Source Information

Ancestry.com. West Virginia, U.S., Order Sons of Italy in America, Lodge Records, 1921-1969 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.
Original data:

Order Sons of Italy in America, West Virginia Grand Lodge, Records. Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Order Sons of Italy in America, Christopher Columbus Lodge No. 1199 (Charleston, W.V.), Records. Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Order Sons of Italy in America, Guglielmo Marconi Lodge No. 1140 (Clarksburg, W.V.), Papers. Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

About West Virginia, U.S., Order Sons of Italy in America, Lodge Records, 1921-1969

This database contains documents from Order Sons of Italy in America lodges in West Virginia.

Historical Background

The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) was established in 1905 in New York as a mutual aid society to assist Italian immigrants coming to the United States. Among its efforts, OSIA offered members scholarships, help with obtaining citizenship, aid to the poor, and life and mortuary benefits.

What You Can Find in the Records

This database contains a number of different document types from OSIA lodges in West Virginia, including the following:

  • membership applications
  • mortuary fund application forms
  • monetary fund beneficiary cards and certificates
  • death certificates and notices

Information included in the records varies widely by document type, but you may find details such as these:

  • name
  • address
  • birth date
  • birthplace
  • sex
  • occupation
  • spouse’s name
  • maiden name
  • father’s name and/or birthplace
  • mother’s name and/or birthplace
  • date, place, and cause of death
  • age at death

Some of the records are in Italian.