Help locating birth certificate for Assunta Palmisano

[Phelantalon]

I am looking for help in locating a birth certificate for my GGGrandmother, Assunta Palmisano. I am not sure if I have enough information on her to locate the correct commune to get it.

I have been told she was born in Palermo, Sicily. I do know she was born on Aug, 8, 1888, to Mariano Palmisano and Carmella Piro.

Also, would her birth certificate be needed if I am using her husband (my GGGrandfather) as my connection for citizenship? I have an appointment in October at the Chicago Italian consulate. If I am needing her information, I am sure I will need to reschedule to a later date once I have the necessary documents. I am going through the line of my GGGrandfather, GGrandfather, Grandmother, Mother, and then me.

Thank you to anyone who is able to help me.

[johnnyonthespot]

In most cases, birth and death certificates for person not in the direct line are not needed, however I cannot promise you that this will be the case with your particular application in Chicago.

Can you clarify a few points, please? Did Assunta emigrate to the US? Any idea as to when? Was she already married or still single when she emigrated? What was her husband's full name?

[johnnyonthespot]

Answering my own questions, I presume this is her?


1900 United States Federal Census about Assunta Palmisano
Name: Assunta Palmisano
Home in 1900: Champaign Ward 3, Champaign, Illinois
[Champaign, Champaign, Illinois]
Age: 11
Birth Date: Aug 1888
Birthplace: Italy
Race: White
Gender: Female
Immigration Year: 1890
Relationship to head-of-house: Daughter
Father's name: Leonard Palmisano
Father's Birthplace: Italy
Mother's name: Carmela Palmisano
Mother's Birthplace: Italy
Marital Status: Single
Occupation: View on Image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Leonard Palmisano 41
Carmela Palmisano 34
Assunta Palmisano 11
Nofio Palmisano 8
Lena Palmisano 6
Lotie Palmisano 4
August Palmisano 2
Demonico Palmisano 1

Bottom of first sheet; top of second:





Click once to enlarge; click again for maximum magnification.

[johnnyonthespot]

We could spend some time looking for Carmela and Assunta's passenger manifest (the census has them both arriving in 1890), however it probably would not be helpful as manifests from that time period did not include place of birth or last residence (other than simply "Italy").

One more question: was your mother born on or after January 1, 1948?

[johnnyonthespot]

This may be Assunta, but as you can see, the place of birth is unknown.

http://castlegarden.org/quick_search_de ... d=10648036



and Carmela:

[johnnyonthespot]

Wondering what became of the Palmisano family after 1900... I have been unable to locate any census for 1910, 1920, 1930.

They were at 503 North Walnut Street in 1900; they are not at that address in 1910. I tried searching for any records at all for the male children and came up empty.

If Leonardo naturalized - depending on the year of naturalization - his papers should indicate his place of birth, Carmela's, and Assunta's.

By the way, immediately below the Palmisano's on sheet 2 of the 1900 manifest is the Pira family. The Carmela Pira listed there, aged 34 born in November is probably the same Carmela who is listed as Leonardo's wife above on the previous sheet. This sort of error (listing the same person more than once) was common.

Notice also how the family moved about. In the short 10 years they were in the US, children were born in Missouri and Tennessee and they were currently in Illinois.

[Phelantalon]

Thank you for the quick reply.

Yes, I am relatively sure the Palmisano's that were in Champaign county in Illinois, are the same family that Assunta belonged to. Funny thing about that is it has the father listed as Leonard Palmisano, but I know for sure the tombstone for her father is actually Mariano Palmisano. Wondering if maybe that was his middle name or something. But other than that slight change of first names, all the other names are the same. Also, in all the research I have done, I believe the Piro's that are listed on that same 1900 census are related to the Palmisano clan. The names from that census also match all the names I have from my research.

The Palmisano and Piro family moved to Pekin, Illinois sometime between 1900 and 1905 - just not sure exactly when. They all had businesses located in the old downtown district, and Mariano actually changed his name to Charley Pamson (as friends from America called him Charley and Palmisano was too long to fit on the front store window). Although they made this change, we have yet to find any legal documentation as to when/where exactly this happened. This is why you were never able to find any records on them after that census. Assunta changed her name as well sometime around then as well to Sylvia...which becomes another issue regarding the consulate and having to get affidavits, etc. She was married in 1905, but was already using the last name of Pamson, and does not state a location of birth other than "Italy". We have been able to get a copy of the register they filled out back then and a copy of the original marriage certificate and nothing on there with that information. The name Pira is not correct on the documents - it is actually Piro as I mention above. Both families still have ties in the Pekin area today.

I am confident I have the information on Mariano Palmisano regarding his naturalization, just have not sent away for a copy of that as of yet. I do have all the necessary documents from the side I plan on using (other than Sylvia's birth certificate). That is why I was hoping to find out if we really needed to have it since we aren't using her direct line, or if the consulate would give us problems by not having it.

Thanks again for the help. It is much appreciated.

[johnnyonthespot]

Funny thing about that is it has the father listed as Leonard Palmisano, but I know for sure the tombstone for her father is actually Mariano Palmisano.

Anything is possible; maybe he didn't like Mariano nor the obvious Mario and simply wanted something more American-sounding. With no obvious choices, he chose a name he liked and continued to use it.

Notice that the majority of Palmisano's in modern Italy are located in the Bari area; see http://www.gens.labo.net/en/cognomi/gen ... =PALMISANO. This ties in nicely with the passenger list for Mariano Palmisano, which indicates he sailed from Palermo:

New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 about Mariano Satmisano
Name: Mariano Satmisano [Palmisano]
Arrival Date: 22 Jan 1889
Birth Year: abt 1859
Age: 30
Gender: Male
Ethnicity/Race­/Nationality: Italian
Place of Origin: Italy
Port of Departure: Girgenti and Palermo, Italy
Destination: St Joseph
Port of Arrival: New York
Port Arrival State: New York
Port Arrival Country: United States
Ship Name: Iniziativa

Line 107:



and the page heading info:

[johnnyonthespot]

The Palmisano and Piro family moved to Pekin, Illinois sometime between 1900 and 1905 - just not sure exactly when. They all had businesses located in the old downtown district, and Mariano actually changed his name to Charley Pamson (as friends from America called him Charley and Palmisano was too long to fit on the front store window).

Interesting...

I found the 1910, 1920, and 1930 censuses based on the info above. In 1910, Charley is listed as having submitted naturalization papers ("Pa"), in 1920 both he and Carmela ("Carmine") are naturalized, and by 1930 Charley is deceased and "Carmen" is listed as widowed.