First name headaches

[bostonitalia]

My grandmother, who is the key Italian citizen ancestor in my line, seems to have very inconsistent first names in the documents.

My aunt, who has the baptismal certificate and is sending me a copy to help me order it, says Grandma's name on it is Josepha. On the Ellis Island passenger list, she is listed as Giuseppina. After that, she always went by Josephine.

I need to obtain the proper searches for her "no record" letters from NARA and USCIS. But I need to make sure I have all the correct names to search. I could - and am going to - order her birth certificate from the comune, but that will take time to get, and I hear the USCIS takes forever to get a search done.

I don't want to wait too much longer on the USCIS search, but asking for another search later with another name will make everything also last longer. I don't want to end up missing my appointment (April 2018). I've heard stories of the USCIS taking nearly a year to produce a record or letter of no record.

So my question is, how would you go about optimizing the process and time in this situation?

[nfanuele]

Hi,

Which province was your grandmother born in? Some provinces have an archive where they can provide you with photocopies (not certified) of the vital records for you to use as reference. I was able to successfully do so fairly quickly in Salerno.

I've made two requests to USCIS for certification of nonexistence of record, and both times I received a letter in a month or two. I can provide you with sample letters I wrote if you want. NARA in Waltham told me that since USCIS conducted a search they will not provide a certified letter.

Also, I have a quite a few ancestors with that name, and the Italian version was always GIUSEPPA.

Nick

[bostonitalia]

Thanks for your response! She was born in Calascibetta in 1913 to Ignazio and Carmela Mangile. I would very much appreciate any sample letters you have.

[nfanuele]

Have you sent requests to the comune yet? I would contact the provincial archives in case the comune takes a while, plus they might have a contact at the comune as well. Here's a link to the Provincial Archives. Once you get on their page, I would contact the person via e-mail who is listed on the bottom of the page.

http://www.italyheritage.com/genealogy/ ... icilia.htm

I'll send the sample letter in a PM.

Nick