Birth translation please

[delfgill]

Hi,

Can someone please provide a full translation for birth #198 and whether it mentions who would care for the child? A 2nd cousin told me that the child's mother was present for his baptism but I can't locate baptismal records for the town of Viggiano Potenza. Does anyone know if there are records online?


https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... UIV7&i=237


Many thanks!

[delfgill]

Anyone??

[erudita74]

There are no church records online for the town of Viggiano and, even if there were, I doubt you would find the mother attending the infant's baptism. There was a 40 day purification period the new mother had to undergo, so she normally was not present at the church for the baptism. It was the midwife who normally carried the newborn through the town streets enroute to the church and then often held the infant at the baptismal font and served as its godmother.

As to this record-it was a woman by the name of Signora Rosangiola di Rago who received the infant at the wheel for abandoned children and then presented it at the town hall where it was named by the town official. The wheel was located in the town on Strada Piazza Plebiscito. The infant was wrapped in black rags and had no apparent marks on his body. He was determined to have been three days old. This was on Dec 10, 1868. There is no mention of the consignment of this infant to a wetnurse who would feed him or who was given custody of this infant. If the natural mother ever did come forward to reclaim this infant, whom she abandoned anonymously at the wheel, there would be a notation in the margin of this record, which there isn't, or there should be an act of recognition at some future date. If the natural mother did eventually marry, there could also be info handwritten in the bottom section of her marriage record, as her marriage would have legitimized her child, if she chose to recognize him as her natural son.

[PippoM]

Erudita,
I just want to specify that it says he was given to a wetnurse, though her name is not mentioned, as there were no hospitals for children in town.

[erudita74]

Erudita,
I just want to specify that it says he was given to a wetnurse, though her name is not mentioned, as there were no hospitals for children in town.

Hi Pippo
I see the info you are talking about. I got up too early and should have gone back to bed! Thanks for adding that info.
Erudita

[PippoM]

In the paragraph where the name is stated:
"Ho ricevuto quindi il fanciullo, che ho consegnato ad una balia, non essendo qui ospizio veruno, o stabilimento infantile, e si è imposto al medesimo il nome e pronome di Carlo Vitale"

[erudita74]

Thanks again, Pippo. I had edited my reply to you above, when I saw the info in the record, after you said it was there.
Erudita

[delfgill]

Thank you both very much! I appreciate it.

On a separate note, are there records specific to Rogiano Gravina, Cosenza?

[PippoM]

Thanks again, Pippo. I had edited my reply to you above, when I saw the info in the record, after you said it was there.
Erudita

[erudita74]

Thank you both very much! I appreciate it.

On a separate note, are there records specific to Rogiano Gravina, Cosenza?

Available only at a family history center. Always check at the familysearch.org website, and the online catalog there. Also the town name is Roggiano Gravina (two g's in Roggiano)

https://www.familysearch.org/search/cat ... %20Library

[delfgill]

Thanks

[erudita74]

Happy to help.
Erudita