Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Having problems with the Italian language? Do you need help to translate or understand an old family document? There is always someone who can help you!
Post Reply
italian059
Master
Master
Posts: 955
Joined: 10 Jul 2011, 21:36

Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by italian059 »

Would someone please help translate this birth/baptismal record. I am trying to decide if this is my 5x gr grandfather and grandmother. I know she was a foundling. He was Paolo and she was Domenica. I did not know they had a son named Pasquale so any information would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Mary


https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... =en&i=1862
erudita74
Master
Master
Posts: 9245
Joined: 27 Aug 2012, 20:26

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by erudita74 »

Hi Mary

Pasquale di Fulco was born on Nov 17, 1843 in the house on via S. Agostino. His father, Paolo di Fulco, age 52, a porter. His mother: Domenica Pavino/Panino? projetta (foundling), age 25. Baptism on the 18th.

*I see in their Jan 15, 1837 marriage record that Domenica was just listed as being of unknown parents. I don’t know why the name Pavino or Panino appears in this birth record, even though the word for foundling is written after it. Have you located her birth/baptism record?

Hope you’re doing well.

Erudita
Danip
Elite
Elite
Posts: 295
Joined: 29 Aug 2024, 14:52

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by Danip »

The mother's surname could be Parrino.
erudita74
Master
Master
Posts: 9245
Joined: 27 Aug 2012, 20:26

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by erudita74 »

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 02/wbd2Z34

The civil record is on page 184 of 262. The surname is also in this record. In this record, the surname looks like Purrino. Unfortunately, there are no civil birth records prior to 1820, if Domenica was born about 1818. Will try to get back to this later tonight or

https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12 ... 01/wlkol1R

Domenica is age 22 in her 1837 civil marriage but only the word projetta appears after her first name. Although the document states that she provided a copy of her birth act for her marriage,the date of her birth is not given. Nothing in the record indicates where the surname Parrino/Purrino came from-whether the name of a wetnurse in whose care she may have been assigned as an abandoned infant, or the name of a natural parent who may have come forward to recognize her as their natural child. In some of the civil indices, I do see that foundlings are alphabetized in the indices under the first letter of their first names, and then in the index there sometimes appears the name of the wetnurse to whom they were assigned. There is no indication in this marriage record that a natural parent came forward to recognize her.

Erudita
italian059
Master
Master
Posts: 955
Joined: 10 Jul 2011, 21:36

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by italian059 »

Thanks so much, Danip and Erudita, for your help. Erudita, I have her death record. It is the 5th record on the left hand side. A cousin posted a record for her baptismal but I am not sure that it is really her. It is the 3rd record on the right hand side. Below are the links to both. Looks like she was 55 according to her death record. Please let me know what you think about the baptismal.
Mary


https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... 94&lang=it

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903 ... cc=2046915
erudita74
Master
Master
Posts: 9245
Joined: 27 Aug 2012, 20:26

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by erudita74 »

The death record

Domenica of unknown parents died on March 13, 1871, at age 55. Widow of Paolo di Fulco.

As to the baptism record, yesterday I found that one and two other possibilities. Didn’t get a chance to post the info.

Folio 179 Dec 30, 1813 page 438 of 1141-bottom record
Folio 316 Sept 3, 1815 the one you posted
folio 111 April 10, 1820

I’ll be back shortly to translate the one you posted. Just so you know, none have the surname which starts with the P. In the one you posted, after Dominica’s first name is the word Patrini for godparents.

Dated Sept 3, 1815. Baptism of infant born from unknown parents given the name Domenica. Godparents were Leoluca Gagliano and Francesca Guarino. Midwife was Antonia Cordia. There are some other words before Antonia’s name which I can’t decipher.
italian059
Master
Master
Posts: 955
Joined: 10 Jul 2011, 21:36

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by italian059 »

Thanks so much. This is a baptismal record for their first child, Calogera. It looks like they have a surname for her. Looks like Cordova??? Not sure. 3rd record on the right side of the page.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/T ... 1020698740
erudita74
Master
Master
Posts: 9245
Joined: 27 Aug 2012, 20:26

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by erudita74 »

italian059 wrote: 31 Mar 2026, 18:09 Thanks so much. This is a baptismal record for their first child, Calogera. It looks like they have a surname for her. Looks like Cordova??? Not sure. 3rd record on the right side of the page.

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/T ... 1020698740
Dec 4, 1837

Baptism of Calogera di Fulco. Daughter born to Paolo di Fulco and Domenica di Fulco & Cordua, spouses of this town. She was born at about 10 o’clock of the present night. Godparents were Giuseppe and Giuseppa di Fulco, spouses of this town.

*Cordua is a surname in Palermo province.
italian059
Master
Master
Posts: 955
Joined: 10 Jul 2011, 21:36

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by italian059 »

Thank you. So is this the same Domenica in all of these records? As far as we know she was a foundling because the majority of records state that. What do you think?
erudita74
Master
Master
Posts: 9245
Joined: 27 Aug 2012, 20:26

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by erudita74 »

Mary

I reviewed the records found in which Domenica appears. I just can’t explain the surnames Parrino, Cordua, and Cordova in the records. The record in which Cordova appears is very washed out, but it does look like it ends ova and not ua. So, in one of the cases, the priest or his cleric could have made a spelling error. But that doesn’t account for these surnames in connection with Domenica’s first name in those records, as the word projetta/proietta for foundling is there, plus the records state that she was of unknown parents. Only if she had been recognized by a natural parent, and an act of recognition by that parent was located, could we definitely say that one of those surnames was really hers. Or, if one of the midwives in the records had the same surname, then possibly that midwife/or even a wetnurse to whom Domenica was assigned at birth to nourish her could have been thought to be the natural mother. Sometimes a natural mother presented herself to serve as wetnurse for her own child only to collect a stipend from her town to do so. But none of the found records give us any indication of this. I’m out of possible scenarios. Sorry. BUT, based on Paolo DiFulco’s name also appearing in some of these records, and knowing that she was his wife, I’m inclined to believe that all of these Domenicas were the same person.

Erudita
User avatar
mmogno
Master
Master
Posts: 4676
Joined: 14 Mar 2016, 22:29

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by mmogno »

erudita74 wrote: 31 Mar 2026, 12:19 ...
Dated Sept 3, 1815. Baptism of infant born from unknown parents given the name Domenica. Godparents were Leoluca Gagliano and Francesca Guarino. Midwife was Antonia Cordia. There are some other words before Antonia’s name which I can’t decipher.
@erudita74
obstetrix quae alendam suscepit Antonia Cardia hujus civitatis
"La levatrice che si è fatta carico di nutrirla è Antonia Cordia di questa comunità"
Antonia Cordia, a midwife from this community, is the one who took on the task of caring for the baby.
Emilio Lussu: “Che ne sarebbe della civiltà del mondo, se l’ingiusta violenza si potesse sempre imporre senza resistenza?”
🇺🇦 Slava Ukraine! 🇺🇦
🇮🇱תחי ישראל🇮🇱
erudita74
Master
Master
Posts: 9245
Joined: 27 Aug 2012, 20:26

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by erudita74 »

mmogno wrote: 01 Apr 2026, 18:33
erudita74 wrote: 31 Mar 2026, 12:19 ...
Dated Sept 3, 1815. Baptism of infant born from unknown parents given the name Domenica. Godparents were Leoluca Gagliano and Francesca Guarino. Midwife was Antonia Cordia. There are some other words before Antonia’s name which I can’t decipher.
@erudita74
obstetrix quae alendam suscepit Antonia Cardia hujus civitatis
"La levatrice che si è fatta carico di nutrirla è Antonia Cordia di questa comunità"
Antonia Cordia, a midwife from this community, is the one who took on the task of caring for the baby.
@mmogno

Thanks for clarifying the words I couldn’t decipher from the record. I wondered about Antonia possibly being the natural mother because her surname is close in spelling to the surname of Domenica in some of the records but, even if she was, there’s still the issue of the surname Parrino appearing for Domenica in some records. I had found two other infants named Domenica who were of unknown parents, one born in 1813 and the other in 1820, but none of the other names in their baptism records are close in spelling to either of the two surnames in Domenica’s records. I also checked to see if there was another Paolo di Fulco or Di Furco, as the surname was sometimes spelled, who married a Domenica of unknown parents, but had no luck.

Erudita
italian059
Master
Master
Posts: 955
Joined: 10 Jul 2011, 21:36

Re: Help with Baptismal for a DiFulco

Post by italian059 »

Thanks so much to everyone who helped with this That is exactly what I thought when I saw the midwife’s name. Linda and I have been in contact with a descendant from that line and he lives in Sicily. His mother remembers stories of an ancestor being a foundling so I believe this is her. Just going to go with it.
Post Reply