Digging through more records on a cold and wet Saturday afternoon, I was able to learn more about a GGGG-grandfather and confirm yet another GGGGG-grandfather, namely Marco Maucione. And once again it’s due to my 4xg-aunt getting married.
My ggg-grandmother was Felicia Maucione. She had a younger sister, Catterina, who married Saverio Costantino on April 14, 1823. Sadly both Felicia’s and Catterina’s parents were deceased, which meant death record information was included. I learned their father, my GGGG-grandfather, Giasafatta Maucione, died on May 31, 1804. Giasafatta is a unique name, one that I haven’t come across anywhere else in the family. It’s Latin version is the more recognizable one, Jehosaphat. As in jumpin’.
Looking more closely at dates, I also realize that Catterina was very likely Giasafatta’s youngest child. She was born November 3, 1803, and would’ve been only 7 months old when her father died.
Unlike many death records of the time, this one doesn’t identify how old the deceased was. From some preliminary information, I know that Giasafatta had, in addition to Catterina and her sister Felicia, at least two other children, and I can guess that he was likely between 30 and 40 when he died. I also know his wife, my gggg-grandmother, Fortunata Scaramella (one of my favorite names) was born in 1762. He likely was born around 1760. In his death record it notes he was the son of Marco Maucione. Or more specifically, “filius“.
Before civil records were around, the Church kept all the documentation, and that documentation was all written in Latin. My Italian comprehension is fairly good when it comes to vital records, and just so-so when it comes to other written material. But Latin is a whole other thing. I spent quite a while yesterday struggling through this:
The first portion is in Italian and references the record, and then the copy of the record is written in Latin, followed by more Italian certifying the information and allowing for the marriage to proceed. There are parts of the Latin section that I haven’t completely identified, but don’t feel there’s more genealogical information there.
I don’t have any other info on Marco Maucione (yet) but if Giasafatta was born around 1760, his father was most likely born 25 to 40 years prior, thus 1720 to 1735, and likely right there in Castelluccia.
Finding information this way — through the aunts and uncles — is very common. In this case, there’s an interesting twist to my Aunt Catterina and Uncle Saverio. She’s my ggg-grandmother’s sister, and he’s my ggg-grandfather’s brother. Once upon a time, there were two brothers, Saverio and Antonio Costantino, who married two sisters, Catterina and Felicia Maucione. Antonio and Felicia would become my ggg-grandparents. So in this case, it was through my both my Aunt’s and Uncle’s marriage record.
If time travel were a thing, I’d want to visit this little mountainside village in the early 1800s. The family roots are so strong in Castelluccia, now known as Castelcivita. I won’t even try to show the complex family tree to explain right now how my gggg-grandfather Antonio and his brother Saverio have a sister named Angela, who is also a direct ancestor of mine. I’ll save that labrynth for another post.