The Case of the Mysterious Birth Certificate: Part Three

I am doing my best to put this behind me but it just won’t let go. Some rabbit holes are like that—you would swear you were chasing just one rabbit and before you know it they seem to be multiplying. Note Please read the earlier parts or this won’t make much sense. I know you are thinking that my talking about rabbits multiplying is strictly metaphor but its not.

To recap Yolanda Rosa FRANCO’s birth certificate was found in my great grandmother’s diary and I am sill looking for why. Yolanda was born in Saint Helena but as it turns out her father spelled various ways Giralamo FRANCO was born in a very small village in Italy called Murialdo, Savona, Italy. And as it turns out so was my neighbor’s mother Guiseppine (Josephine) Serafina FRANCO. Well both Giralamo and Guiseppine were born to a father named Giovanni Battista FRANCO but not the same Giovanni Battista FRANCO. Are you confused yet? Well I got so confused I had to create a spreadsheet to keep them all straight.

So in the end I found that there were not one, not two, not three not four, but five Giovanni FRANCO‘s living in Murilado, Italy in 1877-1902 and plotting out the births of their children and the spouses shows these are separate individuals. Four of the five were named Giovanni Battista FRANCO!!! Geremia Patrizio Pacifico FRANCO (later known as Giralamo) is Yolanda’s father and we know this because his date of birth is recorded in the parish records for Murialdo but also on his draft card where his name is Gerolamo FRANCO born also 26 Mar 1886 in Murialdo. Then we have Guiseppine FRANCO born in 1900. On a tree on FamilySearch it shows “our” Giovanni Battista FRANCO (wife ODELLA) as the son of Carlo FRANCO bc 1830 and Vittoria SECCO bc 1837. Whether Giralamo and Guiseppine were first cousins, second cousins or some other I am not sure but it seems likely they were related. And it may be this connection that lured Giralamo from San Francisco to Saint Helena. In the connection category we also have Giralamo’s wife was Maria Rosa Severina ODELLA and that my neighbor’s father’s sponsor was Carlo ODELLA.

A closer look at the ship’s passenger list shows the Geremia FRANCO arrived on the ship Ancoda 12 April 1910. It shows he was born in Murialdo, his father was Giovanni and that he was headed to San Francisco.

It shows the person above him as Eugenia DAMICO who has listed his brother in San Francisco as his contact. It states ditto for Geremia but that is probably an error. However when we look up Eugene DAMICO in the 1911 San Francisco City Directory we find him listed as a gardener residing at Corbett Ave. I cannot find Giralamo in any City Directories except 1920.

However when Gerolomo FRANCO married on Valentine’s Day 1914 to Laura CRAVIOTTO both are listed as living on Corbett Av in San Francisco. His occupation “gardener.”

You may wonder why I am trying to track all of Giramalo’s movements. I am trying to find an intersection between Giramalo and my great grandmother Lulu MOSIER. In 1915 Gerolamo FRANCO’s draft card lists his address as 27th Street & Stanford Heights in San Francisco where he is a “farmer.” In 1920 the only San Francisco City Directory in which I have located him he is listed as a Gardener.

Here is a map of the area from 1911 which shows Corbett Ave. which actually winds around Twin Peaks. You can see 27th Street where it meets Stanford Heights. [I am awaiting permission to post a photo of the farm area]

So we have Girolamo in 1920 in San Francisco and then in December of 1921 his daughter Yolanda Rosa is born in St. Helena. And the family is still there in 1930. Strangely Girolamo is listed as living in San Francisco in 1924 when he is listed on his brother Guiesppe FRANCO’s Draft card as living on Corbett Road. Did Giralamo travel back and forth between the Lyman farm in St. Helena and the Farm near Corbett Ave in San. Francisco? Or was his brother mistaken?

Several things I have learned so far that are good for all genealogists. Checking multiple sources brings a much broader view of information. Records do not always agree. I have used Ancestry, Family Search and My Heritage for this work as well as specific Google searches. Check every possible permutation of spellings and pay attention to others listed on records. Although I have tried very hard to place Lulu and Girolomo in proximity to each other to date that remains elusive. I have not made the connection between them, however I have made a connection with my neighbors. I also have not “yet” located a obituary for Yolanda Rosa (FRANCO) JOHNSON that may list her children. Lots more rabbits to follow…

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