Casteluzzo

I finished the requests for documents about a month and a half ago. I have received quite a few. However, there are several outstanding. I should probably start following up with the agencies that have not sent me anything.

Following is a list of documents I have:

Birth – Domenico
Missing: Death
Birth – Henriette
Missing: Death
Louis – Marriage
Missing: Death
Elva – Birth (missing Apostille)
Missing: Death
Josephine #1 – Marriage
Missing: Birth, Death
Samuel: Birth
Josephine #2 – Marriage
Missing: Birth
Michael: Birth (missing Apostille)
Anthony: Birth, Marriage (both missing Apostille)
Sarah: none yet
Axa: none yet
Raj: Birth

So I’m missing Elva’s death certificate, which Josie requested for me, but has not yet arrived.… Read more

Harriet’s birth certificate came in the mail a few days ago. The pastor wrote a very cordial letter apologizing for the delay, and saying that there had been construction in the Church. He also transcribed the birth certificate, since it’s old-fashioned calligraphy. Domenico’s was in Latin. Harriet’s is in French. The other documents have also begun to trickle in. In a month or so, I should be getting a large package from the Lieutenant Governor’s office in Utah, since most of the significant events of the family took place there.… Read more

Yesterday I called the District Court of Utah to see if they had a record of Naturalization for Dominique. The very helpful clerk looked through the old files going back to the late 1800’s. He didn’t find Dominique’s naturalization. But afterward, he searched around on the internet and found him in the 1880 census. That was the census that did not collect naturalization data, and I’ve already searched it. But it was very kind of him to go the extra mile and try to find my ancestor. He is sending me a letter on official letterhead stating that they have no record of Naturalization for Dominique.… Read more

Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year.

The week after Christmas, my microfilm of the Probate Docket in Utah County for 1858 arrived. I did not find Dominique and Harriet’s marriage. However, I did speak with someone in the LDS Church archives, who says they can send a letter regarding a blessing or a sealing. I’m pretty sure we could get Italy to accept those in lieu of birth and marriage certificates.

Today I’m sending off my requests for all the birth and death certificates from Utah, to be sent directly to the Lieutenant Governor’s office for Apostilles.

Also, the Denver NARA searched for Domenico’s naturalization record for me and found nothing, and if I email them will send me a letter to that effect.… Read more

Tony just brought in Domenico’s baptism certificate from the parish of Lagnasco. It came in the mail today. That is the most important document I need to collect. I got goosebumps looking at it. It’s all really going to happen. I can feel it.… Read more

Well, I have been working on this for nearly a month, and I have nothing to show for it. Not only do I have no documents in hand, but nobody has even confirmed the existence of any of the documents I need. In fact, most evidence points to their nonexistence. Luckily, I’m pretty sure the Italian records are findable, and they are the most important. However, not only will I probably have to substitute some kind of L.D.S. marriage record for Domenico and Harriet’s marriage license, I’ll most likely need to do it for the birth records of Louis and Elva (his wife), who were both born in Cache County before 1900.… Read more

Yesterday Tony talked to two of his second cousins (once removed, I think). They are sons of his mother’s Uncle Blaine, Josephine’s brother, so Louis’ son. Uncle Blaine was a fervent genealogist, and the information I have right now about Domenico is all from his collection, copied by Tony’s mom. Richard and Randy Boudrero went to Italy last year and actually visited some Bodreros in Lagnasco, Domenico’s hometown. Said Bodreros are planning a visit to Logan, Utah this coming spring. Richard confirmed what I suspected: Domenico and his family were Catholic, not Waldensian. Jeffery, his youngest brother, remained Catholic throughout his life.… Read more

And what is it to work with love?

. . . It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy,
even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.

It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,

And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.

Before I started requesting all the birth and marriage certificates,
I wanted to be sure that I understood exactly how the certificates need to be. Here, experiences (of individuals) and opinions (of consulates) diverge. The Los Angeles consulate (from which I took my list of required documents) requires all documents to be translated.… Read more

Well, Harriet and Domenico were married in Provo, but Utah County doesn’t have birth certificates before 1870, when the county was organized. The person I spoke with (who handles marriage certificates) doesn’t know where marriage certificates before then are kept. She thinks if I call L.D.S. Church headquarters in Salt Lake, maybe. I guess I could call the genealogy library, or Archives. Archives is already working on one thing for me. Maybe I’ll ask them when they call me back.

This is why I am starting with the really old documents. I knew they would be the most difficult to find.… Read more

Despite my limited Italian, I finished writing letters to the parish of St. Germain Chisone (for Harriet’s baptism certificate) and the parish of Lagnasco (for Domenico’s baptism certificate). Since they were both born a good thirty years before Italy was unified, apparently no civil birth records exist. However, church baptismal records are accepted by the comunes in lieu of a birth certificate. I found this out from a story by a Uruguayan who claimed his Italian citizenship some five years ago through his great-grandfather. He had a terrible time getting his comune to accept the baptismal certificate as valid (as well as a host of other problems).… Read more