italy retained the civil code after his defeat and only those areas under Austrian rule parish priests took over the civil registration ( Veneto, Trento-alto Adige and parts of Lombardia). In 1860 it became official for all of unified Italy. Between Napoleons defeat in 1815 and 1860 record keeping suffered the fate of spotty record keeping making church records the only other source for records.Mercifully, Southern Italy already had an established bureaucracy within the framework of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a flourishing economy and a sizeable treasury which were all pillaged and plundered by the North and why we are all here writing to eachother!!!! =Peter=
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jcat
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Re: Maiden Name Information Help Request

Post by jcat »

great post..... thanks for the clarity on that issue Peter!
jamescatizoneitaliandualcitizenship.com
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