I have an Italian great grandfather born in Genoa in 1829. How can I trace his family?

Question

Maybe there was a census in the 1830's and perhaps it is on the web. The snag is my Italian is very limited

Answer 1

1829 was prior to recorded civil birth records in Italy, but church records certainly exist and are very useful. Start by contacting the parish priest(s) and see what you can find out about exactly who to contact and what they will need from you. Usually, a donation will be appreciated and will help you get noticed. Also, a short letter explaining who you are and your purpose. Find someone who can translate it to Italian for you.
Generally, Italians during that period did not travel a great distance away from their home, so your grandfather may have been married in the same church. His parents were probably married there and may even have been baptized there too.
It can sometimes help to understand the Italian naming convention wherein the first born male child is customarily named after the fathers father (the child's grandfather). Thus, the father honors his father. You may/will see this convention hold true in generation after generation.
More work will be required than going to the web, but you'll have fun doing it. Good Luck.

Answer 2

Go to www.familysearch.org and place his name in the search area. If you want exact spelling, check that box and enter nothing else. If he is in their data base (one of the biggest for genealogy research), they will list everybody in the world (seriously) with the same name. It might take some time, because you'd have to look through the dates, etc. They have what is called the ANCESTRAL FILES, INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX, CENSUS RECORDS, PEDIGREE, and the US SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX. Limited knowledge of Italian won't matter here. When everyone is found, at the right it will say something like: Ancestral File-4, IGI--Europe, over 25, Census 1830-over 25, etc. If it says "over 25", it could mean up to 200 listings or more. I have used this site more than others (have traced my Mom's family back at least to 1700 so far) because it is free, and if there is ANY info about him, they would probably have it. But, like I said, it could take time.
Another site is www.rootsweb.com and it is also free, as far as searching goes but some of their data bases (like the World Family Tree) cost to buy the software.
Type "genealogy sites" in a search engine and you will be amazed at how many there are. "Italian genealogy sites" would lessen the number you'd have to look up.