1888 Atti Di Nascita translation

[Frankie514]

Hello,

I finally found my Grandfather's Atti Di Nascita, but cannot read the handwriting. Can someone please translate it? He was born on August, 7, 1888 in Santa Maria, Capua, Italy.

Thank you very much.

[erudita74]

Hello,

I finally found my Grandfather's Atti Di Nascita, but cannot read the handwriting. Can someone please translate it? He was born on August, 7, 1888 in Santa Maria, Capua, Italy.

Thank you very much.

The record is dated on Aug 8, 1888 at 10 a.m. in the town of Capua. Appearing was 71 year old Raffaela Merola, who was from the office which received foundlings. She reported that a masculine infant arrived in the stated office located at #25 Largo Castello at 9:30 P.M. yesterday. Then there is a list of the various items which were with the infant. I don't know all of the vocabulary, but there were items made out of cotton, cloth, and a muslin bonnet. Also there was a postcard on which was so written "Edolo (spelling?-don't know if this is a name or what it is) Raimondo Eduardo. It also stated that is was recommended that the infant be consigned to a person of some preference. There were no other signs and apparent marks on the infant's body. The document also reads "nato di fresco" which literally means “born outside or in the cool air”, but I have read that the phrase refers to a birth by a vergona, or a woman who is unmarried and thus brings shame or disgrace to herself and her family by having a child born out of wedlock. The infant was given the first name Eduardo and the surname Vispani. (this would be a surname invented by the town official-not sure I spelled that correctly). The postcard was preserved in the volume of the allegati in this register (normally any items found with an abandoned infant would be recorded by the town official in the event that a parent decided to return and reclaim the infant. Only a small percentage of infants were reclaimed; also there was no DNA evidence at the time to use if such a reclaiming took place)). Witnesses to the act were Ferdinando Manco (possibly Manzo), age 34, and Vincenzo Farinella, 40, both day laborers of the town.

Erudita

[Tessa78]

Could be surname IDOLO which is found in Caserta

T.

[Frankie514]

OMG, there was a rumor that he was adopted and the name was made up. Where can I find the Nato Di Fresco? How can I find out what happened and who raised him? Thank you very much for your help.

[erudita74]

OMG, there was a rumor that he was adopted and the name was made up. Where can I find the Nato Di Fresco? How can I find out what happened and who raised him? Thank you very much for your help.

"nati di fresco" is just a phrase. It is not a document that you can search for. You may never know who raised him. The only thing you might find is an "act of recognition,": if one of the natural parents came back and reclaimed him. It was a rare occurrence though, but that's what happened in the case of my paternal grandfather. He was abandoned at about a day old and found behind the doorstep of a woman who happened to be a balia (wetnurse) in his native town. When he was 2 years and 10 months old though, his supposed natural parents went to a town notary with witnesses who attested to their identifies, and they reclaimed him as their natural son. The notary then changed my grandfather's surname from the invented one to that of the supposed natural father. His parents had actually married some 6 weeks after he was born. Now the reason I say "supposed" is that, since paternity tests weren't done at the time, and based on family oral history, there is some question as to whether the man his mother married was really the natural father. In any case, the notary changed my grandfather's surname to that of the mother's husband.

Erudita

[Frankie514]

Is it possible to find the postcard? How do I find the "act of recognition"?

[erudita74]

Is it possible to find the postcard? How do I find the "act of recognition"?

Acts of recognition are usually in Part II of the birth records for the year the recognition took place. In the case of my grandfather, there was a notation in the margin of his birth record with the name of his parents and the date of recognition. That was how I found it. Since there is no notation on yours, I think there is a very good chance that the natural parent(s) did not come back to reclaim the child. Child abandonment was a common practice, yet the number of reclaimed children was extremely small. The birth record reads that the postcard was inserted in the volume of allegati of the registers of this town, but does not give any additional info, so you may want to go through the allegati records, which are not always easy to search. If he had married in the town, then it would be with the allegati (supporting documents) for his marriage. I see the records only go to 1910 though, so even if he was in Italy at that time, he may not have yet been married. Look through the 1888 allegati records -starting with the date of the record.

Erudita

[Frankie514]

I looked at all of the 1888 birth records and found his name listed before Part I. At the end of Part II is where I found his record.

[erudita74]

I couldn't find anything among the town's 1888 allegati records. There was only 1 set of marriage publications there, and the rest were death records.

The word cartina refers more to a type of paper than to an actual postcard, which would be a cartolina. Anyway, you know the name that was written on the paper which was with the infant, and that information should suffice for any further investigation, but I honestly think you are at a dead end with this. The only other thing you might do is look through records for marriages which took place after the date of the birth to see if the surname which appears on the paper matches that of any of the brides in those records. If the surname on the paper was also the mother's surname (in Italy, the identity of the father was often protected), she might have acknowledged her son in her marriage record. If she had acknowledged him though, I think that notation would be with his birth record.

Foundlings' birth records are always found in Part II of the records. I don't know why it would be indexed with the Part I records. Sometimes though there is only one index at the end of a year's records, and it is indicated on the line with the name whether the record is to be found in Part I or Part II.

Erudita