Would the real Giuseppe Ribera please stand up?

Francofonte, of the province of Siracusa, Sicily, is a small city with a population of about 13,000. About 15 kilometers north is Scordia, of the province of Catania, Sicily, a city of 17,000 people. Scordia is the hometown of my paternal grandparents, Giuseppe Ribera and Maria Pernici. In a previous post, I wondered about the possibility that my grandfather had a first marriage to a young women from Francofonte. The reason for suspecting this was the discovery of a ship's manifest (S.S. Calabria) that listed "Giuseppe Ribera" traveling to the New York with his young wife, Francesca Ippolito. The age of this Giuseppe matched the age of my grandfather, 25 years old.
The only other Giuseppe Ribera we found through the Ellis Island website was a 39 year old farm laborer from Scordia, traveling from Naples to New York on the S. S. Algeria on March 20, 1907. Grandpa Ribera's passport was issued on May 1, 1913, so the 1907 sailing was unlikely. Further, in 1907 my grandfather would have been 19 years old, not 39.
So it was natural to assume that the Giuseppe Ribera who sailed from Palermo, on the S.S. Calabria on May 1, 1913, was my grandfather. That possibility made me curious about this passenger's wife Francesca Ippolito. So like a good detective I sought more information. The ship's manifest listed Francofonte as the last residence of Giuseppe and Francesca. I applied to the "Ufficio dello Stato Civile di Comune di Francofonte" for copies of the birth certificate of Francesca Ippolito and the marriage certificate of Giuseppe and Francesca.

In a little over three weeks I received not only extracts of these documents, but photocopies of the originals. In addition, they sent me the birth certificate of Giuseppe Ribbera (sic) born in Francofonte on xxx 1888. Alas, this man was not my grandfather. The documents all use an alternative spelling, Ribbera, in the originals and in the extracts. I have my grandfather's birth certificate from Scordia. The date of birth, the city of birth, and the parents of the child are all different. These were two different Giuseppe Riberas born in neighboring towns in the same year.

The last piece of evidence that confirmed that the Giuseppe who sailed on the S.S. Calabria on May 1, 1913, was not my grandfather, was the fact that my grandfather's passport is dated February 6, 1910. The passport was valid for 3 years. That means that it would have been expired on May 1, 1913, when the Calabria sailed from Palermo. My grandmother, Maria Pernici, received her passport on March 28, 1914, and sailed seven days later. It seems likely that my grandfather, too, would have sailed much closer to the date his passport was issued.

That means that Francesca Ippolito was not married to my grandfather. She was married to a man named Giuseppe Ribbera, who was not my ancestor.

So I need to continue my search for my grandfather's ship and record of emigration from Italy. So far nothing comes up on any of the sites that hold records: Ancestry.com, EllisIslandRecords.com, and Footnote.com. When I receive my grandfather's Naturalization Papers that will include a Certificate of Arrival. The Certificate of Arrival will indicate the ship he sailed on, the ports from which he embarked and disembarked, and the date of arrival. This search for Naturalization Papers is currently being conducted by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Collecting Documents

I have now received the following documents related to my genealogical research and Italian citizenship jus sanguinis:

• Birth records from Sicily for all four of my grandparents (1888, 1896, 1897, 1902). I have sent a second request for my Giuseppe's birth certificate. Since citizenship passes through the grandfather I will need a certified copy of his birth record not just the "extract" that they send me.
  
• Marriage records for my paternal grandparents (1914) and my own parents (1950), both from New York. The two sets of marriage records are very different. Much more information was required in 1950. It has been fascinating to read these documents, exact copies of the originals.
  
• Naturalization papers for my maternal grandparents (1925 & 1928) from the National Archive. I ordered a certified copy ($22.50) from my grandfather, and just a plain photocopy ($7.50) for my grandmother. The citizenship by right of blood passes through the grandfather, so I needed the certified copy for him. Both of these documents are also exact copies, probably made from microfilm. For my grandfather it includes his Declaration of Intention (1920), a Certificate of Arrival (1924), and his Petition for Naturalization (1924). This last date is significant since it shows that my mother was born before my grandfather "renounce[d] forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, and particularly to Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, of whom at this time I am a subject." I believe I will find this to be the case on my father's side of the family as well. That is, my mother and father were born Italian citizens, since their parents, at the time of their birth, were still subjects of the King, and had not yet renounced the King.
  

Actually, for the purposes of citizenship I only need to prove blood lineage through one grandfather, but I am getting certified birth certificates, certified marriage certificates, and naturalization papers for both grand fathers. I guess I am just covering my bases, while at the same time proving that I am 100% Italian.

I am still waiting for marriage certificates for my maternal grandparents (1922), and for my own marriage (1980), naturalization papers for my paternal grandfather (1927). I don't think, Maria Pernici, my paternal grandmother lived long enough to become a U.S. citizen. I also need birth certificates from my own parents who will need to order them themselves. The municipal archives in New York will allow me to order birth records that are more than 100 years old, and marriage records that are more than 50 years old. They consider such documents to be historic records and are available to the general public. So I was able to order their marriage certificate, but not their birth certificates.

Though not related to the documents required for Italian citizenship jus sanguinis, I am also requesting birth and marriage records for my all eight great-grandparents from their villages in Italy. Also, as a side interest, I am exploring the first marriage of my paternal grandfather. You may recall in a previous post I mentioned that my paternal grandfather, Giuseppe Ribera, immigrated in 1913 along with Francesca Ippolito, a young woman of 17 from a nearby village. Within a year another woman from my grandfather's home village of Scordia in Sicily immigrated and she and my grandfather were married the day she stepped off the boat in New York. I have requested birth records for Francesca and marriage records for Giuseppe and Francesca.

Dual Nationality

Here is a direct quotation of an explanation from U.S. State Department web site on the topic of Dual Nationality. It addresses the circumstances under which a U.S. citizen may acquire dual nationality and some of the implications for dual nationals to consider.

"The concept of dual nationality means that a person is a citizen of two countries at the same time. Each country has its own citizenship laws based on its own policy.Persons may have dual nationality by automatic operation of different laws rather than by choice. For example, a child born in a foreign country to U.S. citizen parents may be both a U.S. citizen and a citizen of the country of birth.

"A U.S. citizen may acquire foreign citizenship by marriage, or a person naturalized as a U.S. citizen may not lose the citizenship of the country of birth.U.S. law does not mention dual nationality or require a person to choose one citizenship or another. Also, a person who is automatically granted another citizenship does not risk losing U.S. citizenship. However, a person who acquires a foreign citizenship by applying for it may lose U.S. citizenship. In order to lose U.S. citizenship, the law requires that the person must apply for the foreign citizenship voluntarily, by free choice, and with the intention to give up U.S. citizenship.

"Intent can be shown by the person's statements or conduct.The U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it as a matter of policy because of the problems it may cause. Claims of other countries on dual national U.S. citizens may conflict with U.S. law, and dual nationality may limit U.S. Government efforts to assist citizens abroad. The country where a dual national is located generally has a stronger claim to that person's allegiance.

"However, dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country. They are required to obey the laws of both countries. Either country has the right to enforce its laws, particularly if the person later travels there.Most U.S. citizens, including dual nationals, must use a U.S. passport to enter and leave the United States. Dual nationals may also be required by the foreign country to use its passport to enter and leave that country. Use of the foreign passport does not endanger U.S. citizenship.Most countries permit a person to renounce or otherwise lose citizenship.

"Information on losing foreign citizenship can be obtained from the foreign country's embassy and consulates in the United States. Americans can renounce U.S. citizenship in the proper form at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad."

Those efficient Sicilians

Saturday, the day after Christmas, I received in the mail two envelopes from the town of Scordia, in the province of Catania, in Sicily. The envelopes contained the birth certificates of my paternal grandparents. Actually they look more like extracts from their birth certificates, confirming what I suspected of their dates of birth and the names of their parents.

Then on Monday, December 28, I received another envelope from Italy--a single envelope from the town of Castellammare del Golfo, in the province of Trapani, in Sicily. This one envelope contained a cover letter, two birth certificates and pages of extracts for my maternal grandparents.

I am totally impressed with the speed and efficiency with which the officials in these two towns responded to my requests for vital records.

If I pursue Italian citizenship jus sanguinis, I should be able to use my maternal grandfather's birth certificate, since it seems to be official with a certificate number, etc. If I decide to use my paternal grandfather's material I will probably need to have the folks in Scordia issue a more formal certificate like the one they issued in Castellemmare del Golfo.

Welcome to the story

Βίβλος γενέσεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ υἱοῦ Δαυὶδ υἱοῦ Ἀβραάμ.

I like the way the English Standard and other versions translate this first verse of the gospel of St. Matthew. "The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ...." The King James expressed it this way, "the generation of," which may not be a bad translation. It's just that I am in the midst of my own genealogical search, so I connect better with the former language. The bible devotes quite a few pages to the whole genealogy thing. The writers seem very concerned to establish a link between the promises in the Old Testament and the promised One in the New Testament, and one link is the ancestral lineage to Jesus Christ. This is the story of God's plan of redemption, from promise to fulfillment.

A friend was recently criticizing the current trend among some Christians to "tell their stories." "I'll tell you my story, you tell me yours." This friend retorted, "It's not about my story or your story. It is about God's story and you and I are a part of that bigger story."

I remember the first time I read the bible through in a more or less chronological fashion. I was impressed with the unfolding of God's story. When I got through the book of Acts I had the distinct impression that the story continued. It continued through the generations all the way to me. I was a part of that story of redemption. I was a son of Adam, a descendant of Noah, one of the children of Abraham by faith, I was one of the gentiles grafted in, as the story spread "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." I am a character in the story that God is telling.

I'm not going to lay deep spiritual meaning on the immigration of my forebears, though my grandmother, Maria Pernici, was probably the same age as Mary when she conceived Jesus. But the sovereignty of God and the grace of God are ingredients as essential in this chapter of the story that we are a part of as they were essential to the accounts in the bible. So I want to say this to all the little ones in the next generation, to Micah, Amos, Ezra, Josiah, Elijah, Aya, and our littlest precious Ivo. You are children of God, children of the promise of grace, you are part of God's unfolding story, just as Abraham and David were, and just as Giuseppe and Maria and Diego and Vincenza were. Welcome to the story.

How to get genealogical records

Here are some of the links that I have used to do my genealogical research.

New York City Vital Records at the Municipal Archives Information, links, and forms for obtaining vital records, i.e., birth, death and marriage certificates in New York City.

Short Forms and Long Forms If you are simply doing genealogical research, that is, you only want names and dates of your ancestors, a short form is sufficient. If you are collecting documents for international use, dual citizenship (see below), or will be getting an Apostille (see below), you will need a long form with a Letter of Exemplification attached. See this link for definitions.

VitalChek An online company through which you can order birth, marriage, and death certificates. As far as I can tell they do only short forms.

Office of the City Clerk--Marriage Records Here you will find information, forms, and on-line applications for obtaining records of marriages performed in the five boroughs of New York.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services The USCIS Genealogy Program searches its immigration and naturalization database for records related to specific immigrants. Once they locate a record you can order a copy of the record.

Social Security Death Index This free link through ancestry.com will allow you to search for a deceased ancestor.

Ancestry Go to Ancestry.com for all kinds of documents. This is where I got ships' manifests for all four of my grandparents. I was also able to get copies of census forms for 1920 and 1930, as well as US military registrations for both grandfathers.

U.S. Diplomatic Mission to Italy (The U.S. Embassy) Information, links, and forms on how to obtain vital records in Italy. I found this site very helpful.

Italian Embassy in Washington DC (The Italian Embassy) Information, links, and forms on how to obtain vital records in Italy, from the Italian perspective.

Comuni Italia When writing to Italy you will need to know the name of the comune and the provincia where your ancestor was born. Here is an Italian database with information on all Italian provinces and municipalities.

Comuni Italiani Another link to an Italian database of regions, provinces, and municipalities. Good links to city services.

Dual Citizenship and Citizenship jus sanguinis Here are various links related to Citizenship jus sanguini: US State Department information on Dual Nationality, Wikipedia, a Blog, another blog with good information. Do a Google search on "jus sanguinis." You will get a ton of hits. For some reason Italian Dual Citizenship uses the term jure sanguinis. I don't know Latin, but I think these two terms can be used synonymously.

Italian Dual Citizenship An online company that will provide documents and services to help you obtain Italian Citizenship jus sanguinis. It is very expensive to have professionals do work that you could do for a lot less money. But they do provide good information.

Italian Citizenship and Genealogical Services Another online company. Again, very costly to hire someone to do all this work, but a lot of good information.

Apostilles If you are serious about Dual Citizenship jus sanguinis, you will need to get an apostille (ă pŏs tēēl) for every US document that will be part of the application. This is a form of authentication, agreed upon through international convention (1961 Hague Convention), that allows countries to accept the authenticity and legality of foreign documents. It is like having a document notarized for international use. Here is a helpful blog on getting an Apostille for documents in New York State. US Department of State information on Apostilles.

She was sixteen years old

My grandmother, Maria Pernici grew up in the "comune di Scordia, provincia di Catania, Sicilia." Perhaps "grew up" is not quite accurate. She was whisked away to America at a young age. She was not even 18 years old, as her marriage certificate says, she was 16. I wonder if she had ever traveled beyond Scordia, "Città delle Arance Rosse" (the City of the Red Orange). Was her trip to the Port of Palermo her first venture across the island of Sicily? She did not even sign her own passport. She was accompanied by a 38 year old laborer named Giuseppe Liggerio. Were her father, Luigi Pernici, and her mother, Giuseppa Barchetta, there to wave goodbye as the S. S. Berlin (above left) pulled away from the dock on April 4th? What was this 5' 3" fair-skinned sixteen year old Sicilian girl thinking? How did she spend her time on the 12 day voyage?

My grandfather Giuseppe had already been in New York for almost a year. He had arrived on May 16, 1913. The manifest of his ship, the S.S. Calabria (right), bears some strange news for the Ribera family. His name "Giuseppe Ribera" age 25, appears on line 12 of the manifest; below his name on line 13, is one Francesca Ippolito. At 17 years old she is listed as "his wife." Column 13 of the manifest asks, "By whom was passage paid?" For Giuseppe it says, "self," for Francesca it says, "husband." Column 18 asks for the name and address of the relative or friend the immigrant is going to join. For my grandfather it says, "Brother-in-law, Ippolito Salvatore 125 Olive Street, New York." For Francesca it simply says, "Brother." Stranger still, for place of birth, for both Giuseppe and Francesca it says, Sicily, Francofonte. Now, I have not yet received my grandfather's birth certificate, but every other document I have seen (passport, U.S. marriage certificate, U.S. military registration) indicates that he was born in Scordia. Francofonte is about 13 kilometers south east of Scordia, about a 2-3 hour walk. I wonder how they met? Did they sail to America with their families' blessings? When were they married? Was this a family arrangement? What happened to Francesca? Did she die? How did Giuseppe get a new bride so fast? Did Maria Pernici know Francesca Ippolito? Was the marriage to Maria a family arrangement?

What was Maria thinking as the S.S. Berlin docked in New York harbor? Was she awed by the Statue of Liberty? The night of April 16, 1914, was she sheltered at the St. Raphael Society for Italian immigrants, which is listed as her residence on her marriage certificate? Did she sleep that night? The next day, did Giuseppe walk the mile and a half from 14 Monroe Street, on the lower east side of Manhattan, cross town to 10 Charlton Street where they were married? Prior to the ceremony, I imagine she was told to say "diciotto anni," (eighteen years) for her age. That's why the marriage certificate says 18. I don't know what the law was in 1914, but to get married in New York today: "If either applicant is 16 or 17 years of age, such applicant(s) must present the written consent of both parents. If both applicants are 18 years of age or older, no consents are required."

Maria bore four children by Giuseppe between 1916 and 1921. My father was the youngest. In 1923, she passed away at 26; my father was only two. My grandfather remarried (again?); and that too is another story.