LDS Film frustration

[chrisdamato]

I just wanted to vent a little bit about the microfilmed records for the town of Anzi. I have previously been researching Sant'Arsenio and the microfilm contained records from 1866-1910. Now that I have exhausted my search in this town, I'm looking for information from Anzi. Unfortunately, the LDS films only contain records from 2-3 year periods. Now I need to order about 10 stupid films just to locate certain people.

Why did they organize them that way??????

[nuccia]

I agree the films are not indexed all as we want them to be but you do have other choices. If you can narrow down the years for the records of the persons you wish to locate then you could try requesting only the records directly from the LDS using the form available here:

http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... rofilm.ASP

Hopefully this will help you - if not now but in the future.

[chrisdamato]

I know the year of birth of one individual is somewhere between 1846-1850. Unfortunately, this requires two separate microfilms. The other issue is that we are a bit unsure of her real name, so I can't even send the request form you provided. I'm trying to unravel a mystery and I would have like to see a larger pool of years to look through instead of only 3 year intervals.

Interestingly, Ancestry.com has the birth and marriage records from 1861 on. I was able to find the births of her children in the 1870's but I need her own birth. Some census records indicate she was born around 1846 and some have her born in 1850.

[Italysearcher]

Remember the habit of saying your age as if you had already reached your next birthday. 'In her 40th year' makes her 39 by our reckoning.

[liviomoreno]

Remember the habit of saying your age as if you had already reached your next birthday. 'In her 40th year' makes her 39 by our reckoning.

Strange habit, definitely not Italian.

[nuccia]

Livio not sure where the habit is from but I have heard the same thing from my parents.

But my favourite is that each year a person has a child they either get younger on these birth acts or they stay the same age forever - often it's a rounded up number too as they get older.

[maestra36]

Remember the habit of saying your age as if you had already reached your next birthday. 'In her 40th year' makes her 39 by our reckoning.

Oddly enough my mother-in-law, now 91, and born in NY of Italian immigrant parents, has always insisted that the Italian custom was to count age from the time of conception, so that when you were born you were already age 1. Arguing with her about this over the past 31 years has never done me any good. This concept is really ingrained in her mind.

[blissiorio]

Remember the habit of saying your age as if you had already reached your next birthday. 'In her 40th year' makes her 39 by our reckoning.

Strange habit, definitely not Italian.

All of the old Italians in my family count age that way. Maybe it is a regional thing?

[oilman19]

I would be happy if all of my ancestors were only off by 1 year. I find variations up to 10 years. And, I have seen people get younger with each successive child birth. It sure makes it difficult to decide which films to order.

My ancestors wanted to make life difficult for me.

[blissiorio]

I would be happy if all of my ancestors were only off by 1 year. I find variations up to 10 years. And, I have seen people get younger with each successive child birth. It sure makes it difficult to decide which films to order.

My ancestors wanted to make life difficult for me.

I hear ya! I have come to the conclusion that "lying about your age" in in my DNA... I am reachine a milestone in age soon, and I may have to carry that tradition

[oilman19]

Somehow, regarding my ancestors in Italy, frequently the age confusion appeared on the birth acts (I seldom believe the ages on the death acts).
While the declarant on the birth act was usually the father, his knowledge of his age and his wife's age seemed almost unimportant. I presumed the fact that they were illiterate exacerbated the problem. I never assumed they intentionally lied about their age.

However, that didn't hold true for my grandfather in U.S. I'm convinced he lied about his age.

[Italysearcher]

Many men lied about their age so they didn't have to do the military. Women so they could marry with out parental consent. I know a lady whose age was altered by 2 years by a priest who wanted to save her from being sent to a prison camp. She had to wait 2 extra years for her pension but she survived!

[chrisdamato]

Fascinating information. Hopefully when the film arrives and I get the chance to look at it, I'm able to find her rather quickly.

Now if only I would get younger each time I had another child!!! They seem to take years off your life, not years off your age!! LOL

[Apples]

From what I have noticed lying about your age was a fairly regular thing in the UK records. I have seen examples of people fibbing about their age to be able to run away to sea, to join the war, to marry a younger man, and to get a job (the latter was only in the 1950's and the fib was a claim to be 15 years younger!).

It also seams to be a general rule that when you are the oldest generation in the family then you want to emphasize the point and make yourself appear even older!

Today we have so much bureaucracy and form filling that our age is a public fact - in the past I think age was more fluid and not as relevant.