Facebook to find living relatives?

[CiaoBella1313]

Ciao,

Has anybody had any luck finding living relatives on Facebook? In general, what do Italians think about genealogy and family trees? I searched some surnames and towns. I see some people that might be a distant cousin, but I don't know. It has been so long. My bis-nonno left Italy for the US about a hundred years ago.

Grazie

[Bette]

Unless your bisnonno kept some communication with the folks back home in Italy, it is unlikely that anyone living today would remember him. However, if you have the names of his parents and someone in Italy has also done their family history research, you could possibly find a link. I have used Facebook with success. If you could find just one relative, that opens the floodgates to find more. Good luck.

[Bette]

P.S. To amend my sentence above, "If you have the names of his parents and siblings and someone in Italy has also done their family history research, you could possibly find a link". Due to the Italian naming traditions, very often you will see the same given names used today among family members. I am in contact with cousins in Italy who have done their family history research.
Bette

[carubia]

Has anybody had any luck finding living relatives on Facebook?

Yes, but only ones living in the US, and only because some of the surnames of my ancestors (such as Carubia) are rare.

[CiaoBella1313]

There is no one left to know if my bisnonno kept in contact with anyone is Italy. My older cousins don't remember. I do have some names. If I find a lost cousin and they don't know their family history, how would they know if we are related or not? I guess I would have to hire a researcher. Before I do that, I will try Facebook. Are Italians interested in family history? I think it is more popular in the US to do a family tree.

[italian059]

I found a couple of cousins in Italy from Facebook. I knew I had to have relatives there so I started looking up surnames from the city of my ancestors in Italy. I sent a couple of people instant messages with the names of several of my ancestors. 2 of them wrote back. One saying he recognized the names. It took him a long time to answer but he did send me some vital records from Italy and pictures of my cousins. He hasn't written back in months so I am not sure if he just isn't interested. It was a wonderful feeling to find them. I will try and write him again in the future.

[Bette]

CiaoBella1313,

What town in Italy did your ancestor come from? If it's one of the towns that has records on-line, you could discover his siblings and research whether or not they emigrated or stayed in Italy. You wanted to know if Italians are interested in their family history. I think it is the same as the USA; some people are interested and others are not. Cannot give you percentages though. Here is another idea that was extremely helpful to me. My mother had saved a very old letter and envelope with a return address on it, indicating the homeland of my grandparents. My cousins had saved some very old letters from Italy that formerly belonged to my grandmother. They were a wealth of information and proved that we had relatives there. When interviewing your cousins or oldest living relatives, be sure to ask about old letters or correspondence; let's not forget old photographs, if someone in the family has saved them. My grandmother had a half sister that stayed in Italy. Through an old post card/ photograph with the person's name on the back, I was able to find and connect with this family. Everything is possible!
Bette

[CiaoBella1313]

italian059--that was great you found cousins on Facebook. And, you got some family info and pics. If you the have the chance to go to Italy, you can meet them.

Bette--good tip. I will see if anyone has any old letters. They come from Avellino. I have been searching the microfilms from the Mormons since last Sept.

[Romano1970]

When I started on this site back in April 2009, I had no idea what, if anything I would find. Since then I have been in contact with 17 relatives on FACEBOOK and speak with them regularly now. This site and others like it have connected me to my past, and now my future as well. One of my cousins Ornella Palermo actually had her honeymoon here in America a few years back. She toured the Southwest. I live in Colorado now (Transplanted from New Jersey) She was on such a tight schedule with the tour that there was no time to meet her. As Bette wrote above anything is possible. The internet has connected this world in such a way that things that took months if not longer are now taking minutes.

Good luck in your searches, I know that I am very lucky to have found this site!!!!

Mike Romano

[CiaoBella1313]

I sent some messages to possible cousins on Facebook. I have been waiting for reply for a few months. Just got a reply...I was so excited...I gave them my grandfather's name, family info, etc. The person ONLY asked me why I don't have a pic. I do have pics on there. Is there a difference from Italian Facebook and US Facebook??? I can see his pics.

[PippoM]

There's no difference between "Italian" and "American" FB. It might just be a matter of privacy settings...

[Marlena]

I have been lucky to find about 10 relations thanks to Italiangenealogy.com !!

[rp76226]

Is Facebook the only real option for finding living relatives? What other options are there and how do they compare to Facebook? I have a list of Italian relatives who remained in Italy from 1979 to 1588. Is there a good forum to post them for Italians who actually are researching their ancestors?

[Marlena]

No, I've cold called people, traced children from obits, DNA testing through ancestry or FTDNA which has family finder options, which all depends on if someone related to you has done the test and uploaded their family tree. Ancestry has message boards for people searching family living or dead, as well as the tree seach options. I have used all these methods.

[CiaoBella1313]

Thanks, Pippo...it's probably the privacy settings. Just wanted to check to see if there was a difference. Maybe he has to be on my ''friend list''.

rp76226, I think Facebook is worth a try before spending money to hire a researcher in Italy. Or, try Ancestry and search the trees/message boards as len52mar mentioned.