The first step is a free consultation where we discuss your goals, determine how much information you may already know, and if you have family documents we can use to assist in our search. With over 40 years of experience, we can often uncover clues you may not have noticed before so gathering these documents and photographs is essential for a successful outcome. If you do not have documents, we can start with what you do know and work backwards from there using a variety of resources including:
- Census records/city directories
- Vital records
- Immigration – passenger list records, naturalization
- Land records/maps
- Military records
- Newspapers/published histories
Depending on your goals, we may also research archival records and community resources including local historical societies and library collections. For ancestors in the U.S., we may also speak directly with county and town clerks.
Once we trace your family abroad, the availability of research without traveling to your ancestor’s county of origin varies. For Italian ancestry for example, we can build family relationships using civil registration records. Italy is divided into 107 provinces that are separated into 20 regions, and there are 7,926 comuni (local municipalities/towns). Many of these records have been digitized and depending on the location, records may be available from 1809-1920. These include Nati (birth) and battesimo (baptism) records, Matrimonio (marriage) records, and Morte (death) records. In some cases, parish records, military records, and the 1742-1753 Catasto Onciario (a tax record that contains family census information) are available remotely.
In addition to Italy, we have complied family histories for ancestors originating in Canada, Croatia, Mexico, Poland, and Scotland.
Contact us now to get started!
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