Showing posts with label #Rome. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #Rome. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2016

Chasing Squirrels Leads to BIG Find

  © Copyright Peter Trimming and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

Chasing squirrels: a genealogy term used when you start researching one person, then pick up the scent of another, and start chasing them instead. Frowned upon by many, but sometimes quite productive.

Case in point: I ocassionally Google my Fratoddi surname in Italy, and after filtering out three of my cousins there that regularly rank high on Google's results, I sometimes find little nuggets.

This was how I came across a newspaper article in Germany about my great grandfather which you can read about here.

This weekend I came across Carolina Fratoddi, who had the luck of being included in a Google book in Italian, which translated as Inscriptions of churches and other edifices of Rome from the eleventh century to the present day, published in 1877.

This photo was included:

I reached out to the Italian Genealogy group on Facebook, where I received exactly what I needed. "What you're looking at is a description of a memorial to Carolina Fratoddi from 1866 located in in the "Basilica di Santa Maria in Montesanto" in Rome. Carolina was Roman, the daughter of Angelo and her husband was Alexandro Rinaldini. The memorial is described here as a portrait in marble, in bas-relief (probably at the top, then the inscription in a plaque beneath). It says here this memorial can be found on the left wall of the second chapel on the right (inside the church)."

How awesome is that! Further discussion led to another comment that Rome records were now included in the Italian website Antenati

I dropped Carolina like a hot rock and headed over. I bagged my 2x great grandfather and several of his children, which thanks to the incredible detail of Italian records, led to his parents in Montereale.

Stay tuned, details coming soon!

Friday, October 24, 2014

Giuseppe Fratoddi of Italy #52Ancestors #40

I know very little about Giuseppe Fratoddi. I estimate his date of birth to be about 1830. He was married to Flavia Salieri. The surname Fratoddi is rare, even in Italy.

Per my cousin Manlio Fratoddi, Giuseppe lived in Rome and had a shop that sold charcoal. He was also a soldier of the Pope that defended Rome before and during the unification of Italy. He fought against the unification of Italy which ended in 1870 with the fall of Rome.
The Capture of Rome (Public Domain) Porta Pia Pagliari Vizzotto
From Wikipedia articleThe Italian Army, commanded by General Raffaele Cadorna, crossed the papal frontier on 11 September and advanced slowly toward Rome, hoping that a peaceful entry could be negotiated. The Italian Army reached the Aurelian Walls on 19 September and placed Rome under a state of siege. Although now convinced of his unavoidable defeat, Pius IX remained intransigent to the bitter end and forced his troops to put up a token resistance. On 20 September, after a cannonade of three hours had breached the Aurelian Walls at Porta Pia, the Bersaglieri entered Rome and marched down Via Pia, which was subsequently renamed Via XX Settembre. 49 Italian soldiers and four officers, and 19 papal troops died. Rome and Latium were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy after a plebiscite held on 2 October. The results of this plebiscite were accepted by decree of 9 October.

Giuseppe was the father of at least three children:
Vincenzo born 1862
Bernardino born June 26, 1869 in Montereale, L'Aquila, Abruzzo
Nazzareno

There are others that I have found with a father named Giuseppe Fratoddi. They may or may not be the same family; possibly there was a Junior Giuseppe:
Fernanda born 1890. Resided in Rome in 1923.
Pietro born 1892 in Porta
Nazzareno born 1892

There is a Fratoddi tomb in the oldest part of the Cimitero del Verano in Rome.
Photo taken by Manlio Fratoddi

Owners:

MONALDI ZESTRINI GIUSEPPE
FRATODDI PIETO
FRATODDI SALVATORE
FRATODDI GIOVANNI
FRATODDI FILIPPO
FRATODDI ANTONIO
FRATODDI VIRGILIO

Burials:

LATINI GIUDITTA
FRATODDI PIETRO
ZAMPERINI TERESA
FRATODDI SALVATORE
DEL MATTE EMILIO
FRATODDI ANTONIO
MELVINE ALESSANDRO
CASALDI GIUSEPPA
MANEGGIANTI GIULIO
FRATODDI GIUSEPPE
GIANNUZZI CARLO died Nov 5 1960
FRATODDI VIRGILIO died Apr 3 1965
FRATODDI FILIPPO
FRATODDI GIOVANNI
FRATODDI VIRGILIO
FRATODDI FERNANDA
PELLICCIONI GRAZIA died Mar 5 1974
FRATODDI ROSA died Dec 13 1983

Since they are all buried in the same tomb, I can be fairly certain they are all related. I'm not sure if they are listed in order of death.

If you are one of my cugini (cousins), I would love to hear from you.