OTD: May 28th

On this day, May 28, in...

...  1542, Elisabetta Lo Misseri was born in Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy.

Does Nicscemi = Misseri? I think so!

 I've been researching some females during National Women’s History Month. I've been concentrating on women who lived in Palermo, the capital city of Sicily. While digging through online images of the 10-year indices on Antenati, that include birth, marriage and death dates. The 10-year indices cover the years of 1820-1895. The compiled books are awesome, and I am so thankful that they have been produced and digitized, especially because the actual records are not available online.

My goal was to find children of a mother who has the surname of Misseri. As I was working through individuals, I was getting very familiar with the different families during my time research time. I am going to show how a surname can get messed up within an index. And how you really need to pay attention the Italian naming convention to help you not miss searching or adding children or family members that you didn't know existed. And how a little luck helped me find who I was looking for. 

Here is a reminder of the Italian Family Naming Convention: 

• first born son, named for the paternal grandfather
• second born son, named for the maternal grandfather
• first born daughter, named for the paternal grandmother
• second born daughter, named for the maternal grandmother
• and then after that, a child could be names after another important family member, a saint, or someone who was important to the parents

In my example, I was searching for the children of Giuseppe La Barbera (b. 24 Dec 1840) and Francesca Misseri (b. 6 Nov 1846).

• Giuseppe's parents are Angelo La Barbera and Anna Troia
• Francesca's parents are Ignazio Misseri and Ninfa Vita Magnasco

It is important to know who the parents are, and I found Giuseppe La Barbera and Francesa Misseri's marriage details, including the date (6 Nov 1868) and the parents' names by going through the 1866-1875 matrimoni indices.

Now back to my example. I discovered the following children for Giuseppe La Barbera and Francesca Misseri:

• Anna La Barbera (b. 9 Mar 1873)
• Ignazio La Barbara (b. 1 Feb 1877)
• Rosario La Barbera (b. 27 Mar 1880)
• Ninfa La Barbera (b. 22 Sep 1883)
• Filippa La Barbera (b. 10 Apr 1887)

You can see the Italian Naming Convention was definitely in play with the first four children that I found in the records. But I was missing someone! Knowing that Giuseppe's father is Angelo, and I could see there was a gap from the marriage year (1868) and the year of the first child (1873); I realized I was probably missing a child named Angelo. So, I went back the Index Books and searched for an Angelo born between 1868 and 1873. Only two "Angelo" La Barbera's were born during the time period that and unfortunately both were born to a Giuseppe. And neither Angelo was born to Francesca Misseri. But one of the mothers of the Angelo had a first name of Francesca. Next step, what was the surname of Francesca?

This is the interesting part of genealogical research: names change! Either the name in question morphs into something new and different over time or someone changes it by mistake (usually because it sounds like something similar, they are familiar with, phonically spells it, switches or adds a letter or two, etc.).

What I found was nothing like Misseri, but it was a surname I have seen one other time before with another female Misseri; the surname I found was Niscemi. I guess the two names do sound familiar, but boy, they are spelled completely different. I have seen Niscemi in conjunction with a Giuseppa Filippa Misseri (b. 28 Sep 1821 - d. 7 Dec 1893), who was also from Palermo in Sicily. That was my luck. I am pretty good at keeping alternate names of individuals when I find them. And this time it helped.

So, was my mystery solved? Yes and no. I am adding Angelo to my tree, but until I can get a copy of his birth certificate or baptism record, I won't know for sure if my hunch is correct in thinking the Francesca Niscemi is indeed Francesca Misseri. By the way, I can't find a marriage record or any other children whose parents are Giuseppe La Barbara and Francesca Niscemi. So that is the main reason why I have attached Angelo to my tree.

Here are the details for Angelo:

• Angelo La Barbera (b. 17 May 1870), parents: Giuseppe La Barbara and Francesca Niscemi

You can see in the image above, both Francesca Niscemi and Francesca Misseri.

In the end, sometimes you have to keep an open mind when researching. Especially when you aren't finding what you are looking.