Umberto Gagliasso 1889 - 1947

[Waterlilly67]

I am still trying to do research on a woman from my hometown, and have information about her 2nd husband, but I am at a loss for anything about her 1st husband, though it was a short marriage (1920-1922/23 I cannot find a divorce record, so it probably took place in S. America).

I have checked Family Search and Ancestry and found a Passport Application, several passenger lists, a marriage record for his first marriage and for his 2nd marriage. So, I have everything that is available from Family Search and Ancestry but am very stuck.

His name was Umberto Gagliasso he was born on 5 December 1889 in Turin, Italy. His father was listed on his marriage record (in Michigan) as Michele Gagliasso and his mother was listed as Janetta Julie. Umberto died 20 Mar 1947 in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

There were several book sources that said his father was supposedly a famous opera baritone in Italy and in handwritten notes that when Umberto's brother died, he inherited the title of count but didn't accept it because he was an American citizen and a businessman so he thought it would be silly to have a title attached to his name. But any information beyond that was miniscule matter of fact information, so it is not detailed.

I am at a loss for information because IF his family was titled and his father was supposedly a famous opera singer, why can I find NOTHING about him other than the few things I listed at the beginning of this post? It is strange that there are no newspaper articles with his name, granted Newspapers.com uses AI to index names from papers and the name indexing is far from complete.

Any help in where I can look for information on Umberto and his family in Italy would be appreciated. I just hate not finding anything about someone I am researching, gets frustrating (have the gray hairs from 40 years of family research as proof lol).

Regards,
Rachel

[rlw254]

Umberto Gagliasso can be found on the 1889 Liste di Leva having been born in Verres, Torino, on 5 Dec to parents Michele Gagliasso & Giovanetta Giulia.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... at=2525705

[darkerhorse]

Have you checked all 23 family trees he appears in on Ancestry.com?

[Waterlilly67]

Yes, I did check the family trees and contacted the owners, but no one could help me with information other than what they had on the site. The people who responded to me they said they got their information from other trees on Ancestry.

[Waterlilly67]

Thank you rlw254 for the birth information. Gives me something to go on.

[darkerhorse]

You could search for books on the local history of Verres or Turin? There might be mention of a famous family.

I found such information in a library in the U.S. whose city is the sister city of my ancestral town in Italy. I've also found relevant local history books on a visit to my ancestral town, in both the local library and in a book shop.

Detroit might be a sister city of Turin. I don't know about Verres.

[darkerhorse]

Or this:
https://saltlakesistercities.com/torino-italy/

Family Search is located there, I believe.

[darkerhorse]

I've seen some references about nobility in Sicily but I don't know about Turin. You could search that too.

[Tessa78]

His name was Umberto Gagliasso he was born on 5 December 1889 in Turin, Italy. His father was listed on his marriage record (in Michigan) as Michele Gagliasso and his mother was listed as Janetta Julie. Umberto died 20 Mar 1947 in Buenos Aries, Argentina.

There were several book sources that said his father was supposedly a famous opera baritone in Italy

In the Liste di Leva posted by rlw254... Umberto's father, Michele Gagliasso, is listed as an "Impiegato di commerciante" - which is a merchant clerk/employee.
His mother Giulia Giovannetta is listed as a "Negoziante" - a Merchant/trader

T/

[Waterlilly67]

I have a feeling he was embellishing when he told Helen that about his father, knowing she was an opera singer, he probably figured it would make him look better in her eyes.

Actually, I found a lot of people I have researched over the years tended to fib quite a lot, especially back in the day because nowadays you can do an easy search for information but back then, who would try and dig stuff up to see if what is being said was true.