San Giovanni ?

[cjthibeault]

Hello Everyone,

I'm trying to track down where my gr.grandfather came from. I have 3 pieces of information to go by:

1. Family lore says that side of the family was Sicilian
2. The obituaries state that he was from Campobasso
3. His WW1 WW2 registration cards indicated "San Giovanni, Italy"

Now, I've looked for San Giovanni, and have found that there are many, many places called 'San Giovanni' in Italy, including one in Campobasso and one in Sicily.

It has been almost impossible to locate him on a ship manifest. I've also been recently told that his mother put him on the boat by himself (at 10 yrs of age) and told him to send money back to Italy.

If anyone has any ideas as to where I should be looking, it would be greatly appreciated. The surname is Carbone.

Thanks,
Christopher J. Thibeault

[PeterTimber]

There are 3,976 immigrants surnamed Carbone listed in the Ellisisland.org websites. Further there are another 2000 listed coming in between 1880 and 1892 when the www.ellisisland.com lists were introduced. Some of them may overlap.

However, it would help both you and us if you could give us a first name??? This would trim down the thousands of names accordingly. =Peter=

[cjthibeault]

Hi Peter,

Sorry about that. The first name was Antonio, and he came here in 1906, and was born in 1895 (so he was 10 or 11 when he came). Parents were Aldor and Lucia. Aldor and Lucia did not come on the ship, just Antonio.

I've searched at Ellis Island and Ancestry, and while I've found lots of Antonio Carbone on the ships, none of them appear to be my gr.grandfather.

While finding a manifest would be nice (since it should have the exact place), I'm really interested in narrowing down the places I should be looking in, as I'd like to order LDS films and find the parents in those. With there being dozens of San Giovannis, it would be quite a task to go through all of them.

Since he was just a small boy by himself, do you think it would be possible that he got written as somebody else's 'son' in the manifest by mistake?

Thanks,
Chris

[PeterTimber]

Did you check www.castlegarden.org ? =Peter=

[PeterTimber]

In Castle Garden.org there is a 9 year old boy named Antonio arriving in 1906....This may be good because you have name of ship for father so then go to Ellis Island for both listings. =Peter=

[cjthibeault]

Hello Peter,

Thank you so much. I wasn't aware of the castlegarden.org website. On first glance, it appears as thought it could be my gr.grandfather. But it lists his father as 'Vincenzo'. His name (as far as I know through the obituary) was Aldor. It is also possible that I'm not correctly reading the manifest.

1. What is the probability of 2 boys of about 10 years of age, with the same name, coming over in 1906, by themselves?

2. Was it ever common for young children to lie about relatives or whether or not they were by themselves, when on a ship?

I suppose if there are records available for St. Croce, I can try to find this boy and get the names of the parents. At least that way, I can rule him out... But I'm happy that I at least now have something to investigate...

Thanks again,
Christopher J. Thibeault

[nuccia]

10 year old boys have been known to have traveled alone..and sometimes they were left in the care of an older person..friend, relative, etc to help the child get over. Sometimes the children, if unattended might be labeled as LPC (Likely Public Charge) so they would be sent back. So make sure you check the name of the person who is traveling directly above or below him as well to see if you recognize the name or the connection.

Just a note..sometimes, upon entering the US and clearing the boat, the children were released on their own by the charge and sometimes the charge would steal all of the child's money too.

It made life quite hard, and it really is sad but I have heard many stories like this.

And yes, it was common for many people to lie..not just children. Young brides lied a lot as well because in the US it was not as acceptable for an older man to marry very young women like it was in Italy. Women as young as 12 married men more then double their age!

[PeterTimber]

On the www.castlegarden.org website there are 3 Antonio Carbone one is aged 8 arriving in 1897, aged 9 in 1900 and 1906. =Peter=