Over 25 million Italians have emigrated between 1861 and 1960 with a migration boom between 1871 and 1915 when over 13,5 million emigrants left the country for European and overseas destinations.
I have gathered all needed documentation for our dual citizenship application, except the GF, direct line, does not have a birth certificate. I have a letter of "no record" from the state (California) Vital Records office. Finally I was able to locate a baptismal certificate for the GF…however, the certificate has his mothers(GGF-not direct line) maiden name wrong. Not misspelled wrong, it is completely wrong. Apparently they used the last name of the God parents as her last name. Instead of Battaglia, it is listed as Rossi! His father's (ggf) name is correct. Most other documents have the mother's maiden name correct, except for his death certificate where it is misspelled. It is correct on the marriage certificate and social security application, etc. Of course I have her birth and marriage certificated from Italy and that information is correct. I am trying to avoid having to get a court ordered delayed birth registration for the GF.
We will be applying at the SF consulate, any thoughts about additional documentation we may need would be appreciated.
If you haven't already, you should definitely contact the church and request they verify the information which they copied to the baptismal certificate. Mistakes do happen and it is possible that one happened here.
Then, the next option would be to see if you can get the church to correct the record based on the information which you already possess.
Only when these two fail should you move on to other options.
Carmine
My hobby is finding things. Having found most of my own, I am happy to help others find theirs. PM me!
Carmine, thank you for responding. I found the original record in the church archive, and it is incorrect. I will ask the church to correct it but not too optomistic about their response. I had exactly the same problem with the GM birth certificate...mothers maiden name was completely wrong. In that case I was able a find a baptismal certificate which was correct as backup. I don't know how how concerned the sf consulate are about spouses not in the direct line, they do not even require certified birth certificates, just copies.
Carmine,
The Catholic Church agreed to correct the baptismal certificate. The required the mothers birth certificate which I had. I also sent some other supporting documents. So I'm back on track! Forum participants have been so helpful in moving this rather daunting process forward!
Yes, unfortunately now that all my paperwork is in order the sf consult is not accepting any requests for interview appts between June 15 and November 15th! Oh well, I guess I few more months won't matter.
It's said Italy was a country of Saints, poets and navigators. There's no more trace of the poets and navigators but, fortunately, there are traces of the Saints. All the Italian towns are voted to a Saint and one of these is San Gennaro, well-known for his miracle. Who was San Gennaro? San Gennaro ...
