What Are Entries After Birth Records?

[February]

I'm looking for Birth Records in Angri and was kindly directed to the Index at the end of each year. When using the indices, I noticed that there were entries that didn't appear to be Birth Records before the index lists start. There is generally just a person's name in the margin. Could some one please tell me what these entries are?

http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.i ... ewsIndex=0

[brogie62]

These are additional birth records written freehand. They are included in the index in most cases.

Kevin

[February]

Thank you for your help.

Why is the format different for these entries?

[February]

Are these entries not "official" Birth Records? I'm afraid I can't read them, and am wondering if they are records of children born elsewhere. For instance, if a family moved to Salerno to find work, and a child was born there, it's official Birth Record would be in Salerno. But if the family felt that "home" was in their village, they might want the birth recorded there also.

Thanks for any help.

[adelfio]

You are talking about parte 2 of the registry for that year they are the birth records that couldn't be filed at the town hall for some reason so they had to be filed at a later date so they are entered in the parte #2

Marty

[AngelaGrace56]

Are these entries not "official" Birth Records? I'm afraid I can't read them, and am wondering if they are records of children born elsewhere. For instance, if a family moved to Salerno to find work, and a child was born there, it's official Birth Record would be in Salerno. But if the family felt that "home" was in their village, they might want the birth recorded there also.

Thanks for any help.

Yes, that would generally be the reason for a child's birth to appear in Part II of the Birth Registry. My understanding, from observing records that appear in Part II, is that generally the father would register the birth in the town or country the baby was born, (in Italia the birth needed to be registered within a certain time frame) and then a copy of the Birth Act would either be sent back to the town that the parents normally lived, or alternatively, when the parents returned to the town, the father would appear at the town hall with a copy of the Birth Certificate from the respective birth town, and the clerk would enter the details from the Birth Certificate into Part II of the Birth Registry. You'll see a similar scenario happening with marriage records and death records. Thus the reason for a different format for the entries in the Part II section.

Angela

[February]

Thanks for all the help - it's much appreciated! I'll go back and check the Part 2 records to make sure I haven't missed something.

[carubia]

The purpose of the Part II records is to record events that don't fit into the templates in Part I. For example, for death records in Part I, the format presupposes that 2 people have reported the death. If that's not how the civil records office was informed, the template can't be used.

The normal format for birth records in Part I, after 1874, was to given the details of the person reporting the birth, the time and place of the birth, and the parents' info, followed by the witnesses and the signatures. Situations that don't conform to this were put in part I. Some officials made more efforts to squeeze records into this template, so record types that in one town would be in Part II may be in Part I in a different town.

Here are some types of events that would typically show up in Part II births:
1. Births of foundlings. These records would include who found the baby and where and when, approximately how old the baby was, what the baby was wearing, what name the official was giving to the baby (and the fact that the official was legally authorized to do so), and into whose care the baby was being entrusted (i.e. the wetnurse). Typically these records contain much more information that could be put in Part I, but we did see examples here in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto recently where they managed to put births of foundlings into Part I by reporting them a bit differently.

2. Corrections to birth records. To correct an error in a record, well after the event, a court order was usually required. Then someone would take that court order to the civil records office and they'd make an entry in Part II. Something may also have been written into the margin of the original birth record.

3. Recognitions of paternity/maternity. When a child was born with unknown father or mother (or both), the unknown parent could come to the civil records office and acknowledge paternity/maternity. A record would be created in Part II and a marginal note may be added to the original record.

4. Births outside the town, to people domiciled in the town, would be reported in Part II. Every Italian citizen has an official place of domicile. Even if you reside somewhere else temporary, your domicile doesn't necessarily change. For example, if you are in the military, or prison, or residing abroad, you'd still be domiciled wherever you were living before. In the early 20th c., it was typical to see births in Tunisia reported in part II records in Italy.

5. Delayed reports of birth. If a birth was reported very late, years after the fact, a court order may be required to create a record, and then a Part II entry would be created. Often unreported births would be reported when someone was trying to get married and needed a birth certificate. It wasn't always the case that these births would be in Part II, though. I've seen Part I records for births even 20 years after the event.

6. Stillbirths. Before 1866 it was common to see these in the Diversi records, which functioned like the Part II records after 1875, except that births, marriages, and deaths were all combined. After 1866, though, I see these records mixed in with the ordinary Part I births.

Part II death records would typically contain deaths that were not reported by 2 people within the town, but rather by a letter from an official from somewhere else, such as another town or a provincial official. These typically covered deaths of people domiciled in the town but residing somewhere else, including deaths in the military, in prison, or of people residing abroad. People who died in the countryside were on occasion included, too. Also, executions and sometimes other violent deaths were included in the Diversi records before 1866.

Part II marriage records typically covered marriages that occurred somewhere else (another town, another country) where at least one of the bride or groom was residing in the town in question, or sometimes even had only previously lived there. Another type of marriage that showed up in Part II records after 1874 was one where a doctors note was submitted to the town hall, saying that the groom or bride was too sick to come to the town hall, so that they would be able to hold the wedding at someone's private house instead. (Note that the format for marriage records after 1874 presupposes that the wedding occurred at the town hall.)

In 1865 a new Civil Code for Italy was enacted. As part of this, the role of the church was removed from civil records. Thus new templates were required, but it took a while before they became available (e.g., 1875 in Sicily), so between 1866 and 1874 records were all handwritten, without templates. Thus there was no need for Part II records during this period.

[AngelaGrace56]

Wow! Well done Carubia. Thank you for this comprehensive write up about Part II entries. This is fantastic and it is great to have this here on the forum to refer people to. Before I made my quick reply here, I looked at various books I have, and looked on the net as well, and couldn't find any resource that really addressed "Part II entries". So Grazie, this is a gift.

Angela

[brogie62]

My thanks as well, Carubia. What you have generously provided is a great resource for all researching in Italy.

Kevin

[mjclayton1]

Hear-hear. A great, informative post by carubia. We're all spoiled rotten here!

[carubia]

Thank you, all, for the compliments. I hope this information helps someone.

When I discussed Part II records for marriages I said, "the town in question." What I meant was the town that has the Part II record, not the town where the marriage occurred.

Also, keep in mind that my experience is mainly with Sicilian records. I'm not sure about the year ranges for when records were being handwritten in peninsular Italy.

[February]

Carubia, I apologize for my delay in responding. Thank you so much for posting such a complete explanation. It is extremely helpful.

Thanks again.

[carubia]

No need to apologize, February. Glad to be of help.

[AngelaGrace56]

Just bumping this as this topic comes up from time to time.

Angela