Bursi-Ognibene Family

[beenealogy]

Hey everyone, I'm a new member. I hope I'm putting this in the right place. I'm optimistic this forum will help me find out more about my Italian lineage. I'm like five flavors of European and I've been researching different lines for a while tracing to France and Britain, but I really want to learn more about my Italian side because it's my predominant ethnic group. I initially was a little discouraged because I seemed to run into dead ends pretty soon into my research. My dad is second generation Italian on both sides of his family, so I hit Italy pretty quickly and just can't seem to break through. But enough of that, I'll start with this and see what happens:

I'm hoping to find out more about my 2x great-grandparents, Marco Bursi (c. 1850/Reggio Emilia, Emilia-Romagna, Italy) and Giovanna Ognibene (c. 1869/Menfi, Agrigento, Sicilia, Italy). They are the parents of Marietta Josephine (1900/Menfi, Sicily), who was the mother of my grandmother, Carmella Di Benedetto (1918/New York). My grandmother was born in the United States, but actually went to live with her paternal aunt in Sicily for about 8-10 years before returning home to live with my great-grandmother and her new family. My grandmother actually never heard from her father or his family again after that, but that's a story for another time.

It's my understanding that Marco was a marshal in the carabinieri and was from Reggio Emilia. He ended up in Sicily, presumably work related, and fell for Giovanna, but her family demanded that he stay in Sicily, and he decided to do that and left the carabinieri. He died in an accident around 1906 and she would go on to send her children to the United States, and would eventually come herself around 1915. I actually have both of their pictures if that would help.

So the difficulty, of course, is trying to find more about their respective families, Giovanna's in Sicily and Marco's in Reggio Emilia. Marco was a fair, blue-eyed man, some in our family believe his family's original name was Berger and his family originated outside of Italy.

If by any chance someone knows anything about these families or has any advice about going about researching and finding information, that'd be great. Like I mentioned, I'm very new to Italian genealogical research, so it'd be very helpful.

Also, might be worth mentioning, other surnames I have throughout my family tree are: Angeloni/Angelone, Di Benedetto, Grilli

[PippoM]

Hello!
Birth record of Maria Giuseppa Bursi:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cat=220892

She was born on Mar 18, 1900 at 5:10am in 440, via Garibaldi, Menfi
She was the daughter of Marco, 49 years old, well-off
and Giovanna Ognibene

[PippoM]

Birth record of Giovanna Ognibene:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cat=220892

She was born on Feb 23, 1868 at 6pm in Via Grazia, Menfi
Father was "Don" Francesco Ognibene, 33 yo, well-off, son of deceased Andrea
Mother was Maria Palminteri (?), daughter of deceased (I can't read, need help!), 28 yo

[PippoM]

Death record of Marco Bursi:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cat=220892

He died on Sep 9,1906 at 8:15am in the former Feudo Finocchio, Menfi
He was 55, retired, born in Gavasseto (province of Reggio Emilia), the son of Giacomo and Orsola Bonasini, both deceased, and spouse of Giovanna Ognibene.

[PippoM]

Marriage record of Marco Bursi and Giovanna Ognibene, Feb 27, 1892

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cat=220892

The groom was 41, well-off, never married, born in Gavosseto, resident in Menfi, son of deceased Giacomo (resident in reggio Emilia when living) and of Orsola Bonacini, living in Scandiano
The bride was 23, well-off, never married, born and resident in Menfi, daughter Francesco and Maria Palminteri, living in Menfi

[PippoM]

Marriage of Francesco Ognibene and Maria Palminteri, on Jan 3rd, 1867:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cat=220892

The marriage took place in the house of the bride, 46, via Grazia, as she was ill.
Francesco was 30, born and living in Menfi, property-owner, son of Andrea and Giovanna Valensi, both deceased (?, not sure)
Maria was 27, born and living in Menfi, property-owner, daughter of Antonino (deceased ?) and Paola Palminteri.
Notice that all of them are referred to as "Signor Don" and "Signora Donna"; that means they were prominent people in their town.

[PippoM]

And it seems there's enough online here:

http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.i ... one/Menfi/

to go further back in Menfi

[ray1955]

I have a Liborio Ognibene and Lucia Ognibene in Vallelunga in my tree just in case you get that far in your tree.

Ray

[beenealogy]

Thanks so much, PippoM. The records you found were amazing and my father thought it was so cool to the a birth record of his grandmother. I have used Family Search before, which made your findings surprise me so much. Maybe I'm not using it the right way, but even still when I type in names, I don't get the results you were able to find. I'm still a bit confused haha, but thanks again for finding those, I really appreciate it!

To ray1955, I haven't gotten up to them quite yet. I'm up to Andrea Ognibene (1791), whose father seems to have been Domenico, but I haven't found a date for him yet.

[PippoM]

Only a few of the collections have been indexed and can be searched by name.
When you are looking for an event that took place in a known date, you can browse the collection, find the registers, and look in their own index to find the person you're looking for.
I hope I could explain myself...