Trying to find information about Italian ancestors

[wrudge]

Hello,

I am new to this site and new to genealogy. I have started to do some research and thanks to some kind volunteers who had access to NY census information from 1920 and 1930 I have some pretty good information to start with. I was able to find the marriage record for my great grandfather and great grandmother - I ordered it online today and hopefully when it gets here I can get some names of great great grandparents. This brings me to where I am at now, I believe I found the naturalization records of my great grandfathers and wanted to know if anyone could provide me with the information on them or the images. Here is the information I have:

Family Given Year Petition Petition Soundex
Name Name Volume Number

Reda Giovanni 1926 194 49719 R300
Grosso Paolo 1925 165 41065 G620
The state is NY. I also wanted to see if anyone can help me find their immigration records. Here are what I believe to be the birth dates:

GIOVANNI (JOHN) REDA 31 Jan 1886
PAOLO (PAUL) GROSS(O) 1871

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

[pink67]

Ciao!

Don't know if you already have... these are the two enlistments for WWI and WWII about John Reda:

World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
about John Reda
Name: John Reda
City: Manhattan
County: New York
State: New York
Birth Date: 31 Jan 1886
Race: White
Roll: 1765677
DraftBoard: 95

[img=http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/4672 ... rb4.th.jpg]


U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
about John Reda
Name: John Reda
Birth Date: 31 Jan 1886
RESIDENCE: Kings, New York
Birth: Casenga, Italy
Race: White
Roll: WW2_2370485

[img=http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/7639 ... bz9.th.jpg]

Laura

[wrudge]

Laura,

Thank you for the reply. I didn't have any of the information you posted. I will have to check the first one - I have his wife's name as Angelina - maybe she went by Jennie. The second one is perfect - his wife at the time was Carolina. And thanks to that card I have a location in Italy, the only problem is I can't seem to find anything about it - Casenga?? The closest I've found is Cosenza Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. Would you happen to know if there was a Casenga? Thank you again for the information.

[pink67]

Wrudge,

ciao! I think the right place is Cosenza (but it could be also a town in the cosenza Province... I saw on the arrival records many Reda coming from Domanico or Carolei - Cosenza Province)... we can try to find te the right place...

I want to show you these two censuses are they right?

1920 United States Federal Census
about John Reda
Name: John Reda
Home in 1920: Manhattan Assembly District 2, New York, New York
Age: 34 years
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1886
Birthplace: Italy
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Angelina
Father's Birth Place: Italy
Mother's Birth Place: Italy
Race: White
Sex: Male
Home owned: Rent
Year of Immigration: 1904
Able to read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes
Image: 913
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
John Reda 34 head
Angelina Reda 25 wife
Louis Reda 4 son
Armondo Reda 2 son

and 1930 Census:

1930 United States Federal Census
about John Reda
Name: John Reda
Home in 1930: Brooklyn, Kings, New York
Age: 44
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1886
Birthplace: Italy
Relation to Head of House: Head
Spouse's Name: Carolina
Race: White
Occupation:

Education:

Military service:

Rent/home value:

Age at first marriage:

Parents' birthplace: View Image
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
John Reda 44
Carolina Reda 41 born in Hungaria
Armand Reda 12
Nickolas Reda 10
Atilio Reda 8
Elenor Seiller 19 stepdaughter ?
Joseph Seiller 15 stepson ?
Caroline Seiller 11 stepson ?
Anna Seiller 8 stepdaughter ?

Tell me if you don't have the images... I can post here them...

Laura

[wrudge]

Laura,

I just wanted to let you know that I went back to look at the 1920 census information I had for John Reda and it has the address as Kenmore Street - same as the WWI draft card - so this appears to be correct as well. Thank you again for the help.

[pink67]

Sorry, duplicate post...

[pink67]

I'm happy to help like everybody here...

Just a note, if this is the marriage record about John and Carolina, were you able to obtain the certificate?
from: http://www.italiangen.org/vitalreclist.stm

Surname Reda
Given Name Giovanni
Month of Marriage Sep
Day of Marriage 7
Year of Marriage 1904
County Kings
Certificate Number 6613

Bride was:

Surname Filippelli
Given Name Caralina
Month of Marriage Sep
Day of Marriage 7
Year of Marriage 1904
County Kings
Certificate Number 6613

Laura

[wrudge]

Laura,

Yes, those are the correct census records. His first wife died in 1928 and it appears he remarried. The son Armondo is my wife's grandfather. I do not have the images, just some of the information given by another person. I would appreciate it if you could post them.

Bill

[wrudge]

Laura,

I don't believe those are the marriage records because his first wife was Angelina (1920 Census) and she died in 1928. (I found her death record at the site you mentioned for the marriage information).

Thanks again.
Bill

[pink67]

here they are:

1930 Census:

[img=http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/791/ ... vv3.th.jpg]

1920 census:

[img=http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/7305 ... qp2.th.jpg]

[pink67]

Bill,


Concerning Jonh Reda's naturalization I found this record on the site:

http://www.footnote.com/

Title/Collection: Index to the Naturalization Petitions of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, 1865-1957Publication Number: M1164
Publisher: NARA
Date Range: Nov 1925-Dec 1957
State: New York
Court: US District Court, Brooklyn, N.Y.
Admission Year: 1926
Immigrant Full Name: REDA, GIOVANNI
Age: 43

the site is not free but from the Quick look of the image you can see that the (Petition Number is 49719 and Declaration of intention is number 55302) but this man lists his child as Frank age 17 and Marie age 8....
Are you sure about this record?

[wrudge]

Laura,

I am not positive about the naturalization record, I found two, here is the second one I found:

Family Given Year Petition Petition Soundex
Name Name Volume Number
Reda Giovanni 1909 13 3121 R300

Maybe that is the correct one? Going off the 1920 census information I had previously it was stated that:

He came to the US in 1904 and has a provisional application filed for citizenship sometime prior to 1920, but is an alien at the time of the census. And then in the 1930 Census it stated he was naturalized.

Being a newbie, I've never dealt with any naturalization papers before so thank you again for all the help.

Bill

[wrudge]

Checking the site you mentioned (footnote.com) - it appears the second record is the correct one - it lists the wife as Caroline. Would you have any of the information not shown on the picture from that site?

Thanks.

[pink67]

No Bill,
I don't have subscription to Footnote.com but from the quick look it seems

Reda Giovanni
Age 25
Address: 167 Skillman street - Brooklyn
Admitted 9 April 1909
Wife : Carolina
Children (1)
Petition 3121 vol. 13

but I'm in confusion because you told Carolina was his second wife after 1928 year.... Maybe this is another John Reda...
Perhaps someother member can help us undertanding better....
Laura

p.s. do you know his first wife's maiden name?

[wrudge]

I do not know his first wife's maiden name, still working on getting all the information. Would you happen to have any information on the other side of the family, Paolo Grosso?

Here is the information that was given to me:

1910 (NY)
Paul Ross (annotation states may be Grosso) - Arrived 1884 - Alien
Rosie (W) - Arrived 1891 - Alien
Antoinette - 13
Jennie - 11
Paul - 9
Lena - 6
Patsy - 4
Josie - 2
Anna - 0/12 months

The 1930 Census shows:
Paul Gross (annotation states may be Grosso) - B 1871 - Arr 1900 - Naturalized
Rose - B 1875 Italy - Naturalized
Anna - 16
Mildred - 14
Patsy (male) - 24
Pauline - 9
Antonette - 2

I did find a NY marriage record for Paolo Grosso and Rosa Esposito for 1891 - I have ordered it online and am waiting for it to arrive. This hopefully will give me parents names. The Pauline - 9 is my wifes grandmother, she knows nothing of where the family is from in Italy. Since I started this project about a week ago, she has been extremely happy as I have found so much information, more than she ever knew.

Thank you for the help.