Hello, my name is Robert, am currently living in London, and I dabble a bit in genealogy.

My mother's family is of Italian extraction - originally from a small town on the Bay of Naples. My first foray into Italian genealogical research was to track down my great-grandfather about 8 years ago.

Since then I have undertaken research for various other people and have steadily been improving my knowledge base in this area. My primary focus is Italian research (usually pre-1900) and I also cover some areas of the US, Australia and South Africa (diamond fields through WWII).

I do often get stuck with questions that seem to have no easy answer, and no one to ask, so am grateful to have been told of this forum and look forward to learning more here, and hopefully also being able to contribute something positive as well.

Nice to see you over here here Robert. I'm sure you will find plenty of help and it looks as if you have some good knowledge to offer as well.

We have a 'Non Italian Genealogy Forum' on here, and while not used a great deal (yet), it is growing. That could be a good place - along with the General Discussion Forum - for some of your questions...

Hi Robert!

Welcome to Gente. We're glad to have you and look forward to hearing more from you.

Welcome to Gente! It is great to have you. Diamond mines in South Africa? I know of people from my grandfather's town who ended up there. Do you know any online resources on the subject?

Cathy wrote:

Welcome to Gente! It is great to have you. Diamond mines in South Africa? I know of people from my grandfather's town who ended up there. Do you know any online resources on the subject?

The best resource for anything to do with the diamond fields is the newspaper archives here in London. Kimberley had its own paper - The Diamond Fields Advertiser - and I found this, along with the local land registry, the best source of info for the area.

I am busy researching online info sources for that era in South Africa but have not found much as of yet. Previously when I did research there (for my own family) it was a letter writing, emailing and telephoning exercise, plus having to travel to parts of SA to meet personally with people to get info.

Out of curiosity, what town was your grandfather from? I have been told that immigration was very regional as well - one town went here, the other village there, etc which is extremely useful to know when you are lacking data in a search.

My grandfather was from Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza Province in Calabria. Some people from Argentina who have roots in that town have told me of their family who ended up in South Africa and their descendants still live there today.

Cathy wrote:

My grandfather was from Montalto Uffugo in Cosenza Province in Calabria. Some people from Argentina who have roots in that town have told me of their family who ended up in South Africa and their descendants still live there today.

Interesting coincidence, I started my research in Rota Greco in Cosenza Province, Calabria...from there it went to Naples, then Palermo, up to Bergamo then back to Naples - San Giorgio a Cremano to be exact. Was quite a mission followin a family that left almost no trail...

I was told that many miners from the Bergamo region also went to South Africa for either the diamonds or gold. My own family it seems came via a few countries in Africa where mining operations were underway at the time so tracking them was quite interesting.

There is a very active Italian community in Cape Town that is worth contacting (email only) as they have an excellent historical database. For anything relating to WWII and Italian POW's in South Africa (or any Italian immigrants who were in the country by that time) the Zonderwater Block group is probably the best first port of call. Again, no website but email contact is possible, and they have also published some excellent books recounting the history and contribution of the Italians in South Africa to the development of the country.

My grandfather was a POW in South Africa .. How would I find more information about this? Do you have a contact email or can I google it?

nuccia wrote:

My grandfather was a POW in South Africa .. How would I find more information about this? Do you have a contact email or can I google it?

There is this bit of useful info re the POW camp that you might find interesting and the contact details for the society are:

ASSOCIAZIONE ZONDERWATER BLOCK EX PRIGIONIERI DI GUERRA DI CAPE TOWN E DINTORNI
Purpose: patriotic
Chairperson: Mino CAIRA
Email: mino.caira @ uct.ac.za
Tel: 0027 (0)21 671 9252
Address: 17 Lynfrae Avenue, Newlands - Cape Town 7700

I have to email them next week with a query myself. I do not know (bar their publications and one previous face to face meeting) exactly how helpful they are. If you don't get anywhere with them let me know as there are other avenues that might be worth exploring.

Thanks Robert. I will definitely look into this. I have always been curious about the time he was held prisoner and maybe now I might find out the details.

Hugs!