For Michael

was Not in the tree

now FILIPPO ARENA and DOMENICA COSTA, married by 1819 at Scilla. They are Francesco Antonio Arena's parents, Rocco Arena's grandparents, and great-great-great-great-grandparents of Mia and Rocco. Filippo is named TWICE and independently: the 1819 Tavola gives his son as 'Filippo e Dom.ca Costa', and act 228 of 1861 calls Francesco Antonio 'figlio di Filippo'. CONFIRMED AGAIN by the marriage act of 1851, which also gives Filippo's trade: marinaro.

Scilla, Nati 1819 atto 186; Matrimoni 1851 atto 13; Nati 1861 atto 228

was Not in the tree

now Born 25 NOVEMBER 1819 at Scilla, a MARINARO. Act 228 of 1861 makes him forty-two on 23 December 1861, and a birth on 25 November 1819 makes him forty-two years and one month -- exact. He is Rocco Arena's father, and the tree has Rocco under Orazio Arena instead.

Scilla, Nati 1819 atto 186; Nati 1860 atto 45; Nati 1861 atto 228

was Not in the tree

now Rocco Arena's mother, BORN 13 JUNE 1830 at Scilla to GIOVANNI ARLOTTA, a marinaro, and MARIA COSTA. Confirmed twice: the marriage act of 7 February 1851 makes her twenty and names those parents, and her own birth act of 1830 names them again. Note that act 228 of 1861 makes her 28, which would give 1833 -- she was 31, and register ages are the loosest thing in them.

Scilla, Nati 1830 atto 2; Matrimoni 1851 atto 13; Nati 1861 atto 228

was Not in the tree

now FILIPPO ARENA b. 14 February 1852, DOMENICO ARENA b. 24 March 1853 and GIUSEPPE ARENA b. 5 March 1860 are all sons of Francesco Antonio Arena and Serafina Arlotta -- Rocco's elder brothers. The eldest is named FILIPPO for his grandfather, exactly as Calabrian custom predicts, which is a third independent support for the Filippo Arena generation. Separately, TERESA ARENA b. 17 October 1853 is a daughter of Orazio Arena and Giovanna Zirilli -- Orazio's earliest known child, and the tree gives him no daughters at all. AMENDED 20 SEPTEMBER: «DOMENICO ARENA b. 24 March 1853» IS DOMENICA ARENA, A DAUGHTER. Act 53 of 1853 -- not act 2, which is a Tavola row number -- says «una FEMINA», «di dare alla FANCIULLA il nome di DOMENICA», and names DOMENICA ARENA in the baptism column. SO ROCCO HAD TWO BROTHERS DOCUMENTED HERE, not three: Filippo (1852) and Giuseppe (1860), besides Giovanni (1854). The row is left standing with this note rather than rewritten, because the mistake is part of the record.

Scilla, Nati 1852 atto 48; Nati 1853 atti 2 and 6; Nati 1860 atto 45

was Not in the tree

now SARAFINA ARENA b. 14 August 1898 at Manhattan, DIED 30 JANUARY 1900 aged seventeen months and buried the next day; CLEMENTINA ARENA b. 18 December 1900 at Manhattan; ANTONINO ARENA b. 12 October 1902 at Manhattan. All three to Rocco Arena and Generosa Costa. Sarafina's name matters on its own: Rocco's mother was SERAFINA ARLOTTA, so he named a daughter for her in New York -- a third separate thing pointing at the parentage the archive reassigned. Two of them were BAPTISED AT OUR LADY OF LORETTO in Little Italy -- Sarafina in 1898, Clementina in 1901 -- which gives the family's New York parish as well as its street. Clementina also has a crossing of her own, Ellis Island 1921, aged twenty.

New York, New York City Births 1846-1909; NYC Municipal Deaths 1795-1949; New York Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms

was Not in the tree

now SERAFINA ARLOTTA'S PARENTS, named in the marriage act of 7 February 1851: GIOVANNI ARLOTTA, a MARINARO, and MARIA COSTA. They are Rocco Arena's maternal grandparents and great-great-great-great-grandparents of Mia and Rocco. The same act confirms FILIPPO ARENA and DOMENICA COSTA from a second independent document and gives Filippo's trade as 'professione stessa' -- the same as his son's, marinaro. So the sea trade runs Filippo, Francesco Antonio, Rocco: three generations of sailors, with Giovanni Arlotta a fourth alongside.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1851, atto 13

was Not in the tree

now DOMENICO ARLOTTA, dead before April 1854, father of Giovanni Arlotta the sailor and so Serafina Arlotta's grandfather. A great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Mia and Rocco, and the deepest person this archive has reached on the Calabrian side.

Scilla, Nati 1854, atto 76

was Not in the tree

now Michele Donato's parents, of Scilla — he a MARINARO born about 1817, she born about 1818. And behind Domenico, his own father CANDELORO DONATO. NUNZIATA SOFI is why Michele's daughter is called Nunziata.

Scilla, Nati 1855, atto 163

was Mother Giovanna Pontillo

now His mother is GIOVANNA ROMANO, not Giovanna Pontillo. SETTLED BY TWO INDEPENDENT RECORDS: act 206 of 1883 names her Giovanna Romano, and the New Orleans manifest of 1908 -- filled in from Giovanni's own statement, twenty-five years later and half a world away -- names 'father Antonino Polistena and mother Giovanna Romano, Scilla'. The father is the same man under three spellings: Camillo Antonio in the act, Antonio in the tree, Antonino on the manifest.

Scilla, Nati 1883 atto 206; New Orleans passenger list, S.S. Liguria, 1908

was Son of Orazio Arena and Giovanna Zirilli

now Born 5 March 1860 to FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA and SERAFINA ARLOTTA. He is Rocco's brother, and both were attached to the wrong father.

Scilla, Nati 1860, atto 45

was Not in the tree as Rocco's brother

now SON OF FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA AND SERAFINA ARLOTTA, named in his own marriage act. So he is ROCCO ARENA'S FULL BROTHER -- which is what the 1899 manifest says, where he sails to join 'brother Rocco' and enters six-year-old Anna as his NIECE.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1885, atto 86; Nati 1854, atto 76

was Born 1870 at Scilla

now Born about 1859. He is thirty-three in his son's birth act of October 1892.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 230

was Born 1851 at Scilla

now Born about 1856. Thirty-six in his daughter's birth act of July 1892, and fifty-two on the New Orleans manifest of 1908 -- and the New Orleans manifest image names him a SAILOR whose nearest relative is 'Wife Maria Sofi, Via Grotte, Scilla' -- three independent witnesses agreeing.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 162; New Orleans passenger list 1908

was Born 1850

now Born 1845 at Piedimonte Etneo. His death act makes him SEVENTY-NINE in November 1924. This archive had already derived 1845 from the ages the marriage proclamations gave him in 1898, 1902 and 1910; the death act agrees.

Italy, Catania, Catania, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929

was No birth recorded

now BORN ABOUT 1809. He is THIRTY-SIX when he declares his son Rosario's birth in June 1845. [SLUG DETACHED 21 SEPTEMBER: this row was keyed to «mariano-mazza», the export's twentieth-century namesake and a grandson of Rosario, so his person page carried his great-grandfather's birth year and trade. The man it describes is a documented addition and has no slug.]

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845, atto 64

was No birth recorded

now BORN ABOUT 1809. She is THIRTY-SIX at Rosario's birth in June 1845.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845, atto 64

was No birth recorded

now BORN ABOUT 1807. He is THIRTY-SIX when he declares Leonarda's birth in November 1843. His trade is BRACCIALE.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1843, atto 101

was No birth recorded

now BORN ABOUT 1805. She is THIRTY-EIGHT at Leonarda's birth in November 1843.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1843, atto 101

was No birth recorded

now BORN ABOUT 1779. He is SEVENTY-FIVE when he appears in person to declare his grandson's birth in April 1854, and he is called MARINARO and 'figlio del fu Domenico'.

Scilla, Nati 1854, atto 76

was No birth year

now BORN ABOUT 1868. She is TWENTY at her banns in November 1888, and a FILATRICE.

Scilla, Pubblicazioni 1888, no. 63

was Born about 1835

now BORN ABOUT 1844, NOT 1835. His death act of 19 October 1924 gives his age as EIGHTY -- «è morto Polistena Camillo Antonio, di anni ottanta, pescatore, residente in questo Comune, nato in Scilla». NINE YEARS OUT, and the archive's «about 1835» was a guess from his son's birth year rather than a record. The act is read, not indexed: Scilla, Morti 1924, parte I, atto 83.

Scilla, Morti 1924, parte I, atto 83

was Born 1851

now BORN ABOUT 1856, NOT 1851, AND TWO RECORDS AGREE AGAINST THE TREE. His death act of 10 May 1936 makes him «di anni OTTANTA»; the New Orleans manifest of March 1908 makes him FIFTY-TWO. Both point at 1855 or 1856. THE TREE'S 1851 WOULD HAVE MADE HIM EIGHTY-FIVE AT DEATH AND FIFTY-SEVEN ON THE SHIP. Five years out, and it matters because he is on the spine.

Scilla, Morti 1936, parte I, atto 20; against the New Orleans manifest of March 1908

was Born 10 June 1892

now Born 6 October 1892 at Via Grotte 75, declared on the 9th. The year is right; the day is not.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 230

was Born 1879

now Born 5 January 1873 at Piedimonte Etneo. Six years out.

FamilySearch full-text, Piedimonte Etneo Nati 1873 atto 3

was Born 1895 in New York

now The New York City birth register says 4 OCTOBER 1896. The 1900 census says October 1895 and gives his age as five. Day and month agree across all three; the year differs by one and the birth register is primary.

New York, New York City Births, 1846-1909

was Born 1850

now BORN 2 JUNE 1845 at Piedimonte Etneo, at eleven in the morning, in his parents' own house. Act 64 of the births of 1845. The tree is FIVE YEARS out. Both parents are in the act: Mariano Mazza, 36, bracciale, and Maria Catalano, 36.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845, atto 64

was No birth recorded

now BORN 7 NOVEMBER 1843 at Piedimonte Etneo, at eight in the morning, in her parents' own house. Act 101 of the births of 1843. So she was TWENTY-SEVEN when she married in April 1871, not twenty-six as her own marriage act says.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1843, atto 101

was Born 1870, with no parents recorded

now ROCCO ARENA'S ELDER BROTHER, born 30 APRIL 1854 at Scilla, act 76 -- SIXTEEN YEARS before the tree's date. Son of FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA, 34, marinaro, and SERAFINA ARLOTTA, 22. Declared by his maternal grandfather GIOVANNI ARLOTTA, who gave the boy his own name. This is the Giovanni Arena who sails in 1899 to join 'brother Rocco'. This archive filed him for a time among the people the tree lacks. That was wrong -- the tree has him, as Concetta Russo's husband; what it lacks is his date and his parents.

Scilla, Nati 1854, atto 76

was No parents recorded, and no brother

now BORN 30 APRIL 1854 at Scilla, act 76 -- SIXTEEN YEARS earlier than the tree says. This archive previously corrected him to 'about 1859' from his son's birth act of 1892, which makes him thirty-three. His MARRIAGE act of 1885 makes him THIRTY-ONE, which is 1854, and his own birth act of 1854 gives the day. The 1892 age is three years out; the birth act is the authority.

Scilla, Nati 1854 atto 76; Matrimoni 1885 atto 86

was Born 1851

now BORN 3 OCTOBER 1855 at Scilla, in his parents' own house — act 163. FOUR YEARS out. This archive had already corrected him to 'about 1856' from his daughter's act of 1892; the act itself gives the day, and the ages check exactly at both ends: thirty-six in July 1892, fifty-two in March 1908.

Scilla, Nati 1855, atto 163

was 1900

now BORN 20 DECEMBER 1900. The NAA's description of her alien passenger declaration gives the day: «CRUPI [MAZZA] Angela born 20 December 1900».

NAA: A12508, 31/1454

was 1899

now BORN 20 FEBRUARY 1899. Given in the NAA's description of his internment dossier: «Prisoner of War/Internee: Mazza, Rosario; Date of birth - 20 February 1899; Nationality - Italian».

NAA: MP1103/1, Q8110

was Died 1929

now Died 19 September 1929.

FamilySearch full-text, death act

was Died 1934

now DIED 5 JANUARY 1933, not 1934. «Teresa Polistena, Padre Giovanni, Madre Annunziata Donato» -- her parents as the tree has them. The year is out by one.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 5 January 1933

was No death recorded

now Died at Scilla on 26 August 1975, death act 30 of that year, aged 83. Her daughters Angela and Giovanna are buried at Nudgee in Brisbane; she never left Scilla.

Marginal annotation on Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 162

was No death recorded

now DIED 15 NOVEMBER 1924 at PRESA, Piedimonte Etneo, aged seventy-nine, a CONTADINO; certificate 15. His death act also names his father MARIANO and his mother MARIA CATALANO, and his wife Leonarda Bonanno.

Italy, Catania, Catania, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929

was No death at all

now DIED AT SCILLA ON 8 FEBRUARY 1932. Antenati's name index gives the act with both parents and his wife: «Padre Francesco Antonio, Madre Serafina Arlotta, Coniuge Generosa Costa» -- all three match this archive exactly, and he is the only Rocco Arena in the Scilla death index so described.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 8 February 1932 (an_ud16599906 series)

was No death at all

now DIED AT SCILLA ON 31 MARCH 1936, «Padre Antonio, Madre Serafina Arlotta, Coniuge Concetta Russo». He sailed for New York in May 1899 to join his brother Rocco and he came home. This is the second half of the sojourning argument: he baptised no child in America because his wife never left Scilla, and neither did he, finally.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 31 March 1936

was Born 1851, no death at all

now DIED AT SCILLA ON 10 MAY 1936, «Padre Domenico, Madre Nunziata Sofi, Coniuge Maria Sofi» -- all three matching this archive exactly. He was fifty-two on the New Orleans manifest of March 1908, sailing for Quincy, Florida; he came home and lived another twenty-eight years. THE LAST MAN ON THE DONATO LINE WHOSE END WAS UNKNOWN.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 10 May 1936

was No death, and no parents in the tree at all

now DIED AT SCILLA ON 6 JUNE 1916, «Padre ANTONINO COSTA, Madre ANNA ARLOTTA, Coniuge ROCCO ARENA». Her parents are exactly those the marriage act of 1888 gave, now from a second and independent document, and her husband is named. SHE DIED SIXTEEN YEARS BEFORE HIM: Rocco Arena followed her on 8 February 1932.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 6 June 1916

was No death

now DIED AT SCILLA ON 19 OCTOBER 1924 AT FIFTY MINUTES PAST MIDNIGHT, at the house in RIONE MONACINA. The act was registered the same morning at twenty to nine. It names him «dal fu GIUSEPPE» and «dalla fu PONTILLO ANNA», both already dead, and «marito di ROMANO GIOVANNA» -- so his wife outlived him, as the index says she did, by six years.

Scilla, Morti 1924, parte I, atto 83

was No death

now DIED AT VIA PROF. ZAGARI, SCILLA, AT A QUARTER PAST SIX IN THE EVENING ON 8 FEBRUARY 1932; the act was drawn the next morning at four minutes past ten. «dal fu FRANCESCO ANTONIO ... e dalla fu ARLOTTA SERAFINA ... VEDOVO DI COSTA GENEROSA.» A WIDOWER -- Generosa Costa died in June 1916 and he outlived her by fifteen years and eight months. The declarants were PONTILLO ROCCO FU GIOVANNI, sixty-five, and LAMERI GIUSEPPE FU LUIGI, eighty; the witnesses PONTILLO SANTO FU GIOVANNI, eighty-one, and ALFONZETTI ROCCO FU ANTONINO, fifty-nine. All fishermen, all illiterate.

Scilla, Morti 1932, parte I, atto 9

was No death

now DIED AT SIX IN THE MORNING ON 10 MAY 1936, AT VIA GROTTE 66, SCILLA. «e morto DONATO MICHELE, di anni ottanta, marinaio, residente in Scilla, nato in questo Comune, dal fu DOMENICO e da fu SOFI NUNZIATA, MARITO DI SOFI MARIA.» Both parents dead, HIS WIFE STILL LIVING. The declarants were LICO FRANCESCO DI DOMENICO, twenty-four, and PALAMARA GIOVANNI FU ANTONINO, thirty-seven, both day-labourers.

Scilla, Morti 1936, parte I, atto 20

was No death

now DIED AT NINE IN THE MORNING ON 31 MARCH 1936, AT VIA GROTTE 72, SCILLA. «e morto ARENA GIOVANNI, di anni OTTANTUNO, marinaio, residente in Scilla, nato in Scilla, dal fu ANTONIO e dalla fu ARLOTTA SERAFINA, MARITO DI RUSSO CONCETTA.» THE AGE IS EXACTLY RIGHT: born 30 April 1854, he was eighty-one and a month short of eighty-two. His wife CONCETTA RUSSO was still living, which is why she never appears in the Scilla death index -- she outlived the indexed span or died under a spelling not yet found.

Scilla, Morti 1936, parte I, atto 14

was Not in the tree

now Two more sons of Rosario Mazza: Gaetano born 1880 and Santo about 1882.

Piedimonte Etneo registers

was Not in the tree

now A Teresa Anile aged 20 and a one-year-old boy are on the Luisiana with Domenica and Concetta on 2 August 1906, on consecutive lines. Five people crossed that day; the tree remembers three. AND THE ONE-YEAR-OLD IS NOT AN ANILE: the manifest's name column writes MELLUSO against the children and Anile only against the women, so he is FRANCESCO MELLUSO, Domenica's younger son, going to his father. The whole party was joining 'Domenico Melluso, 2173 First Ave, N.Y.'

Ellis Island, the Luisiana, 2 August 1906 — manifest image

was Not in the tree

now The Acireale diocesan registers name ROSARIO MAZZA and LEONARDA BONANNO as the parents of a MARIANUM MAZZA -- a son called for his paternal grandfather, exactly as Sicilian custom predicts of a first son.

Italy, Catania, Diocesi di Acireale, Catholic Church Records, 1560-1950

was Not in the tree

now A son of GIOVANNI ARENA and CONCETTA RUSSO, born about 21 September 1891 at Via Grotte 70, Scilla, and DEAD ON 1 OCTOBER 1891 AT TEN DAYS OLD. An elder brother of the Giuseppe Arena born in the same street thirteen months later.

Scilla, Morti 1891, atto 134

was Not in the tree

now A daughter of MICHELE DONATO and MARIA SOFI, born about OCTOBER 1888 and dead on 16 FEBRUARY 1891 at twenty-eight months, at Via Grotte 21, Scilla. A sister of Nunziata Donato.

Scilla, Morti 1891, atto 22

was Not in the tree

now A son of GIUSEPPE ARENA and MARIA MARTELLO — so a nephew of Rocco Arena — born about AUGUST 1897 at Scilla and dead on 30 JUNE 1898 at ten months, at Via Acquagrande 30. His three names are his grandfather Francesco Antonio and his uncles Giovanni and Rocco.

Scilla, Morti 1898, atto 91

was Not in the tree as a person of her own

now DIED AT SCILLA 4 MAY 1920, «Padre Camillo Antonio, Madre Giovanna Romano». NOTE WHAT FOLLOWS HER: Giovanni Polistena named a daughter SANTA in 1920. An aunt dies in the May and a niece takes her name in the same year, which is the naming custom working in front of us -- and a third witness that the mother was a Romano.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 4 May 1920

was Not in the tree, and not provably his from the electoral roll

now SHE IS HIS WIFE, AND THE INTERNMENT FILE PROVES IT. The 1959 Queensland roll put a MARIO CRUPI and a MARIA CRUPI at Tully with the address column BLANK on both, and this archive expressly declined to pair them on that -- adjacency in an alphabetical roll proves nothing. THE SERVICE AND CASUALTY FORM SETTLES IT: «Marital Condition: Married. Next of Kin: MARIA CRUPI. Address of Next of Kin: P.O. Bemerside, Via Ingham. Relationship: WIFE.» AND IT DATES THE MARRIAGE. His naturalisation record of 26 April 1940 describes him as SINGLE; he is married by 20 April 1942. They married inside those two years.

NAA: MP1103/1, Q30124; against NAA: A714, 9/4300

was Unconnected

now Both proved to be sons of Salvatore Mazza and Maria Concetta Nicotra, and therefore Sebastiano's brothers.

Queensland BDM historical index

was Orazio Arena has two wives, "Giovanna Zirilli" b.1827 and "Giovana Zirilli" undated

now Almost certainly one woman entered twice. NOT merged here, because surname endogamy at Scilla is common enough that a second wife of the same surname is genuinely possible -- the 1913 marriage index alone has Bueti marrying Bueti and Vizzari marrying Vizzari. NOTE: whichever way that resolves, neither Zirilli record should carry Rocco or Giuseppe as a child -- they belong to Serafina Arlotta.

Scilla, Nati 1856 atto 180 and 1859 atto 46

was Nothing above him

now THIS ARCHIVE WITHDRAWS ITS OWN INFERENCE. From Orazio naming two sons Domenico, naming custom suggested his father was a Domenico Arena. Two Orazio Arena births at Scilla now say otherwise: act 10 of 1821 gives him a father GIUSEPPE (and the tree's own year, 1821, exactly), and act 1 of 1833 gives a different Orazio a father BONAVENTURA. Neither is a Domenico. The mistake was not the custom but the assumption behind it: the first child this archive had FOUND was not necessarily his FIRST child. The years 1850-1855 are unread, and a son Giuseppe in one of them would restore the custom exactly. Recorded as a candidate: ORAZIO ARENA b. 14 DECEMBER 1821, son of Giuseppe Arena and a Teresa. FURTHER EVIDENCE, BOTH WAYS: Orazio's earliest known child is a DAUGHTER, Teresa, born 17 October 1853. Custom names the first daughter for her paternal grandmother, and act 10 of 1821 makes Orazio's mother a Teresa -- which SUPPORTS the 1821 candidate. But that same act makes his father a Giuseppe, and Orazio's first son is Domenico, with 1852-1855 now read and no earlier son. The two halves disagree and the archive is not picking one.

Scilla, Nati 1821 atto 10; Nati 1833 atto 1

was Crossed in 1894, aged one

now Crossed on 23 MAY 1899 aged six, on the Archimede out of Naples -- and on the line immediately above hers is Giavanni Arena, 45, of Scilla. She travelled with him, not with her father. THE IMAGE names the man she travelled with as her UNCLE -- her line begins with the word 'Niece' -- and he was going to join 'brother Rocco' at Mulberry Street, New York.

Ellis Island, the Archimede

was Arrived 12 September 1913, departed Messina

now Arrived 11 SEPTEMBER 1913 -- one day earlier -- on the SAN GUGLIELMO. The port of embarkation, MESSINA, is exactly as the tree has it. He was 52 and entered as a US citizen. On the same ship the same day was ROCCO POLISTENA, 44, of Scilla, four frames away: a generation later, Anna Arena's son Rocco married Angela Polistena.

Ellis Island, the San Guglielmo, 11 September 1913

was Arrived 1892, no date, no ship

now Arrived 24 MAY 1892 off the S.S. ELYSIA out of NAPLES, aged 31, occupation SEAMAN. The 1900 census gives the year and nothing else; this dates it to the day, names the ship and the port, and adds a fourth independent statement that he worked the water.

United States, Italians to America Index, 1855-1900

was 2 August 1906, no ship

now The LUISIANA. He is three years old, on the line immediately after his mother Domenica Anile, and indexed as "Foloppo Melluso Anile".

Ellis Island, the Luisiana

was 2 August 1906, no ship

now The LUISIANA, lines 26 and 27. Domenica's age on the manifest is 26, which matches her birth of 20 February 1880 exactly.

Ellis Island, the Luisiana

was 17 June 1949, no ship

now The SURRIENTO. She is not indexed, but her brother Antonino is, arriving on that exact date.

NAA passenger arrivals index, item 9245788

was No crossing recorded

now She sailed on the ROMA with her father Francessco, reaching Fremantle on 10 October 1957, aged twelve. She had been noted on his voyage and wrongly flagged as "not in the family tree" -- she is in it, as his daughter.

NAA passenger arrivals index, item 30132189

was No crossing recorded

now He sailed from PALERMO on the S.S. LIGURIA on 22 February 1908, reaching NEW ORLEANS, bound for QUINCY, FLORIDA -- on the line immediately after Michele Donato, whose daughter he would marry about eight years later. Aged 24, single, a sailor.

New Orleans passenger list, S.S. Liguria, 1908

was No crossing at all

now ARRIVED BRISBANE 7 DECEMBER 1937 ON THE VIMINALE, with two daughters -- «Maria age 15; Carmela age 8». The archive had no arrival for her and no idea the Mazza were in Australia this early.

NAA: A12508, 31/1454

was Arrived Fremantle, from Italy

now Arrived BRISBANE, 21 April 1925, on the Palermo out of MESSINA.

NAA passenger arrivals index

was Embarked at Genoa

now Embarked at NAPLES, on the Surriento.

NAA passenger arrivals index

was No occupation

now PESCATORE, a fisherman. Living at Via Grotte 75, Scilla, in 1892.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 230

was No occupation

now PESCATORE, a fisherman. Living at Via Grotte 31, Scilla, in 1892.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 162

was No occupation, and named only as "Antonio"

now CAMILLO ANTONIO POLISTENA, pescatore, aged 48 in 1883 so born about 1835. Living at Via Grotte 47, Scilla.

Scilla, Nati 1883, atto 206

was No occupation

now MARINARO, a sailor. Living at Via Acquagrande 41, Scilla, in 1893.

Scilla, Nati 1893, atto 22

was No occupation

now FILATRICE, a spinner.

Scilla, Nati 1893, atto 22

was No occupation

now FILATRICE, a spinner.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 162

was No occupation

now FILATRICE, a spinner.

Scilla, Nati 1892, atto 230

was No occupation

now CONTADINO -- a peasant farmer. Which sets the Sicilian Mazza against the Calabrian Arena exactly: four generations of Arena sailors on the water at Scilla, and the Mazza contadini on the mountain at Piedimonte.

Italy, Catania, Catania, Civil Registration (Tribunale), 1866-1929

was No occupation

now BRACCIANTE. The act gives the trade of both spouses in the plural -- 'braccianti' -- so she was a field labourer in her own right, not a housewife, at least in 1871.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1871, atto 14

was No occupation

now BRACCIALE in 1845 -- a day labourer. By 1924 his son's death act calls him a contadino. The Mazza worked the land at Piedimonte for at least three generations. [SLUG DETACHED 21 SEPTEMBER: this row was keyed to «mariano-mazza», the export's twentieth-century namesake and a grandson of Rosario, so his person page carried his great-grandfather's birth year and trade. The man it describes is a documented addition and has no slug.]

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845, atto 64

was No occupation

now FILATRICE, a spinner — like Concetta Russo and Maria Martello, the two women her husband's brothers married three years earlier.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1888, atto 63

was No occupation

now FILATRICE, a spinner — given in her son Rocco's banns of November 1888, where she is also recorded as living at Scilla.

Scilla, Pubblicazioni 1888, no. 63

was No occupation

now PESCATORE in 1888, at sixty-eight. His earlier acts call him MARINARO. The last record that shows him alive.

Scilla, Pubblicazioni 1888, no. 63

was No occupation

now PESCATORE — a fisherman. Given in his daughter Maria's death act of February 1891, which also puts the household at VIA GROTTE 21.

Scilla, Morti 1891, atto 22

was No occupation

now PESCATORE in 1898, living at Via Acquagrande 30. His marriage act of 1885 calls him MARINARO — the same shift from sailor to fisherman that his father Francesco Antonio shows between 1861 and 1888.

Scilla, Morti 1898, atto 91

was No trade

now PESCATORE -- a fisherman, like most of Scilla. Both declarants at his death were fishermen too: MATRA CAMILLO FU GIACOMO, sixty-three, and POLISTENA ANTONIO FU LUIGI, twenty-eight.

Scilla, Morti 1924, parte I, atto 83

was No trade

now PESCATORE. His death act calls him a fisherman, as it calls both declarants and both witnesses. THE MAN WHO CROSSED THE ATLANTIC FOUR TIMES AND KEPT A HOUSEHOLD ON MULBERRY STREET DIED IN THE TRADE HE WAS BORN TO.

Scilla, Morti 1932, parte I, atto 9

was No trade

now MARINAIO -- a mariner, not a fisherman. The distinction is worth keeping: his contemporary GIOVANNI ARENA, who died six weeks earlier and sixty yards away, is also «marinaio», while ROCCO ARENA four years before is «pescatore». Scilla's men went to sea two different ways.

Scilla, Morti 1936, parte I, atto 20

was No trade

now MARINAIO. His brother Rocco is «pescatore» on his own act of 1932 -- one a mariner, one a fisherman, which is a real distinction in a town like Scilla and not a scribal variant.

Scilla, Morti 1936, parte I, atto 14

was Son of Orazio Arena and Giovana Zirilli

now SUPERSEDED BY THE MARRIAGE ACT, and kept because the reasoning is worth reading. His parents are FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA, a sailor, and SERAFINA ARLOTTA. The proof is not the 1861 act alone but a SIBLING PAIR: act 45 of 1860 gives Francesco Antonio and Serafina a son GIUSEPPE, and act 228 of 1861 gives them a son ROCCO, twenty-one months apart. The tree gives Orazio Arena exactly two children and they are ROCCO and GUISEPPE -- the same pair, in the same order, on the wrong father. Meanwhile Orazio Arena and Giovanna Zirilli are documented across four years (1856, 1858, 1859, 1860) with children Domenico, Domenico and Maria Annunziata, and NEITHER a Rocco nor a Giuseppe ever appears. This was the case BEFORE act 63 of 1888 was found. It was built on a sibling pair and four years of negative sweeps, and it was right -- which is the point of keeping it.

Scilla, Nati 1860 atto 45 and atto 161; Nati 1861 atto 228; Nati 1856 atto 180; Nati 1859 atto 46

was March 1951, no ship; arrival port given as Fremantle

now RETRACTED. The manifest has been read and it is NOT her. The MASTER LIST of the Ugolino Vivaldi, trip 2/51, carries exactly ONE Mazza -- «MAZZA Domenico», no. 476 -- bound for NARRACAN, VICTORIA, and marked in the port column -M-. That column is unlabelled, but the -F- passengers correspond ONE FOR ONE with the Department of Immigration's separate «Schedule of Alien Passengers for debarkation at Fremantle», so F is Fremantle, M Melbourne, S Sydney. THIS MAN DID NOT LAND AT FREMANTLE -- he is absent from that schedule, which runs MARTINELLI straight to MERENDINO. There is NO Prostamo aboard under any spelling, and NO second Mazza, though the list names children individually. Domenica Prostamo went to her husband in BRISBANE. This is a Victorian arrival and a different man.

NAA: K269, 1 MAR 1951 UGOLINO VIVALDI, item 30133197 -- master list and Fremantle debarkation schedule, read in full

was In the tree as Concetta Russo's husband, born 1870, with no parents and no brother

now The Ellis Island manifest of 23 May 1899 states it outright: Giovanni Arena, 45, a sailor, sails to join 'BROTHER ROCCO, N. YORK, MULBERRY ST', and the six-year-old on the next line is entered not by surname but as 'NIECE, Anna Arena'. So Giovanni is Rocco Arena's brother and Anna is Rocco's daughter -- both stated on the document. HE IS IN THE TREE, and this row once said he was not: he is the Giovanni Arena the tree marries to Concetta Russo and dates to 1870. The missing people are his PARENTS. THE INDEX LINE AND THE ACT DISAGREE, AND THE DISAGREEMENT IS SETTLED. The 1854 Tavola reads «Arena Giovanni di Antonio e Arlotta ROSA, 20 April», and this archive repeated it and drew the wrong conclusion from it -- a ROSA Arlotta would be Serafina's sister, which would make the boy Rocco's COUSIN rather than his brother. The act itself, act 76, says SERAFINA and says the THIRTIETH of April, and the ages close it: Francesco Antonio was thirty-four in April 1854 to the month. The index is wrong. It is recorded here because an index this archive trusted produced a false relationship, and the next one might too.

Ellis Island, the Archimede, 23 May 1899; Scilla, Nati 1854 atto 76

was No marriage date

now The 1900 census records them as having been MARRIED TEN YEARS, so they married in 1890 -- three years before Anna was born and two before Rocco first sailed.

United States Census, 1900, Manhattan Ward 6

was No marriage recorded

now MARRIED 30 APRIL 1871 at Piedimonte Etneo, act 14, at four in the afternoon. Both single, both born and living there, both braccianti.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1871, atto 14

was No marriage date

now MARRIED 29 OCTOBER 1885 at Scilla, act 86, at ten fifty-three in the morning. He 31, marinaro; she 26, FILATRICE, daughter of LEONARDO RUSSO and ANGELA BAGNATO. The bride could not sign the register.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1885, atto 86

was No marriage recorded

now MARRIED 12 SEPTEMBER 1885 at Scilla, act 73. He 25, marinaro, son of FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA and SERAFINA ARLOTTA; she 24, filatrice, daughter of PAOLO MARTELLO -- ALREADY LIVING IN AMERICA IN 1885 -- and GIOVANNA CHIRICO.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1885, atto 73

was Not in the tree at all

now MARRIED ANTONIETTA TAVANI on 4 JUNE 1900 in MANHATTAN, aged twenty-two. Son of ANTONIO ARLOTTA and NICOLINA CARATOZZOLA. He is the Arlotta lodging with Rocco Arena in the census of that same month — one of the five supports for the Arena parentage correction, and until now only an age and a surname.

FindMyPast, United States Marriages — FS/MAR/39104980/1

was No parents recorded

now Daughter of GAETANO BONANNO and ANNA CAVALLARO. The archive had the first name Gaetano from a marriage proclamation; the 1871 act gives both parents in full.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1871, atto 14

was No parents recorded

now Daughter of ANTONIO COSTA and ANNA ARLOTTA, both living at Scilla in 1888. Her mother's surname is ARLOTTA — the same as Rocco's own mother's. The two families are tied twice over.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1888, atto 63

was No parents recorded

now Son of DOMENICO DONATO, 38, MARINARO, himself the son of CANDELORO DONATO — and of NUNZIATA SOFI, 37. Three generations in one act.

Scilla, Nati 1855, atto 163

was No marriage date

now MARRIED AT SCILLA IN DECEMBER 1888, act 63 — not 1890. This archive had 1890 from the 1900 census, which records them as 'married ten years'. The act puts it eighteen months earlier.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1888, atto 63

was Son of Orazio Arena

now SON OF FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA AND SERAFINA ARLOTTA — said outright in HIS OWN MARRIAGE ACT. The correction was previously carried on five circumstantial supports; this is the direct statement and nothing stronger exists. ACTED ON, 15 SEPTEMBER: the edge from Rocco Arena to Orazio Arena and Giovanna Zirilli HAS BEEN REMOVED from the charts, with the reason on the row in data/parent-links.tsv. The site had been arguing with itself -- proving the parentage false on this page while still drawing it on every chart. THREE PEOPLE LEFT THE BLOOD LINE WITH IT: Orazio Arena, Giovanna Zirilli and Orazio's father GIUSEPPE ARENA, who was on the spine only through this claim. The line of direct ancestors goes from sixty-two people to fifty-nine. ORAZIO AND GIOVANNA REMAIN REAL AND REMAIN ON THIS SITE. They were documented at Scilla with four children between 1853 and 1860 -- Teresa, Domenico, Domenico and Maria Annunziata -- and this archive found them. They were simply not Rocco's parents. ROCCO NOW HAS NO PARENTS ON THE CHART, because FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA and SERAFINA ARLOTTA are not in Michael's export. That is the honest state of the evidence, and it is exactly the gap work list row 51 exists to close.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1888, atto 63

was this archive published «Caterina Muso» on 14 September 2026

now CATERINA MAJO. The surname is Majo in the original register AND in the 1849 certified extract, compared side by side. The earlier reading was mine and it was wrong.

Pizzo, Morti 1829, atto 7, and its certified extract in Briatico Matrimoni processetti 1849-1854

was this archive published «aged 50» on 14 September 2026

now FIFTY-EIGHT, most likely — born about 1757. The 1849 copyist crams two ages into one clause; the fifty-eight stands next to his trade and the fifty next to his wife's name. The ambiguity is in the document and is recorded rather than hidden.

Zambrone, Morti 1815, atto 40 — the certified extract of 26 May 1849

was this archive published his death as 21 JUNE 1839

now 21 JUNE 1831. I read «milleottocento trentuno» in the 1849 certified copy as «trentanove». The original register settles it, and so does the 1839 register itself: its act 12 is the death of D.a Olimpia La Torre on 14 August, and the 1839 Tavola agrees. Eight years, and it changes the shape of the family — he died two days before his daughter's third birthday, and his widow raised her alone for eighteen years.

Briatico, Morti 1831, atto 12 — the original register, an_ua87689

was the ORIGINAL register makes him SETTANTACINQUE — seventy-five, born about 1753

now the CERTIFIED EXTRACT of 1849, copied from that same act by the Pizzo chancery, makes him SESSANTACINQUE — sixty-five, born about 1763. Ten years, lost between an act and its own certified copy twenty years later. The archive carries the ORIGINAL figure and records the copy's.

Pizzo, Morti 1829, atto 7 vs its extract of 14 June 1849

was born 1785, no death given

now Born about 1781 — he is fifty-six when he dies on 31 December 1837 and thirty-two when he declares his son's birth in April 1814. DIED IN THE CHOLERA at Pizzo, registered in the separate 1837 cholera book, atto 327.

Pizzo, morti colerici 1837, atto 327

was born 1820

now BORN 2 APRIL 1814 AT PIZZO, and registered under the name ANTONIO Prostamo, act 285. A sworn act of notoriety at Briatico on 14 June 1849 establishes that the man in the 1814 register as Antonio «chiamasi effettivamente Domenico Prostamo». Six years out, and under the wrong given name.

Pizzo, Nati 1814, atto 285, and the atto di notorietà of 14 June 1849

was his death extract of 1839 makes him «di anni TRENTA», born about 1809

now THIRTY-THREE in June 1828, in his own words, registering his daughter's birth — so born about 1795 and about forty-four when he died. Fourteen years, between a man's own declaration and two neighbours' estimate at his funeral. This archive carries the man's own.

Briatico, Nati 1828, atto 12, against Briatico, Morti 1839, atto 12

was her marriage act of 14 June 1849 makes her «di anni VENTUNO»

now BORN 23 JUNE 1828, so she was TWENTY at her wedding — nine days short of twenty-one. Small, and worth keeping: it is the third time in this family that a declared age at marriage has run a year ahead of the birth act.

Briatico, Nati 1828, atto 12

was Neither death known

now ANNA ARLOTTA DIED 16 MARCH 1915 AND HER HUSBAND ANTONINO COSTA ON 1 JUNE 1915. Her act names her husband as Antonino Costa; his names his wife as Anna Arlotta. THE TWO ACTS CONFIRM EACH OTHER FROM OPPOSITE SIDES, which is what makes the couple safe to build on. Their daughter Generosa followed them in June 1916.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atti di morte 16 March and 1 June 1915

was Born 1861 — Scilla, Nati 1861 atto 228

now HIS DEATH ACT MAKES HIM SEVENTY-ONE ON 8 FEBRUARY 1932, WHICH WOULD PUT HIS BIRTH BEFORE FEBRUARY 1861. The archive has his birth act as Scilla Nati 1861 ATTO 228 -- a high act number, so late in the year -- and the 1900 United States census gives «b. Sept 1861», which would make him SEVENTY, not seventy-one. ONE YEAR APART, AND THE BIRTH ACT WINS. An age on a death act is what two elderly neighbours told the registrar, not something read off a record; both declarants here were fishermen in their sixties and eighties and both signed with a mark. RECORDED BECAUSE IT IS THE KIND OF SMALL DISCREPANCY THAT LATER GETS «FIXED» IN THE WRONG DIRECTION.

Scilla, Morti 1932, parte I, atto 9; against Scilla, Nati 1861 atto 228 and the 1900 US census

was Two families, no shared address

now SIXTY YARDS AND SIX WEEKS APART. GIOVANNI ARENA died at VIA GROTTE 72 on 31 March 1936; MICHELE DONATO died at VIA GROTTE 66 on 10 May 1936. THE STREET WAS ALREADY IN THIS ARCHIVE AND NOBODY HAD PUT IT TOGETHER: Fortunato Arena was born at Via Grotte 70 in 1891, Giuseppe Arena at Via Grotte 75 in 1892, Maria Donato at Via Grotte 21 in 1888, and Giovanni Polistena at Via Grotte 47 in 1883. THREE OF THIS FAMILY'S FOUR SCILLA QUARTERS LIVED ON ONE STREET, which is how they kept marrying each other.

Scilla, Morti 1936, atti 14 and 20; against Nati 1891 atto 186, Nati 1892 atto 230, Nati 1883 atto 206

was the 1849 certified copy names the second declarant SERGI

now ZUNGRI in the original act. Small, and the third time a Calabrian chancery copy has been caught drifting from the act it copied — after Pasquale Prostamo's age and Domenico Ventrice's.

Briatico, Morti 1831, atto 12, against its extract of 26 May 1849

was The export gave her TWO complete sets of parents: Antonio Giacomo Prostamo and Angela Tomsic, and Francesco Prostamo and Raffaela

now ANTONIO GIACOMO PROSTAMO AND ANGELA TOMSIC. She was born at BRISBANE and married Steve Liversegle, and that is the Brisbane household — her brothers and sisters there are Tony, Kristina, Steven and Francesco. The other couple, Francesco Prostamo of Briatico and Raffaela of Catanzaro, had a daughter of the same name with a sister called Antonia. BOTH FATHERS HAD A MOTHER CALLED MARIA ROSA MELLUSO, so both couples named a daughter for her — which is how two women came to be read as one. (RELABELLED 15 SEPTEMBER: this was carried as «probable», which on this page means the best reading of an ambiguous DOCUMENT. Nothing here is ambiguous to read -- the reasoning is from BIRTHPLACE, which is an inference from circumstance and belongs under «inferred».)

site/src/data/people.json against the export; reasoned from birthplace, marriage and siblings, not from an act

was The export gave her TWO complete sets of parents: Francessco Prostamo and Maria Rosa Melluso, and Leone Prostamo and Anna Vallone

now LEONE PROSTAMO AND ANNA VALLONE. Francessco (1900-1983) and Leone (b. 1902) are BROTHERS, both sons of Alfonso Prostamo and Caterina Melluso. Mattea was born at BUENOS AIRES in 1926; Anna Vallone was born at Buenos Aires and died there, and Mattea is the only child recorded to her. Francessco lived and died at BRIATICO and his seven children are the Briatico household. This archive already records a Prostamo branch at Buenos Aires with children born from 1926 — which is Mattea exactly. (RELABELLED 15 SEPTEMBER: this was carried as «probable», which on this page means the best reading of an ambiguous DOCUMENT. Nothing here is ambiguous to read -- the reasoning is from BIRTHPLACE, which is an inference from circumstance and belongs under «inferred».)

site/src/data/people.json against the export; reasoned from birthplace

was The export made ORAZIO MAZZA both his father and his son

now THE SECOND ORAZIO IS HIS SON, NOT A SECOND FATHER AND NOT A DUPLICATE OF THE FIRST. Rosario Mazza and Anna Cassanite named a son Orazio for his grandfather, exactly as the naming custom predicts, and the export then recorded that son in both the parents and the children. The child link stands; the parent link is removed. His father remains the Orazio Mazza born 1883 at Piedimonte Etneo, son of Rosario Mazza and Leonarda.

site/src/data/people.json against the export

was ANGELA CUPO, with no parents and no surname evidence

now ANGELA CRUPI, daughter of FRANCESCO CRUPI and MARIA VECCHIO. Her Queensland death registration of 10 January 1973 names both parents, and the Nudgee register interred her three days later in plot V-0116 beside her husband Rosario Mazza in V-0117. Born 1900 at Catania, died 1973 at Brisbane, which is exactly the woman the export holds. CUPO IS A GARBLING OF CRUPI, and this data does that often — «Lecota» for Nicotra and «Postamo» for Prostamo are both already on this page.

Queensland death registration 1973/B/38514, against the Nudgee Catholic cemetery register

was Not in the tree at all; this archive published her as MARIA Paladino

now MARTA, most likely. Her son Domenico's birth act of 18 December 1816 -- written while she was in the next room, from her husband's own mouth -- reads «e da MAR-TA PALADINO, di anni trenta, sua moglie legittima», the name broken across a line with the second beginning plainly «ta». This archive first published her as MARIA, from the 1844 marriage Tavola. The act is contemporaneous and primary; the Tavola is an index compiled at the year's end, and THIS SERIES HAS ALREADY BEEN CAUGHT at exactly this -- the 1854 Tavola calls Serafina Arlotta «Rosa», and believing it briefly turned a brother into a cousin. AGAINST THAT, HONESTLY: the same Tavola entry gets the other mother right, «de Amico Maria», as her daughter's own birth act confirms. So the index is not uniformly careless and this is a reading, not a verdict. Another child of Candeloro Donato in the Scilla births of 1810-1830 would settle it.

Scilla, Nati 1816 atto 207, in Matrimoni processetti 1842-1845 fascicolo 20

was Not in the tree

now BORN ABOUT 1783 and a MARINARO -- thirty-three when he declared his son Domenico's birth on 18 December 1816. CORRECTED 20 SEPTEMBER: this row said «the last age it will get», because this archive believed SCILLA'S REGISTRATION BEGAN IN 1816. IT BEGINS IN 1809. His own birth about 1783 is still pre-civil -- but HIS MARRIAGE TO MARTA PALADINO IS NOT NECESSARILY. Their son Michele was born at Messina about 1814 and Domenico at Scilla in December 1816, so the marriage is before 1814 -- and 1809 to 1813 at Scilla are CIVIL and reachable. 1810, 1811, 1812 and 1815 hold no Donato groom; 1809 and 1813-1814 have no index and have never been read. HE IS NO LONGER AUTOMATICALLY WHERE THE SCILLA LINE STOPS. He was still alive in July 1844 -- his son's marriage bundle carries no death certificate, which this series required when a parent had died.

Scilla, Nati 1816 atto 207, in Matrimoni processetti 1842-1845 fascicolo 20

was Not in the tree; this archive publishes her as ANNA FAMA

now TWO RECORDS, TWO SURNAMES, AND NEITHER IS THE ORIGINAL. Domenico Ventrice's wife is named twice in this archive and not the same way. The CHANCERY'S CERTIFIED COPY OF 1849, made thirty-four years after his death and filed in his granddaughter's marriage bundle at Briatico, calls her ANNA FAMA. His son's own marriage act -- ZAMBRONE, 2 MARCH 1824, written in the town where Domenico died and only nine years after he died, from the groom's own statement -- calls her «LA FU ANNA MAROPOLI». THE 1824 ACT IS PREFERRED, for three reasons: it is nearer the event by twenty-five years, it was written in the right comune, and THE SAME 1849 COPY HAS ALREADY BEEN CAUGHT GETTING SOMETHING WRONG -- it crams two ages into one clause and this archive first read Domenico as fifty when he was fifty-eight. BUT NEITHER IS THE ACT ITSELF. THE VOLUME HAS NOW BEEN OPENED AND THE ORIGINAL IS NOT THERE. Zambrone's death register runs 1811, then 1812 ending with its own Tavola, then a title page -- and then 1822. THE YEARS 1813 TO 1821 ARE PHYSICALLY ABSENT and Domenico died in January 1815. SO THIS CANNOT BE SETTLED FROM ZAMBRONE'S OWN REGISTER. ONE THING DID CHANGE, AND IN MAROPOLI'S FAVOUR: the 1822 death Tavola of the same volume names a «fu Franc.co e Dom.ca MAROPOLI» as the parents of a Francesca Pungitori. AND IT IS NOT AN ISOLATED INSTANCE. Sweeping the death Tavole of 1822, 1823 and 1824 turns up MAROPOLI TWICE: as a parent's surname in 1822, and as GIUSEPPE MAROPOLI himself, an infant dead on 23 March 1824, son of Antonio and Marianna Colia. TWO INDEPENDENT ATTESTATIONS INSIDE TWO YEARS. So the reading «della fu Anna Maropoli» no longer needs defending AS A READING. What stays open is only which of two documents is right -- and that cannot be decided until Domenico Ventrice's own act is found, which needs the second copy of a register whose comune copy is missing these years. Work list row 59.

Zambrone, Matrimoni 1824 atto 2 and Morti 1822 Tavola; against Briatico, Matrimoni 1849, atto 1 (processetti)

was Not in the tree, and not in this archive either until today

now CATERINA CICHELLO'S PARENTS. Her marriage act of 2 March 1824 at Zambrone names her «figlia DEL FU FRANCESCO e DELLA FU VITTORIA MOLLO» -- both already dead when she married at twenty-six. She is the great-great-great-grandmother of Mia and Rocco, and her parents were the oldest completely unknown couple on the Calabrian side. The act also gives her a birthplace, ZAMBRONE, and an age that agrees with the one already held.

Zambrone, Matrimoni 1824, atto 2

was Not in the tree at all

now BORN AT S. COSTANTINO, not at Zambrone or Briatico. His marriage act of 1824 makes him «di anni trentaquattro, NATO IN S. COSTANTINO, contadino, domiciliato in Zambrone» -- so the Ventrice came into Zambrone from San Costantino Calabro, a few kilometres away, and moved on to Briatico afterwards, where he died in 1831. HIS AGE IS ALSO IN DISPUTE WITH ITSELF: thirty-four in March 1824 gives 1790; thirty-three in June 1828 gives 1795. Both are his own declarations, five years apart in a man who could not write.

Zambrone, Matrimoni 1824, atto 2

was Three children: Anna, Maria and an Antonio with no dates

now FOUR CHILDREN BORN IN MANHATTAN, none of them in the tree with a date and three of them not in it at all. ANTONIO b. 3 OCTOBER 1896; SERAFINA b. 15 AUGUST 1898; CLEMENTINA b. 21 DECEMBER 1900; and a SECOND ANTONIO b. 13 OCTOBER 1902. Every one names «father ROCCO ARENA, mother GENEROSA COSTA» -- the couple married at Scilla in December 1888. AND THE HOUSEHOLD HAS AN ADDRESS AT LAST: 141 MULBERRY STREET in 1896 and 1898, 198 MULBERRY by January 1901. That corroborates the Ellis Island manifest of 1899, which sends Giovanni Arena to «BROTHER ROCCO, N. YORK, MULBERRY ST» -- two independent sources, one street, and now a number. IT ALSO DATES THE CROSSING FROM THE INSIDE: Anna was born at Scilla in January 1893 and Antonio in Manhattan in October 1896, so the household moved between those dates, which fits the 1892 and 1894 crossings already documented.

New York Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms (Findmypast) — Our Lady of Loretto and Most Precious Blood

was Nothing — the tree has one Antonio and no dates

now TWO SONS NAMED ANTONIO, SIX YEARS APART. Rocco Arena and Generosa Costa baptised an Antonio on 15 November 1896 and another Antonio on 2 November 1902. IN THIS FAMILY'S PRACTICE THAT MEANS THE FIRST DIED and the name was given again. This archive has already read exactly this pattern once, at Scilla, where ORAZIO ARENA named two sons DOMENICO in 1856 and 1859 -- «the first child almost certainly died in infancy and the name was reused, which was ordinary practice». NO DEATH ACT HAS BEEN FOUND and none has been looked for. The inference rests on the custom and on the second baptism, which is why it is «inferred» and not «documented». What would settle it is a New York death or a burial record between 1896 and 1902.

New York Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms — two baptisms, 1896 and 1902

was Born 1926 at Tully, Queensland

now CANNOT BOTH BE TRUE. She arrives at Brisbane on 7 December 1937 as an ITALIAN ALIEN aged EIGHT -- so born about 1929, in Italy. A child born at Tully in 1926 would be eleven and an Australian-born British subject, needing no alien declaration at all. Her sister Maria, «age 15», fits the tree's 1922 exactly, so the record is not loose about ages.

NAA: A12508, 31/1454

was No death at all

now RETRACTED 17 SEPTEMBER. THE ACT IS NOT HERS. This row said she died at Scilla on 15 August 1912, on her fourteenth birthday, and the coincidence of dates was what made it persuasive. READING THE ACT ENDED IT: Scilla, Morti 1912, parte I, atto 83 records «e morta ARENA SERAFINA, DI MESI TRE, residente in Scilla, NATA IN QUESTO COMUNE, da ROCCO, marinaro, e da GENEROSA COSTA, casalinga». THREE MONTHS OLD AND BORN AT SCILLA. She is a LATER DAUGHTER OF THE SAME COUPLE, born about May 1912 and dead by August. WHAT MISLED ME: Antenati's name index gives «Nascita: Scilla» on every entry, and I treated that field as a default rather than a claim because it seemed too convenient. IT WAS A CLAIM AND IT WAS RIGHT. THE NEW YORK SERAFINA'S FATE IS UNKNOWN AGAIN -- she was baptised at Our Lady of Loretto on 15 August 1898 and this archive has nothing after that.

Scilla, Morti 1912, parte I, atto 83 — read in the original

was The oldest Polistena in the archive, with no parents at all

now HIS DEATH ACT NAMES BOTH. «Camillo Antonio Polistena, died Scilla 19 October 1924, Padre GIUSEPPE, Madre ANNA PONTILLO, Coniuge GIOVANNA ROMANO.» The Polistena quarter gains a generation.

Antenati name index, Scilla death acts — atto di morte 19 October 1924

was Known only as «Antonio Costa, b. c. 1840», with no parents

now DIED AT SCILLA ON 1 JUNE 1915, «Padre LORENZO COSTA, Madre GENEROSA POLISTENA, Coniuge ANNA ARLOTTA». TWO NEW ANCESTORS ON A LINE THAT STOPPED DEAD AT HIM. And the grandmother's name is the granddaughter's: GENEROSA POLISTENA to GENEROSA COSTA, which is the naming custom working exactly as it should and is a quiet corroboration of the whole chain.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 1 June 1915

was Giovanna Pontillo, wife of Antonio Polistena, daughter of Giuseppi Pontillo and Nunziatta Pontillo

now SHE IS GIOVANNA ROMANO, AND THE PONTILLO BELONGS TO HER MOTHER-IN-LAW. A FOURTH record now calls her Romano -- her husband's death act of 1924 gives «Coniuge Giovanna Romano», and their daughter Santa's of 1920 gives «Madre Giovanna Romano». The same act names the husband's own mother as ANNA PONTILLO. SO THE EXPORT TOOK THE HUSBAND'S PARENTS AND HUNG THEM ON THE WIFE: «Giuseppi Pontillo» is Camillo Antonio's father GIUSEPPE POLISTENA, and the Pontillo is his mother ANNA. That is why this archive could never find a Pontillo family behind her -- there is not one. Two asserted ancestors dissolve and two documented ones replace them.

Antenati name index, Scilla death acts — atto di morte 19 October 1924; and atto di morte 4 May 1920 (Santa Polistena)

was Two separate women of the same name, and the question left open

now THEY ARE ONE WOMAN, AND ROCCO ARENA MARRIED HIS FIRST COUSIN. FOUR ACTS NOW AGREE AND NONE CONTRADICTS. (1) ANNA ARLOTTA, died 16 March 1915: «Padre GIOVANNI ARLOTTA, Madre MARIA COSTA, Coniuge ANTONINO COSTA» -- and Giovanni Arlotta and Maria Costa are SERAFINA ARLOTTA'S OWN PARENTS, so Anna and Serafina were sisters. (2) ANTONINO COSTA, died 1 June 1915: «Coniuge ANNA ARLOTTA», confirming the couple from his side. (3) GENEROSA COSTA, died 6 June 1916: «Padre ANTONINO COSTA, Madre ANNA ARLOTTA» -- her own death act naming that same couple as her parents. (4) Scilla Matrimoni 1888 atto 63, which gave those parents in the first place. SO SERAFINA WAS ROCCO'S MOTHER, ANNA WAS GENEROSA'S MOTHER, AND THE TWO WERE SISTERS. UPGRADED FROM «probable» TO «certain» ON 16 SEPTEMBER, when the Costa side came in. WHAT WOULD STILL BREAK IT: two different couples named Giovanni Arlotta and Maria Costa at Scilla in the same decades. Nothing read so far suggests one, and four mutually consistent acts would all have to be pointing at the wrong pair.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atti di morte 16 March 1915, 1 June 1915 and 6 June 1916; against Scilla, Matrimoni 1888, atto 63

was Giovanna Pontillo, daughter of Giuseppi Pontillo and Nunziatta Pontillo

now HER OWN DEATH ACT ENDS IT. «GIOVANNA ROMANO, died Scilla 15 July 1930, Padre ANNUNZIATO, Madre ANGELA ZIRILLI, Coniuge CAMILLO ANTONIO POLISTENA.» She is named with her own surname, her own parents and her own husband, on her own act. THAT IS FIVE RECORDS CALLING HER ROMANO -- Scilla Nati 1883 atto 206, the New Orleans manifest of 1908, her husband's death act of 1924, her daughter Santa's of 1920, and now this. THE TREE'S «GIUSEPPI PONTILLO» AND «NUNZIATTA PONTILLO» ARE NOT HER PARENTS AND NEVER WERE. Her parents are ANNUNZIATO ROMANO and ANGELA ZIRILLI, and the Pontillo belonged to her mother-in-law, ANNA PONTILLO. Two asserted ancestors are withdrawn and two documented ones replace them.

Antenati name index, Scilla, atto di morte 15 July 1930

was Not in the tree; this archive had him last seen alive in November 1888 and no death

now DEAD ON 29 AUGUST 1901, at seven ten in the morning, in the house at VIA GROTTE NUMBER TWO, Scilla. Entered as ARENA FRANCESCO, di anni ottantadue, PESCATORE -- son of the late FILIPPO, pescatore, and of the late COSTA DOMENICA, filatrice, and MARITO DI ARLOTTA SERAFINA. All three of those identifiers are already in this archive from three separate acts, and no other man at Scilla carries them together. Declared by two becchini, Cesoriero Domenico, 46, and Fontana Ignazio, 52. He was born 25 November 1819, so he was eighty-one and nine months, not eighty-two; the rounding is the register's habit and the identification does not rest on the age. He was last seen alive in this archive on 18 November 1888, at the banns of his son Rocco. THIRTEEN YEARS OF HIS LIFE ARE NOW CLOSED, and his widow's death is fixed as later than his.

Scilla, Morti 1901, parte I, atto 96

was Not in the tree; this archive had her alive in November 1888 and no death

now DEAD ON 24 APRIL 1908, at four in the morning, in the house at VIA GROTTE NUMBER TWO, Scilla — THE SAME ADDRESS AT WHICH HER HUSBAND DIED on 29 August 1901. Entered as ARLOTTA SERAFINA, di anni settantasette, FILATRICE, daughter of the late GIOVANNI, pescatore, and of the late COSTA MARIA, tessitrice, and VEDOVA DI ARENA ANTONIO. Born 13 June 1830, she was seventy-seven years and ten months — the register's figure is exact. She was a widow for six years and eight months, in a house her sons had left for America.

Scilla, Morti 1908, parte I, atto 55

was No occupation; not in the tree

now TESSITRICE, a WEAVER — not a filatrice. Almost every woman in this register spins; Serafina Arlotta, her own daughter, is a filatrice. Her mother wove. Given in her daughter's death act of 24 April 1908, which also confirms her dead by that date and confirms the parentage that the marriage act of 1851 first gave.

Scilla, Morti 1908, parte I, atto 55

was This archive assumed the annual index carries a woman under her maiden name

now IT DOES NOT ALWAYS. The 1908 annual index enters her as «ARENA Serafina, fu Giovanni» — her HUSBAND'S surname over her FATHER'S forename — while the act itself says ARLOTTA. Eleven A blocks were read looking for an Arlotta, and she was found only because Arena happens to be an A as well. THE RULE THAT FOLLOWS: when sweeping an annual index for a married woman, read the block for her husband's initial too, and treat a patronymic that fits as worth the download whatever surname sits in front of it.

Scilla, Morti 1908, parte I, atto 55 against the 1908 indice annuale

was One Generosa Costa

now THERE ARE TWO AND THEY MUST NEVER BE MERGED. (1) GENEROSA COSTA, born about 1868, a filatrice, daughter of ANTONINO COSTA and ANNA ARLOTTA, married ROCCO ARENA at Scilla in December 1888, died at Scilla 6 JUNE 1916. She is on this archive's spine -- Anna Arena's mother. (2) A second GENEROSA COSTA, wife of PASQUALE DONATO, who died 20 April 1937; Pasquale is a son of DOMENICO DONATO and NUNZIATA SOFI, which makes him MICHELE DONATO'S BROTHER. So the two women sit one in each of this archive's two Scilla lines, the Arena and the Donato, and a tree that meets both will be tempted to fuse them. THE SEPARATION IS EVIDENCED, not assumed: the first was already dead in 1916, twenty-one years before the second's husband died, and their parents differ. COSTA AT SCILLA IS NOT A SMALL NAME -- the name index holds seventy-six Costa records and eighteen Costa deaths, including a THIRD Generosa in the previous generation, GENEROSA POLISTENA, for whom Rocco's wife was very likely named.

Antenati name index, Scilla — atti di morte 6 June 1916 and 20 April 1937

was Giovanna Romano has no siblings in the tree

now THREE SISTERS, each with her own death act naming the same parents -- ANNUNZIATO ROMANO and ANGELA ZIRILLI, who are Giovanna Romano's parents. MARIA ROMANO, d. 26 July 1917, wife of GIOVANNI CARDONA. CONCETTA ROMANO, d. 11 April 1926, wife of ROCCO DONATO. MARIANTONIA ROMANO, d. 24 June 1930, wife of MATTEO BOVA. Giovanna herself died 15 July 1930, seven weeks after Mariantonia. NOTE THE SECOND ONE. A Romano sister married a DONATO. Giovanna Romano married CAMILLO ANTONIO POLISTENA, and this archive's Donato and Polistena are already tied twice over. The Romano are a third strand in the same knot, and Concetta's husband Rocco Donato wants placing against Domenico Donato's household.

Antenati name index, Scilla — atti di morte 26 July 1917, 11 April 1926, 24 June 1930, 15 July 1930

was Lorenzo Costa and Generosa Polistena have no children in the tree but Antonino

now FOUR OF THEM, each named on his or her own death act as a child of LORENZO COSTA and GENEROSA POLISTENA -- Generosa Costa's paternal grandparents. ANTONIO COSTA, d. 1 JUNE 1915, husband of ANNA ARLOTTA: that is Generosa's own father, and the act is the first thing this archive has ever had that dates him. GIUSEPPE COSTA, d. 17 May 1915, sixteen days before his brother. MARIANA COSTA, d. 18 July 1922, wife of DOMENICO PONTILLO. DOMENICO COSTA, d. 8 September 1932, husband of CONCETTA ROMANO. AND THE NAMING CUSTOM LANDS AGAIN: Antonino Costa's first daughter is GENEROSA, for his own mother Generosa Polistena, exactly as the custom predicts. THE THIRD TIE: Mariana Costa married a PONTILLO and Domenico Costa married a ROMANO -- the two surnames that were in dispute over Camillo Antonio Polistena's wife. Scilla is a very small town.

Antenati name index, Scilla — atti di morte 17 May 1915, 1 June 1915, 18 July 1922, 8 September 1932

was No wife recorded

now MARIA PONTILLO, who died 14 OCTOBER 1922, daughter of GIUSEPPE PONTILLO and GIUSEPPA PALADINO. Domenico Arlotta is Serafina Arlotta's brother, so this is Rocco Arena's uncle by marriage. Her own death act names her parents, which puts two more Pontillo into the record.

Antenati name index, Scilla — atti di morte 14 March 1915 and 14 October 1922

was One Antonio Arena married to a Serafina

now THERE ARE TWO AND THE WIVES SHARE A GIVEN NAME. (1) FRANCESCO ANTONIO ARENA, b. 25 November 1819, m. SERAFINA ARLOTTA at Scilla on 7 February 1851, d. 29 August 1901 at Via Grotte 2. This archive's direct line. THE REGISTERS DROP HIS FIRST NAME CONSTANTLY -- the acts of 1853, 1854 and 1861 call him plain ANTONIO, and so does his son Giovanni's death act of 1936 -- so he is ROUTINELY INDEXED AS «Antonio Arena, husband of Serafina». (2) ANTONIO ARENA, husband of SERAFINA DE LUCA, a proprietario, both dead by August 1895 when their son ORAZIO ARENA died at sixty-five; three more of their children are in the death index -- GRAZIA (d. 14 February 1913), ANNA (d. 8 March 1917, wife of Rocco Paladino) and ANNUNZIATA (d. 12 April 1919). SAME GIVEN NAME, SAME WIFE'S GIVEN NAME, SAME TOWN, SAME DECADES. Anyone sweeping «Antonio Arena + Serafina» merges two families. THE DISCRIMINATOR IS THE WIFE'S SURNAME -- ARLOTTA or DE LUCA -- and it must be read every single time, never inferred. THE SECOND ONE IS ALREADY A TRAP THIS ARCHIVE HAS SPRUNG: the Orazio Arena who died in 1895 was taken for the tree's Orazio Arena, the supposed father of Rocco, and he is not -- he is Antonio and Serafina DE LUCA's son. Different wife, different parents, different family.

Antenati name index, Scilla — atti di morte 14 February 1913, 8 March 1917, 12 April 1919; Scilla, Morti 1895 (Orazio Arena); Scilla, Nati 1819 atto 186 and Matrimoni 1851 atto 13

was One Antonio Crupi with a D4028 card

now THERE ARE TWO, AND THEIR BARCODES ARE CONSECUTIVE. NAA: D4028 item 9209610 is CRUPI ANTONIO, born PIEDIMONTE ETNEO, arrived BRISBANE 2 September 1930 -- Angela Crupi's brother. NAA: D4028 item 9209609 is ALSO CRUPI ANTONIO, born SERRATA, arrived MELBOURNE 20 October 1926 -- Serrata is in Calabria, six hundred kilometres from Piedimonte, and he is nobody here. Item 9209611 is MARIO CRUPI, also Piedimonte, also this family. So the run 9209609 / 9209610 / 9209611 is stranger, brother, brother. ADJACENCY IN AN ALPHABETICAL CARD SERIES IS NOT KINSHIP -- the same lesson the Queensland electoral rolls taught when consecutive roll numbers were read as a household. THE DISCRIMINATOR IS THE BIRTHPLACE and it must be read every time.

NAA: D4028, items 9209609, 9209610 and 9209611

was This archive cites «Scilla, Nati 1830 atto 2» in three places

now IT IS ACT 89, NOT ACT 2. The act itself, read as a certified copy in the marriage processetti of 1851, is headed «Num. d'ordine 89». «2» is a TAVOLA ROW NUMBER, taken for an act number -- the same mistake already recorded at Briatico, whose 1828 annual index runs one behind the register throughout. THE DATE IS RIGHT: 13 June 1830, at two in the night, in her parents' own house, declared by her father the next afternoon.

Scilla, Nati 1830 atto 89, read in Matrimoni processetti 1849-1852, fascicolo 13 of 1851

was Born about 1779, from being seventy-five in April 1854

now HIS DAUGHTER'S BIRTH ACT MAKES HIM FORTY IN JUNE 1830, so born about 1790 -- ELEVEN YEARS LATER. Both figures are his own, given in person: in 1830 he declares Serafina's birth as her father, in 1854 he declares his grandson Giovanni's birth and is entered as «figlio del fu Domenico, di anni settantacinque, marinaro». Both call him marinaro; the 1830 act calls him «Sig.». NOT RESOLVED HERE, AND NOT AVERAGED. Either one declared age is badly out -- which this register does often enough -- or there are two Giovanni Arlotta and the 1854 declarant is not Serafina's father, which would cost this archive the Domenico Arlotta generation. THE TEST is his own marriage act to Maria Costa, before 1830, in the processetti of 1824-1827 or 1828-1831, which would give his age a third time and name his parents.

Scilla, Nati 1830 atto 89 against Nati 1854 atto 76

was No parents at all

now A DOMENICO COSTA, COMMERCIANTE REGNICOLO, DI ANNI QUARANTASEI, stood as first witness at Serafina Arlotta's registration in June 1830 -- and the act says the witnesses were PRODUCED BY GIOVANNI ARLOTTA himself, which at Scilla means family. Forty-six in 1830 is a birth about 1784, which makes him twenty-three when Maria Costa was born about 1807. A father-in-law at his granddaughter's registration is the ordinary reading. IT IS A READING. Costa is one of the commonest surnames in the town -- seventy-six in the death index alone -- and this archive has already met a Domenica Costa, a Maria Costa, a Generosa Costa twice over and an Antonino Costa in four different households. The test is Giovanni Arlotta's marriage act, which names the bride's father outright.

Scilla, Nati 1830 atto 89

was No date of any kind for three of the four

now THEY WERE ALL FOUR ALIVE ON 7 FEBRUARY 1851 -- read from an absence, and graded accordingly. The marriage processetti of Francesco Arena and Serafina Arlotta run to FOUR SHEETS: the two birth acts, the notification without opposition, and the certificate of the canonical celebration. NO DEATH ACT OF ANY PARENT IS BOUND IN. The same office, in fascicolo 3 of the same year, bound in «Atto di morte del padre e dell'avo paterno dello Sposo» -- so it did include them when a parent or grandparent was dead. CAVEAT: Serafina was twenty and needed parental consent, and no consent sheet is listed either, so consent was given in person rather than on paper; an argument from a four-line index is weaker than an act, and this is graded as inferred for that reason. UPGRADED THE SAME DAY, AND BY A POSITIVE READING RATHER THAN AN ABSENCE. The ANNUAL MARRIAGE TAVOLA for 1851 names both spouses' parents AND MARKS THE DEAD WITH «FU» -- the 1828 Tavola writes Giovanni Arlotta's father as «FU Dom.co» beside his living mother «Barbaro Anna», and «fu» appears on this very page of 1851 in other entries. ENTRY 1 OF THE 1851 TAVOLA IS «ARENA FRANCESCO e ARLOTTA SERAFINA», and its parents are written «FILIPPO, e COSTA DOMENICA» and «GIOVANNI e COSTA MARIA» -- NEITHER WITH «FU». So all four were living when their children married, and this is no longer an argument from a four-line index.

Scilla, Matrimoni processetti 1849-1852, fascicolo 13 of 1851, against fascicolo 3 of 1851; Scilla, Matrimoni 1851, Tavola annuale, entry 1, against the same page's «fu» entries

was Nothing but a Queensland death registration

now INTERNED. His aliens registration card is stamped LOVEDAY 35924 on the front, and the CHANGE OF ADDRESS panel on the reverse records him moved «ex Gay[thorne] to 14A» on 16 MARCH 1943 and «Released and returned to Queensland» on 22 OCTOBER 1943. THAT IS THREE MEN IN THIS FAMILY INTERNED IN THE SAME EIGHTEEN MONTHS: ROSARIO MAZZA, who married Angela Crupi; MARIO CRUPI, at Loveday 18 August 1942 to 30 December 1943; and now ANTONINO CRUPI, her other brother. The internment of Italian-Australians was not a thing that happened to one member of this family. AND THE CENSOR PRESERVED A SENTENCE OF HIS. The card carries a mail extract dated 2 APRIL 1943, from a letter to his wife in Queensland: «... Our freedom will come soon and we shall always cry Vive Italia.» It is the only sentence in this archive spoken by Antonino Crupi, and it exists because an official copied it out as evidence against him.

NAA: D4028, CRUPI ANTONIO (item 9209610), both sides

was No aliens registration card, unexplained

now HE DID NOT NEED ONE. NAA: BP4/3, ITALIAN CRUPI P records «Alien Registration Certificate NOT ISSUED», with the folio noting that CRUPI WAS NATURALISED 23 FEBRUARY 1932. The D4028 series registers ALIENS; by 1939 Pietro Crupi was a British subject and fell outside it. An absence that is explained is worth as much as a card -- and it dates his naturalisation, which this archive did not have.

NAA: BP4/3, ITALIAN CRUPI P

was No arrival for either

now BOTH ON THE OTRANTO, INTO BRISBANE ON 19 AUGUST 1930. NAA: BP9/3 ITALIAN CRUPI P and ITALIAN CRUPI A are consecutive entries in the Brisbane aliens register and both give that ship and that date; Pietro is entered as born 1898, Antonino as born 1907. Antonino's own card gives his ENTRY as 2 SEPTEMBER 1930, a fortnight after the ship docked -- the same split between a ship's arrival and a man's registered entry already recorded for the passenger index. BOTH DATES ARE TRUE and they answer different questions. Their brother MARIO came two years earlier, on the MARIA CRISTINA into Brisbane on 20 MAY 1928.

NAA: BP9/3 ITALIAN CRUPI P, CRUPI A and CRUPI M; NAA: D4028 CRUPI ANTONIO and CRUPI MARIO

was No naturalisation for either

now ANTONINO CRUPI naturalised 7 NOVEMBER 1946, born 1907 at Piedimonte, then RESIDENT AT TULLY, Queensland, WIFE NELLIE (NAA: A714 57/18792). MARIO CRUPI naturalised 26 APRIL 1940, born 1905, resident at INGHAM, entered as SINGLE (NAA: A714 9/4300). PIETRO CRUPI naturalised 23 FEBRUARY 1932 (NAA: BP4/3). ONE CONFLICT LEFT OPEN: Antonino's aliens card of October 1939 already says MARRIED, and this archive notes an Antonino Crupi marrying in Queensland on 24 AUGUST 1940. Either that marriage belongs to another man of the name, or the word «married» was added to the card after 1939. Not resolved.

NAA: A714 57/18792; A714 9/4300; BP4/3 ITALIAN CRUPI P

was Two Antonio Crupi on the 1959 Queensland roll and no way to choose

now HE IS THE TULLY MAN. NAA: A714 57/18792 records «CRUPI, Antonio; naturalised 7 NOVEMBER 1946; place of birth PIEDIMONTE, Italy; year of birth 1907; PLACE OF RESIDENCE: TULLY, QLD; [W] CRUPI, NELLIE». Piedimonte and 1907 tie it to the aliens card of Angela Crupi's brother; TULLY and NELLIE tie it to the 1959 electoral roll, where an ANTONIO CRUPI, cane farmer, shares DEAN STREET, TULLY with a NELLIE CRUPI. The other Antonio Crupi of that roll, a farmer at SILKWOOD EAST in the Innisfail sub-district, is a different man. THE ROW NAMED ITS OWN TEST -- «a wife to match against Nellie Crupi» -- and a document found while reading his brother's aliens card supplied it. Nothing here rests on the roll's ordering, which this archive has already been burned by once. AND HE MOVED. The aliens card of October 1939 gives him at INGHAM, a boot repairer; by 1946 he is a cane farmer at Tully, where Pietro and Mario also were. ONE THING TIDIED. The Queensland marriage of an Antonino Crupi on 24 AUGUST 1940 sat awkwardly against a card registered in October 1939 that already says MARRIED. The card carries annotations from 1943, so «married» was very probably written on it after the fact; the 1940 marriage is the likelier date and is very likely to Nellie. Stated as the reading it is.

NAA: A714 57/18792; NAA: D4028 CRUPI ANTONIO (item 9209610); Australia Electoral Rolls 1959, Herbert, Tully sub-district

was Arrived Fremantle, Western Australia, 10 October 1957

now HE GOT OFF AT BRISBANE, ON 21 OCTOBER 1957. NAA: BP25/1, ITALIAN PROSTAMO F -- the BRISBANE aliens registration series -- reads «Prostamo, Francesco - Nationality: Italian - arrived BRISBANE on the T/v ROMA 21 OCTOBER 1957». BOTH DATES ARE TRUE AND THEY ANSWER DIFFERENT QUESTIONS: 10 October is when the ROMA first touched Australia at Fremantle, which is what the passenger index records; 21 October is when this man walked down the gangway, eleven days and three ports later. THE SECOND IS THE ONE THAT MATTERS, because the family settled in Queensland and the Brisbane series is where he registered. The same correction applies to FRANCESCA PROSTAMO, who travelled with him: NAA: BP25/1, ITALIAN TRUNGADI F, same ship, same 21 October, same port. This is the third time this archive has met the pattern -- it was proved on a K269 manifest where an unlabelled letter column turned out to be the port of debarkation.

NAA: BP25/1, ITALIAN PROSTAMO F (item 5067016) and ITALIAN TRUNGADI F (item 5080545)

was Francesco Prostamo's daughter, born 1945 at Briatico, twelve on the voyage

now THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES CATALOGUES HER AS «TRUNGADI [nee PROSTAMO], FRANCESCA». That is her Brisbane aliens registration, same ship and same day as her father. A TWELVE-YEAR-OLD IS NOT «NEE» ANYTHING, and the manifest -- read in the original -- gives her age as twelve and her birth as 1945 at Briatico. The reading that fits both is that the registration CARD was annotated with her married name years after 1957 and the catalogue transcribed the card's final state, which is exactly what an aliens card is for. SO TRUNGADI IS A SURNAME TO GO LOOKING FOR -- a Queensland marriage, a later address -- AND NOT A SECOND WOMAN TO ADD. Recorded as a lead.

NAA: BP25/1, ITALIAN TRUNGADI F (item 5080545), against the K269 manifest of the ROMA

was Their marriage is not documented anywhere in this archive

now A COMMONWEALTH FILE NAMES THEM AS HUSBAND AND WIFE. NAA: J25 1971/3900, held at Brisbane, 1953-1971: «ARENA, ROCCO; WIFE ANGELINA [OR ANGELA] [NEE POLISTENA]». J25 is the Queensland immigration and naturalisation correspondence series, and its file titles name a couple together with the WIFE'S MAIDEN NAME -- which is exactly what was missing. IT DOES NOT DATE THE MARRIAGE. What it does is turn «undocumented» into «documented as a fact, undated», and name the file that may date it. The file is «not yet examined», which means nobody has ever asked; an access examination is free and takes about ninety days. Michael's grandparents on the Arena side.

NAA: J25, 1971/3900 (item 5121950)

was One crossing: Palermo to New Orleans, 1908

now HE MAY HAVE GONE TO AUSTRALIA TOO. NAA: BP9/3, ITALIAN POLISTENA G -- the Brisbane aliens register -- reads «Polistena, GIOVANNI BORN 1883 - nationality Italian - arrived in BRISBANE on the ORMONDE 21 FEBRUARY 1928». This archive's Giovanni Polistena was born at Scilla in 1883 (act 206), sailed from PALERMO to NEW ORLEANS on the LIGURIA in February 1908 on the line immediately after Michele Donato, married Michele's daughter Nunziata about 1916, and named a daughter Santa at Scilla in 1920. A crossing to Brisbane in 1928 sits after all of that and would explain how this family reached Queensland at all. THE YEAR OF BIRTH MATCHES EXACTLY AND THE PORT IS THE RIGHT ONE. IT IS STILL A CANDIDATE: the register entry carries no parents and no birthplace, and POLISTENA is a comune in Reggio Calabria as well as a surname, so the name alone proves nothing. The test is the item itself, or any Queensland record placing him there in the 1930s.

NAA: BP9/3, ITALIAN POLISTENA G (item 3458957)

was Two Donato-Polistena marriages, a generation apart

now SIX, ACROSS TWO COUNTRIES. Four at Scilla, from the death index: Maria Donato x Giuseppe Polistina (she d. 1911); Raffaele Polistena x Teresa Donato, three of whose children die there; Giovanni Polistena x Annunziata Donato; and Nunziata Donato x Giovanni Polistena about 1916. TWO MORE IN QUEENSLAND, from the National Archives: NAA J25 1967/9873, «Polistena, Giuseppe; wife MARIA MADDALENA [nee DONATO]», and NAA J25 1970/3023, «DONATO, CONCETTA [nee POLISTENA]». TWO FAMILIES THAT INTERMARRY SIX TIMES OVER TWO GENERATIONS AND TWO HEMISPHERES ARE NOT TWO FAMILIES WHO HAPPENED TO MEET. They were one neighbourhood at Scilla -- Via Grotte -- and they were still one neighbourhood in Brisbane.

Antenati name index, Scilla; NAA: J25 1967/9873 and 1970/3023

was Polistena is a family name

now IT IS ALSO A COMUNE IN THE PROVINCE OF REGGIO CALABRIA, seventy kilometres from Scilla, and THIS FAMILY IS FROM SCILLA. A name search on POLISTENA in the National Archives returns four A714 naturalisations for men called OLIMPIO, MARFEA, FOGLIADORO and PALESTRI whose PLACE OF BIRTH is Polistena, and three A7919 prisoner-of-war files -- SAVARESE, ROSSI, BOTTIGLIERI -- for men born there and captured in Africa. Seven of fifty results are the town wearing the family's name. ANY SWEEP ON THIS SURNAME MUST READ THE FIELD, not the word: a Polistena in the SURNAME column is a candidate, a Polistena in the BIRTHPLACE column is a stranger from the same province. The same caution will apply to any Italian surname that is also a place.

NAA NameSearch, POLISTENA, all record categories — 50 items

was Married a Prostamo; his name unknown

now DOMENICO FRANCESCO PROSTAMO. NAA: J25 1962/5930, Brisbane, 1952-1966: «PROSTAMO, Domenico Francesco; wife ASSUNTE MARIA [NEE MELLUSO]». She was born about 1936 to GREGORIO MELLUSO and CARMELA MARIA BORELLO and buried at Mount Gravatt in October 1991 under a Prostamo surname that nobody here could attach to a man. Here he is. The file is «not yet examined» and would very likely give the marriage date, both their arrivals, and where they lived.

NAA: J25, 1962/5930 (item 1682238)

was One Melluso registration in the whole Queensland index, so no siblings and no children

now HIS HOUSEHOLD IS IN A COMMONWEALTH FILE. NAA: J25 1972/23086, Brisbane, 1959-1974: «MELLUSO, GREGORIO; WIFE CARMELA; AND CHILDREN GIUSEPPE, MARIA [SURNAME PROSTAMO]». «Wife Carmela» is CARMELA MARIA BORELLO, already known from his daughter's death registration. WHAT IS NEW IS A SON, GIUSEPPE. AND THE BRACKET IS AMBIGUOUS, deliberately left so: a DAUGHTER Maria carrying the surname Prostamo is just Maria Assunta married to Domenico Francesco Prostamo; a SON Giuseppe carrying it cannot be, and would mean Carmela brought Prostamo children into the marriage with her. THE FILE TITLE IS A FINDING AID, NOT A RECORD, and this archive has been caught by one before. Opening it settles which; it is «not yet examined», so an access examination is free.

NAA: J25, 1972/23086 (item 5072628)

was Born about 1807

now BORN ABOUT 1802. She is TWENTY-SIX at her own marriage on 30 August 1828, with her father Rocco Costa and her mother Pasqualina Idone standing beside her and giving formal consent. THIS ARCHIVE WROTE «c. 1807» EARLIER THE SAME DAY, off her daughter's birth act of 1830, which makes her twenty-three. A woman's own marriage act, sworn in her parents' presence, outranks her husband's statement at a registration desk five years later. The old figure is left on the record rather than replaced silently, because the size of the gap -- five years -- is itself information about how much these declared ages can be trusted.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1828 atto 28, against Nati 1830 atto 89

was Two men of one name, separated only by a caution

now THEY MARRIED AT SCILLA ON 10 AUGUST 1828, ATTO 26. The annual Tavola names all four parents: HIS are ORAZIO ARENA and LETTERIA MORABITO; HERS are FILIPPO DE LUCA and ANNA ALFONZETTI. THIS CLOSES THE COLLISION WITH A DOCUMENT INSTEAD OF A WARNING. This archive's Francesco Antonio Arena married Serafina ARLOTTA in February 1851 and was the son of Filippo Arena and Domenica Costa; this Antonio Arena married Serafina DE LUCA in August 1828 and was the son of Orazio Arena and Letteria Morabito. Different decade, different parents, different wife's family. AND IT EXPLAINS THE NAME THAT CAUSED THE TROUBLE: their son ORAZIO ARENA, who died at Scilla in August 1895 and was once taken for the tree's Orazio, is named for HIS OWN GRANDFATHER, exactly as the custom predicts.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1828, Tavola annuale, entry 1 (atto 26)

was An index that gives a name and a number

now IT GIVES FOUR PARENTS AND TELLS YOU WHICH OF THEM WERE DEAD. Scilla's «TAVOLA annuale alfabetica dei Matrimonj» carries the columns Num. d'ordine | Cognomi e Nomi degli Sposi | Patria | Professione | COGNOMI E NOMI DE' GENITORI | Giorno della Celebrazione -- and the parents column uses the Italian convention: «FU X» where the parent is dead, a bare forename where the parent is living. The 1828 Tavola writes Giovanni Arlotta as son of «FU Dom.co e Barbaro Anna»: father dead, mother alive, in four words. ONE INDEX OPENING THEREFORE DATES THE LIFE STATUS OF FOUR PEOPLE AT A SINGLE MOMENT, without opening an act. That is a better instrument than this archive has been treating it as, and it applies to every year of the restaurazione series. CAVEAT: the date column is the CHURCH celebration, not the civil act -- in 1828 the Tavola says 7 September where the civil promise was 30 August -- so an act number and a Tavola date will not agree, and neither is wrong.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1828 and 1851, Tavole annuali

was Rocco Costa and Pasqualina Idone have one child in this archive

now CANDIDA COSTA, who married GIOVANNI VILARDI at Scilla in 1811. The annual marriage Tavola names her parents as «ROCCO e PASQUALINA IDONE» -- the same Rocco Costa and Pasqualina Idone who stood at MARIA COSTA'S wedding in August 1828 and consented in person. SO CANDIDA IS MARIA'S SISTER, and Serafina Arlotta's aunt. Her husband's parents are GAETANO VILARDI and ANTONIA MELLICA. SHE WAS FOUND IN AN INDEX OPENED FOR SOMEBODY ELSE -- the 1811 Tavola was being read for Filippo Arena, who is not in it. A marriage Tavola that names four parents will keep doing this, which is an argument for reading the whole section rather than scanning for one surname.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1811, Tavola annuale

was A timber cutter at Cardwell on the 1959 electoral roll, and nothing else

now NATURALISED IN QUEENSLAND ON 27 NOVEMBER 1934. NAA: BP4/3, ITALIAN MAZZA A, held at Brisbane. Naturalisation of that period wanted about five years' residence, SO HE WAS IN AUSTRALIA BY ABOUT 1929 -- thirty years before the roll that found him, and long before the post-war migration this archive has been reading him against. He also died in Queensland on 31 JULY 1975, registration 1975/C/4171, whose index entry gives his father only as «Mazza» and no mother at all. SO HE IS NOW A MAN WITH THREE DATES AND STILL NO PARENTS, and he is still NOT a documented relative. What would settle it: his death certificate, which names parents where the index does not; or the naturalisation file itself, which carries a birthplace -- and if that birthplace is PIEDIMONTE ETNEO this becomes a different question entirely.

NAA: BP4/3, ITALIAN MAZZA A (item 5237835); Queensland death registration 1975/C/4171

was Interned; the dossier is known and nothing after it

now HE WENT INTO THE CIVIL ALIENS CORPS. NAA: J1737, MAZZA R: «Mazza Rosario, CAS 15000 - CIVIL ALIENS CORPS (CAC)», Brisbane, 1944, ACCESS OPEN. The CAC was the labour corps that interned Italians were released into rather than freed -- road and timber work under military administration -- and CAS 15000 is his service number in it. This archive had his internment dossier, MP1103/1 Q8110, and then a silence. IT ALSO SITS BESIDE THE OTHER TWO. Mario Crupi was at Loveday from August 1942 and released on 30 December 1943; Antonino Crupi came out on 22 October 1943. Rosario's Corps file is 1944. The three men were moving through the same system within months of each other.

NAA: J1737, MAZZA R (item 6305636); against NAA: MP1103/1, Q8110

was Interned at Loveday, known only from the aliens card

now HIS DOSSIER IS NAA: MP1103/1, Q7838 — «Prisoner of War/Internee: Crupi, Antonio; Date of birth - 05 November 1907», Melbourne, 1942-1943, access OPEN, with a companion at MP1103/2, Q7838. AND THE NUMBER IS THE PROOF. His aliens registration card, NAA: D4028, carries «Q. 7838» written beside his name. The same serial in two unrelated series — the Queensland aliens register and the Commonwealth internee dossiers — ties the card and the camp to one man, and the identification no longer rests on birthplace alone. MARIO CRUPI'S DOSSIER DOES THE SAME: MP1103/2, Q30124, against the «N.B.E. certificate Q30124» on his own card. ONE FIGURE IN CONFLICT AND LEFT SO. The card says «5.10.07», which is 5 OCTOBER 1907. The dossier catalogue says 05 NOVEMBER 1907. A month apart, both Commonwealth paperwork about the same man, and the dossier itself is what would settle it.

NAA: MP1103/1 Q7838 (item 8621112) and MP1103/2 Q7838 (item 9909834); against NAA: D4028, CRUPI ANTONIO

was Two Antonio Crupi already separated

now THERE IS A THIRD. NAA: MP1103/1 and MP1103/2, PWV11028 — «Prisoner of War/Internee: Crupi, Antonio; Date of birth - 10 JANUARY 1904» — a VICTORIAN internee, the PWV prefix against our Q for Queensland, and three years older. THIS ARCHIVE HAS NOW SET ASIDE THREE MEN CALLED ANTONIO CRUPI: the Serrata-born holder of aliens card 9209609, one barcode from Antonino's; the Silkwood East farmer on the 1959 electoral roll; and this Victorian internee. EACH WAS EXCLUDED BY A DIFFERENT FIELD — birthplace, address, and the state prefix on a serial number. The name alone has never once been enough.

NAA: MP1103/1 PWV11028 (item 8622956); MP1103/2 PWV11028 (item 9911875)

was Three men of this family interned in 1942-43

now A ROCCO ARENA WAS INTERNED IN AUSTRALIA AND HE IS NOT ONE OF THEM. NAA: MP1103/1 and MP1103/2, PWN9406, give «Prisoner of War/Internee: Arena, Rocco; Date of birth - 31 AUGUST 1909»; A367 C18000/298 and C329 42 are his Aliens Tribunal objection, number 35 of 1941; C123 4326 and C123 ITALIAN INTERNEES [Box 611] are Sydney lists of 1940; ST1233/1 N35192 is «Rocco Arena [Interned] [Application for Naturalisation]». THE ARITHMETIC EXCLUDES HIM ABSOLUTELY. This archive's ROCCO ARENA ARRIVED IN AUSTRALIA ON 27 DECEMBER 1953 -- thirteen years after that man was interned. The other Rocco Arena, born at Scilla in 1861, DIED THERE ON 8 FEBRUARY 1932. Neither was in New South Wales in 1940. THIS GUARD EXISTS BECAUSE THE PATTERN IS ALREADY SET. Rosario Mazza, Mario Crupi and Antonino Crupi were all interned, all documented this week, and a fourth man of the right surname in the same camps would be very easy to believe. He is a Sydney man born in 1909 and he is nobody here.

NAA: MP1103/1 PWN9406; A367 C18000/298; ST1233/1 N35192; against NAA passenger index, arrival 27 December 1953

was One of this archive's four Scilla families

now THEY ARE BARELY IN THE BIRTH REGISTERS OF THE 1830s. Three complete annual P sections -- 1834, 1835 and 1836 -- cover 629 BIRTHS AND HOLD EXACTLY ONE POLISTENA. The P section at Scilla in those years is Paladino, Pirrotta, Patafio, Papalia, Pizzarello, Parisi, Piria. THE POLISTENA ARE NOT AN OLD SCILLA SURNAME AT THAT DATE. WHICH MAY BE WHY THIS QUARTER STOPS. The Polistena line reaches Camillo Antonio, born about 1835, and above him only his parents' names off a death act. If the family came INTO Scilla rather than being of it, the generation above will be in another comune's registers -- and POLISTENA IS ITSELF A COMUNE in the province of Reggio Calabria, seventy kilometres away, which is exactly where a surname like that comes from. Recorded as a reading of an absence, not a finding, and the test is whether Camillo Antonio's birth act exists at Scilla at all.

Scilla, Nati 1834, 1835 and 1836, Tavole annuali — complete P sections

was Camillo Antonio Polistena has no documented siblings

now «POLISTINA ANNUNZIATA, DI GIUSEPPE E MARTELLO ANNA» -- entry 191 of the 1836 Scilla birth Tavola, born 2 DECEMBER 1836, and the ONLY Polistena birth in three years of that register. THE GIVEN NAMES ARE RIGHT AND THE SURNAME IS NOT. Camillo Antonio Polistena's death act of 1924 gives his parents as GIUSEPPE POLISTENA and ANNA PONTILLO. Here the mother is ANNA MARTELLO. THREE READINGS AND NO DECISION: the Tavola is wrong; the death act is wrong; or these are two different couples who each happen to pair a Giuseppe with an Anna. TWO THINGS MAKE THE FIRST WORTH TESTING. The Tavola is an INDEX, and this archive has already been caught by one -- the 1854 index that called Serafina Arlotta «Rosa» and briefly turned a brother into a cousin. AND FOUR ENTRIES EARLIER, at 168, stands «PONTILLO GIOVANNI, di Giuseppe e Paladino Giuseppa» -- a Pontillo household with a Giuseppe at its head, in the same section of the same page. A clerk copying down that column had both surnames under his hand. ACT 191 OF 1836 SETTLES IT AND IS THREE IMAGES AWAY. OPENED THE SAME HOUR. ACT 204 OF 1836 -- not 191; the Tavola's «Num. d'ordine» is an index row and this index carries NO act number at all. Scilla, 2 DECEMBER 1836: the midwife TERESA ARENA, forty-four, declared a girl born that morning at eight to ANNA PONTILLO, THIRTY-FIVE, lawful wife of GIUSEPPE POLISTINA, THIRTY-EIGHT, MARINARO, and named ANNUNZIATA POLISTINA. THE MOTHER IS PONTILLO. The Tavola's «Martello» is wrong, the death act of 1924 is right, and ANNUNZIATA IS CAMILLO ANTONIO POLISTENA'S SISTER -- the first sibling he has ever had here. The guess about WHY the index erred also held: four entries earlier in the same P section stands «Pontillo Giovanni, di Giuseppe e Paladino Giuseppa».

Scilla, Nati 1836, Tavola annuale, entry 191; Scilla, Nati 1836 atto 204, read in the original

was Two names off a death act, with no dates and no trades

now GIUSEPPE POLISTENA WAS THIRTY-EIGHT AND A MARINARO, ANNA PONTILLO THIRTY-FIVE, in December 1836 -- so born about 1798 and about 1801. Given in their daughter Annunziata's birth act, Scilla atto 204 of 1836. THE POLISTENA QUARTER HAD NO DATED ANCESTOR ABOVE CAMILLO ANTONIO AT ALL; it now has two, with a trade. AND THE TRADE MATTERS: a MARINARO sets the Polistena beside the Arena and the Arlotta as a third Scilla sailing family, against the Mazza, who were contadini in Sicily.

Scilla, Nati 1836 atto 204

was The Tavola's «Num. d'ordine» points at the act

now IT DOES NOT, IN 1836. That Tavola's columns are Num. d'ordine | Cognomi e Nomi dei Nati | Cognomi e Nomi dei Genitori | GIORNO DELLA NASCITA -- and THERE IS NO ACT-NUMBER COLUMN. The «Num. d'ordine» is the INDEX ROW, running 1 to 222 across the alphabet. Entry 191 is a Polistina; ACT 191 of the register is a SQUILLACI birth at Solano on 9 November. THE ONLY KEY FROM THIS INDEX INTO THIS REGISTER IS THE DATE OF BIRTH, and the acts run in date order -- which found act 204 in two probes. This is the Briatico 1828 trap in a harder form: there the index ran one behind the register, here it does not point at the register at all.

Scilla, Nati 1836, Tavola annuale against atti 191 and 204

was Born about 1835, from being forty-eight in September 1883

now HE IS NOT IN THE SCILLA BIRTH REGISTER FOR 1833, 1834, 1835, 1836, 1837 OR 1838. Six consecutive complete P sections. AND HIS PARENTS ARE IN TWO OF THEM: GIUSEPPE POLISTENA and ANNA PONTILLO have a son ROCCO on 13 DECEMBER 1833 and a daughter ANNUNZIATA on 2 DECEMBER 1836. THE THREE YEARS BETWEEN HOLD NO POLISTENA BIRTH AT ALL, and they are not thin years -- 201, 206 and 222 births. A child born to this couple about 1835 is simply not there. SO «FORTY-EIGHT» IN SEPTEMBER 1883 IS OUT BY AT LEAST TWO YEARS, and he was born BEFORE 1833 or AFTER 1838. Declared ages in this register are routinely a year out; this one is worse. THE SEARCH MOVES TO 1830-1832 AND 1839-1840, and it should not stop at the first year that fits. EXTENDED TO ELEVEN YEARS, 1830-1840, AND THE DIRECTION IS NOW FIXED. His parents' children come in DECEMBER 1833, DECEMBER 1836 and JANUARY 1840 -- three years apart, twice, with 1830, 1831 and 1832 read and empty of them. SO ROCCO IS THE ELDEST AND CAMILLO ANTONIO CANNOT BE EARLIER; he must be 1841 OR LATER, and «forty-eight» in September 1883 is wrong by at least SIX years. THE NAMING CUSTOM AGREES: a first son takes the father's father's name, making Giuseppe's father a ROCCO POLISTENA, and a later son takes the mother's father's -- which would make CAMILLO ANTONIO the namesake of a CAMILLO PONTILLO. Anna Pontillo was about thirty-five in 1836 and could bear to about 1846, so the window is 1841-1848.

Scilla, Nati 1830-1840, Tavole annuali — eleven complete P sections

was Camillo Antonio Polistena has no siblings in the tree

now HE HAS TWO. ROCCO POLISTINA, born 13 DECEMBER 1833, and ANNUNZIATA POLISTINA, born 2 DECEMBER 1836 -- both children of GIUSEPPE POLISTENA and ANNA PONTILLO, the couple named on Camillo Antonio's own death act of 1924. Annunziata's act has been read in the original (Scilla, atto 204 of 1836) and gives her parents' ages: Giuseppe thirty-eight, Anna thirty-five. Rocco is so far only an index line. NEITHER IS IN THE FAMILY TREE, and until today this quarter had no documented person at Camillo Antonio's own generation beside him.

Scilla, Nati 1833 Tavola entry 144; Nati 1836 atto 204

was One Polistena household at Scilla

now THERE ARE AT LEAST TWO. The 1839 birth Tavola, entry 153, gives «POLISTINA MARIA -- FRANCESCO e LONGARDO GIUSEPPA -- 30 Maggio». That is not GIUSEPPE POLISTENA and ANNA PONTILLO, this archive's couple, and the child is not a sibling of Camillo Antonio. IT MATTERS BECAUSE THE SURNAME IS SO RARE HERE. Seven consecutive years of the Scilla birth register -- 1833 to 1839, about 1,450 births -- hold exactly FOUR Polistena, and three of them belong to these two couples. With a surname that scarce, the temptation to join any two bearers is strong and it should be resisted: the discriminator is the MOTHER, and here it is Longardo against Pontillo. NOTED AND NOT CONCLUDED FROM: LONGARDO is the surname of NATALINA LONGORDO, mother of the Filippo Arena who died at Scilla in 1915 and who was briefly taken for Rocco Arena's brother. The two spellings are one Scilla surname. AND THEY WERE THERE BEFORE THIS ARCHIVE'S COUPLE. The 1832 Tavola, entry 152, gives «POLISTINA DOMENICA -- FRANCESCO e LONGORDO GIUSEPPA -- 17 Dicembre». So Francesco and Giuseppa had a daughter in December 1832 and another in May 1839, while Giuseppe and Anna Pontillo had theirs in December 1833 and December 1836. TWO HOUSEHOLDS RUNNING IN PARALLEL FOR EIGHT YEARS, and between them they account for EVERY Polistena birth at Scilla in that time -- five in about 1,630 births.

Scilla, Nati 1839, Tavola annuale, entry 153

was Camillo Antonio Polistena has no siblings in the tree

now FORTUNATA POLISTINA, born 28 JANUARY 1840 to GIUSEPPE POLISTENA and ANNA PONTILLO -- the 1840 Tavola, entry 107, which spells the mother PONTILLO correctly. SHE IS THE THIRD SIBLING FOUND TODAY, after Rocco (13 December 1833) and Annunziata (2 December 1836). AND THE THREE OF THEM GIVE THE FAMILY A SHAPE. Children in December 1833, December 1836 and January 1840 -- THREE YEARS APART, TWICE -- with 1830, 1831, 1832, 1834, 1835, 1837, 1838 and 1839 all read and holding no child of theirs. That is a regular household, and it means Rocco is the eldest and Camillo Antonio is younger than all three.

Scilla, Nati 1840, Tavola annuale, entry 107

was A surname with one household behind it

now THREE, AND ELEVEN YEARS OF THE BIRTH REGISTER NAME ALL OF THEM. GIUSEPPE POLISTENA x ANNA PONTILLO -- this archive's -- with Rocco (1833), Annunziata (1836) and Fortunata (1840). FRANCESCO POLISTINA x GIUSEPPA LONGARDO, with Salvadore (1830), Domenica (1832) and Maria (1839). LUIGI POLISTINA x MARIANNA (or GIOVANNA) BAVIERA, with Antonino (1830) and Francesco Antonio (1831). EIGHT BIRTHS IN ABOUT 2,100. The surname is scarce enough that any two bearers look related and rare enough that the temptation to join them is strong. THE DISCRIMINATOR IS THE MOTHER, every time: Pontillo, Longardo, Baviera. NOTE ONE TRAP IN PARTICULAR: Luigi's son born 21 June 1831 is called FRANCESCO ANTONIO POLISTINA. That is one word away from CAMILLO ANTONIO POLISTENA, in the right town in the right decade, and it is a different child of different parents. It would be very easy to seize on.

Scilla, Nati 1830-1840, Tavole annuali — eleven complete P sections

was One couple at Scilla answering to «Giuseppe e Anna Pontillo»

now THERE ARE TWO, AND THE OTHER IS A PALMISANO. The 1841 Scilla birth Tavola, entry 160: «PALMISANO GIO. BATTISTA -- GIUSEPPE e ANNA PONTILLO -- 26 Agosto». This archive's couple are GIUSEPPE POLISTENA and ANNA PONTILLO, whose children appear in the same register in 1833, 1836 and 1840. SAME TWO GIVEN NAMES, SAME DISTINCTIVE MAIDEN SURNAME, SAME TOWN, SAME DECADE. WHY IT MATTERS MORE THAN AN ORDINARY COLLISION: the way this archive has been searching these Tavole is by READING THE PARENTS COLUMN for «Giuseppe e Pontillo Anna». That method walks straight into this entry and cannot tell the difference, because the thing that separates them is the CHILD'S SURNAME -- the column a parent-scan skips. IT IS NOT DECIDED HERE whether this is a second Anna Pontillo or the same woman remarried; nothing in the index says. It is written down so that the next person reading these pages checks the first column before celebrating.

Scilla, Nati 1841, Tavola annuale, entry 160

was Three Polistena households at Scilla

now FOUR. The 1842 birth Tavola, entry 145: «POLISTINA SALVADORE -- DOM.co e COSTA CATERINA -- 12 Gennaro». Added to GIUSEPPE x ANNA PONTILLO, FRANCESCO x GIUSEPPA LONGARDO and LUIGI x MARIANNA BAVIERA. Thirteen years of the Scilla birth register now name four distinct couples of this surname and nine children between them. NOTE THE WIFE'S SURNAME: COSTA, which is the third time a Costa woman has married into a family this archive is tracking at Scilla -- after Domenica Costa to Filippo Arena and Maria Costa to Giovanni Arlotta. Costa is simply a very common Scilla surname and no connection is claimed.

Scilla, Nati 1842, Tavola annuale, entry 145

was A birth act gives a date, a house and two parents

now IT ALSO CARRIES MARGINAL ANNOTATIONS ADDED DECADES LATER, and this archive has read a dozen of these acts without once looking at the margin. Scilla atto 174 of 1833 -- Rocco Polistina's birth -- has written down its left edge: «L'anno 1869, il giorno 12 Luglio ... HA CONTRATTO MATRIMONIO IN QUESTO COMUNE CON COLORINA BRI[...]», signed by the Uffiziale and dated from Reggio on 26 August 1869. THIRTY-SIX YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH, IN A DIFFERENT HAND. THE PRINTED FORM ASKS FOR IT: the left column is headed «MARGINE per scriversi alcune notizie riguardanti gli atti di nascita», and the right «INDICAZIONE del giorno in cui è stato amministrato il Sagramento del Battesimo». One is the baptism, which this archive does read; the other is everything that happened to the person afterwards, which it does not. WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT: go back to the margins of the acts already read -- Francesco Antonio Arena 1819 atto 186, Serafina Arlotta 1830 atto 89, Rocco Arena 1861 atto 228, the four 1852-1860 Arena births -- and look. A marriage annotation would date a wedding without a marriage register at all.

Scilla, Nati 1833 atto 174

was A birth act's margin may carry a later marriage

now THREE MARGINS NOW READ, AND THE RULE IS NARROWER THAN IT LOOKED. ROCCO POLISTINA, born 1833, married AT SCILLA on 12 July 1869: HIS MARGIN CARRIES IT, written by the same office, signed, and dated from Reggio six weeks later. SERAFINA ARLOTTA, born 1830, married at Scilla on 7 February 1851: HER MARGIN IS EMPTY. FILIPPO ARENA, born 1852, who would have married after 1866 if he married at Scilla: HIS MARGIN IS EMPTY. THE READING THAT FITS ALL THREE is that the annotation is an ITALIAN-ERA administrative habit -- it appears on a marriage of 1869 and not on one of 1851 -- and that it is written only when the later act is registered in the SAME COMUNE, since the note itself says «ha contratto matrimonio IN QUESTO COMUNE». SO A BLANK MARGIN IS WEAK EVIDENCE AND MUST NOT BE READ AS «HE NEVER MARRIED». For a pre-1866 marriage it means nothing at all. For a post-1866 one it is consistent with a marriage ELSEWHERE, which for Filippo Arena is exactly the reading the rest of the evidence already supports -- he is absent from Scilla's death index from 1889 to 1943 and from the name index of 1910-1943. ONE MORE STRAW ON THE PILE THAT HE LEFT, and not a proof of anything.

Scilla, Nati 1833 atto 174; Nati 1830 atto 89; Nati 1852 atto 48

was Declared ages in this register are usually a year or two out

now IN ATTO 48 OF 1852 THEY ARE FOUR AND SEVEN YEARS OUT, IN THE SAME LINE. He is entered as THIRTY-SIX and was thirty-two; she as TWENTY-EIGHT and was twenty-one -- and she had married twelve months earlier on an act that makes her twenty. TWO YEARS LATER, in atto 76 of 1854, the same couple are THIRTY-FOUR and TWENTY-TWO, which fits their birth acts. The register did not age them; a clerk guessed, and guessed badly. THIS IS THE ACT TO POINT AT whenever a declared age is about to be used to identify somebody. It is also why Camillo Antonio Polistena's «forty-eight» has now been shown wrong by at least six years without anything being wrong with the man.

Scilla, Nati 1852 atto 48, against Nati 1819 atto 186, Nati 1830 atto 89, Matrimoni 1851 atto 13 and Nati 1854 atto 76

was DOMENICO ARENA b. 24 March 1853, one of Rocco Arena's three brothers

now SHE IS DOMENICA ARENA AND SHE IS HIS SISTER. Scilla, atto 53 of 1853, read in the original: FRANCESCANTONIO ARENA presented «UNA FEMINA», declared «di dare alla FANCIULLA il nome di DOMENICA», and the Indicazione column records the baptism of DOMENICA ARENA on the same day. Three independent statements inside one act. HOW THE ERROR HAPPENED, BECAUSE IT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN: she was taken from the ANNUAL TAVOLA, where a surname-ordered index line reading «Arena Domenica di Francescantonio e Arlotta Serafina» was read as Domenico. The Tavola was not wrong; the reading was, and NOBODY OPENED THE ACT for fourteen weeks. This archive's own caution says «read the act, not the index», and this is the fourth time that caution has been vindicated -- after the tavola numbers, the «Rosa» Arlotta of 1854, and the Mazza bride who was a Muzzi. WHAT IT CHANGES. Rocco Arena had TWO documented brothers, not three -- FILIPPO (1852) and GIUSEPPE (1860), plus GIOVANNI (1854) and himself. And row 146's «three brothers vanish after 1898» becomes TWO: a married daughter leaves the Arena surname and stops appearing under it, which is not a disappearance.

Scilla, Nati 1853 atto 53

was Scilla, Nati 1853, atto 2

now IT IS ACT 53. Act 2 of 1853 is DOMENICA BELLANTONI, born 4 January to MARIA BELLANTONI, filatrice, twenty-nine, who presented her and acknowledged her as her natural daughter. «2» was the second entry in the A block of the annual Tavola. THIS IS THE SECOND SUCH CITATION FOUND TODAY -- Serafina Arlotta's «Nati 1830 atto 2» is act 89 -- AND BOTH ARE «ATTO 2», which is what a surname-ordered index gives you when Arena and Arlotta sit second in the A block. ANY «atto» NUMBER IN THIS ARCHIVE THAT CAME OFF A TAVOLA AND HAS NOT BEEN CHECKED AGAINST THE REGISTER SHOULD BE TREATED AS A ROW NUMBER UNTIL IT IS.

Scilla, Nati 1853 atti 2 and 53

was A blank margin is weak evidence

now IT IS STRONGER THAN I ALLOWED AN HOUR AGO, BECAUSE THE CONTROL NOW EXISTS. The 1852 volume DOES carry marriage annotations: act 55 of 1852 has «Atto 18 Febbraio 1881 N. 11 -- SCARFONE ROCCO contrasse matrimonio in Scilla con VITA MARIA», written in the margin and dated from Reggio. The 1853 volume does it twice on one opening -- act 54 (a marriage of 20 December 1876) and act 55 («PALADINO SANTA contrasse matrimonio in Scilla», 8 September 1883). SO THE PRACTICE WAS APPLIED IN THESE VERY VOLUMES, AND FILIPPO ARENA'S MARGIN IS EMPTY. That is now evidence rather than nothing: HE DID NOT MARRY AT SCILLA. It still does not prove he never married -- a wedding in another comune would not be written back, and a clerk can miss one -- but set beside his absence from Scilla's death index 1889-1943 and from the name index of 1910-1943, it is a third silence pointing the same way. RETRACTED THE SAME AFTERNOON, AND BY A CASE THAT SETTLES IT. GIUSEPPE ARENA MARRIED MARIA MARTELLO AT SCILLA ON 12 SEPTEMBER 1885 -- act 73, read here in the original -- AND HIS OWN BIRTH ACT, NATI 1860 ATTO 45, HAS AN EMPTY ANNOTATION BOX. A man who demonstrably married at Scilla after 1866 was not annotated. THEREFORE A BLANK BOX IS NOT EVIDENCE THAT SOMEBODY DID NOT MARRY THERE, and the inference drawn against Filippo Arena is withdrawn in full. WHAT SURVIVES: a PRESENT annotation is worth having -- Rocco Polistina's 1869 marriage came free that way, and so did marriages of 1876, 1881 and 1883 on other acts. The annotation is a bonus when it is there and says NOTHING when it is not. NOTE ALSO THAT THE BOX MOVES. The 1852 and 1853 volumes use a left-hand column headed «MARGINE per scriversi alcune notizie riguardanti gli atti di Nascita»; the 1860 volume uses a right-hand box headed «MENZIONI prescritte dagli articoli 64, 65 e 106». Same purpose, opposite side of the page -- so «the margin is blank» must mean the right box was looked at.

Scilla, Nati 1852 atti 48 and 55; Nati 1853 atti 54 and 55; Nati 1860 atto 45 against Matrimoni 1885 atto 73

was Named only from a death act of 1933

now THEY MARRIED AT SCILLA ON 23 NOVEMBER 1882, act 48. He was THIRTY, a MARINAIO, BORN AT SCILLA, son of RAFFAELE POLISTENA and TERESA DONATO -- both living. She was a FILATRICE, born at Scilla, daughter of GIACOMO MATRA, living, and the late CONCETTA LEOTTA. THE ACT AND THE NAME INDEX AGREE PERFECTLY ACROSS FIFTY-ONE YEARS: «Luigi Polistena, died 8 December 1933 -- Padre Raffaele, Madre Teresa Donato, Coniuge Annunziata Matra.» AND IT GIVES RAFFAELE POLISTENA AND TERESA DONATO THEIR FIRST DATE OF ANY KIND -- both alive in November 1882 -- and makes THEIR marriage a named target, before about 1852. That is the Donato-Polistena join one generation further back than row 138 had it.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1882, atto 48

was Born about 1835, from being forty-eight on his son's birth act of September 1883

now BORN ABOUT 1844. His own marriage act of 23 JANUARY 1881 makes him THIRTY-SIX -- so born between late January 1844 and late January 1845. The 1883 figure is NINE YEARS OUT, and it is the figure this archive built a sixteen-year sweep of the birth registers on. WHICH DECLARATION TO PREFER: THE MARRIAGE ACT. He appeared in person to marry, where age carried legal weight and the parish papers had been checked; the 1883 age was given by a man registering a newborn at nine in the evening. This archive has already ruled the same way for Giovanni Arlotta and Maria Costa. AND IT EXPLAINS THE SILENCE RATHER THAN DEEPENING IT. Eleven years of birth Tavole were read around 1835 because of the 1883 age. The answer was never in them. 1844 and 1845 ARE in the swept range -- but the 1844 reading covered only entries 127-138 without establishing where the P block ends, and 1845 is recorded as PARTIAL with seven of eighteen lines too faint. BOTH NEED GOING BACK TO, and that is now the shortest road left.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1881 atto 4, against Nati 1883 atto 206

was No death, no bound, for either

now BOTH WERE DEAD BEFORE 23 JANUARY 1881. Their son's marriage act calls him «figlio del FU Giuseppe ... e della FU Anna Pontillo», each «residente in vita in Scilla» -- the formula for a parent who died in the comune. So: GIUSEPPE POLISTENA, born about 1798, alive at his daughter Fortunata's birth in January 1840, DEAD BY JANUARY 1881. ANNA PONTILLO, born about 1800, the same. Forty-one years of window, and it is the first bound either has ever had. IT ALSO CONFIRMS THE PARENTAGE FROM A SECOND DOCUMENT. Camillo Antonio's death act of 1924 named them; this act names them again, forty-three years earlier and from his own mouth. The identification no longer rests on one record.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1881 atto 4

was Named as Camillo Antonio Polistena's wife; parents from her death act

now TWENTY-SIX AND A FILATRICE at her marriage on 23 January 1881, so BORN ABOUT 1854, and NATA IN QUESTO COMUNE -- born at Scilla. Her parents are given as ANNUNZIATO, resident in this Comune, and ANGELA ZIRILLI, resident here -- BOTH LIVING in January 1881. THIS IS THE FOURTH RECORD TO CALL HER A ROMANO and the FIRST in which she is the subject rather than somebody's mother or wife. The family tree calls her «Giovanna Pontillo»; the register has now said Romano in her son's birth act of 1883, in a New Orleans manifest of 1908, in her own death act of 1930, and here in her own marriage act of 1881. The question is closed as firmly as it can be.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1881 atto 4

was Born about 1835; not in sixteen years of the Scilla birth register

now BORN AT SCILLA ON 21 SEPTEMBER 1844. The 1844 annual Tavola, entry 142: «Polistina Camillo -- Giuseppe e Pontillo Anna -- 21 Settembre». THE ARITHMETIC CLOSES EXACTLY. Born 21 September 1844, he is THIRTY-SIX YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS at his marriage on 23 January 1881, and the act says «di anni trentasei». At his son Giovanni's birth on 16 September 1883 he was THIRTY-EIGHT and eleven months, and that act says FORTY-EIGHT -- ten years wrong, and the figure this archive searched around. MY OWN READING IS WHY IT TOOK SIXTEEN YEARS OF SWEEPING. The 1844 P block was read earlier the same day, the crop stopped at entry 138, and the row recorded that the end of the block had not been established. HE IS AT 142. A PARTIAL READING WRITTEN DOWN AS A NEGATIVE IS THE SAME ERROR AS A 403 WRITTEN DOWN AS A NIL -- this archive has a rule about the second and needed one about the first.

Scilla, Nati 1844, Tavola annuale, entry 142; against Matrimoni 1881 atto 4 and Nati 1883 atto 206

was Four Polistena households at Scilla

now FIVE. The 1844 birth Tavola, entry 143 -- the line immediately after Camillo Antonio's -- reads «POLISTINA TOMMASO -- D. ANTONIO e PALADINO ANNUNZIATA -- 4 8bre». The «D.» is DON, a courtesy title this register does not hand out freely, so that branch had some standing. Added to GIUSEPPE x ANNA PONTILLO (this archive's), FRANCESCO x GIUSEPPA LONGARDO, LUIGI x MARIANNA BAVIERA and DOMENICO x CATERINA COSTA.

Scilla, Nati 1844, Tavola annuale, entry 143

was Born 21 September 1844, from the annual Tavola only

now THE ACT IS SCILLA, NATI 1844, ATTO 137 -- not 142, which was the Tavola's row number. GIUSEPPE POLISTINA, fifty, MARINARO, presented a son born to ANNA PONTILLO, filatrice, his lawful wife, «NEL GIORNO VENTUNO CORRENTE MESE», and named him CAMILLO ANTONIO. The baptism column names CAMILLO ANTONIO POLISTINA. THE GIVEN NAME IS SETTLED: the index says «Camillo», the act says «CAMILLO ANTONIO», and that is what every later record calls him. AND THE MARGIN CARRIES HIS MARRIAGE, annotated «Scilla 25 Gennaio 1881» -- two days after the wedding of 23 January 1881 in Matrimoni 1881 atto 4. The birth act and the marriage act point at each other across thirty-seven years, and the identification is now closed from both ends.

Scilla, Nati 1844 atto 137

was Married before Scilla's civil registration and therefore lost to a parish register; «THE ARENA LINE STOPS HERE»

now MARRIED AT SCILLA ON 12 NOVEMBER 1815, Matrimoni atto 29, and the act names BOTH SETS OF PARENTS. This archive wrote the wall itself: it searched 1816-1819 because it believed Scilla began in 1816, found nothing, and concluded the marriage was pre-civil. Scilla begins in 1809. Once the napoleonic volumes were opened the marriage was four years earlier, in an unindexed volume that fell to one montage pass. THE RETRACTION IS OF A CONCLUSION, NOT A READING -- every negative reported for 1810, 1811, 1812, 1816, 1817, 1818 and 1819 stands.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29

was Parents unknown; Filippo is the top of the Arena spine

now SON OF ORAZIO ARENA, MARINARO, AND SETTERIA MORABITO, both alive and both standing beside him on 12 November 1815, giving the consent the code required of a groom under twenty-five. The Arena line now runs one generation further back, and the sea trade runs four: Orazio, Filippo, Francesco Antonio, Rocco.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29

was Parents unknown

now DAUGHTER OF THE LATE GIOVANNI COSTA, who died at Scilla on 29 MARCH 1790, and of MARTA ALFONZETTI, who was alive and present at the wedding. Her father's death date is given to the day because the act cites the parish death record, which «si conserva». That is the earliest dated event anywhere in this archive.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29

was Born about 1792, from her husband's statement that she was twenty-seven when their son was born in November 1819

now BORN ABOUT 1787. She was TWENTY-EIGHT at her own marriage on 12 November 1815, standing in person with her mother consenting. Her own marriage act outranks her husband's answer at a registration desk four years later -- the same rule this archive applied to Maria Costa in the other direction. The five-year gap is not reconciled and is recorded as it stands; one of the two ages is wrong.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29; Nati 1819 atto 186

was Row 151: «the only route to generation NINE»

now GENERATION EIGHT. Filippo Arena is generation seven in this archive's numbering, so his parents are generation eight -- the same depth already reached on the Arlotta-Costa side with Rocco Costa and Pasqualina Idone. The find is no less real for being one step shallower than the row promised, but the row promised wrong.

data/documented-additions.tsv

was Born about 1794, from the age he gave at his son's birth registration in 1819

now BORN AT SCILLA ON 25 MARCH 1793 AND BAPTISED THE SAME DAY, «infantem hodie natum», with the name PHILIPPUS NUNTIATUS. He gave his age as twenty-five in November 1819; he was twenty-six. The extract was copied from the parish book of baptisms for his own marriage file in May 1815.

Scilla, processetti 1815 n. 29, folio 114

was Born about 1792 or about 1787, depending which act was believed

now BORN AT SCILLA ON 16 JUNE 1787 AND BAPTISED THE SAME DAY by the archpriest Giuseppe Ingigneri, with the name DOMINICA JOSEPHA. So her own marriage act was right -- twenty-eight in November 1815 -- and her husband's answer at their son's birth registration in 1819 was FIVE YEARS WRONG: she was thirty-two, not twenty-seven. This archive had recorded both figures and refused to choose; the baptism chooses.

Scilla, processetti 1815 n. 29, folio 115

was Setteria Morabito, as this archive read the civil marriage act that morning

now LITTERIA MORABITO. Her son's baptism extract, written in a clear Latin hand and copied into the same bundle, reads «ex Horatio Arena et LITTERIA MORABITO coniugibus». Litteria is a real name on this coast -- from the Madonna della Lettera, patroness of Messina across the strait -- and Setteria is not. THE RULE THIS PAYS FOR: where a marriage bundle survives, read the extracts before trusting a given name off the civil act; the parish copy is usually the better hand.

Scilla, processetti 1815 n. 29, folio 114

was The Scilla lines stop at Filippo Arena, generation seven

now GIUSEPPE COSTA AND GIACOMA TURCO, both dead before March 1790. Three documents stacked: the 1815 civil act named Domenica Costa's dead father; the marriage bundle copied his parish death act; and that act calls him «filius QUONDAM Josephi et Jacobae Turco». The single word «quondam» is what makes them generation nine and what dates them. Nothing further is reachable -- Scilla's civil registers begin nineteen years after their son died.

Scilla, processetti 1815 n. 29, folio 116

was Row 158: pre-1809 Scilla is parish, and nothing is known of what survives

now SOMETHING IS NOW KNOWN. The 1815 bundle quotes two books by name and cites the officials who held them: the «liber Baptizatorum» and the «liber Defunctorum» of the Matrice, kept by the archpriest D. GIUSEPPE INGIGNERI and searched by the economo curato LEONARDO CANTORE BANDIERA, who signed all three extracts. The baptism book was open at 1787 and 1793 and the death book at 1790, so both ran back at least to 1787. That is what to ask the Archivio Storico Diocesano at Reggio about -- named books, named custodians, named years -- rather than a general question about Scilla.

Scilla, processetti 1815 n. 29

was Published here since 15 September as one of this archive's four established walls: «his marriage to Domenica Costa is pre-1816, and Scilla's civil registration begins in 1816»

now IT IS SCILLA, MATRIMONI 1815, ATTO 29, AND THE WALL HAS BEEN REMOVED FROM THE LIST. The wall's own evidence paragraph is the confession: it says the window was «four years wide -- between the first register and their son's birth in 1819 -- and ALL FOUR YEARS HAVE BEEN READ». All four were read, correctly, and the marriage was in the fifth. Scilla's registers begin in 1809. A wall built on a start year is only as good as the start year, and this one was checked against a belief instead of against the register index.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29; Antenati register index for Scilla

was Born 1879 at Piedimonte Etneo

now BORN 5 JANUARY 1873, Piedimonte Etneo Nati atto 3, in CONTRADA TERREMORTE, to «Rosario Mazza di Mariano», twenty-eight, bracciante, and «Leonarda Bonanno di Gaetano». The 1873 act had been read here before; what is new is that the 1879 ANNUAL INDEX has now been read whole and holds NO Salvatore Mazza at all -- only a Mazza Rosaria and a Mazza Venerio. So the tree's year is not merely unsupported, it is excluded at that comune. Six years out, which is this family's usual margin.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1873 atto 3; Nati 1879, Indice Annuale

was The tree's «Mariano Mazza», son of Orazio Mazza (b. 1883) and Rosa, carried «Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845 atto 64 -- named as the father, aged 36, bracciale» on his person page

now REMOVED. That Mariano is a son of the ORAZIO MAZZA BORN 1883, who is himself a son of Rosario Mazza -- so he is Rosario's grandson, born in the twentieth century, and cannot be the Mariano who declared Rosario's birth in 1845. The real man now has a row of his own as «Mariano Mazza (b. c. 1809)», with MARIA CATALANO beside him. THE RULE THIS ARCHIVE ALREADY WROTE AND THEN BROKE: a slug that matches a name is not the person the act names -- check the birth year, the birthplace, the spouse or a child before attaching anything.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845 atto 64; site/src/data/people.json

was The lineage chart closes his line with «Before Piedimonte Etneo, 1850»

now HIS PARENTS ARE NAMED IN HIS OWN BIRTH ACT: MARIANO MAZZA, thirty-six, bracciale, and MARIA CATALANO, thirty-six, Piedimonte Etneo Nati 1845 atto 64. The card is not a research wall -- it is the chart reporting that the FAMILY TREE has no parents for him, because the chart draws the tree and these two people are documented additions rather than tree people. The card's year is wrong too: 1850 is the tree's birth year and the act says 2 JUNE 1845.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845 atto 64

was Born 1850

now TWENTY-SEVEN on 13 February 1872, when he registered his son Mariano's birth in person -- so born about 1845. That is now THREE independent statements against the tree's 1850: his own birth act of 2 June 1845, his death act of 1924 making him seventy-nine, and his own word at a registration desk in 1872.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1872 atto 32

was Four children: Salvatore, Orazio, Ignazio and Giovanni

now FIVE, AND THE ELDEST IS MARIANO, born 12 February 1872 in contrada San Basilio and named for his grandfather exactly as the naming custom predicts. Salvatore follows on 5 January 1873, eleven months later -- so either Mariano died in infancy or the births are ten and a half months apart. His death has not been sought.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1872 atto 32

was One Mazza household on the spine: Rosario Mazza and Leonarda

now AT LEAST THREE MAZZA HOUSEHOLDS IN 1877 ALONE, and two of them are a Rosario with a Leonarda. OURS is «ROSARIO MAZZA DI MARIANO» with LEONARDA BONANNO DI GAETANO, in CONTRADA SAN BASILIO. The OTHER is a Rosario Mazza, thirty-one, with LEONARDA MONACORSO, contadina, in VIA GROTTA NICODEMO -- their son Orazio is act 168 of 1877. The third is Pasquale Mazza with Concetta Greco, whose son Antonino is act 164 of the same year. THE TEST THAT SEPARATES THEM IS THE PATRONYMIC AND THE STREET, not the given names: ours is always written «di Mariano», and the family tree's own Orazio Mazza, born 1883 to a Rosario and a Leonarda, is EXACTLY the person this act would be wrongly attached to.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1877 atti 164 and 168; Nati 1872 atto 32; Nati 1873 atto 3

was Four children: Salvatore, Orazio, Ignazio and Giovanni

now SIX AT LEAST. MARIANO, born 12 February 1872, named for his father's father; and GAETANO, born 5 May 1880, named for his mother's father GAETANO BONANNO -- which is exactly the order the Sicilian naming custom prescribes, first son for the paternal grandfather and the maternal grandfather next. Both in via San Basilio, both declared by Rosario in person, both absent from the family tree.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1872 atto 32; Nati 1880 atto 66

was Born 1850

now THE REGISTER ITSELF DISAGREES BY THREE YEARS IN 1880. He is twenty-seven in February 1872 and twenty-eight in January 1873 -- both fitting a birth in June 1845 -- and then THIRTY-TWO in May 1880, which would put him in 1848. His own birth act and his death act of 1924 both say 1845. RECORDED RATHER THAN AVERAGED: a declared age is a statement, not a measurement, and the act of birth outranks all of them.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1845 atto 64; Nati 1872 atto 32; Nati 1880 atto 66

was Born 1883 at Piedimonte Etneo, son of Rosario Mazza and Leonarda

now NO BIRTH ACT AT PIEDIMONTE IN 1883. The annual index for that year holds MAZZA ROSARIA 117 and MAZZA VENERA 118 and no Orazio at all. There IS an Orazio Mazza born at Piedimonte on 21 October 1877, act 168 -- but his father is the OTHER Rosario Mazza of the town, whose wife is LEONARDA MONACORSO and who lives in via Grotta Nicodemo, where ours is «Rosario Mazza di Mariano» with LEONARDA BONANNO in via San Basilio. UNLOCATED, NOT DISPROVED: 1884 onwards and 1874-1876 are unread for the M section, and the tree's years in this family run five and six out as a matter of course.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1883 Indice Annuale; Nati 1877 atto 168

was Piedimonte Etneo is the Mazza home town

now THE MAZZA ARE NOT IN THE TOWN'S 1747 HOUSEHOLD CENSUS. The Riveli di anime e di terre of 1747-1748 index about eighty households by given name, and the surnames are the ones that still fill the registers a century and a half later -- Pagano, Currenti, Grasso, Musumeci, Vasta, Puglisi, Torrisi, Moschella, di Mauro, Patane. THERE IS NO MAZZA. There are two MAZZEO, Onofrio at folio 5 and Silvestro at folio 29, and the ending was checked at native resolution on both. This does NOT prove the Mazza arrived later -- a rivelo is a tax return and a household can be missing from one -- but set beside the nineteenth-century registers, where 1844 and 1846 hold no Mazza birth at all and sixteen years of marriages hold four, it is the second piece of evidence pointing the same way: A SMALL FAMILY, POSSIBLY A RECENT ONE.

Piedimonte Etneo, Riveli di anime e di terre 1747-1748, indice

was Corrected this morning to «he is no longer automatically where the Scilla line stops», because the 1816 start year that closed his marriage was false

now HE IS WHERE THE SCILLA LINE STOPS AFTER ALL, AND NOW IT IS EVIDENCE. NINE CONSECUTIVE YEARS of Scilla marriages -- 1809 through 1817 -- have been read for a Donato on BOTH sides of every act, and the 1811 and 1812 Tavole name all four parents as well. THERE IS NO DONATO MARRIAGE AT SCILLA IN ANY OF THEM. His eldest son Michele was born at Messina about 1814 and Domenico at Scilla in December 1816, so the marriage is before 1814; nine civil years exclude it; therefore it is pre-1809 and parish. THE CONCLUSION IS THE ONE THIS ARCHIVE HELD THIS MORNING AND THE REASONING IS ENTIRELY DIFFERENT, which is the whole point -- a right answer resting on a false premise is not evidence.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1809-1817 read entire

was Venera Cassaneti

now PROBABLY VENERA CASSANITI. «Cassaneti» appears exactly once in the whole Queensland index -- on her daughter's 1963 death registration, taken down from an informant at a Brisbane registry -- and NOWHERE ELSE. «CASSANITI» returns five Queensland registrations and is the ordinary Catanese form; it is also what the PIEDIMONTE ETNEO birth index writes, holding a Cassaniti Sebastiano and a Cassaniti Leonardo Maria in 1875 alone. THIS MATTERS PRACTICALLY: a Sicilian register searched for «Cassaneti» will return nothing and the negative will mean nothing. Search Cassaniti.

Queensland BDM, death 1963/B/61348 and the whole surname index; Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1875 Indice Annuale

was Known alive only on 12 November 1815, at their son Filippo's marriage

now ALIVE ON 7 NOVEMBER 1821, at their son GIUSEPPE's. The promessa names «ORAZIO ARENA, di professione MARINARO, domiciliato ivi, e LITTERIA MORABITO, domiciliata ivi» with no «fu» on either, and the annual Tavola says the same. So both were living at Scilla six years past the only date this archive had for them, and Orazio is a MARINARO in his own right rather than «della stessa professione» as the 1815 act put it.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1821 atto 29 and Tavola annuale

was Read as «Setteria Morabito» off the 1815 civil act, corrected to Litteria the same day off the baptism extract

now LITTERIA, THREE TIMES OVER. The 1815 marriage act, the Latin baptism extract in the 1815 marriage bundle, and now her son Giuseppe's promessa of 1821 -- three documents in two hands and two languages. The correction made this morning on one document's authority is now made on three.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1821 atto 29

was An only child so far as this archive could show

now HE HAS A BROTHER: GIUSEPPE ARENA, born about 1794, marinaro, who married MARIA TERESA POLISTINA at Scilla on 13 November 1821 -- «figlio di Orazio Arena, di professione marinaro, e di Litteria Morabito». The search for a sibling was opened as row 157 on the argument that a sibling's marriage Tavola would date the parents. IT DID EXACTLY THAT: it dates Orazio and Litteria alive to November 1821.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1821 atto 29

was Known alive on 12 November 1815, and this morning on 7 November 1821

now ALIVE ON 10 AUGUST 1828. The annual Tavola for that year opens on their son ANTONIO's marriage and names them «ORAZIO, e MORABITO LETTERIA» with no «fu» on either. So both were living at Scilla THIRTEEN YEARS after Filippo's wedding and seven after Giuseppe's. The Tavola convention is the whole instrument: it marks the dead with «fu», so a year in which an Arena child marries dates the parents for nothing more than one crop.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1828, Tavola annuale, entry 1

was One known son, Filippo

now AT LEAST THREE: FILIPPO, born 25 March 1793 and married 12 November 1815; GIUSEPPE, born about 1794 and married 13 November 1821; and ANTONIO, married 10 August 1828. All three found in annual marriage Tavole, which name all four parents and cost one crop a year. The Scilla A sections of 1820-1831 hold EIGHT Arena grooms in SEVEN households -- so the parents' column is not a nicety, it is the only thing that separates this family from the other six.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29; 1821 atto 29; 1828 atto 26

was Alive on 10 August 1828, and no date of death

now DEAD BEFORE 4 SEPTEMBER 1838. The 1838 annual marriage Tavola opens on his son DOMENICO's wedding and writes «FU ORAZIO, e Lett.a Morabito» -- the «fu» cropped at native width to be sure of it. He is named LIVING in the Tavole of 1821 and 1828. SO HE DIED BETWEEN 10 AUGUST 1828 AND 4 SEPTEMBER 1838, and the Scilla death registers for those ten years -- all of them listed in this archive -- would name the day. LETTERIA MORABITO OUTLIVED HIM: she carries no «fu» in 1838.

Scilla, Matrimoni 1838, Tavola annuale, entry 1

was One known son, Filippo, until this morning

now AT LEAST FOUR: FILIPPO (b. 25 March 1793, m. 12 November 1815), GIUSEPPE (b. c. 1794, m. 13 November 1821), ANTONIO (m. 10 August 1828) and DOMENICO (m. 4 September 1838). Every one of them found in an annual marriage Tavola, which names all four parents and costs one crop a year. AND TWO OF THEM MARRIED POLISTINA DAUGHTERS OF THE SAME COUPLE: Giuseppe married Maria Teresa and Domenico married Teresa, both «figlie di fu Raffaele Polistina e Letteria Morabito».

Scilla, Matrimoni 1815 atto 29; 1821 atto 29; 1828 atto 26; 1838 atto 20

was Dead between 10 August 1828 and 4 September 1838, from the marriage Tavole

now DIED 12 JULY 1830 AT SIX IN THE MORNING, IN HIS OWN HOUSE. Scilla, Morti 1830, atto 64. The ten-year window this archive opened this afternoon closed the same afternoon, in the second death Tavola opened. He was a MARINARO and «MARITO LITTERIA MORABITO».

Scilla, Morti 1830 atto 64

was Born about 1770, inferred from his sons' ages

now BORN ABOUT 1751. His death act makes him SEVENTY-NINE on 12 July 1830. The inference of «about 1770» came from working back from his sons -- Filippo born 1793, Giuseppe about 1794 -- and assuming a young father; he was about forty-two when Filippo was born and about sixty-four when Filippo married. AN INFERRED DATE IS NOT A DATE, and this is the second time this week that a figure derived from a child's age has been nineteen years out.

Scilla, Morti 1830 atto 64

was The Arena line reaches Orazio Arena and stops

now IT REACHES HIS PARENTS. «ORAZIO ARENA ... FIGLIO DEL FU FILIPPO ARENA E DELLA FU SANTA UNGARO» -- his own death act, 12 July 1830. Both already dead by then; he was born about 1751, so they belong to the 1720s. AND THE CUSTOM IS CONFIRMED AFTER THE FACT: Orazio's first son, born 25 March 1793, is FILIPPO, named for this man. This archive has used the naming custom to rank candidates and never to identify one; this is what it looks like when a record catches up with it.

Scilla, Morti 1830 atto 64

was Piedimonte Etneo is the Mazza home town

now THREE HOUSEHOLD CENSUSES, THREE DIFFERENT ANSWERS. The 1714 Riveli di anime e di terre index 142 households and hold NO MAZZA AND NO MAZZEO. The 1747-1748 riveli index eighty households and hold TWO MAZZEO -- Onofrio, thirty, with his wife Carmina and son Giuseppe; and Mastro Silvestro, thirty-five, with his wife Maria -- and NO MAZZA. The civil registers from 1820 hold MAZZA and no Mazzeo. THE REST OF THE TOWN IS CONTINUOUS ACROSS ALL THREE -- Pagano, Currenti, Grasso, Musumeci, Vasta, Puglisi, Torrisi, Moschella, di Mauro, dell'Aquila -- which is what makes the absence worth recording. IT IS NOT A DESCENT AND MUST NOT BE READ AS ONE: a rivelo is a tax return, a household can be missing from one, and MAZZEO IS NOT MAZZA until a record says so.

Piedimonte Etneo, Riveli 1714 and 1747-1748, both indexes read entire

was Absent from twenty-six indexed Arena deaths at Scilla, 1910-1943

now ABSENT FROM SIXTY-NINE. The name index was re-queried in full and returns 152 rows for «Arena» at Scilla, deduplicating to about sixty-nine people. ONLY TWO carry «Madre Serafina Arlotta»: Rocco, 8 February 1932, and Giovanni, 31 March 1936. Neither Filippo, born 14 February 1852, nor Giuseppe, born 5 March 1860, is anywhere in it -- AND GIUSEPPE WAS CERTAINLY AT SCILLA IN JUNE 1898, burying his own ten-month-old son. A negative that survives the set trebling is worth more than the first one was, and it points the same way: they left.

Antenati name index, Scilla deaths 1910-1943, all 69 Arena

was Married at Scilla on 4 September 1838, and nothing after

now THEY HAD AT LEAST A SON, AND HE HAD A DAUGHTER. GIUSEPPE ARENA died at Scilla on 27 March 1925, «Padre Domenico, Madre Teresa Polistena, Coniuge Serafina Vita»; his daughter TERESA ARENA died there on 27 August 1943, «Padre Giuseppe, Madre Serafina Vita, Coniuge Gaetano Cosentino» -- named for her grandmother, exactly as the custom predicts. AND IT CONFIRMS TERESA POLISTINA INDEPENDENTLY: this archive had her from one line of the 1838 annual Tavola, and here she is again eighty-seven years later in a different series indexed by a different hand.

Antenati name index, Scilla deaths 1925 and 1943

was Born about 1848 (from «d'anni ventitré compiuti» in the 1871 marriage act)

now BORN 7 NOVEMBER 1843, and the 1871 age is four years short. Piedimonte Etneo Nati 1843 atto 101 gives her birth in full; both 1871 documents -- Matrimoni atto 14 and the publication certificate in the allegati -- make her twenty-three. TESTED RATHER THAN ASSUMED: the whole annual Tavola of Nati 1847 (116 acts) and Nati 1848 (144 acts) was read, every entry, and neither year holds a Leonarda Bonanno. There is no second girl of the name, so the 1843 act is hers and the age is simply wrong. NOTE ALSO that the two 1871 documents are ONE WITNESS, not two: same uffiziale, same fortnight, same declaration.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1843 atto 101; Matrimoni 1871 atto 14; Matrimoni allegati 1871 fascicolo 14; Nati 1847 and Nati 1848, annual Tavole read entire

was One family, «Bonanno» or «Bonaccorso» as the eye reads it

now TWO DIFFERENT PIEDIMONTE HOUSEHOLDS, BOTH HEADED BY A GAETANO, AT THE SAME TIME. GAETANO BONANNO married ANNA CAVALLARO and fathered Leonarda in 1843; GAETANO BONACCORSO married LUCIA GRASSO and fathered Mariano in 1847 (Nati atto 30) and, with a Chiara Venera, a Francesco in 1848 (atto 46). The surnames differ by three letters in a hand that abbreviates. THIS ARCHIVE HAS ALREADY PAID FOR IT: the first readings of the 1877 and 1880 Piedimonte birth acts in pe-mazza-acts.tsv wrote Rosario Mazza's wife as «BONACCORSO Leonarda», and both rows had to be corrected. Any Bonanno/Bonaccorso at Piedimonte must be read at full width and checked against the spouse, never taken off a contact sheet.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1847 atti 30 and 31, Nati 1848 atto 46, annual Tavole read entire

was A marriage of about 1835-40 that may fall before Antenati's Piedimonte run and has never been tested

now THEY WERE AT PIEDIMONTE AND HAVING CHILDREN IN 1847. The annual Tavola of Nati 1847 gives at act 31 «MAZZA SEBASTIANO -- Mazza Innocenzio / Cavallaro Domenica», born the 25th. It is the first record of the couple this archive has ever held, it fixes them in the town, and it gives a concrete act to open for their trades, ages and address -- which in turn brackets the marriage row 93 wants. Found by reading a whole Tavola for an unrelated question.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1847 atto 31 (annual Tavola)

was Maria Nicotra's mother, known only from a Queensland death registration of 1963 and spelled «Cassaneti» there

now A CANDIDATE, AND THE FIRST ONE THIS ARCHIVE HAS EVER HAD. Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1848 atto 45: «CASSANITI VENERA -- Cassaniti Gaetano / Venuti Maria», born the 14th. The spelling is the one row 161 established as correct (CASSANITI, not Cassaneti, which appears nowhere in Italy or in the Queensland index except on Maria's own death registration). A woman born in 1848 would be twenty-seven when Maria was born about 1875 and seventy-seven when Venera Cassaneti died in 1925. BOTH FIT. WHAT DOES NOT YET FIT, AND WHY THIS IS NOT A FINDING: row 161 read fourteen consecutive Piedimonte birth indexes, 1870-1883, and found NO Maria Nicotra. If this Venera stayed in the town her daughter should be in them. So either the household left before 1875, or this is a different Venera Cassaniti. THE TEST IS THE MARRIAGE INDEX, not another birth sweep: Piedimonte Matrimoni 1866-1885, one annual index per year, both spouses named, looking for a NICOTRA groom. 1871 is already read and clean.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1848 atto 45 (annual Tavola)

was Born at Piedimonte Etneo about 1875

now MASCALI, AND THE TREE HAS GIVEN HER HER MOTHER'S TOWN. This row is kept as it was reasoned, because the reasoning is the point and it was made BEFORE the act existed to check it against. Her parents' marriage act (Piedimonte, Matrimoni 1872 atto 20) puts GIOVANNI NICOTRA «domiciliato e residente a MASCALI» and VENERA CASSANITI «qui domiciliata» -- she was the Piedimonte one, he was not. A wife moved to her husband's comune, so the children of that marriage would be registered at Mascali. THAT IS WHY FOURTEEN CONSECUTIVE PIEDIMONTE BIRTH INDEXES, 1870-1883, PRODUCE NO MARIA NICOTRA: the archive was reading the wrong town's register, carefully, for days. WHEN THIS WAS WRITTEN, MASCALI'S REGISTERS HAD NOT BEEN OPENED and the row said so. THEY WERE OPENED THE SAME DAY AND THE PREDICTION HELD: Mascali, Nati 1875 atto 144, 8 December 1875 at half past nine in the evening, contrada Sopra Pietrafitta -- the next row down, with the act reproduced on the Mascali page. SUPERSEDED, AND KEPT.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1872 atto 20

was Venera Cassaneti, from the 1963 Queensland death registration of her daughter

now VENERA CASSANITI, born about 1848 at Piedimonte Etneo, daughter of the late GAETANO CASSANITI and the late MARIA CURRENTI. «CASSANETI» appears nowhere in Italy and exactly once in the whole Queensland index -- on Maria Mazza's own death registration, taken down from an informant at a Brisbane registry counter. The Italian act settles it. She was twenty-four when she married on 7 October 1872 and both her parents were already dead.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1872 atto 20; Nati 1848 atto 45

was Venuti Maria, read from the 1848 annual Tavola at 640 pixels

now MARIA CURRENTI. The marriage act of her daughter, read at full width, writes «e di FU MARIA CURRENTI» without ambiguity. The Tavola band was a hypothesis and it was wrong -- the second name I misread from a band in the same afternoon, after «Bonanno» for BONACCORSO. Kept here rather than silently fixed, because the correction IS the method: a name taken off a contact sheet must be confirmed at full width before it is written down as a person.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1872 atto 20, against Nati 1848 atto 45 (annual Tavola)

was A candidate for Maria Nicotra's mother, filed an hour earlier and explicitly not a finding

now CONFIRMED BY HER OWN MARRIAGE ACT, WHICH WAS FOUND SEPARATELY. The candidate rested on a name and a plausible date in an annual Tavola. Matrimoni 1872 atto 20 then gave a VENERA CASSANITI of twenty-four -- born about 1848 -- marrying a GIOVANNI NICOTRA, which is the couple the Queensland registration names as Maria Nicotra's parents. The two documents were reached by different routes on different questions and meet exactly. AND THE CUSTOM CORROBORATES FROM A THIRD DIRECTION: the family's own export gives the couple a son ROSARIO, and the act names the groom's father ROSARIO NICOTRA -- a name the archive could not have derived from anything it held.

Piedimonte Etneo, Nati 1848 atto 45 and Matrimoni 1872 atto 20

was Born at Piedimonte Etneo about 1875, no date

now BORN AT MASCALI, PROVINCE OF CATANIA, ON 8 DECEMBER 1875 AT HALF PAST NINE IN THE EVENING, in contrada Sopra Pietrafitta, and registered two days later by her father. Mascali Nati 1875 atto 144, read in the original: «da VENERA CASSANITI sua moglie ... e nata una bambina di sesso femminile ... a cui da il nome di MARIA». SHE IS THE WOMAN AT GENERATION FOUR who married Salvatore Mazza and is buried at Nudgee, and this archive spent fourteen consecutive Piedimonte birth indexes failing to find her because it was reading the wrong town's register. Her death at Brisbane in 1963 aged eighty-eight fits the date exactly.

Mascali, Nati 1875 atto 144; Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1872 atto 20

was A daughter of John Nicotra and Venera Cassaneti, no date, no place

now BORN AT MASCALI ON 12 DECEMBER 1873, fourteen months after her parents' marriage, and named for her mother -- or for her father's mother Venera Murabito; both are Venera, so the custom points two ways and settles nothing on its own. The 1873 annual index of Mascali births carries a PATERNITA column and gives «Nicotra Venera, 12 Dicembre 1873, Giovanni». THE ACT ITSELF IS NOT YET OPENED, so the mother is inferred from the household and not read. Index entry only.

Mascali, Nati 1873, annual index (Indice Annuale, N section)

was No age recorded at all

now TWO DECLARED AGES THAT DO NOT AGREE. «Di anni TRENTUNO» at his marriage on 7 October 1872, which puts his birth about 1841; «di anni VENTOTTO» at his daughter Maria's birth on 10 December 1875, which puts it about 1847. Six years the wrong way in three. KEPT AS A CONFLICT rather than averaged: his own birth act at Mascali, in either 1841 or 1847, would settle it and would carry his parents Rosario Nicotra and Venera Murabito independently. The identification of the two men does NOT rest on the age -- it rests on the wife, VENERA CASSANITI, named in both acts, and on the comune.

Piedimonte Etneo, Matrimoni 1872 atto 20; Mascali, Nati 1875 atto 144