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 Bonê, 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.
