Ancestor lied about where he was born and changed surname after immigrating

[lyn1982]

My ancestor Giuseppe Ebbo/abbo lied about where he was born and possibly his parent's names. According to family he changed his surname after immigrating, tho no one knows the original surname.

I have lots of records for him in the US but none from before he immigrated, and do not have his immigration record tho according to his wife nat papers he immigrated June of 1914. He himself was not naturalized I had a search done. Looking for his immigration record is pointless, I and others more skilled have tried, with wildcards and even all Giuseppes born that year from Alarti.

He claimed to be born in Alarti, Frosinone on most documents and his obituary claimed Rome, Italy. User suanj on here was kind enough to help me search for him before (and others too, both here and other places over the years) and it was determined that he was not honest about his information.

I've recently started doing Leeds method of clustering for my DNA matches and determined his birth location was most likely actually Porto Empedocle in Sicily.

My ancestor claimed his father was named Domenico and his mother was Mary Parisi or Pretrain (Mary Parisi on marriage document, Maria Pretrain on SS card AP, and yes he spelled it Mary not Maria like his wife did for her mother). He did name his eldest son Domenico so I think the first name for father is at least accurate, his eldest daughter was named Mary, but his wives mothers name was Maria so.

My DNA matches aren't close enough for me to narrow down his family, I see no link between the matches in my cluster other then all have ancestry from Porto Empedocle. Is there anyway to find him with the info I do have or can anybody help me? Also why would somebody deliberately give the same false information on multiple documents over decades? He married a scillian woman so I doubt it was to pretend not to be from Sicily.

[darkerhorse]

What year was he born?

[lyn1982]

December 23, 1896 is what he claimed on multiple documents.

[darkerhorse]

If he was trying to divorce from his past it might be the wrong date. Are you sure his real first name was Giuseppe?

Have you checked immigration records for 1913, as indicated on one of the family trees?

Not that it's accurate.

[darkerhorse]

Have you looked for his wife's civil records in Sicily? Even though they were married in the U.S. the marriage might also have been recorded in her home town, perhaps added as a marginal note on her civil birth record.

[lyn1982]

I have her (Giuseppa Congelosi) birth record, nothing about her marriage seems to be mentioned. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1947613

[darkerhorse]

No, no marriage mentioned. It was worth a try.

[mler]

I’m late to this thread, but the subject is fascinating. It is difficult enough to find information when you have specifics; when the data can’t be trusted, you have a problem.

He may have committed a crime in Italy and believed that the long arm of the law could reach across the Atlantic. Or he may have been married in Italy and married in the US without the benefit of divorce.

Whatever the reason, this certainly complicates your search.