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The 1825 civil
record of the
marriage promise reproduced below, for my Angela
Bongiovanni's maternal
great-great-great-grandparents Antonino Bellanca and
Maria Manzella, covers four pages. The form is in two columns, on the
left showing the Record of the Solemn Promise to
celebrate matrimony, while the right-hand column is
entitled 'Indication of the
subsequent canonical [church]
celebration of marriage'.
The left column of the record is translated below.
Essentially, the left column gives the details of the
civil promise made at the Town Hall, while the fact the
right column simply confirms whether the couple was
married in church. Until about 1850,the town's
name was spelled 'Mussomele', then changed to
'Mussomeli'
This record is only the promise or
contract to
marry, but it contains much more information than the
actual marriage record made by the church. Click
on the images at left to see the original documents.
In this case, the right side of the record is not filled
in, evidently meaning that the couple never married.
This is supported by the fact that Antonino's death
record, naming the same parents, does not indicate that
he was married.
Page three of the marriage record
states that the mother of the bride-to-be died on 17
September 1811, and church death records for that date
show the death of Francesca, wife of Giuseppe Manzella,
corroborating the surname. A child born in 1827, Gaetano
Bellanca, has a birth record stating that his parents
were Antonino Bellanca, age 26, and Maria
Giardina, age
30, which match the ages of Antonino Bellanca and Maria
Manzella in their marriage contract. This leads me
to conclude that Maria Manzella and Maria Giardina
were one and the same. I am speculating that
because Antonino Bellanca and Maria Manzella never
married, he gave the name of the mother of his son as
Maria Giardina on the boy's birth record. I believe that 'Giardina'
may have been an 'ngiuria', or family nickname, that was
given on the birth record instead of Manzella, and that
later records for the son Gaetano continued the use of
his mother's name as Maria Giardina. Accordingly,
I have recorded Maria's surname as Manzella Giardina. |
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RECORD OF THE SOLEMN PROMISE
to celebrate
matrimony |
[p. 1]
Number
One
Year eighteen hundred twenty
five,
day
twenty-nine of the month of
January
at hour
twenty,
before Us,
Giovanni Cinquemani, Mayor
and official of the Civil Status of the town of
Mussomele,
district of
Caltanissetta,
Province of
Caltanissetta,
have appeared in the Town Hall:
Antonino
Bellanca,
age
twenty-four,
born in
Mussomele,
district of
Caltanissetta,
Province of
as above, occupation
peasant
sharecropper,
domiciled in
said town,
son of
Mastro Gaetano,
age
deceased
occupation
______ domiciled
____,
and
of Domenica,
living, age
fifty-eight,
domiciled
here;
and
Maria Manzella,
age
twenty-seven, born in
said
town,
domiciled
here,
daughter of
Giuseppe, deceased, age
_____,
occupation
___ domiciled
here,
and daughter of
Francesca
age _____, domiciled
deceased.
The couple,
in the
presence of
witnesses who
will be
mentioned below,
and produced by them,
have
requested to receive
their solemn
promise to celebrate
prior to the
Church ceremony,
according to the
format
[p. 2]prescribed
by the Sacred
Council of
Trent for the
marriage which
they plan between them
with the
support of the parents of the
bride and groom, who
in our presence have lent their express and formal
consent to this matrimony, which they have accordingly
declared to Us.
The notice of this promise was affixed
to the door of the town hall of
Mussomeli on
Sunday the
second day of the
month of
January of the year
one
thousand eight hundred twenty-five.
We seconded
their request,
after having
read
them
all the
consistent
documents:
First,
the birth record of the groom
Second, the birth record of the bride
Third, the
marriage banns made in this Town
Fourth, the very ~~~~ of the Mother of
the bride - Father of the bride ~~~~~
the ~~~~~ legal ~~~~ in this case
~~~~~~~~~~~ of Matrimony ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Fifth, the death record of the paternal
grandfather of the groom
Sixth, the death records of the father
of the groom dated 31 December 1801, and
of the mother of the bride, dated 17
September 1811. |
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Page 3 continues:
and
having also read chapter six
under the title of
marriage
of the
civil laws
regarding the
respective
rights and obligations
of the spouses,
we have received from
each
of the parties,
one after
the other, the
declaration, that they
solemnly
promise to
celebrate
the marriage
before the
Church according to
the format
prescribed
by the
Holy Council
of Trent.
We made
the record of all this
in the presence
of
four witnesses
attending
the solemn
promise of marriage:
Francesco
Padalino,
age
fifty,
occupation servant,
a
subject of the
realm of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies,
domiciled
in Mussomele;
Vincenzo
Gullo,
age forty-three,
occupation
peasant sharecropper;
[p. 4] subject
of the realm,
domiciled
here;
Giuseppe
Messina,
age forty-seven,
occupation
peasant sharecropper,
subject of the realm,
domiciled
here;
Mariano
Sorce,
age
forty,
occupation
servant,
subject
of the realm,
domiciled
here.
By
regulation, this is inscribed on the two registers, we
read it to
the witnesses
and
the future bride and
groom, to whom
we have also
given two consistent
copies signed
by Us, to be
presented to the
parish priest,
to whom the celebration
of the
marriage pertains,
and then
it is signed
by us
alone, the declarant and the
witnesses not knowing how to write |
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The Mayor
[Signed]
Dr. Vincenzo
Sorce
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From Mussomeli Registri Stato Civile Film
1438826
1825 Marriages, No. 56, Antonino Bellanca and Maria Manzella
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