I'm looking for information on the Italian side of my family; The Arpino's came from Sant' Elia Fiumerapido, and I know Theresa Arpino (my great grandmother) moved to London and married Reuben Johnson in the early 1900's.

Theresa's brothers were ...Giuseppe (killed in WW1), Luigi, Freddie and Anthony, and I think there might have been a sister called Minni.

I think their mother was called Anna-Maria.

I have been told that the family owned the village olive press!?

There are many Arpino's in the region and the family name is widespread, so I hope someone can help.

Sant'Elia civil records were destroyed in WW2. Those living in the town after the war re registered their births and marriages. Given that Teresa left in the early 1900's it is unlikely you will find her records or any of his siblings unless they survived WW2 and were living in Sant'Elia after the war. Parish records did survive for the most part so it may be possible to reconstruct your family. It will take a personal search of the parish records to accomplish this.

Thank you for your reply and the information regarding the records. I've been told that only Teresa left Italy for London and that her brothers stayed in Sant' Elia, and that she signed over the olive press and properties to her brothers. Ultimately I want to learn more of my Italian heritage and hopefully meet my ancestors. It sounds like we need to visit Sant' Elia so we can start creating a more detailed picture, but your website suggests the catalogue of records is not yet ready for research purposes. How long do you think it will take before we can make real progress? Thanks for you help.

I had better check my website posting. Civil records will always be a problem for those who left before WW2, but for those who survived the war the reconstructed civil records are on microfilm with familysearch.com. (not on line)
Parish records can be consulted with the permission of the priest assuming its the same one I dealt with. The Diocese is a bit funny in the area of Montecassino.
Finding out about the olivepress may be a problem unless you know the name of the 'notaio' who handled the transaction. She may not have signed anything formally. There doesn't appear to be a 'Frantoio' owned by the D'Arpino or Arpino (both versions of the surname are present in today's phone book) in Sant'ELia today.
If you need help with this email me directly.