I am planning to write a series of articles about a few archives which I visit quite often, explaining why they are so important for me.
I will start with GENOVA and its amazing CITY ARCHIVE: the Archivio Storico del Comune di Genova.
This archive stores info about the people who were actually living in the city of Genova, excluding the surroundings and the province.
It may seem a very limited range of people, but actually I ended up searching in this archive many times, and not only native Genoeses.
In fact, people from the whole province often moved to Genova for job and lived there for a few years, making it possible for us to discover something about them.
Stop with chatting, here are my favorite documents collections.
THE CENSUS (Registro di censimento)
There are census registers for the years 1808, 1827, 1856 and 1871
The two oldest ones are sorted out by hamlets, while the others gather the entire population of Genova.
Here is an example of the census of the year 1856: for every inhabitant of Genova, it reports surname, name, paternity, profession, birth year and more
The census of the year 1871 is actually an index that links to the register of population: 4 reference numbers will allow to find an entire double page dedicated to your family!
THE REGISTER OF POPULATION (Registro di Popolazione).
Every double page is dedicated to a family living in Genova. The info included in this very rich document is:
- about the residence: hamlet, parish, complete address (street, number, house, staircase, floor)
- about the people: surname, name, paternity, gender, relationship with family head, birth place, birth date, status, date of entrance in Genova, legal residence, actual residence, previous residence, date of exit from Genova, death date, changes of status.
Isn’t it a real goldmine?!
With a bit of luck, it is possible to identify exactly the house where an ancestor was living… and visit it!
There is another important register: the Register of Variations
If the family changed address in Genova, the change is reported in this register and the reference to this page is transcribed on the corresponding entry in the census.
The different addresses are listed chronologically.
If your ancestor was born in the city of Genova, other two very important resources are:
THE PARISH RECORDS
The Archivio Storico Comunale stores the copies of all baptism, marriage and death records from 1828 to 1854, for all the city parishes. Great, isn’t it?!
LIST OF BIRTHS
OK, I never searched these but I have been told about it from a very reliable researcher, so I trust they are there and I am just waiting for the right occasion to search them:
- List of births, boys only, from 1786 to 1795 (but only for surnames starting with A-M, the other register was lost, I fear)
- List of births, boys and girls, from 1795
MILITARY DRAFT LISTS
They have a database which is accessible from their computers, where all Genoese boys due to serve in the army are listed. The info is taken from the copy of the draft lists which were issued by the Genova Town Hall and sent to the military district. The info included are almost the same as that reported on the copies for the military district which are stored at the State Archive, but sometimes they include important additional info, such as the parish where the boy was baptized (for births before 1866).
Sometimes, it is enough to hit a brick wall!
Of course there are many more documents and collections, but I did not discover them yet: maybe another article will follow.
The Archivio Storico Comunale is inside Palazzo Ducale, in the main Genova square.
The metro station De Ferrari is very close.
You can access from Piazza Giacomo Matteotti 10 or from Piazza De Ferrari.
Climb the big marble staircase facing the entrance gate from Piazza Matteotti (it’s on your right after the bar if you enter from Piazza De Ferrari), then turn right and go up the other flight of stairs.
At the top of the stairs turn right, cross the balcony and the City Archive is in front of you.
E. G. ANCESTRY RESEARCH 