Fantastic Find Friday - Peter Berni Passport Application

Fabulous Find Friday is a new meme I am going to do to post some of the records I have found that were either important, helped break down a brick wall or interesting to me. This may also include stories from relatives, items from books I have read or useful websites. If you are interested in joining in on the fantastic-ness, please do and post a comment so I can come look at your find:-)

Peter Berni married my great-aunt, Amelia Casillo. I keep in contact with their granddaughter, my second cousin once removed, who has some amazing photographs she has shared with me. While filling in some gaps in census records on Ancestry over the weekend, I came across his passport application from 1924. I have never before found a passport application for a relative and after I saw what was included on the record, I wish some of my ancestors had traveled.  I particularly love the photograph, the fact that it lists the town he was from in Italy, which had been previously unknown and the affidavit from my g-g grandfather Marco A. Casillo about Amelia's birth certificate.  This is another reason I love cluster genealogy, I would have never found this had I just looked for my direct-line ancestors.

"U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925," database and images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 10 Apr 2010); Pietro Barne [Peter Berni], no. 452037, issued 30 June 1924; citing Passport Applications, January 2, 1906-March 31, 1925; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M1490, 2740 rolls); General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives, Washington, D.C.