Hello! I am in the midst of gathering documents to apply for dual citizenship and would like your opinion about some conflicting information about the Napoli birth records for my grandmother, Carmela Curcio.
Her death record in New York City states that she was born September 8, 1892. However, I was able to locate a birth record for Carmela Curcio in Napoli with the exact parents for May 23, 1886.
https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 82/w6MObWe
This suggests one of two possibilities: (1) There was a Carmela Curcio born in 1886 that died in infancy and the 1892 Carmela Curcio was named after her as a legacy, or (2) Carmela’s age was reported a few years later for some reason, perhaps to appear younger and more marriageable in America (?).
PART 2: Carmela’s older sister, Maria, is said to have been born July 1, 1885 according to her gravestone: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187 ... a-clemente
However, that would have been unlikely if I have a legitimate birth record of a sibling less than a year later.
This amplifies the possibility that the parents were messing around with the daughters’ birth years. The census records indicate that the parents married in 1880, so Maria could have been born several years earlier.
What do you think? The Napoli online records are extremely spotty, and I cannot access any of the birth or death records for the quartieri they are likely to have lived in, other than the singular record for 1886 Carmela. If “my” Carmela was, in fact, the 1886 Carmela, then I can request an official birth record and I can proceed with my dual citizenship application. But it would require confirming the alternate thesis first to convince a judge that I have the correct birth record.
Daughters' birth years changed by parents? What do you think?
Re: Daughters' birth years changed by parents? What do you think?
Death records tend to have a lot of inaccuracies because they are filled out by some official working with whatever information is on hand, usually provided by the least stressed-out relative.
There's usually a line on the form indicating who provided the information.
Assuming Carmela had a long, happy, life her death certificate may have been filled out using information provided by, say, the granddaughter that drove the family to the hospital, pulled aside by a nurse filling out the form. Opportunities for a mistake are high.
In the case of my grandparents, it was my mother who provided the details - she misspelled my grandfathers original nonanglicized first name.
In the case of my mother, it was my father, who misidentifed her father, a man he had never met, substituting her brother's name.
The Italian paperwork isn't perfect either. My grandfather's atto di nascita lists his birthday as June 28th, but his certificato di matrimonio lists his birthday as June 29th.
I am certainly not a lawyer, and my legal advice is suspect at best, but everything I've seen and been told on the subject indicates that Italian judges understand 70 year old paperwork won't be perfect, and don't get hung up on small errors as long as the rest of the documentation makes it obvious.
There's usually a line on the form indicating who provided the information.
Assuming Carmela had a long, happy, life her death certificate may have been filled out using information provided by, say, the granddaughter that drove the family to the hospital, pulled aside by a nurse filling out the form. Opportunities for a mistake are high.
In the case of my grandparents, it was my mother who provided the details - she misspelled my grandfathers original nonanglicized first name.
In the case of my mother, it was my father, who misidentifed her father, a man he had never met, substituting her brother's name.
The Italian paperwork isn't perfect either. My grandfather's atto di nascita lists his birthday as June 28th, but his certificato di matrimonio lists his birthday as June 29th.
I am certainly not a lawyer, and my legal advice is suspect at best, but everything I've seen and been told on the subject indicates that Italian judges understand 70 year old paperwork won't be perfect, and don't get hung up on small errors as long as the rest of the documentation makes it obvious.
Re: Daughters' birth years changed by parents? What do you think?
Thank you for your insight! In this case, the death record information was completed by her husband. They were not from the same village in Italy, and the death record was in 1956 in New York City. So, whatever Carmela disclosed when they met and married in 1912 (in NYC) is whatever Stefano knew.
As for birth date, I have seen discrepancies based on whether one interprets "birth date" as the day they were baptised or the day they were literally birthed. For my grandfather Stefano, he indicated four different birth dates in various documents (naturalization, WWI / WWII draft cards, etc.) none of which were accurate against the actual birth record.
It's difficult to know whether the discrepancies are due to the parents or the person. In Stefano's case, he might have been trying to avoid the WWI draft. In Carmela's case, maybe she never actually knew her birth date and made something up?
As for birth date, I have seen discrepancies based on whether one interprets "birth date" as the day they were baptised or the day they were literally birthed. For my grandfather Stefano, he indicated four different birth dates in various documents (naturalization, WWI / WWII draft cards, etc.) none of which were accurate against the actual birth record.
It's difficult to know whether the discrepancies are due to the parents or the person. In Stefano's case, he might have been trying to avoid the WWI draft. In Carmela's case, maybe she never actually knew her birth date and made something up?
