New member: Hello and where do I start?

Are you looking for an Italian surname? Do you need more information about your family heritage?
This is the right place to start your genealogy search.
Post Reply
User avatar
Braindead101
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Dec 2010, 09:11
Contact:

New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by Braindead101 »

Hi all,
just joined this site after researching family history for about 6 years and I'm quite stuck!
My great great great great grandfather was Joseph Cafferata who was married in Liverpool in 1804. A family story says that he was an armour maker from Genoa but I have no evidence to back this assertion up.
I would like to take things further but have no idea where to begin. I speak no Italian at all.
Your advice would be gratefully received.

:)
User avatar
adelfio
Master
Master
Posts: 9334
Joined: 27 Oct 2010, 13:47
Location: Chicago

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by adelfio »

First of all Welcome
Sounds like you ve done pretty good so far back to your 3x grandparents
Before 1820 most italian civil records are done Now you have to try the Catholic church
Here is the address for Genova Diocese for info
Curia Vescovile
Diocese di Genova
Piazza Matteotti 4
16100 Genova Italy
Someone online here can help you compose a letter to the church asking for a Baptismal record



Marty A
User avatar
adelfio
Master
Master
Posts: 9334
Joined: 27 Oct 2010, 13:47
Location: Chicago

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by adelfio »

Do you know Joseph's wifes name?
England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1940
about Joseph Cafferata Name: Joseph Cafferata
Gender: Male
Spouse's name: Frances Elizabeth McQueen
Marriage Date: 11 May 1831
Marriage Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, England
The name Cafferata is popular surname in Liguria Genova Italy
Marty A
Researching Trabia, Palermo surnames Adelfio, Bondi, Butera, Scardino,Rinella, Scardamaglia

Marty
User avatar
Braindead101
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Dec 2010, 09:11
Contact:

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by Braindead101 »

Thanks for the replies.

Adelfio, I'm afraid I have no idea about where in Genoa, in fact I have no REAL evidence apart from the family story that it was Genoa. :(

Joseph's wife's name was Mary nee Pendleton, the marriage entry you found is for Joseph's eldest son, also called Joseph, who started a different branch of the family from mine. I'm descended from Joseph's youngest son, William.
User avatar
maestra36
Master
Master
Posts: 3422
Joined: 19 Oct 2007, 00:00

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by maestra36 »

It is my understanding that, prior to 1917, dioceses in Italy were not required to keep copies of records from the various parishes in those dioceses. So to try to locate church records prior to the state civil records, you need to know the name of the specific parish. Also there is the problem that some parishes were destroyed by various natural disasters, such as earthquakes, and the records which were housed in an individual church, may therefore have been lost in the disaster along with the church itself.
Peg
User avatar
Braindead101
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Dec 2010, 09:11
Contact:

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by Braindead101 »

It would be great to be able to write to a church in Genoa, but at the moment any Joseph Cafferata they managed to come up with wouldn't necessarily be "my" Joseph. I'd really like is to find out a little more first. The problem I've got is how to find out that extra information.
User avatar
maestra36
Master
Master
Posts: 3422
Joined: 19 Oct 2007, 00:00

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by maestra36 »

Genoa is both a city and a Province, as well. So the province of Genoa would have many towns in it, and you would need to know the specific town in order to locate records for your ancestor. In the U.S., there are records which help researchers discover what towns in Italy or Sicily their ancestors came from. I don't know if there are any records in England that would provide you with that same kind of information. You say they were married in Liverpool in 1804. Do you have a copy of that certificate? was it a civil record or a church record? possibly in those registers would be the information concerning the exact place in Italy your ancestor came from? are there any passenger lists from Italy to Liverpool that might give you a clue? I honestly don't know. But there must be some document in England that shows an Italian immigrant's place of birth. A death record perhaps?
User avatar
adelfio
Master
Master
Posts: 9334
Joined: 27 Oct 2010, 13:47
Location: Chicago

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by adelfio »

Peg is right about the records. there are alot of churches in Genova and trying to find the right one would take some letter writing.I wonder if there was anyway of getting the original marriage record from England

Marty
Researching Trabia, Palermo surnames Adelfio, Bondi, Butera, Scardino,Rinella, Scardamaglia

Marty
User avatar
Braindead101
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: 27 Dec 2010, 09:11
Contact:

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by Braindead101 »

Thanks for the comments, which are much appreciated. :)
maestra36 wrote:You say they were married in Liverpool in 1804. Do you have a copy of that certificate? was it a civil record or a church record? possibly in those registers would be the information concerning the exact place in Italy your ancestor came from?
Unfortunately I haven't seen the original register entry, but the transcript says he is simply from Liverpool, which is no help! English parish registers from that age didn't give much detail at all I'm afraid. :(
maestra36 wrote: are there any passenger lists from Italy to Liverpool that might give you a clue?
There may be, but I haven't been able to find one yet, plus there's no indication that he came direct from Italy to Liverpool. :(
maestra36 wrote:. But there must be some document in England that shows an Italian immigrant's place of birth. A death record perhaps?
Unfortunately I don't know where Joseph died as he travelled around a lot. I'd love to track him down, but nationwide death registration didn't start until 1837 and there's no trace of him in the indexes. From that I assume he died before 1837, but to look at the parish registers I'd need to have a guess where he passed away.

Joseph never apparently applied for naturalisation but another ex-Genoese native called James Cafferata arrived in England at about the same time, so I had a look at his records to see if there was a connection. Unfortunately there is not enough detail on them - it simply says he was from Genoa. :(
User avatar
adelfio
Master
Master
Posts: 9334
Joined: 27 Oct 2010, 13:47
Location: Chicago

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by adelfio »

Brain you might look at this site the file numbers and the page are on Ancestry for the marriage
Source Citation: Place: Liverpool, Lancashire, England; Collection: St Paul; -; Date Range: 1773 - 1805; Film Number: 1068955.

website http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LAN/Liverpool/
for liverpool records
Marty
Researching Trabia, Palermo surnames Adelfio, Bondi, Butera, Scardino,Rinella, Scardamaglia

Marty
andyrojo
Newbie
Newbie
Posts: 1
Joined: 05 Jul 2012, 17:32

Re: New member: Hello and where do I start?

Post by andyrojo »

My gggfather Jose (Giuseppe) Cafferata was born aprox in 1830 in Liguria, Italy, I am still looking for the exact town. He is the son of Giovani Battista Cafferata and Maria Sivori. He came to Buenos Aires, Argentina between 1850/1865.
He married Carmen Luxone or Luccione daughter of Jose Luxone and Maria Lambruschini(born in 1847 in Italy). I found the marriage certificate in Buenos Aires and it says Giuseppe Cafferata was from Santo Stefano, Genova. I suppouse it refers to some church cause there irs no Santo Stefano in Genova.
They had 14 sons/daughters. One of them was my ggfather Eduardo E. Cafferata.
I need information about Giuseppe Cafferata. If anyone in your family is related to him or to his parents, please let me know.
I would really appreciate any info.
Italian and argentinian records are not very helpfull.
Post Reply