surname change at ellis island, or after?

Over 25 million Italians have emigrated between 1861 and 1960 with a migration boom between 1871 and 1915 when over 13,5 million emigrants left the country for European and overseas destinations.
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surname change at ellis island, or after?

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Hello, I'm helping my girlfriend with getting her Italian citizenship. We already know she qualifies through her great-grandfather (born in Italy and immigrated to U.S.), as I've spoken with the San Francisco consul. I know when he came over exactly, I have his birth certificate from Italy, and know he was never naturalized as a U.S. citizen.

The only problem is that her great-grandfather changed his last name. I know what the name was originally, and checked ellisisland.org and it shows up on the ships manifest as the original name. But the consul says it needs some proof that the name was changed. Any ideas on how I can prove this?
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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I assume you checked social security death index? Have you tried the cemetary records,marriage records or even USA army records. Was he a ww1 soldier or carried a draft card??? Please do not let us reinvent the wheel here so please advise what youi have done so far. Petertimber
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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ptimber wrote:I assume you checked social security death index? Have you tried the cemetary records,marriage records or even USA army records. Was he a ww1 soldier or carried a draft card??? Please do not let us reinvent the wheel here so please advise what youi have done so far. Petertimber
Well we have his marriage license and a copy of the death certificate. But that's not the problem. The problem is proving that he is the same person who was entered in to Ellis Island even though the last name changed sometime between then and getting married.
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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what about ww1 draft cards?,drivers licence????union membership,alien registration for WW11 requirement?? Peter
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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ptimber wrote:what about ww1 draft cards?,drivers licence????union membership,alien registration for WW11 requirement?? Peter
None of what we have has his original last name as well as his changed last name. All of it is in the new name he used upon coming to the U.S. And he most likely didn't register for the draft since he came over after WWI started, and was too old to fight in WWII.
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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Also we haven't found him on the 1920 cenus using either last name, or soemthing similar. But he shows up in the 1930 cenus with his new last name, but that's after he had been married and had 2 children already. And his marriage license as I have stated has his changed last name.
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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Yes but Italian natrionals who were not citizens had to register when WW11 was iminent and he may have applied for an alien registration card to get work. (you did not provide me with any age info). Peter
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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double check the ships manifest since at that time they annotated any changes on the ships manifest relating to his immigration status. Peter
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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I was mistaken, he came over in 1912 (so before WWI started in 1914) when he was 16. So he would have been 18 when WWI started, but we don't know where he was at that time. And he would have been around 43 when WWII started in 1939.
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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ptimber wrote:double check the ships manifest since at that time they annotated any changes on the ships manifest relating to his immigration status. Peter
The ships manifest said only his original name, and did not list the changed name at all.
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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Not draft in WW11 but alien registration if he was not a US citizen. Peter
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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ptimber wrote:Not draft in WW11 but alien registration if he was not a US citizen. Peter
Unfortunately we do not know when or if he became a U.S. citizen. Do you think if he did, that those documents would contain both names?
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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If he did become a US citizen it would have started with a petition with US Immigration in the jurisdiction where he lived and would show both names IF he changed his name at that time of filing for US citizenship. The other matter of the ships manifest has nothing to do with name changes but prior to WW11 when an immigrant had a status change from Alien to US citizen they would put in the PETITION NUMBER on the manifest line where his original entry and name showed up. This would indicate that he did become a US citizen and then you would know in advance if he became a citizen and request a copy of his peititon from Immigration Service.Understand?? Peter
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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ptimber wrote:If he did become a US citizen it would have started with a petition with US Immigration in the jurisdiction where he lived and would show both names IF he changed his name at that time of filing for US citizenship. The other matter of the ships manifest has nothing to do with name changes but prior to WW11 when an immigrant had a status change from Alien to US citizen they would put in the PETITION NUMBER on the manifest line where his original entry and name showed up. This would indicate that he did become a US citizen and then you would know in advance if he became a citizen and request a copy of his peititon from Immigration Service.Understand?? Peter
Ah! I did not know that. Thanks for the tip, I'll look for that.
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Re: surname change at ellis island, or after?

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If there is none it might still mean that he did become a naturalzied US citizen so if you would give me the state he resided in while living then I can tell you any additional information, if any, or just direct you to the nearest immigration office and file for a copy of his peition. Peter
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