Tuesday, June 11, 2002
After going backward for so long, I decided I needed to go forward a bit to clean up some loose ends. I was missing death records for two of my four 3G grandparents from San Potito Sannitico, Maria Pietrosimone and Filippo Brandi. So I ordered the film of records from 1900-1910, figuring they would likely be in there somewhere, since they were both born in the late 1810s. Sure enough, I found Filippo in 1900. He died on 3 Nov 1900, aged 82, at the house at number 16 Via Albero in San Potito. The rest of the record confirms everything I had found elsewhere, like his birth and marriage records.
Maria lived a bit longer; she died on 5 Mar 1907, aged 87, at 27 Via Torello. She had outlived her husband Domenico Rapa by 12 years.
It's interesting looking through the records of this time. By 1900, emigration was well underway, and the number of births, marriages, and deaths is significantly less than in, say, the 1850s. You can almost feel the emptiness of the village. Just as a rough guess, it feels like maybe half of the village left. No wonder they celebrate Emigrants' Day every year.
Death Records
Posted at 11:51:51 PM
