I am looking to find the birthplace of my paternal grandfather who immigrated from Italy on 1906. I
I don't even know the town in Italy where he was born. Can you help?
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@Italy Genealogy Research would be a great place to get more in-depth help!
Do you know if he ever became a US citizen? His citizenship application papers would likely list the region, if not the town, where he was born. FamilySearch has a lot of good naturalization papers from many states.
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I believe he did but I am not sure how to find out the year in which he naturalized. The 1920 census showed that he filed “1st papers“ which I think means that he is taking the first step towards Naturalization. Now a dumb question how do I access the naturalization records on family search? Can I employ your services to help me with this? I think you can tell I’m pretty much lost.
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If you provide some details, like grandpa's name and maybe grandma's name and where he lived in 1920, it would be easier for someone to help you. It still might be a long shot, but, it is worth a try.
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What is his ID in FamilyTree?
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His name was Joseph Petro born into Italy around 1881. He lived in Port Chester NY immigrated 1906. Married to Sircuso. His children were Philip, Millie (my Mom), Salvatore, Dominic, et al. The 1920 census showed he was not naturalized but the 1930 census showed that he was. I need to find out where in Italy he was born.
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What you can do is perform a record search and look for his naturalization records. Go here, click on the United States, and select New York from the list that pops up (I'm assuming he was naturalized in New York since he lived there). Then, enter in as much information as you can about your grandpa. Finally, where it says "Restrict records by:" down below that, click "Type" and then check "Immigration and Naturalization". That will narrow down the search results specifically to immigration/naturalization documents, which should make your search easier.
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Suggestion: search for Giuseppe as well as Joseph.
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Here is a map of Italy showing where the surname Petro is found:
https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani/PETRO
Mostly in Lombardy but also in a few other areas.
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This doesn’t answer my question completely but it’s a good start. I’m under the impression that if I can find if his naturalization records I will find the exact location of his birth but I don’t know how to find the naturalization records. Do you know how to find his naturalization record? I really do appreciate the help you’re giving me a this. As you can tell, I’m clueless.
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Attention to all that have offered help. YOU ARE ALL WONDERFUL!!!
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Did you see my reply about how to search naturalization records on FamilySearch? I ran a search for him using the directions I gave you, but did not find anything that stood out to me as your grandfather. But you are much more familiar with him than I am, so you would probably have an easier time finding him in those listings than I did.
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Thank you!
And you are awesome too, for trying to learn more about your family!0 -
The reason I am performing the search is I am contemplating applying for joint citizenship with Italy. They require a whole bunch of records to prove that I am a descendent of an Italian citizen. I noticed on the 1930 census that my maternal grandmother‘s first name was changed to Mary. That’s one of the problems I am in countering that being they are changing their names. To become an Italian citizen I must prove that my mother was born to an Italian citizen. I know from the census records that my maternal grandfather was not a US citizen at the time of my mothers birth. At least that’s what the census record show. The reason I’m looking for the naturalization record is to prove that he became an American citizen after my mothers birth. I don’t know for sure but I’m pretty sure they will not except the census record to prove that my mother was born to an Italian citizen.
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That's a good point about the names changing, and I can see why you need to find those naturalization records so badly! Does your grandfather have an ID in FamilySearch that you could share with us here? Adding those census records to his page on FamilySearch would help the system help you find more records for him (including naturalization). In addition, it would help us researchers to be able to see all of his information in one place.
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His name did show up in my search so there must be an ID in there somewhere. Let me look.
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Taking a break for today. Getting a little discouraged but hopefully I’ll stumble on something soon. Can’t believe I can’t find anything on my Grandpa except census.
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I hope you find something! Don't give up! Information has a way of popping up when you least expect it!
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Dear @WilliamRomanello WilliamRomanello do you already have a tree in FamilySearch? In case you have please let us know the Joseph Petro's ID. You can find it in your tree below Joseph's name and is similar to this GWFQ-WDT code. In case you don't have a tree in FamilySearch, please create one for free putting in it all the certain information you have starting from you and your parents, your grandparents and their children. When you have a tree, FamilySearch algorithms can find many additional information for you in an automatic way and you can have a more clear overview and other users can help you in a better way. I hope this can help!
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Great answer; helpful!
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Thank you all again for your assistance. After a few weeks of discouragement, I stumbled upon some thing that might help me find my maternal grandfather‘s birthplace in Italy. I found my uncles obituary online and it said that he, my uncle, was born in Reggio Calabria in 1905. Do you think it’s safe to assume that my grandfather was also born in that same town?
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That's wonderful! Obituaries can be such a huge source of information. And don't feel bad; often if you hit a wall, it helps to just take a break from the whole thing for a little while so your mind can subconsciously work on solutions.
In my opinion, I think you can safely assume that your grandfather was born in Reggio Calabria, at least for the purposes of further research. If anything, he was very likely at least born in the region of Calabria (or maybe even Sicily, which is separated from Calabria by a narrow strait near Reggio Calabria), but since you now know where his brother was born, I would start with Reggio Calabria and expand your search outward if you still can't find your grandfather in that city.
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