Problem locating GF's Birth Certificate

[phil100a]

Hope everyone is well...

Two problems:

1) My grandfather, Santo Forte, emigrated from Italy in 1907. Many records point to his birth pace as Caltanissetta, Sicilia (for instance, his "Declaration of Intention to Naturalize"). I have been able to obtain my grandparent's marriage certificate and my grandmother's birth certificate from Caltanissetta, but after sending a 2nd request for my GF's birth certificate, the officials in Caltanissetta write that they have no record of my grandfather's birth. I don't understand why they wouldn't have a record of his birth, because they would have needed that when he was married to my GM, in Caltanissetta way back in the late 1870's.

This is very disheartening, as I have almost all the other documentation needed (I'm working on his official certificate of naturalization, as well, through the USCIS, then I'm done).

Does anyone have any advice? Santo Forte's birth date was November 16, 1870, in Caltanissetta. If I can't get a birth certificate, what should I do? Any help appreciated.

2) Another potential problem is that my GF's death certificate mistakenly shows his birth date as November 16, 1879. This is an error, because he was 37 when he arrived in 1907. It appears to be an error in transliteration. Do I need to get this corrected, or obtain some kind of document that reconciles his real birth date? I ask because I'm told that inconsistencies in dates for the paternal blood line can be a real problem.

Thanks, in advance.

Cheers...

[VaDeb]

Hi Phil,

The following come to mind:

1. On the marriage record - what does it record for the birth place of Santa?

2. You can order the birth records of Caltanissetta from a family history library of LDS and search for yourself. I would recommend looking for the record and then you will know for sure if it is there or not.

3. Caltanissetta is a town and a province. Are you sure he was from the town and not one of the many villages in the province.

4. the LDS also has the Allegati di matrimoni e vari 1869-1873 for Caltanissetta. This should contain all the documents the couple had to produce to get married. The birth certificate should be included. I have found in my research in another village in Caltanissetta that this group of records is not complete. Hopefully you will have better luck.

5. To correct a state record varies by the laws of the state. If you can do it, I would, but many states have made if very difficult to amend a historical certificate.

Good Luck
Debbie

[matta]

1. Are you sure the birthdate is correct? I had a case where my GGF had every document point to one city and the same birthday, but when I requested the birth certificate, I received two "no record" responses. I asked them to search a 3 year period around the date, and sure enough, a birth certificate came back with a slightly different name spelling and a slightly different birth date (off by exactly a year).

This, of course, leads to the issue of having to correct all of his US records.

2. This depends heavily on the consulate. Miami is requiring that I change all documents to match the birth record exactly, which requires multiple court orders. It's been the single greatest stumbling block in the process so far (everything else has been easy, including learning Italian).

[ricbru]

Request to "Archivio di Stato di Caltanissetta" to have the copy of his military record or military draft card, maybe he was born in a village of Caltanissetta province
Good luck
Riccardo

[matta]

Has anyone ever received a response from the Archivio di Stato? I frequently hear the suggestion to write them, but I have never heard of anyone receiving a response.

[ricbru]

Has anyone ever received a response from the Archivio di Stato? I frequently hear the suggestion to write them, but I have never heard of anyone receiving a response.

I receive reply from Archivio di Stato pretty often, it depends if you write in italian or not, if your request is detailed, and so on.
Usually Archivio replies in one week - ten days, it doesn't matter where it is located in Italy
bye Riccardo

[matta]

Has anyone ever received a response from the Archivio di Stato? I frequently hear the suggestion to write them, but I have never heard of anyone receiving a response.

I receive reply from Archivio di Stato pretty often, it depends if you write in italian or not, if your request is detailed, and so on.
Usually Archivio replies in one week - ten days, it doesn't matter where it is located in Italy
bye Riccardo

Huh. I've written several letters to Archivio di Stato di Chieti. Always in Italian, always proofread by a native speaker, always with an International Reply Coupon and self-addressed envelope. I've never received a response.

I don't need the record for anything - it was more just to have it - so I gave up. Maybe I'll try them again.

[Sirena]

Maybe you should email instead of write. I was surprised that they responded more quickly to email and emailed the document. try again