Finding my long-lost Italian great-grandfather

[JoeBTapp]

Hello

I have hit a brick wall, on a family member that I have no more information than just a death certificate, a census from Forfar in Scotland and my grandmother's birth certificate.

I'm hoping to close the gap on a family story that has been looked into for 3 generations.

I'm looking to find information on my Great-grandfather, John Soave born in 1888 +/- who had moved to Forfar in the early 1900's. But as a family, we don't know where from, when he travelled over, if that even was his real name.

I can find that he had died in 1963, on his death certificate, he had added his father is Filippo Soave and Marie Soave (Marandola)

His marriage certificate, he had married Lily Adams Dickson and had many children, including my grandmother - Rosie Soave.

On census forms that he stated he was Italian. Especially on the Forfar census for 1921.

Where can my journey keep going? As I'm lost for ideas and while I have found out about my Scottish family, my extended family and looked further in geneolgy as a whole - I've been stuck on this for many years, and asking for any ideas, or help

Thank you for any help that can be gained from this post - Any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!
Kind regards,
Joe

[mjclayton1]

I mean, you have Ancestry (Member Trees with the Soave surname) and also DNA. Have you tried either... or both?

https://www.ancestry.com/name-origin?surname=soave

The Soave surname is a comune in Veneto, so that might also be a good place to look.

Good luck.

[PippoM]

I've seen some 1911 UK censuses reporting town of birth for Italians, and 1939 reporting date of birth.
Have you looked for such censuses of you ancestor?

Edit:
I've just checked, and it seems those censuses are of England and Wales only.

[giofol]

Hello, it seems Marandola is a common surname in Cervaro and Cassino, both in the Frosinone province, and Rocca D'Evandro in Caserta province. It's also common in Rome.
https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cogno ... /MARANDOLA

Soave is common in Veneto, as mjclayton1 said, but also in Lazio: https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cogno ... iani/SOAVE

I think your ancestor came from Lazio, seen his parents' names.

[PippoM]

I think Cervaro is a good hint, but unfortunately there are no birth records available online for 1888. They are listed on FS, but not viewable. Maybe they only are at Family History Centers of Mormon Church.