Beginning your Genealogy Research

[brujaojos]

Hi Everyone,

I do genealogy for a living. I have done several members of our group as well as help out many others with advice who were “at a brick wallâ€Â

[congiusta]

hi does anyone here have relarives from reggio calabria?
please reply soon
regards matt congiusta

[JamesBianco]

Congiusta, you should give us some more details. I have a great great grandmother from Reggio di Calabria, Comune di Bianco Nuovo. You should create a new thread.

Trish this was a great thread you started back in Aug 04. Gotta love the positive welcoming responses

[ally]

Trish,

I look forward for your helpful advice. Thanks for posting it. I do have one question though, in beginning research ar family hist. ctr., how do they have their films done, is there an index? For ex. if I look up my gramps name Pietro Santacaterina, in schio, do they list alpha, or by year only?

I am going to order film as soon as I get some time, but would like to know before hand. So I can pull together what little info I do have.

Most appreciated for your help.

Ally

[ally]

Trish,

I look forward for your helpful advice. Thanks for posting it. I do have one question though, in beginning research ar family hist. ctr., how do they have their films done, is there an index? For ex. if I look up my gramps name Pietro Santacaterina, dob 6-29-1891, in schio, do they list alpha, or by year only?

I am going to order film as soon as I get some time, but would like to know before hand. So I can pull together what little info I do have.

Most appreciated for your help.

Ally

[vineviz]

I look forward for your helpful advice. Thanks for posting it. I do have one question though, in beginning research ar family hist. ctr., how do they have their films done, is there an index? For ex. if I look up my gramps name Pietro Santacaterina, dob 6-29-1891, in schio, do they list alpha, or by year only?

The microfilms are not indexed per se, but if the vital record books that the LDS photographed contained an index then that would be in the film.

The format varies by commune, but usually the sindaco would compile an alphabetical index for each year. So there would be an alphabetical index for 1891, while the records themselves would be in chronological order. Sometimes, though, the index is for multiple years (e.g. 1890 to 1895) or the index is chronological or alphabetical by FIRST name instead of surname.

I always recommend that folks order as many films around the birthdate of their ancestor as possible, given what you can afford in time and money, so that you can look for siblings also. The records (birth, marriage, death) of your grandfather's siblings can often be very helpful.

For example, if your grandfather had a much older brother or sister who was married in Schio before 1900 then you would likely find the allegati matrimoniali for him/her. This would be a gold mine of information on parents, grandparents, and maybe great-grandparents of Pietro Santacaterina.

[DonnaPellegrin]

Ally,
I strongly recommend that you take a look at a couple books on Italian genealogy before you start looking through film. The one that I use the most is called Italian Genealogical Records by Trafford Cole. There is another one that is also good by Lynn Nelson. And there is one by Philip Colletta also. Your library probably has one of them. These books have examples of records in them. You will be able to move through your film much faster if you take the time to look through one of these books first.