Needing help finding origins of my great grandmother

[lcj7894]

I don't know much about my great grandmother and I would love to find her birth certificate to get more information about her. These are the bare bones of all I know about her that's relevant to my search for her origins.

Name: Philomena Rossi
Birth: 1896 Ceppaloni, Benevento, Campania
Parents: unknown
Siblings: Brother- Carmine Rossi (she had other siblings but rest are unknown)
Husband: Alessandro Testa (from Avellino)
Married: 1920 Italy
Daughter: Mafalda Testa (B: February 1923 Ceppeloni)
Immigration: February 16, 1924 Ellis Island to Boston w/ husband and daughter

Is there any way I could somehow find the missing pieces to the puzzle of her family and date of birth with so little information?

[Anizio]

Yes. You can send a letter or email to the Ceppaloni ufficio di stato civile (in Italian, so you may need help because Google translate is not good enough). You would ask for una copia integrale dell'atto di nascita di FILOMENA Rossi in the year 1896.
You could also request in the same email/letter the copia integrale dell'atto di matrimonio di Filomena Rossi e Alessandro Testa, circa 1922 because chances it it would have been in Ceppaloni given the facts available.

There are no missing pieces, just research not yet done. You have more than enough information to easily find more.

[lcj7894]

Thank you, Anizio! I'll try to send them off an email and hope for the best!

[lcj7894]

Update:

I'm left with more questions than answers at this point. I sent off an email to the state archives in Benevento asking if they can find my great grandmother's birth record. They sent me back a document saying they found a Filomena Rossi born December 13, 1896 to Cosimo and Mamilla Manno in Ceppeloni. All sounded well until apparently my grandmother said that Filomena's birthday was celebrated February 8. I didn't know that information prior to sending them the email. But I followed up with them and asked if they could find any birth records for her under that February date and they just sent me a reply back saying the same thing as before...that they found a Filomena Rossi under December 13.

I don't know what I should do or how I can go forward with this information. They're asking for a payment for a digital copy of the birth certificate and I don't want to have to pay the money for something that may or may not be my great grandmother, you know? What more can I do to verify those birth dates?

[suanj]

Please to think..:
if the clerk found Filomena Rossi born on 13 Dec 1896, that is true..
by my experience, rarely the birthdate of a italian immigrant in USA is the same birthdate as resulting by Birth record..
The clerk replied abt a Filomena Rossi born on 13 Dec 1896: that means that just one Filomena Rossi was born in 1896..so if she was born before of this year, It could be possible that she born in feb...
but in 1896 just one familiar if the parent's noms matching ...no doubts that is your Filomena..

best regards,
suanj

[lcj7894]

Thank you for the reply, Suanj. If this birth record they found is my Filomena then i wonder how the birth dates got confused when she immigrated. My grandmother said that they always celebrated her birthday in February. There must have been some confusion along the way? I know that Rossi is a very popular surname but still they come back to me with the December 1896 birth record...so interesting!

[suanj]

Hi, also by arrival record ....she was 28 old on Feb 1924.. and that don't solve the mystery.. but what is strange, it is that Filomena married in Italy, in Ceppaloni, and on her Birth act must be wrote the marriage note at Alessandro Testa...
However as said Anizio, by marriage record you can know the her parent's names and if matching with the parent's names on the Birth record found by clerk...

Obviously because you request abt Filomena Rossi born in 1896, the clerk found just one.. and you cannt say if it is right person or no because you don't know her parent's names...

Because no Ceppaloni civil records on line, and no Roccabascerana civil records on line, we cannot search, and from the second reply of clerk, he seeming a bit annoyed....
But the insistence can give the success..
please to reply in italian Language
-that you are very grateful,
-and that you are sorry if you annoy it,
-BUT because the Birth certificate request is to gain the italian citizenship,
-you need also of the her marriage certificate
-so, if, very kindly, he can issue also marriage certificate (ESTRATTO DELL'ATTO DI MATRIMONIO-MODELLO PLURILINGUE) of ROSSI Filomena married around 1922 in Ceppaloni at TESTA Alessandro (born in Roccabascerana, Avellino),
-and if the data on marriage certificate match with data on Filomena Birth certificate (ESTRATTO DELL'ATTO DI NASCITA-MODELLO PLURILINGUE), and I say better: if it is the one and the same Filomena ROSSI, so the certificates are very helpful to gain italian citizenship and no discrepancies abt the her parent's names

- you will be very grateful to receive these 2 certificates abt your Filomena Rossi, and you will be very happy to pay

lcj7894: the clerk, at this point must give a satisfactory reply..
Best regards,
suanj

[lcj7894]

It's very strange indeed. I can paste the first letter that they sent me so that you could see exactly what they wrote to me.



I sadly don't have access to her marriage record. My grandmother has the original I believe, but without her telling me any pieces of information she can read from it then I would have no idea on how to get a copy of their marriage document. That would solve so many mysteries here! They apparently stated in the letter that they don't have access to marriage records during the 1920s which seems a bit odd to me. Maybe i'm mistranslating.

Thank you again for helping in my search,
Lindsay

[lcj7894]

Update again:

Just had a big break! I received my great grandfathers Naturalization papers today and it said Filomena was actually Filomena Russo (not Rossi) and she was born on February 28, 1895. So that's pretty close to what my grandmother said. They also wrote that she was from Chipolone, Italy. I have no idea where in Italy that is. I can't find it on Google. Maybe they misspelled the actual town name.

But they also said that they were married November 14, 1922 in Squilani where my great grandfather was born. So perhaps Chipolone is in Campania as well if they married in Avellino?

[TerraLavoro]

Update again:

Just had a big break! I received my great grandfathers Naturalization papers today and it said Filomena was actually Filomena Russo (not Rossi) and she was born on February 28, 1895. So that's pretty close to what my grandmother said. They also wrote that she was from Chipolone, Italy. I have no idea where in Italy that is. I can't find it on Google. Maybe they misspelled the actual town name.

But they also said that they were married November 14, 1922 in Squilani where my great grandfather was born. So perhaps Chipolone is in Campania as well if they married in Avellino?

See Anizio's and Suanj's prior responses to you. The name of the comune is Ceppaloni.

[suanj]

Hi,
I searched in Ceppaloni and on 1895 just a Filomena Rossi (no Russo) was born on 8 ( no 28)February, daughter of Antonio Rossi and of Carmina Porcaro..
and no one Filomena Russo...
http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.i ... =174967484
click to enlarge
suanj

[lcj7894]

Thank you so much for that, Suanj! That's a huge help in my search of finding more information. Now that I know her parent's names how can i further trace back my family tree?

[suanj]

Hi,
if you think that my find is abt your right ancestor,
you can search more data in Benevento archive, Ceppaloni civil records:
http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.i ... Ceppaloni/

the civil records are no complete, but it are the births from 1866 to 1915, the marriages starting from 1931, and ditto for deaths;
the civil records must be updated... I hope nextly...
Best regards,
suanj

[lcj7894]

Thank you very much, Suanj!

[PattyNJ]

Hi, My great grandparents were from the same town. My great grandfathers name was Severio Russo. I'm wondering if they could've been related if not siblings.