Help Finding My Italian Ancestors
Seeking out and finding information about your ancestors from Italy is easier than ever before. Greater connectivity through the Internet can help curious people search through Italian genealogies to learn more about their own lineage. Information is easier than ever to track down. You just need to keep a few things in mind to make your search easier.
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Your Family as a Resource
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Before doing anything else, gather all the information about your family that you can. Write down all the names you know of relatives and ancestors. Include maiden names when possible. Also include relationships---spouses, parent/child, siblings---and any information you have about birth dates, dates of death and places that different people have lived. Highlight anything you think connects you with Italy.
Once you've recorded everything you know, share what you have with your family members and see if they can add to it.
Conducting Your Search
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Use Internet resources to begin learning more about the people in your family who you believe came from Italy. Start with a simple search on different surnames on your list. Look up the history of areas you believe your ancestors lived in. Visit Italian-American message boards and communicate with other people conducting a search similar to your own.
Consider subscribing to a genealogy website. These sites often have census data and news items in their database and can help your search to go much faster.
Finding Public Records
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Much of the information you want to find may be available as part of the public record. It's just a matter of knowing where to look. Once again, the Internet is useful. It makes it possible to search for, locate and request records from overseas. You can access Italian records and state archives, look up people in Italian directories and use Italian search engines to find out more about your ancestors from Italy.
You also can search for public records of your ancestors' arrival in America--from passenger lists for ships that carried immigrants to records of naturalization and newspaper obituaries. You can hunt down these types of information online and then request official document copies from the proper sources.
Tracking down your Italian ancestors is a rewarding pursuit that is easier now than it ever has been in the past.
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