Finding/Confirming where my Great Great Grandfather was born

LegacyUser

Finding/Confirming where my Great Great Grandfather was born

Hi everyone, my name is Stuart.

 

I'm researching into the Italian side of my family and I only have information on one ancestor who actually came from there.

 

Name: Oreste Castagnari

Estimated birth year: 1868

Fathers name: Joseph (or Giuseppe)

 

I don't have Oreste's exact birthday and the year of birth is an estimate from censuses that were taken later on in his life. He definitely came from Italy but I've not been able to confirm where.

 

At some point between 1868 and 1895, he came to the United Kingdom and ended up settling in London, marrying his wife and having plenty of grandchildren.

 

From speaking to my family, they claim things like he might've been from Milan or Naples but there's nothing to back it up. When I have searched on Family Search and Ancestry, nothing comes up... however in one persons tree it mentions he may have been from "Formegan" which is a hamlet in the province of Belluno, in the Veneto region. Formegan comes under the jurisdiction of Santa Giustina which is the closest town.

 

From what I've been able to gather, 1868 is just before civil registration records were kept in Veneto, so his birth records if he was indeed born in Formegan, would only be kept in parish records.

 

I emailed the Archivio di Stato di Belluno and they gave me the following link:

http://www.chiesabellunofeltre.it/forania-di-santa-giustina-forania-di-sedico/

 

I tried to send a fax to the church listed for Santa Giustina but it didn't work. Then the online fax website I was using decided to suspend my account for some reason so I couldn't contact them.

 

If my ancestor Oreste Castagnari is from this place, does anyone else have other ideas on how I could either contact the local church, or find information on him?

 

I've looked at the records available on here and Ancestry and not been able to find out much about any Castagnari family who could be related to him. I can see from around that time, there were some people with the Castagnari name in Trento, which isn't far from Belluno. I've not been able to find a link between them though.

 

I'd love to hear your thoughts on what I can do next to get some more information on my ancestor and blow the Italian side of my family tree wide open.

 

Best regards,

 

Stuart

multiplesons1.5294187457446106E12

I think your best way to contact the church will be to send a letter to the address listed on that web page the archive sent to you. There does not appear to be any online access to the church records at all. So a letter is your best bet. There is a slim chance that you could email the town directly through their website and request someone to pass on your request to the church. If you could find a distant cousin in the town who would help you, that would be your most certain access to the church records. Keep watching online, though, you never know when the records you need will show up.

Toni22

Go to http://www.gens.info/italia/it/turismo-viaggi-e-tradizioni-italia?cognome=Castagnari+&x=29&y=14 On the left top part of the page click the second map so that you get a better picture of the areas where this surname appears in Italy. There seems to be no one in Venice that has that surname. you need to go thru many American records to see if you can find the exact town your ancestor was born in -- Look at items here in the USA like petition for naturalization, death and cemetery certificates and information, wills, passenger lists etc. Also, look at his neighbors some could be relatives others could have come from the same town in Italy. This happens often.

1sgen

Hi Stuart,

You mentioned that your great great grandfather married in London. Have you been able to find this marriage record? It may list his birthplace. I was always told my great grandparents were from Naples as that was what was listed on all of their records, but once I located the church marriage record, I discovered the villages where each of them were born. I did not find this information on the marriage certificate but from the original church record (which was translated to me by the priest of this church). Just a thought. That way you will be sure of the origin of your great great grandfather. This record also may give you his birthdate or at least birth year by his age at time of marriage. Good luck!

1sgen

I should add - the record was written in Latin - reason I needed the translation from a marriage that took place in Boston, Massachusetts.

~ susan

LegacyUser

Hi Toni,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I had a look at this website before and it seems there's at least one hit for Veneto.

 

Sadly, my ancestor never emigrated to America and so there aren't any records for him there. I've been looking over what British records I can for him but they aren't very helpful. If he did come to America, I'm pretty sure I could've found him immediately!

 

I do wonder if he had siblings that could've come to America though. That's always a possibility.

 

Thanks again.

LegacyUser

Hi Susan,

 

Thanks so much for the reply!

 

I've found his marriage certificate and sadly it doesn't list his birthplace, although it gives me an approximate birth year of 1869 (I've seen 1868 listed in other sources too).

 

All it tells me that his father was Joseph Castagnari (Likely Giuseppe) and that by the time of this marriage, Joseph had passed away. It also lists Josephs profession but I can't really read the handwriting. I think it might say Cook?

 

Knowing his father had died by 1895 might help if I could find a Joseph/Giuseppe Castagnari who died in Italy before 1895 but I wouldn't know where to start.

 

 

On all the other records I find for Oreste, it just says "Birth Place

Foreign Sub, Italy". Foreign Sub as in Foreign subject.

 

Even though I've no idea where the info from Ancestry came from saying he was from Formegan, Belluno, Veneto, I'm chasing that lead down and about to mail a letter to the local church in Santa Giustina which covers the vllage of Formegan. I wish I could find more information without having to do that, but everywhere I look there's dead ends.

 

Thanks again.

1sgen

My great grandparents' marriage certificate also did not give the place of birth (as I suspect they do not transcribe all the information from the original church records onto the official marriage certificates) but their original record in the marriage book at the church gave a much more detailed account of their information. I was lucky to be able to speak to a priest at the church. Catholic churches keep pretty detailed records. You might try contacting the church to see if they have more info? For my research, this was the only record giving me the place of birth. The marriage certificate you found will help the priest find the original record as it has a year and a page number on it. I would start there. Another thing to look for would be the marriage banns if they are available from the church. You might have to send a donation along with your request. I know it's a long shot but you just might hit the jackpot!