So how the heck did my grandfather get US citizenship?

[SteveS]

Hi Everybody!

I've been lurking here for about a month as I build my Italian citizenship case. These forums have been an amazing resource, showing me where and how to look for records. I've been endlessly amazed at amount of information I can find about ordinary people living ordinary lives as I piece together my 100 year old puzzle.

But I've found a question that's stumped me, and I need some advice.

My grandfather, Raffaele Dominianni, was born in a little Calabrian hill town called Isca Sullo Iona in 1897. I've been there, it's a beautiful place, but, unfortunately, in the early 1900's it had exactly zero jobs.

So In 1921 my grandfather kissed his young wife and infant son goodbye and went off to work in the Pennsylvania coal mines. When he came back ten years later he was an American citizen.

But here's the weird part - Ralph was never naturalized. He came back with a Certificate of Citizenship, not a Certificate of Naturalization. This implies American citizenship by descent... but from where?

Family lore had it that his mother, Barbara Lacroce, had been the daughter of a family that did a prior loop, and had been born in the US and returned to Italy as a child - but that is not the case. We have since found out that she was born in Isca in about 1855, the daughter of Pietro.

Ralph's father, Vinchenzo Domin(j)ianni (son of Nicola), was also born in Isca, around 1850 They were married in 1880 and had 7 children in Isca, spaced out over 15 years, Domenico, in 1882, Maria Caterina, in 1884, Vito, in 1887, Lesu, in 1890, Maria Nunriata, in 1891, Guseppe Antonio, in 1894, and finally Raffael, in 1897.

Vito died in infancy and Barbara died in 1906 at age 49. She is listed on her death certificate as “wife of Vinchenzo”, not “wife (fu) Vinchenzo", so I'm, assuming Vinchenzo is still alive at the time.

The spacing of the children implies that Vinchenzo was never away from Italy long enough to acquire US citizenship. It doesn't seem likely that Vinchenzo worked in the States before he married (1870 is a bit early for big-time mining in Pennsylvania) and it feels odd that he would pick up and emigrate and naturalize after Barbera's death, since by then he would be in his mid 50's and be leaving a large family behind.

There are other “Vinchenzo Dominianni's” from Isca in the Ellis Island records, but they are twenty years younger (it's a small town and a very tangled family tree).

In the Ellis island records from 1921 Ralph planned to stay with Pasquale Lacroce, apparently one of Barbera's older nephews (he's named as an “uncle” on the records). Pasquale was pretty successful and you'd expect he naturalized, but you can't get citizenship through a cousin.

On the plus side, I was able to locate all this information because all the action went down in one small Italian hill town (Isca) and three small, closely spaced, mining towns (Kulpmont, Shamokin and Mount Carmel in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania).

But Now I'm kind of stuck. I have a search in with USCIS to see if there's some paperwork on the certificate, and I'm going to see if I can get a friend to investigate if the county courthouse has anything, but I think I'm out of luck there.

So.. any suggestions on what I should try next? Anybody have any ideas about what kind of a paper trail a 90 year old certificate of citizenship leaves behind?

[annofangels]

I wonder if you reach out to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania if they might be able to help you figure out how he received a certificate of citizenship. Do you have a copy of the actual certificate? They have remarkable information in their collections and very knowledgeable staff.