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."