Hi everyone!

As I wrote before I have received a copy of my great grandfather's marriage record...and sort of hit the jackpot. His parent's names are listed. The document was transcribed for me and here is where my questions begin. It lists his mother as Francesca Provendenza. (this is what the woman that transcribed the document thinks it says)

Unfortunately my copy is quite dark in the area where her name is written and I have looked and looked at this and don't think that is her last name. It looks more like Provenzano to me. So.....I went to the Family History website and typed in Provenzano and found a listing for a Francesca Provenzano's christening record and it lists her parents as Domenico Provenzano and her mother as Maria Rosa Di Maria. It lists her birth as 1841 which would work with my great grandfather's birth. He was born in 1865.

The crazy thing about all of this is years and years ago my dad told me that one of his grandmother's names was Di Maria! My gosh...could this Di Maria be his great grandmother?
Rhetorical question, LOL.....I realize no one knows

So....is it considered an *ok* thing to do to contact the person that obtained the record and transcribed it for me and ask her for her opinion on if the name could be *Provenzano*?????? I know she has lots more experience reading these documents than I have and surely don't want to come across as questioning her interpretation...hope that makes sense.
The cost of the documents and the interpretation was less than $25.00 but I don't know the etiquette that goes along with this kind of stuff.

Maybe I should order the microfilm for this record and hope it isn't as dark as the copy I received? Not sure how all that works...it's viewed and then you take a picture of it/or make a copy????? Maybe it's only dark because of the poor quality of the copy?

She also listed my great grandfather's birthplace as San Giuseppe Lato and I thought if the Family History Center had records from there that I would just send for his birth record and compare the two names but there is nothing for San Giuseppe Lato. and I cannot find an address to request any records.

Also, the name she transcribed for my great grandmother's mother is also difficult to read and I am not convinced that is right either.

I still feel as though I have won the lottery with the info I do have!

Suggestions, anyone???????
Thank you if you actually read all of this, LOL.
Lib

Hi Lib,

I think you should post the document here on the forum and let Livio take a look at it, see what he thinks. Do you have a copy you can upload?

Forgot to ask, where did you send to get this document that you have? Can you please give the town, province and region?
Thanks

Thank you for replying, Elizabeth. I do have a copy and we just got a scanner but I have no idea how to scan the copy, or post it here. To say that I am computer challenged is a gigantic understatement. I may be able to ask my brother in law if he knows how.

I obtained the document(s) from a person that has a website and she is researching her Sicilian family and has access to lots of records and does looks up and translations. I will be eternally grateful to her because I originally went looking for the birth record of one of my great grandfather's children. She has records, not the entire record but some info on the website, listed by surname and birthdate and I found the name I was looking for and it listed the name of my g grandfather as the father, so I emailed her. She found the record and also found the marriage document of my great grandparents.......so that's where I stand right now.
The birth document was in the comune (?) of Sambuca di Sicilia. I believe that Sambuca di Sicilia is in the province of Agrigento. I get confused on the comunes and provinces.
The marriage document list the Sambuca as the town where they married (province?) It lists my g grandfather's birth place as San Guiseppe Lato and my g grandmother's birth place as Santa Margherita Belice.

Did I answer all your questions? Again, thank you
Lib

Lib,

Another thing you might want to try, if you are an Ancestry member, is to check out the forums there. I know in my case, for the town I am researching, a few members had posted lists of common surnames for that comune. The maiden name of my great grandfather's wife was listed as "Raimonte" on his death certificate, but I found through hard to read records and those forums that the name was actually di Raimondo. Also, if you are ever able to find LDS films from the comune, you will probably find that the same surnames repeat over and over.

Good ideas, JB and thanks.
Lib

Hi Lib,

Riccardo - ricbru is a genealogist on the site that is from and lives in Sicily. Try sending him a PM to see if he can read this thread and let you know if the surname that was transcribed for you is correct for the region.

One other thing Lib. I posted these interactive maps on the Resource Pages forum on this site. I'll post the links here for you. The first one has all the regions of Italy color coded and numbered. Just click on any region.
www.italiantourism.com/regions.html

This one lists all the regions by name, click on a region name and it will list all the provinces for that region. Now click on any province and it will give you a list of all the towns or comunes in that province. Here's the link
en.comuni-italiani.it/

I hope this helps. I use them all the time.

Quote::

Thank you for replying, Elizabeth. I do have a copy and we just got a scanner but I have no idea how to scan the copy, or post it here. To say that I am computer challenged is a gigantic understatement. I may be able to ask my brother in law if he knows how.

What type of scanner do you have? Its really not that difficult to use. If you like, email me and I can walk you through it. Its always best when possible to see the document. Several people could attempt the translation.

Let us know.

BillieDeKid wrote:

Hi Lib, Riccardo - ricbru is a genealogist on the site that is from and lives in Sicily. Try sending him a PM to see if he can read this thread and let you know if the surname that was transcribed for you is correct for the region.

Yes please scan the copy to me so I can read it
bye Riccardo

You alll are really wonderful to offer to help me out and I so appreciate it!
Nuccia, your offer to walk me through the scanning process made me smile...heck, remember when I had trouble logging on???? We must have exchanged 10 emails to try and figure out what I was doing wrong. (You were so patient with me.) Hopefully, I can get someone from my end to help me with the scanning and save you from that task, LOL.
My daughter is coming over later so I will ask her if she knows how.
Riccardo, thanks for saying you would take a look at this document.
Elizabeth, I am short on time at the moment but I will take a look at the resource maps.
One question...if my daughter knows how to scan a document, then she will know how to post it here? By that I mean...does Gente have any special requirements for attaching a scanned document to a post?
We unfortunately have slow dial up so hope that doesn't cause problems.
Nuccia, the scanner is a DELL Photo All in One Printer 926.
I will check back in a few hrs.
Lib

ok, here goes

Whoo hoo..you did it! Ok, lets read it over and see if we can help at all.

Lib, its too small and I can't resize it..can you email me the document? My email again is nuccia.salvati @ gmail.com (no spaces). Maybe I can make it larger.

please scan it on high quality level, so we can read it better, thank u
Riccardo