Italian Immigration

Italian Immigrants
Library of Congress LC-USZ62-87554

Italians Americans make up the fourth largest European ethnic groups in the US. Most Italian
immigration happened between 1880 and 1915 when about four million Italians emigrated to America.

The National Archives provides easy access to some Italian immigration records through the Italians to America Passenger Data File, 1855-1900. This collection consists of an index of 845,368 passengers who arrived in Baltimore, Boston, New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia between 1855-1900. The Data File includes information about passenger's name, age, town of last residence, destination, and gives you information on finding the ship's manifest.

After you find your ancestor's town of birth, visit Ancestors: Archives for Genealogical Research which is the official portal to the various State Archives in Italy. And don't forget to search for church records. The Italian Catholic Church website can help you locate your ancestor's parish church. 

Italian Records

The most important part of researching Italian ancestors is finding their place of origin. Until Italy unified in 1861, each region, city-state, and duchy had its own method for record-keeping. Luckily for Italian genealogists, most families traditionally stayed in the same area of Italy for generations so you may only need to become familiar with one region's records.

After discovering the town of origin, the major records you'll be searching for include:

Civil Registration Records 
These are records of births, marriages, and deaths. When Napoleon conquered large parts of Italy in 1804, he established civil record-keeping. Napoleonic Era records are kept it each state's archive. After the fall of Napoleon in 1815, most regions stopped civil registrations but some communities continued the registers. From 1815-1865, the creation and location of these civil records will vary from town-to-town. State record-keeping began again in 1866 and these records can be found in the registrar's office of your ancestor's hometown.

Church Records
In the early 1500s, the Catholic Church began requiring their clergy to keep records of baptisms, marriages, and burials. Some parishes may have begun documenting these rituals centuries before.
Unfortunately, Church records may not always contain a lot of information.

Census Records
The first Italian census was taken in 1871. Censuses are taken every ten years. From 1871-1901, census information varied from region to region. Most of these records, only list the head of the household. In 1911, censuses began documenting detailed information for every member of the household.  Census records are held at the state archives of each province.

Family Status Certificates
These are unique Italian records of family groups that can include information on at least three generations of family members. Certificates list every individual in the household as well as all parents' names, maiden names, and residences of family members who have left the community. They are held in the registrar's office of the family's town of residence. Availability of certificates vary from region to region.

Local Genealogy Societies

If you're looking to join a genealogical society this year or want to plan ahead for upcoming genealogy programs, here's a roundup of nearby societies and their 2015 events calendars:

North Suburban Genealogical Society
Northwest Suburban Genealogy Society
Chicago Genealogical Society
Lake County Genealogical Society
McHenry County Illinois Genealogical Society
Illinois State Genealogical Society

And don't forget to put the DuPage County Genealogical Society's annual meeting on your calendar!
Or if you're willing to travel, the National Genealogical Society's Family History Conference will be held in St. Charles, MO!

And for ethnic genealogy:

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois
Polish Genealogical Society of America
Irish American Heritage Center
Afro-American Genealogical and Historical Society of Chicago
Czech & Slovak American Genealogy Society of Illinois
Swedish American Museum
Balzekas Museum of Lithuanian Culture
National Hellenic Museum
Casa Italia

Digging Up Family Roots in Sicily

There was a great article in this past Sunday's New York Times about author Russell Shorto's trip to Sicily to discover his family's origins. This is the sort of research trip every genealogist dreams of!

Italian Genealogy Groups

POINT is a network for Italian genealogy.

There are 2 Italian genealogy discussion groups in the Chicago metropolitan area. The group that serves the northern region is PIP Chapter 27, which meets in Schaumburg.