@ Biaggio Michele Maccagno

I'm looking for information on my Grandfather - born about 1891 and died in England in 1950 one year before I was born. I believe he came from the Piemonte or Torino area? I am told he had three sisters, Maria, Theresa and Anna? He moved to England before the Second World War. If anybody can put me on the right track to do the research (I sadly don't speak Italian) or recommend a good Italian Geneaologist?

Jimmy,
I am also researching Maccagno/Macagno. There is a city and a province named "Torino", and both are located in the Piemonte region. The surname is from this region, so you are looking in the right place! I suggest that you start your search in England, however, and obtain a copy of your grandfather's death certificate - it may have his birth town listed there.
Depending on when your grandfather emigrated, England may have census or naturalization records you can research, too. Generally speaking, however, census records are held private for a minimum of 75 years (at least they are in the USA.)
I do have a genealogist friend who I would be happy to recommend, but at this point, I think you need a little more information. Let me know if there is any other detail you can think of, and perhaps I can help you out.

In bocca al lupo ("Good luck")
Karen Macagno

Hi Karen

Thank you for your message. All the information I have is that he got married in London in 1923 and died in London in 1950 aged 59 - making his birth date 1891. He worked in London as a chef at a restaurant called Luigi's Grill in Jermyn Street. I know he was interned in England at the beginning of WWII but I haven't been able to find out any more and I don't really know how to start searching in Italy/ Any help or advice would be great.

Jimmy

Jimmy,

I looked around on the web to see if there is an Anglo-Italian newsgroup or society that might be of help to you. I found the "Anglo-Italian Family History Society." http://www.anglo-italianfhs.org.uk/ I really haven't looked around the site, but it might be of interest.

More amazingly, however, I found a website called "Free BMD." http://www.freebmd.org.uk/ This searchable site has indexes of every UK birth, marriage and death record from 1837-1983. Best of all, it's free! Now it shows only an INDEX of the act, along with a summary of the details, but it does indicate WHERE it happened, which should be useful for you to request copies of the actual documents. For example, Biaggio Maccagno was married in December 1923 to a Perry at St. Martin, and "Biagio" Maccagno died in June, 1950 in Greenwich.

I'm glad that I found this site, because it will be useful to search some of my British ancestors! Perhaps it will be helpful for you, too. It is possible that Biaggio's marriage and/or death certificate, or even your mother's birth certificate, will indicate his birth town.

But now I am curious about "your" Maccagnos. Do you mind if I add you as a collaborator?

Thanks, Karen

Hi Karen

Thanks for the info - I'll have a search - and please put me down as a collaborator.

I'm also on Ancestry.com so if you want me to do some research for you on that let me know.

Jimmy