A face carved on a fountain in the city of Messina
I have literally spent full 8 hour days trying to solve this mystery. Giuseppe Sulfaro and Giuseppa Sulfaro’s marriage record should, by my 99.9% certain reckoning, be in the Curcuraci 1879 Marriage Records. Their first child Anna, was born on the 11th of March, 1880. They moved to Giardini sometime between the birth of Maria Sulfaro in 1887 and Salvatore’s birth in 1889. Both Giuseppe and Giuseppa were born in the village of Curcuraci, Messina. Giuseppe was born on the 1st of January 1838, and Giuseppa was born on the 12th of July 1858. To solve this mystery I have trawled through countless records on Antenati and FamilySearch. I have contacted Giardini, Messina and the elusive Curcuraci. It took months to get a response but last week this is what I received:
Buongiorno Gentile Giuseppina Mangani, L’ufficio di stato civile restituisce la richiesta senza alcun provvedimento in quanto la persona in oggetto non risulta elencata negli indici degli atti di stato civile dal 1866 al 1895. Cordiali saluti UFFICIO RAPPORTI CON IL PUBBLICO URP COMUNE DI MESSINA
Translation:
Good morning Dear Josephine Mangani, The registry office returns the request without action because the person in question is not listed in the indices of civil status records from 1866 to 1895. Sincerely OFFICE RELATIONS WITH THE PUBLIC URP TOWN OF MESSINA
This response simply makes no sense. It is highly unlikely that Giuseppa was married to Giuseppe before 1866, and had no child until 1880. It is possible that they married in another comune outside of the Messina area, but travel was not as common back then and the purpose to their travel, then return to Curcuraci soon after to have a child, would be another question. I have also looked through records in Giardini, wondering at first whether they had moved there then moved back, then moved again. This was all to no avail. My frustration is only compiled by the fact that the Curcuraci Marriage Records for 1879 are missing on FamilySearch. I have finally come to this conclusion after spending months, probably over a year now, looking through the mess that is the Villaggi Di Messina records, that they have not been scanned or digitized. Perhaps these records were lost somehow, through water damage or a fire. I may never know. But I won’t give up trying to find them. I have a bad feeling that the only way that I will get anywhere with this line of research is taking a trip to Italy and manually looking for the records in Messina or Curcuraci.
After years of genealogy I pretty much know that there is nobody else out there searching for this record. But if by some chance you are, and I don’t know you, please let’s get in touch!
Also, if you were wondering, the picture has nothing to do with anything. Just a random pic I took on my 2012 trip to Italy!