Searching for my great great grandfather\'s family - Genova

webdivauk · Post by **webdivauk** » 29 Dec 2002, 18:18

My great great grandfather was born in Genova in 1842. I believe the area is called San Martino del Monte, Bavaggi. He travelled on a Coal Boat to the Port of London with his cousin approximately late 1850\'s to 1860\'s, this was due to the fact that he was on conscriptional age and his Mother (Isabella) was determined that he wouldn\'t be going into the army. His Cousin returned to Genova and later travelled to America. My great great Grandfather travelled the country but eventually settled in the South Wales Valleys, married and created a family. I\'ve been told by my family here that he has family ties in Cichero, Celesia, Genova and that the family name may have changed somewhere along the lines to Monteverdi.
 
 My Aunt did carry out some research and indeed visited Genova about 11 years ago but was unable to get much information due to the language barrier. I\'ve been made to understand that the Church that held the records for the area was destroyed in either the First or Second world War, and the majority of records were lost. I know that his father\'s name was Lorenzo and his mother was Isabella.
 
 The biggest problem that I am encountering at the moment is the pronounceation and spelling of his surname and indeed his first name. I believe his given name is either Domenici or Domenico (on the 1881 British census it was Domico and in 1901 it had changed to John). But the biggest problem is his surname, spellings include Basagelao, Basagelas, Basagelio, Basagelieo, Basaglas, Beigaleio.
 
 I would love to here from anyone with information or suggestions, for both his family in Italy or America and I would also like to find out more about the area he came from.
 
 Best wishes
 Sian

webdivauk · Post by **webdivauk** » 29 Dec 2002, 18:43

I also forgot to mention that I emailed the Comune di Genova and Archivio di Stato di Genova to see what sort of information is available and costs etc.
 
 I\'ve also started a weblog at <a href="/http://www.merthyr-tydfi.org/family_tree/" target="_blank" target="_new">http://www.merthyr-tydfi.org/family_tree/</a> and I\'m also working on a GEDCOM file.

webdivauk · Post by **webdivauk** » 29 Dec 2002, 19:31

What I\'m looking for is ideally my great great grandfather\'s date of birth, and any information (such as dates of births, marriages etc) of any family that he had, including mother, father, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, etc.

ptimber · Post by **ptimber** » 29 Dec 2002, 20:21

What is required here is someone (..and it is not me) will have to sit down and try to come with the correct surname. The dictionary of Italian surnames only has one close variation which is Baseglio (derived from the base name Basile) but that goes nowehere after I made a cursory check for you. The only other possibility for you to explore is try to find all the variations for the surname baseglio that peears in the www.ellisisland.org websiter by poutting in the last name Baseglio and a listing of all variations of icoming passengers with similar soundings surnames will appear. Then sit down and using the only town that is viable CELESIA go to www.paginebianche.it and insert the sunrame in the first line and always use GE in the third line for the entire province of Genova or Celesia as you see fit. Your task is surmountable but will take effort on your part to narrow down the correct spelling. No town records will assist you without a birthyear and correct name so forget that effort until you zero in on the surname. Peter

webdivauk · Post by **webdivauk** » 29 Dec 2002, 20:44

Thank you for the swift reply. I\'m currently employing the methods you suggest.
 
 I also list below an email I\'ve sent to chap in America who commented on passenger manifests from Ellis Island:
 
 <TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD>Quote:<HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><BLOCKQUOTE> I read with interest your email on the rootsweb passenger list for the above (I\'ve copied it for you below), and I hope that you don\'t mind me sending you an email.
 
 I\'ve been trying to trace family of my great great grandfather Domenico, born in 1842 I belive in and around San Martino del Monte, Bavaggi, Genoa. I\'ve had great difficulty in tracing his surname and indeed British Census records give three different spellings. My mother told me that it was spelt incorrectly and altered because people had difficulty saying the name, and phonetically my family were called the Basagelios although the correct pronounciation was Basigaliepo, (you can imagine how excited I was when I saw the passenger list).
 
 http://istg.rootsweb.com/1800/leonida540829.html
 </BLOCKQUOTE></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

webdivauk · Post by **webdivauk** » 31 Dec 2002, 01:00

I\'ve got some more information from my relatives. The correct spelling of Domenico\'s surname (his first name is Domenico) is BASAGELAO.
 
 Other spellings in documents include Bassigelloe, Basigello, Bastagellio, Bastagello, Basigello, Bastagellio, Basegellio, Bastegellio, Bassigalow, Basagelio.
 
 Has anyone seen the surname Basagelao anywhere in Genova or surrounding areas?
 
 Thanks
 Sian