Looking for info on the family of Pasquale Mesto born Mar 19, 1864 in Italy

Question

Pasquale Mesto was born on Mar 19,1864 in Bari, Italy. He was the son of Francesco Mesto 24 Jun 1815- and Palma Rosa Marzulli 1820-  They were married on 31 Aug 1843. Pasquale married Cecilia Marchitelli.  Pasquale and Cecilia had 6 children ie Francesco 1889, Palma 1890, Pietro 1892, Domenica 1894, Alberto 1898, and Ernesto 11 May 1900.  I have charted all the descendants of the youngest son Ernesto...but I can find nothing on the older five siblings? I know that Pietro married Carmela Amendola and they had a son Filippo born 21 Oct 1925 who emigrated to Brazil. But there has to be more someplace??? I'm finding it very difficult, impossible, to do research in Italy !!  Thank you very much. John Miller

Answer 1

Francesco Mesto

New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island)

Given Name	Francesco
Surname	Mesto
Last Place of Residence	Aprigliane
Event Date	01 Mar 1900
Age	10y
Nationality	Italian
Departure Port	Naples
Arrival Port	New York
Gender	Male
Marital Status	S
Ship Name	Kaiser Wilhelm II

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New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924

Citing this Record

"New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JX8S-PJC : 6 December 2014), Francesco Mesto, 01 Mar 1900; citing departure port Naples, arrival port New York, ship name Kaiser Wilhelm II, NARA microfilm publication T715 and M237 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Comments

I really don't think this is correct because no other member of Francesco's family is listed on the ship's manifest. It seems unlikely that his family would send a 10 year old boy across the Atlantic with no other family members along. Possible but unlikely...I think.  Must be a different Francesco Mesto.

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Actually, the way it worked back then was the family would all work to be able to pay for the fare of ONE single family member. When that family member made it to the USA, they would work and save up to send money back home so others could then follow. Many times they would travel back and forth. Another thing you should know is Italian women always keep their maiden names. Never took the husband's last name when they married. In Italy, there are two last names on every mailbox (unless of course that person is single)

If you go to the Ellis Island site and look at the manifest yourself, I am sure you will see he ws probably traveling with his mother (different last name) At one point youngsters could travel alone that young but then sometime in the 1900s they changed the immigration laws.

It would help us in your research if you could tell us what part of Italy they were from....then we know what database to look into over in Italy online : )

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nevermind, I saw you said Bari :)

Answer 2

Information from Bari Civil Registration is on Antenati website up to 1900 and there is more at Family Search (until 1925 for death and marriage and 1917 for births), but you need to be in a Family Center to access it. 

Further more information you will be able to get only at the Bari state archive (Archivio di Stato di Bari) or in the city archive (Archivio Generale e Storico), both do not provide online information and I wasn't able to get any answer from them.

You can try the church archive (Archivio storico diocesano sezione di Bari), they might have information since the 1500s, but they are also not online. Except for their email: amministrativo@odegitria.bari.it