Sometimes we need to write to the civil archives in Italy requesting information about our ancestor. Below you will find a number of basic letters that you are welcome to copy and use. Many of the people that I have helped with their Anglo Italian research have used these free Italian translations with excellent results. I always suggest that you enclose a small amount of money to cover the cost of copies and postage however you are not obliged to do so. If you have any doubts as to where you need to write please visit the Anglo Italian Genealogy page. http://angloitaliangenresearch.blogspot.com/ I also have a concise list of books on Italian Genealogy which covers numerous countries. http://italiangenealogybooks.blogspot.com/

Please feel free to link to this page so that others can make use of it.

Friday 22 January 2010

Requesting Baptism records from a church in Italy



From past experience, the probability of receiving a reply from the priest where your ancestor was born is not very satisfactory, the majority of the priests have their work cut out and really do not have time to delve in the archives to find a birth record for someone who died over a hundred years ago, however there are exceptions so do try.

Again I always suggest that you send some money to cover costs, in this case I phrase it as a donation, if you do not wish to send any money the take out the phrase in bold carachters .

*bisnonno is Great Grandfather nonno is Grandfather
Bisnonna is Grnadmother Nonna is Grandmother add the correct one.


Rev. Parroco di (name of church)
Comune

Reverendo Padre,

Mi risulta che il mio *bisnonno / nonno, (full name)................. figlio di (fathers name)..............., fu battezzato nella Sua parrocchio intorno al (year) .......... Le sarei molto grato se potesse cercare il suo atto di battesimo e l'atto di matrimonio dei suoi gentori. Nel caso riuscisse a trovarli, vorrei pregarla di spedirmene gli estratti con i nomi dei genitori così come sono registrati.

Alla presente accludo una donazione, in caso non fosse sufficiente, La prego di farmi sapere quanto ancora Le devo.

Ringraziando La fin d'ora per quanto potra' fare,

La saluto cordialmente.



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Translation:

PRIEST OF THE PARISH OF(Comune).....

Reverend Father:

I believe that my **greatgrandfather........., son of............, was baptised in your parish in about ............. I would appreciate it very much if you could seek his baptism record and the marriage record of his parents and if found please send me extracts including the names of parents as given in each entry.

Enclosed is a donation, if this is insufficient, please inform me of the additional amount to send.

Thank you for your help,

Yours Sincerely,

*
I hope that you receive a response to these free Italian translations, do let me know by leaving a comment.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have requested a copy of a marriage certificate which took place in about 1862 in San Giuseppe in the province of Frosinone, the civil records do not exist prior to 1870, I have tried to contact the church which would have have carried out the marriage, [all in Italian] but have had no responce, can you suggest what to try next?

Anonymous said...

I have checked several databases and there does not appear to be anything available for San Giuseppe at the moment.
I am afraid if the Priest is not willing to reply to your request then the only thing left is for you to wait and see if the parish records are made available on www.familysearch.org, I feel sure they won't be long in being available.

You could also request a certificate Stuazione degli Famiglia which you can read about on my other blog http://angloitaliangenresearch.blogspot.com/2008/09/requesting-civil-records-from-comune.html

That may give you some answers about them and other members of the family.