Where was Giovanni Orto's Hometown in Italy?
I'd never heard of the Orto family. I inherited Dad's hard drive which has a pedigree chart with "Monapoli? or Barrie, Italy" written as John Orto aka Giovanni Orto's birth place. Which is it?
The first place to start was with what did I know.
There were several documents that said he and his wife were born in Italy, and I had a pedigree chart my father created that said he was born in “Monapoli? Or Barrie, Italy.” I thought I had solved the question when I found John Orto’s obituary that appeared in the Post Star and Times in Glens Falls, New York. Obituaries are usually written by the family, and it said, “He was born in Brindisi, Italy in 1888…” But then I found an obituary that appeared in the Tampa Bay Times in St. Petersburg, Florida, which said, “Born in Bari, Italy.”1
Now I know where Dad got Barrie, and while I didn’t know where he got Monapoli, it is between Bari and Brindisi, so it was still a possibility.
While going through the hints on Ancestry, I found his World War I Draft Registration Card, which said he was born on 30 March 1888 in Monopoli, Italy. Because John would have provided this information, Monopoli was the most logical place to look for his birth record. From his marriage record (again, he was most likely the informant), I learned his parents were Victoro Orto and Addolorata Nistrio. The information was obviously written by the clerk since the handwriting was the same for all the entries on the page, so I suspected the parents' names were close but not exactly correct. So off I went to Monopoli!2
And Giovanni Orto was born in Monopoli, Bari, Italy, on 30 March 1888, the son of unknown parents, leading me to believe he was a foundling and lied about his parents’ names.3
Finding the hometown of our immigrant ancestors can be challenging, but I got lucky with this one. I was not able to find an obituary for his wife, Civita Forte, but she came to the United States with her parents, and her father’s obituary said he was born in Formia, Italy. Off I went to Formia!4
Of course, the records for 1888 and 1889 were not available in the digital images, so I couldn’t search for Civita’s birth record, but the records for 1855 were available, and I could look for her father. And sure enough, he was born on 17 October 1855 in Mola e Castellone (which in 1863 changed its name to Formia after an ancient town that had been in the area), Latina, Italy. In the margin of his birth record was a note that on 13 December 1883 in Formia, Latina, Italy, Francesco Forte married Filomena Masiello.5
Civita most likely was born in Formia, Latina, Italy, and she traveled with her mother to Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts in 1897 to join her father, who had gone to the United States in 1891. Her four siblings were born in Massachusetts.6
“Area Obituaries: John Orto,” Post Star and Times (Glens Falls, New York), Thursday, 1 February 1973, p. 12, col. 4; Newspapers.com. Also, “Obituaries: John Orto,” St. Petersburg Times (St. Petersburg, Florida), Friday, 2 February 1973, p. 15-B, col. 4; Newspapers.com.
Saratoga County, New York, World War I Draft Cards, Local Board 2, R–Z, starting with R, jumping back to N, and continuing in alphabetical order to Z, card for John Orto; FamilySearch. Also, Saratoga County, New York, Marriage Records, 1908–1909, Affidavit for License to Marry, John Orto and Civita Forte, 5 May 1909; Ancestry.
Monopoli, Bari, Italy, Registro Degli Atti di Nati, 1888, record 215, Giovanni Orto, 30 March 1888; FamilySearch.
Obituary for Frank Forte, The Post-Star (Glens Falls, New York), Friday, 10 June 1938, p. 17; Newspapers.com.
Mola e Castellone, Latina, Italy, Registro Degli Atti di Nati, 1855, record 212, Francesco Paolo Forte, 17 October 1855, with information about his marriage with Filomena Masiello written in the margin; FamilySearch.
Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at New York, 1820–1897, 2 Jan 1897–6 Feb 1897, Lists Nos. 1–163, List 115, manifest for the S.S. Elysia, Naples to New York, arrived 27 January 1897, entries for Filomena Masiello and Civita Forte; FamilySearch. Also, 1900 U.S. census, Worcester County, Massachusetts, population schedule, Southborough Town, ED 1676, Sheet 4A, dwelling 84, family 89, Frank Forte household; database with images, FamilySearch.