Birth Index Second Part by Letter

[rp76226]

The following link to a Racalmuto, Agrigento, Sicily Birth Index for the letter "P" has a "Second Part" where all the last names (the first name or word that appears for each line) appear to be the same. I have never seen that. Are all the last names really the same in the second part or is something else going on? They are also taking two lines for each name whereas the first part of "P" does not do that, plus putting the number on line two instead of line 1.

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cc=1946817

[liviomoreno]

If you browse thru the index you'll notice that most of the letters have a "parte seconda". This is the index of the names that were registered in the second part of the Birth Register. In the case of the letter P, parte seconda, the index includes ALL the birth related to foundlings, whose surname is preceded by the word "Projetto" or "Projetta" (= foundling).

[rp76226]

Thank you. From what you said, the foundlings last name is not shown, but we can assume that if listed in the second part of "P", one of the parent's last name started with "P" - correct? A foundling is equivalent to an orphan or does the parent claim the child, but tries to hide the fact that the child was born out of wedlock? The number of foundlings seemed surprisingly large.

[Tessa78]

The Projetti were given both a first name and a surname by the official. This was usually a "fantasy name" or a name not found in the town. You can see this in the index as Livio stated. Projetto/a precedes the child's name to identify him/her as a foundling.

If/when a foundling is "claimed" - there is an act of recognition which changes the surname.
Here is the birth act of Projetto Scardino Filippo, #114 in the index.
You can see a notation in the margin of the birth act where the child was recognized as the natural son of Luigi Piazza in an act dated 12 May 1906
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cc=1946817

T.

[rp76226]

I am guessing that there is no easy way to find if a particular couple had any foundlings and either claimed or did not claim them. There is a couple from Racalmuto, Giovanni Puma and Maria Concetta Grillo, who married on 30 November 1978 (record # 75). Their second through fourth children ( 2 girls and 2 boys) exactly followed the italian naming traditions of being named after their grandparents. However, their first child, Giuseppe, born on September 26, 1879, less than a year after their marriage, was not named after the grandparents, nor his father.
I figure there were two possibilities. Either, there were other children born before the marriage, or there was an argument between the father Giovanni and the paternal grandfather, Gaetano, when Giuseppe was born and refusing to name the male child Gaetano, was Giovanni's "revenge". Then later, they patched up their differences so that the second male, born February 4, 1885 was named Gaetano after his paternal grandfather (two females were born in between the two males and named after their grandmothers).

[Tessa78]

I am guessing that there is no easy way to find if a particular couple had any foundlings and either claimed or did not claim them. There is a couple from Racalmuto, Giovanni Puma and Maria Concetta Grillo, who married on 30 November 1978 (record # 75). Their second through fourth children ( 2 girls and 2 boys) exactly followed the italian naming traditions of being named after their grandparents. However, their first child, Giuseppe, born on September 26, 1879, less than a year after their marriage, was not named after the grandparents, nor his father.
I figure there were two possibilities. Either, there were other children born before the marriage, or there was an argument between the father Giovanni and the paternal grandfather, Gaetano, when Giuseppe was born and refusing to name the male child Gaetano, was Giovanni's "revenge". Then later, they patched up their differences so that the second male, born February 4, 1885 was named Gaetano after his paternal grandfather (two females were born in between the two males and named after their grandmothers).

Children born before the civil marriage of a couple were usually recognized at the time of the marriage and their names were incorporated into the marriage record (along with their dates of birth)

T.

[rp76226]

I have the marriage record and there are no children recognized there. I guess it was a family feud at the time of Giuseppe's birth.