Where was Giovanni Orto’s Hometown in Italy?

I inherited my Dad’s hard drive and I found information about David Orto. I’d never heard of the Orto family. He married my 2nd cousin twice removed. His parents were born in Italy and married in Saratoga County, New York. Where in Italy was John Orto born? Dad has “Monapoli? or Barrie, Italy” written on […]

Is Mary Cutler My Eighth Great Grandmother?

FamilySearch came out with a new feature that shows where your ancestors are buried. I visited the Old Burying Ground in Lexington, Massachusetts at the end of March 2023, and I was surprised to find I have five 8th great-grandparents buried there. My first reaction was I need to go back and see the graves, […]

Where Did My Immigrant Ancestor Come From?

Locating where your immigrant ancestor came from is always a challenge. Here is one way I solved the problem. In From Tursi to Niles – The Fusco Family – I had a death certificate that said Leonardo Fusco was born on 22 September 1884 in Messina, Italy the son of Frank Fusco and Rosaline Anzollati. […]

From Tursi to Niles – The Fusco Family

My husband asked me to research his best friend’s genealogy. Giovanni Andrea Fusco was a blacksmith in Tursi, Italy, and decided to immigrate to the iron-working town of Niles, Ohio. He was followed by two of his brothers and a cousin, and as was typical of the Italian immigrants, the families stayed close together and […]

Florence Maria Mansur aka Nellie F. Whittemore

It appears a struggling family gave away their daughter somewhere between 1865 and 1870.

Dangers of DNA in Genealogy

Photo CCO Public Domain I had a client who felt I was an idiot and not qualified to be a genealogist because the records I found did not agree with her DNA results. What she meant was my findings did not agree with how she thought she fit into the Ancestry trees of her DNA […]

Free Research Consultations at FamilySearch

As they are expecting more requests than normal during RootsTech (February 28 through March 1, 2024), FamilySearch is recruiting volunteer consultants. I’ve signed up for the late-night shift. If you’re one of those researchers who sits down and gets into the groove late at night, I’ll have slots available from about midnight to 2 a.m. […]

How I Got Started With My Italian Research

As you can see from Vincenzo Chiariello’s Declaration of Intention, he was born in Naples, Italy. Except he wasn’t. The hardest part of researching our Italian ancestors is finding where they came from. The second part is finding the records. In this case, I was fortunate since researching in Naples is exceptionally difficult and I […]

Localities

My family history for the most part was just a bunch of names and dates. I knew nothing about these people but as I watched Genealogy Road Show, I loved how they told the story of the area and time which brought the ancestors to life. So I was hunting for a photo of the […]

Hobart Spencer Jr. Was Most Likely the Husband of Betsey Hazen

Pioneer Cabin, Campton Station, Grafton, New Hampshire built around 1775. Twenty-four photos, including photos of the interior, are available for viewing at the Library of Congress website. A family history written in 1963 asserted that Hobart Spencer was married three times, and the third wife was Betsey Hazen. But with today’s access to digitalized documents, […]

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From Tursi to Niles – The Fusco Family

See my report at Substack by clicking on the button.

From Tursi to Niles – The Fusco Family

Where Was Leonardo Fusco Born?

Leonardo Fusco’s Niles, Trumbull, Ohio death record says he was born on 22 September 1884 in Messina, Italy, the son of Frank Fusco and Rosaline Anzolldi, but no record for him was located in Messina.

Since Fusco is not a common name in Niles, Ohio, I looked to see where the other Fuscos in the neighborhood were from.

One of the first was Mrs. Mary A. Fusco born in 1872 in Tursi, Italy the daughter of Frank A. Fusco and Rose Anzoloti. She was married to Nicolas A Fusco which is why her maiden name and married name are the same. This looks like a sister.

Sure enough, Leonardo’s birth record was in Tursi. FAN (Family, Associates, and Neighbors) pays off again.