Zanelli

[annet]

Hi very new to this site (approx 15 minutes)

I have just in the last 3 weeks discovered that my great great grandfather was Italian, his name was Antonio Zanelli and ended up in Sheffield, England sometime in the 1850's. Acording to Englinsh census he states his birth place as Cremona and would have been born sometime around 1824.

He married a German lady but I cannot so far trace a marriage certificate but believe she was Catharine Moal form Frankfurt, Germany and their first child Mary Ann (my Great grandmother) was born in Sheffield in 1856.

As this as come as a complete shock to me I had no idea of my Italian/German heritage how do you go about searching for such things as shipping records and birth certificates from Italy?

Any help or pointers in the right direction would be great, Many Thanks Anne

[PeterTimber]

Send a form letter in Italian on the offfchance that he was actually born inthe City of Cremona which is also a provincial capital inthe Lombardia region and not in a dependent town or village inthe province AND further that there is a record available that far back.

Go to http://www.circolocalabrese.org/resourc ... civile.asp for the form letter and Mail it to the Uffico di Stato Civile which canbe found at www.nonsolocap.it. Type in Cremona and click CERCA and when it comes up click right onthe name itself and a website will appear. Scroll down to Municipio and that is the address to send the form letter to. Go to the right for the Tourist website under www.... so that you might be more acquantied with that area. =Peter=

[annet]

Hi Peter

Thank you so much for the reply, I have completed the letter & will post it today, I couldn't really be specific for his dob at his age differs by 2 years on the English census returns so I opted for the middle of the 2.

This may have been easier had he gone to the States as I could probably then have traced his entry into the country. According to a source (who we have not been able to track down this was from an old e mail posting) he and his brother stood on the dockside and tossed a coin for England or the States !!!

Thanks again for the help, Regards Anne

[lynnh]

Hi annet

Just come onto this website and I think we have a relative in common.
My husband's mother was Sarah Jane Zanelli and her grandfather was Antonio Zanelli. He also had a wife called Catherine/Caroline depending which census you check. I have a little information on this family and we still live in Sheffield. I thought Antonio's place of birth was Piacenza which is near Cremona.

[Slingsby]

Hi,

I am also descended from Antonio Zanelli....unlike you I had no idea that I had Italian & German ancestors, it had totally passed out of the family memory, until I traced my family tree. I am very excited by your piece of info that they might have come from Piacenza. There are a lot of Zanelli's from Piacenza on the IGI records.....I am going to start searching there. Thanks for the tip.

There are quite a few descendants of Antiono's around on the various forums...one of them thinks that Antonio came over with a brother. Do you know anything of this story. I have not spotted him anywhere in the censuses.

Have you found Antonio in the Sheffield Flood records - it is a nice little gem. Ordinary folks are not often in the records except BMD.

Sharon

[Cherry]

Dear girls,
I am from Piacenza and know by myself a couple of Zanelli families. Let me know if I might do something for you directly on the spot. I go home quite often.
Best,
Floriana

[annet]

Hi can you contact me directly on anniebannie90@hotmail.co.uk

been to Cremona recently and found possibilities of Antonios birth and back a couple of generations no sign of anything in Piacenza though.

Please feel free to contact me, if I can help in anyway, I am in touch with quite a few Zanelli descendants now. Anne

[annet]

Thanks Floriana very kind of you, I went to Piacenza in September, what a beautiful place, we had a lovely time but unfortunately found nothing at the archives, although my Italian is not good but the young guy at the archives was very helpful/

Regards
Anne

[lynnh]

Hi everyone
Sorry for delay in reply, been off line for a while. Info I have on Antonio Zanelli is - married to Catherine Moal (born Germany) and on 1881UK Census they were living at 44 Zion Lane, Sheffield with their children - Antonio aged 21, Christiana aged 18, John Andrew aged 16, William Henry aged 10, Sarah Jane aged 9, Elizabeth aged 6 and Rosanna aged 2 weeks. I did find other Zanelli's in Sheffield but could not link them to this family. William Henry married Sarah Hannah Bodel in 1889 and had Sarah Jane Zanelli who was my husband's grandmother. There are some burials for Zanelli in Tinsley Park Cemetery, Sheffield, plot U33. Please contact me if you need any further help.