Italian-American Genealogy Meeting Notes

Prepared by Barbara Morton

The July 14^th, 2018 meeting was held at the Westover Branch Library, 1644 N Mckinley Rd, Arlington, VA 22205 Phone: (703) 228-5260

Note that the minutes are maintained on the website:

http://www.circolomazzei.org/

This meeting began with Russell De Rose who gave a presentation on Italian Dual Citizenship. His presentation notes will be available on the above stated website.

A few highlighted notes:

• Know the location of your parent’s birth: commune and region

• Know the laws of both the US and Italy at the time of the birth, Naturalization, and currently

• Gather related records including Certified copies and document where each was obtained

• Make sure the name is spelled the same in the US as in Italy and on all the related records. Otherwise, you will need to either correct the documents, or provide a notarized note indicating the spelling discrepancies – Use aka (Also Known As) ex: Pietro aka Peter

• Naturalization vs. Citizen
  Naturalized + renounced rights to country of origin = Citizen

• Keep copies of any correspondence

• Keep memos of any conversations: Names, Date, reference

Additional tidbits:

• Did you know that Columbus was NOT a citizen of Italy!

• There are 8 Honorary Citizens of the US
  Bernardo de Gálvez, Casimir Pulaski, Marquis de Lafayette,
  Mother Teresa, William and Hannah Callowhill Penn,
  Raoul Wallenberg, and Winston Churchill

• Russell was asked how long it took to go through the whole process and the cost. He indicated that it took him about 3 years and cost less than $1000.00.

• A good reference is Trafford Cole’s book, Italian Genealogical Records

We went around the room discussing our progress, or lack thereof. Additional discussions

• Dual Citizenship vs. Security Clearance

Some clearances will not allow people to be dual-citizens. The question was asked if dual citizenship affects clearances for children. No one was able to answer that. I was able to find the following link:

https://news.clearancejobs.com/2017/05/24/new-dual-citizenship-guideline-security-clearance-eligibility/

The eligibility covered relates to an individual who is requesting a clearance.

It states ‘When there is a “conflicting interest,” dual citizenship may be mitigated, if the applicant is willing to renounce foreign citizenship and there is no evidence of foreign preference.’

• Polish Records
  Some suggestions were made to help find information, including:
  Town records; Receive help at NEHGS and the local Family History Center; Check Jewish records for Poland
  Barbara found the following link for Poland research from the Family History Center
  https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Poland_Online_Genealogy_Records

• DNA discussion
  Several of the DNA organizations are loading info to GEDMATCH, including 23&Me, Ancestry DNA and MyHeritage
  There are some hold-outs who question the uses of the collected DNA, but others are all for the information. Just read the fine print before signing up.

• Cudos to a member for sending the link for searching newspapers for free for a week in July. Note that the Family History centers have free access to this and many other subscription based search engines, as do many libraries.

• Reclaim Your Records -
  https://www.reclaimtherecords.org

‘We’re Reclaim The Records, a new not-for-profit activist group of genealogists, historians, researchers, and open government advocates. We identify important genealogical records sets that ought to be in the public domain but which are being wrongly restricted by government archives, libraries, and agencies. ‘
Started in NY and NJ, the group files Freedom of Info requests to get local records open to all.

• ‘Child put on a wheel’ also called the Foundling Wheel, or Turnstile Babies discussion
  
  https://www.abruzzogenealogy.com/infant-abandonment-and-foundling...

Rather than simply giving the child’s gender, the civil registration document of a foundling usually stated where it was found, for example “in the public wheel of this town”, or on whatever street or doorstep it was found.

• Other
  Check out the following:
  https://lisalouisecooke.com

‘The Genealogy Gems Podcast helps you make the most of your family history research time. You’ll hear quick and easy-to-use research techniques you can use right away.’

Also, if you do a search with ‘genealogy gems’ and the name of a commune, or town, you may get lucky.

If you are on Facebook, you can check for Genealogy links for your surnames, and locations