Grandparents married in US and Italy?

[GrowlyGirl]

When I obtained my grandfather's birth record from Italy, I was surprised to see a notation on the side indicating the date of his marriage to my grandmother including the number of that record. How convenient. Today, I was looking at another document, and all of a sudden, something didn't seem right. I started searching and found the marriage certificate for them in the state of Pennsylvania. It seems they were married in 1915 in PA and again in 1920 in the hometown in Italy. Why? Is this normal? Was it done to please the family back in the old country?

Nancy

[adelfio]

Can you post the records so we can see

Marty

[VotM]

I've seen this happen before, with the parents of one of my great aunts: Pasquale Biondo and Concetta Catalano. They were married both in Baltimore (1898) and in Cefalù (1900).

Marty, for an example, I'm furnishing images of the marriage records.

In their case, the couple also had a birth record entered in Cefalù for their first son, Antonino, who had been born in Baltimore in 1899. The allegati entry for Antonino's birth may be found at https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cc=1947613 .

I suspect that Pasquale and Concetta had not fully committed to the idea of permanently living in the U.S. -- at least not as of 1900 -- and were keeping their options open both ways just in case they chose to return to Cefalù.

[GrowlyGirl]

Marty,

I am attaching a screen shot of Silvestro's birth record with the note on the side and the PA license application with the date of marriage noted at the bottom.

Nancy

[Italysearcher]

For many Italian Catholics the civil marriage is valid only for legal reasons. To be truly married you need to do it in the Catholic Church. This is why some Italians who went to America or other countries didnt have a problem marrying a local girl in the registry office even though they had a wife at home in Italy.
I married in a civil ceremony in Toronto and then flew to Italy for the Catholic marriage in the church in my husband's home town. Yes, it was so that both sets of parents could participate.
You don't have to keep your options open. Any Italian marrying outside of Italy can register the marriage with the Consulate and it is then transcribed in Italy. Same with the births of any children.
The bigamists didn't register with the Consulate!