Italians emigrating from South America?

[mariemaye]

I am researching my Badaracco ancestry. Through some reading I have discovered that it seems some Italians emigrated from Italy to South America and then to the US.

First question: why were Italians emigrating to South America?

Second question: my ancestor, Francisco Badaracco emigrated to the US in 1870. He anglicized his name to Frank Broderick and settled in New Brunswick, New Jersey. I found a newspaper clipping saying that he thought he was coming into a large inheritance from South America. No one in my family has ever heard of any connection to South America.

Anybody have any thoughts?

[mjordan]

I also learned that I have relatives that migrated from Italy to Argentina instead of the US. Argentina, as it turns out, was a major destination for Italian immigrants. 60% of Argentinians today have some Italian ancestry. There is alot of information on this through a google search, but here is an interesting Time article from 1963 about this phenomenon:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... 72,00.html

When my great great uncle died in the 70s in Ohio, he had no children and left some of his inheritance to a sister in Argentina. My grandmother gave me some letters written in Italian from this relative that she kept regarding the estate settlement. She lived in Rosario, Santa Fe, which is maybe 100 miles inland from Buenos Aires.

There may also be Italians in other S. American countries, but Argentina seems to have absorbed more than other countries.

I hope this helps fill in some of the story. I'd love to be able to trace my Argentina relatives forward to the present day.