My great grandfather, Angelo Iacovino, said that when he came over from Napoli, he registered at Ellis Island, yet when we searched, there was no one in the records by that name. When I went to Italy, I wasn't able to make it to Napoli and thus couldn't get to any records there that they might have of him. I am wondering if anyone might know something about any Iacovino family in Italy.

There seem to be four Angelo's on Ancestry that may be of use to you. All seem to have left from Napoli but we need a bit more information. Can you tell us approximately when he was born? Also, if you happen to know his wife's name (maiden as well) or any siblings we should be able to locate something. It's always best to start with yourself and work backwards.

Let us know.

Try doing a search again. This time, take that first letter I and change it to a J and then try it again with a Y.

I have been indexing Italian records for the FHL. Many of these records have the letter I written as what looks like a J and sometimes a Y.

When the indexes were made for the ship manifests, etc, the indexers were probably told to type exactly what they see. I have typed I for the J's that I index, but thats because I came here and asked the "real" Italians about it.

After working on indexing Italian records (and even american ones), I fully understand how its so difficult for us to find anything.

Anyway..give this a shot. I hope it works.