Antonette Massanelli Mystery Grows

[chrisdamato]

I always seem to come back to this, but do you think Rosa was a prostitute? Or whatever the 19th century Italian equivalent was???

[chrisdamato]

I wonder if each of the 3 sisters ever asked each other about the fact that they all had different fathers? It MUST have come up in conversation at one point or another....

[maestra36]

Chris
I am still inclined to believe that Rosa was not a prostitute but rather that the father(s) of all three sisters may have been a clergymen (it was common for priests to have mistresses and a number of children with those mistresses), or that the father was a wealthy landlord or nobleman. If Rosa was a peasant-I don't recall offhand her occupation, then she worked in the fields and pretty much anyone could have impregnated her. There was no birth control at that point in time. The family in the U.S. may just have invented names for the father(s) as a cover-up to avoid the shame that having illegitimate children brought to the family. Preserving family honor has always been of major importance to the Italians. More than likely, the subject of the illegitimacy was never discussed among the sisters or their families here in the U.S. In those days, Italians were silent about most issues about which we now freely speak.

Between 1865 and 1915, prostitution in Italy was strictly regulated and prostitutes were subjected to biweekly medical exams. The society was concerned with the possibility of them infecting the nation's soldiers with venereal disease. Even some married women became prostitutes to help supplement family incomes. Most of the prostitution though took place in the large cities. The following book about prostitution in Italy between 1865-1915 does not even address the subject of pregnancy among prostitutes, and it is a well researched book. You may, however, be interested in reading it.:

PROSTITUTION STATE: ITALY 1860-1915 (HISTORY CRIME & CRIMINAL JUS) [Paperback]
MARY GIBSON (Author)

[chrisdamato]

Ok, so then maybe she was not a prostitute, but why would they even bother putting a father's name on any of the vital records especially in the US??

[PeterTimber]

Because the family followed the customs and beliefs of the society they lived in ,came from and practiced routinely... So it would be expected of them to mask a disgrace with a fiction which, even if known ,would be acceptable since no one discussed these matters openly and it facilitated their marriageability

=Peter=

[suanj]

Chris:
the prostitution was ( and is) a crime; but in Italy “prostituteâ€

[maestra36]

Peter is right, Chris. Illegitimacy brought disgrace to the woman and her family, and a disgraced woman was not considered marriageable. So the family did whatever it could to hide the illegitimacy. It was also probably easier for them to invent stories once here in the U.S. and away from their native town because in the native town the truth of the illegitimate births was probably common knowledge (even the name of the father or fathers was probably known by town residents, although not recorded in the town records). If you try to research the fathers' names which appear in the U.S. records for these sisters, these names probably did not even exist in the town where the women were born. These were probably names invented by the family once here in the U.S. to keep the fact of the women's illegitimacy hidden. The other thing is that, often in U.S. death records in particular, there is incorrect information given by the informant concerning the names of the parents of the deceased. The informant gives whatever information he/she believes to be true, even though he/she might not know for sure. So, even in cases where a deceased individual was not illegitimate, the information concerning the names of the parents which appears in a U.S. death record, may not be accurate.

[maestra36]

Thanks suranj for your more in depth explanation.

[chrisdamato]

Thank you all. I was just having so much trouble wrapping my mind around the fact that a woman wouldn't tell her daughers the identity of their father.

Would DNA testing help???

[chrisdamato]

I am trying to find Rosa Missanelli's family via possible siblings. I found a marriage record for Michele Arcangelo Missanelli in Anzi in 1875. It is marriage record #17 for that year. I believe the father's name is Gerardantonio, but am not sure. The page is very difficult to read. I would attach it but I am afraid that if I make the file small enough to attach, it will make it even harder to look at.

Could someone please take a look at it and let me know if you can make out the parents names.