Surname Geronimi/Geronime/Gironimi

[DeniseNYC]

Battipalia wrote me back and said their records start in 1929 (Rosina was born in 1898)and directed me to Comune di Eboli and Comune di Montecorvino Rovella for records.


Hello Linda and all,

I am new to the forum too. I understand I should post a new search for specific request for my ancestors. However, I posted here, because I was hoping Linda would see my question.

Linda, I am wondering if you found anything more about records in Battipaglia. Do you have any other information you could share?

My GGF was born in Battipaglia in 1880. Did you find that the Battipaglia records were located in Eboli or Montecorvino Rovella?

Thank you for your assistance. I had been ready to write to Battipaglia for birth records when I saw your post.

My best,
Denise

[Veritas]

Yesterday I found the connection I have sought for over three years!
I have found a record linking my great-great grandfather to Italy, and I now have the original spelling of my surname. My gggrandfather was Bartolameo Gironimi of San Giacomo Filippo.

I finally found this link in an interesting way. In April I sent registered letters to the civil offices in both Chiavenna and San Giacomo Filippo. I didn't expect to receive a reply from the civil offices, as I had very limited information on which to base my request (only a possible birth year, and I was not 100% certain about the surname spelling). To date, I have not received any information. Around the same time I ordered two FHC films. I was also a bit skeptical that these films would be of help, as some of the dates that I had for my gggrandfather were outside of the dates the films covered, but I thought it would at least be worthwhile to research any records with matching surnames.

I was hopeful that the Chiavenna Morti 1866-1910 film would have a record, as my gggrandfather maintained his Italian citizenship after emigrating to Switzerland and died in 1887. However, there was no matching record to be found. There were many entries for the surname Geronimi, however.

It took three months, but the film from San Giacomo Filippo finally came in. As luck would have it, the Morti records only go from 1866-1886, but again I thought that at a minimum I could look at other records with matching surnames. What struck me fairly quickly was the abundance of records for the surname Gironimi - the way my gggrandfather had signed his own name. Soon after I found the record for his daughter Celestina, who had been born in Switzerland in 1873 and died there in 1877. My gggrandparents are both listed in this record, as is the area of Switzerland where they lived. I am not exactly certain why her death was recorded in San Giacomo Filippo, but I am most grateful for it. The point to my story is this: don't discount any family data, and be willing to research any and all avenues, even if finding something is a long shot.

I am currently working on translating the death record for Celestina Gironimi. I am hopeful that I will be able to do most of it, but a few of the areas are difficult to read. I have reserved the book "Italian Genealogical Records: How to Use Italian Civil, Ecclesiastical & Other Records in Family History Research", which will hopefully be of help. Would anyone be willing to take a look at it and offer some translation assistance?

Last (but not least) I want to thank all of you who provided me with assistance in researching my family information. Your help has meant a lot to me!

[Veritas]

I am very thankful to have found more information about my surname, but I still wonder if the surnames Gironimi and Geronimi are linked. The Gironimi spelling is common in Trento Alto Adige but not Lombardia, where 'Geronimi' is prevalent. All of the Chiavenna records had the spelling 'Geronimi', but the San Giacomo Filippo records all had the spelling 'Gironimi'. Does anyone have any thoughts as to whether or not these surnames might be linked?

[PeterTimber]

Unfortunately neither spellings are listed inthe Italian surname Dictionary and consequently are either locally created or imported from abroad. There is no base name for either name as well which precludes any variations, alterations or derivations. =Peter=

[PeterTimber]

...further Geronimi appears to be the heavy hitter in the www.familysearch.org under ancestor search; being Swedish, Swiss, French Italian while Geronime only has representation in Portugal if there was no mispelling of Geronomi to Geronime at some point in time. =Peter=

[Veritas]

Thanks Peter!

I have heard back from a gentleman with the surname spelling of 'Gironimi' whose ancestors came from Revo. He said that while the majority of his family uses that spelling, a few members use the 'Geronimi' spelling. It is a good example of surname modifications being made by individual family branches.

I think that in my family's case, the spelling went from 'Gironimi' in Italy, to 'Gieronimi' in Switzerland, to 'Geronime' in the U.S. due to the language differences/spelling the surname as it sounds.

[PeterTimber]

In the early days when handwriting was the order of the day, the penmanship sometimesbklurred and cahnges in spelling occurred. I traced my own family back 900 years and eventually the endings went from an is ending to an i ending to a e ending where it stands today. =Peter4=

[Slgeronimi]

Thank you both for the welcome and for the information.

I am not certain if Anna Lucrezia Geronimi is a relative. I did recently find out that my great-great grandfather had four sons, not two. One son died in infancy, but I have not found a date-of-death for the other son. His name was Josephus Martinus (spelling of last name listed as Gieromini, which is most likely an error?) and he was born on March 23, 1866. It is possible that if he survived to adulthood he may have left the Selva area and later had a family. I have also found an Ida Geronimi, but it was only through her Swiss husband's family - surname Berther - so I do not have much information. There was an article mentioning a Geronimi family in Danis, Switzerland in the early 1900's, but again the information was very limited.

I have also just recently found the name Geronimi listed multiple times in the family register for the families Andreoli and Martelletti, but I have yet to hear back from the person in Australia who put it together.

This genealogy journey has been an interesting one. As a child, people were constantly telling me that Geronime could not possibly be a Swiss surname. I always though it sounded Italian, but no one in my family had any information about its origin. Then, in the process of researching my Swiss grandmother's family, I found a reference to my paternal great-great grandfather emigrating from Chiavenna to Selva. This confirmed what several members of my family believed, but we could never make the connection. My next step is to find official documentation of my family's link to Chiavenna and possibly also learn the origin of my surname. I welcome any suggestions!

veritas

Hi,
Did you ever find out what you were looking for? Geronimi is Italian, Northern Italian from Chiavenna. The real Italians....as I'm sure you know by now. Any way curious what you found.
-Susan