Italy Finding Town of Origin

Finding the Town of Origin
In order to research your family in their "old" country, it is essential that you have identified the place where they came from. You must know the city, town, or parish that they came from.

Important Tips
You must also know enough about the ancestor to positively identify him in the records. Dates (even if they are approximate), places, and familial connections are key to helping you decide if a person you find, who has the same name as your ancestor, really is your ancestor.


 * Do you know the name of his/her parents?
 * Do you know his/her birth, marriage, or death date or can you calculate an approximate range of years to search for his/her birth, marriage, or death?
 * Do you know the name of the spouse? Did they marry before or after coming to the United States?
 * Do you know the names of any of his/her siblings?
 * Do you know the names of any children born in before the family emigrated?

Search Home Sources
Thoroughly go over all home sources available to you, including family history papers, copies of records, pictures, old letters (i.e. with an old address), family bibles, journals/diaries, copies of vital record certificates and church records, memorabilia etc. Interview extended family and close relatives as well as former neighbors--all of which may prove very helpful in gathering as much knowledge about an ancestor as possible.
 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part One: Home and Relative Sources
 * Gather Family Information

Emigration Questions to Ask Relatives
Find the oldest living relatives that you can and ask them:


 * 1) What do you know about our first ancestor to come from Italy? (open-ended)
 * 2)  Have you ever heard mention of towns in Italy where the family lived?
 * 3)  Do you have contact with any relatives in Italy?
 * 4)  Do you have contact with other branches of the family in other countries?
 * 5)  When _____________ came from Italy, did he travel with other family members?
 * 6)  Do you know when _________________ arrived and which port city?
 * 7)  Did _______________ever become a citizen?
 * 8)  Did_________________fight in World War I or II?
 * 9)  When they first came, were there already family members here who they joined?
 * 10)  Did_______________ever mention their parents in Italy?
 * 11)  Were they Catholic or some other religion?
 * 12)  Do you have any old letters or postcards from Italy family?
 * 13)  Do you have any pictures of family members in Italy?

Search Genealogies Compiled by Others

 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part Two: Online Family Tree Collections
 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part Three: Digitized Books
 * Collecting Previous Research by Others Part Four: FamilySearch Wiki Tools

Make Sure You Found the Correct Entry for Your Ancestor

 * Make sure the person you found in Italian records left Italy. Look for them in marriage and death records of the same vicinity. See whether they have children a generation later in the vicinity. These things prove they remained in Italy and would rule them out as your ancestor.
 * Match any other relationships. If you already know the parents' names, spouse's name, and/or siblings' names, make sure they match the parents' names, spouse's name, and/or siblings' names of the person you are considering in the Italian records. The parents and grandparents will usually be listed in birth records found in church records or civil records. Search for siblings' birth records and any marriage before leaving Italy in the same index.
 * Study all available entries for that name born at the same approximate time, not just the first possible match you see.
 * Consider the coverage of the database you are using. Does it cover all of Italy? Or could there be many other records not covered that could hold your ancestor's record. For example, if the database is for just one province, there are 110 other provinces which could have your ancestor's record.
 * Make sure the details you have learned about the person after they immigrate have no discrepancies with the person you found in Italian records.

Italy Records Databases to Try

 * Italy Guided Research
 * Italy Civil Registration, government birth, marriage, and death records are available online for many provinces from the early 1800s to the early or mid-1900s. These records can name grandparents in addition to parents, and towns for residence and/or birth for both.
 * There are several Italy Church Records online.
 * See Italy Emigration and Immigration for records of Italians immigrating, including some online digitized records and indexes.

Records of the Country of Destination

 * Church Records: If your ancestor immigrated to a European or a South American/Hispanic country, church records can be detailed enough to identify a former residence or birthplace in the home country. These countries, unlike the United States, had state churches. In many countries, these state churches were used by the country to keep birth, marriage, and death records. Even though your ancestor was born in his former country, he may have married, and certainly died in his new country. Marriage and death records can state birthplace.
 * Civil Registration: Eventually, most governments began keeping birth, marriage, and death records. These tend to be quite detailed. Again, if your ancestor was possibly married and certainly died in their new country, those records can state birthplace.
 * Citizenship Records: If your ancestor became a full citizen, those records probably name birthplace and former residence.
 * Online Genealogy Records: See Online Genealogy Records by Location and find the online genealogy record page for your country to see other indexed collections that can be consulted.

Italy Genealogy Research Using the Wiki – Video Series

 * Italy Research With the Wiki Part 11 of 13: Finding Your Town of Origin in Italy: Home Records: Searching documents commonly found in homes for emigration information on Italy ancestors. Interviewing older relatives. Searching compiled family trees and printed genealogy books.
 * Italy Research With the Wiki Part 12 of 13: Finding Your Town of Origin in Italy: U S Records: Using United States census records, vital records, cemetery records, obituaries, Social Security records, and military records to find the town of origin for an Italian emigrant for genealogy.
 * Italy Research With the Wiki Part 13 of 13: Finding a Town of Origin:Immigration and Naturalization: Using passenger lists and petitions for citizenship to find the town of origin for an Italian emigrant for genealogy.

Census Records

 * Search census records, available for the United States, Canada, England, and other countries. Censuses are often taken every ten years.
 * Try to locate your ancestor in every census during which he or she was alive. This information provides a good framework for further research.
 * The 1850-1880 U.S. federal censuses sometimes list an Italian state or province as birth place.
 * The censuses for 1900 to 1930 ask for the year of immigration and whether or not the person was naturalized. This information can help you find naturalization records or a passenger list.
 * Censuses can be accessed online. Links to both free and subscription websites are found at United States Census Online Genealogy Records.
 * State census records vary in availability and the type of information they contain, but they are always useful as another source to document an ancestor in a specific locality. See U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State for links to online state censuses.

Vital Records
Vital records, or civil birth, marriage, and death records document important events in an ancestor’s life. Many states have posted statewide indexes on the Internet. Understand that any birth, marriage, or death certificate gives information about other people besides the primary person it is about
 * 1. It is important to remember that a birth certificate for a child might tell it's parents' birthplaces.
 * 2. Marriage certificates might name birth dates and places of the bride and groom. They might also give the names and birth places of the parents of the bride and groom.
 * 3. Death certificates are very important. Birth and marriage certificates might not have kept by a state during the earlier years of your ancestor's life.  There is a greater chance that your ancestor died after detailed record-keeping began. Death certificates frequently state birth date and place.  They also state the names of parents and their birth places.

There are wiki articles giving details on how to find vital records of each state. How-To Articles.
 * You can select the state of interest and the record (birth, marriage, or death) from this list:
 * Many records may be online. See U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State, for online vital record databases.

Cemetery Records
Websites such as FindAGrave and Billion Graves are making it easier to get information from headstones, which frequently give birth dates, and occasionally give birth places. Each state has additional collections of cemetery records. See U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State for links to other online cemetery records. Every state also has a Cemetery topic page you can search, for example, California Cemeteries, Washington Cemeteries. etc.

Obituaries
Obituaries are an excellent source of biographical information about immigrants. In addition to names and death dates, you can learn about surviving family members, church affiliations, spouses, parents, occupations, burial places, and hometowns in the old country. Even if a place of origin is not given, an obituary may provide additional research clues, such as the date or ship of immigration or traveling companions. Much of this information cannot be found in other sources. For many immigrants, an obituary is the only “biographical sketch” ever written about them. See U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State for links to online obituary collections. If the town of death is known, Google newspapers in that town and contact them to see if they kept archives of their obituaries.
 * U.S. Obituary Collection, 1930-2017
 * U.S. Online Genealogy Records by State

Social Security

 * The application for the Social Security card may also contain a town of birth. These records are available for deceased individuals who died after 1935 when Social Security began.
 * at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection;
 * U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 ($)
 * U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, Incomplete, ($).
 * The Social Security Applications and Claims Index does not cover every application--it has sort of an eclectic mix of what got included. If you find your ancestor in the Social Security Death Index but not in the Social Security Applications and Claims Index, you can send away for a copy of the application.

Military Records
Draft records for World War I and II ask for birth place, which can be listed as just Italy or in greater detail.
 * 1917-1918 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Index and images.
 * U.S. WW I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918 Indexes and images. ($)
 * U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, ($), index and images
 * 1942 at FamilySearch - How to Use this Collection; Images with partial index.
 * U.S., Alien Draft Registrations, Selected States, 1940-1946,($), index and images.

Passenger Arrival Lists

 * 1905-1910 Italian Passengers to Louisiana, 1905-10 at Ancestry ($)
 * 1855-1900 Italians to America Passenger Data File, 1855 - 1900, NARA
 * 1880-1891 Centro Altreitalie Three databases, available online, with the landing lists of Italians in Argentina, Brazil and the United States.
 * Italians Immigrating to the United States, at MyHeritage ($), index
 * BYU Immigrant Ancestors Project: Italian index

Passenger lists, especially in the 20th century, may list birth place, last residence in mother country, and name and residence of a close relative in the mother country. Study the records of fellow passengers, as frequently relatives and neighbors traveled together. United States Immigration Online Genealogy Records is a comprehensive list of passenger arrival databases that you can search right now from your computer. There are many, many databases. The following search strategy will make your search more efficient.

Suggested Search Strategy

 * 1) Check the partner website indexes, as these cover many, many databases at once. The FamilySearch Historical Records databases is free to search with a free registered account. The other websites are subscription-based but can be searched for free at a  FamilySearch Center near you.  Try to search each partner site because their search engines can often bring up slightly different results.
 * 2) If it is difficult for you to get access to the subscription databases, next try Additional Nationwide Collections Not Included in Partner Sites. These websites have a lot of overlap with the subscription websites.
 * 3) Search a nationality, religious, or political group collection that applies to your ancestor.
 * 4) Search the state collection for the first state where your ancestor lived.

Naturalization Records

 * Naturalization records may also list an ancestor’s birth place.
 * Prior to 1906 any U.S. court could naturalize foreigners. Many pre-1900 records only list “Italy” as the country of citizenship; however, there are notable exceptions, so these records should be checked routinely.
 * The process involved two sets of papers: a declaration of intention to become a U.S. citizen, and a petition filed some time later.
 * Beginning in 1906, naturalization records became more detailed, as the responsibility shifted to the Federal government.
 * More information about naturalization records, along with helpful links, is found at Beginning Research in United States Naturalization Records and United States Naturalization Online Genealogy Records.

Passport Applications

 * U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925, ($), index and images

U.S. Citizenship and and Immigration Services Genealogy Program
The USCIS Genealogy Program is a fee-for-service program that provides researchers with timely access to historical immigration and naturalization records of deceased immigrants. If the immigrant was born less than 100 years ago, you will also need to provide proof of his/her death.

Immigration Records Available

 * A-Files: Immigrant Files, (A-Files) are the individual alien case files, which became the official file for all immigration records created or consolidated since April 1, 1944.
 * Alien Registration Forms (AR-2s): Alien Registration Forms (Form AR-2) are copies of approximately 5.5 million Alien Registration Forms completed by all aliens age 14 and older, residing in or entering the United States between August 1, 1940 and March 31, 1944.
 * Registry Files:''' Registry Files are records, which document the creation of immigrant arrival records for persons who entered the United States prior to July 1, 1924, and for whom no arrival record could later be found.
 * Files:''' Visa Files are original arrival records of immigrants admitted for permanent residence under provisions of the Immigration Act of 1924.

Requesting a Record

 * Web Request Page allows you to request a records, pay fees, and upload supporting documents (proof of death).
 * Record Requests Frequently Asked Questions

Related FamilySearch Blog Articles

 * Your Italian Heritage
 * What Can I Learn about My Italian Last Name?
 * Italy Emigration: The Who, Why, and Where
 * Italian Dual Citizenship: What You Need to Know
 * Italian Genealogy Research—How to Find Italian Records