Italy, Messina, Messina, Civil Registration, Comune - FamilySearch Historical Records

Italy

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of records of the civil registration (stato civile) of births, marriages, and deaths within the custody of the community of Messina (Comune di Messina). This includes records from the town of Nizza di Sicilia (Comune di Nizza di Sicilia) and from the so-called Messina Villages (Villaggi di Messina). This collection includes records for the years 1866 through 1910.

These records are written in Italian. For help reading the records see the following wiki articles:

For general details about the contents of Italian civil registration records, their history, and help using them see the wiki article: Italy, Civil Registration (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Italy Language and Languages
 * Italian Genealogical Word List

Organization of Records
Before the year 1864, the City of Messina (Citta di Messina) was divided into six civil wards or quarters (Sezioni). Vital records were kept separately for each Sezione, accordingly. In 1864, under the newly-united Kingdom of Italy, the local government was re-organized and the new Community of Messina (Comune di Messina) was erected within greatly expanded boundaries to incorporate the old Citta di Messina and many of the surrounding villages, which were thenceforward known as the Villaggi di Messina. The new Comune di Messina was divided into a six boroughs (Mandamenti), of which two covered the territory of the former Citta—the Mandamento Arcivescovado and the Mandamento Priorato. The former Sezioni were abolished. Accordingly, the vital records for the city proper within the 1866-1910 time period encompassed by this collection may be found within those two Mandamenti.

Beginning in 1875, each Mandamento in the Comune di Messina divided its books of vital records into two parts (“Parte I” and “Parte II”). The records kept with Parte I can be regarded as records of ‘regular order’. These cover events reported within each Mandamento in close proximity to the time of the event. The records kept with Parte II are cases outside of the normal order of reporting, such as late registrations of events, official corrections to earlier records, birth records for foundling children (whose births could not be directly attested), etc. Accordingly, the Parte II sections all tend to be significantly shorter than the Parte I sections for all forms of vital records.

For the years 1909 and 1910, the records for Messina proper were kept in a single unified Mandamento divided into Parte I and Parte II. For these years, Parte II was further divided into Serie A and Serie B. The Serie A records contain reports of children born to Messina residents outside of the boundaries of the Comune, as many had fled the city as refugees in the wake of the December 1908 earthquake and tsunami (see below). Serie B contains the rest of the records that would otherwise have fallen into the usual Parte II category.

Condition of Records
In the early morning hours of December 28, 1908, Messina experienced a massive earthquake followed by a tsunami. This catastrophic event destroyed most of the city and killed up to half of the inhabitants. Many of the Comune’s vital records were damaged or totally destroyed in the event. As a result, it is not uncommon for the original records for certain years or Mandamenti to be partially or totally missing from this collection.

On 21 July 1911, a special law was passed to allow the civil government to reconstitute its lost vital records to the extent possible. These records (Atti ricostituiti) contain substantially less information than the originals—usually little more than the name of the subject, date of event, and parents’ names—but they did serve to officially certify the events described. Where available, the atti ricostituti are included in this collection.

Indexes and Searching the Collection
Messina birth records from 1888 to 1900 have been indexed online by FamilySearch. This searchable index may include some births from outside that date range where they were recorded in Parte II for each Mandamento.

To search the online index:

Fill in the requested information in the boxes on the initial search page. This search will return a list of possible matches. Compare the information about the individuals in the list to what you already know about your ancestors to determine if this is the correct family or person. You may need to look at the information on several individuals comparing the information about them to your ancestors to make this determination.

To search by image:

⇒Select "Browse through images" on the initial collection page ⇒Select the appropriate “Comune and Frazione” ⇒Select the appropriate “Record Type and Year” which takes you to the images

Search the collection by image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination.

Decennial Table indexes:

Beginning in 1876, so-called Decennial Tables were prepared for vital records in all Comuni across Italy. The Decennial Tables are alphabetical indexes of all vital records for the Comune within the previous ten years. Many of the Decennial Tables for the Comune di Messina were filmed and digitized as part of this collection. These appear under the Villaggi di Messina section of the collection, although these Tables do include records for the two Mandamenti of Messina proper as well. The Decennial Table indexes for births over the following years are included in this collection: The Decennial Table indexes for deaths over the following years are also included in this collection: No Decennial Tables for marriages were digitized as part of this collection.
 * 1866-1875
 * 1876-1885
 * 1886-1895 (partial)
 * 1866-1875
 * 1876-1885
 * 1896-1905
 * 1906-1915

Annual indexes:

Each Mandamento originally had an alphabetized annual index of the records created in a given year. Unfortunately, these original indexes have not always survived, and where they have, certain parts are not infrequently damaged or missing.

Order of Records and Finding Aids
For most of this collection, there are multiple volumes of records for a particular Parte and Mandamento in a given year. These volumes were frequently microfilmed out of order, and the scanned images in this collection are also disordered accordingly. This disorder makes navigating the present digitized collection by image (for records other than those indexed online by FamilySearch) extremely difficult, even where the exact number of a particular record entry is known from the Decennial Table index. Annual indexes, where extant, are similarly difficult to locate, as they tend to be attached only to the first or last volume of records for a given Mandamento and year.

To serve as a finding aid for this collection, the following tables provide a chronological index to the records for each Mandamento and Parte in its proper order. Each table / finding aid includes the following information in the following columns:
 * 1) Record year.
 * 2) Mandamento and Parte.  Where the name of the Mandemento is followed by “(r)”, this indicates that these are reconstituted records (atti ricostituti).  Record books for each Mandamento were not divided into sub-parts for the reconstituted records.
 * 3) Contents of each individual volume or section of records.
 * 4) Name of image batch where indicated section of records can be found.
 * 5) Starting digital image page for indicated section of records.
 * 6) Ending digital image page for indicated section of records.
 * 7) Digital image page range for the original Annual Index for the indicated Mandamento / Parte, where this survives.
 * 8) Whether a section has been indexed online through the FamilySearch searchable database of this collection.
 * 9) Any further notes about the indicated section of records.

Image Visibility
Whenever possible, FamilySearch makes images available for all users. However, rights to view images on our website are granted by the record custodians. Italian Data Privacy rules prohibit making certain records publicly available for viewing. This includes birth records under 110 years old, and marriage or death records under 70 years old.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.

Collection Citation

Record Citation (or citation for the index entry):

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