Defeated and discouraged.
This has turned from a hobby into something of a heart ache. For the past several weeks I have been trying to trace my ancestry back to Italy but have had no luck locating the ancestor who was born there in Italy. His name was Celeste "Charles" Thomasi "Thomas". He Immigrated to New Orleans ,Louisiana some time in the late 1840s to the very early 1850s . According to the US census he was born in the state of Sardinia, Italy in 1821. On his marriage certificate he list his parents as Dominick Thomasi and Maria Bacavich, both born in Italy.I have had no luck finding them on Antenati and I have had no luck locating any records in Italy. To make matters worse I have no Idea of the province or commune he was born, only that he was born in Sardinia in 1821. Celeste's birth certificate is the last document I need in order to apply for dual citizenship as he never naturalized in the US. I am at my wits end and on the verge of giving up. If anyone has any advice or suggestions on where to look please comment below, as I am really at a lost.
Answers
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This is NOT an answer, just a comment.
I have a friend that achieved her goal of dual citizenship with Italy. Then she found out Italy wanted her to pay taxes too. Oops! You might want to check into this.
I hope that you can find the records of your ancestors though.
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I just checked, Antenati does not yet have the Sardinia records available at all...for Cagliari they are scheduled, along with one other province. Two other provinces indicate no digitalization scheduled. So, you must try and figure out the location of birth...otherwise, you are looking for a needle in a haystack. Work backward from any known records here in the U.S. Passenger list would be the best if you can find it, because it can contain the "name and location" of someone left behind. You have a start, you know the APPROXIMATE birth year. Keep in mind, over my years of doing this, the date immigrants reported as their year of birth when compared against their true birth records can vary a little ( I am convinced they either couldn't read or just didn't remember and estimated (or worse, purposely gave false information) . In other words, you still have to consider a year or two forward or backward from the known date. If passenger lists aren't available, check death records or military induction records...sometimes you can get a "place of birth" other than "Italy". Also, check any historical letters the individual may have received from back home. For years, I searched for records in PISA...only to find a clue buried years later in a letter that led me to a "suburb" of PISA. Short of any such clues, you will need to check and see if the Family History Museum or a local Family History Center has films online for any of the different provinces in Sardinia and you will have to check each comune during that timeframe. That is before civil records...so you may be limited to Restored records piece together from church information(period Restaurazione). Don't be discouraged however, some towns kept civil records long before the State required them to do so...but it is hit/miss as to the locations. Some of my ancestors villages have records back to early 1800's while others only start in 1866. Also, check for any military conscription records. I'm not sure about mid-1800's....and especially not familiar with Sardinia records, however if you can find a military conscription list (filed in each province each year by each village), you might want to check for his name. Be aware, just because you think a name is unique, it probably isn't. There will be several men with the same name, even in the same village, same generation, etc. Always check the parents or any known details on the military record...but it will list the village from whence the conscripted individual was born if you can find the record. (Villages sent a record of all men born 18 years earlier to the military officials in the province each year. Those men had until they were 21 to report for an assessment of their ability to fulfill military duty. the LEVA records are the lists sent by the village. There are other lists actually recording when each man appeared and the outcome of the assessment. If they were healthy, they were conscripted...if not, they were rejected and the reason will be indicated. But, the most important key is to identify the birth location. Hope this helps.
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WOW what a detailed reply full of ideas! Thank you MarijeanneRende! This is very useful post which has lifted my spirits . Thank you so much!
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First off, do not despair!
I do not believe those are the correct surnames they used in Italy although they wrote them as such in the U.S. There were definitely translation issues. Thomasi does not come up at all in Italy or more specifically in Sardinia, but Tomasi does! Bacavich also does not come up in Sardinia or any part of Italy. The 'ch' ending is not part of a typical Italian surname. You can play around with surname variations on http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/cognomi/cognomi.html, but the closest I came was first syllable 'Bucca' and perhaps the last syllable of 'vicci', but I cannot locate any Buccavicci. I was hoping to locate the villages where these two surnames still exist as that is a perfect place to start and work your way through the list.
You can start to search for Tomasi in Gonnosfanadiga, but I sure would like someone else's opinion of what the Bacavich surname could really be! I'd be curious if you can find Bacavich with any other spelling variations on other records. It appears that in the Family Search Catalog there are only civil records beginning in 1866: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=112494&query=%2Bplace%3A%22Italy%2C%20Cagliari%2C%20Gonnosfanadiga%22&subjectsOpen=691352-50. The same is true of the villages around there that the Civil Records begin in 1866 and there are no Catholic parish records.
You could correspond with the three Catholic parishes by calling or emailing them: http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/sardegna/gonnosfanadiga.html#chiese
They might be able to give you some info, but for passport applications you have to have an original certified, not just a digital image.
Good luck!
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Thank you for your help A.M Pili. I found his parents name on his marriage documents in New Orleans, Louisiana. Im not sure where else I could find them. I will definitely check out the links you provided. I guess I will start by checking for a Dominique Tomasi death record in Gonnosfanadiga and work back from there. Thanks a gain A.M Pili, Im always surprised how kind and knowledgeable this community is!
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@raymondarieux1 raymondarieux1 As already mentioned you may have trouble finding an actual birth record as the start dates for birth records in Italy can vary. I would like to suggest that you try looking for Notarial Records from New Orleans. You might be able to find a record like a will or even a marriage contract that might list his exact place of birth. Be forewarned however, that these records might be in French. This might give you some more record types to look for in the New Orleans side of things.
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It brings me great joy when I see people sharing their knowledge and helping others receive answers. I love it when I see grateful responses to those that have helped! raymondarieux1, your kind words are encouraging to those that love to help.
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