Today I tracked down a document that provided me with the name of my GGGGG-Grandfather, Crescenzio Tancredi, who lived from the mid 1700s to early 1800s, in Castelluccia in the province known then as Principato Citeriore. This was in the Kingdom of Naples, and a year before the date of this document the area had become part of what’s known as The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, combining Naples and Sicily into one kingdom, which covered all of southern Italy and Sicily. Today the village is known as Castelcivita, and it sits in the Salerno province of Italy, just inland from the Amalfi Coast. I have family that still live there today.
I wouldn’t have found him were it not for my GGGG-Aunt getting married, and perhaps not even then had her mother, my GGGG-Grandmother Isabella Tancredi (1771-1808) not already died. Because she was deceased, her father was noted on the marriage record for her daughter, Maria Silvia.
I had been led to this record by another researcher who had combed the online Italian archives and put together a genealogy file of all the records pertaining to Castelcivita. In his compilation I’ve found many traces of my family, and I’ve been combing through his work for about a year now. To be clear, I haven’t just automatically trusted the lineage and lines he created. After all, people make mistakes and assumptions, and in these old records it’s very easy to do. The problem is that there are a limited number of surnames and given names, so there might be 18 people named Antonio Costantino but only one of them is my ggg-grandfather. (Two others are related too, but I digress.) I’ve reviewed each source he provides to connect people, to confirm that my interpretation and understanding was the same as his.
Sometimes finding the information to trace my own direct line back further means finding records about the aunts and uncles (or cousins) because they have a common ancestor to me. And in this case, it’s just how I found ggggg-grandpa Crescenzio. Next step? Look for other records for the Tancredi and Ricciardella families, and possibly learn more about him or who he married.