Searching pre 1809 records from Monacilioni

[Marcucci-Zampino]

I have used the LDS catalog to locate my Marcucci ancestors from Monacilioni up until the early 1800's (the library contains records from 1809 to 1910). Where do I go from here? Does anyone know who I could contact to continue this search? I would like to know more about Michele Laverio Marcucci (born approx. 1771/72, son of Lavario Marcucci and Angela Pietracella), as well as my other Monacilioni relatives.

Thank you.

[JamesBianco]

As you probably have figured out Italian Civil Records (in the area you are researching) begin in 1809. You are fortunate because there are areas where they did not start methodically keeping Civil Records until 1820 (Sicily) and 1865 (Northern Italy).

Your next step would be to research utilizing Church Records (Baptism, Marriage and Burial), which typically exist in the Campobasso/Molise area back into the early 1700's. This can prove to be quite an undertaking because so many priests will not research for you due to time constraints and their (widely held) opinion that such research is trivial. You may alternatively hire a researcher in Italy to go to the Church and try his/her luck at getting the priest to allow them in and at the old registers. Sometimes this will prove sucessful, sometimes not.

Researchers in Italy can get quite costly for this type of project, and often difficult to find. Many will not even offer this service, limiting themselves to Civil Records, which are naturally much easier to access at the Archive level.

[Marcucci-Zampino]

Thank you for this information. I'm grateful for the records that are available. At this point my best option may be to broaden my search and look for my relative's siblings instead of trying to go further back in my family tree.

Thanks again for your help.

[kehlkehl1013]

I'm looking for these pre-1809 records as well. Has anything changed regarding the accessibility of Church records in the last 10 years? Thanks for any help.

[Italysearcher]

English speaking researchers who live and work in Italy are not easy to find. It's not enough to understand written English, you have to also understand the mentality of people who do genealogy research. Many Italians don't. (including my husband!) Try to find an American, Canadian or English born researcher located in the general area of your research. (I know a few) Rates can vary greatly. Italians will typically charge more because they believe you can afford to pay. Italians will also want to do the 'family tree' complete as opposed to filling your needs.