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APPENDIX I There is perhaps no activity which can more vividly reawaken one's sense of history and ethnic awareness than the compiling of a family history. For Anglo-Americans this can be a relatively simple process, for thousands of volumes have already been published specifically dealing with English, Scotch, Welsh and Irish genealogy and are relatively accessible in any large public library. The Cleveland Public Library, for example, has over 150 separate works dealing only with British ancestry, not including various periodicals such as the Parish Register Society and the Publications of the Northamtonshire Record Society. Parish records in England, Ireland and Scotland have been well kept and many are available at the Western Reserve Historical Society and the Public Library. In this country each state Historical Society has compiled documents and other primary sources dealing with early settlers in their state. In sum, the original interest in family history has rested primarily with this Anglo-American community. Consequently the materials currently available reflect this group's pedigree. Americans of Continental descent have had little printed material from which to work in their attempts to trace family histories. To further complicate matters one must also contend with language barriers and the almost continuous shifting of boundaries over the last 200 years. Thus, depending on when and where a relative was born, his "official" language may have been Austrian while his vernacular speech would have been Slovenian, Croatian or Italian. The Anglo-American can, with relative ease, trace his or her ancestry to a neatly kept collection of parish records in County Cork or Yorkshire. The uninitiated Italian-American would quickly realize that attempts to go beyond a paternal grandparent would end in frustration and failure. The problem is knowing how and where to look. Some of these questions will hopefully be answered in this essay. This essay was prepared to assist those of Italian extraction in ascertaining their own individual family histories. It will require work, but the rewards of knowing more about your particular history should more than compensate for the efforts. (1). The task of tracing a family history falls into two distinct categories. The first task lies in tracing the history of one's family in America and the second should deal with following those pertinent individuals back to Italy as far as possible. The first task should be approached in the following manner. Contact all relatives who can give any recollections about origins such as who was the first from your family to come to America. When did they arrive, and where? What section and town did they come from in Italy? These are really the most important steps in recreating a family portrait, because they will determine the framework for the genealogy. This step is essential, because these living relatives can later clarify initial problems encountered in subsequent research. (2). For the city of Cleveland you can trace your recent ancestors within the last 100 years or so by consulting the city Directory, available from the early 1800's to the present. The Directory can be used at the Western Reserve Historical Society or the Cleveland Public Library. They are arranged alphabetically and will include the name, address and occupation of the individual you are seeking. By using these on a yearly basis you can determine changes in occupations, ethnic mobility from one neighborhood to another, even changes in spelling of names. For example, Francesco de Nicola may appear for six consecutive years at a particular address and suddenly appear as Francis or Frank Nicols at the same address. Obviously there was a name change in the Americanization process but the original name is most important for tracing previous ancestry. (3). Also at the local level, one should consult church records which will indicate additional information about the individual's background such as date and place of birth, marriages, baptisms, etc. Usually family members are allowed such access with permission from the parish and/or the diocese. The address of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese will be found in the last page of this essay. If a non-Catholic member is involved, local civil information can be obtained by checking with the County Courthouse for such materials. Some helpful guides have been prepared by the government on finding especially difficult civil materials. At a nominal fee of 35¢ each, one may order guides entitled "Where to Write for Birth and Death Certificates" and "Where to Write for Marriage Records" from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D.C. 20402. (4). Since we are dealing with Italian aliens of the first generation who may or may not have become citizens, one should also contact the Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization for official documentation which would determine general and occasionally specific information on a recently arrived immigrant. Prior to 1906 information required for an immigrant in the process of naturalization was very sketchy. Most Italians immigrated to America about this time, so specific information would be marginal. These materials on naturalization would be kept in the local courthouse where the individual applied. If immigration occurred after 1906 copies of the naturalization papers would be housed locally as well as at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. I was reminded by the Bureau of Immigration that anyone wishing this kind of information must apply for it through the local Immigration and Naturalization office. In Cleveland this bureau is located in the Anthony J. Celebrezze Federal Building. (5). It is also possible by writing or visiting the National Archives in Washington, D.C. to obtain a photocopy of a Federal Census record which would also indicate pertinent information about the individual in question. This listing required more sophisticated questions at the turn of the century when Italian immigration was greatest. Thus, the interested party could trace back his or her grandparent by using the Federal Census lists if aware of that person's city of habitation during a particular census period. Microfilmed copies of the Ohio Federal Census from 1820 to 1880 are currently available at the Western Reserve Historical Society. After 1900 the information must be obtained directly from the National Archives. To do this contact the National Archives in Washington and determine which of its 11 branches is nearest to you. Write to that branch and give them the state, county and census year. They will give you the number of the microfilm roll containing the census information about your ancestor. Ask the Cleveland Public Library to borrow that film for you and you can get an accurate accounting of a particular ancestor's past. (6). It is also possible in some cases to use the Federal Archives to determine the actual vessel which was used to transport one's relatives by utilizing Ship's Passenger Lists. These microfilmed collections would contain the name of the vessel, the ship's master, and most important, the names of all passengers, port of embarcation, age, sex and port of immigration. For the majority of Italians this port would be Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore or New Orleans. There is a special form for obtaining this information, Form GSA-7111, the official request for passenger lists. This must be done through the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Once you have traced your roots back to your relatives who first immigrated to America, the trail doesn't have to end there. You can indeed trace them back to the country, region and town from which they came. An excellent place to begin is the massive library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) in Salt Lake City, Utah. It holds information on people of every race, creed and nationality, from some forty countries. The library contains more than a billion names and genealogical data from 1538 to 1885. It maintains a staff of 75 around the world who are constantly microfilming records in national and local archives, museums, cemeteries, churches, etc. The six storehouses for this unique collection of microfilm are chiseled into a mountain in the Rockies. Most of the information in the main library is available from any of the 216 local branches of the Mormon Church in the United States. None of the libraries accept requests by mail to trace ancestry but you can do it yourself on the premises free of charge. The address of the local branch is also located on the last page of this essay. Thus, by using relatives, local records and Federal repositories the serious researcher should be able to trace the history of his or her own ancestry in this country. Who was the first Italian in your family to settle in America, where and when did he settle and from what area of Italy did he originate? Equipped with the answers to these questions, one is ready for the second major undertaking, that of tracing back one's genealogy to the region, town or frazioni (village) from which they originated. This aspect for the Italian-American researcher is especially difficult because rarely have there been any guides to follow in this pursuit. One work in English by Joseph G. Fucilla, entitled Our Italian Surnames deals only with the origins of names rather than actually tracing back the individual family histories. Dante at least had Virgil and Beatrice to guide him through the uncertainties of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. The Italian-American researcher could encounter formidable problems and without a working set of guidelines could lose his way in a labyrinth of manmade obstacles. Although each individual's efforts will vary, certain standards can be set down establishing rules and procedures. If the exact area or town in Italy is known there should be fewer problems. In this case two sources are indispensable for research. First, the Civil Communal Archives of each town should contain all legal documents such as birth certificates, marriage licenses and death notices. These records were standardized in Italy in 1869, but in the south of Italy Civil Registration began in 1820. Birth registers were required by law to show the exact time and place of nativity, sex, name of the child, surname, occupation, residence and occasionally the age of the father and maiden name of the mother. In some instances the names of the paternal grandparents are also indicated. Thus by writing or visiting the town where your ancestor originated you should be able to acquire knowledge of several generations. The address of each communal archive may be acquired by writing to the Institute Italiane di Cultura, 686 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10021. Another source is the two-volume work The World of Learning, 1976-1977. Italy in Volume I lists about 150 civic libraries and repositories in Italy by city with the addresses. Noel C. Stevenson's Search and Research (1959) also lists various European libraries and archives of benefit to the genealogist. The Cleveland Public Library has several works in Italian on Italian genealogy, but they deal usually with Italian nobility and heraldry and usually would be of little value unless one's ancestors were titled nobility in Italy. Works of special note are the Dizionario Biografico Degli Italiani, a scholarly dictionary of national biography which began in 1960. Another monumental compilation is Vittorio Spreti's Enciclopedia Storica Nobiliare Italiana (6 Volumes, 1928-1932) which is helpful in identifying some Italian families. By using the municipal archives one should be able to trace one's ancestry back to the early 19th century. If, however, this information is not available because of lost or damaged records another source is available. This is the Parish Archives which date back to an Edict of the Council of Trent in 1563, authorizing each parish to maintain a complete listing of its parishioners. The Parish Archives are usually in Latin and cover even the most remote villages in the district. An application to the diocesan chancery is usually required before the local parish records are permitted to be used. Microfilming and/or xeroxing of pertinent information will not usually be available, so a letter with the needed information may be the contents of a reply from an Italian parish request. Names and addresses of pertinent ecclesiastical authorities in Italy may be obtained from the Institute Italiano di Cultura in New York or from the local diocesan office in Cleveland. Also included in some parochial registers will be a Status Animarum, literally the "state of souls," which will list the particulars of a household. Included would be the names, ages, residence, birth dates, occupations and occasionally remarks about the spiritual status of the family. In some regions the Status Animarum was well kept and updated every two or three years while other areas were not as scrupulous in their clerical preciseness. An interesting problem could arise when researching your Italian ancestry. In some cases there may be many persons in one town or village with the same surname as yours. One genealogist discovered that in a north Italian village of about 1400 people, 850 had the same last name. In a town in Sicily of some 6000, 80% of the population could be divided into 7 surnamed groups. It is for this reason that the Parish Records and the Status Animarum will be of significant value in ascertaining one's particular ancestry. In addition to the Communal and Parochial archives one may also consult the Archivio di Stato or state archives, which exist currently in about 72 cities, each the chief city in a particular province. There are also state archives in the larger urban centers such as Rome, Naples, Palermo, Venice, Turin, Milan, Genoa, Florence, and Bologna. Addresses of these state archives are available from the Instituto Italiano di Cultura. Within the archives notorial registers or minute books can be located which will contain information of a legal nature, usually marriage contracts, sales of property, etc. In addition military conscription registers known as Leva, covering a whole military district, may be consulted for persons born in the last 100 years. The Leva will reveal the exact birthplace of an individual as well as other pertinent information. For the Italian-American of Sicilian ancestry who wishes to trace back his or her cultural roots there is an American-based travel organization which specializes in tours to Sicily for just that purpose. Perillo Tours in New York has plans to institute a speciality package which will specialize in genealogical searches in Sicily. The address of the Perillo Agency can be obtained from any travel service in Cleveland. The following addresses will facilitate the interested researcher in obtaining preliminary information on an Italian-American family history: The National Archives The Genealogical Society of the Church of Jesus Instituto Italiano di Cultura The Italian Consulate: Cleveland The Italian Embassy The Western Reserve Historical Society The Cleveland and Catholic Diocese The Federal Archives and Records Center - Chicago 7358 South Pulaski Road Some Italian names and addresses for continental genealogy: Vital Statistics (Italy): Wills and some legal documents: Italian National Archives: APPENDIX II BOOKS FOR TEACHERS: Amfitheatrof, Eric. The Children of Columbus: An Informal History of the Italians in the New World. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1973. Barzini, Luigi. The Italians. New York: Antheneum Publishers, 1964. _____________. From Caesar to the Mafia. Bantam Books, 1971. Banks, James A., ed. Teaching Ethnic Studies: Concepts and Strategies, 1973. Cordasco, Francesco and Eugene Buccioni. The Italians: Social Backgrounds of an American Group, 1974. Cordasco, Francesco and Salvatore LaGumina. Italians in the United States: A Bibliography of Reports, Texts, Critical Studies and Related Materials, 1972. Covello, Leonard. The Social Background of the Italo-American School Child. 1967. D'Angelo, Pascal. Sons of Italy, 1975. DeConde, Alexander. Half Bitter, Half Sweet, 1971. Donato, Pietro Di. Christ in Concrete, 1975. Ets, Marie Hall. Rosa, the Life of an Italian Immigrant, 1970. Fenton, Edwin. Immigrants and Unions, A Case Study: Italians and American Labor, 1870-1920, 1975. Fucilla, Joseph. The Teaching of Italian in the United States, 1967. Foerster, Robert Franz. The Italian Emigration of Our Times, 1927. Fermi, Laura. Atoms in the Family - My Life with Enrico Fermi, 1954. Fermi, Laura. Illustrious Immigrants, the Intellectual Migration from Europe, 1930-1941, 1968. Garlick, Richard C., Jr. et al. Italy and the Italians in Washington's Time, 1933. Garlick, Richard. Philip Mazzei, Friend of Jefferson, 1933. Gallo, Patrick. Ethnic Alienation: The Italian Americans, 1974. Gambino, Richard. Blood of My Blood, 1974. Glazer, Nathan and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Beyond the Melting Pot, 1963. Greeley, Andrew M. Why Can't They Be Like Us? 1969. Iorizzo, Luciano and Salvatore Mondello. The Italian American, 1971. Kennedy, John F. A Nation of Immigrants, 1960. La Gumina, Salvadore J. Vito Marcantonio, the People's Politician, 1969. La Gumina, Salvatore, ed. WOP! A Documentary History of Anti-Italian Discrimination in the United States, 1973. Levy, Mark R. and Michael S. Kramer. The Ethnic Factor, 1972. Logatto, A.F. The Italians in America: A Chronology and Fact Book, 1972. Marinacci, Barbara. They Came From Italy, 1967. Mangione, Jerre. America is Also Italian, 1969. Marchione, Margherita. Philip Mazzei, 1976. Musmanno, Michael. The Story of the Italians in America, 1965. Nelli, Humbert S. The Italians in Chicago, 1880-1930: A Study in Ethnic Mobility, 1970. Odencrantz, Louise C. Italian Women in Industry, 1919 (Reprint, 1975). Parenti, Michael John. Ethnic and Political Attitudes: A Depth Study of Italian Americans, 1962. Panunzio, Constantine M. The Soul of an Immigrant, 1928 (Reprint, 1975). Pisani, Lawrence Frank. The Italian in America, 1957. Puzo, Mario. The Godfather, 1969. Puzo, Mario. The Fortunate Pilgrim. Rolle, Andrew. The Immigrant Upraised, 1968. Rolle, Andrew. The American Italians: Their History and Culture, 1972. Rose, Philip M. The Italians in America, 1922. Rose, Peter I. They and We: Racial and Ethnic Relations in the United States, 1964. Sartorio, Enrico C. Social and Religious Life of Italians in America, 1970. Scarpaci, Jean A., ed. The Interaction of Italians and Jews in America, 1974. Schiavo, Giovanni E. Four Centuries of Italian American History, 1952. Schiavo, Giovanni. Italian American History, 2 volumes, 1947 and 1949. Schiavo, Giovanni. The Italians in America Before the Civil War, 1934. Tomasi, Silvano M. and Madeline Engels, ed. The Italian Experience In America, 1970. Ulm, Richard Otis. The Italo-American Student in the American Public Schools, 1958. Walsh, James. What Civilization Owes to Italy, 1930. FILMSTRIPS: The Italians: Minorities Have Made America Great, Set One. Distributor: Warren Schloat Productions, Inc., Tarrytown, New York. Italian Doesn't Mean Mafia - The Italian American. Distributor: Creative Media Production, Chatham, New Jersey. The Italian-Americans. Distributor: Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, New York City. Italians in America. Distributor: Anti-Defamation League of B'Nai B'rith, New York City. The Story of the Italian American. Distributor: Eye-Gate House, Jamaica, New York. Little Italy from Immigration: The Dream and the Reality. Distributor: Warren Schloat Productions, Inc., Tarrytown, New York. Ethnic Neighborhoods in Transition (Cleveland). Distributor: Department of Social Studies, Cleveland Public Schools. Italian Americans, Part I and II in Ethnic Studies: The Peoples of America Series. Distributor: Educational Design Inc., New York. MAGAZINES AND REVIEWS OF ITALIAN STUDIES: The Italian Quarterly. Italica (Published by the American Association of Teachers of Italian). Italian American, State University College at Buffalo, 1300 Elmwood Avenue, Buffalo, New York 14222. The Italian Historical Society of America, 111 Columbia Heights, Brooklyn, New York 11201. Identity Magazine, P.O. Box 305, Dover, New Jersey 07801. I-AM, The National Magazine for Italian Americans, P.O. Box 6350, Marion, Ohio 43302. RESEARCH ORGANIZATIONS: Center for Immigration Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455. Dr. Rudolph J. Vecoli, Director. Center for Migration Studies, 209 Flagg Place, Staten Island, New York 10304. Sylvan M. Tomasi, C.S. Director. Programma Di Lingua E Cultura Italiana Per La Communita Di New Jersey, Del Nord, Italian Catholic Center, 78 Market Street, Patterson, New Jersey 17505. National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs, 4408 8th Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20071. Monsignor Geno Baroni, Director. Roots of America: A Multi-Ethnic Curriculum Resource Guide for 7th, 8th and 9th Grade Social Studies Teachers. National Education Association Publication, 1975. Section on the Italian American Experience, pp. 107-123 contains brief topical introduction to Immigration, The Italian American Community, Discrimination, Contributions and Achievements and Resource Guide. This was the project developed by the New Jersey Educational Association and the National Educational Association Ethnic Heritage Program. Copies may be obtained by writing The New Jersey Educational Association, Instruction Division, Trenton, New Jersey 08608. Curriculum Guidelines for Multiethnic Education, Position Statement, 1976. National Council for the Social Studies, 1515 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, Virginia 22209. American Institute of Italian Studies, Eight East Sixty-Ninth Street, New York, New York 10021. TABLE A
Sources: Annual Reports of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, 1970-1975. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970. U.S. Bureau of the Census, Volume I, pp. 105-106, 1975. TABLE B
*Estimated Census conducted by the Cleveland Police Department
Source: The Annual Report of the Departments of Government of the City of Cleveland, 1856-1910. Another work by David E. Green entitled The Invasion of Cleveland by the Europeans (Cleveland: Mission Study Committee, 1906) included a rather inaccurate analysis of immigrant flow to the city with statistics compiled from the same Police Census statistics. In regard to the number of Italian immigrants to Cleveland each year, Green provided the following statistics:
We know, for example, that according to the Federal Census of 1880 there were only 110 Italians in Cleveland. If Green's figures are accurate then the yearly exodus of Italians from the city must have been phenomenal! TABLE C
***The terminology used to indicate foreign population is often misleading. In the early census of this century it was usually "foreign born" which was used to refer to the city's foreign population. However, during the last census the terms "foreign stock," "foreign born," and "mixed or foreign parentage" are used thereby confusing the issue. Basically an Italian is so considered if he is foreign born or if his parents were foreign born. Therefore, a third generation Italian-American would not be considered as an Italian in this census. Source: United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 1900-1970. TABLE D
Major Ohio Cities with Significant Italian Foreign Stock, 1970
Source: Characteristics of the Population, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Ohio, 1970, Volume 2, Table 141. TABLE E
***Outdoor relief was public assistance to the needy either on a temporary or sustained basis. It included the following items which were distributed through the city's Department of the Infirmary: coal, meat, shoes, soap, tea, coffee, corn meal, railroad passes, flour, sugar, potatoes, rice, beans, peas, barley and burial expenses.
Source: The Annual Report of the Departments of Government of the City of Cleveland: Department of the Infirmary TABLE F
Source: The Annual Report of the Departments of Government of the City of Cleveland, 1870-1902. Beginning in 1870 and ending in 1902 the Police Department of the City of Cleveland annually published its detailed accounting of the year's criminal activity within the city. For the 32 years studied the police department listed individual crimes and the number of occurrences of each. It then also listed by nativity the number of individuals from the major 15 ethnic groups within the city arrested and charged with a crime.*** Numerically the Italians during this period were not a major criminal threat to the peace and security of the city. Indeed, their crime statistics were usually less than 5% of the foreign population. If the above "official" figures of the police department are relatively accurate there was a great deal of "ethnic" criminality in Cleveland, but the groups which contributed most to this situation were not the Italians, during this period at any rate. The statistical information stops at 1902, for in that year the police department no longer supplied the same kind of numerical breakdown as it had, and only designated "white" and "colored" criminal figures. ***Crimes in the reports were never specified for individual groups, but in 1910, for example, there were 7185 arrests with the following crimes comprising more than half of the charges:
TABLE G
***Census figures determine this area to be without a significant foreign born population. Source: Census Tracts: Cleveland, Ohio, 1950-1970.  Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory  Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory  Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory  Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory   Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory  Reproduced with permission of Real Property Inventory |
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