Advice on next steps

[Robin B Mc]

Robin
I've been doing some research about the church in the baptism record for Anna in 1801. The church was San Dionisio, which was the Chiesa Madre in Pettorano at the time. In 1594, it became Sana Maria della Porta. There was a fire in 1694 and an earthquake in 1706 and the church was reconstructed starting in 1718 and ending in 1728. I gather that the church changed names again, as in the 1801 record, the parish of the baptism was San Dionisio. What I have read is that the church was eventually closed for worship due to structural damage. So you can write to the parish in the link below and see if the early records are still available and where they are housed. I will tell you though that, if they are available, you will have to send a hefty donation to the parish to have the parish priest or his clerk do the research for you.

http://www.diocesisulmona-valva.it/inde ... &Itemid=37

Here are some other links with Pettorano town photos which may interest you:

http://www.pettorano.com/pettorano-sul- ... hiese.html

http://www.viaggioinabruzzo.it/aq/petto ... _gizio.htm

I also noticed that with the allegati for the 1829 marriage of Maria Raffaele Anna Panfilia Majorano, there are images there that belong to a completely different marriage. I still can't say that the families are the same people despite the fact that the extracts for the death of Agostino fu Nunzio are identical. Those records were received from the town in which he died, and were hand copied by a clerk, so they are subject to error. I have occasionally found that allegati records contain extracts of records for individuals not related to the parties getting married. It's unfortunate that Agostino's wife's name does not appear in either of the extracts. Since people in those days were illiterate, if one of the copies was erroneously sent for a marriage, there was no way for the bride to know that the wrong record had been sent to the town where she was getting married. My only other thought is that possibly the town had double surnames at some point, and some of the descendants used one of the surnames and some used the other. I just don't know if this is an area of Italy where double surnames existed. As to the difference between Maria Paola and Maria Nicola, well, at baptism, many individuals were given multiple first names, so it's possible she was Maria Paola Nicola or Maria Nicola Paola and not all of those "first" names then appeared in the civil records. Without access to earlier church records, there is no way to know for sure.

I also see that Maria Nicola was still alive in 1848 when the daughter Maria Francesca Camilla married. Did you ever find a death record for Maria Nicola Bertoldi? Just curious as to the info on that record.

Erudita

Thank you so much for looking into this. I did find Maria Nicola Bertoldi's death record:

http://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.i ... ewsIndex=0

I do think this is an area with double surnames because I seem to come across them a lot. I have also found Maria d'Angelo, sometimes as d'Angelo and sometimes as Carafone. And also Maria Loreta del Tinto sometimes as Traficante.

But the fact that Francesco Brittolla and Francesco Bertoldi aren't the same person as proven by their death records certainly seems to say that Maria Brittolla and Maria Bertoldi are not the same people either?

[erudita74]

I really don't know what to tell you, Robin, about whether the two women are the same person or different ones. Without earlier church records, it is really difficult to determine for sure. Did you see that I also found the original of Agostino's death record? He died in the city of L'Aquila, and not in Pettorano, as you originally thought.
Erudita

[Robin B Mc]

Thanks Erudita, I think someone found Agostino's death record for me before. I really appreciate all your help.

[erudita74]

Thanks Erudita, I think someone found Agostino's death record for me before. I really appreciate all your help.

You're very welcome, Robin. I didn't think you already had the original of his death record from the city of L'Aquila, which was why I searched for it and found it, as you stated in the first line of this thread that he was born in Pettorano. Anyway, the important thing is that you know that you initially had incorrect info. Sorry we haven't been successful in solving the problem of the two women.
Erudita