George Castello

[BeckyA]

Hi, In the Lucas County records for naturalization I found George Castello. I am hoping this is his father. The son was born October 15, 1835 in Italy. It reads Last name Castello First name George Country Italy Date August 20, 1860 File box number 1 and file folder number 14. If anyone could help me with this I would appreciate it.
Thank you, Becky

[BeckyA]

I was also wondering how many Catholic Churches were in Milan in the 1850's. I am thinking about writing to them.

[DebiHarbuck]

Becky, can you provide more details about your Georges? What are the dates of birth for each? What state is Lucas County in? What other records do you have (census, marriages, deaths, etc.)?

[BeckyA]

George Castello was born October 15, 1835 in Milan, Italy I don't know his fathers date of birth.

[DebiHarbuck]

What state is Lucas County in? What other records do you have (census, marriages, deaths, etc.)? Are both men named George?

[BeckyA]

Lucas County is in Ohio. George was married three times and I have their marriage records, the census and death records. They do not tell me his parents name except his father. I also have his Civil War records from the Ohio 111th Infantry.

[DebiHarbuck]

Have you requested a copy of the naturalization records from Lucas County?

[BeckyA]

Yes I just emailed the:Ms. Lee N. McLaird, Curator of Rare Books & Special Collections
Center for Archival Collections
5th Floor - Jerome Library
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH 43403
(419) 372-2411
www.bgsu.edu/colleges/library/cac/

It is only $5.00 and it will be sent. I can't wait. Will this have the port of entry and his real Italian name listed? Thank you, Becky

[DebiHarbuck]

That's marvelous! And, the date of that record is very early, but, if it's essentially the same as latter ones, then, yes, it should. My best guess for his real/birth name is Giorgio, though I suppose there could be other options.

I'm surprised that none of his marriage licenses (3? Wow!) had his mother's name on them. Do any of them list a place of birth other than "Italy"?

[BeckyA]

All my records have him living in Milan, Italy until 1854 so I am hoping to find out more soon. It did not have his parents name on any of three marriages.

[DebiHarbuck]

Do you have the actual certificates? The ones I have from Ohio (admittedly later) have parents' names on them.

[BeckyA]

Yes I do have the certificates of their marriages and deaths

[johnnyonthespot]

It is a minor - or major - detail, depending upon the reasons for researching, but I will point out that if George left Italy and became a citizen of another (any other) country prior to March 17, 1861, then he was never an Italian citizen to begin with.

The country we call "Italy" did not exist prior to the unification of the various city-states of the Italian peninsula on that date (some came into the fold later). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy#Ital ... .931922.29

On the day of unification, anyone who was a current citizen of one of the former city-states was automatically made a citizen of the new country. This applied whether the person was currently resident in the new Italy or living overseas.

However, a person who left - let's say Milano - and died prior to that date would never have been an Italian citizen and thus had nothing to pass on to his - let's say US born - children.

Likewise, a person who left the peninsula and became a citizen of another country prior to unification day also missed out on Italian citizenship. This can be a huge problem if you are hoping to gain Italian citizenship jure sanguinis through a US-born child of an immigrant who naturalized prior to March 17, 1861.