DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

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jpotokar
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DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by jpotokar »

Hello all.

I just joined the forum, in my quest to further locate information about the Italian side of my family. I have found much, once my great grandfather and his sisters came to the United States and settled in Cleveland, OH but have been wanting to go back further, prior to the time of his arrival, in about 1881. The LDS familysearch site has been a treasure trove, as have other local OH geanealogy sites.

In looking at the various sections of the forum, here, I came across the manual on Italian Name Extractions.

That beinng said, here is my question, My great grandfather's name (before he changed it, once he got here), was spelled on document we have as DeCapua. However, on other docs I have found (death certificates, census forms), the name for him, his sisters or cousin have sometimes been spelled De Capua (a space between), Di Capua or DiCapua. For US records, this has been Ok to decipher, but when it comes to trying to look at Italian records for his parents marriage, or his birth records, baptisms, etc (He immigrated from a town called Gildone, in Campobasso, Molise), what spelling would I look for? For all I know, the family name could simply have been Capua.

As a matter of fact, in the Extraction manual of common italian names, it didnt even list a DeCapua, De Capua, or DiCapua. I only found Capua, and made mention of not including the "di" or "de" when researching.

Any insight or thought would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks..and I look forward to participating on the forum!

Best.

Jeff
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by PippoM »

Hello!
In Italy I've heard Capua, as well as Di Capua and De Capua.
It is a "provenience" surname, meaning that at his formation, it was used to indicate a family coming from the town of Capua. "Di" means "from", and "de" is it's dialectal form.
It's not so usual to find surnames in which the proposition joined the provenience. So, in Italian White Pages www.paginebianche.it you will find only 3 Dicapua and no Decapua.
If you search for "capua" in Gildone (typing surname in the first field, and town in the second) you will find that today in Gildon is present only surname "De Capua" (of course, this does not cover the totality of population, but only phone holders who chose to be shown in WP)
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by Italysearcher »

Searching Italian records is best done in the LDS films. www.familysearch.org. I believe some are on line but most are not. Order the films and search them at the local Family History centre. You will soon find out which version of the surname is correct.
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by suanj »

In Gildone the surname spelling is DE CAPUA..
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jpotokar
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by jpotokar »

Thanks all, who have responded to this question. On my great grandfather's early papers (and before he decided to change his name to the very simple name of Son), his last name was usually spelled De Capua. But because I had seen other items like US census and even his death certificate spelled as Di Capua, (typos, most likely by American census takers who did not ask the proper way to spell it), i wanted to ask here. After 1897, tho, he was no longer using the De Capua name.

I did look in the Italian White pages and found 2 De Capua families presently listed in Gildone. I found none in Gildone with variations of the spelling, including Di Capua, DiCapua or even DeCapua.

I have done much research on the LDS familysearch site.. it is a goldmine of information. And i did recently find out that the library has 22 rolls of microfilm, from Gildone, covering the period of 1810-1920-- marriages, births, christenings, wedding banns, etc.

So ordering those seems the logical next step.

Thanks again.

jeff
jpotokar
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by jpotokar »

Hello, Susan,

You sent me a PM regarding our common relative (De Capua / DiTirro) from Cleveland,OH. I sent you a couple PMs thru the site here, but not sure if they have gone thru, as they still say they are in my Outbox. Hopefully they have been sent on. Let me know.

Jeff
jpotokar
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by jpotokar »

Hello Susan, once again.

It seems that you havent retrieved my PMs that I sent. If you should log on here again, and read my posts here, you can then check your PM box regarding out common family tie.

Hope you get them and look forward to hearing back from you.

Jeff
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Re: DeCapua (De Capua) Family Name

Post by Janet »

I think Susan is probably my cousin. Carolina was our great grandmother. I just joined when I heard Primo Vino was closing. Don't know a whole lot more than you do, but happy to share what I do know.
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