Planning the Search for the Five

Summer 2010 has been here for over a month, and a merited rest should give me time to live up to my challenge: that of finding the last five GGGgrandmothers and complete the 32-individual layer at the 5th generation stage. ( See Decade Milestone).

With Target 6 found, I now focus on the other five - with supposedly just two parishes needed to be visited.: Zebbug and Rabat (both in Malta, not Gozo).

Visiting their website, I acquired the office hours of the parish, namely:

Zebbug: Tuesdays 0930-1130, Wednesdays and Fridays 1630-1800 (info here)

Rabat: All weekays (except Thursday) between 0930-1100 and 1700-1800 (info here)

Thus Monday I plan to go to Rabat with the two targets being:

Mrs Micallef,
wife of Saverio Micallef and mother of Carmelo Micallef who was born abt 1854 in Rabat, Malta

Mrs Galea
wife of Fedele Galea and mother of Teresa Galea born abt 1862 in Rabat, Malta

The plan for both is to try to find the baptismal record of their offspring which ought to have the names of both parents. But what are the risks involved? How sure am I of these clues?

The answer lies in the birth certificate of Teresa Aleta Carmela Anna Micallef - my great grandma (mother of my maternal grandfather) who is the daughter of the above Carmelo Micallef and the above Teresa Micallef nee` Galea, his wife. This certificate was received last year and has been documented in the post The Family Increases and is now reproduced here.

As can be seen, Teresa is the daughter of Carmelo Micallef who was 40 years old at the time. Forty years prior to 20th September 1894, Teresa's birthday, would be 1854 - which explains why I'll be looking at that date for Carmelo's baptismal record. Also note Carmelo's father listed as Saverio Micallef on the right column (vivo means living at the time of the record).

Also, Teresa's mother Teresa Galea was 32 at the time which would explain the 1862 approximate date for her own baptismal record. Also note mother Teresa's father listed as Fedele Galea, also living at the time.

One would be tempted to also attempt to trace the wedding record of Teresa's parents Carmelo and Teresa. If I would be allowed to search through the parish records myself, this would be doable - but if the parish priest will not allow me, then I would not be willing to test his patience in trying to scour about 15 years of marriages for their bethrothal. Why? Because, as you can see from the family picture dated 1908 seen below, Teresa (rightmost, abt 14yo at the time) was not their eldest child and thus the marriage date would be possibly much much earlier. Also, since the two were born in Rabat but were living in Dingli, they might have married in Dingli...

Also note that both parents were living in Dingli at the time, but were both born in Rabat - which explains why I'll be looking for the above two records in Rabat.

What will I take with me? I will print a copy of Teresa's birth certificate in order to explain to the parish priest my search if necessary.

INTERESTING POINT: Targets 4 and 5 would most probably have met each other, at least at their children's wedding. Questions come to mind: were they acquaintances before? were they always trying to keep up with each other? did they seek each other's company, or avoid it best they could? Sadly, no records would be able to cement these for us in their future...