Orphanage Records

[ricciharvey]

Hello! Does anyone here know how to search records of orphanages? We believe 2 of my Grandfather's sisters were put into an orphanage after his mother died but I've searched and searched and haven't been able to find any information on orphanage records whatsoever. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Italysearcher]

They were often called 'collegio' and were a form of residential school run by the church.

[mmogno]

Where and when did this happen?

[Italysearcher]

The Brefotrofio took in foundling babies from birth to age 2.

If, for some reason (deformity, congenital illness etc), they weren't not assigned to a foster family they then went to the Orfanotrofio after age 2.

True orphans, those whose parents had died in war, accidents or earthquakes, or were in jail, or went to America or other countries to work were placed in Collegio. A form of boarding school until they were old enough to work. These children were educated and trained for some form of employment. The fees were paid by the remaining parent (if he was working in America or France etc) or by the local Comune.

Just another way of reinforcing to the foundlings that they were not considered part of a normal society!

[ricciharvey]

Where and when did this happen?

Hello! I'm sorry, I never knew anyone responded. It would have been around or after 1925.

My great grandparents Salvatore Milici (1884) and Giuseppa Bertolami (1888) were married in 1909 in Novara Di Sicilia, shortly after they moved to the US. They had all of their children there. Charles (1910), Teno (1913), Twins that died at birth Joseph and Josephine (1916), Nunziatina (There is some conflict of memories of whether this could be Caterina 1919), Anthony (1921), and Theresa (1922).

Sometime after the youngest was born my great grandmother Josephine was not in good health and could not speak English. Her husband Salvatore wanted to take her back to Sicily in hopes that she could get the care she needed being able to communicate properly, so from what I understand, they all went back to Sicily. They had a 6 month Visa or passport, not sure which, and when the time came that they needed to travel back, Salvatore knew Giuseppa could not make the trip back and he returned with only the boys. I found a ship manifest with what looks like Salvatore and the boys with their Italian names returning in 1925. Giuseppa died 3 years later at the mental hospital in Messina on 29 February 1928.

There are a couple of stories that family wanted to keep the girls so Salvatore left them behind, but they ended up in an orphanage so I'm assuming that's not true. I don't know which orphanage they were left in but Salvatore paid a priest to keep track of them so he could come back for them eventually. From what we understand Nunziatina (Nuziatata or Caterina) died at 19 years old from a flu epidemic but we can find no record of this so far, or any record of her at all but my grandpa and his oldest brother both remember her, and when after the war my grandpa found his sister Theresa teaching children at an orphanage, I guess she told him that their sister had died in a flu epidemic. Anywho, We don't know which orphanage or from what you all are saying Collegio they were in, but I would love to be able to find the records of those things. Any help at all would be appreciated. When I wen to Novara Di Sicilia, my friend drove me up to the orphanage on the hill there, but I'm not sure if that's where they were or not. It's too hard to read the name of the orphanage from the photo I took.

Also, I did not have time to try to find anything in Messina while I was there so I wasn't able to try to track down information on my Great-grandmother Giuseppa but she died at a mental hospital in Messina but I don't have information from the mental hospital. My friend told me it was the hospital the closed down a while back and that the records were somewhere but he wasn't sure where. I think the Mental hospital was Manicomio Lorenzo Mandalari. Any information on her records there would be cool to, or even just where to access them. Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide.

[MAXMILICI]

A Novara di Sicilia c'era una struttura gestita da religiose donne è probabile che siano state tenute la , trovare la documetazione credo che sia difficile.
Milici e Bertolani sono cognomi molto comuni a Novara di Sicilia su family search ho inserito parecchi Milici, se hai le date esatte di nascita dei tuoi parenti potresti provare a cercarli sempre su famili search.

[MAXMILICI]

L’Orfanotrofio Antoniano gestito dalle suore Figlie del Divino Zelo a Novara è stato costruito nel 1927 una volta chiuso la documentazione dovrebbe trovarsi a Messina presso l’istituto Spirito Santo ( dove c’era l’istituto Magistrale). A Novara prima c'era qualche cosa di simile.

[Tessa78]

Though I do not have anything to add to the information provided about orphanages, here is the birth act of Salvatore Milici in Novara di Sicilia in 1884, in case you do not have it.

The birth act following his is for a twin sister who was stillborn, and who was given the name Rosa. (#153)

Salvatore
#152
Date of birth 12 June 1884
Father: Carmelo Milici, 42, laborer, residing in S. Marco
Mother: Anna Bertolami, spinner, his wife
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1887904

AND...
Birth act of Giuseppa Bertolami
#30
Birth on 24 January 1888
Father: Sebastiano Bertolami, 48, laborer
Mother: Nunzia Sofia, his wife, peasant farmer
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1887904

Unfortunately, there is no annotation of her death on the record.


Also...
Marriage of Salvatore Milici and Giuseppa Bertolami
#10
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1887904


T.

[MaddalenaNYC]

Tessa is the best!

[MaddalenaNYC]

And so is Pippa!

[MaddalenaNYC]

I can help with NYC orphanages as my father and his five siblings had resided there from 1916 through their teen years.
Sisters of Mercy and the Irish Christian Brothers in Brooklyn and the Bronx.