Did church records cover the entire population of the town?

[Edward Keeports]

Because I have a few ancestors who I can't find in them. For example:

On August 22, 1616, Andrea Roccamatisi, son of deceased Lorenzo and Caterina married Geronima La Camara.

I cannot find any earlier Roccamatisi people in the Monreale indexes, which begin in 1528.

There is a Salvatore Rocca in 1576 - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=2046915

Could Roccamatisi be a variant of Rocca?

[Italysearcher]

See my blog post on Indexes.

[Italysearcher]

In those years even Jews were reqiured to be baptized catholic so YES the parish records covered the town, at least for baptisms. Jews and other faiths might not have married in the catholic church or had a mass said for their dead but they had to baptisze their children.

[Edward Keeports]

See my blog post on Indexes.

Thank you! So it looks like either the Roccamatisi family originated from another town, or they changed their surname/used a pseudonym for records.

[Italysearcher]

Death or marriage records often give the parish of origin if different.

[Edward Keeports]

Death or marriage records often give the parish of origin if different.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=2046915

Here's the marriage record in question
August 22, 1616 - Monreale, Palermo, Sicily
Groom: Andrea, son of deceased Lorenzo and Carolina Ragamatisi (this is a misspelling or archaic spelling of Roccamatisi), it doesn't say where he's from
Bride: Geronima, daughter of Nicolao and Anna la Combara of Monreale

[Italysearcher]

Spelling doesn't exist in Italian as such. SInce you pronounce every letter, you simply write what you hear. Hence Ragamatisi and not Roccamatisi.
You are searching indexes so you are reading what someone else interpreted as the 'spelling'. The script is very difficult so errors are definitely a possibility.
Bride and groom are from 'this parish'

[Edward Keeports]

Spelling doesn't exist in Italian as such. SInce you pronounce every letter, you simply write what you hear. Hence Ragamatisi and not Roccamatisi.
You are searching indexes so you are reading what someone else interpreted as the 'spelling'. The script is very difficult so errors are definitely a possibility.
Bride and groom are from 'this parish'

Thank you! Is it possible that it would say they are from this parish if they moved there as young people?

[Italysearcher]

It depends. If they weren't baptized in that parish and the priest knws that he would probably indicate that. If he was new and didn't ask????

[Edward Keeports]

It depends. If they weren't baptized in that parish and the priest knws that he would probably indicate that. If he was new and didn't ask????

Another possibility is that Roccamatisi is a compound name, it could be Mr. Rocca married Ms. Matisi and their children became Roccamatisi, but I'm not sure if that was ever a custom in Italy.

Do you know if Roccamatisi means anything in Italian?

I've had a few Arbereshe ancestors who moved to Monreale and married with the "native" Sicilians there, maybe it means something in Albanian and the Roccamatisis were originally Arbereshe?

[Italysearcher]

If you have arberesh ancestors we have a specialist on our team that may be able to help. (see About on the website.)

[Edward Keeports]

If you have arberesh ancestors we have a specialist on our team that may be able to help. (see About on the website.)

Thank you! Yes, I have some Arbereshe and Gallo-Italic/Sicilian Lombard ancestors, or at least I think so. Some of my ancestors came from Piazza and Novara, and also from Piana dei Greci, so I would assume that they were Lombard and Arbereshe, but I'm not sure, since I don't know if Sicilian-speaking people also lived in those towns.

But I am a recent college graduate who has yet to find a job, so I can't hire any researchers right now.