Travel To Pentone

[gentilejoy@yahoo.com]

Myself and two family members are contemplating travel for the very first time to my g-grandfather's town/village of Pentone in the Catanzaro Province of Calabria.We do not know of any living descendants that may still live in Pentone.

I have been able to view many of the microfilm records sponsored by the Mormon-FHL site on family relatives including my g-grandfather; however, they go up to 1910. Nothing beyond 1910. Once we get to Pentone, would the town itself hold the birth, marriage and death records or must we go to the provincial capital which is in Catanzaro?

There appears to be only one large cemetery in the town. Are the cemeteries privately operated, run through the local parish or state run? Who or where would we go to ask for assistance in locating burial gravesites? We would like to see the gravesites for my great-great grandparents, and my great grandfather's two siblings who remained behind in Italy. Thank you.

[Italysearcher]

First, the town will have the records also the church. If you don't speak Italian go early in the morning on your first day and take a written list of what you are looking for.
You might want to read my piece on cemeteries on my website. It would be unusual to find graves as old as the ones you would be seeking.
Have a great trip.

[gentilejoy@yahoo.com]

Thank you. I do have some "food" for thought. I clicked onto angelresearch.wordpress.com -very interesting articles -especially on the cemeteries and finding any living relatives. Very true that even if there were living relatives the time span is just too great. Good example is that when I viewed my great grandfather's birth record it mentioned the street location for house where he was born, so I contacted the comune via email to ask about la strada. No one knew of or recalled the street location. I was told it no longer exists, or that it changed names, or that they simply never heard of street (strada). So unless there's been ongoing contact with living relatives, even the most simple of attempting to locate the "strada" for birth location can be difficult to almost impossible.

[Italysearcher]

These towns are not that big. Maybe the younger people at the town hall don't know but some old timer sitting at a bar will know for sure. They do have a habit of changing street names but many families (surnames) lived in the same area and probably still do. Check the white pages www.paginebianche.it for the surname and see if several live on the same street. Then try that street. GO to the cemetery anyway, they are much different than yours and ask to see the 'comunal ossario'. Your ancestors bones will be in there.

[gentilejoy@yahoo.com]

@Ann- Thank you. Wow, never knew how different the cemeteries are over there. Your site is a wealth of information. I did not think to look at paginebianche.it for possible living relatives. Pentone is a very small town. I did not think it would be so challenging to locate my great grandfather’s childhood home location. Then again, we are talking a span of time which is 100 + years. Hopefully, our trip will be productive -finding a person (s) who can confirm strada, and locating death records and burial of his parents and siblings.