Lost in Castle Garden

[DonnaPellegrin]

Hi everybody,

I am hoping one of you might be able to help me locate my great-grandfather Alfonso Alfieri on a Castle Garden manifest. I haven’t had any luck finding him myself.

I’ve been searching for Alfonso’s city of origin in Italy for quite some time now. I’ve turned up tons of records for him, including census records, an obituary, a hospital record, marriage application, naturalization paper, etc. All of which list his birth place as “Italy.â€Â

[VaDeb]

HI Donna,

I found one you listed. Must have missed the other. I will go through the manifests again tomorrow.

http://img149.echo.cx/img149/2290/alesi ... t117bh.jpg

Debbie

[Essgee]

Donna......

Couple of things....my computer is running funky so I cannot check Ellis Island for you. But do check the listings for Alfonzo...he could have had a return visit to Italy...so many did.

Many records before 1900 or so, often do not list the town of origin, only the country. So something from 1886 is not likely to give you a town name. However...who is his wife? do you know where she came from? Check Ellis Island...see where the majority of the name comes from...it will begin to narrow down a point of origin. See if you can find where the maiden name of the wife comes from...often people married people from the same town...cross reference the two names and see if it narrows it down even more. The first names of the children can be clues as well. Perhaps one returned to Italy...check out the possibility of a visit. Also the wife...under the maiden name of course.

All these are possibilities. If you can narrow it down, you might be able to write for records, or check out the LDS for microfilms. Are his parents listed on any documents? A maiden name for his mother would begin to help find a location.... At one time, names were very specific to a region or town of origin.

You got the naturalization papers...did you find a Declaration of Intent?...the first papers...often these have more info listed on them...a long shot, but worth a try.

This is a situtation where you might have to give it you best shot and then make a guess about the origins and then check it out to see if it is true or not. On the marriage certificate.....who are the witnesses? Once again, they may have come from the same home town...other members of the same church might have come from the same area....people tended to settle in towns where they knew someone....or neighborhoods with others from the same town.

Look at these possibilities.........Good Luck

[DonnaPellegrin]

Thanks, Deb for finding Salv. Alfieri. I really appreciate it. Unless Alfonso is on the previous page of that manifest, it doesn’t look like he was traveling with Salv. Darn. I was hoping that I had found a possible relative. Thanks anyway though. Alfonso is my mystery man.

Essgee, that is sound advice. Some of what you mentioned I have tried and some of what you mentioned is definitely on my do to list.

I did quite a bit of searching for Alfonso on the Ellis Island site before I found out his year of immigration. Never found a trace of him. Yeah, I know the early passenger lists aren’t much help. Still, there may be a clue there of some kind.

Since Alfonso was a minor when he arrived in the US, he didn’t have to file a declaration of intent. So, all Philadelphia sent to me was his petition.

Alfonso’s wife (and my great-grandmother) was Angela (Angeline/Angelina) Caromano. She was born about 1878. Alfonso and Angela got married in January of 1894 in Philadelphia, seven years after Alfonso arrived in the US. Suanj tells me that the name Caromano is rare and that the spelling was likely something else. Caromano is the spelling the family used in the US and it is the spelling Angela’s father used on his declaration of intent. I am told that the Caromano family came from Abruzzi, however, I have no documentation to prove this and I have not been able to find a passenger manifest for any of them.

I think my best bet for finding the city of origin for the Caromano family is by finding an obituary for Angela’s mother. She died 6 June 1942 in Camden, New Jersey. By any chance does anyone know where I can find old New Jersey newspapers on microfilm?

I love this forum. You guys are the greatest.

[monica42]

You may want to see this....
http://www.foitimes.com/ and http://www.angelisland.org/immigr02.html 8O

[suanj]

Donna: what was the first name of Angelina father?.... (?)....Caromano.... you know? you know when Angelina can be emigrated?
thanks, suanj

However the Caromano surname exist also as CaramaNNo original version(2 N)..