Tips & Ideas for finding information on Orphan/Foundling in Sicily 1873
My great grandfather was born in (or near) Favara Sicily in 1873. On various documents he is noted as a "foundling" or as having an unknown father. In the family lore he may have been born in prison and changed his name as he came through Ellis Island.
I just uncovered some support for this story when I realized his manifest mentioned a nephew and the nephew's birth record shows a mother with the surname that was rumored to be my GGrandfather's birth name. (Yes I did a happy dance when I saw that!)
Now I have several clues to follow (which I can share if it is helpful) but I just don't know where to go for records to support his birth or his early life or to confirm the connection to his siblings. Any ideas would be so greatly appreciated. I'm hoping to find some information to share with my grandmother while she can still enjoy this discovery with me.
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I looked in the FamilySearch Catalog for Favara, Sicicly. Favara is listed as a municipality of Agrigento.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Agrigento,_Sicily,_Italy_Genealogy
You might find some old records there. some of the records mentioned on this page:"
- 1820-1865 - Italy, Agrigento, Civil Registration (State Archive), 1820-1865 at FamilySearch — index and images
- 1866-1942 - Italy, Agrigento, Agrigento, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1942, free, browsable images. Records will eventually be indexed online.
- 1861-1929 - Italy, Agrigento, Sciacca, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1861-1929,free, browsable images. Records will eventually be indexed online.
- The following civil registration records are available for Agrigento through Ancestry.com. If you do not have a membership, they can be searched free of charge at a Family History Center near you.
- 1844-1911 - Agrigento, Sicily, Italy, Civil Registration Records, 1844-1911, index and images, incomplete, ($).
"Nati" are births. "Matrimoni" and "allegati" are marriages. "Morti" are deaths. "Indici decennali" is the 10-year index.
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Emily, who is the closest living relative to your great grandfather? Could you have them take a DNA test? This may help you tie your family to the surname.
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I took a DNA test and my uncle did too and none of that has yet clarified the matter. I think my last record find was a good step but I need to figure out where to search for his birth record and it seems very few of the Favara records from that time particularly are available online. I found some orphan records but then realized they stopped in 1854
On the flip side, do you know of anywhere I can help with indexing for this region? I'm looking through so many records and making notes for myself- it would take only a little more time to keep those notes online to benefit other people.
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Carolyn, are you able to see my tree through this community? Would it be helpful for me to post some of the information on my GGrandfather here also?
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Emily, if you share the FamilySearch ID number, we will be able to see your tree.
I am going to invite the @Italy Genealogy Research group to see if they can suggest additional that would be useful to you.
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Emily, I love that you are willing to help with indexing. I'm going to tag @Heather R Jacobs to answer your question about indexing.
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Here is the URL for births in Favara from 1867 to 1881: https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004125590?i=155&wc=MT3Q-7M9%3A243916901%2C244816501&cc=1946817
Did you give us the surname of your great-grandfather? You said it may have changed, what are the possible spellings?
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I just found a very wonderfully detailed site explaining some of the history of foundlings and their names and how they came to be classified as “foundlings” this site includes illustrations and also links to other useful resources and sites relating to the subject.
'parentis incogniti & 'la ruota (or rota) dei proietti' -“Parents unknown and the foundling wheel”
This site gives a wonderfully detailed explanation of Italian foundling/Orphans and naming trends. Also has great links to other foundling sites.
'la ruota (or rota) dei proietti': the wheel of the castoffs, or 'the foundling wheel'.
genitoribus incogniti' or 'parentis incogniti'. The Italian and Latin terms mean the same thing: 'parents unknown'
'Turchi' (Turks) or heathens
http://www.conigliofamily.com/Foundlings.htm
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@Emily Magazzi You are wonderful to want to be able to help others in this process. Thank you!
At the moment, if you get on the web-indexing page, and search "Find Batches" you will see that there are 18 Italian projects that are currently being indexed from all over Italy if you would like to be involved this way. There does not appear to be any from the region that you are looking for but you never know what may pop-up from other regions. https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/my-indexing
Next, check out this FamilySearch Research Wiki Page as there is a wealth of information for you to get some help in your research, including an Italian Facebook research group. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Italy_Genealogy
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Thanks Heather! You rock! Thanks for your detailed response.
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Browse the registries
Directly access the digitized documentation of the following State Archives in English
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@David Vicchrilli @Carolyn Webber
Oh my goodness thank you all so much for the great information. Some of these resources I've come across and some are new so I will review and see what I find. Here is the ID of my GGrandfather, Angelo Vetro born 1873: LBQD-RB7
The family name we know is Vetro. The rumored birth name is Bosco. I found the Ellis Island record listing his nephew Pasquale Bellanca and then I found Pasquale's birth showed his mother was Giovanna Bosco but she also uses Vetro as a last name on other records. On a later immigration manifest, Angelo listed another sister Carmela Vetro.
On Angelo's marriage record it shows he has an unknown father (Ignoto Patre is I think what I read) and on a few other records I've seen it say he is a foundling and has no know relatives.
Any ideas or suggestions are so appreciated. Once this virus leaves us, I would also be open to contacting entities in Sicily if any one has contact suggestions. Thanks again. Emily
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Here is the link to the records of Abandoned Births (Nati, esposti) I found for years other than what is relevant to my case:
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With Angleo’s ID that you provided, I studied the marriage record in his sources section. He listed the city of Girgenti, Italy as his birth place. According to Encyclopedia Britannica Girgenti, Italy was the former name of the city of Agrigento, Italy. The records in Agrigento would be a place to look for the birth record.
Here is what Britannica explained:
www.britannica.com › place › Agrigento
Agrigento, formerly (until 1927) Girgenti, Greek Acragas or Akragas, Latin Agrigentum, city, near the southern coast of Sicily, Italy.
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Hi Carolyn, I wanted to thank you for this message a few weeks ago - it prompted me to revisit the DNA matches after uncovering some additional records and by putting it all together brings some support for the linkages that can sometimes seem tenuous without that corroboration. Very exciting! Thanks again.
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@Italy Genealogy Research @David Vicchrilli @Adoption and Unknown Family Research *Post updated to include the image of the full page.*
Can someone help me with the phrasing at the upper right of this page? Its the second half of record #332 and my best effort to interpret it is something about someone designating someone else to be the mother of this child but there are so many words that I can't read or don't know how to translate that I can't quite figure it out.
Here is a framework of what I think I've gleaned so far: Giovanna Vetro born June 21, 1871 to Agata Vetro age 34 daughter of the deceased Salvatore, and then the unclear part "...in common in the quest of the (?) and in the house qualification for his union, with a man who does not intend to learn a female, who promoted me to one, the mother (?) intends to have the name of..."
I'm trying to determine if this record fits in my family tree for person GQLX-82B
Thank you for any help you can provide. Emily
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Emily, thanks for your kind message. Isn't DNA wonderful for helping add pieces to the puzzle? Sometimes we want to discard information that isn't what we anticipated, but DNA can help us focus at a deeper level. I would love to hear about the answers that you are discovering.
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@Massimo C. Hi Carolyn,
I wrote a reply earlier today but now I don't see it. I hope this isn't a duplicate. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I am trying to identify ancestors of my great grandfather Angelo Vetro. In different records, he identified two sisters. One of them I haven't found any detail on (Carmela Vetro). The other, I've found a marriage record, a record for the birth of her son, another for her daughter, etc. She alternates between the family name I have known "Vetro" and the rumored family name "Bosco" so she is very intriguing. One mystery is that her records state her mother was named Agata Vetro while Angelo's records record a mother's name of Anna Vetro. So many details fit but that puzzle piece was enough I doubted the connection. When I reviewed the DNA matches, I found three or four matches linked to different trees with her name or those of her children. It makes me see that while I don't know quite what the connection was, I'm on the right track.
If you'd like to take a look to see if it helps to understand what I'm trying to describe or to see if you see something I"m missing, here are the siblings' IDs LBQD-RB7 & GQLX-82B
Thank you again for prompting me to circle back to the DNA. Emily
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Hi @Emily Magazzi in FamilySearch Wiki Italy genealogy page, you can find, at the paragraph "Italy research tools" the documents of birth, marriage and death already translated from Italian to English, pre and post unification you can use to simplify the comprehension of Italian certificates. These documents are probably 90 percent or more equal to your documents.
At this link, always in FamilySearch, you can find also an interesting article about Italian infant abandonment I think could be useful for a better understanding of its background.
Enjoy your research!
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... Is born from Agata Vetro of the decided Salvatore 34 years old, ploughwoman domiciled and resident in this municipality, in the area of Martire, in her usual house from her union had with a man who doesn't want to be mentioned a baby of feminine sex who showed me to whom the afore-mentioned mother wants give the name of Giovanna Vetro...
Sorry for my English, I hope this could be helpful even if now I'm using my handy so this event or tomorrow I can further review it just to be sure the document doesn't contain any other crucial information. Regards
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Here is angelo’s identifier LBQD-RB7
i added an individual “bosco” as his father as a placeholder to link to relationships indicated by dna.
thank you for any insight you might have. Emily
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Thanks everyone for helping Emily!! Great work!!
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