Birth Certificates

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mattera
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Birth Certificates

Post by mattera »

Hello Everyone,

I have collected census and ship manifest information, and now need to obtain birth records for my ancestors. They are the following (at least initially) great grandparents:

Pietro Paolo Mattera -- Serrara Fontana, Ischia
Maria Giuseppa Arcucci -- Serrara Fontana, Ischia
Francesco Longo -- Pennsylvania
Teresa Ziroli -- Montenero Valcocchiano (spelling?)
Vittorino Procaccini -- Panni, Foggia (?)
Luisa Cretella -- Lawrence, Massachusetts
Isaiah Charles Wilson -- Tennessee or Arkansas (?)
Bertha Margaret Daniels -- Manchester, New Hampshire

I do not know any information about the birthplace of any of my relatives in Italy beyond this generation. For the American side (Wilson and Daniels), I have only states, no towns or even reliable years.

How do I go about getting this information? What information do birth records typically contain? Obviously, I hope they contain parents' names and birthplaces, but I do not think American records necessarily do. Also, would marriage records have this information? I have tried some Church records in the US, but with no success.

Thanks,

Alex
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AnotherCitizenToBe
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by AnotherCitizenToBe »

You may want to begin here:

http://www.dsf.health.state.pa.us/healt ... 8&Q=202219

http://www2.state.tn.us/health/vr/#RECORDS

http://www.healthyarkansas.com/certific ... cates.html

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eohhs2termi ... id=Eeohhs2

Bear in mind that many states have greatly tightened up the requirements for obtaining copies of vital records in order to combat identity theft. In some cases, you can easily order "genealogical use only" copies but not certified copies; in other cases you may not be able to get any records at all without first obtaining a court order.

Once you have accurate information for the US births, you can reach further back and try to get info on the foriegn births.
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Biff83
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by Biff83 »

Alex,

If you've determined a birth year for those relatives who were born in Italy, here are the addresses to write for vital records.

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Commune di Montenero Val Cocchiara
Piazzale Sandro Pertini, 1
86080 MONTENERO VAL COCCHIARA IS
ITALY

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Commune di Serrara Fontana
Via Roma, 79
80070 SERRARA FONTANA NA
ITALY

Ufficio dello Stato Civile
Commune di Panni
Piazza G. Matteotti, 2
71020 PANNI FG
ITALY

Interactive Letter for requesting vital records. Besides including a self-addressed return envelope, I believe it's a good idea to include one Internation Reply Coupon although a number of people have received responses without enclosing one.

http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resourc ... civile.asp
"Mintammicce impizzu mpizzu ca pue largu minne fazzu sule!"
mattera
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by mattera »

Biff,

As always, thank you for your prompt and thorough help. I have at least a small range of birth years, so I should go ahead and write. That will be my project over the next few days.

Have you had success in obtaining records? How long did it usually take? I assume it is over a month, minimum.

Thanks again,

Alex
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Biff83
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by Biff83 »

Alex,

From the point I mailed my request, it took four weeks to receive a response from my grandfather's town. I sent my request air mail but not registered. Amazingly, the town archivist discovered in searching for my grandfather's birth act that his great grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. More information on this here.

http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... art=0.html

Because he didn't list a home phone number or personal email, I opted not to contact him at work and sent a fairly long letter with a few pictures to his home address which he had mentioned in his letter. I mailed the letter on April 6th, included my email address and requested he contact me with his email address so I could let him view my family tree on Ancestry. I haven't received any response yet, electronically or via the post so I have no idea if my letter reached him. I'll give it another two weeks and then resend the letter registered post. Menwhile, I'll continue to go crazy.

Biff
"Mintammicce impizzu mpizzu ca pue largu minne fazzu sule!"
mattera
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by mattera »

Biff,

That's incredible! What a story. Talk about a small world. This community is full of great stories; I'm sure glad I found this board.

And by the way, congratulations on the new Bambina!

Yours,

Alex
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by JamesBianco »

Biff83 wrote:Alex,

From the point I mailed my request, it took four weeks to receive a response from my grandfather's town. I sent my request air mail but not registered. Amazingly, the town archivist discovered in searching for my grandfather's birth act that his great grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. More information on this here.

http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/Foru ... art=0.html
That is incredible! One thing tho, everytime I see the surname Esposito I cringe, because it will be a dead end, illegitimate/abandoned child etc. Luckily I have only encountered it in other people's families. :)

Keep us posted Biff!
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Biff83
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by Biff83 »

Thanks, Alex for the congrats on the soon to be new granddaughter.

LDS also has records for some of the places in question but not for all years.

Montenero Val Cocchiara
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library ... ato+civile++
I'm a bit confused with the province listed as Campobasso rather than Isernia unless there was some type of realignment of borders.

Panni
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library ... ato+civile++

Serrara Fontana
Unable to locate any records at LDS but I'm not the best at checking.
"Mintammicce impizzu mpizzu ca pue largu minne fazzu sule!"
mattera
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Re: Birth Certificates

Post by mattera »

Biff,

Thanks for checking the LDS. I have drafted letters to all three regions, and will mail them out tomorrow. I don't have any hopes of a cousin in the archive office, but you never know...

When you requested documents, did you request multiple types in one letter (i.e., birth certificates for two individuals and marriage certificate), or did you send separate letters for each document? I am thinking of Paolo and Maria, who were both born and married in the same town of Serrara Fontana.

Thanks,

Alex
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