Help translating wetnurse

[bsanocki]

Can anyone tell me who the wetnurse was for the attached birth certificate for Luigi Montanini? I'm guessing that was his mother, and he was born out of wedlock. His father, Giovanni Montano, later claimed him as his natural father in 1909, but no mention of the mother was given.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Document is at the following link: https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/imagevi ... bel=Return

[Tessa78]

This Ancestry LIBRARY link will not open.

Can you post an image or a link through a regular Ancestry account?

OR... indicate the Comune, and Birth Act Year and #?

T.

[bsanocki]

Here's the link from the Family Search website:

https://www.familysearch.org/records/im ... eView=true

[erudita74]

Carmela Cutinella, the daughter of deceased Giambattista (Cutinella), wife of Giuseppe De Durante. She was age 36 and a contadina (peasant/farmer)

[bsanocki]

Would Carmela Cutinella have to have an infant to be able to nurse the baby? I can't find record of her having another infant in 1889, or 1888.

Any insight there?

Beth

[darkerhorse]

Was she a wet nurse or midwife?

[bsanocki]

Exactly what I'm trying to determine. I'm wondering if the wet nurse was actually the childs biological mother possibly. Was Carmela Cutinella just the caregiver?

Beth

[AngelaGrace56]

Would Carmela Cutinella have to have an infant to be able to nurse the baby? I can't find record of her having another infant in 1889, or 1888.

Any insight there?

Beth

Was she a wet nurse or midwife?

Exactly what I'm trying to determine. I'm wondering if the wet nurse was actually the childs biological mother possibly. Was Carmela Cutinella just the caregiver?

Beth

There is no mention at all about a midwife. From the record we learn that the baby was abandoned, and found by Carmela Cutinella, who then registered the baby's birth. The official then assigned Carmela Cutinella to care for the baby. Carmela, to be the wet nurse, would have been already lactating. She may have just had a baby, and her baby may have died, or she may have been a wet nurse for other children. (Breastfasting is a supply and demand system so as long as there is a baby feeding from a woman, she can keep lactating for years without having recently given birth.) There is no mention of who the biological mother was.

Are you able to post the 1909 record you have that shows Giovanni Montano legitimising his son.


Angela

[darkerhorse]

I see that the woman in question appeared in-person at the office.

Did she report the birth?

Is the term "wet nurse" used in the document?

I see she's described as a peasant, and not as a midwife.

[erudita74]

Carmela reported to the town official that, this morning, the male infant was found on via Garibaldi. The infant appeared to be 5 days old. The term for wetnurse, which is balia, is not used in the record. However, many peasant women served in the capacity of wetnurses to supplement their family incomes. Peasants were extremely poor, and some towns paid stipends to women who served in the capacity of external wetnurses (that is, who did so in their own homes).

There were rare instances of a woman coming forward to serve in the capacity of a wetnurse who was the infant's natural mother but, without any proof, one cannot say that Carmela was this infant’s natural mother. The record reads that she was given custody of this infant for the assurance of “allevamento”-that is, she was given custody of this infant, by the town official, for the purpose of this infant’s upbringing-so that would include her being responsible for feeding this child. In those days, infants received their daily nourishment from a woman who was lactating. Bottle feeding was not done.

It was actually very dangerous for a woman to wetnurse a child who was not her own. For example, if the infant had a disease such as syphyllis, the disease would not manifest itself for the first few weeks of the infant's life and, through breast feeding, the disease would then get transmitted to the woman herself, then to her husband, if married, and to any of her own children. I reiterate that, while it was very dangerous for a woman to engage in such an occupation, many very poor women often did so in order to supplement their meager family incomes.

[bsanocki]

I appreciate everyone's help. I understand that sometimes a wet nurse can be the actual mother of the child, which is why I inquired regarding the wet nurse. Since I cannot find a birth certificate for another child that Carmela Cutinella had in the previous couple of years prior, I assume she was just a foster mother of sorts.

The document claiming Luigi Montanini by his actual father in 1909, might shed some light. Here's that link: https://www.familysearch.org/records/im ... eView=true

In addition, Luigi Montanini also had a brother named Giovanni Montanini, who was also claimed in 1909 by both of theirs father, Giovanni Montanini. The record for this document is the same as the previous one, it's the next document.

Maybe between the two documents for Luigi and Giovanni Montanini, I thought perhaps there would be a clue as to who the mother was for them. I find it strange that both sons were claimed 20 years after their birth, by their father. Maybe for land rights, I'm not sure.

With eveyone's help, it continues to unravel and I sure do appreciate it.

Beth

[erudita74]

Interesting that Luigi was born in Marsicovetere and Giovanni in Viggiano. In Luigi's act of recognition, Carmela is referred to as a balia, or wetnurse. Giovanni had a totally different wetnurse. Yes, without recognition by the natural father, inheritance rights would not apply.

That's all I can do for now. Have to get going.

Erudita

[bsanocki]

My thoughts exactly with regard to the birth city.