Foundling Claimed in Later Years

[Biff83]

I have had a suspicion that my great grandmother Carmela Esposito who was born as a foundling was likely a Cicco. Both my grandfather's and his brother Saverio's Pennsylvania marriage licenses show their mother as Carmela "Chick." Recent additions to the Pennsylvania death certificates on Ancestry include my grandfather's brothers Antonio and Angelo death certs which both give their mother's name as Carmela Cicco.

I found her 1840s birth act on a microfilm from FHC but there are no annotations, likely because the comune did not have a copy or the annotation was never sent to the province. If one or both of her birthparents came forward to claim her, would that information be on her death record?

Biff

[suanj]

Hi Biff,
if on her birth act the surname is Esposito and she was a foundling, that are the real facts.... abt Cicco surname, by my experience, the large majority of foundlings (or foundling's descendents) declaring as birth surname, the surname of family who raised... because in effects they was as parents.... also if never adopted the foundling..
the only way for to know more is to find her italian marriage and death act...
best,
suanj

[Biff83]

Thanks, suanj. Taking the surname of the family who raised her makes sense.

Her parents are listed as "ignoti" on her marriage act. I'm going to write and request her death record to see what information is on it.

Un abbraccio,
Biff

[Anizio]

If there is not a note on the birth act saying they were reclaimed by the natural parents, they were not.

You have no way of knowing of the death act if the people listed were natural parents or adoptive ones because it depends on who is alive to report the information. If anything the marriage act and allegati may have something

[Biff83]

Thanks, Anizio.

It will be interesting to see if her death act contains any information. I do know that the Epifano and Cicco families were close in the old country and in the States. My great great grandfather Domenico Epifano's second wife was Michelina Cicco. Perhaps, as suanj suggested, my great grandmother Carmela Esposito was raised by a Cicco family and she eventually took the Cicco surname or her children used Cicco as her surname since they knew that Cicco was the family who raised her.

Best,
Biff

[Italysearcher]

not sure why my post was deleted-

[carubia]

I've seen cases (for example, just yesterday) where someone's parents' names were listed as unknown on the marriage act but then magically appeared on that person's death record. Being a death record, there's no way to tell whether the person who reported the event really knew anything.

[jllaf]

IF one or both parents came forward to claim her, it would be recorded as an Atto di Ricognizione. This act would be found in Parte II of the Atti di Nacita (Birth Acts) if after 1866. If it occurred before 1866, the Atti di Ricognizione were usually contained in the Atti Diversi (Other or Misc. Acts).
The claim would have most likely have been done just before they all came to America, so work backwards from that point. Search for "Esposito", not "Cicco". Good luck.

John

[suanj]

Thanks, suanj. Taking the surname of the family who raised her makes sense.

Her parents are listed as "ignoti" on her marriage act. I'm going to write and request her death record to see what information is on it.

Un abbraccio,
Biff

If on the marriage act she is Carmela Esposito and the parents are "ignoti", and if on the birth acts of her children, the name is Carmela Esposito also, I don't believe that she was recognized by Cicco later; I believe that her maiden name also on death act was Esposito...
best regards,
suanj

[Biff83]

Thanks to everyone who has posted.

My grandfather's birth act from 1889 (he was her youngest child) shows his mother as Carmela Esposito. It's likely then that she was raised by a Cicco family. If that is the story, all is not in vain since that might answer the question of what happened to her after her birth.

Biff