Translation of Nicolina Giardina birth record

[soosee]

I'm not sure if Nicolina was a foundling or not. I need help translating her birth record. Does it list her parents?

Thanks !
Sue

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cc=1947613

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1 ... cc=1947613

[erudita74]

Nicolina Giardina was an abandoned infant.

The record is dated on Dec 8, 1837 but she was abandoned on the 7th at 1 in the night at the hospital wheel (this mechanism allowed individuals to anonymously abandon an infant). She had no apparent signs on her body and was given to a wetnurse by the name of Antonina Giardina, the wife of Paolo. The town official is the person who gave the name Nicolina Giardina to the infant. She was baptized in the parish church of the town on the 8th.

Erudita

[soosee]

Thank you so much for translating the birth record! I thought she was abandoned but could not figure out how she got her name. I have read about abandoned babies and heard about the "wheel". Doing genealogy has brought history to life for me.
Thanks again
Sue

[erudita74]

You're very welcome, Sue. I do find it odd though that the infant was given the same surname as the woman Antonina, unless Giardina was a surname used for abandoned female infants in this town, and Antonina herself had also been an abandoned, when she was an infant. Normally an abandoned infant would be given a surname that no one else in the town had, unless the town used such surnames as Esposito (which means "exposed") or Trovatelli (which means "foundling). I probably shouldn't mention this, as I don't want to mislead you, but there were instances where women who had abandoned their infants, then came forward to serve as wetnurses, so that their town would pay them a stipend for their service. In those days, an infant had to be breastfed, and so women who had recently given birth and were lactating, or who had recently lost an infant, might serve in the capacity of a wetnurse. if Antonina was Nicolina's natural mother, I'm guessing that she would have come forward and recognized her when she was young, and Nicolina's marriage record would not have listed unknown parents for her.
Erudita