Father Francesco DeVico (de Vico/Di Vico), Jesuit priest and astronomer

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ReeY
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Father Francesco DeVico (de Vico/Di Vico), Jesuit priest and astronomer

Post by ReeY »

I'm looking for information about the parents and siblings of Father Francesco DeVico who was a Jesuit priest in Rome and an astronomer. He was born in 1805 and died in 1848.

My father told us that he had been told that his father's uncle was a priest in Rome and had been given a medal by a king. That's all he knew.

His father, Nuncio, was born in 1874, but I don't know when Nuncio's father, Biagio, was born. I also don't know if Biagio had siblings (though, if the story was that it was Nuncio's uncle, and the family name showed it was the paternal line, then Biagio had to have had at least one brother). Biagio could have been old when he fathered Nuncio (my dad was 47, after all, when I was born), or Biagio could have been the youngest in the family and a brother like Francesco might have been as much as 20+ years older. My own father was the eldest in his family and was 20 years older than his youngest sister.

There's also the possibility that when Nuncio related the story to my father, he called this ancestor his "father's uncle" even though he might have been Biagio's great-uncle. Whatever the circumstances, the birth dates of those involved can allow for this all to be valid.

We did find a painting of Father Francesco, and my oldest son bears a very, very striking resemblance to him. Father Francesco did receive a medal from the King of Denmark that had been offered to the first person to discover a new comet using a telescope. We found this out years after my father died.

(My father always wrote his name as DeVico, but it was written Di Vico on the passenger list when he came to America, also on his Italian birth certificate)

Any information would be greatly appreciated!
erudita74
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Re: Father Francesco DeVico (de Vico/Di Vico), Jesuit priest and astronomer

Post by erudita74 »

http://www.crabnebula.it/web/DeVico/Articolo_bozza.pdf

http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/fra ... ografico)/

Both links agree that he was born in the town of Macerata. The first link says his parents were Count Ascanio De Vico Ubaldini and his mother Amalia of the Counts Archinto of Milano

The second link says his father was Count Pietro De Vico Ubaldini and his mother was Contessa Amalia Archinto of Milan.

Erudita
erudita74
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Re: Father Francesco DeVico (de Vico/Di Vico), Jesuit priest and astronomer

Post by erudita74 »

I forgot to add that the first link states that he had two younger siblings-Giovanni and Lucrezia

Another thing-the family is listed in the state archive of Macerata. You might try contacting the archive using the email address in the link below:

http://www.archiviodistatomacerata.beni ... cumentario

FAMIGLIE E PERSONE (FRAMMENTI COMPRESI IN DIVERSI ARCHIVI). Secc. XVI-XIX, voll. e fascc.81.
De Vico Ubaldini (Famiglia)

Archivio di Stato di Macerata
C.so F.lli Cairoli,175
tel/fax 0733 236521
as-mc@beniculturali.it

One last thing, you might try contacting the town library of Macerata. When I helped a cousin with a particular priest in his ancestry, the town librarian in his ancestral town was very helpful in tracking down info for him. It did, however, take months for him to get a response.

http://www.comune.macerata.it/aree-tema ... comunale-2

Contatti

Tel. 0733/256360 - 0733/256359 - 0733/256362 - 0733/256456
Fax: 0733/256338
e mail: biblioteca@comune.macerata.it

Erudita
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