Looking for relatives of Francesco Truncali (1876-1943) and Rosalia Raia (1911-2003) of Caltabellotta, Sicily?

+3 votes
82 views
My great-grandparents, Francesco Truncali (5 Dec 1876-1943) and Rosalia Raia (8 Mar 1911-2 June 2003) have little information. My great-grandmother has more documentation after moving to the U.S., but I know nothing about my great-great-grandparents or cousins. My great-grandparents lived in Caltabellotta, Sicily; my great-grandmother was 18 or 19, and my great-grandfather was 53 or 54 when they married. My great-grandfather had a first wife, Maria Prinzivalli, who passed away, and they had one son, Giuseppe (Abt. 1909-1976), who immigrated to the U.S., most likely in the early 1930s and died in 1976. My great-grandparents had three sons, one of whom was my late grandfather, Salvatore (21 Feb 1936-17 May 2023). All three of their sons immigrated to the U.S. and became citizens. According to one of my granduncles, they have cousins in Sicily, but no one has contacted them in 20 years. I know virtually nothing about any siblings or parents of my great-grandparents, and I want to find out if I still have any missing relatives and try to expand my family tree.

Edit: For more context, my great-grandparents married in Caltabellotta, Sicily. My grandfather and his brothers were born and raised in Caltabellotta, Sicily, and my late grandfather immigrated to the U.S. in 1966, and his brothers at a similar time. My great-grandmother moved to Florida sometime after that, probably in the 1970s.

2nd Edit: I have been informed of the actual birthdate of my great-grandfather and will be making edits to my question as new information comes up.
in Genealogy Help by Katie Truncali G2G Crew (380 points)
edited by Katie Truncali

1 Answer

+6 votes

Since you don't have anything put in the WikiTree yet, this isn't a ton to go on. So there's more questions than answers.

  • Do you have immigration records for your GGPs?
  • Did they marry in Italy or in the US?
  • How do you know they are from Caltabellotta?
  • Do you have any information about their parents?

You should start from the US and work your way backwards. The good news is there are lots of available records in Caltabellotta - civil records back to 1820 (Antenati and FamilySearch) and church records back to the 1620s (Archdiocese of Agrigento).

For example, I see a Rosaria Raia born in 1911 arriving in 1914 with father Gaspare and brother Gaetano, but they are from Vicari in Palermo province.

Searching for Italian records isn't terribly difficult, but most of the records aren't transcribed into a searchable database so you have browse images of record books, town by town and year by year because records are kept on the local level.

by Frank Santoro G2G6 Mach 5 (55.8k points)
Hi, Frank! Let me clear things up a bit. Yes, my great-grandparents married in Sicily and lived in Caltabellotta, Sicily. My late grandfather and his brothers were born and raised in Caltabellotta, Sicily. However, my great-grandfather died when my late grandfather was seven years old. My late grandfather did not immigrate to the U.S. until 1966, and his brothers immigrated at a similar time. Also, Joe, his half-brother, was more or less twice his age. My great-grandmother, Rosalia Raia, did not move to the U.S. until some time after that. My father knew her during childhood, so she would have probably moved during the 1970s. I estimate she may have moved around 1974, but I am not sure. I do know that she moved to Florida, and is buried there. She also never went back to her maiden name and never remarried. I don't have any information about their parents, as my grandfather never liked to talk about his childhood. He grew up during WW2, and according to him, my great-grandfather was a cruel man. I believe my grandfather's half-brother could have known my great-grandfather's parents, but he's been dead for 48 years. If my grandfather and his brothers knew my great-grandmother's parents, then nothing has been said, as far as I know.
OK, so you have a bit of a problem because of online record availability. The latest church records for Caltabellotta available end in 1929, and the latest civil records available end in 1922. And immigration records generally aren't available online for after the 1950s.

This appears to be a birth record matching Rosalia; born 8 Mar 1911 to Salvatore Raia and Santa Tornambi.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSQG-HRR

Unfortunately neither her birth record nor her baptismal record contains a marriage annotation.

Not finding a Francesco Truncali born 12 May 1876. However, there is one born 5 Dec 1876, which would be 5-12-1876 in European style dating. Son of Giuseppe Truncali and of Giuseppa Cascio, and married Maria Prinzivalli on 3 Jun 1901

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G94S-BW4N

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G94S-H9PQ

This Francesco Truncali actually came to the US in 1912; the wife's name is listed as his contact back home. He was meeting his brother Lorenzo in New York.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9T6-H46H

When was your grandfather's half brother Giuseppe born?
I believe Joe was born around 1916, as he was at least twice my grandfather's age. We don't know who Joe's mother was, but we do know that she passed away before my great-grandfather married my great-grandmother. I believe the marriage between my great-grandparents was arranged. My great-great-grandfather being named Salvatore would make sense since my father's side of my family likes naming kids after grandparents.
Holy crap! No joke, my Ancestry account has similar data that it filled in based on the potential parent algorithm, but I was never sure because of how iffy it can be, and since I don't have the money to access those records! I've been wondering about this since I started taking in an interest in my family tree, and I can't believe it took so long to finally get any kind of answer. As for my great-great-grandparents, I'm trying to pinpoint information about their identities, since Ancestry doesn't have much I can access. I also want to fill in some info on Maria Prinzivalli, now that I know her name.

Related questions

+4 votes
0 answers
165 views asked Jan 19, 2023 in Genealogy Help by Nancy Thomas G2G6 Pilot (210k points)
+2 votes
3 answers
+6 votes
1 answer
+5 votes
2 answers

WikiTree  ~  About  ~  Help Help  ~  Search Person Search  ~  Surname:

disclaimer - terms - copyright

...