Quote:
Originally Posted by ugotme
I only know that my paternal Grandfather came from Palermo, Italy.
Wish I could learn more. I tried but both my Mother & Father have passed and you need certain information to learn the past.
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Go to the website ancestry.com and type in your dad's surname and Palermo. Type in your mom's maiden name and wherever her parents were born, etc.
It isn't that difficult to find records. Everyone has records, both in this country and in the old country. Obviously, English and Irish records are easier to find as you can "read them".
HOWEVER, Napoleon was such a stickler for record keeping that the Italian records are awesome.......and there will always be someone willing to translate them for you. Just go step by step.
The natal or birth records.
The marriage records.
The morte or death records.
The immigration records to Ellis Island
The ship's manifest.....often they traveled with entire families.
But sometimes the man came first to earn money to send for his wife, etc.
They are all OUT THERE.
If you have a Family History Center near you, visit them and explain your problem. They might be able to get the microfilms for you from Palermo that have your grandfather's surname.
Again, it's like putting a giant jigsaw puzzle together and very good for our brain matter. A wonderful and fulfilling hobby as you will meet many likeminded folks along the way, plus make great "cousin" connections eventually..........since the Italian families in Italy had SO MANY SONS , you will find the "Italian naming tradition" helpful. Each of them would name the first born after the grandfather, etc..........I found dozens upon dozens with the same name as my grandfather, going way way way back, all from the same village............hard to explain in a short post, but check out ancestry.com Sometimes, around the holidays, they offer a lot of FREE record searching.
Good Luck. I even used to use "babblefish" language online translator to chat with elderly cousins of mine in Naples Italy, whose folks had come from Laurenzana before World War II......then returned them as children back up to the mountains to escape the allied strafing (bombing) of Naples. I have pictures of American G.I.'s.....my grandmothers' Godsons, etc. and nephews, visiting Laurenzana AFTER the war ended.
Still in their U.S. Army uniforms......pictures of the castle at the top of the mountain.....pictures of the family bakery destroyed by the earthquake....etc.......all found in my grandmother's suitcase upon her death.
Genealogy is a "hobby" that kind of just grows on you......and you learn as you go along..........I'm still amazed at what I accomplished.