Trying to find birth record for Enrico Grassini born 1897 in Capannori Italy
Hi,
Can anyone help me locate the birth record for Enrico Grassini who, I believe, was born in 1897 in Capannori Italy? I couldn't find any online record. Does anyone know the address to whom I should write the applicable request? Thanks in advance.
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@MelGrassini Vital records for Capannori are available online here: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/721177
Have you already searched these images?
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I tried searching the images, but it was difficult reading the images in Italian. I tried looking for the month of birth (June), but couldn't find the name.
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@MelGrassini It can definitely take getting used to the handwriting and of course the language! Luckily, Italian civil records all have a standard format so you can learn to read the important facts without needing to speak the language. For details and translation guides, see the FamilySearch wiki: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Italy_Civil_Registration
That said, depending on where you found the birthdate for your ancestor, it could certainly be off by a bit. I definitely encourage you to search all of 1897, if not 1896 and 1898. You have to be very careful though, because unless you already have his parents' names, you don't want to just assume that whichever Enrico Grassini you find born in Capannori is the correct one, multiple people may be born with the same first and last names, this happens quite often in Italy. If he married in Italy, I'd instead recommend you search for his marriage record first, this way you can know for sure it's the right one, and the marriage record will give his birthplace, age, and parents' names.
Bottom line, however, these civil record images are exactly what the comunes would have if you would write to them to request a birth certificate. Unless there's like a full year of records missing or a situation along those lines, there is no advantage writing over just searching the images yourself. If he truly cannot be found in Capannori, then the only conclusion to reach is that the name or the birth details are simply wrong.
I'd be happy to try my hand at this for you, but I'd need to know all the information you currently have for him, his spouse, his parents.
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Thanks so much for the information and help will be greatly appreciated. I got a hold of his death certificate, which lists his birth date as June 17, 1987, and parents' names as Giovanni Grassini and Ersilia Grassini. I also looked up census information on Enrico, and one census says he was born in France and the other ones say Italy, which is very odd. I also have Ellis Island passenger info stating he was born in Capannori Italy.
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Enrico's family has a very interesting history. Here is his older sister Natalia who was born in Marsiglia (i.e., Marseille) in France in 1890:
His older brother Leonardo, however, was born in Capannori in 1895 (#543).
And another older brother Giuseppe Vincenzo Giovanni was registered as an abandoned child of unknown parents in 1893 (#526) but later recognized as the legitimate child of Giovanni and Ersilia in 1895 (because they didn't get married in a civil ceremony until February of that year). They also had a daughter named Margherita born in Marsiglia in 1888 according to their marriage record. I didn't find her birth record but I haven't really done a thorough search.
So it could be possible that Enrico was born in France, but his birth was not reported back to Capannori. It's also possible that he was born in France in 1897/1898 and his birth was not reported back and recorded in Capannori until some years later. Natalia's birth was in December 1890 but wasn't reported until sometime in mid-1893.
Also, the Capannori records are broken out into multiple record offices. There is a main office where the majority of births are registered, but also separate registers in five or six other locations in town. Therefore when searching through these records, you would need to look at each of the five or six registers for each year to make sure you didn't miss anything. The foreign births registered in town are not part of the preprinted forms; they are longhand entries that come after the regular births.
You will just need to do a lot of careful searching. There appear to be handwritten indexes for several years, but it's unclear whether the indexes cover all of the registration offices or just the main office (I think it's the former).
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Wow, thanks so much for all the interesting info. I will definitely go through the indexes.
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Compliments to @Cousin Vinny for taking the time to go through the Capannori records to find these siblings and to find the marriage of his parents in 1895!
Using the fact that some of Enrico's siblings were born in Marseille, I decided to just quickly check the Marseille birth records directly at the birthdate you provided June 17, 1897 and lo and behold:
So he was born in Marseille, France on 17 Jun 1897! The birth would probably have been registered in Capannori in the years following that date as the other siblings were.
Now that you have the parents' marriage in 1895 as well, you can continue the study of your ancestors in the online Capannori records, since both parents were born in Capannori, specifically in the frazione of Lammari.
- Civil records 1866-1935: https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/721177
- Civil records 1861-1865: http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/v/Archivio+di+Stato+di+Firenze/Stato+civile+della+restaurazione+1861+1865/Capannori+provincia+di+Lucca/
- Civil records 1851-1860: http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/v/Archivio+di+Stato+di+Firenze/Stato+civile+della+restaurazione+1816-1860/Capannori+provincia+di+Lucca/
- Civil records 1806-1813: http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/v/Archivio+di+Stato+di+Lucca/Stato+civile+napoleonico/Lammari/
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Thank you so much for your help!
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One more question re how to view the images - is there a way to go to a certain numbered image, say 2000 out of 2900, instead of having to go through each one? I input 2000 in the box and it won't go to that image. Sorry for my ignorance.
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@MelGrassini That's exactly how you fast forward, you can just type the image number and press Enter!
If that's not working on your end, it could be an issue with your web browser. I'd suggest trying on a different browser or computer to see if it helps.
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Hi, I have been trying to locate the death record for Giovanni Grassini (born on June 24, 1866 in Lammari Italy). I have been in contact with the comune of Capannori and they said they could not locate Giovanni's death record. It is my understanding that Giovanni was still a resident of Lammari at least in 1942 (because the death record of one of his children, Giuseppina Grassini, says that Giuseppina died on 23 Sep 1942 and was the daughter of Giovanni, a resident of Lammari. Can anyone give advice on where I should be looking next - perhaps other comunes near Capannori? Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.
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