re:dna test results

[jennabet]

I agree that local social customs are more responsible for the prevalence of ignoti genitori in Sicily than is poverty. The link below is a summary of Italian director Lena Wertmuller's 1972 Sicilian satire, "The Seduction of Mimi", where Mimi the metalworker's wife is impregnated by the local Mafia don and in order to get revenge Mimi the metalworker seeks to impregnate the Mafia don's wife resulting in two cases of false fatherhood just in this storyline.
http://www.tcm.com/this-month/movie-news.html?id=497144

[carubia]

As I pointed out, in towns in Agrigento, which is in Sicily, the incidence of proietti in the 19th century was not as high as you make it sound. Could this be particular to Messina?

But I'm well familiar with Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto - it's where my own birth is registered! I just took a look through the birth indexes for a couple of random years in BPG (1873 and 1887) where it is indicated if the parents were ignoti. In 1873 I count 55 ignoti out of about 650 births (~8.5%), whereas in 1887 only 36 out of more than 850 births (less than 2%) had parenti ignoti. The rate in 1873 is high, but not that extreme.

[mezzogiorno62]

55 out of 650 is nearly 10% which is higher than other areas.but as i mentioned,poverty is not always the main reason for this problem.social stigma/customs are a very big part of the problem.barcellona pg is not the poorest area in sicily-and messina is possibly more affluent than other areas like agrigento or palermo.but i found the incident rate extremely high there.

[carubia]

Before anyone jumps down my throat abut it, I meant 36 out of more than 850 is less than 5%, not 2%.

[trecaromia]

I have researched Monreale, Montelepre, San Giuseppe Iato, San Cipirello, Bagheria
records and I have only seen 2 or 3 at the most listing "ignoti genitori" The records are excellent to research. I n the statement "genealogy" and "dna" are not the same. True. But it is another tool to either prove or disprove what we know from our genealogy research. For instance, I have an ancestor where he stated his father was
this person and not the one whose name he carried. One of his female ancestor and another female ancestor of the "suspected father" proved to be a match. Neither knew the other was dna testing. So in my humble opinion I believe both are very valuable in our research. The fact that Italian/Sicilian women kept their maiden name is a true blessing. This is especially so in researching immigration records.