how to record info

[qnana]

Hello everyone-

A couple of questions for the board-

I am transcribing some marriage and birth info I got from an FHL film. I have come across several people with surnames like "lo Russo" "lo Zito" "la Corriere", etc. I know these surnames can be translated (like the Russian) which is probably where they originated but I'm surprised that they aren't capitalized as they are now part of the full surname - like Lo Zito (late 1700's-early 1800's). I will continue to write them as they came off the record, I'm just curious.

Another question - this is a small town and I have also found 2 spelling variations for the same surname. Does anyone know of a source that would indicate surname spellings for different regions of the country?

When entering data I have converted the age of the people from the record to their birth years. Is this acceptable or should I leave the age in?

Last question, I promise! LOTS of people died in 1811 - 1817. Anyone know of a history where I could learn what was going on in the region to kill so many, many people?

Thank you all for your patience-
qnana

[Italysearcher]

To solve this problem a lot of towns in my area made the index like this:
Russo, lo
Zito di
That way they got everyone together since often different branches of the same family surname either kept the prefix, or dropped even from generation to generation.
Remember there is no word for 'spelling' as we understand it in Italian. Since every letter is pronounced the 'spelling' varies as it is written how the person recording it, heard it! So if the clerk or priest changed, there were often variations in the same town.
As far as what killed people, depends on the town. Cholera, smallpox and influenza epidemics were common and it varied fromt own to town. Invading soldiers since the French were in Italy between 1806 and 1815.

[qnana]

Thanks for your reply - listing the surnames that way makes sense.

qnana