searching for family

[mdegisi]

Left in an orphanage as a baby with the name Antonia Bernatti mother listed as Maria Fumagalli. Born June 5 1940 and adopted by the Mandracchia family in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1951. They went to New York to meet me and bring me home, No other infomation, Anyone know how to research this without paying a bunch of money? Where do I start

[PippoM]

Do you know where you were born?
You might write to your Town of Birth and request a birth certificate and start from there.

[rlw254]

There is really only one Mary/Maria Fumagalli in the New York 1940 census living in Brooklyn with her family:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AKQRD-QMC
This particular family was from the San Giovanni neighborhood in Lecco, Como.

Birth record of their eldest daughter Irene
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=997423

[greglam]

Have you taken an AncestryDNA (or similar) test to see who, if anyone, comes up?

[joetucciarone]

Here's the current distribution of people with the surname "Fumagilli" in Italy. Most of them live in northern Italy, especially around Milan.

fumagilli.jpg

[joetucciarone]

Sorry - I meant to spell "Fumagalli" in my response. But the surname map (for Fumagalli) is correct.

[arturo.c]

There is really only one Mary/Maria Fumagalli in the New York 1940 census living in Brooklyn with her family:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AKQRD-QMC
This particular family was from the San Giovanni neighborhood in Lecco, Como.

Birth record of their eldest daughter Irene
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=997423

So you think the Irene CONTESSA (née Fumagalli) aged 31 listed in the New York 1940 census as daughter of Jack and Louisa (and Mary/Maria's older sister) is the same Irene Fumagalli born on Oct. 24th, 1908 in the town of San Giovanni alla Castagna, daughter of Antonio Fumagalli and Luisa Spreafico?

The birth year sort of fits in with the age at the census, Therefore Mary/Maria should have been born in 1922 or 1923, and in 1951 she would have been around 30 years old.

The town of San Giovanni alla Castagna was merged with the city of Lecco in 1926.

UPDATE: in the New York 1930 census the parents' names are spelled "Giacomo A(ntonio?) FUMAGALLI and Louisa". The family must have immigrated in 1927.
https://www.ancestry.it/imageviewer/col ... d=39173077

[dcameransi]

Line 30. This appears to be Maria's entry into the U.S.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AKXGQ-2JZ

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1923888

[rlw254]

So you think the Irene CONTESSA (née Fumagalli) aged 31 listed in the New York 1940 census as daughter of Jack and Louisa (and Mary/Maria's older sister) is the same Irene Fumagalli born on Oct. 24th, 1908 in the town of San Giovanni alla Castagna, daughter of Antonio Fumagalli and Luisa Spreafico?

The birth year sort of fits in with the age at the census, Therefore Mary/Maria should have been born in 1922 or 1923, and in 1951 she would have been around 30 years old.

It is, you can corroborate her birth date with a social security record I saw on ancestry.com that uses the name Contessa. Irene and a younger daughter Francesca were born in Italy, then Luigia/Louisa brought the two over to America. Clearly they must have gone back at some point for Maria to have been born in Italy.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 3AJJQ2-LP1

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/co ... 4029163511

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse ... 8859306459

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=997423
Giacomo Antonio Ernesto Fumagalli born 18 Aug 1878 in San Giovanni to parents Francesco Fumagalli, 30, and Carolina Colombo (daughter of living Giacomo Colombo). Birth date is one day off of naturalization record above.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cat=997423
Luigia Paola Agnese Spreafico born 21 Jan 1888 to parents Giovanni Battista Spreafico, 32, and Irene dell'Oro (daughter of deceased Carlo). Birth date same as naturalization above.

Maria Fumagalli would have been about 17 years old when the original poster was born in 1940 and I was not able to find any marriage record which fits.

[dcameransi]

And I believe this passenger list supports the birth record rlw254 posted above...if this is the same Maria

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1368704

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=1368704

Has anyone given thought that maybe she was looking for relatives that may still be alive in America?

[greglam]

Has anyone given thought that maybe she was looking for relatives that may still be alive in America?

I did. Hence my question about whether or not she had taken an AncestryDNA (or similar) test.

Admittedly, the OP was really rather vague about her actual research goal, and hasn't been back on the site since she posted the question.