You have to give them a birth year for them to look up the information. If you don't have at least a birth year, check with www.familysearch.org under their card catalogue. They have microfilm of your town: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/fhlcatalog/supermainframeset.asp?display=topicdetails...

One more thing, in case you don't know Italian, the most important thing is to either learn or bring with you a list of the numbers and months in Italian. I have been taking Italian lessons, and without that basic knowledge, I don't know how I could have gotten through those films.

Scarlett, I have used the same Family History Center that you are talking about! The one printer for microfilm is not very good. So if there is a copy you want and it does not come out good, you can order a good copy through photocopy services at www.familysearch.org. go to http://www.familysearch.o...

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/Rg/frameset_rg.asp?Dest=G1&Aid=&Gid=&Lid=&Sid=&Did=&Juris1=&Event=&Year=&Gloss=&Sub=&Tab=&Entry=&Guide=36580_Italy_Finding_Ancestor.asp This is also a great guide for family history research by the Family Hist...

If any life events (death, birth, marriage) took place in NYC (or its burroughs) take a look at the searchable index at www.italiangen.org You can search by name. Maybe this will lead you to more documents, which you can order from the NYC municipal archive.

ROUGHLY: From the registrey of the Acts of Birth of this town, of the year, part and number indicated, resulted that on the day March 3, 1895, was received by the competent official of the civil state, the act of birth of an infant of the male sex to which the name of Nazzareno Pellegrino was given;...

ROUGHLY translated: In response to your request, we say to you that this Institute preserves the registries of the Civil State (birth, marriage, death) for all of the towns of the provinces of Cantanzaro, Crotone, and Vibo Valentia, from 1809 to 1865, to have information you ought to address the tow...

The US District Court of Connecticut, Bpt. office is: 915 Lafayette Blvd. Bridgeport, CT 06604 203-579-5861 The local Superior Court in Bridgeport is: Judicial District of Fairfield 1061 Main St. Bridgeport, CT 06604 203-579-6527 Information on CT Naturalization records: http://www.cslib.org/natural...

I have never done CA research, but I know with NY, you can get city directories at the NY Public library, going all the way back to the 1800s. Maybe if you go can see if CA has this type of resource for city directories and look up the names of all the photographers that were in business in SF in 19...

I think the best approach is to ask for no more than one or two birth acts per letter. Also, you must have the exact year of birth. The date would be even better. Most communes will not search beyond a year for you (in my experience). Instead of a copy of a birth extract ask for "una copia inte...

Some comunes will only search one year, so if the year of birth was 1852 and not 1851, they may simply not reply instead of telling you no record was found. For the marriage certificate, the comunes that I have dealt with will not search unless you give them a specific year. If you said AROUND 1880,...

Are you American? There is www.ellisisland.org for free Ellis Island records.

www.italiangen.org provides indices to old New York vital records.

Here is a link with the e-mail address for the Torino state archives. Write to them in Italian with the birth date and town of your ancestor. Give them your mailing address as well and ask if there is a charge for the document and if so, how to pay.

http://ww2.multix.it/asto/info.htm

Sokser: write in Italian. You can find form letters at http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resources/index.asp. Now these form letters may not totally suit your inquiry, so if you need someone to tweak them, post your request on our translations board.

Congrats, James! I don't know where you find the time; your work is incredible!