Solving a Family History Mystery with an Unexpected Clue

The witnesses to this marriage were a key to a puzzle.

Sometimes it really pays to research your ancestors' friends and neighbors.

Case in point: The witnesses to my great grandparents' wedding unlocked a mystery that had me stumped for years.

Three years ago I received my great grandparents' 1906 marriage certificate from the New York State Department of Health. On the back, the two witnesses' names appear to be Nicola Cappocci and Nicolella Cappocci.

I started to wonder who they were. I did a bit of searching for them, but I had no luck.

Then I happened to be looking at my 2nd great uncle, Giuseppe Caruso. He was the brother of the bride in that 1906 wedding. He was the first member of that Caruso family to come to America and pave the way for his siblings.

Brother-in-law Michele Castelluzzo, and ditto.

Giuseppe Caruso arrived in New York City on March 23, 1900. His ship manifest showed that he was with his brother-in-law, Nicola Capozza. The two men were travelling to Elmira, New York, to join their mutual brother-in-law, Michele Castelluzzo.

I didn't know how to work Nicola Capozza and Michele Castelluzzo into my family tree. I didn't have enough information to be sure of their exact relationship to my Caruso family.

But now I had that marriage certificate. The light bulb was going off above my head.

Was Nicola Capozza the same man as the witness, Nicola Cappocci?

How could I tie Giuseppe Caruso to Nicola Capozza/Cappocci?

Giuseppe's wife was named Marianna, but I didn't know her maiden name. I had found her only on census forms.

I formed a hypothesis that Marianna might be Marianna Capozza, brother of Nicola Capozza from the March 1900 ship manifest. That would make Nicola and Giuseppe brothers-in-law.

To test my hypothesis, I searched for a ship manifest with the name Marianna Capozza.

I found her on a ship, landing at the port of New York, on March 18, 1901 as Maria Anna Capozza. She was with her father Francesco, coming to join Francesco's son and Maria Anna's brother Nicola Capozza on Canal Street in Elmira, New York.

Planning to be with them, but crossed off the ship manifest, was Nicoletta Martino. She was the wife of Nicola Capozza on Canal Street in Elmira, New York.

Nicoletta Martino was the other witness to my great grandparents' wedding. Now I knew that her husband, Nicola Capozza, was the brother-in-law of the 1906 bride's brother, Giuseppe Caruso.

Now I had solved one mystery. I knew exactly who Nicola and Nicoletta—the witnesses to my great grandparents' wedding—were.

But what about Michele Castelluzzo? He was the man mentioned on the ship manifest as a brother-in-law to both Giuseppe Caruso and Nicola Capozza.

I took a closer look at my documents for Giuseppe Caruso.

In his 1905 New York State Census, I found three families living beside one another in Cameron, New York, near Elmira:

• Giuseppe Caruso and his wife Marianna (Capozza)
• Nicola Capozza and his wife Nicoletta (Martino)
• Michele Castelluzzo and his wife Caterina

Caterina proved to be the connection. She was Caterina Capozza, the sister of Nicola and Maria Anna. That makes Michele Castelluzzo the brother-in-law of both Nicola Capozza and Giuseppe Caruso.

It's exactly what the 1900 ship manifest said.

I had that 1900 ship manifest for seven years before I could connect Nicola and Michele to my 2nd great uncle Giuseppe Caruso.

It was the witnesses to my great grandparents wedding who held the key.

Which answers are hiding in plain sight on your ancestors' documents?

You may also enjoy:

• Dealing With Human Error on Genealogical Documents
• Finding a Genealogy Victory in Defeat
• How to Use the Free Online Irish Census

Online Course Takes Your Family History to the Next Level

Note: The sale on this course ends Oct. 26, 2017. To get the lower prices, go to www.ordergreatcourses.com. I am not affiliated with that site. I get nothing out of this. But I really do recommend it.

Would you like to jumpstart your genealogical research?

I found a great way for you to advance to a higher level—whether you're somewhat new to family tree research or you've been at it for a long time.

There's always more to learn.

Once in a while I get a catalog in the mail from a company called The Great Courses®. The catalog is like a glossy magazine, and it's interesting to browse through.

The latest catalog had a genealogy course to offer: Discovering Your Roots: An Introduction to Genealogy by Professor John Phillip Colletta. I read the description, and I felt it covered several areas I'd like to learn more about.

I bought the online version so I can watch the 15, half-hour lessons at my computer and at my leisure. The cost was only $22.95—not as much as I might spend to go to a two-hour genealogy seminar.

This low price is a huge sale. The regular price for watching the course on your computer is $169.95. If you go to the website to read about this course you'll see the full price. There's a red tab on the page advertising a 70% off sale—the drastic price reductions are a regular thing. Keep checking back to see when you can score the same deal I did.

My first ancestor left Italy to come to America in 1890. I have no ancestors who fought in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, or the War of 1812. Only one or two fought in World War I. So I have little or no direct experience with early military records and pension records.

That's one area where I know I have a lot to learn. But what is there that I don't know I don't know?

Professor John Phillip Colletta is an interesting and enjoyable speaker. He weaves fascinating tales of ancestors while explaining how to use genealogy resources. He takes individual facts from the census, a ship manifest, or a military record to tell a richly detailed story of that ancestor's life.

This great course gives you a genealogy
education you'll enjoy tremendously.

You can't help but be inspired to discover a fuller history of your own ancestors.

If you take this course, you'll learn about specific websites and how they can help you with your family tree. You'll learn where to go for specific resources. You'll find out about records, maps, and techniques that may be completely new to you.

This is not a dry overview of how to research your family tree. These lessons are engaging stories that will inspire you while teaching you:

• How to interview older relatives to get the best results
• What you can find in a library that you can't find online
• Everything you can learn from ship manifests, military records, and naturalization records
• How to use the Genealogical Proof Standard to fortify your family tree
• Which documents you can find at the state or county level
• How to tell your ancestor's life story through creative writing
• How to create an account of your family history you can share
• What you need to know to research ancestors from another part of the world

So, if you're new to genealogy, this course can help you become a knowledgeable genealogist in a few hours.

If you focus your searches on specific records—like census forms and ship manifests—this course can give you a much broader grasp of genealogy research techniques.

If you've been at this family tree hobby for years, you can still gain a lot from this course. I'm sure you'll enjoy it as much as I did.

The Great Courses. ©The Teaching Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

You may also enjoy:

• Find Your Happy Place in Your Favorite Genealogy Tasks
• Which Clubs Did Your Ancestors Join?
• Divide and Conquer Your Family Tree Research Tasks

How to Build Your Social Genealogy Network

I've spent 90% of my genealogy research time alone. Most of us relish being left alone to sort through the facts and documentation for people in our family tree.

The other 10% of my time used to consist of:

• a couple of genealogy conferences
• emailing relatives and potential relatives
• watching Ancestry's Crista Cowan present extremely helpful lessons on YouTube.

That all changed this year.

I still want plenty of alone-time to dig into the research. But throughout the day, I check in with an extended community of genealogy researchers online.

You'll find a welcoming, generously helpful genealogy community online.

The vast amount of free help fellow genealogists are willing to provide will amaze you. You can:

• Get help translating documents from another language.
• Get opinions on how to read a poorly written name on an old document.
• Get advice on where to search for missing information.
• Be the first to know about a new family history resource.

You'll quickly see who the experts are within any group. If you send them a friend request on Facebook or follow them on Twitter, you can stay on top of their latest advice.

I spent years transcribing facts from Italian birth and marriage records. Then an expert in a Facebook genealogy group showed me that I was reading baptism and marriage dates incorrectly!

In a LinkedIn genealogy group, I learned about a website with thousands of Italian vital records. In a Facebook genealogy group, I learned about free software to make it easy to download those records. Twitter helps me stay on top of genealogy tips and upcoming conferences or seminars.

Here are some of the top platforms for interacting with fellow genealogists:

Facebook

Click the Groups icon on your Facebook homepage and start typing in search terms. Search for "genealogy" or a specific type of genealogy, like "Irish genealogy". Many groups have an administrator who must OK your request to join. Once you're in, read the group's rules of conduct. It's usually the first post on the page.

Twitter

When I first joined, I would search for #genealogy or #familyhistory to see what was happening. Now my Twitter feed is 99% genealogy-related. Why? Because all I do is:

• interact with genealogy posts
• follow other genealogists
• post about genealogy.

Google+

Search for genealogy on the homepage. You can choose from Posts, Communities, Collections, or People & Pages. I haven't done much exploring yet, but I do maintain a genealogy collection where I post each of my blog articles. (Note: This doesn't exist anymore.)

You may also want to look at Instagram, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Search for genealogy topics. Follow the experts you've found on other social networks.

You'll find your fellow genealogists are willing to help, collaborate, and inspire you.

I hope to see you in my Facebook groups: Fortify Your Family Tree and My Italian Family Tree.

You may also enjoy:

• Delving Deep into Your Genealogy with DNA
• The Out-of-Wedlock Child in Your Family Tree
• What If Your Ancestor Isn't Where You Expected at All?