Calendar Month's as Surnames

I am still plugging away and researching the records from Grumo Appula in Bari. I have noticed an interesting thing the clerk or town official who was registering the births of foundlings (babies usually left at the church because the mother decided she could or would not care for the newborn child).

The clerk or town official gave a surname of the month the baby was born in; for example, in 1839, two babies were given the following surnames: Aprile and Ottobre.

• Luigi Aprile, born on 12 April 1839, record #79
• Florinta Ottobre, born on 25 October 1839, record #174

Foundlings are usually given unique names that set them apart from the rest of the local community. But, in all my time of researching various records, I have not come across the names of calendar months being used as surnames.

One Name, One Place Study - #2

It is time to start a new One Name, One Place Study.  I needed a break from all the Grumo Appula records from Antenati and FamilySearch, so I have decided to change to a new region in Italy: the Palermo area of Sicily! This is the other half of my Italian family. Unlike the records of Modugno and Grumo Apppula that are online, the records of Carini are immense. There are baptism, marriage, and death records that go back to the mid-1500s. Can you imagine the sheer volume of records? With this One Name, One Place Study, I have decided that I am going to truly keep it to one name: Misseri. It will make the research so much easier because the Misseri family in Carini was a small family, especially compared to the following families (in no particular order): Anello, Buzzetta, Cottone, Gallina, Genova, Mannino, Randazzo, and Zerillo. I will keep you posted as I move forward with this endeavor. 

Artificial Intelligence has arrived for Carini!

For anyone that is researching their family from Carini (just outside of Palermo, Sicily), you might want to try searching on FamilySearch because they have finally started their indexing of the church records by using Artificial Intelligence. I think FamilySearch started the process on 5 December 2024. Lots of records with the images are showing up in the search, however I am seeing some errors with the names and dates, which you can correct so please don't take every at face value. You really need to read the records and make sure you have everything correct. Good luck! I look at it as an early holiday gift. Happy searching!

Misseri: 1876, a rough couple of months in Carini, Palermo

In the year of 1876, the family of Salvatore Misseri and Anna Lo Geloso experienced a rough and devastating month and a half. The couple had five children and probably living quite comfortable in Carini, especially since Salvatore had the title of 'Don'. But by the beginning of October 1876, that number was down to three. Between 15 Aug 1876 and 4 Oct 1876, Salvatore and Anna lost the following children:

• Cesare Misseri, died on 15 August 1876, record #165
• Rosalia Misseri, died on 24 August 1876, record #176
• Vincenzo Misseri, died on 4 October 1876, record #201

Cesare was 4 years old, followed by Rosalia who was 7, and then, Vincenzo being the oldest of the tree at 11 years old.

Being a researcher and tracking down the vital records of people, sometimes a trend will appear, and it will make you stop and think about the bigger picture of what might have been going on within the family structure. Was there some sort of an accident that led to a medical situation or was it a hygiene issue (bad drink water)? We'll probably never know for sure, but I will keep my eye to see if there were any other social issues going on in Carini in 1876.

Descendants of Don Salvatore Misseri

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1-Don Salvatore Misseri b. 17 Oct 1829, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 9 

    Jan 1903, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

         + Dona Anna Lo Geloso b. 22 Jan 1835, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 21 

            Jan 1910, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, par. Bonaventuro Lo Geloso and Rosa 

            Oliveri

            |--2-Maria Anna Misseri b. 19 Sep 1863, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 30 

            |      Sep 1879, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |--2-Vincenzo Misseri b. 30 Nov 1864, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 4 Oct 

            |      1876, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |--2-Bonaventuro Francesco Misseri b. 12 Nov 1866, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, 

            |       Italy, d. 3 Apr 1939, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |--2-Rosalia Misseri b. 17 Oct 1868, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 24 Aug 

            |      1876, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |--2-Cesare Misseri b. 1 Sep 1871, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 15 Aug 

            |      1876, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |--2-Grazia Misseri b. 30 May 1875, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy, d. 8 Mar 

            |      1905, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |--2-Vincenzo Misseri b. 1 Apr 1877, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

            |   + Paolina Margherita Fontana b. 1877, Castellammare del Golfo, Trapani, 

            |      Sicily, Italy, par. Giuseppe Fontana and Anna Pelli alias Lo Cascio

            |--2-Maria Anna Misseri b. 1879, Carini, Palermo, Sicily, Italy

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One Name, One Place Study - #1

Ok, I'm about to start something I've never done before. Many times, my genealogy research could be enhanced by a comprehensive research log. I do a pretty good job of keeping organized source citations, but never a big and robust log of what I have and haven't done. Well, that is about to change; I'm going to make it a mission to go through each year from 1809 thru 1945. I'm going to essentially do a One Name, One Place Study. The names: Scorca and de Pinto with the place being: Grumo Appula, Bari, Puglia, Italy.

The reason for this place? Well, the records are freely available on the following two site: Antenati and FamilySearch. Most of the years have civil birth, marriage and death records with an index in the back of the book, which will make it easier to search for the two names listed above and then I will keep track of my progress. I will make a note of the records number, the person, date, name of parents, and a link to the actual records. By doing this, I will then have a complete research log of the town of Grumo Appula. I'm not doing every person, just the people with the surnames of Scorca and de Pinto.

Welcome to From Roots to Branches

Welcome!

If you start with what you know, your roots will become branches as you dig deeper into your family history.

We all have Family History, and some people want to learn it more than others. And I am one of those individuals who wants to grow from knowing the past. When researching someone or something, it is a way of reconnecting to the past through history. And that history is learned through the social context of the events that were happening around the lives of the people being researched. Through this site, I am going to document various tidbits and finds of my family history.