My paternal grandparents, Anthonio Alessandro Gardella, a/k/a Alex and Maria Musa a/k/a Mamie were both born in the States.
Alex in Detroit in 1875. Mamie in East New York, Brooklyn in 1888.

Their marriage fell apart. Their six children were sent to orphanages. None of the children had been ...

That is a bother. What else do you know about him? What about his marriage certificate? A marriage certificate will always show the parents’ names.

Do you know where and when he was born, or approximately so?

Baptism?

Tell me more.

My daughter is not of 100 percent Italian ancestry. She has English and Mexican ancestry as well.

She clearly looks like a northern Italian with very, very pale porcelain skin, dark blonde hair and chestnut brown eyes. Then there are the cheekbones.
I must confess that everyone in my family has ...

No one gets my DNA without a court order. But that’s me, of course.

In fact I have in my possession, my great grandfather, Guglielmo’s passport. He was my father’s maternal grandfather.

This Nonno of mine had blond hair, blue eyes and a red beard.
He was from Soragna and was often indicated as Swiss on ships’ manifests coming to the New World.

I am of 100 percent Italian ancestry. But some of the family, fifty percent, came from the North Liguria and Emilia Romagna, and fifty percent from Benevento.
None of us have olive toned skin.

Not a one.

Our skin tone is pale. Our hair coloring runs from chestnut brown to light brown to blonde ...

I was going for Jure Sanguinis through my great grandfather. I was just about to schedule an appointment with the Italian Consulate when the law changed.

My contacts tell me that it might change back so hang on to all of your documents in case it does.

It took me so long to prepare for the Italian ...

NY State records. Depending upon what records you are seeking, it is sometimes faster to deal with the actual county that issued those records rather than going through the state itself.

Let me know what you are looking for.

I live in NY. I’ve had great success going directly to Westchester County ...

As to Military records, I wrote directly to the Department of the Navy and received the records for two of my paternal uncles. One uncle died prior to World War II, the other served in the Pacific during the war.

The records arrived to me rather quickly.

You might try writing directly to the ...

What State of NY records are you looking for?

I know that I am a tad bit early but the parades have already started in Brooklyn and Queens,
It’s a time to be ever proud of our Italian heritage.

You’re welcome Darkerhorse.
The people on this forum have helped me a great deal. Helping you was my way of paying it forward.

Sorry for the typo. St. Gabriel’s address in 1935 was 9907 27th Avenue, Elmhurst, Queens.

And away we go!

The NYC Municipal Archives has the marriage certificate on microfiche. It’s rather difficult to read which, possibly, had precluded it to be entered in the first phase of the Archive’s online database.

Ok.
The license was approved on 12/22/1934 at the Queens Courthouse.
The ...

When I was young, being a Roman Catholic meant not eating meat on Friday, all Fridays, not just the Fridays during Lent.

My father’s friend was a local fisherman who owned a fish market.

It was glorious! Fresh fish every Friday. My mother prepared it simply, lightly fried or broiled.

As we had ...