Hi there!

Just joined so I though I'd better introduce myself. I'm Holly and I'm 29. I live up in the bonnie Highlands of Scotland next to Loch Ness. I'm trying to trace my relatives who I believe are from Calabria. My great grandmother on my mother's side was Amelia Valadao, nee Calandra. She left Italy and moved to Brazil where she married my great grandfather Antonio Valadao.

I've been trying to gain a little information from my brazillian family and so far my mother's cousin managed to find that Amelia's parents were called Salvador and Phelomena Calandra though the spellings might be a bit out.

Now as a total novice I'm now not terribly sure what to do. I did attempt to search on Ancestry.com though nothing appeared.

With some guess work I imagine Amelia moved to Brazil between 1900 and 1910 though that has been deduced by adding my mother and my grandmother's ages and I'm not sure if my grandmother was firstborn etc out of the 13 children I've been told Amelia had.

Phew, I'm confusing myself Anyway...any pointers, suggestions etc would be very much appreciated as I'm a bit at a loss where to start.

Many thanks for taking the time to read.

Holly xxx

Hello Holly,
welcome on board!

Here there are the town in Calabria where you can find last name Calandra

11,20 Cosenza Cosenza
3,01 Rende Cosenza
2,95 Campo Calabro Reggio Calabria
2,85 Cetraro Cosenza
2,64 Cassano allo Ionio Cosenza

Since your Amelia you think left Calabria to Brazil, you can check on

www.apellidositalianos.com.ar

then click on Archivos por Paises

then click Archivos de Brasil

so you find all the offices, archives and links that help you to understand when your Amelia left and from what place in Italy
After you find it, then we suggest you the best way to get her birth record
I hope it helps
bye Riccardo

Welcome Holly! Do you have an approximate year of birth for Salvatore and Filomena? I know I have seen this surname in my grandfather's town and I would be happy to look for Salvatore (I cannot check for Filomena since you don't know her surname) but I need a timeframe to check.

Riccardo and Cathy thank you so much for your replies.

Riccardo - unfortunately I can't seem to find any information on her from the links you provided but I did find some great historical info

Cathy - Thank you for your kind offer!! I've tried to get information on dates from my mother's cousin in Brazil but so far no reply. How close a timeframe do you require? At a guess I'd suggest between 1850 and 1870 but I'm not sure. This is assuming my great grandmother Amelia left Calabria around 1900/1910-15. At a guess Amelia could have been born between 1885 and 1890. Is that any use or should I continue to pester my 2nd cousin?