Recent arrivals to a commune..?

[MarcuccioV]

This question relates to other research I'm trying to do on my Italian side.

In researching what I can using the civil records of the ancestral hometown (Valmontone), I have found that it only had TWO patriarchs with my grandfather's surname of Mattia that can be traced to the pre-paper trail time period. Their names are Cesare and Antonio. They were both of the same generation and died some time before the documentation starts at 1871 (their names come from the death acts of their chidren). I assume they were most likely brothers.

The ONLY Mattia's I can find in the civil records (post 1871) are offspring of one of these 2 men (no exceptions). As the years went by, the quantity of people with the Mattia surname increased rapidly as the families grew and procreated.

So I assume one of these two scenarios:

That Cesare and Antonio WERE in fact brothers, and were offspring of a lone Mattia father who arrived in the commune either before or after they were born, or they themselves arrived on their own.

Why else would there be only the 2 patriarchs early on & in no time the family grew exponentially..?

I just want to confirm that I'm on the right track and that the family name most likely migrated into town fairly recently prior to the records and had not been established there for very long...

[PippoM]

I'd say it is likely they were brothers, or related, though I must also say that in the 1800's three men who went by same surname arrived in my wife's village (I'm always speaking about it, as I know the genealogies there very well ). Two of them were brothers, but the third (my wife's GGGF) was not related to them and came from a different town. They all died after 1871, but, had they died ten years before, a researcher would have been in the same situation as yours.

[mmogno]

In the Municipality of Monte Compatri, there is a hamlet called Colle Mattia, about 17 km north-west of Villamontone. Could it be the family's place of origin?
http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/mappe/ ... lle+Mattia

[MarcuccioV]

In the Municipality of Monte Compatri, there is a hamlet called Colle Mattia, about 17 km north-west of Valmontone. Could it be the family's place of origin?
http://italia.indettaglio.it/eng/mappe/ ... lle+Mattia

I checked indices for Monte Compatri, Colonna and Frascati. There are similar names, but none exact. The closest is Mattei (of which there are a scant few in Valmontone).

The other oddity is my grandfather was very dark-skinned. This seems out-of-place as most "Valmontonese" are much lighter.

Here is the (modern) distribution map for "Mattia" in Italy. My DNA ancestral locations are also posted below.

As you can see, Mattia's are common to all the shaded areas. Since it lists Campania highest, I found a high concentration of Mattia's in Calabriito, Avellino, but no connection. I believe there are others in Avellino communes, but I've yet to research those.

They may have also come from Bari or Agrigento, or any of the areas shown...

[MarcuccioV]

I'd say it is likely they were brothers, or related, though I must also say that in the 1800's three men who went by same surname arrived in my wife's village (I'm always speaking about it, as I know the genealogies there very well ). Two of them were brothers, but the third (my wife's GGGF) was not related to them and came from a different town. They all died after 1871, but, had they died ten years before, a researcher would have been in the same situation as yours.

Daverro propio. But I am at least pretty certain they were not long-rooted in the area.

My grandfather did not "look" like the typical Valmontonese -- much darker. Where that came from I don't know (he was born 20 years after records began).

Also certain surnames, such as Malaspina and Masella (using "M's" as an example) were already very populous in Valmontone in the early 1870's, indicating those families had been there for many generations...