Hello and Happy Father’s Day!
It seems like I have’t posted in a hot minute but the truth is I’ve been so busy working on a very special project [which I’m extremely excited about!] with two of my good friends, Louis Loccisano from the Calabria DNA Project and Carm Papallo from Martone.info.
For the last several months now we’ve been working hard on securing as many Church baptism, marriage and death records for many of the towns in and around the Locride area in Reggio Calabria which could potentially & quite realistically help people trace their families as far back as the 1500’s! Through these records I added several new surnames to my tree which I can now expand on.
This has been a massive and expensive undertaking. Currently thousands of images have been scanned page by page from Church books by our contact in Italy and then sent over for approval by Louis back in the U.S.A. Since these records are all written in Latin, we now face the extremely daunting task of attempting to extract them all where we hope to make them available for viewing for our subscribers who are interested in these towns. [See disclaimer at the end of this post.]
As of today we have obtained all available records for the following 10 towns:
- Caulonia
- Ciminá
- Gerace
- Gioiosa Ionica
- Grotteria
- Mammola
- Martone
- Roccella Ionica
- San Giovanni di Gerace
- Siderno
I hope you’re excited about this project as much as we are. As you can imagine though a project of this magnitude came at a pretty hefty price – which was funded completely from privates funds – and this is only Phase 1! In order to continue the project – which would include the extractions [Phase 2] and hosting [Phase 3] portions – we’ve decided to open it up by accepting donations through our Paypal account. [Just add the words Calabria Church Project & the town name you are researching [if applicable] to the notes sections and all monies will be delegated accordingly. Towns which receive higher interest will be extracted first. If you would like a town extracted that is not listed above please leave a comment and we will get back to you to let you know if it’s possible and with a quote on the costs.
[Disclaimer: At this time the actual records themselves will remain private to the general public as the collection in its current state is copyrighted. This post contains no affiliate links nor will I be making any money on any donations received. ]
Thanks for reading and happy researching!
About the author
I have been researching the civil records of Siderno since 1998 and the years that were not microfilmed by the LDS (1859-1865 and other some other random years like 1900, 1903, 1904) are driving me crazy leaving holes in my research. I am in these records all the time adding more cousins to my tree and helping paesani with their research. More recently I have been working on my maternal grandmother’s side from Gioiosa Ionica and Grotteria. It’s been a challenge learning new handwriting, surnames, and streets/contrade.
I am not in a position to help financially but if you are looking for volunteers to transcribe, I’d be more than happy to help. About 10 years ago I was given the opportunity to examine some of the Siderno church records, so I am familiar with the structure of the records and a bit with the Latin shorthand.
Thank you for your offer. At this time we have enough volunteers to extract but we will let you know if a spot becomes available. Thanks!
When is someone going to do San Giovanni in Fiore?
I would love to do this town if someone would like to sponsor the project. These projects are not free nor are they cheap and thus far have been paid out of pocket. If you would like to contribute toward the project you can use the pay pal link above. Thanks!
What is the cost? Judy has a cousin who came through as a 4th cousin DNA match with her aunt. Her family is from San Giovanni in Fiore. We have not been able to make the connection on paper yet. By the way, Sandy, you may know her. Her maiden name is Marra.
Ray, it varies on how many records there are and how far he has to travel, etc. I would need to get a quote and get back to you. Let me know privately if you are interested.
This is great news. I am excited to learn of this project. I have been reading LDS microfilms of the civil records for Pietrafitta. I have been researching the Cipparrone family. I wrote to the church in Pietrafitta to ask for two records. I wrote the letter in Italian, included details regarding the two ancestors, included a self-addressed envelop and an international postal coupon, and a money order for the church’s offering plate. The money order was cashed, but I never received a reply from the church. I hope the church records in Pietrafitta will appear on your to-do list in the the future. I will donate when my budget allows.
Thank you Craig. I’m sorry you didn’t get the records you needed from the Church. I guess it’s hit and miss sometimes. Hopefully one day, with enough support and interest this project can be expanded to include more towns.
Looking for records in San Pietro in Guarano. And San Benedetto at Guarano. Researching Iusi, Velri, Carricato, Tarasi.
I am researching in Benestare and Bovalino. Any chance those church records will be included?
At this time we’re just working on extracting the towns we’ve listed. However anything is possible in the future.
Hi, I’m researching my ancestry and I believe my grandparents are from Caulonia, I found the ship manifest my grandmother and uncle came on and it listed Caulonia as the place of birth. How can I access the records you have for Caulonia?
Thank you so much for doing this!
New to researching My Italian Family thru my DNA. Shows Fiorenza, Morello, Calabria, Catanzaro, Gaurdavalle
I live in America interested in learning to what path to start, will this be an area on the upcoming to do list?