Lisanti in Potenza

[darkerhorse]

There's also an outside chance that the marriages or deaths of Donato and/or Gerardo occurring in the U.S. were also recorded back in Italy by a relative on either side of the family (in Part II).

I've seen this happen in my family.

If so, then the place of birth might be listed in the record.

So, you might want to check for their marriage and birth records, too.

Of course, they wouldn't necessarily have been recorded in the same year as the events occurred.

[pgerald]

Thank you both, Angela and darkerhorse, for all of your help in this process. I'm definitely closer to an answer than I previously was! I'm going to follow your suggestions, and keep trying to find Gerardo's records and those of his parents.

Have you looked for alternative spellings like Li Santi, Isanti, Santi, etc.?

When searching a particular town/year for records, I've started to quickly skim the "S" section to see if any of my ancestors were filed under Santi, instead.

You may want to start up a new thread, but link this thread here so that there is no doubling of efforts. Just write down a brief, and to the point, summary of what’s happened, and ask if anyone can help you with locating the town of birth for Gerardo and also for Donato. There are brilliant genealogists on the forum who may have other methods of helping with this. If you are absolutely sure that Gerardo’s parents were Donato and Rosa, and that his syblings are the ones that we have found, I’m a littled mythed as to why Gerardo would’ve been born elsewhere, unless his parents left the town of Potenza and then returned.

You could also try Potenza, Basilicata Genealogy Facebook. Someone might know of the family there.

By the way, where did Donato and Rosa die? It would be so helpful if they died in Potenza. Finding their Death Records would tell us where they were born. From what you have said though, it sounds like they moved to the US.

I will absolutely try those two approaches you've suggested. As for where Donato and Rosa died, I'm unfortunately not sure. There's a "Donate Lesanto" who died in 1891 in Long Island City (where all of Gerardo and his siblings ended up in New York), but whose parents are listed as Angelo and Jani (per the transcription on FamilySearch - I cannot access the original, only the extracted information, so I cannot verify these names, unfortunately)!

I've been in touch with a possible (distant) relative who says the Lisanti are from Muro Lucano, and he's visited there. I'm hoping a discussion with him will be fruitful!

[david62]

Is it possible they lived in a different town in the province before living in the town of Potenza?