Redemption of Sufferance

Before we look at the purchase of the field, a glance at the document regarding the redemption of the due mass of sufferance indicates that a payment of Lm20, so 50 times the annual fee due for the mass in sufferance of Carmelo and Carmela Mamo was paid by Antonio Barbara to the Zurrieq Parish Church. The document also states that this annual fee had been paid annually since prior the year 1900. This occured on the 1st of November 1964.

Causa Mortis : Antonio Barbara

I shall start from a very recent but important document: the causa mortis (succession) document of my paternal grandfather who deceased on 7th March 2000 AD, with the document being compiled on the 5th of June 2000AD which lists my father and his surviving four siblings as their heirs. This document is important as it summarises the inheritance through my grandfather and thus provides documentation to explain how this inheritance came about. Of interest is the field known as tal-Katina, l/o Qrendi.

The document explains how Antonio, my late grandfather, owned 5/24 of this field which approximates to 20.8 % of the field, which has an area of 17,840 metres squared (so roughly, 3716.667 metres squared). It is also explained that this field, in its totality, is rented to third parties for Lm4 (EUR9.32) per year.

The document then explains how this came to be owned by Antonio: On the 23rd of June 1963 he bought one half of five sixths (1/2 of 5/6 == 5/12) whilst he was married to his wife Nicholina nee Borg. Then he subsequently redeemed from the parish church of Zurrieq the perpetual due of holy mass to the worth of 8 shillings on the 1st of November 1964.

Ok, hold it.

How did Antonio own 5/24 when he had bought 5/12? Why half? Is it because the other half belongs to his wife? I think not, as the description before this statement states that at the time of his death, Antonio owned the following which belong to the communcal acquisitions existing between him and his late wife. So the ownership of the 5/24 includes that of his wife.

Hmm...

So a look at the original document wherein the purchase was made beckons...

In the footsteps of my father and of his father...

It is with a mixture of great trepidation, and of great anxiety, that I delve into that part of family history which initiated my interest in genealogy. Anxiety as, as with all genealogical research, unearthing the past, especially one's personal past, is always an exciting and rewarding experience. Trepidation as I know that my father had already gone this way, and gave up on it a couple of years back.

As briefly explained in The Spark, the passing away of my paternal grandfather landed an inheritance of part of a field in the lap of my father, who had to trace the owners and the third parties who were working the land. To explain this he had drawn out a small family tree which had spurred my interest in genealogy, as explained in that article.

I have now in my possession the details that my father received, as well as those that he uncovered over the ten years since he was trusted with its care and follow up by his four siblings. It is through inherited responsability, and through personal interest that I dare walk back into the past and read documents relating the details of such inheritance. I also have the original document from which the family tree sketched by father was extracted.

I was tempted to start a separate blog for this, but given its close links to my research and itself being an attempt to understand past documents and infer information, I beleive it still falls within the remits of this blog.