processetti records

[carchidi]

What are processetti records ? The LDS has them but don't give a good description of what they are.

Thanks,

Ed

[erudita74]

What are processetti records ? The LDS has them but don't give a good description of what they are.

Thanks,

Ed

Here's the list I found on LDS with my own explanations added:

Processetti

Processetti and allegati are the terms used for the packet of documents required of the bride and groom before a marriage could take place. They exist for church and civil marriages. They include:

1. Copies of birth or baptism records of the bride and groom.
2. Copies of death records of fathers, paternal grandfathers, mothers (occasionally), and previous spouses.
3. Declaration of military service-(normally this is a certificate of the groom's free state to marry indicating that he wasn't already married, was not a member of the any religious order, such as being a priest, and was free from military obligations (that is, he had already fulfilled his required military obligation)
4.Declaration of poverty (I have never seen such a document); sometimes you get a record called a Family Council Document (this was when one or both of the spouses was underage and family members convened to discuss the merits and shortcomings of the prospective spouse before they would give their consent to the marriage. So a female, for example, had to have a sufficient dowry to bring to the marriage and had to be of good moral character, etc. If parents were deceased, then grandparents or possibly other relatives or friends would meet to discuss these issues and decide whether to give their consent to the marriage or not.
5. Dispensations-dispensations might be granted for various reasons. Some villages were so small that the only way marriages could take place was between kin of close degree-such as first and second cousins. Dispensations were also needed if a man lost his wife and chose to marry her sister. When I first found such a dispensation from Rome among the processetti, I thought the dispensation was being given because the first wife had not been deceased at least year. But then I did some research and found that that was not the case. The dispensation was needed because of the kinship bond that had been established between the husband and his sister-in-law by his first marriage to her sister.
6. Banns of marriage-these could be documents called memorandum, notifications, or marriage publications (first publication posted for a week, then replaced by a second publication which would remain posted for three days, and then the marriage could take place anytime after this. The purpose of these documents being posted prior to the marriage was to insure that there were no impediments to the marriage, such as one of the spouses already being married. These would be read aloud and then posted. I should add that, if the spouses were from different towns, these banns of marriage would be posted in both towns.
7. Any notary documents that were necessary–and these can include some real surprises. Documents from a notary may include something like a name change for one of the spouses if he/she had been an abandoned child and originally had been given a name invented by a town official. If that individual's natural parent(s) came forward to reclaim the child, you might find the document created by the notary to that effect with the marriage package.

I hope this helps clarify what you might find with the processetti or allegati records. They can be a real gold mine. In some towns, there are cover pages separating each packet of records from those belonging to another couple. In other towns, there are no cover pages and you really have to be able to read the records to determine which ones belong to your ancestors.

Erudita

[carchidi]

Erudita,

thanks so much for a most informative reply, I certainly gained some valuable information from you.

have a great day,

Ed

[erudita74]

Erudita,

thanks so much for a most informative reply, I certainly gained some valuable information from you.

have a great day,

Ed

You're very welcome, Ed. Just bear in mind that you won't necessarily get all of the kinds of records with each marriage package. You never really know what the package will include until you view it.
Erudita

[anthonymfalcone]

I've a related question.
It appears that the processetti were documented only for a certain time period. For the commune I'm researching, I see them in the mid 1800s. I didn't see any in the later 1800s. Is there a definite set begin/end when these documents were collected?

Thanks,
Anthony M. Falcone

[erudita74]

I've a related question.
It appears that the processetti were documented only for a certain time period. For the commune I'm researching, I see them in the mid 1800s. I didn't see any in the later 1800s. Is there a definite set begin/end when these documents were collected?

Thanks,
Anthony M. Falcone

Anthony,
First of all, I am copying here something that was previously posted on the forum by John Armellino back in 2008-

PROCESSETTI: These documents, first required by a Napoleonic Edict of 1808, were required by the state before a couple could get married. Some towns stopped requiring processetti at the end of the Napoleonic Era in 1815, but most Southern Italy towns continued the practice until unification circa 1865...the particular situation determined what documents were required. In its simplest form, when all of the parents of the couple to be married were alive and present in the town to consent in person to the marriage, the processetti would include just the bride and groom's birth extracts and the pubblicazioni posted in anticipation of the marriage. In the most extreme case (where all of the parents were deceased), processetti would include the bride and groom's birth extracts, the parent's death extracts, the grandparent's death extracts, and the pubblicazioni. In addition, the death extracts of any deceased spouse would also be included. However, in the case of multiple spouses, only the last spouse's death extract would be included. Finally, certain other extracts and notary records might be included, such as the consent of an absent father, adoptions, the recognition of a child once abandoned to the ruota di proietti, notarized statements of paternity or death where the relevant civil record could not be found, etc. Once I found a Sentence of Death among the processetti (for one of the fathers not the groom!). A virtual gold mine for genealogists! Different towns enforced these requirements differently. All of the required death extracts were not always required or presented. For example, only the grandfather's death extracts would be included in some towns.

Now as to my own experience-just to give you a few examples of how the time frames for these records differed from one town to another-
In my one ancestral town, processetti records are available from 1811 to 1899. In two others from 1809 to 1865 only, and in another only from 1862 to 1865.

Erudita

[Tessa78]

What are processetti records ? The LDS has them but don't give a good description of what they are.

Thanks,

Ed

Here's the list I found on LDS with my own explanations added:

Processetti

Processetti and allegati are the terms used for the packet of documents required of the bride and groom before a marriage could take place. They exist for church and civil marriages. They include:

1. Copies of birth or baptism records of the bride and groom.
2. Copies of death records of fathers, paternal grandfathers, mothers (occasionally), and previous spouses.
3. Declaration of military service-(normally this is a certificate of the groom's free state to marry indicating that he wasn't already married, was not a member of the any religious order, such as being a priest, and was free from military obligations (that is, he had already fulfilled his required military obligation)
4.Declaration of poverty (I have never seen such a document); sometimes you get a record called a Family Council Document (this was when one or both of the spouses was underage and family members convened to discuss the merits and shortcomings of the prospective spouse before they would give their consent to the marriage. So a female, for example, had to have a sufficient dowry to bring to the marriage and had to be of good moral character, etc. If parents were deceased, then grandparents or possibly other relatives or friends would meet to discuss these issues and decide whether to give their consent to the marriage or not.

Erudita

Here is an example of a Certificate of Poverty...
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/T ... ,349479901

T.

[erudita74]

Thanks for posting that link, T.
Erudita

[Tessa78]

Thanks for posting that link, T.
Erudita

Happy to do it!

T.

[italianmom]

Thank you for this information! Very interesting!
italianmom

[erudita74]

Thank you for this information! Very interesting!
italianmom

Glad you found the info in this thread interesting. To add to this topic, there is also a document called a Consiglio di Tutela-which I translate as "Proceedings of the Guardianship Council." This record was similar to the family council record and also indicated that a minor was being given consent to marry but, in this instance, the minor to be married was an abandoned individual who who had not been recognized by his/her natural parents, or a minor who did not have adoptive parents. The minor, in this instance, appeared before a tribunal (court) and its pretore, or court magistrate. Forming the council with him/her were two other communal guardians and two consultants. These individuals served in the same capacity as members of the family council-with the intent to give consent for the minor individual (who had no parents or family members) to marry. This council convened and voted in accordance with article #162 of the 1865 civil code (p. 66). If both potential spouses were foundlings of minor age, then each had his/her own town guardian and consultants who discussed the merits and shortcomings of the other spouse, and then gave consent for the minor they represented to marry.

Erudita