Family Raia, Raio and Raiano

[PippoM]

For a more accurate request, this should be your Noè (from enrollment lists):

Raia Noè di Matteo e Falanga Anna nato il 05/09/1876 a Scafati di professione Operaio
Noè Raia, son of Matteo and Anna Falanga, born Sep 5th, 1876 in Scafati, labourer

[Raiano]

Greetings!

As an update to this thread. I broke down and paid someone to search the local records of Scafati. Turns out he was able to verify my ancestors up to 1790. He said he can go further back but will require another effort. At least now he pinpointed places in Scafati and names that help with understanding some of the 'legends' grandfather would talk about on his porch with me.

Now I wish there was a book or some kind of 'local' historian who can give me a written reference to the history of the region of Scafati.

In addition, I'm learning Italian so that I can plan a trip in the next couple of years.

Thanks to this site for giving me the start of what was a very daunting task. Sorting through the 'stories' of my grandfather and doing a bit of detective work really paid off. Your site put me on the right path and context to start my journey.

Thank you very much!

Ciao!

[Raiano]

To address Tessa78's comment that there are no online records of Scafati, that is correct. I hired someone who lives in Italy to troll the church records. From that, here are the names of my ancestors:
Raia - Avino (great-grandparents), Raia-Falanga (great-great), Raia-Guido(a?) (great x3), Raia-Aiell (great X4). The researcher said he can go back to the 16th century with Raia.

More research shows some kind of coat of arms with an armory for Raia or Raja. The names are interchangable for some odd reason. The name itself is either placed in a region of Spain (extramadura) OR associated with Rere who was some general who put down a peasant revolt against King Alfonse.

Any advice on where to find more information on specific Armories like Raja or Raia? There is some confusion still as to which family I am a descendant from. The only way to answer it is to find the mother who is a daughter of an austrian princess. My grandfather swears by it and is a life long promise I made to find out who she is.

[Raiano]

Oh and I have a photo of him wearing some kind of military uniform. It's in black and white but his hat has an eagle that looks just like the one Victorio Emmanuell is wearing. Not sure what order he would have belonged but perhaps searching through those records will yeild a NOE RAIA as well.

[carubia]

More research shows some kind of coat of arms with an armory for Raia or Raja. The names are interchangable for some odd reason.

The names are "interchangeable" because "i" and "j" were the same letter in Italian, just 2 different ways of writing it. Either way, the pronunciation was the same: Rye-ah.

I have Raia ancestors from Ribera in Agrigento province that I can trace back to the 17th c. Before that the name was found elsewhere in the province, but especially in nearby Caltabellotta.

[Raiano]

Thank you carubia. I have subsequently paid someone to research my records. Here are the marriages:
Raia/Aeillo | Avino/Abberante
Raia/Guida | Avino/Monutori
Raia/Fananga Avino/De Felice
Raia/Avino

there are distant ancestors like: Montuori/Sergnano, De Felice/Brasile, Raia/Langella but I don't have any history on these other names. Anyone on this forum; please post the history of these names...thank you!

[rosemarieraia]

My grandfather was from Naples and born in the late 1800s. He had 2 brothers and 1 sister that I know of. Your story sounds familiar so please connect with me so we can see if we share lineage. My DNA yielded me in Campagnia, Molinise and Salerno so predominantly in Naples.

My grandfather before coming to america in the early 1900s had 2 children with his first wife in Naples specifically Torre Annunziata. I'd love to try and find my family there as well.