Ricciardi San Giuliano del Sannio Investigation - 24 April 2026

Scope

Investigated user-supplied FamilySearch source details and two local FamilySearch PDF downloads for Domenico Ricciardi, FamilySearch Person ID P4RF-1DB, as Tony Iacofano's maternal-line origin clue.

Existing repo chain:

Tony Iacofano -> Mary Ricciardi -> Domenic/Dominic Ricciardi and Christina/Christania Polletta/Pauletta.

No 01_people/ records were updated.

Image-Backed Findings

Two FamilySearch naturalization PDFs were ingested:

  • Transcript.pdf: 1920 declaration of intention, image 354 of 1551, Image Group Number 007778988, ARK 3:1:3Q9M-CSMK-Q44X-D.
  • Transcript-2.pdf: 1927 petition for naturalization, image 356 of 1551, Image Group Number 007778988, ARK 3:1:3Q9M-CSMK-Q44K-K.

The 1920 declaration records Domenico as Domenico Richardi, age 29, laborer, born 29 August 1891 in a phonetically written S Guliano dol Sanimo, Italy, living at 1951 East 123rd Street in Cleveland, with wife Cristina. The same image's certificate of arrival identifies the vessel as Providence and the arrival date as 13 October 1920.

The 1927 petition records Domenico Ricciardi at 2089 East 125th Street, Cleveland, born 29 August 1891 in a clipped/variant Gruliano, Italy, arrived New York on the Providence on 13 October 1920, wife Cristina born January 1891 in Italy, and children Maria, Nicola, and Angelina.

Indexed Birth Clue

The user-supplied FamilySearch indexed birth record 1:1:XQPK-MPX6 reports Domenico Ricciardi born 29 August 1891 in San Giuliano del Sannio, Campobasso, certificate No. 62, son of Nicolangelo Ricciardi and Maria di Niro.

The agent could not view the original birth-register image. The FamilySearch record page returned an Incapsula 403 block from the agent environment, and the public platform record endpoint returned 404.

Passenger Manifest Follow-Up

The Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island arrival collection exposed two additional manifest records that are now preserved as proposed sources:

Cristina's manifest is a strong match for Domenico's wife: it records Cristina Polletta, age 30, married, last residence/birthplace as S. Giuliano, Campobasso, destination Cleveland, Ohio, and appears to say she was joining husband Domenico Ricciardi in Cleveland.

Domenico's manifest candidate is useful but not yet clean enough for an accepted immigration event. It matches the name, ship, port, and close arrival date from the naturalization records, but it indexes/appears to record S. Giovanni S. rather than San Giuliano, points to Rockford, Illinois rather than Cleveland, and may record prior U.S. residence around 1913-1915 in Ohio. Keep that record as a proposed identity candidate pending user review.

Fold3/NARA Naturalization Metadata

Fold3 public metadata exposed a separate NARA M1995 naturalization file for Cristina Ricciardi:

  • Fold3 file id 146963016, cluster 116.5WZ6YcTF6V_8qQsancXWoA, title Ricciardi, Cristina, size 3.
  • Page 146963016: Other (1942), full name Ricciardi, Cristina, birth country Italy, alias Polletta.
  • Page 146963017: Petition for Naturalization (1943), full name Ricciardi, Cristina, birth country Italy.
  • Page 146963018: Oath of Allegiance (1944), full name Ricciardi, Cristina, birth country Italy.

The metadata is now preserved as source-fold3-index-for-cristina-ricciardi-naturalization-file-1942-1944. This is not image-backed evidence; Fold3 denied image viewing to the anonymous agent session with a subscriber-access requirement. Still, the indexed alias Polletta is a useful independent pointer to Cristina's maiden-name question.

Fold3 metadata also exposed a fuller naturalization file for Domenico Ricciardi: file id 124286490, cluster 116.DSNEv6UI3ASKmkXx0zuFBQ, size 9, including Other (1926), Petition for Naturalization (1927), and Oath of Allegiance (1927). The repo already has two FamilySearch naturalization images for Domenico, so any later Fold3/NARA images should be compared before creating new source records.

Research Meaning

This is now the strongest exact Italian locality evidence for Tony Iacofano's maternal Ricciardi line. The naturalization images independently point to San Giuliano del Sannio, and the indexed Italian birth record supplies the matching modern comune plus parents.

There is a conflict to preserve: the 1927 petition says Maria, Nicola, and Angelina were born in Italy, while the existing 1930 census and 1941 marriage evidence place Mary/Maria in Ohio or Cleveland. The overlapping parents, siblings, and Mary/Maria birth month/day make the identity likely, but the conflict needs user review and original-record corroboration.

Repo Actions

  • Created proposed sources for the 1920 declaration, 1927 petition, and 1891 FamilySearch birth index.
  • Created proposed passenger-manifest sources for Domenico Ricciardi's Providence arrival candidate and Cristina Polletta's Regina d'Italia arrival.
  • Created a proposed online-index source for Fold3 public metadata on Cristina Ricciardi's 1942-1944 naturalization file.
  • Created leads for Domenico Ricciardi, Cristina Polletta, Nicolangelo Ricciardi, and Maria di Niro.
  • Updated the Campobasso human-input item to include San Giuliano del Sannio and the exact Ricciardi/di Niro targets.
  • Added HIR-20260424-004 for the gated Fold3/NARA naturalization images for Cristina and the full Domenico naturalization file.

Next Actions

  1. View the original San Giuliano del Sannio birth record, certificate No. 62, for Domenico Ricciardi.
  2. Locate Domenico and Cristina's marriage record, likely in San Giuliano del Sannio or Cristina's home comune, to confirm Cristina's surname and parents.
  3. User-review the Domenico Providence manifest candidate before treating it as his arrival record or creating an immigration event.
  4. Obtain Cristina's 1942-1944 Fold3/NARA naturalization images and Domenico's full 9-image Fold3/NARA file; compare Domenico pages to existing FamilySearch artifacts before creating any duplicate source.
  5. Ingest and compare the 1942 WWII draft card, 1950 census, 1953 county marriage mentions, SSDI, and death/burial records only as separate proposed sources if durable artifacts are available.