Help please with a birth record translation - Answered
This is my great-grandfathers birth record in Atripaldi. His name, that we know, was Giovanni Scalese Urciuoli. Family story is that he was illegitimate and adopted by an Urciuoli family. Many of his Urciuoli descendants have Scalese as a middle name. I am hoping to understand more about the names. Can anyone help? Thank you very much in advance, Nancie Urciuoli Johnson
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1 Oct 1871, Atripalda town hall, 14:00, before me, Alfonso Alaino[spelling?], official in charge of civil registration, appeared Angela Lizza[spelling?], age 53, the nun (or church employee) in charge of receiving foundling children, who declared that at 10:00 today in the foundling wheel on Largo Annunziata, she found a male baby that she brings to me wrapped in a white linen cloth. I inspected the baby personally and he appears to be about a day old, and inspecting his clothing and his body, I find no indication of a name, and so as per the law, I named the child Giovanni Scalese and I assigned the child to be raised by Maria Emanuela Giannattasio, wife of Pasqule Urciuoli, from Aiello del Sabato. Also present were the witnesses Sabino Elia, son of the late Ippolito, age 70, farmer and Antonio Tarantino, son of the late Lorenzo, age 35, [I cannot understand his profession], who were selected by the declarant (Angela Lizza). The declarant and the witnesses were illiterate and could not sign.
Indeed, the family story is true. This child is born to completely unknown parents but was raised by the Urcioli family. There was no legal adoption in the modern sense in this time period, but it's certainly possible that the Urcioli family treated him as one of their own and even inherited him upon the parents' deaths, same as their other children. There are many different reasons why a child would be abandoned and many reasons why a couple would seek to adopt a child. There are many articles online about Italian proietti (foundlings) as this was a very common phenomenon in the 19th century.
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1 Oct 1871, Atripalda town hall, 14:00, before me, Alfonso Alaino[spelling?], official in charge of civil registration, appeared Angela Lizza[spelling?], age 53, the nun (or church employee) in charge of receiving foundling children, who declared that at 10:00 today in the foundling wheel on Largo Annunziata, she found a male baby that she brings to me wrapped in a white linen cloth. I inspected the baby personally and he appears to be about a day old, and inspecting his clothing and his body, I find no indication of a name, and so as per the law, I named the child Giovanni Scalese and I assigned the child to be raised by Maria Emanuela Giannattasio, wife of Pasqule Urciuoli, from Aiello del Sabato. Also present were the witnesses Sabino Elia, son of the late Ippolito, age 70, farmer and Antonio Tarantino, son of the late Lorenzo, age 35, [I cannot understand his profession], who were selected by the declarant (Angela Lizza). The declarant and the witnesses were illiterate and could not sign.
Indeed, the family story is true. This child is born to completely unknown parents but was raised by the Urcioli family. There was no legal adoption in the modern sense in this time period, but it's certainly possible that the Urcioli family treated him as one of their own and even inherited him upon the parents' deaths, same as their other children. There are many different reasons why a child would be abandoned and many reasons why a couple would seek to adopt a child. There are many articles online about Italian proietti (foundlings) as this was a very common phenomenon in the 19th century.
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Oh my Joseph, you have been so very helpful & I thank you!!! I suspected that his true birth parents would be unknown - the mother, probably unwed, gave the baby to the church as was common. I notice that the official gave the baby the name Giovanni Scalese - which is my mystery now. Why Scalese? When the child was adopted by the Urciuoli family, the Scalese was kept as a form of middle name. And all of Giovanni's 6 children were given Scalese as well. Same with his male grandchildren.
I will do more searching now for Scalese names in the region, hopefully to get an idea. Thank you again so much, your help is very much appreciated!
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From what it reads, they truly had no idea who the baby was, and so the name was completely invented. To avoid stigma for the foundling's future descendants, the officials would normally pick a surname that was already common in the region. Therefore, it is difficult to extract any meaning from that.
If ever you want to attempt to identify the biological parents with certainty, DNA testing would be the only way, I think. However, because of how far back this is and also because of the fact that very few Italians participate in DNA testing (though Italian-Americans definitely do it), it will be quite difficult to find anything concrete. You ought to be able to confirm that his biological parents were indeed from the same town, Atripalda, or if not, which town they were from, but extracting any more detail than that is much more difficult, unfortunately.
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The fact that Giovanni has any birth record available to seen today is amazing I think. Scalese may very well be a common name in the area, as Urciuoli is in Aiello and Bellizzi. True to tradition, Giovanni's first born was a girl, named Emanuella - after his adopted mother. The next child was a boy, named Pasquale (my grandfather) - after his adopted father. So to our family branch, the adopted parents were Giovanni's family.
I have DNA connections to the Urciuoli name. Unfortunately, many people's trees, if they have one at all, have inaccurate information. Also, Giovanni married an Urciuoli, so the trail tends to go in circles! LOL
Again, thank you again!
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Nancie and Joseph,
I have enjoyed reading the translation request, translation, and comments. I think it is amazing to have found this record and be able to verify the family stories. So often family stories hold the truth that will lead us to our ancestors.
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Nancie,
If your question has been answered will you mark it so the Italian speakers who visit our page specifically to help with translation will know. The record you found is fascinating!
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