How can I be certain to interpret household information correctly in the catasti onciari?
I recently acquired the Catasti Onciari for Atina. Villa Latina and found the attached document for one of my ancestors. The household is large and includes siblings, cousin, nephew and spouses. I am wondering, though, if my interpretation of relationships is correct. (I tried attached a second document but did not succeed, so I copied my interpretation below):
Giacinto Panetta
Benedetto Panetta, b 1690
md Domenica Martino, b1705
Chco Salvadore, b 1724
Teresa, b1728
Marco, b 1730
Agostino, b1742
Catarina, b 1735
Franco, b 1740
Domenico, b 1697
Giuseppe, b 1704
Vincenza, b 1712 (sister of Benedetto)
Angela, b 1672 (another daughter of Giacinto??) – listed last in the household
Giullaume Antonio Panetta
Lorenzo, b1688 (cousin of Benedetto)
Md Eleonora Pacitto, b 1685
Bernardina, b 1724
Chco Antonio, b 1726
Alessio, b 1730
Michele Panetta, b 1706 (nephew of Benedetto)
md Domenica Valente, b 1691
Catarina, b 1730
Gaetano, b 1742
Salvadore, b 1694 (brother of Michele)
md Alessandra Valente, b 1702
Berardino, b 1724 (brother of Michele and nephew of ??)
Catarina Franci, b 1702 (widowed mother of Michele, Salvadore and Berardino?)
Mejores Respuestas
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The relationships look correct to me except for Angela who is listed last in the household. That one I cannot be sure of, but it looks like "daughter of Gia. . . . I believe you can assume she is Benedetto's older sister, but it would be an 18 year age difference.
What a wealth of information in one record!
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This is probably the most complex catasto onciario record I have ever witnessed!
Your translation is very good, the only errors are:
- Lorenzo is the son of the qm Antonio Panetta, qm meaning deceased, not Guame/William or anything like that. Since he is the head of household Benedetto's cousin, it's implied that Antonio and Giacinto are brothers.
- Angela at the end is a zia, an aunt, the "dico" means the scribe made a mistake and the preceding is to be ignored.
- Not really an error, but do note that Salvatore and Antonio have the title chierico, young men looking to become priests, the Chco is not part of their names.
As you read down the list of names in the catasto onciario record, everything up to Alessio is unambiguous. From that point on, we really can't be 100% sure. Is Michele the nephew of Benedetto or of Lorenzo? Is Vincenza again the sister of Benedetto, Lorenzo, or Michele? We see Bernardino is definitely the brother of Michele because it says "altro fratello", making him also the nephew of either Benedetto or Lorenzo, depending on the interpretation we select.
Caterina Franchi is obviously too young to be the mother of Benedetto or really anyone besides Bernardino. So given her position right after Bernardino's name, I believe she is his mother. She is too young to be the mother of Bernardino's 2 older brothers, and so their common father must have remarried. It's worth remarking that all relationships in catasto onciario record are tied to the male line. There is no guarantee that any of these "figli" are the children of the wives of their fathers. Death of the mother and subsequent remarriage, although rare, is always a possibility.
Finally, Angela's surname is not given, so she is a Panetta. She can either be the aunt of Benedetto (thus sister of Giacinto) or of Lorenzo (thus sister of the late Antonio). I do not believe she can be the aunt of Michele, Salvatore, and Bernardino because then she would be the sister of Lorenzo or Benedetto, and I feel she would have been indicated as such. The fact that the scribe chose aunt to refer to her implies to me that a closer relationship does not exist with anyone else in the record.
To answer your question about being certain, you will definitely need to rely on other sources: church records or notarial records to untangle this, and of course continue your research into the 17th century!
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