Italy to America and Back - Part 2 in a Series on Italian Research

Guest Post by Shannon Combs-Bennett, QG, MSc, FSAScot

This is a continuation of the post from June 13. See this link for part one.

Building on the information I discovered about the births of Guerino and his two brothers, I was able to locate them on the 1920 US Census. This time, I found them with a larger-than-expected family and several misspelled or Americanized names.

From the census, I gathered the following information:

Transcription of information from the 1920 US Federal Census for the Antonini family.

 From this information, I was able to reconstruct the family's movements and history. The term "immigrated" indicates the most recent entry of the person into the United States. The dates reveal that Giovanna, likely Pietro, and Teressa last entered the U.S. in 1912. However, Bernadino departed the country, probably after late 1916 (to be Guerino’s father), and then came back to the United States in 1918.

Furthermore, using Genealogy GenieAI's insight analysis tool provided me with a deeper understanding of Redstone Township. This area was, once again, a company town for the H.C. Frick company. Armed with this information, I recognize the necessity of visiting Pittsburgh to review the company records for more family details. Finding the time, well, that is a problem for another day!

Insight Analysis from Genealogy GenieAI gives additional information on where the Antonini family lived in 1920.

At this stage, I was attempting to find passenger lists for the family's potential travels to and from Italy. By examining birth dates and the last years of immigration, I constructed a timeline of events. Focusing on the years when movement was recorded (1912 and 1918), I searched for passenger lists in New York and Philadelphia, the two ports they were most likely to enter.

In 1912, the family's names appeared on the manifest of the S.S. Olympic, which departed from Cherbourg, France, and reached Ellis Island, New York, on February 7, 1912. The manifest provided additional information about the family and their destination.

Transcription of the passenger manifest entry for the Antonini family on the S.S. Olympic.

One of my favorite activities involves searching for historical photographs that support the facts I uncover during my research. I frequently explore the Library of Congress Prints & Photographs website to find these images. Recently, I was lucky to come across a picture of the S.S. Olympic, which I shared with my friend and you.

Maiden voyage of the Olympic. Digital ID: b&w film copy neg.) cph 3b23472 http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3b23472

This time, their destination was Chicago, Illinois, instead of Pennsylvania. But why? Additionally, the group included another person: Adelaide Martelli, who appears to be Giovanna’s sister, as she lists the same information for her father as Giovanna. Now the question arises: why Chicago and not Pennsylvania? Furthermore, where is Helena?

More questions came to mind. Primarily, could this be a different family similar to the one we are looking for? Or, perhaps, is Helena's estimated birth year incorrect?

With that information in mind, I attempt to establish a link to Chicago and Pennsylvania. This may help me confirm or refute the two-family theory. To achieve this, I revisited the delayed birth certificates, thinking I might have overlooked something about their mother. However, all certificates indicated Giovanna’s maiden name as Martelli. This seems too significant to be a coincidence.

I consulted the Smart Research tool on Genealogy GenieAI to check if I had overlooked anything. I needed assistance with this research once more and was curious about the suggestions the AI might offer regarding this immigration and movement event.

Screenshot of the summary for the Smart Research tool on Genealogy GenieAI.

This glimpse of Smart Research suggestions was only the beginning. The FAN analysis, timeline, and future research strategies opened up new paths for me to explore. Some were already on my list, but others were new to me. I appreciated the list of sources used to generate the recommendations. Equipped with website links and details, I set out to verify the information.

But that is a story for another day.