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HOW TO START: STEP 6

Genealogy Research in Southern Italy

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You have exausted the civil records archive. You have, through acts of deaths, marriages, etc, reached approximate birth dates for ancestors in the early - mid 18th century. If you want to proceed further backwards in time, there are still three great resources, but for the great majority without indexes: catasto onciario (in archives, mostly in Naples and municipalities), parish books of deaths, baptisms and weddings (mostly in parish churches, some in central church archives) and notary acts (in state archives). Notary acts are usually the last step, since searching through them is very slow. For most of these the keepers of the resources (archives, municipalities, parishes) must be contacted to check the existence of records and obtain permission to make research. This means patience is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY.

Research remotely
­­­>Find the Parish
If the place you are researching is small, there will surely be just one parish church. If the place is large it is necessary to check in the earliest documents of birth you obtained from the Civil Records where the baptism was celebrated. After a parish is established, the priest in charge must be contacted.

­­­>Contact the Parish Priest
It is often difficult to do this research remotely, however you can give it a try. If the place you are researching is small, there will surely be just one parish church, so if you just address your request to the "Parrocchia di" the request will reach your parish. There are some points to consider when you ask a parish priest to do research for you:

• Time: A parish priest is usually very busy with his parishioners, duties, administrative functions etc. A research requires long hours.
• Place: books are usually kept in the church, and the priest does not often live there. The church locals may be cold and uncomfortable
• Experience: this is the field of archivists and specialists, and not all parish priests have the time, patience and eyesight necessary. It may be a problem for them to make copies for you, if there is no photocopier in the place.
• Offer: send an offer which will be easy to cash: a postal money order is usually fine.
Here is a model form, we added a sentence in the end mentioning an offer, thanking him all the same and asking for a reply anyway, where he might tell you why he could not help you. The record books you need may be missing, and this piece of information may be helpful too.
Research in the Parish yourself
­­­>Check your instruments and skills - When you visit a parish there are a number of things you'll need ...
• Stationery: you must take with you charts, and pieces of paper to use as bookmarks - you mustn't go to the priest every now and then asking for paper, pens etc
• Background: you may need lists of surnames from the place, and from nearby ones. Print our lists if available for your place etc. It may also be useful to have the names of nearby places. You are welcome to print our maps too for the four Provinces:
  L'Aquila | Chieti | Pescara | Teramo
• Cameras: while there may be a photocopier around, you'll find that it may be cumbersome for the priest to be at your disposal for photocopies whenever you find an act you need. Take photos (you must have some experience at photographing documents), two shots of each document. But always ask the priest for permission, some are jealous of their books. Digital photos is another solution.
• Catalogue: write down all the books you have available and the year when each starts and ends. There are usually the Liber Baptizatorum, the Liber Mortuorum, the Status Animarum, the Liber Matrimonium. Others may be of no utility, but if the family was prominent you might find also a confirmation document interesting. You may need an act of death or a marriage and have to pass from one book to another many times at each generation
• Method: make notes of whatever you think might be useful writing the number of the page and date - you'll be able to find it again quickly in case you need it later.
• Money: have the money for an offer ready, and make it easy for the priest to accept it in the form of celebrating a Mass for your ancestors - If he refuses, leave the money in the offer box.

... and a number of skills you must have or develop:

• Latin: A minimum knowledge of the language in which the records are written is important.
• Handwriting: you must have some experience at finding the relevant piece of information inside the formulas, which will be the same from an act to another. But then at a certain point the priests change, and all the hard work you have already done to decipher the years up to that point must start from scratch again
• Status Animarum: When the books of the souls are available, that will mean a fast method of getting the whole family together, each member with his/her own age written aside. Then you'll proceed from the status to find the birth act of the ancestor you need, and just before the first child you'll most probably find the marriage act of the parents - unless the mother was from another place! The marriage usually took place in the bride's parish.
• Indexes: In many books there is an alphabetical index comprising all the births or marriages or deaths in the book, covering from 30 to 100 years or more, but you'll soon see that it is by Christian name not surname. If you are looking for one Antonio or Maria you'll have hundreds of names to check.
• Time: If the parish has centuries of records, you'll need many hours of research. Find a place to stay in the vicinity and try to fix another appointment before you leave.
Rely on professional assistance
­­­>There are a number of factors here in estimating both the time and the expenses involved
• Books: only some may be available, for example only marriages, or births from a certain year. This means not everything can be found
• Indexes: books may be available, but without indexes, or indexes (if by Christian names) may be almost useless. This means the search will be time consuming, and therefore more expensive.
• Distance: the parish may be far away. This means you'll have to reimburse to the researcher also the time necessary to go there.
• Copies: in most small parishes there is no photocopier, or books may be so delicate that no photocopy can be made. This means photos must be taken, two of each document to be sure. Digital photos of records are cheaper but quality is not high. Every generation there may be 20-30 pictures to take. This will also add to the expenses
• Unavailabily: as soon as an act of birth is found, it is possible to find there that the father was from another place. This will mean all the trouble was taken just to discover that the whole process of contacting a parish church must be started again.
Engage us to perform the research
­­­>Our schedule
• try to contact the priest
• get all possible information on availability of books, photocopier, etc
• email you back with our estimate of fees and expenses for a first visit to the parish church.
­­­>Our Fees
Consider that it would be impractical for us to engage in research for less than 2 -3 hours and that research in the parish books will often be allowed for just that time (the priest often has, or feels he has, to stay there). So on a first visit we'll concentrate in going as far back as possible from father to father along the paternal line, not including siblings at each generation, apart from those accidentally found. If time remains, we'll complete the generations with the siblings of your ancestor. Here below is a rough estimate of expenses (our fee + reimbursement) you'll have to undertake:
• fee: 300 US$ (research, English translations of documents, email reports, UPS shipment to you)
• distance: 0.50$ per km - This means if the church is 80 km away from our base, it will be 80 US$
• digital photos : 30 US$, all pictures taken recorded on CD (if allowed)
• regular photos : 25 US$ every 36 pictures (if allowed)
• offer, in the form of a Mass for your ancestors, or other: we'll leave that to you to decide
Time necessary: 1-3 months, report by email on advancement of search.
If you want to proceed, prepare a thorough report of all you have found in the civil records ready to be pasted into our form and

Click here to order this research

STEP 5<­­­	§­­START AGAIN­­§
RETURN TO THE INDEX OF GENEALOGY IN ABRUZZO

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