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Seeking immigration and naturalization papers of Anabolli Conforti

triciathenurse

Hi! I am also looking for records of my family who came from Italy in 1907 on SS Roma through NYC. I have many records to find but have found many records that are same/similar but not getting anywhere. I was told during that time. There was mass immigration from Italy 5.5 million people approximately and between the language barrier and processing so many people and a lackluster work ethic in many of the people doing the recording there are many errors.

My great great grandfather came from Italy through New York City in 1907 on the SS Roma his name was Anabolli Conforti. However, in many records his name is spelled incredibly different, and in other records I see his name listed as James. I was told by someone in Washington DC that sometimes  immigrants would take Americanized names but that doesn't make sense to me. I found a record of both my great great grandparents on the SS Roma from 1907 but it was stamped 1933. My great great grandmother was Catherine Millazio. I have found those and also many records Catherine Millagio on ancestry.com. Their birthdays are even more inconsistent. I originally found that my great great grandmother was born April 8, 1888, but I cannot confirm that.

Complicating matters my father passed about 10 years ago. I was never close to his family as my parents divorced. I have an uncle who has been doing a lot of research for many years but he moved from Washington DC to Wyoming about the same time of my father's death and I cannot reach him. Through my research I have found that there were five children from my great grandmother also sometimes listed as Caterina, which is not uncommon as that is the Italian version of Catherine.

they settled in Chicago Illinois and had 5 children: Frank, Bartolo, Margaret, Stephania and Angelina who was my grandmother. Again, I did not know them well, but my grandmother had my father and five other children. My father is the only one who has passed. The other children have no interest in learning about their heritage or Italy, which is some thing I have been trying to do often on through raising my four children. In fact, my aunt Mary had no idea there were five children. All of them had always been told there were only three.

My grandmother Angeline married in Chicago in May 1940 to my grandfather Robert Lee Daugherty. They had a son Robert then my father Patrick Timothy Daugherty in 1943. They moved to Hamilton County Cincinnati Ohio. They went on to have more kids Richard,Jerald ,Mary, and Michael.

I am trying to pursue dual citizenship through dissent. This requires me to have the original birth certificates of my great great grandfather, and my great great grandmother, both of whom were born in Italy. I also need their marriage license from Italy.

I then need their immigration record. I also need their naturalization record. I then need their death certificates and my understanding is both of them died in Chicago. Their daughters, Stefania and Margaret and their sons Bartolo died in Cook County Chicago Illinois, so I'm confident they died in Cook County. 

I also have to get my father's birth certificate, and I know he was born in Chicago. I need to get his death certificate, which is Montgomery County Tennessee specifically Clarkesville. I also have to get my mothers birth certificate in Ohio. I also need to get a divorce certificate itn Cincinnati Ohio. I have to go that because my father born in 1943 five year prior to the 1948 in Italy, were they amended requirement the right Pass on their lineage just as their husbands. Essentially 1948 equal rights type of act. I will have to convert all these records into Italian and then have an apostil for all records to give to the Italian consulate in charge of my area, which is Detroit Michigan.

Since Covid they no longer take phone calls, which is my primary way of getting any of the information I've gotten so far. I'll have to send this to them and I have to have it go before the court in Sicily, where they are from and prove there has been no broken line in our heritage. Great great great grandparents were born in Italy, my great great grandparents were born in Italy. My grandparents of Italian descent was born in Chicago although the entire family is telling me that she was born in Italy as well, but I cannot prove that. My father was born in Chicago five years too soon and trying to gather these records and then have them  prepped and translated and put together for a court in Italy is daunting to say the least. I've spoken to many law firms, and they want thousands of dollars to do this and I simply do not have that. 

How have you managed to get ACCURATE records? I would be happy to help you as I figure it out

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  • 0 in reply to Sylvia W

    Thank you so very much for taking the time to try to help me unlock this mystery. It  just gets more convoluted by the day. I am at such a disadvantage because I was not raised with a closeness with this side of my family. I have learned they were never close growing up. I am astonished my aunt who took care of my grandmother until she died in 2001 had no idea how many siblings my grandmother had. She only knew she had a brother named Bart and she spent a few summers in Chicago with her mothers sister Margaret. I know there was another child named Frank.  I have attached his obituary stating who his parents were and sibling of my grandmother Angeline (always called Angie).

    Other information I have been able to obtain has been that my great grandfather Anaboli Conforti purposefully misspelled his first and last name on many occasions and eventually changed his name to James. My grandmother's sister Margaret married someone named James Hunt. I've also been told that Margaret may not the same person as Diadota margarita.

    I do not know if there are two different families with common Italian names both first and surnames or if it was documentation issues as I have been told by those I have been able to speak to on the phone in record keeping.

    additionally everyone in my family including my father up until the day he died 10 years ago and his living five siblings insist that my grandmother was born in Palermo Sicily and came over as a young child with her parents and siblings. I have tried to let them know that my research has shown she was born in Chicago in 1921 they refused to believe me and there are so many records showing her born in Palermo from people I don't know or don't recognize.I have attached some information.

    Regarding my great grandmother Caterina or Catherine there is some documentation where her last name is spelled Malaggo (see attached in my grandmothers adult handwriting) essentially the letter Z was missed documented in some records as the letter G. My aunt found a document that my grandmother filled out when she lived in Chicago and was about 19 years old you can see how her name was spelled then changed.

    I have attached the obituaries of my grandmother, her sister Margaret and her brother Frank that I have been able to find. I have been told by people who knew my father when he was young that the departure from Italy whenever it was… Was quite scandalous. Apparently they were forced to leave the country due to an issue with a priest at their church. They were devout Catholics I do not know anything beyond that and I do not even know an issue with the priest to be true.

    I can tell you that growing up there was always chatter about my grandmothers brothers and uncles being involved significantly with certain folks in Chicago. I have a few memories when I was under the age of 10 but nothing graphic nothing I would even count on as a reliable memory.

    My mother would not allow my brother or myself to visit the family after my parents divorced because of this reason. Apparently my mother who passed away in 1991 of cancer shortly after turning 45 years old was threatened to never speak of it.

    I have a few more documents of a child about one year old a sibling of my grandmothers that had passed away. I think this one may have to be unsolved.

    If indeed rumors are true that the first migrating family were run out of Sicily followed my involvement in Chicago for decades it isn't likely to me figured out. While it is the fact that they did settle in Chicago. My grandmother Angeline Conforti(e) married my grandfather Robert Lee daugherty in Chicago.my father Patrick Timothy daugherty and his older brother who is my godfather Robert Lee daugherty Jr. were both born in Chicago. My grandparents then relocated to Cincinnati Ohio and proceeded to have 4 more children in Cincinnati. 

    The last document I attached is showing my great great grandfather coming over and living with my great grandfather identified as MIPS I frankly thought that may have been a relative because there's also a Vincenzo in records. But if you look closely at that last document you'll see where Conforti and all of their children are listed that you have identified are followed immediately by a woman name Rose Milazzo who has a son and a daughter listed as well. I find that to be too coincidental as census records were done door-to-door back then which leads me to believe that they are somehow related perhaps a great aunt or a grandparent I don't know but maybe they all lived together.

    I cannot tell you how very much I appreciate this and I wish there was a way that we could meet at a coffee shop and have a discussion as you have been the most helpful and I am very grateful to all who have contributed. I would love to unlock the secrets in the history and the true story but I don't know if that's possible.