Child given mother's surname.
I am indexing batch https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/batch/ea7e7d17-49bd-4586-a072-fb95f4b4b0d6. On ordine 116, the baby was given the surname of the mother rather than the father. I know that I should index what I see. That is not my question. I have seen this happen in other records that I have indexed and I would like to know if this is just a clerical error or does this happen sometimes in Italy -- that occasionally the baby was given the surname of the mother rather than the father. I ask because I have an example of this in my own family tree. The child's baptismal record and death record both gave her the surname of her mother. This is not a case where the father was unknown. The parents were legitimately married. I would like to know if this was just a mistake or can the baby sometimes be given the surname of the mother in Italy?
Answers
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By law, the mother’s surname can only be given to the child of an unmarried couple IF the father does not immediately recognize the child.
I would however like to have a look at those records to see if there is any verbiage of explanation.
as I don’t have the right to access the link you attached, it would be good if you could Send a few pics.
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Like Paolo, I don't have access to the link so can't check what it says. I have seen this happen when the parents were married in church, but not thru the civil register. The parish records have the parents marriage recorded, and the baptism of son listed using the father's surname. The civil birth record lists the child's father as the person presenting the son for registration of birth, but the child's name is listed using the mother's surname and has the verbiage of being born out of wedlock. The use of the mother's surname is carried on in his civil marriage and death record, but he uses his father's surname on his children civil birth records.
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I have this situation in my own Italian family....my paternal great uncle was married to one woman, she left him, he subsequently formed a new family with a second woman. They had four children(my cousins). Because my great uncle was already married, and could not marry the second woman, their children took the mother's surname, my "paternal" cousins and their descendants have a completely different surname from that of my great-uncle.
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Thanks so much to Paolo Venturini, Vicodelgarganogenealogy.com and MarijeanneRende for your insightful responses!
I hope it is ok to attach the example from the indexing batch. I was not able to access the batch either. I must have given the wrong information. I apologize.
This document is what I was referring to in my question:
This second image is the document from my own family. It is from Catholic Church records and therefore is written in Latin and the handwriting is difficult to read, so I will give you a hint, the mother's name is Fortunata Visco and the father's name is Paschali della Sala. For some strange reason, the mother is listed first (which I had never seen before this record) and the child, Theresia Visco, is given her mother's surname. I have the marriage record for the parents and their names are Paschalis della Sala and Fortunata Visco if that gives you any better information. They were married in 24 September 1765. Any insights would be appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Cathy
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Cathy,
On the first record I think it was a clerk's mistake while trascribing in the civil register the Baptism certificate received from the priest.
As a matter of fact, in the index of the register, the girl is recorded as Salzano Teresa, daughter of Giuseppe and Carmelina Nastro (see line 238 in the doc below).
As for the second document, that clearly says the girl was a child of "legitimis coniugibus", I believe a similar mistake happened, and the girl's actual name was Teresa Della Sala, figlia di Pasquale and Fortunata Visco (latin version of names were only used for the records, actual names were in italian).
If you have access to the index, you may check it out as for case 1.
Hope this helps.
Ciao
Paolo
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Great detective work!! I should have thought of looking in the index. Thanks for replying so quickly.
Thanks for your help with my baptismal record. It just leaves me wondering what to do about claiming Pasquale and Fortunata as her parents. My Teresa Visco died in 1810 at the age of 40, but no parents' names were recorded on her death record. When looking for her baptismal record around 1770, this was the only Teresa Visco baptized within the time frame of when she should have been born (and, as you could see, it was 1766). So, I really have no absolute proof that these are her parents, which makes it all the more frustrating.
The intriguing part is that I match DNA with someone who has the surname "della Sala" from this same town in one of his his ancestral lines. Sadly, it is too far back to make a connection using the records that are found online.
Thanks again,
Cathy
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Cathy,
If you have access to church marriage records for Teresa Visco, you may find useful data about her parents.
As she died in 1810 at 40 yo, you may want to look at the years 1786-1800.
If you are super-lucky, you may find also the "processetto" related to her marriage, that usually contains a wealth of info on the family.
Good luck
Paolo
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I wish I had access to the church records! It would mean another trip to Italy to check on the information you suggest, which I would love to do someday! As I recall though, I think I looked for a marriage record for her when I was at the diocese archives, but the records for those years that she might have married were not present in the existing records in her parish. But I could be wrong about that. If I ever get there again, I will definitely look in the places you have suggested. You have been very helpful.
I thank you again for your help with my family tree problem.
Cathy
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