I know this is a long shot...but here it goes:

My grandfather might of been seized with delusions of grandeur, but in his storytelling...to explain WHY his father immigrated to America, he stated quite clearly it was from 'persecution'.

Then he dies before I could say goodbye.

I then decided to ...

Thank you carubia. I have subsequently paid someone to research my records. Here are the marriages:
Raia/Aeillo | Avino/Abberante
Raia/Guida | Avino/Monutori
Raia/Fananga Avino/De Felice
Raia/Avino

there are distant ancestors like: Montuori/Sergnano, De Felice/Brasile, Raia/Langella but I don't ...

Oh and I have a photo of him wearing some kind of military uniform. It's in black and white but his hat has an eagle that looks just like the one Victorio Emmanuell is wearing. Not sure what order he would have belonged but perhaps searching through those records will yeild a NOE RAIA as well.

To address Tessa78's comment that there are no online records of Scafati, that is correct. I hired someone who lives in Italy to troll the church records. From that, here are the names of my ancestors:
Raia - Avino (great-grandparents), Raia-Falanga (great-great), Raia-Guido(a?) (great x3), Raia ...

Greetings!

As an update to this thread. I broke down and paid someone to search the local records of Scafati. Turns out he was able to verify my ancestors up to 1790. He said he can go further back but will require another effort. At least now he pinpointed places in Scafati and names that help ...

I was told they dont usually respond to letters. That the best way,is to go in person. But its worth a shot.

That's correct! Now, is there a way to find out who Noe and Jennie's parents are? Do we have enough information to start?

Ah sorry, it keeps coming to me! A distant relative said something about 'owning' a town in villa Paligna. But when I google earth it, I only see a valley on the Adriatic sea.

Oh, great-grandfather was born circa 1860s (1867?). I have no info on Jennie (or it could be Jeanie).

Oh, my great grandmother was called 'Jennie' but I think that has something to do with an Americanized version of 'Giovanna' d' Avino.

Remarkable!

I honestly don't know anything else about him because when he came to America, he was murdered. Someone also tried to murder my great-grandmother, but she survived as well as her two sons. My grandfather only knew him as a little boy and gave me no more information. All I have is a ...

To all, the last posts were so helpful to me. I appreciate your comments and I will try to dig it up.

As I recall, the ship was the Holen...something...it was Austrian. Noe (my great-grandfather) left the port of Scafalti. His wife was d'avino. Her father was some noble from a nearby 'village'(?).

Hello,

On a recent trip to Disneyland, I searched for my coat of arms. As a third generation American, I don't know my family history except for a few scintillating tidbits. One of them, is my great-grandfather, has on the ship manifesto, the name Raia. But the name was changed to Raio for some odd ...