Finding Your Italian Ancestors at the National Archives
By Jean
Nudd, Archivist
Introduction
In previous articles such as “Discovering Your German Roots at the National
Archives,”1
we have listed the various types
of records available for finding your immigrant ancestors. I’m going to
make a wild leap of faith that all of our readers are now familiar with the
census and passenger arrival records at the National Archives since I have
written about them in almost every issue! So this time, instead, let’s
trace a family using these records.
It took me just a few seconds to figure out what
Italian family I should research. The choice was obvious. The immigrant
parents’ names were all I had to start with, and the date and place of birth
of one of their children. Just a little research in at the Archives
uncovered a lot more.
Finding an Italian Family in Federal Records
Ottavio Conte, father of Silvio O. Conte, was born in Italy on July 19, 1888
in Vicenza, Italy, according to his World War I draft card.2 The
card gives us even more information. His address at the time he was drafted
was 567 Fenn Street in Pittsfield and he had filed a declaration for
citizenship. We also learn that he worked at General Electric in Building
15, and had a wife and one child age 7 months. A physical description is
included so we find out that Otto had a crippled right foot, was of medium
height, stout build, and had blue eyes with dark brown hair. And he had
never served in the military. He registered during the first registration,
June 1917, so the child was born in December, 1916. He wasn’t naturalized
but had filed his intention to become a United States citizen.
I knew Representative Conte wasn’t born until
1922 so I begin looking for Ottavio in the 1930 census. By that time, he
was living at 1256 East Street with his wife Lucia, and children Elizabeth,
Silvia, Silvio, and Angelina.3
The 1930 census tells us that he owned his home, valued at $7000, and that
he was a foreman at General Electric. It also gives us dates of arrival for
Ottavio and Lucia, clues we can use to find their arrival records, and the
fact that by 1930, Otto had become a citizen. Since Lucia is also listed as
naturalized, it’s most likely Otto was naturalized before 1922.4
We also learn that Otto was 27 and Lucia was 20 when they married. Otto is
listed as age 41 and Lucia as age 34 in 1930 so that gives us a year to
search for a marriage record of 1916.5
Since I wanted to know his year of
naturalization to locate his citizenship application at the Berkshire
Athenaeum, I decided to check the 1920 census. It showed Otto renting at
654 East Street and working as a timekeeper at the electric company.
Daughter Elizabeth is listed as 3 and 0/12 (months) so we confirm she was
born in December, 1916. Otto’s naturalization year is given as 1919, and
the arrival years agree with the 1910 for Otto on the 1930 census. Lucy’s
arrival year is given as 1906 on the 1930 census and as 1907 on the 1920
census.6
There are a number of ways to find a passenger
manifest. Both 1907 and 1910 fall within the indexed years for the New York
arrival records. In checking for Lucy’s arrival, we need to remember that
her Italian name was Lucia. This is also how she’s listed on the 1930
census. A search of T621, the index to New York arrivals for 1902-1943,
lists only one Ottavio Conte. He arrived on the ship La Bretagne on
February 25, 1910.7
Lucia is listed as age 34 on the
1930 census. If she arrived in 1906, as indicated on that census sheet, she
must have been about 10 years old when she arrived in 1906. Again, using
T621, we find only one card for a Lucia Lora who was a child; she is a Lucia
Lora, age 12, arriving on the ship La Lorraine on August 8, 1907.8
We can locate these ships in the arrival records.
I also used the
Ellis Island website database at <www.ellisislandrecords.org> to confirm the
arrivals for both Ottavio and Lucia found in the National Archives index.9
By using the “view original manifest” button on the Ellis Island site, you
can locate the stamped page number on the top right corner of the manifest
sheets. Having this page number makes finding the manifest on microfilm
very quick and easy since that is the number stamped in numerical order in
each volume. Once you have this stamped number from the Ellis Island site,
go to one of our indexes for New York ships, either the one produced by
Pittsfield’s volunteers or the Immigration and Naturalization Service index,
to locate the roll number of T715 and the volume.10
The volunteers at
the Pittsfield facility produced an index listing all ships arriving in the
port of New York from 1897 to 1916. These ship indexes are arranged both
chronologically by date and alphabetically by ship name. They give the
volume and microfilm roll number for each ship’s arrival. This makes it
easy to determine which roll of microfilm in T715 (New York Arrival Lists)
contains the ship a researcher is looking for. In our case, that’s the La
Bretagne in 1910 and the La Lorraine in 1907.11
Ottavio left from Le
Havre, France, on Feb. 14, 1910, and arrived in New York, at Ellis Island on
February 25. He is listed on line 23 of the manifest as age 21, male,
single, able to read and write, country of origin Italy, nationality
Italian, last permanent resident Sorego, Italy, left behind his father,
Luciano Conte in Sorego, going to Pittsfield, Massachusetts to his friend
Vittorio Lotto. He had $30 in his pocket when he left Italy and no ticket
to his final destination. He had never been in the United States. He was
in good health, 5’7” tall, with a ruddy complexion, auburn hair and blue
eyes, with no identifying marks. Angelo Marin, age 28, also from Sorego,
who was going to a friend in Lee, Massachusetts, is on the line following
Ottavio. They may have traveled from Sorego together.12
Silvio Conte’s
father became a citizen of the United States on October 5, 1918, in the
Superior Court of Berkshire County in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Otto had
filed his declaration of intention to become a citizen on August 22, 1914.
On it, he listed his occupation as mill operative and his address as 11
Fosse Street in Pittsfield. He listed his arrival as on the Bretagne on
February 22, 1910 and his former residence as Sorego, Italy.13
By the time he filed his petition for naturalization, he had moved to 636
East Street in Pittsfield. He gave his occupation as machinist and his
arrival date as February 25, 1910. He also stated that his wife, Lucia
Lora, was born on December 13, 1895, in Drissino, Italy. His daughter,
Elizabeth, was listed with a birth date of October 19, 1916.14
The petition for
naturalization can also give clues on siblings, other relatives or friends
in the witness section. Ottavio’s witnesses were Emil Hugo Lifvergren and
Angelo Mazzi, both machinists, and most likely co-workers from General
Electric.15
Unlike Silvio’s
father, his mother arrived as a child, at age 12. The index to New York
arrivals gives her arrival as August 3, 1907 on the La Lorraine.16
The arrival manifest for the La Lorraine shows it left Le Havre on July 27th,
1907. Lucia is listed as age 12, traveling with her brother, Antonio, age
9. Their former residence was Crissino, Italy. They left behind their
uncle, Giuseppe Lora, at Crissino de Vitenza and were traveling to their
father, Silvio Lora, in Adams, Massachusetts. The children were not
detained at Ellis Island so we can conclude that their father was there to
pick them up.17
The fact that the children were traveling alone and left behind an uncle in
Italy suggests that their mother had died.
When we began we
knew only the names of Silvio’s parents and Silvio’s date and place of
birth. From that, using census and passenger arrival records, as well as a
World War I draft card, we learned their dates and places of birth, as well
as the names of all of their children who were born by 1930. With a little
help from our friends at the Berkshire Athenaeum, we found Lucy’s exact date
and place of birth. On her arrival record, we found her brother’s and
father’s names. One further step would be to take the information about the
birth of Otto and Lucy’s first child, Elizabeth, their ages at first
marriage from the 1930 census and use the statewide marriage index at the
Berkshire Athenaeum to learn the date of their marriage.
Locating your
ancestors is possible. Come in and let us help you find your ancestors!
____________
1. Jean Nudd, “Discovering Your
German Roots at the National Archives,”
Archival Anecdotes 6 (June 2001): 1.
2. Otto Conte,
World War I Selective Service
System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,
(Washington: National Archives), micropublication M1509, roll MA133.
3. It is important
to remember when using census records that the most important piece of
information is missing; who answered the questions. Since we don’t know
this one critical fact, it’s difficult to determine the accuracy of the
information we find on each census record.
4. Derivative
naturalization for wives from their husband’s citizenship ended in 1922.
5. Otto Conte
household, 1930 census, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, population
schedule, city of Pittsfield, enumeration district [ED] 2-57, sheet 18B,
dwelling 377, family 415; National Archives micropublication M626, roll 885.
6. Otto Conte
household, 1920 U.S. census, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, population
schedule, city of Pittsfield, ED 61, sheet 1B, dwelling 18, family 18,
National Archives micropublication M625, roll 680.
7. Ottavio Conte
card, C530, Index
(Soundex) to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York,
July 1, 1902-Dec. 31, 1943; National Archives micropublication T621, roll
109.
8. Lucia Lora card,
L600, Index (Soundex)
to Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York;
NA T621, roll 389.
9. Access the Ellis
Island database using www.stevemorse.org for a wider range of search
options.
10. The National
Archives facility in Pittsfield holds an 8 volume series of ship indexes
listed by microfilm roll and volume numbers within T715,
Passenger and Crew Lists of
Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957,
that go from 1897-1916. We also have, in a number of loose-leaf binders,
the Immigration and Naturalization Service’s
Catalog of New York Ship
Arrival Manifests (by volume), 1898-1924.
These volumes are located in the bookcase next to microfilm reader 17.
11. Passenger
Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York, 8 volumes (Pittsfield, Mass.:
National Archives and Records Administration). These volumes are located in
the bookcase next to microfilm reader 17.
12. Ottavio Conte
entry; La Bretagne
Passenger Manifest, 25 February 25 1910,
page 213, line 23; in
Passenger and Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York,
1897-1957; micropublication T715,
(Washington: National Archives), roll 1415, volume 3114.
13. Otto Conte,
declaration of intention, case 1500 (1914), Superior Court of Berkshire
County, Massachusetts; Family History Library [FHL] microfilm, Berkshire
Athenaeum, Pittsfield, Mass., roll 4.
14. Ottavio Conte,
petition for naturalization, case 1555 (1918), Superior Court of Berkshire
County, Massachusetts; FHL microfilm, Berkshire Athenaeum, Pittsfield,
Mass., roll 37. A special thanks to Liz Lockyer who found Ottavio’s
naturalization papers for us at the Berkshire Athenaeum.
15. Ibid.
16. Lucia Lora
soundex card, NA T621, roll 389.
17. Lucia
Lora entry;
La Lorraine
Passenger Manifest, 3 August 1907, page 154, line
10; in Passenger and
Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, New York, 1897-1957,
micropublication T715 (Washington: National
Archives), roll 957, volume 2141.¨ |
