Not yet fully verified. Facts are tagged with their confidence level; family-supplied details have not all been checked against a primary record.
Biographical Information
Agostino Basile was born in Nissoria - in the Sicilian province of Catania (Enna since 1927) - on 3 January 1875 Confirmed, a son of Filippo Basile and Giuseppa Rinaldi Confirmed. A porter by trade Confirmed, he married Rosa Muratore at Nissoria's church of San Giuseppe in 1901 Confirmed and emigrated to Chicago, where their son Filippo - the family's Phillip - was born in 1908 Confirmed. He had lived in America before the 1906 crossing on which he came to join his brother Francesco Confirmed.
Confidence of each fact: Confirmed primary record · Probable strong but unproven · Inherited family knowledge · Conflict sources disagree · Hypothesis working theory
Full Name & Name Variations
Agostino Basile
Agostino Basile - Italian original, Nissoria birth registerInherited
Augustino Basile - Americanised formInherited
Gus / Tino - shortened forms used in the familyInherited
Index spellings to search: Basile, Basili, Basilio, Basilj, Bazile, Basil, Basilis, Vasile, de Basile, di BasilioInherited
_Provenance:_ Surname variants to search: Basile, Basili, Basilio, Basilj, Bazile, Basil, Basilis, Vasile, de Basile, di Basilio. Forename will appear as AGOSTINO in any Italian record; 'Augustino' is the Americanised form and will not match Italian indexes.
Birth & Death
Born: 3 January 1875 [CONFIRMED - Nissoria birth register]
Place: NISSORIA, Sicily (prov. of Catania until 1927, now Enna) - per the 1906 manifest; 'Cattanea'=Catania province on the 1908 birth cert
Places of Residence
Nissoria, prov. Catania (now Enna), Sicily (b. 1875)
SIBLING SET RECORD-CONFIRMED (Session 64): the Diocese of Nicosia (Nissoria) registers give Filippo Basile & Giuseppa (Josepha) Rinaldi's children as Agostino (1876), Francesco (1879 → Anna Bannò, 1909), Orazio (→ Sigismonda d'Alio, 1900), Carmela (→ Francesco Campagna, 1895), Philippa (1893 → Orazio Vicino, 1910), plus four who died young — Salvatore (1885–1894), Giuseppe (1890–1894) and two infant Francescas (1883–84 and 1884). The earlier family-supplied names Rosa, Giovanni and Emmanuele do NOT appear in the Nissoria index and are unverified.Confirmed
NAME CONFIRMED as AGOSTINO, not Augustino - Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates (as AGOSTINO BASILO, father of Filippo Basilo b. 2 Jan 1908) and Illinois, Cook County Deaths 1871-1998 (as AGOSTINO BASILE, father of Phillip N Basile). The chart's 'Augustino' was the Americanised form, exactly as predicted.Inherited
SURNAME VARIANT CONFIRMED IN USE: his son's 1908 birth was registered under BASILO, not Basile. Both spellings are attested for the same man in Cook County records. Any Italian search must try both.Inherited
CONFIRMED as father of Phillip N Basile (b. 2 Jan 1908 Chicago) by two independent primary records.Confirmed
Earliest documented bearer of the surname in this line; the surname the project is named for.Inherited
(Superseded) His birth is confirmed — 3 January 1875 at Nissoria (Diocese of Nicosia birth register); origin Nissoria (prov. Catania, now Enna), not Messina.Confirmed
Sicilian and American clerks both spelled inconsistently. The spelling on his arrival manifest may differ from that on his own birth record, and both may differ from what his children used.Inherited
[NEGATIVE RESULT - RECORDED SO IT IS NOT REPEATED] The surname-distribution technique that produced leads for Andriacchi and Locascio FAILS COMPLETELY for this branch. BASILE is the 73rd most common surname in Italy, with major clusters in Foggia, Palermo, Naples, Benevento, Taranto and Campobasso - far too widespread to localise. Geneanet itself notes that a name this common arose independently in many places from many unrelated ancestors.Rejected
MURATORE is likewise too common (1,137th), and its data is badly skewed by a large French-Riviera population; its leading Italian cluster is AGRIGENTO, not Messina - but with a name this common that is noise, not a finding. It neither supports nor refutes the chart's Messina.Inherited
CONCLUSION: this branch cannot be located by surname geography. It needs a DOCUMENT - a WWI or 1942 draft registration card, a naturalisation petition, or a death certificate naming his birthplace. It remains the weakest branch in the tree, and it is the branch the project is named for.Inherited
CONFIRMED FROM A PRIMARY RECORD - birth year and birthplace, at last. His son Filippo's (Phillip's) 1908 Cook County birth certificate (certificate 861) records the FATHER as Agostino Basilo, AGE 32 - so born about 1876 - with BIRTHPLACE 'Cattanea, Italy'. This is the first document ever to give Agostino a birth year or an Italian birthplace. The namesake branch finally has a hook into Italy.Confirmed
Probable 'CATTANEA' = CATANIA, SICILY. 'Cattanea' is not a real place-name; it is a 1908 Chicago clerk's phonetic rendering of what an Italian immigrant said. The overwhelmingly likely original is CATANIA - the great city and province of eastern Sicily. Both spouses are recorded from the same place, the classic local-marriage pattern. Tagged PROBABLE, not Confirmed: a single clerk's spelling needs a second record (his death certificate, naturalisation, WWI draft card, or passenger manifest) to fix the exact comune.Probable
[CONFLICT WITH THE CHART - but a small one] The family chart said MESSINA. The record points at CATANIA. These are the two adjacent provinces of eastern Sicily; a family memory of the region could easily blur the two. The chart was right that the origin is eastern Sicily; the record sharpens it to (probably) Catania. Neither is yet certain to the comune.Conflict
SUPERSEDES the earlier note that this branch 'cannot be located by surname geography and needs a document'. The document arrived: it is the son's birth certificate, and it names a birthplace. The surname-map dead end (BASILE is Italy's 73rd commonest name) was real, but the ordinary Cook County birth certificate did the job the surname map could not.Inherited
AGE 32 IN 1908 PUTS HIM IN WWI-DRAFT RANGE (born 1873-1900). His WWI registration card should therefore exist; earlier searches under Agostino/Augustino Basile/Basilo did not surface it, so it is likely indexed under yet another spelling (August, or a mangled surname). Worth another pass - it would give the town in his own words.Inherited
NEXT (now unblocked): his death certificate or naturalisation for the exact comune and HIS parents; then the CATANIA civil registers on Portale Antenati (free) for his birth c.1876. The Muratore surname's leading Sicilian cluster is Agrigento, not Catania - so once the comune is fixed, that tension is worth a look, though Muratore is too common to weigh heavily.Inherited
[NEGATIVE RESULT - WWI DRAFT CARD NOT FOUND, 22 Jul 2026] An exhaustive search of the FamilySearch WWI Draft Registration Cards index (collection 1968530) did NOT surface Agostino. Variations tried, all filtered to Chicago and birth c.1872-1881: given names AGOSTINO, AUGUSTINO, AUGUST, GUS and TINO (the last two are family-attested short forms); surnames BASILE, BASILO, BASIL, BASILIO, BACILE plus wildcards; and birthplace filters for ITALY and CATANIA. The Italy-born Basile/Basilo men of the right age in Chicago are other people (Joe, Antonio, Luigi, Frank, Carmine) - none is Agostino/Gus/Tino.Rejected
TWO INNOCENT EXPLANATIONS, neither disproving the family. (1) The card may exist but be transcribed with BOTH names garbled beyond a searchable match - common for an Italian alien's card. (2) He may simply have been just OVER the age limit: the only registration that would have applied to a man his age was the THIRD (12 Sept 1918), for men born 13 Sept 1872 - 12 Sept 1900. His 1908-birth-certificate age (32 -> b.1876) puts him inside it, but birth-cert ages are approximate; if he was really born c.1871-72 he was over 45 and would not have registered at all.Inherited
CONCLUSION: the draft card is not the route to his town after all. Better documents for the CATANIA question, in order: his NATURALISATION petition (exact town + arrival ship/date), his own DEATH CERTIFICATE (town + his parents), and the 1920 census (immigration year -> passenger manifest). All are still to be worked - see V-34.Inherited
CONFIRMED - HIS ARRIVAL IN AMERICA. Agostino Basile, age 31, occupation PORTER, arrived at ELLIS ISLAND on 18 NOVEMBER 1906 aboard the SS PRINZESS IRENE, sailing from NAPLES. On the line directly below him is his WIFE ROSA, age 25. Nationality recorded 'Italy, Italian South'. (New York passenger list, series T715, sheet 40, lines 25-26; FamilySearch image DGS 1368704 img 327.)Confirmed
IDENTITY IS NOW SECURE. The couple Agostino (31) + Rosa (25) arriving together in Nov 1906 matches their son Filippo's 1908 Cook County birth certificate EXACTLY (Agostino 32/b.1876, Rosa 25/b.1883), and the 13-month gap to Filippo's January 1908 Chicago birth is perfect. This is beyond reasonable doubt our great-grandparents' arrival.Inherited
NEW COLLATERAL - a BROTHER. Agostino is recorded as going to / joining his BROTHER FRANCESCO (indexed 'Francesco, Broth[er]'). So Agostino had a brother Francesco already connected to the US by 1906 - a new person on the Basile side, not previously known. Not a direct ancestor; recorded as a lead.Inherited
ARRIVAL DATE ESTABLISHED: 18 November 1906, via NAPLES (the standard emigration port for Sicilians) on the SS Prinzess Irene. This is the anchor for the exact Italian comune: the manifest's 'last residence' and 'place of birth' columns hold it, but at the available image resolution those columns could not be read cleanly. Notably, MANY passengers on this same sheet are recorded born at CATANIA - consistent with the 'Cattanea/Catania' on Filippo's birth certificate.Inherited
[STILL PROBABLE, now better supported] CATANIA as the province. Two independent records now point east Sicily/Catania: the 1908 birth certificate ('Cattanea') and this 1906 manifest (Italian South, Naples departure, a Catania-heavy passenger sheet). The exact COMUNE still needs one legible reading - from a higher-resolution look at this manifest's residence/birthplace column, or from his naturalisation or death certificate.Probable
[IMPORTANT CORRECTION - 1906 WAS A RE-ENTRY, NOT HIS FIRST ARRIVAL]. On close reading of the manifest image, Agostino's residence column reads 'US' in cursive with a 'NON-IMMIGRANT ALIEN' stamp over it. That classification means he was an ALIEN (non-citizen) already DOMICILED in the United States, returning from a trip - a RETURNING RESIDENT, not a first-time immigrant. So he had lived in the US BEFORE November 1906, went back to Italy, and came back on the Prinzess Irene.Inherited
THIS RULES OUT US BIRTH (a question raised by the family). 'Alien' = non-citizen; a US-born man would be a citizen and never stamped 'alien'. Combined with nationality 'Italy, Italian South' and the 1908 birth certificate's 'Cattanea, Italy', he was Italian-born beyond reasonable doubt - he simply had prior US residence.Inherited
CONSEQUENCE FOR THE TOWN HUNT: because his LAST RESIDENCE in 1906 was genuinely the US, this manifest's residence column CANNOT give the Sicilian town - which is exactly why it read 'US' and not a comune. The Italian town will be on his EARLIER, FIRST-arrival manifest (pre-1906), or possibly in the 1906 sheet's 'place of birth' column, or on Rosa's line if SHE was a first-time immigrant (her residence column would then show their Italian town).Inherited
NEW LEADS opened by the re-entry finding: (1) find his FIRST arrival manifest, sometime before 1906 - it carries the town of last residence. (2) He may appear in the 1900 US CENSUS if his first arrival predates June 1900. (3) Check Rosa's manifest line (26) residence column for an Italian town.Inherited
UPDATE: Rosa's residence column dittos his 'US', so BOTH were returning residents in 1906 - the 'check Rosa's line for the town' back-door is CLOSED. Both had US domicile by 1906; both first arrived earlier. The 1900 census and the first-arrival manifest are now the routes to the town.Inherited
THE TOWN, FOUND: NISSORIA. Reading the 1906 manifest's PLACE OF BIRTH column (Basile line, sheet 40) the birthplace is written as what reads 'Nisseria/Nissocia' - i.e. NISSORIA, a comune in Sicily. This RECONCILES the two records perfectly: NISSORIA was in the PROVINCE OF CATANIA until 1927 (when the province of Enna was carved out of Catania and Caltanissetta), so the 1908 birth certificate's 'Cattanea'=CATANIA was the PROVINCE and Nissoria is the TOWN within it. Both records agree.Inherited
STRONG CORROBORATION: another passenger on the SAME 1906 manifest sheet - Salvatore Rinaldi - is also recorded born in NISSORIA. Fellow-townsmen travelling together is the classic chain-migration signature and independently supports Nissoria as Agostino's town.Inherited
[CONFIDENCE] PROBABLE-STRONG. It rests on a hard-to-read hand (Basile read it as Nisseria/Nissocia), but it is a REAL Catania-province comune that reconciles the birth-certificate province, and a shipmate from the same town corroborates it. DEFINITIVE confirmation would be Agostino's 1876 birth record in the NISSORIA civil registers (free on Portale Antenati), which would also name HIS parents.Probable
NEXT (now actionable): Portale Antenati - the civil registers of NISSORIA (Enna archive; pre-1927 Catania) for Agostino's birth c.1876 and Rosa Muratore's c.1883, to name their parents and push the Basile line back into Sicily. FamilySearch also has a Nissoria genealogy wiki page.Inherited
CONFIRMED - HIS BIRTH RECORD, NISSORIA. Portale Antenati, civil birth register of NISSORIA: AGOSTINO BASILE, born NISSORIA, 3 JANUARY 1875, FATHER FILIPPO BASILE, MOTHER GIUSEPPA RINALDI. This DEFINITIVELY confirms Nissoria as the town (matching the manifest place-of-birth reading), fixes his birth date, and names his PARENTS - a whole new generation on the namesake branch.Confirmed
BEAUTIFUL CROSS-LINK: his mother is GIUSEPPA RINALDI, and the fellow-townsman on his 1906 ship recorded born in Nissoria was SALVATORE RINALDI - very likely a maternal-line relative. Agostino emigrated alongside his mother's people, the classic chain-migration pattern.Inherited
The chart's 'Messina' is now fully corrected: he was born at NISSORIA, in the PROVINCE OF CATANIA (the province until 1927; Enna since). Birth year 1875 is consistent with age 31 in Nov 1906 and 32 on his son's 1908 certificate.Inherited
MARRIAGE FOUND - NISSORIA, 1901. Diocese of Nicosia Catholic church records: Agostino (Augustinum) Basile married Rosa (Rosam) Muratore at the church of SAN GIUSEPPE, NISSORIA; marriage banns dated 1 OCTOBER 1901. So they married in their home town in 1901, then emigrated - consistent with both holding US residence by their Nov 1906 return.Inherited
CHILDREN BORN IN SICILY, before Phillip: the same church records show JOSEPH BASILE and JOSEPHA BASILE, children of Agostino & Rosa, baptised at Nissoria (c.1902-1905). These are older siblings of Phillip (Filippo, b.1908 Chicago), previously unknown - they may have died young or emigrated. Their names follow Sicilian custom (after Rosa's parents Giuseppe/Giuseppa); Filippo/Phillip was named after Agostino's father Filippo Basile. A new source to mine: 'Italy, Enna, Diocese of Nicosia, Catholic Church Records, 1535-1929' (covers Nissoria, Leonforte, Agira, Assoro back to the 1500s).Inherited
SIBLINGS (from the Nissoria church records; children of Filippo Basile & Giuseppa Rinaldi): GIUSEPPE, SALVATORE, FRANCESCO, ROSA, GIOVANNI, EMMANUELE, CARMELA and FRANCESCA Basile. His brother FRANCESCO is the man he emigrated to join in 1906 - the 1906 'brother Francesco' is now confirmed as a full sibling.Inherited
[CONSOLIDATION NOTE - US census not yet located] Agostino & Rosa's own US census households (1910/1920/1930 Chicago) have not been found under the spellings searched - the Basile/Basilo surname is badly mangled in the US indexes (same wall that hid his WWI card). Their US occupation/address therefore remain open. Their son Phillip's households (1940 Chicago; 1950 Crete, Will Co.) ARE documented.Inherited
Sources & Documents (9 sources)
Diocese of Nicosia (Nissoria) parish registers — Filippo Basile × Giuseppa Rinaldi familyItaly, Enna, Diocese of Nicosia, Catholic Church Records, 1535–1929 (San Giuseppe, Nissoria): baptisms, deaths and marriage banns for Agostino and his siblings (Francesco→Anna Bannò 1909, Orazio→Sigismonda d'Alio 1900, Carmela→Francesco Campagna 1895, Philippa→Orazio Vicino 1910).FamilySearch
Diocese of Nicosia church records - Basile x Muratore marriage banns, Nissoria, 1 October 1901 ↗"Italy, Enna, Diocese of Nicosia, Catholic Church Records, 1535-1929", marriage banns 1 October 1901, church of SAN GIUSEPPE, NISSORIA: Augustinum Basile and Rosam Muratore; the bride's parents named as Giuseppe (Josephi) Muratore and Filippa (Philippae) Rinaldi. Confirms the marriage, the town, and Rosa's parents. The same collection records children Joseph and Josepha Basile baptised at Nissoria, and an elder Rosa Muratore (b.1873, d.1878 Nissoria) of the same parents. (FamilySearch / Diocese of Nicosia (Enna))
Nissoria civil birth register - Agostino Basile, 3 January 1875 ↗Portale Antenati (Archivio di Stato di Enna), civil birth register of NISSORIA: Agostino Basile, born Nissoria 3 January 1875; father FILIPPO BASILE, mother GIUSEPPA RINALDI. Confirms the town (Nissoria, prov. Catania until 1927) and names Agostino's parents. Indexed on the Antenati name index (cognome Basile, nome Agostino, Nissoria).Portale Antenati / Archivio di Stato di Enna
Nissoria, Sicily - comune and its provincial history ↗Nissoria is a comune in the Province of Enna, Sicily. The Province of Enna was created in 1927 from parts of the provinces of Catania and Caltanissetta - so before 1927 Nissoria belonged to the PROVINCE OF CATANIA. This reconciles the Basile records: 'Cattanea' (Catania) on the 1908 birth certificate is the province; Nissoria (read off the 1906 manifest's place-of-birth column) is the town. A second passenger on the same 1906 sheet is also recorded born in Nissoria.Wikipedia / FamilySearch Research Wiki
Ellis Island passenger manifest — Agostino & Rosa Basile, 18 November 1906 ↗"New York, Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1925", entry for Agostino Basile (age 31, occupation porter) and, on the line below, his wife Rosa (age 25); arriving Ellis Island 18 November 1906 aboard the SS PRINZESS IRENE, departed NAPLES. Nationality 'Italy, Italian South'; Agostino recorded going to his BROTHER FRANCESCO. NARA series T715, roll T715-0799, page 28; sheet 40, lines 25-26. FamilySearch DGS 1368704, image 327 of 888. Confirms the couple's arrival and ages (matching their son's 1908 birth certificate).FamilySearch / NARA T715
Surname distribution — BASILE and MURATORE (Geneanet) ↗BASILE ranked 73rd, among the most common surnames in Italy, clusters at Foggia, Carpino, Palermo, Casalnuovo di Napoli, Acerra, Biccari, Taranto, Campobasso - too common to localise. MURATORE ranked 1,137th, leading Italian cluster Agrigento, heavily skewed by a French-Riviera population. Cited as a NEGATIVE result. (Geneanet (user-submitted trees))
Cook County birth register — Filippo Basilo, 1908 ↗Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates 1871-1953, entry for Filippo Basilo (Phillip N Basile), born 2 January 1908, Chicago; certificate 861. FATHER Agostino Basilo, age 32 (b. c.1876), BIRTHPLACE 'Cattanea, Italy'. MOTHER Rosa Muratore, age 25 (b. c.1883), BIRTHPLACE 'Cattanea, Italy'. 'Cattanea' is a clerk's phonetic spelling, almost certainly CATANIA, Sicily. This is the record that first gave a birthplace and birth years for the Basile/Muratore couple.FamilySearch / Cook County
Cook County death record — Phillip N Basile, 1978Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998, entry for Phillip N Basile, born 2 January 1908, died 10 November 1978, Orland Park; buried 14 November 1978, Evergreen Park. Parents Agostino Basile and Rose Muratore.FamilySearch / Cook County
Family knowledge — supplied by BasileOral/handed-down family information supplied by P.J.B., July 2026, and the original family chart (Family Tree.rtf / FamilyTree.html).Family