Dear History Hub community:
I mispelled my maternal grandmother's maiden name in my inquiry earlier today. I have corrected it from Colaguiri to Colagiuri in what follows. I will repeat the full inquiry below:
I am applying in court in Italy for Italian dual citizenship through my maternal grandmother, an italian Imigrant. I need to show that she was not naturalized while my mother was a minor.
My maternal grandmother's full Italian name is Francesca Teresa Genoveffa Colagiuri on her birth certificate. The most frequent name she used was Genoveffa Colagiuri, but others with Francesca and/or Teresa and/or Genoveffa are possible.
She was born 9 December 1891 in the village of Tresilico, in the municipality of Oppido Mamertina in the province of Reggio Calabria, in the region of Calabria. Her birth certificate refers only to the Comune di Oppido Mamertina in the province Reggio Calabria.
She arrived in New York by ship on 10 November 1915. On 27 November 1915 she was married to Giuseppe Mazzagatti, and thereafter went by the name Genoveffa Mazzagatti.
Her husband Giuseppe Mazzagatti was naturalized as a US citizen in 1920 when their daughter Marie Concetta Mazzagatti was 1 year old (my mother was born 7 December 1919). We are not aware of my grandmother Genoveffa Mazzagatti (nee Colagiuri) being naturalized then or later).
Genoveffa Mazzagatti died 8 November 1982 in Beaumont, Texas. She lived all her life in Beaumont, Texas after her arrival in the USA in 1915.
I hope you can assist me to learn if she was ever naturalized as a US citizen, or, if not, to tell me how to obtain letter from NARA indicating that they could not locate evidence of her naturalization certificate or from USCIS stating the non-existence of a certificate of naturalization.
I also hope that you can expedite my inquiry because I have a court date to review my application on July 2, 2024 in Rome, Italy. My attorneys just notified me today that we may have to establish my right to dual US-Italian citizenship through my maternal grandmother, rather than through my maternal grandfather because of some recent court rulings that do not reliably permit citizenship through someone naturalized while the child is a minor. It has been my lifelong dream to obtain dual citizenship because of my closeness to both my Italian-born maternal grandparents.
Thank you in advance,
Robert
