Was there Commonlaw Marriage in Sicily 1800's?
Hi all, Just joined this group. I have an interesting situation with my great grandparents, who are from Lercara Friddi (Palermo province). I haven't been able to find their marriage records despite extensive searching. I recently found interesting phrases on the birth records of several of their children which indicate that they were not married. The words also imply thet they may have been considered "married" without the formal ceremony. Was there commonlaw marriage (or something similar) back then?
Where the name of the mother would normally be written, there is the following:
... dalla unione naturale con giuseppa Montaldo ...
Which translates (I think) to "from the natural union with ..."
Here is an image of an example:
This was on births in 1897 and 1900. Other births (1890 & 1892) simply listed her as wife (moglie)
On another, earlier birth record (1884) there is a longer phrase which I haven't been able to decipher completely:
"sua unione un (or in) donna non maritata ne parente ne affine nei (unreadable) il riconoscimento"
I think that translates something like "his union with a woman not married nor related nor similar ------- the recognition"
Here is the actual image of that phrase:
So, two questions, really - was there some form of commonlaw marriage where they were eventually accepted as being married? and can anyone help with the unreadable word in the phrase above (or help to translate it correctly)?
Thanks for reading this way too long post!
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It wasn't a common law system, so no. Think of 'union' in the physical sense. Part of that phrase is 'con donna'. This is saying although they weren't married, the father recognises the child as his.
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What DangKwei said is correct, no common-law marriage existed under Italian law.
What I will add is that in the time period 1866-1929, church marriages were not recognized under Italian law, only civil marriages, so Italians had to complete 2 wedding ceremonies, 1 in church and 1 civilly. Some people protested this and only married in church, and so to punish this their children would be marked illegitimate. The phrasing used in the 1884 birth "dalla sua unione naturale con donna non maritata, ne parente, ne affine nei gradi che ostano al riconoscimento" (from his relations with an unmarried woman, not incestuous and therefore eligible to marry if they wanted to) was used specifically in these types of cases, so I do believe this is what happened to your ancestors. I believe then that the 1890 and 1892 birth records were just a mistake, that the clerk believed they were civilly married and indicated as such. Then, in 1897 and 1900, they realized their mistake and went back to an "unione naturale" phrasing.
If you look for the civil marriage in the period after 1900, you might just find it, because many couples chose to marry civilly later on to legitimize their children in the eyes of the law. Otherwise, you may still be able identify their parents to continue their genealogy by finding their death records. Since death records like birth records give the street address, it'd be easy to tell if you've found the correct death record, and that'll give you the parents' names. Otherwise, if all else fails, you may have no choice but to attempt to find a church marriage record in Lercara Friddi, but note that church records from this town are not online, so in-person research with special permission from the parish church will be required, and this is much easier said than done!
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Thanks to both of you for your help. Doing more searching, I thought that perhaps he was a foundling and therefore could not get a "proper" marriage, but what you wrote makes more sense. Your comment about people only having the church ceremony is very enlightening.
My brothers and I were thinking of going to Sicily sometime in the next few years to research the church records in person but I didn't think it would be easy to contact the church (not sure if there is more than one in Lercara) and get permission to search.
Again, much thanks!
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There are several churches in Lercara but the mother church is probably your best bet - Duomo di Maria Santissima della Neve.
https://www.chiesadipalermo.it/wd-annuario-enti/sesto-vicariato-1245/maria-ss-della-neve-379/
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