Tuesday, February 12, 2002
I’ve been gradually going through the baptism records from Santa Catarina in San Potito and finding my ancestors. My search through them is by no means complete, and what I have found still leaves some holes, but I have found some interesting information and driven back another generation or two in some cases.
My 5G Grandmother, Maria Rachele Manzo, was the wife of Angiolo Navarro and the mother of Giuseppe Navarro, my 4G Grandfather. I had her death record from the civil records in 1813, which gave her parents’ names, Domenico Manzo and Marianna Altieri. I also had her birth date from the 1802 stato delle anime. But I went looking for her baptismal record anyway, and found it right where the stato delle anime said it would be, 20 Feb 1781. It’s in Latin, and reads as follows:
Anno 17 octagesimo primo die vigesima Feb
Ego Joseph Ferrazzo Parochus Ecclae S. Catharinae Casalis S. Potiti baptizavi infantem eodem die natam ex Dominico Manzo et Maria Anna Altieri, coniugibus huius Parochia, cui impositum est nomen Maria Rachele, Commater fuit Anna di Chello huius Parochio.
That translates to English as:
Year 17 eighty-one, day 20 February
I, Joseph Ferrazzo, the parish priest of Saint Catharine church in the village of San Potito, baptized an infant on the day it was born to Domenico Manzo and Marianna Altieri, married in this parish, and they gave her the name Maria Rachele; the Godmother was Anna di Chello of this parish.
All of the baptism records going back quite a ways translate very similarly to this. So Maria Rachele was born and baptized on 20 Feb 1781.
I found records for many siblings of hers; she appears to have been the oldest child of Domenico and Marianna. Interestingly, starting in 1785, the records include the names of the grandparents as well as the parents. So the baptism record of Maria Vincenza Manzo, born on 1 Mar 1785, says that Domenico was the son of the late ("quondum") Caroli, et Pressea Piazza, and that Marianna was the daughter of Caroli, et Rosinae s. Massimo, both of Piedimonte. The names are given in Latin, so in Italian, Domenico’s parents were Carlo Manzo and Preziosa Piazza. Preziosa is a new find; I’m not positive about her first name, though, as it appears in a number of different ways throughout the records. Marianna’s parents, both still living were Carlo Altieri and Rosina Santomassimo, which verifies what I found on Marianna’s death record from 1841. Carlo Altieri, my 7G Grandfather, apparently died between the birth of Domenico and Marianna’s son Francesco Angelo on 25 Oct 1790 and that of their son Francesco Gabriele on 15 Jun 1792.
Domenico Manzo’s baptism record shows that he was born and baptized on 11 Dec 1751. It gives his parents’ names as Carolo (Carlo in Italian) Manzo and Praxide Piazza. It gives his full name as Dominicus Carolus Antonius (Domenico Carlo Antonio in Italian), and his Godfather as Pasquale Rapa.
I haven’t found records for Carlo Manzo or Praxide/Preziosa Piazza yet.
Posted at 11:16:10 PM
