Family finding

Are you looking for an Italian surname? Do you need more information about your family heritage?
This is the right place to start your genealogy search.
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Conti832
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Family finding

Post by Conti832 »

Going to Italy in Oct.I will be headed to Pofi looking for family.Any suggestions on how to go about this?I know for a fact many are in the town.
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Poipuo4
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Re: Family finding

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When we visited our ancestral towns, we brought with us some old pictures, my grandmother's birth certificate, and some of those little cards from funeral homes with the names, birthdates and death years of our relatives. The towns were so small that as soon as we started asking around at local shops, people started asking around and gathering up potential relatives or telling us where to find them. Before I knew it, I had a whole store filled with people sharing my grandmother's last name. Especially if you are not fluent in Italian, these visual aids are important. The other thing you can do, is obtain permission to search through the town archives for your family's birth, marriage or death certificates while you are there (if you have the time and have not done this through searches in the U.S.-- microfilms from the Latter Day Saints, or by mailing the Ufficio Civile in Pofi). If you google Circolo Calabrese, there are form letters there. The other thing you can do is go to the Italian white pages, www.paginebianche.it (I think) and search for people in Pofi with your surname and take it from there.
http://www.celenzaheritage.com

dedicated to the people of Celenza Valfortore, Province of Foggia
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Conti832
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Re: Family finding

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Going the white page route,do you think that would be ok,because I don't want to bother somebody who doesn't care much.
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Poipuo4
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Re: Family finding

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You can always write them a letter prior to your trip with the address from the white pages. There are some form letters on the web for that sort of thing. I can't recall where off the top of my head. Include a picture (to personalize it) and maybe a chart of your family tree. Many people on this board have had success with this. I only tried it once with a letter and so far, no response. I looked up Pofi and saw it is comparable in population numbers to my ancestral town. Believe me, once you show up in these small towns looking for relatives, word gets around quickly! In my husband's ancestral town, we did the same thing: walked into shops and chatted with people in the town square...before you knew it, several strangers were helping to look for our family. His was a tiny village of 1500 and this seemed liked a very exciting thing for the locals since they get few visitors. People seemed very helpful and truly touched in both towns that we cared enough to return to our roots. It did not matter that our Italian was very bad.
http://www.celenzaheritage.com

dedicated to the people of Celenza Valfortore, Province of Foggia
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Conti832
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Re: Family finding

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The thing that may really help is that about 90 percent of The Italian familes in my hometown of Sharpsville either come from Pofi or the towns around it.I would be meeting people who may take interest not only in what I am looking for but who I know and where I'm from.

Thats so much.Everybody here is so helpful and kind.
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Re: Family finding

Post by Cathynap »

If you want to send letters, you need to send them in Italian. Here is a good link to a form letter site:
http://www.anzwers.org/free/italiangen/ ... #relatives
ricbru
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Re: Family finding

Post by ricbru »

Conti832 wrote:Going to Italy in Oct.I will be headed to Pofi looking for family.Any suggestions on how to go about this?I know for a fact many are in the town.
I suggest you to go and make research for living family and for ancestors to

Comune
Ufficio Servizi Demografici
Piazza Municipio, 1
CAP 03026
Pofi (FR)
Italy

or go to Archivio di Stato di Frosinone to look for records of ancestors

http://wwwdb.archivi.beniculturali.it/S ... OSINONE%22

I hope it hleps bye Riccardo :lol:
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