3 Types of Bonus Details on Italian Vital Records

I've written in depth about how to understand Italian vital records. But I haven't told you about these important bonus details. Let's take a look at 3 easy-to-miss types of information on Italian vital records.

Don't overlook these 3 types of bonus details on vital records.

1. Margin Notes

Always check Italian birth records for handwritten paragraphs in the margins. You may find valuable details about the person's life that you won't find anywhere else. These include:

• Who they married, on what date, and sometimes in which town.
• A correction to one of the names written on the document. For example, the clerk who wrote the document may have written the wrong last name for the baby's mother. A margin note provides the correction.
• Recognition of a baby born out of wedlock. If a man and woman have a baby before they marry, a margin note can tell you their names and when they married. If a woman reports her baby's birth, and doesn't name the father, a margin note may have it. This happens when a man steps up to claim the child as his own.
• Death date. This margin note is more common in 1900s birth records when the baby died very young.
• "Born dead". Nato morto (born dead) or senza vita (without life) in the margin or after the baby's name tell you this was a stillbirth.
• Confirmed later. Sometimes a margin note says vista (viewed) or verificato (verified), along with a date and the mayor's name. This tells you the mayor confirmed the birth after the writing of the document. It can also mean a clerk reviewed the document when asked to confirm the birth for the person's marriage.
• Father died in the war. World War I caused an enormous amount of Italian casualties. Look for a margin note on birth records during la Guerra Nazionale to see if this baby's father died in the war.
• Father's death date. Sometimes a baby's birth happens after their father has died. When this happens, look at the handwritten paragraph beneath the baby's name. It may contain the father's date of death.

2. Diversi (Various)

Don't overlook the documents filed under the category Diversi. There is usually a very small number of these documents for any given year. They are most common in the years before 1866. They can include:

• Stillbirths. These records often do not give a name to the stillborn baby. You will learn the parents' names and the sex of the baby, as well as on which date the stillbirth happened.
• Out-of-town deaths. If a citizen of an Italian town dies in another place, that place must notify their hometown. These notifications often contain a great deal of detail.
• Corrections. If a birth record has a margin note about a correction, the diversi record provides all the details. Let's say Giuseppe is preparing to get married and must provide a copy of his birth record. But they discover an error on the original record. The clerk said Giuseppe was a female named Giuseppa. Uh oh! The clerk must file a correction to the name and sex before Giuseppe can marry.
• Abandoned or out-of-wedlock babies. There seem to be a few babies found on doorsteps or born to unnamed fathers each year. You may find their births with all the other births, or in the diversi documents. If you find a record for an abandoned baby, look for the word projetto (for a boy) or projetta (for a girl). The mayor, clerk, or midwife will make up a name for the child. This document may tell you:
  • Who found the baby.
  • Where and when they found the baby.
  • How many days old the baby appears to be.
  • Any identifying items found with the baby. These can include a blanket, clothing, or a religious token that only the parents can identify. They can use this detail to claim the baby later. An identifying item is a segno—a mark or a sign. If you see senza segno, there was nothing to use for later identification.
• Recognition of a baby born out of wedlock. You may find this in a margin note on a birth record, but check the diversi documents for more detail. I found a document for an abandoned baby adopted by a couple who lost their own two babies in infancy.

From marriage dates to abandoned babies to very late birth records, know where to look for these details.

3. Different Parts and Series

Most Italian record books you'll find online contain an image of the book cover and a cover page. The cover page tells you what you're looking at. For example, Registro degli Atti di Matrimonio—register of marriage certificates.

Have you ever found a second or third cover page toward the end of a register? These cover pages are for different document categories. They have labels such as Parte II, Serie A (Part 2, Series A), Parte II, Serie B (Part 2, Series B), or Parte II, Serie C (Part 2, Series C).

In one of my ancestral hometowns, the 1930s Parte I (Part 1) marriage section is always empty. The bulk of the marriages are in Parte II, Serie A. I never gave it much thought before.

Let's look at these different parts. Understanding these distinctions can be very important to your family tree research.

Marriage records (How to Read Italian Marriage Records):

• Part 1 marriage records are for couples married in the town hall by the mayor or another official. You may see a margin note telling you when the couple married in the church.
• Part 2, Series A marriage records are for couples married by a priest or other religious official.
• Part 2, Series B contains out-of-town marriages. If a man and woman came from different towns, they almost always married in her town. So Part 2, Series B records are often for a man from your town who married a woman from another town.
• Part 2, Series C is for special circumstances. They are completely handwritten because they vary too much for a pre-printed form. It could be a marriage-by-proxy, where the groom is in another country at the time. It could be a marriage of two townspeople who married someplace else.

Birth records (How to Read an Italian Birth Record):

• Part 1 is the most straightforward. These are births that happened in this town.
• Part 2, Series A birth records tell us when a townswoman gave birth in another town. She may have been visiting relatives or traveling, but her baby would live in her hometown.
• Part 2, Series B records are completely handwritten. They are for:
  • babies born to townspeople either out-of-town or out-of-country
  • births reported late. By law, fathers had to report their child's birth right away or face a penalty. But some birth reports were very late.

My great aunt's husband and his brother were born in New York City to Italian immigrants. But the family went back to Italy. I found handwritten copies of their 1905 and 1907 Bronx birth records in the 1909 Part 2, Series A birth records in their parents' Italian hometown.

My great grandfather Giovanni Sarracino's father didn't report his birth until Giovanni needed proof of his birth to get married. I found his 1876 birth record in Parte II, Serie B of the 1898 birth register. My Sarracino clan may have been rebellious because they reported a bunch of births late.

Death records (How to Read an Italian Death Record):

• Part 1 is the most straightforward. These are deaths that happened in this town.
• Part 2, Series A records are for townspeople who died in another place.
• Part 2, Series B records are also out-of-town deaths. But these notifications come from places like:
  • the military (for a soldier who died)
  • a prison (for a prisoner who died in custody)
  • a hospital (for a patient who died)
• Part 2, Series C records are out-of-country death notifications from the Italian Consulate. Many of these records will lead you to find a death certificate in your country.

Many Part 2 documents can open up new research options for you. If a marriage record says a bride or groom is from another town, you can search for their original birth record. When a death record tells you a person died in a hospital in Naples, you can see if it still exists and record the address.

While I knew there were different parts and series, I never documented the reasons before. And I have been wondering about all the empty marriage Part 1's in my towns.

I hope you'll use these explanations to guide your research. Sometimes they're the only clue to lead you to another town.