Help With Dead Ends!

[skmarra12]

Hello,

I'm trying to locate my Great-grandfather's (Stephano Marra) and Great-grandmother's (Lucia Di Lorenzo Marra) birth and marriage certificates. I have located Stephano's Petition for Naturalization and it lists his birthdate and place of birth in Italy (December 1872, Alvignano) and Lucia's (15 December 1870). I was able to look at digitalized copies of the Registri di stato civile for Caserta province (1862-1939) via the Italian version of Ancestry.com. However, I was unable to find any of these records in this collection. I searched several years in each direction of the stated dates of birth and estimate of marriage. I did however find the birth certificate of my relatives' 2nd born child, Antonio, on the exact date Stephano listed on his petition of naturalization (15 August 1901), though not the records of their 1st born Lousia (8 Oct 1894).


I have also tried to locate Stephano's immigration records to see if he lists his previous place of residence and somewhere other than Alvignano. But here too I have found nothing. He lists his entry into the US as port of New York on 2 April 1901, but I have found nothing via Ellis Island records.

Does anyone have suggestions as to where I can turn next to try to find these documents?

Thank you for any help you may have!
SkMarra

[johnnyonthespot]

A couple of quick questions:

1) Did you search only the indexes for the relevant years or did you actually scan the entire registry page-by-page? Indexes are good, but many of us can point to at least one case where a name was missing from an index but appeared in the main body of the registry.

2) In my own maternal family, I have seen the prefixes "De" and "Di" come and go, seemingly without rhyme or reason. When searching indexes, it is always a good idea to keep this in mind.

[Tessa78]

A couple of quick questions:

1) Did you search only the indexes for the relevant years or did you actually scan the entire registry page-by-page? Indexes are good, but many of us can point to at least one case where a name was missing from an index but appeared in the main body of the registry.

2) In my own maternal family, I have seen the prefixes "De" and "Di" come and go, seemingly without rhyme or reason. When searching indexes, it is always a good idea to keep this in mind.

I agree, Carmine. Many times a record is contained in the "book", but not indexed.

And great advice on the prefix information. When looking for names with prefixes in the index I find that I also look under the first letter of the "stem" name - for example... When looking for De Marco - check the "D" index AND the "M" index.

T.

[adelfio]

I took a quick look on ancestry SOME of the years there is no indice annuale they are listed in the front or back of the registry book of the year your looking at.....
Marty

[pink67]

This is the link to birth act of Luisa Marra who was born in Alvignano on the day 9 october 1895, daughter of Stefano Marra, farmer, age 30 and of Lucia Di Lorenzo his wife. Birth Act is number 112 of the year 1895.
Interesting the age of Stefano is off than the age that he declared in the U.S.
Being 30 on 1895 he must have been born on around 1865...
at the time of this birth the family was living in the fraction Rasignano...

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

Laura

[skmarra12]

Thank you all!

Carmine, Yes when I searched I did look over the actual records not just the indexes, but found nothing. Thank you Tessa78 for the advice of looking for stem letter I will try that as well.

Laura, amazing find, Grazie! Do you think that Rasignano is a different town than Alvignano? I know that Rasignano is a street in Alvignano but am not aware if it is a separate town. I am only at the beginning of my familarity with Registri, so am wondering if Rasignano is another town if I should look to Rasignano for records of birth and marriage for Stephano Marra and Lucia Di Lorenzo.

Thank you,
SkMarra

[pink67]

You're welcome

Rasignano is a little fraction/hamlet of the town/Comune of Alvignano so all the acts are recorded in Alvignano...

Laura

p.s.

link to the birth act of Antonio Marra that you already have:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

Stefano stated she was 28 years old (so: he was 30 years old on 1895 and 28 years old on 1901 possibly his age was wrong in the 1894 birth act of Luisa, maybe he was 20 and not 30?)... he was living in the fraction Rasignano again...

[pink67]

Found the marriage....

I checked the marriage banns for the year 1895 (year 1894 is not present in the main menu, but the documents are under the year 1895) and found out this one:

Marriage bann number 3 - Year 1894

The request of this marriage bann was issued by the town of Limatola - Benevento province
First marriage bann in Alvignano 5 may 1894, second marriage bann 13 may 1894

Groom: Saverio Marra, born and resident in Alvignano, son of the living Giuseppe resident in Alvignano and of the late Di Matteo Luisa

Bride: Lucia Di Lorenzo, born and resident in Limatola, daughter of the living Antonio and of the late Greco Costantina

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

The real first name of Stefano was Saverio, the marriage was celebrated on 1894 in the town of Limatola.

Laura

[pink67]

This is the arrival manifest for Saverio Marra:

17 april 1902

ship Lombardia

Marra Saverio, age 28, married, from Alvignano to Schenectady to join his cousin Angelo Perrone:

http://www.ellisisland.org/EIFile/popup ... &line=0025

Laura

[pink67]

Birt Act number 120 - Year 1873

Saverio Marra was born on the day 27 october 1873 in Alvignano, son of GiovanGiuseppe Marra age 24 farmer son of the living Giovanni, and of Luisa Matteo daughter of the living Giovanni age 21 in the house at the fraction/hamlet Moleta

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

Laura

[pink67]

Groom: Saverio Marra, born and resident in Alvignano, son of the living Giuseppe resident in Alvignano and of the late Di Matteo Luisa

Saverio Marra's mother, Luisa di Matteo died just a few months before Saverio's marriage:

Death Act number 4 - Year 1894

Di Matteo Luisa, age 40, farmer, born and resident in Alvignano wife of Giovangiuseppe Marra, daughter of the late Giovanni and of the late Rosa Amato, died in her house in Rosignano on the day 7 january 1894.

image:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

Laura

[pink67]

I hope I'm not overwhelming you with all these records

This is a very interesting one:

Birth act number 6 - Year 1905

Marra Giovanni was born on the day 13 january 1905 at the locality Rosignano. He was son of Giangiuseppe Marra age 58 farmer and of his wife Vittoria Conte.

image:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

this baby died just a few days after his birth:

Death Act number 9 - Year 1905

Marra Giovanni died on the day 19 january 1905 in the locality Rosignano. He was the son of Giangiuseppe Marra and of Vittoria Conte

image:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/View. ... rte.1905.5

so, possibly Saverio's father remarried after the death of Luisa Di Matteo...

Laura

[pink67]

1897 second marriage for Giovangiuseppe Marra, Saverio's father:

Marriage act number 22 - Year 1897

Groom: Gio. Giuseppe Marra, age 50 farmer, born in Gioia Sannitica, resident in Alvignano, son of the late Giovanni resident in Gioia Sannitica and of the late Carmela Perrotta resident in Gioia Sannitica

Bride: Maria Vittoria Conti, age 22, farmer, born and resident in Alvignano, daughter of the late Pasquale and of the living Teresa Di Chiello

Marriage date: 30 december 1897

image:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

Marriage Banns:

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

in this document the official stated clearly that Giovangiuseppe Marra was the widower of Luisa Di Matteo

Laura

[pink67]

First child born (Saverio's half-sister) to Giangiuseppe Marra and Vittoria Conti:

Birth Act number 11 - Year 1898

Marra Luisa was born on the day 21 january 1898 in Rosignano, daughter of Giangiuseppe Marra and of his wife Vittoria Conti

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/View. ... ita.1898.6

Laura

[pink67]

Second child born (Saverio's half-brother) to Giangiuseppe and Vittoria Marra:

Birth act number 53 - Year 1899

Marra Alessandro was born on the day 8 july 1899 in Rosignano (hamlet of Alvignano), son of Giangiuseppe Marra age 52 farmer and of his wife Vittoria Conti

image:
http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/view. ... gskw=&cr=1

Laura