Need help translating a birth record

Cynth R

Hello. I would love to get help translating a birth document for Giacomo Giglio, born July 26, 1826. My ancestor is his father, Domenico Giglio and he was first married to Serafina Pacello and they had one child in 1824. While searching for the next child in the family, I came across a birth record for another child in 1826, Giacomo Giglio, son of Domenico Giglio( with matching name and age to my ancestor) but with a different mother. It looks to me like this record is saying that Domenico was not married to the mother, Climentina at the time of Giacomo's birth in July 1826. I am interested in what it says about Climentina, about where she was living, I want to see if they were living together or who's house she was living in, and any clues as to what happened. There are no more children by Domenico from his wife Serafina but the same year, she also had a child in February of 1826 from a different man she was not married to. I am also interested in what it says the occupation of Domenico is. And the "D." in front of Domenico's name, I read on Wikipedia that it stands for "Don" and is a title of honor for nobility or in Southern Italy, associated with leadership in organized crime. This "D" or "Don" title was not in front of his name at the birth of his first child while married to Serafina. I wondered if there are any other clues you can give me from the record because I only know a little Italian(I do speak Spanish) and can't understand a lot of the record other than the dates and things. Later, in 1828, Domenico has another child with Climentina and this time it says she is "moglie legitima". so they were married. I thought divorce was illegal in Italy at that time so how could he marry again if his first wife, Serafina, was still alive? (I found the death record of the first wife, Serafina Pacello(her name and age matches)on Jan 23, 1839. It lists a different husband other than Domenico, so Serafina must have married again as well.) If this were in a larger city, I would say there were multiple people with the same name and birth year, so it might not be the same people, but this is a very small town with very few people. Here is the link to the birth record for Giacomo is July 26, 1826. Thank you for any help you can offer.

Birth Record of Giacomo Giglio.jpg

https://www.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/ark:/12657/an_ua35964159/wbVW8oA?lang=en

joseph99929

@Cynth R

This situation is definitely unusual and will warrant further study!

The fact that this is a small town does not affect the probability of finding two people with the same name and age. The way Italian naming patterns work (naming children after the grandparents), it's very common to find cousins with the exact same name born very close together. You should definitely study all records: birth, marriage, death very thoroughly to try to piece together what happened.

Unmarried births were quite rare in this time period, so we definitely want to rule out all other explanations if we can!

To answer your questions:

• The record indeed does not say that Domenico and Clementina are married, but it also doesn't say they are explicitly unmarried either. Of course, you'll notice that most, if not all, of the other birth records indicate that the mother is the "moglie" of the father. Omitting that phrase in this record could either have been a simple mistake, or they could truly be unmarried. I have encountered both possibilities before.
• The record says that Clementina lives with Domenico ("domiciliata con lui").
• The abbreviation "D." indeed stands for "Don". Clementina also has the title "Donna". In the 19th century, the title Don/Donna was used for educated people, wealthy people, and also for priests. We can see that Domenico clearly comes from a wealthy family, since his profession is landowner ("proprietario") and he is literate. If Domenico Giglio is not referred to in this way on other records, or if he has a simple profession like farmer or laborer, then it's surely not the same man.
• There was no divorce. Unless the spouse died, there was no remarriage. On the other hand, a married man having children from a woman who was not his wife did occasionally happen, especially in the upper classes, though it was still quite rare.
• Note that the children of a married woman were always considered and registered as children of her husband, regardless of circumstances, so for this birth to Serafina in 1826, it really has to be a different woman with the same name.

Now, there are some other tips you can use to try to figure this out:

• Because Domenico is literate, you can look at his signature on other records. This is not an exact science, but you can potentially gain some insight on whether or not there were 1 or 2 men with this name living in town.
• The address of residence of Domenico on this record is given as Fazza/Bazza/Piazza (hard to read). You can check the address on other birth records to see what you can learn.
• Profession and title are very important. If on other records, Domenico, Serafina, etc have wildly different class levels, then they are surely different people.
• A very valuable tool is the marriage processetti records (available on Antenati). Notably, these files include death certificates of the bride and groom's parents (if dead at the time of their child's marriage). By searching for all marriages to children of your Domenico or your Serafina or Clementina, etc, you can then see what death certificates are provided. If two processetti provide the exact same death certificate for the parent, then this means the parents are one and the same, but if they provide different death certificates, then they are certainly different individuals with the same name. Or, if on one child's marriage, the parent is dead, but then on a later one, he is alive, then again, proof they are different individuals.

Cynth R

Thank you for your help! This gives me some great steps to take to further my investigation!