Missing Records – Continued
By Angelo Coniglio
Here are a few more examples of dealing with Sicilian and Italian records with data gaps.
Missing years in original civil records. These gaps may exist for several reasons. The records that have been microfilmed by the Mormon church were usually copied at the archives of the province in which the town of interest is located. When these documents were originally recorded, a clerk made hand-copied duplicates, one of which remained in the town’s permanent register, while the other was sent to the provincial ‘tribunale’ or magistrate’s office, and later placed in the provincial archives. Portions of these copies in the provincial capital may then have been damaged, lost or destroyed due to civil unrest or natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes.
It’s also advisable to include a check or other instrument of payment. “How much?” is a common question. My advice is to send whatever amount you are willing to lose if your request is never answered. $25 or $30 is a reasonable amount. Remember that municipal offices are often under-funded and short-staffed, and their primary mission doesn’t include doing genealogy for foreigners.
Missing data in one venue, not in another. When records were made available on LDS microfilm, that required them to be viewed at the Mormon data center in Salt Lake City or by their rental for viewing at local Mormon FamilySearch Centers. Now, however, virtually all Sicilian and Italian records are available for free on familysearch.org; many are also on the free Italian ‘Antenati’ (Ancestors) archives site antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?q=gallery; limited records are also available on the subscription site Ancestry.com.
The years of record and the towns included in these on-line venues vary with the sites and the towns and eras represented. Some carry records only after 1865 and before 1911; some have records from 1820 and as recent as 1940; some cover only selected towns, some cover many more. You may be fortunate to find, say, 1866 – 1910 civil records for your town on Ancestry.com, but the 1895 death records are missing. This may be simply the result of omissions by the computer indexer and may be included on other venues. Look on familysearch.org or on the ‘Antenati’ site, and you may find them. Also, the familysearch.org and ‘Antenati’ images are generally clearer than on Ancestry.com or even on the original microfilms, so if a record exists, but is illegible on one venue, it may be more readable on another.
Non-existent civil records. In some cases, due to disastrous events, civil activities either were not recorded or the records were lost, sometimes shortly after their creation. One or more years of record may be missing, never to be found, and they may be missing from both the town registry and the provincial archives. However, though less detailed than civil records, church records may exist for the period that’s missing from the civil record. Microfilms were made of church records for many towns, and these, too may be available on internet venues. If your ancestor’s 1832 civil birth record doesn’t exist, try to locate the ecclesiastical record of his/her baptism, which will usually also indicate the date of birth. Marriages and deaths were also recorded by the church. As with civil records, if the record you seek isn’t on-line, you’ll have to request it by mail or in person. In this case, however, you must contact church, parish or diocesan authorities, not the civil offices.
Non-existent civil records. In some cases, due to disastrous events, civil activities either were not recorded or the records were lost, sometimes shortly after their creation. One or more years of record may be missing, never to be found, and they may be missing from both the town registry and the provincial archives. However, though less detailed than civil records, church records may exist for the period that’s missing from the civil record. Microfilms were made of church records for many towns, and these, too may be available on internet venues. If your ancestor’s 1832 civil birth record doesn’t exist, try to locate the ecclesiastical record of his/her baptism, which will usually also indicate the date of birth. Marriages and deaths were also recorded by the church. As with civil records, if the record you seek isn’t on-line, you’ll have to request it by mail or in person. In this case, however, you must contact church, parish or diocesan authorities, not the civil offices.
Coniglio is the author of the book The Lady of the Wheel, inspired by his Sicilian research. Order the paperback or the Kindle version at http://bit.ly/SicilianStory Coniglio’s web page at http://bit.ly/AFCGen has helpful hints on genealogic research. If you have genealogy questions, or would like him to lecture to your club or group, e-mail him at genealogytips@aol.com
