...what kind of records can be found online for argentina, besides white pages?

Do they have passenger lists or census records, or vitals?

(eyeroll) I suppose if there are..they are written in spanish...lol I think with a spanish dictionary, I can figure them out..I think.

Hi Eleven,

Have you ever seen the 1895 Argentinian census on this site:

Family Labs



~Mauro

No...I havent...but I think my people went there later in time...maybe 20s or 30s. I am not even sure...but, I dont think it was as early as 1895. That branch didnt even come here till 97 and after...but, I will check it out, anyway...ya never know.

These are two really great sites that I like to use...

213.212.128.168/radici...ltie_e.htm
Has passenger lists but it requires registration to use (free) and it takes a bit of plying with to get used to. Extraction info only, not actually manifests.

and

www.apellidositalianos.com.ar/
Go to Listado de Apellidos on the right hand side, then •Base de Datos and plug in a surname. See what hits you get.

Thanks. I think I tried that second one, before when it was posted here..I think. I was just trying it again, but the database wont load. I will try later.

I often wondered why people decided to migrate there..rather than here. My guess is because of the quotas. I think after the early 1900s, more and more people wanted to come here and the waits got longer. My father came here at age 9...from Sicily, in the early 1920s. His father was here already 8 years before he could get them here...and when they finally did come...they got word..and had to leave that day...leaving everything and everyone behind, without even saying goodbye.

The woman who owns the small grocerie store, a mile away..which is the closest store to us..is from benevento. She still has a slight accent...shes probably in her mid 50s now. Yesterday, because hubby and I were talking about this genealogy find of mine, when he stopped in her store..he asked her how long it took her to get into this country. She whips out a pix of her as a 2 year old, with her father holding her. She says to him..ya see this? It took 15 years after that.

Imagine. And here we got people sneaking in at the borders daily...and europeans had to wait so long to get in here.

Eleven,
I have read several places that 2/3 of all Italians leaving Italy went to South America. As far as opportunity goes Argentina was probably a better place to go. The cultures and languages are similiar and Argentina was growing...lots of farms and farm jobs were there which offered similiar occupations to what they were doing in Italy. Cousins in Argentina had told me that there was nothing left in Italy to make there own way - the land was already owned by their families and nothing was available to purchase. They left to make their own way in the world and did quite well in Argentina. Those who purchased farms needed help and would "send word" back to Italy that they needed workers.

That makes sense. It had to be a huge, huge change for them to come to NY from Italy.

My aunt is 99 years old (come next month). She was age 11 when she came here, so old enough to remember vividly what life was like in Sicily. She has told me so many stories, of what it was like there, how they lived, what they ate, what they did, customs and more. I find it amazing..that she lived thru lunches of bread and cheese, no electric, no toilets, meat when they had it, depended on what the slaughter of the day was, more bartering went on, than the use of money. Girls didnt have to go to school..but she went. They had a little money, because the father sent it from here. I could go on and on about how they lived in a one room house, with animals kept under it.

Can you imagine the progress she has seen in her lifetime? From no toilets to microwaves and computers? The first time she even saw a toilet was in the hotel in Palermo that they stayed in overnight before boarding the ship. She never saw a banana, until they were docked here and people were sending down ropes on the side of the ship..so you could hoist up things brought by whomever was waiting for you. Thats when she saw and tasted her first banana. Just imagine coming from your tiny toiletless town..to a huge city like NY. Just imagine her mom..bringing them here, knowing she would never see her people again.

These had to be some stong individuals, that left what they knew...to come here and start a new life, not knowing the language..the customs..etc. I find all of this just amazing.

Eleven,
I'm with you. I am absolutely amazed at the bravery shown by our ancestors when they left the life they knew to come to an uncertain future in a strange land. Just boarding a ship to cross the vast Atlantic would take a lot of fortitude. I found moving just 1 hours drive from my home town to be an adventure!