Find the Parents

Are you looking for an Italian surname? Do you need more information about your family heritage?
This is the right place to start your genealogy search.
Post Reply
User avatar
rp76226
Master
Master
Posts: 1968
Joined: 27 Apr 2010, 17:00

Find the Parents

Post by rp76226 »

Here is a link to a marriage record for Salvatore Puma and Margherita Santino in 1897.

http://postimg.org/image/6n1knfy7h/

Salvatore Puma was 21 implying that he was born about 1876. His parents were Giuseppe Puma who was deceased and Rosa Zaffuto (?). There are plenty of digital records for Racalmuto, Agrigento, Sicily in the time period that Giuseppe Puma would likely have died or married, and I thought that I could find either the death record of Giuseppe Puma to find his parents (my goal) especially since 10 year indices exist, or the marriage record for him and his wife which would also yield his parents. Yet, though the years of records digitally would seem to cover the time period for these civil records, I find myself unable to find either record. I'm hoping that someone can locate the records to give the parents of Giuseppe Puma who was married to Rosa Zaffuto (or possibly Taffuto). I'm trying to trace this Puma line as far back as I can.
User avatar
liviomoreno
Master
Master
Posts: 7032
Joined: 13 Feb 2004, 00:00
Location: Rome, Italy
Contact:

Re: Find the Parents

Post by liviomoreno »

Zaffuto is correct
User avatar
Robin B Mc
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 162
Joined: 18 Jan 2015, 00:02
Location: CO (PA at heart)
Contact:

Re: Find the Parents

Post by Robin B Mc »

I find the best thing to do is look for birth records of other children of Giuseppe Puma and Rosa Zaffuto because once you know when their first child was born, you will have a better idea of when they married.

It looks like the marriage records online go back to 1867. If Salvatore was born in 1876 and he was one of their later children, it's entirely possible they were married around 1860-65, before the online records begin. So finding the birth records of the other children will help you figure that out.

Records for Racalmuto go back as far as 1821 on microfilm so if you find they married before 1867, you can always order those: https://familysearch.org/search/catalog ... %20Library

As for Giuseppe's death, he could have died anywhere in between around 1876 and 1897, did you look through every single year? If so, it's possible he died in another town.
User avatar
rp76226
Master
Master
Posts: 1968
Joined: 27 Apr 2010, 17:00

Re: Find the Parents

Post by rp76226 »

Death records were easy to look through since there were 10 year death indices for 1876-1885 and 1886-1895. I found out that they had 4 children - the youngest, also named Giuseppe was born about 1868 per his marriage record. All the children were born in Racalmuto and also married in Racalmuto. It therefore seemed likely that the father would have died in Racalmuto. From children's birth records, Giuseppe was born about 1835 and his wife Rosa about 1850.
User avatar
Robin B Mc
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 162
Joined: 18 Jan 2015, 00:02
Location: CO (PA at heart)
Contact:

Re: Find the Parents

Post by Robin B Mc »

In my experience it is most common for families to stay in one place and have all their vital records there - but not always. Another issue might be that he could have been listed by another given name - I have one ancestor in my tree whose full name was Vincenzo Domenico d'Amore - on some records, he went by Vincenzo, others as Domenico.

It sounds like they were married before the online records begin so I would order the microfilm for marriages in in 1866-67. If the marriage record tells you where they were born, you can then order the microfilm for births around 1835 and 1850.
User avatar
Robin B Mc
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 162
Joined: 18 Jan 2015, 00:02
Location: CO (PA at heart)
Contact:

Re: Find the Parents

Post by Robin B Mc »

Also, what do the other children's marriage records say about Giuseppe's death? It will give you a better idea of when he died.
User avatar
Robin B Mc
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 162
Joined: 18 Jan 2015, 00:02
Location: CO (PA at heart)
Contact:

Re: Find the Parents

Post by Robin B Mc »

Here's an 1879 death record for a Giuseppe Puma, son of Giuseppe Puma and Rosa Zaffuto: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/T ... ,243988501

It says his father, Giuseppe Sr., was already deceased so that suggests he died before 1879.
User avatar
rp76226
Master
Master
Posts: 1968
Joined: 27 Apr 2010, 17:00

Re: Find the Parents

Post by rp76226 »

Since that child was only a few months old, that implies that his father died the same year or the year before. I've examined the years 1878 and 1879, but the only Giuseppe Puma death that was age appropriate was in 1878, but his wife is different. See link for record # 236:

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/T ... ,243988501
User avatar
Bette
Veteran
Veteran
Posts: 186
Joined: 23 Oct 2002, 00:00
Location: USA

Re: Find the Parents

Post by Bette »

The familysearch.org site has some transcribed records for Italy, such as Marriages, Birth and Baptisms, Deaths. Among those there are some for Racalmuto, Agrigento. Like I said, these have been "transcribed" and you cannot see the actual documents. One transcription states that there is a marriage for Giuseppe Di Puma, birth date 1831 in Racalmuto, at age 33, he married Sabina Parto, born in 1843, age 21. This marriage took place on October 2, 1864. It shows Giuseppe's parents as: Giuseppe Di Puma and Calogera Macaluso. Here is the curious part: It indicates the Spouse's Mother's Name is Rosa Zaffuto. Could it be that Sabina Parto went by her mother's name??? I saw this one other time in one of my family's records. At best, I agree with Robin B Mc, that it would be prudent to rent the microfilm to do the research. It is a shame that everything is not available on-line yet. But someday...
User avatar
rp76226
Master
Master
Posts: 1968
Joined: 27 Apr 2010, 17:00

Re: Find the Parents

Post by rp76226 »

The transcribed marriage record and the actual death record of Giuseppe Puma agrees that the wife is Sabina Parto. So no doubt that this Giuseppe Puma was married to a Sabina Parto. The marriage record also confirms the mother of Sabino Parto to be Rosa Zaffutto (but the father is not indicated).
Yet the marriage record of a child of Giuseppe Puma indicates that Rosa Zaffuto was the wife of Giuseppe Puma, not the mother of his wife.
So what we have is either contradictions caused by design or error, or different people (that is a second Giuseppe Puma actually married to a different person also named Rosa Zaffuto).
Bottom Line - the records should exist and be easily findable for Racalmuto if a second couple existed with the names Giuseppe Puma and Rosa Zaffuto. None has been found. That likely means that we will never be able to prove if the wife took on her mother's name or there is a second couple.
No matter how many records we look at, I don't see this being resolved unless a Giuseppe Puma - Rosa Zaffutto marrieage is found (but good chance that it may not exist, because the wife used a different name than her own).
Post Reply