Italian DNA
If you have taken a DNA test at Ancestry.com or one of the other sites, you probably have had questions about your “Ethnicity Results”. If you are half Italian, like me, why didn’t your DNA results say you were 50% Italian? Here is a Youtube video that explains why. It is very technical, but it will help you understand that so-called “Italian DNA” is a lot more diverse than you might think.
Antenati
- http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/?lang=enOpens in a new tab
Family Search
- https://www.familysearch.org/en/Opens in a new tab
FamilySearch is the website run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. They have roughly the same civil records as Antenati. The good news is that they have the records for Verbicaro. There are 2 pieces of “Bad News”. First, they have the records for you to browse, but they are not indexed. You will have to go through the files, image by image, to find what you are looking for. Fortunately for you, I have put together what I call the Index of the Indexes.
Each set of images you view will be from the record books held in the city hall in Verbicaro. You can see some of those books in the picture of me and my family in the Verbicaro office. Most of the books have an index. I have gone through all of the images and located where most of the indexes are. You will still have to browse the images, but the indexes will help you narrow your search.
Now for the second piece of bad news. You can only access the records back to 1866 from home. There are some copyright laws that FamilySearch has to respect in order to have access to the records. If you want to see the images pre-1866, you have to go to your local FamilySearch library.
From the FamilySearch main page, this is the path you take to get to these records.
Search>Catalog>Search by Place>Type in the name “Verbicaro”>Click on “Italy, Cosenza, Verbicaro”>Click on “Italy, Cosenza, Verbicaro – Civil registration ( 1 )”>Click on “Registri dello stato civile di Verbicaro (Cosenza), 1809-1910”. You can then select the film you want to browse. This is where you can use the Index of the Indexes I have attached.
The Italian Cemetery in Colma, California.
- https://www.italiancemetery.com/Opens in a new tab
If you have Italian ancestors from the San Francisco Bay Area, you need to become familiar with this cemetery. A large percentage of my ancestors are buried in this cemetery. One resource that I use on a regular basis is cemetery records. They can be found on FamilySearch. The records are almost completely indexed. Below is an example of what the records look like
California, San Mateo County, Colma, Italian Cemetery records, 1899-2011
Using this in combination with Find A Grave will help you
find lots of information about your ancestors. https://www.
Documenti militari di Cosenza (Provincia), 1842-1901
our office
Verbicaro Anagrafe
After our visit, the gentleman in the gray sweater offered to go with us and point out where in the cemetery some of our ancestors were buried. We found who we were looking for in a few minutes.
In the spring of 2017, I was able to make a trip to Verbicaro. Our tour guide made arrangements for us to view records in the city offices. The staff was very friendly and helpful.
Anagrafe
