Looking for help finding my grandparent's marriage date and location.
My grandparents were from Donderi, a small village between Torriglia and Montebruno. Luigi Dondero married Caterina Dondero (yes, they had the same last name) sometime in December 1899 or January 1900. I have been unable to locate any records. I received their birth certificates from the Comune di Torriglia, but they did not respond at all for the request for their marriage record. If anyone can help me, I would greatly appreciate it.
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Donderi is indeed in the comune of Torriglia, so their marriage would certainly have been registered in Torriglia. Unfortunately, the civil records for Torriglia are not online, be it on FamilySearch, Antenati, or Ancestry. I'm afraid the only option is to work with the comune of Torriglia directly, as you have been doing. There are document retrieval services in Italy that can help when comunes do not cooperate, but this is expensive.
Another option to consider might be to identify and contact the parish church for the church marriage record instead. Since civil registration in Liguria began in 1866, you'll need church records for any research prior that date anyways, so you may as well get the ball rolling on that. However, note that parish churches are even less likely to be responsive. On the flip side, there is a chance you can gain access to study the original records in-person, which is something that comunes will never allow.
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Thank you so much, Joseph. I am trying to reach my only living relative in the area. Short of that, I will see if my sister will include the area in her summer travels.
Do you know where the church records would be kept? Do they keep them at individual parishes, or at a central location for the diocese?
Thanks again for your insight!
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@DenisePoh The exact conservation location varies from place to place, so the only way to find out is to ask. Generally speaking, Italian church records are at the original parish churches in town. That said, I just read and learned that Torriglia, although in Liguria now, was historically part of Piedmont. I understand that parishes in Piedmont were obliged to submit 2nd copies of their records to the diocese from about 1820 onwards. Therefore, you may be able to request records from the diocesan archive for that period (or even go in-person if you like).
You can contact the Archivio Diocesano di Tortona here: http://www.diocesitortona.it/testi.php?id_testi=158 They would also be the best people to ask where records are currently held and of course see if they can maybe help you remotely, if they own 2nd copies of the church records.
There appear to be 4 parish churches active today in Torriglia, and S. Maria del Porto appears to be the closest to your grandparents' place of origin geographically. That said, the church marriage could be in literally any parish, and there's nothing to say there weren't more or fewer parishes historically. The best people to know that would be the Diocesan Archive, as mentioned above.
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Joseph, I can't thank you enough for your insights. I will talk to my sister about contacting the Diocesan Archive (my Italian is terrible!) to see if we can get their assistance. I am more hopeful now than I have been in a while, so many thanks!
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@DenisePoh Excellent, good luck!
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Joseph, you must be a good luck charm! Today in my mailbox I received the hard official copies of both grandparents' birth extracts AND their marriage certificate extract! I had requested them back in January, and was despairing of ever receiving them, so I am very happy! It's because we were chatting that they turned up, so thank you!!!
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@DenisePoh Wow fantastic that the comune answered you, this is great!
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