My Genealogy

Friday, November 30, 2012

Across the Globe and Back in Time to Unravel the Mystery of Pietro's Ancestry PART TWO

Ok, so after a good night's sleep, we're up to face the mystery of history again..

*Think* about it:
Pietro's mother is listed as Gioanella
Domenico and Antonella marry in Qrendi
Pietro is from Qrendi
His mother is Nella...
too much of a coincidence?
We'll see.

First port of call is the parish priest of Qrendi.

Dear Rev. Mifsud,
According to my records, my 12th great-grandpa PIETRO BARBARA was married in Qrendi to a MARGARITA AQUILINA on 9th August 1622.
I would greatly appreciate if, at your convenience, you could check out the names of their PARENTS from your parish marriage records please.
Many thanks in advance.
Respectfully,

Jonathan Barbara
 
To which the reply, within a couple of hours, was a negative:
 
Good morning Jonathan,

According to the marriage registry betwen 1620 and 1626 there was not the marriage you are referring to

Greetings
Fr Mario

Hmm. A blank. Then the marriage was registered at a notary, and not at the church of Qrendi.

My only other option is to ask a friend of mine at geneanum.
You wouldn't have the snapshot of the original record that you can share with me, would you please?

Here's the reply:


Mat. 9 Agosto 1622 di Margherita Aquilina figlia di Mariano ed Imperia del Siggiewi e Pietro Barbara figlio del qdm Mro Domenico e Nella del Crendi.

Marriage 9th August 1622 of Margerita Aquilina daughter of Mariano and Imperia of Siggiewi and Pietro Barbara son of the late Mro Domenico and Nella of Qrendi.

Now that's saying a lot in very little: the mother is not listed as Gioanella, but just Nella.

Next, we look up the notary records and find the testament left by Mro Domenico Barbara and his wife Antonella Cassar.

- Domenico's father is listed as Nicola Barbara (GREAT!)
- Domenico's heir is his wife Antonella Camilleri
- Antonella's heirs... are the following;

- Domenica wife of Demetrio PACE,
- Marietta wife of Giuseppe CARUANA
- Caterina wife of Consalvo BUTTIGIEG,
- Barbara wife of Lorenzo XERRI,
- Natale 
- Clemenza wife of Vittorio CAMILLERI
- Paola, widow of Antonio BUTTIGIEG and wife of Vittorio CASSIA
- Sevastulla wife of Mariano/Damiano CASSAR of Birchircara
- and Pietro, all children of the said Antonella.

THAT'S IT! Amongst her children are her two sons: Natale and Pietro Barbara.

This confirms that our Pietro Barbara is her son, and Natale, the guy we found in the Malta Genealogy website is his brother! .. (beats me where that PACE surname cropped up!)

So our search is over! And the top of Teresa's family tree now looks like this:

 

3 comments:

Teresa said...

Fantastic work, Jon. This has been a lot of fun!

Unknown said...

I was told by the clerical staff at the diocese that Mro means something like Magistrate or some office, could have been a police officer or something that held sway.

Jon Barbara said...

@Selway: Thanks for sharing!