I hired a researcher near Naples to go to the Church in the little town of Crispano (NA) where my Gr-Gr-Gr Grandmother Maria Grazia Maisto was born in 1827.

Grazia Maisto (1827-?) around 1890

I had her parents and grandparents names and information from the allegati records included in her 1854 marriage to my ancestor Alessandro Ginosa.

The researcher emailed me 4 documents this morning and another generation back for each of Grazia's grandparents (where I was stuck before). One of the documents was this beautiful Church Marriage act from February 1788. It is the marriage of Grazia Maisto's grandparents Domenico Maisto and Grazia Vitale.

Domenico Maisto to Grazia Vitale, 4 February 1788 Crispano (NA)

Another interesting thing with these records is that on a baptism of a child, it not only lists the parents names, but the GRANDparents names, both of them even with the maiden names of the two grandmothers!! Here
is one for my ancestor Vincenza Maria Michela Pascale in 1802.

Vincenza Maria Michela Pascale Baptism 1802 Crispano (NA)


All of this for 275 Euro! (plus much more he sent)

And now, he has to travel to another town close by because my Maisto's came to Crispano from a town called Casandrino (NA).

Just wanted to share these Church records.

Wow Jim! AWESOME! The images are georgeous! You are very lucky. This calls for....

A banana dance!!

Hi James,

Very cool! Is there a word(s) for that super excitement feeling you get when a new document comes in the mail/email?

howabout "archival euphoria" or "geneo-joy"

Oh James, that Church Marriage act is beautiful...what a difference from the quality of handwriting that followed in many places in Italy later. I suppose much was due to the fact that these acts were written by the priests and not town officials.

But whoever wrote them - the legacy they left us is awesome indeed.

Congratulations James I know exactly how you will be feeling, isnt it just wonderful how it's possible to unearth all those beautiful documents after such a long time has gone by.
I always feel when new information is found its as though all that is printed on the paper takes on a new dimension and the names are not just names any more but become 'real' human beings.
Hugs
Emmy

I truly was on cloud nine this morning when I received this email. I was so exited when I contacted this man, because he is not the typical researcher, he has no problem going to The Church and not the Stato Civile, which, needless to say opens up an additional 200 years worth of records (and sometimes more).

This church marriage is priceless indeed! The groom was born in a neighboring town called Casandrino. He was born about 1762, and the researcher is going to go THERE next and get his baptism and HIS parents marriage (provided they were married there of course). Not only that he will go as far back as the records allow for that one time flat fee of 275 Euros (roughly $430 American) I am going to send him another check on Monday, you can pay with a US regular check.

Exiting!

(equally exiting was the email after his from my cousin Angelina, who has just completed extracting Carini baptisms for the last book I have up which gives us a COMPLETE run without gaps and only a handful of missing records from 1826-1910! That is 30,500 Baptisms she's extracted for Carini!!!) I know of no other town in Italy with such a complete range online, and for anyone to make use of at the click of a mouse).

here is a link to what she has done so far, which are up and live on my website! (Marriages as well 1568-1910)

Carini (PA) Church Record Extractions

An utterly incredible piece of work....

Complimenti to all who have been involved in it's compilation !

Excellent day for you, Jim! Such wonderful news to start the weekend with!

How Fantastic! You must be so thrilled! I can only dream about finds such records at this point. I get excited finding records in the State Archives, ones from Italy would be overwhelming! With hearty congratulation! Carol

Whow, Jim!
How exciting!! How did you find the researcher in Italy? I have ancestors from the province of Treviso and would love to find someone who could do research at the local church in Sant 'Elena, Silea for me. The civil records may never come through as the clerks seem reluctant to search for them so having someone that could go to the church would be awesome.

Debbie

How exciting! Congrats. I am also curious as to how you found the researcher.

Congratulations, sounds like Joe(?) really came through for you.
Just a caution for others out there. Not all priests bothered to list grandparents on baptisms, sometimes it depended on how many other parishioners had the same name and then the Grandfather's name was used to differentiate between them. On some marriage records I have seen 3 generations listed, on others none, it just says he interrogated them! Death records rarely mention parents names and only occasionally a wife or husband's name, and the older the record, the less information it seems.
But still, the magic of searching records from 1500's is indescribable...