Need help John/Giovanni Baptiste Falduto birth record from Reggio Calabria (gallina?)

[starzilla29]

Hello everyone,

I feel very proud of myself after spending several hours on family search and such finding my great grandfather's declaration of intention for naturalization. This part of our family tree has been stuck for a very long time and I am attempting to figure out his actual birth to solve the mysteries of this side of the tree. But I am really struggling to find it.

With the new information I have I know that he went by John Baptiste Falduto in the United States, but I'm pretty sure his name was Giovanni in Italy, he claims he was born on Jun 24 1894 in Riga Italy (I assume that is Reggio Calabria).

I have another document that seems less reliable to me that says he was born in Gallina, Reggio Calabria, Calabria, Italy. I believe his parents were Antonino Falduto and Fortunata Stillitano but I am not sure, the record that says that also says he was born on august 11 1890 and doesn't have an image I can look at so I'm not sure if that is the right guy. He arrived in New York, America on June 8, 1911 according to his certificate of arrival dating from 1942 when he applied for naturalization. I know he left from Naples, and the records all seem to point to reggio calabria for him.

I searched a bunch of the italian reggio calabria archive records on family search, looked at the end to check for his name/number so I could find him in the giant book but haven't turned out with any luck yet and am wondering if anyone would be willing to help/point me in a good direction? I think I have all the information I need to find his birth, I just can't seem to do so.

[Tessa78]

Can you post the naturalization record?

Where is USA did he live?

The surname FALDUTO is found in Gallina, Reggio Calabria.

Edit to add:
Naturalization index card from 1946 in Chicago.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3A2H5K-CFC

T.

[starzilla29]

Yes, that is right. The two documents I felt like have given me a lot of information is this:

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/art ... d=mem_copy

the picture of which has been confirmed by one of my family members to be him.

and this;

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/art ... d=mem_copy

He lived in the area of Chicago Illinois for most of his life. I would expect to see the place Cook mentioned a lot in his records. He was married in Illinois and died in Illinois.

That's great! I don't know how common the surname is, but I think Gallina is pretty small.

[Primo Mattino]

In Valanidi you can find the death of a daughter of Antonino Falduto and Fortunata Stillitano.
Valanidi is within walking distance of Gallina.
You can search my website for "falduto, gio. battista" or "stillitano, fortunata".
The name Stillitano is also written as Stilitano or Stelitano.

[Tessa78]

Here is possibly the first son born to Antonino Falduto and Fortunata Stillitano in Gallina in 1885.
#145
Father: Antonino Falduto, age 21, laborer residing in Gallina
Mother: Fortunata Stillitano, spinner, his wife residing with him
Child born on 5 June 1885 at 1 PM at their home in Ficara della Rocca #1
Given the name VINCENZO
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 52/LaqRBDA

AND...

Here is the birth act for Antonino Falduto in 1864 on 12 December (#40)in Valanidi Superiore
Father: Vincenzo Falduto, 38, son of deceased Giovannbattista
Mother: Antonia Battaglia, 36, his legitimate wife
Child given the name ANTONINO
Baptized on same day.
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 85/wWREOPn

T.

[starzilla29]

Wow, thank you guys! I feel like this is definitely starting to help put things together. I used that website that Primo shared. That was really well done, I could just ctrl-f search through it and I quickly found what I think is Giovanni's baptismal record. I then clicked the link to the Parish to verify the document and found this:

https://www.archiviodiocesanoreggiobova ... p059/view/

My ancient cursive reading skills are not fantastic, but I can see Antonino Falduto and Fortunata Stillitano di Antonino. the date seems to match up, and I see Baptista, I just can't quite tell if this for Giovanni, but if not it could be for one of the other children in which case this is still a good find.

[Tessa78]

Wow, thank you guys! I feel like this is definitely starting to help put things together. I used that website that Primo shared. That was really well done, I could just ctrl-f search through it and I quickly found what I think is Giovanni's baptismal record. I then clicked the link to the Parish to verify the document and found this:

https://www.archiviodiocesanoreggiobova ... p059/view/

My ancient cursive reading skills are not fantastic, but I can see Antonino Falduto qdm (quondam) Vincenzo and Fortunata Stillitano di Antonino. the date seems to match up, and I see Joannes Baptista, I just can't quite tell if this for Giovanni, but if not it could be for one of the other children in which case this is still a good find.

Quondam means deceased.
Joannes is the latin for John/Giovanni.

T.