“Like the singin'
bird and the croakin' toad, I've got a name, I've got a name;
And I carry it
with me like my daddy did…”
Jim Croce, I Got a Name
Back in early 2020, one of the first US documents I
requested was a copy of my grandfather Alfonso’s birth certificate. I sent a request to PA’s Division of Vital
Records (a division of the state’s Department of Health)…and the request came
back as not found. Hm.
So, I did a little research and discovered that the county where he was born maintains a birth index for the years 1893-1936. I sent a request off to the Orphan’s Court for a search and certified copy of any record found. In spite of the pandemic, I received a response in about five days – and immediately saw why the state could not provide a birth certificate based on my request:
How the heck did that happen?
Well, as best as I can guess, the information was self-reported. Whoever was recording the information probably misunderstood the names due to the Italian accent; and the reporting party probably didn’t have the English language skills to correct any errors. So I believe that the information was recorded based on unverified phonetic spelling: if you pronounce “Cesare Pesaresi” as an Italian would, I can see how it might sound a bit like “Jazza Pizzaraza” to ears unfamiliar with the foreign sounds.
I took this information and reached out to Vital Records
again: I sent another request for
Alfonso’s birth certificate, along with a copy of the County record, and a
letter explaining that the county index lists everyone’s names spelled
incorrectly, and provided the correct spellings. Then I waited. And waited.
And waited.
Finally, in May 2020, I received a copy of his birth certificate from the state! Unfortunately, it looked like this:
I know the song says that “two out of three ain’t bad.” However, in this case, that third one was a
real stickler – without “Cesare Pesaresi” on Alfonso’s birth certificate, I
wouldn’t be able to prove my lineage for citizenship recognition.
I contacted Vital Records yet again to let them know the birth certificate was wrong. The only response I received, both in writing and over the phone, was that they required a court order to make the requested correction. This did not make any sense to me: after all, they corrected my grandfather’s name, and his mother’s name – why couldn’t they correct Cesare’s as well? In frustration, I contacted my state representative’s office, to see if they could intervene on my behalf – but they received the same response.
Back to the internet I went to see what I could find out about how, exactly, to get a court order. Turns out, it’s a lot easier to do if it’s your own birth certificate – and you happen to still be alive (my grandfather died in 2004, so obviously he wasn't going to be of much help). It’s also a lot easier if you’re trying to correct a birth certificate that was issued in practically any other US state – PA just does not like to amend its vital records, period. I realized that given my work schedule at the time, I wasn’t going to be able to do this on my own – I would need help in preparing and filing a petition.
Do you know how many attorneys in Pennsylvania know anything about how to petition for a corrected birth certificate? I don’t either, but I suspect it’s a very small number, because I had a great deal of trouble finding an attorney who was willing to take my case. The majority of the few lawyers that bothered to respond to my inquiries admitted they weren’t sure what the process would be, or what documents would be required, or even whether any other family members would need to join in the petition (which in my case would have been problematic), and thus would have to charge exorbitant fees. The rest just said, “No, thanks.”
So it took me quite a few weeks to find anyone who was even interested in the project. I finally found Tim and Vince, partners in a small law firm in my county. I actually knew Tim many years ago, when he was a leader of my son’s Boy Scout troop. I’d forgotten he was a lawyer; it was pure coincidence that I connected with him via the County's Bar Association. Anyway – they admitted they’d never heard of a request like mine before, but thought the case would be “interesting,” and after hearing my story and seeing the documentation I’d accumulated in the meantime that clearly demonstrates that Cesare Pesaresi was in fact the father of Alfonso Pesaresi, they were quite willing to give it a go – and for what I considered to be relatively reasonable fees.
They prepared a petition while I worked on providing official
documents to support my case: a copy of
the incorrect birth certificate in question; a certified and translated copy of
Cesare’s Italian birth certificate, complete with Italian apostille; a copy of
my grandfather’s baptismal record; certified copies of Cesare’s naturalization
records (filed in Northampton County, these documents list the names of the
children of Cesare, including my grandfather); and a certified copy of Cesare
and Emma’s marriage certificate (also from Northampton County). As a backup, I obtained certified copies of the 1920 and 1930 Census records from NARA (National Archives and Records Administration). Most of the other documents were duplicates
of documents I’d already gathered as they were required for citizenship
recognition anyway. The baptismal record
(not required for citizenship recognition) took a bit of detective work to
track down, as the church where he was baptized no longer exists, having merged
with another parish many years ago.
Actually, I hadn’t known for certain where Alfonso was baptized; I found
this by reviewing my family records, looking for churches where other family members had
been baptized/married/buried, and went from there – the internet led me to the
church which holds these records today.
The very kind church secretary recognized my family name and went into
the church to search for the records, even though at the time, it was closed due
to Covid restrictions. And sure enough,
I’d found the correct parish:
One thing we weren’t sure of was where, exactly, to file the petition. So we started by filing in the county where I live, thinking that would be the easiest. It wasn’t. The request was denied for lack of jurisdiction. We filed a motion to reconsider, and that was denied as well. UGH.
Back to the drawing board – or rather, back to the internet for more research – because I am nothing if not persistent! After going down several rabbit holes and following links from site to site to site, I finally found a few other cases similar to mine. All the successful cases I found were filed in Dauphin County – the county where Pennsylvania's Vital Records office is located. I presented my research to the attorneys, who prepared a revised petition based on the cases I’d found (fortunately for me, the Dauphin County Orphans’ Court cases are viewable online, which made it easier to see these successful filings for comparison).
The new and improved petition was filed (in the correct jurisdiction) on February 5, 2021. And an Order requiring Vital Records to correct the name of Iazza Pizzaraza to Cesare Pesaresi was filed just four days later! And I didn’t even have to go to court for a hearing!
Finally: success! Or so I thought.
I quickly sent off another request for Alfonso’s (corrected) birth certificate, along with certified copies of the petition we'd filed and of the brand new court Order, as well as a copy of my own photo ID, as per instructions. I eagerly awaited the document – I could hardly believe that after so long, I was finally going to have a corrected birth certificate.
So that really loud Mbang M you heard last April 7th was the sound of my head exploding when I read the reply from Vital Records, which said, in part:
“…We are unable to process your request for the following reasons:
-To proceed with your request, please provide a copy of the court petition and any supporting documentation.
-You did not provide an acceptable government-issued photo ID verifying your name and current mailing address…”
WTAF.
I had followed their original written instructions to me: I sent a certified copy of the petition and the Order; I sent a copy of my driver’s license. What the hell else could they possibly need? After all the time, effort, and expense – they still didn’t want to cooperate? Sigh. One. more. time: I sent them another certified copy of the petition (which, incidentally, included copies of all of the vital records previously described that were provided to the court as evidence), another certified copy of the Order, copies of the NARA-certified Census records for 1920, 1930, and 1940; a copy of Cesare’s US Certificate of Citizenship; my grandparent’s UK marriage certificate (because it listed Cesare as Alfonso’s father); copies of several newspaper articles I found on newspapers.com that mentioned my grandfather as being the son of his father - including his parents’ obituaries and the article about my grandmother arriving from England I included in my previous post; and my grandfather’s death certificate. Oh, and copies of my driver’s license, passport, and passport card (perhaps this bit of overkill was mildly obnoxious, but at this point, I didn't care).
May 15, 2021 was the day I finally, finally, finally received the corrected birth
certificate for Alfonso Pesaresi. And that
was the day when Italian citizenship recognition truly became a solid possibility
for me.
One thing I would still like to know: how on Earth did my grandfather go through his
entire life with a completely inaccurate birth certificate?