So, was it worth more than five years of my life spent squinting at microfilm and entering data into my computer to get 16,375 names of people, almost all of whom are related to me through blood or marriage?
YES! It was!
I have finally finished transcribing every vital record (birth, marriage and death) from my grandfather Leone’s town of Baselice, Italy, between 1809 and 1860. Only by gathering every single fact and entering it into a database like Family Tree Maker could I tell who was related to me. The town never had much more than 2,000 residents at any time, and the vast majority of them were related, albeit distantly.
My one regret is that I was eager to export all of my relatives from my overall Baselice Family Tree file into my personal Iamarino Family Tree. Since I did that before finishing this project, for the past year I have had to make any edits, additions, and corrections to both files. I can’t remember why I didn’t realize that was going to happen.
Go to the Family Trees page on this blog to download the Baselice GEDCOM file for use in your own family tree software. If you have membership at Ancestry.com, the tree is there in a nicer format at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/61798328/family.
If you have relatives from this town but do not have Ancestry.com membership, email me at diannohama@optimum.net and I believe I can send you an invitation that will allow you to see it.
So what’s next? I am continuing to fine-tune the tree. I’ve found a number of discrepancies in the documents that have to be resolved, plus I am tracking down some of the families that moved to neighboring towns. There are documents for them available on FamilySearch.org.
I want to let the Comune of Baselice and current residents know that I’ve done this work. If you have any ideas for publicizing this work, let me know. I hope we’re related!
Families of Baselice 
My God Diann….you are one heck of a researcher…oh, the patience it must have taken and thank you so very much from this arm of the Marucci family. We email a couple of families in Baselice and will let them know abt your research and, also, the Fenton Museum in Jamestown, NY. Again, our Congratulations…it’s so wonderful. How abt the village priest…perhaps, he would be interested in sharing your work?
Hello again, Shirley. I once told the Mormons that I was doing this project, and they rejected me because (I guess) I wasn’t doing it through their program. But I’ll see if they’ve changed their mind. I have a cousin and some online friends in or from Baselice who may be able to promote this work. I’ll find some message boards to put it on, too. Maybe my cousin Giampietro Leone can help me contact a priest or town official. Thanks!
Your Records helped me find several of my ancestors. I was curious how I can go back further ? I found out that
Paolo Fusco
Your 6th great grandfather
Birth 1722
Death Jun 1816
Hi, Nick. I’m glad you were able to tie into this Baselice tree. What is your relationship to Paolo Fusco (1722-1816)? As far as I can tell, the only way to go back further than the civil records (which were a mandate from Napoleon) is with local church records. I don’t know if those will ever be available digitally or on microfilm, so what we need is a Baselice native with enough influence to get in and see those ancient records.
Tall order. I know someone who did this in the neighboring town of Colle Sannita, which is where my other grandfather was born. He (Fabio Paolucci) is an expert on the history and families of Colle Sannita, where he was born. He also has ancestors from Baselice, so maybe I can convince him to work on Baselice next…
He is my 6th Great Grandfather
Francesco Virgilio
is also my 6th great grandfather
Birth ABT 1728 in Italy
Death BEF AUG 1811
Too much… I have a chart here that says if you and I share 6th great grandparents, we are 7th cousins. That’s a first for me. Hello, 7th cousin!
Thats so awesome! Hello 7th Cousin. I have a tree on Ancestry called Orciuolo family tree
Nick, I wanted to see what I could gain from your tree, and I noticed Attilio Fusco (1893-1980) is attached to the wrong parents – parents who died before he was born. I think he’s young enough to be the grandson of one of the people you’re showing as his siblings. Unfortunately 1893 is way out of the range of the microfilmed documents. But, on the other hand, Attilio would have been my grandfather Adamo Leone’s contemporary.