My Genealogy

Friday, September 19, 2014

The Paternal line of Barbara

It has been nearly two years ago since I blogged here - and the only excuse I can bring up is that I have been busy studying for my Masters in Game Design... but I've had some fruitful bouts of genealogy research as well...

In the post titled Closely or distantly related I listed my research along the Barbara paternal line up to the couple who courageously emigrated to the northern shores of Algeria, Giuseppe and Rosa Barbara. (A doctoral dissertation by Andrea Lynn Smith about such emigrations by Maltese can be found here).

Having found a marriage entry in Zejtun for the couple, the only problem was that the groom's mother's name (Rosa nee Griscti) did not match that on his death record in BonĂª, Algeria, which is listed as Catarina.

Having searched for other matching marriage records on www.geneanum.com and found none, I will have to make an informed assumption. Catarina on his death record is not his mother's name, but the name of the patron saint of his father's birth place: Saint Catherine is the patron saint of Zejtun. 

Taking this decision, the research path up the Barbara line is left wide open, and indeed, researching throughout www.geneanum.com and the Malta diocese archives I have managed to trace back my pedigree, found hereunder:


Thus the earliest records available are of Nicola Barbara, of Gudja, married in 1591 to Domenica Magri.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Jonathan,
How did you get records from Algeria?
I am looking for the ONLY family in Malta named Pons. I know they were military and can find three generations down to a marriage in 1820 in Valletta, but nothing before that, and William Pons (whose marriage it was) his mother's name is definitely not Maltese, Figliolante - I see that there are a lot of Pons in Algeria and Spain. Would you know how to get hold of records there pre 1820 or how to get hold of Maltese Military records? I know this couple had three children from the census but can find no record of any christening for them in Malta - as yet.
Thanks
Rachel nee Gatt

Jon Barbara said...

Dear Rachel,
I had almost given up on records from Algeria, but a kind Australian geneanet forum member replied to a post of mine on the subject pinpointing that the records of French colonies in North Africa were gathered online on the CAOM website available here.

However the records are of events happening only during the French occupation, which started in 1830, so anything pre 1820 is off the Internet - if it exists at all.

Jon Barbara said...

Having said that, there are many PONS marriage registrations in Malta here dating back to the 1600s down to 1785 and a solitary record for 1845.

Jon Barbara said...
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