Palermo, Italy, Births, 1896-1905

At the turn of the 19th century, the Italian port city of Palermo in Sicily experienced an increased level of growth thanks to a migration into the city from agricultural areas, as well as an economic and industrial boom. Between 1850 and 1930, 4.5 million Italians immigrated to the United States and a lot of them came from southern Italy, with Palermo being Sicily’s main port city. By the 1920 U.S. Census, there were 6 million people who were listed as being born in Italy. This collection is valuable for researching Italian-American immigrants and for those with ancestry from Palermo because of the heightened importance of the city over that span.

The database contains about 100,000 records of births in Palermo during this boom from 1896-1905. This index was taken from microfilm reproductions of the original documents housed in Palermo covering 173 books.

The records include reported births during those 10 years, but it shouldn’t be considered a complete list of all births in those years. The records contain:

• Child’s name
• Parents’ names
• Date of birth
• District
• Volume
• Number