Finding
Graziani:
Emilito's search for his (1/32) Italian
roots
By
Emilito (Emil Signes)
Rev. 8: 2008-10-23
Contents
Dedication
Victorina GRACIANI LORENZO, Isabel BESTEIRO
GRACCIANI, Antonio GRACIANI VÁZQUEZ, Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO,
Ramón GRACIANI RUIZ
Overview
A brief overview of the purpose and status of the
search to date.
Through
1998: Background
Why Emilito started this project and results through
about 1998
1998: I find descendants of
Flavio Graziani
Emilito speaks to Ramón and Esperanza
At this point Emilito knows he is related to - but
not a member of - the Flavio branch
1998: Ramón sends treasures
Tons of information on the Graciani of Spain
An introduction to Flavio Graziani
The first reference to Villabuona
1999: I meet "new"
family
Emilito meets family in Spain, in Cuba
And, in Boston, Emilito meets the Graciani from
Ecuador
2001-03: Loose ends begin to
meet
Emilito's cousins Betty and Bill visit Villabuona
Betty and Bill find Flavio Graziani's birth
certificate
A birthday present: Emilito receives his
great-great-grandfather Graciani's baptismal certificate in the
mail
Emilito loses contact with the Alicante Graciani
Emilito meets Graciani relatives in Seville,
Córdoba, Málaga
Victorina Graciani's baptismal font
Steve White visits Villabuona
Emilito meets Graciani relatives in São Paulo
Emilito finds one of Flavio's descendants living in
DC
2003: Emilito finds Romano!
Finds Giulio Salemmne
May 2003: A Summary
as of this date
We know that Romano and Flavio are brothers
We know the Graziani line 4 generations back in Italy
We know the relationship between their descendants
We know the names of more than 700 descendants of
the Graziani brothers
We know that the original spelling was Graziani
(with one z)
We don't know anything about the Graziani's years in
Italy
We don't know anything about their voyage to Spain
nor early years there
We don't know the Graziani ancestry as far back as
it is possible to go
We don't know the reason for the spelling changes in
the 19th century
mid-2003: Emilito meets more relatives in Spain
And with each new discovery, new questions
September 2003:
Emilito visits Lucca (Forward to the Past I)
Lots of new information about the Graziani and
ancestors
Emilito visits Villabuona
Emilito visits the rectory in Piazzanello (parish of
Pescaglia)
November 2005: Emilito visits
Lucca again (Forward to the Past II)
Tons and tons of information - back to the 15th
century
Emilito finds dozens of direct ancestors and many
miscellaneous facts
Emilito's direct ancestors include the following:
GRAZIANI, MARCHI, GAMBOGI, BERNARDINI, MAZZEI, PIERCECCHI, BIANCHI,
FREDIANI, NICOLAI, BARTELLONI, RENALDI
2006: Madrid Census
Data Speak Out!
Back to Spain - more on the Graciani
2007: Auntie Nitro and I
Emilito finds Nitroglicerina in the 1873 census
Domingo Graciani's first family
2008: Frasquito, Juliana,
& Julio
12 years of census data on Emilito's
great-great-grandfather Frasquito Graziani
A new great-great-grandaunt, Juliana Graciani of
Seville
A new live relative, Julio Linares Graciani of Toledo
Dedication
October, 2008: The story of
this
ongoing quest is dedicated to
five
people without whom the discovery of an unbroken link of 18 generations
from pre-Columbian days to the current descendants of Josefa BESTEIRO
GRACIANI (the goal) and multiple other branches (the byproduct) would
never have taken place:
1. Victorina GRACIANI LORENZO
(1862-1931). The last of our (US LAGOS-BESTEIRO) ancestors to carry
GRACIANI as a surname, she passed on enough
information to her granddaughter Carmen to make eventual connections
between "her" GRACIANI and "the other" GRACIANI of Spain.
2. Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI [sic]
(1896-1980). Victorina's youngest daughter: her letters to her niece
Carmen added much detail and new
information to her mother's stories.
3. Antonio GRACIANI VÁZQUEZ (1903-1984). At the same time Isabel
was writing to Carmen, Antonio was writing to his cousin César
GRACIANI about the history of Flavio GRAZIANI and his descendants.
4. Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO
(1910-1993). Emilito's mother. Her stories to her children, her
quest for
information, and her penchant for documentation, kept lots of old
family history alive.
5. Ramón GRACIANI RUIZ
(1931-2000). The most recent keeper of the history of the
descendants of
Flavio GRACIANI MARTÍN; his data enabled us to determine that
many old legends were actually truths.
Overview:
October 2008
Background.
This is the story of a quest to explore the
Italian
branch of Emilito's otherwise 100% Spanish heritage. As of 2008
the
the
search has unearthed ancestors as far back as Giambattista [no surname,
but an ancestor of Emilito's GRAZIANI], born almost certainly before
Columbus's 1492 voyage. Prior to the children of Gratiano
(great-great-great grandson of Giambattista, born in 1638), there were
no surnames in
this branch; Emilito found the first reference to a surname
(GRATIANI) in 1677, and in the early 18th century the
spelling was changed to GRAZIANI. At this
point, Emilito has found 990 descendants of Giambattista (but
he reckons this is probably less than 1% of the actual
number).
As far as he can determine, all 10 recorded generations of ancestors of
Romano & Flavio GRAZIANI -- the brothers who emigrated to Spain --
were born
and baptized either in the parish of
Pescaglia or neighboring parishes, then in the dukedom (now province)
of Lucca.
Latest
Updates.
In 2005 Emilito traveled to Lucca for 10 days; 2 full days, with the
help
of student Andrea Luciani, were spent at the Rectory in Piazzanello
(parish of
Pescaglia). It was there that he found ancestors back to the 15th
century. In addition, even prior to this data being posted on the
web in July of 2006 (see: ancestors of Emil
Signes and 11
generations of Graziani
starting with Giambattista),
Emilito found a set of 9th cousins living in St.
Louis. The common ancestors were Mazzeo MAZZEI and Fiora
BARTELLONI, born in Pescaglia in the mid-17th century. He is also
in contact with another BARTELLONI descendant in England, possibly a
relative as well.
In
2006, 2007, and 2008, based on research done in Madrid's "Archivo de la
Villa," Emilito
has found much new information. Most spectacularly, he has found
a census document from 1873 in which he has found - in print - the
legendary characters "Federal" and "Nitroglicerina." He has also
found a couple of unknown branches: descendants of the first marriage
of Domingo GRACIANI MARTÍN, and also of another unknown GRACIANI
- Juliana - who appears to have been the sister of Emilito's
great-great-grandfather Frasquito and may have been the first GRACIANI
ever to live in Seville. He finally found Frasquito's address in
Madrid from 1871 to 1889 as well as several interesting census records
from that era.
Still completely unknown - and Emilito admits he doesn't know where to
turn - are exactly when, how, why, whence and with whom the siblings
Romano and Flavio GRAZIANI
emigrated from Italy to Spain (the range of years seems to be between
1815 and 1827), whither they went (Flavio ended up in Aranjuez no later
than 1828, Romano fathered children born in Menorca in 1830 and
Alicante in 1832), and in general all
their activities between leaving home and fathering their first
children. No information on the life in Spain or the death of Romano
and Flavio is known. He welcomes suggestions regarding the process of
discovery.
Note: Emilito has chosen to
write the following article in the first
person.
What
I Knew as a Child
Italian on My Tree
The child of two Spanish parents, I was nevertheless given the
supposedly Americanized name of Emil SIGNES because I was born in “the
new country.” My name in Spanish, however, where they keep both
parents’ surnames, is Emilio SIGNES LAGOS. My mother, Carmen
LAGOS BESTEIRO, was born in Havana, and her mother Josefa BESTEIRO
GRACCIANI [well, that’s the way she wrote it] was born in Madrid.
I had always known
that there was an Italian branch on our family
tree. My mother used to mention our great-great grandfather
GRAZZIANI from Italy. But that's all we really knew about him.
Not that we ever asked
very much.
The GRACCIANI in my
grandmother’s surnames came from her mother
Victorina GRACCIANI [again, her spelling of choice]
LORENZO. The
two c's had replaced the
z's, according to my mother, because Spanish rules didn't allow a
double z (or even a single z before an i). That we had, though, a
GRAZZIANI in our background was something we always knew.
According to my
mother, her great grandfather GRAZZIANI came from the
North of Italy, possibly Genoa or Milan.
She had never met
her
great grandfather, who died more than 20 years
before she was born, but she had a close relationship with her
grandmother Victorina GRACCIANI, who lived in Havana from 1907 until
her death in 1931. Victorina visited the US several times and
actually lived in Paterson for several months, perhaps a year or more,
on more than one occasion in the 1920s.
Havana,
1907: Seated is Victorina GRACIANI [official spelling] LORENZO
Behind
her are her
children Pepita (Emilito's grandmother), Jorge, and Isabel (Aunt Betty)
This picture was taken shortly
after their arrival in Cuba
Federal
and
Nitroglicerina
Occasionally, the topic of the Spanish Civil War would come up, and my
mother would talk about my
parents' experiences during the outbreak of that war, and about the
communists and the anarchists
that
had burned down all the contents of the church in my father's
hometown. "You know," she would say, a glint in her eye, "we had
at least one anarchist in our family."
She would go on to
tell the story of this distant uncle (she never
mentioned the side of the family he came from, nor were we
curious/intelligent enough to ask), who was an anarchist. He
named his son "Federal," she said, because he wanted whatever
government there had to be limited to small local federations.
Knowing, however, that violence would be needed to achieve these ends,
he then named his daughter "Nitroglicerina." As the story went, when
these children grew to adulthood, they had
themselves christened "Segundo" and -- possibly -- "Cecilia."
1993: When Mother Dies – Why do we Wait So Long?
From the time I was a teen until my mother died, I never did anything
with this information, other than a) tell my Italian buddies at college
that I was partly one of them and b) retell over and over again the
story of my anarchist uncle who named his children Federal and
Nitroglicerina.
My mother died on
February 28, 1993. I suppose that, as she was
dying, I suddenly realized that an entire lifetime -- even 2 or 3
lifetimes, as represented by the stories of her parents and grandmother
-- of family
information was going to be lost forever. On the day before she
died, I grabbed every old family picture I could find and took them to
her deathbed, asking for the name of the person(s) on each
picture. I guess it wasn't a very sensitive thing to do, but she
seemed happy to provide the information.
Following her
death, I
took boxes and boxes of unidentified handwritten
"stuff" to my home in Pennsylvania, where it sat untouched in the
basement for more than three years.
Concord (MA), 1990: Carmen LAGOS
BESTEIRO (m. Signes) and all her
children and grandchildren
on her 80th birthday, 5 Oct. 1990
1997:
I Discover Genealogy
Toward the end of 1996 I bought the genealogy program Family Origins
for Windows, but it was well into 1997 that I first started cramming it
with data.
I found out at that
time that birth certificates in Spain included
information not only about parents, but also about grandparents.
I eagerly looked forward to finding my grandmother’s birth certificate
and it was indeed in my mother’s piles. When I looked for her
Italian grandfather, however, I found out that he was born in Alicante.
And, instead of the GRAZZIANI I expected, I found that his name was
written Francisco GRACIANI.
1998:
I Dig Up More Information
Having had great success finding some missing Lagos relatives by
writing virtually every Lagos in the Madrid phone books (I received an
amazing email on December 31, 1997 entitled
RV:_DESCENDIENTES_DE_ADOLFO_LAGOS_MUÑOZ_Y_MARGARITA_ESCALONA,
and it was as if I was transported back to another world, a world in
which old friendships and family relationships were recreated). I
was now determined to do this for the other branches of my family.
Of these, the Graciani
were the most problematic, and all letters to
all the Graciani I could find in the Spanish phone books (about 30)
were unanswered.
It was during 1998
that I also unearthed several letters written by my
“Aunt Betty” [tía Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI, my grandmother’s
sister], between 1973 and 1979. In large part, these letters
consisted in answering my mother’s many questions about family
history. More on these later.
When my brother
Richard returned from Valencia, where he was accustomed
to spend the summer, in September, he noted that a colleague of his
knew a Graciani from Seville now living on a certain street in
Valencia. I found a J.R. GRACIANI in Valencia on the web and
wrote a letter on 28 Sep 1998.
In addition, because I
firmly believed that I could distinguish “my”
Graciani from Graciani that were not mine by the double consonant, I
searched for people that spelled their name GRAZZIANI and wrote to them
at the same time.
I got one quick
response: a fax on October 5 (my mother’s birthday)
from José Ramón GRACIANI LUCINI of Valencia. He
sent me a summary of a family tree starting with a Flavio GRAZIANI, his
great-grandfather, who probably arrived around 1830 from Lucca, Italy.
I answered José
Ramón because I was pleased that he took
the trouble to write. I suspected, however, that we were not
related. His Italian ancestor spelled his name with a single z,
and wasn't from Genoa or Milan. At the time, I missed the fact
that there was a “Segundo” in the tree.
Aunt Betty speaks from
the past (1973-1979).
Havana, 1944: Isabel BESTEIRO
GRACCIANI, AKA "Aunt Betty" is 2nd row in family photo with husband
Mario GARCÍA GONZÁLEZ.
Emilito's
cousin Diana is seated on the
floor.
Top, right to
left, are Isabel's children
Pepe and Nena, and Nena's husband Bebo
From Aunt Betty’s letters I learn that her grandfather Francisco
was
nicknamed Frasquito and had a sister Dolores. From what she had
heard, Dolores was widowed early and lived with or near her brother, so
that her daughter Alejandrina CARO GRACIANI and Victorina GRACCIANI
LORENZO grew up as sisters. Alejandrina, her daughter Julia
DELGADO, and her grandson Fernando DELGADO [MARTÍNEZ DELGADO]
all became actors well known throughout
Spain.
Actors Alejandrina CARO GRACIANI,
her daughter Julia DELGADO CARO and grandson Fernando [Martínez]
DELGADO
These are all signed photos sent
to their US relatives
Aunt Betty notes
that
my great grandmother Victorina was also a great
actress, having received first prize in competition, but quit the stage
to marry at a very young age.
She also speaks of
relatives in Seville: el tío Paco and el
tío Domingo. Paco (short for Francisco) was a cousin of
her grandfather Frasquito (also short for Francisco), and Domingo
[tío Domingo
de Sevilla] was alternately referred to as a sibling, then a cousin, of
her grandfather.
She wrote that
tío Paco, her grandfather’s cousin, was a very
well known engineer in his day. “They told me that that when
there was an accident they sent for him . . . if for example a bridge
went down he built a provisional one and he said 'Under my authority
the trains may pass' and there never was an accident. That’s what
my mother told me.”
She went on to say
that “tío Domingo of Seville was a true
artist in woodworking and it was he that built the doll house that I
believe you [Carmen LAGOS BESTEIRO] have heard about from your mother
which, among other things, had a perfect spiral staircase made from one
tree trunk and with sculpted balconies and doors, all a wonderful work
of art.”
Part of a 1973 letter from Aunt
Betty to her niece Carmen;
she discusses tío Domingo de Seville and his woodworking skills
Another branch of the
Graciani – closer on the family tree – were the
children of tío Joaquín GRACCIANI (or GRACIANI) LORENZO,
Victorina’s
only sibling. Aunt Betty: “Emilio, the older, is retired and
lives in Ecuador. He has two children: his son is still single,
and his daughter was married last year and now has a daughter.
Manolita, who lives here [Cuba] and whom we love very much, just a few
days ago received color pictures of Emilio’s daughter’s wedding.
Manolita’s daughter Alica is the godmother of Arturito [Aunt Betty’s
great grandson].”
Siblings who emigrated from Spain
to Cuba:
Emilio and Manolita GRACIANI
SÁNCHEZ
Federal and
Nitroglicerina. My mother had written Aunt Betty
asking her to identify Federal and Nitroglicerina’s father.
Unfortunately my mother used the term “anarchist” when referring to
this individual and this angered Aunt Betty who never answered the
question. She simply commented (without noting who “he”
was): “He was merely anticlerical, he was a member of the legally
authorized Brotherhood of Masons. There’s even a building in
Havana. In our family there have been no anarchists.
Whoever told you this was either mistaken or had bad intentions.”
Spelling.
According to Aunt Betty: "Originally our surname was
spelled with two z’s but to avoid the mistakes that arose frequently in
legal documents, and the consequent confusion, it was written with two
c’s or GRACCIANI and later, I don’t know if it was when we were already
in Cuba, they took off one of the c’s for the same reason.
My mother’s 1978
meeting with Janina
Sometime while searching documents I found a note of my mother’s that
referred to a visit with Alejandrina MARTÍNEZ DELGADO (Janina),
daughter of Julia DELGADO (and great-granddaughter of Frasquito).
In this document she notes that “she's the only descendant of the
Grazzianis who the Besteiros or I have ever met.”
I hope to do better.
October 1998: I visit
Spain.
Before leaving for Spain in October I have written to the three
GRAZZIANI in the Madrid online phone book and replied to José
Ramón in Valencia. On my first night in Madrid, at the
home of a Lagos relative, I receive two phone calls, both of tremendous
import.
Conversation
with Esperanza.
The first person to call is Esperanza GRACIANI CASTILLA. She has
received my letter although it was addressed to an aunt whose surnames
were GRAZZIANI GARCÍA. However, she says, “it is clear
that our surname was originally written with two z’s.” In fact,
she adds that her generation is the first that hasn’t used two
z’s. Furthermore, her children have gone back to using the
surnames “MARTÍNEZ GRAZZIANI.” She notes that according to
the family story passed on to her, the original immigrant
Flavián arrived in Spain around 1830 as one of 4 brothers.
They were soldiers fleeing the political situation in Italy at the
time. Her sources had told her that two stayed in Spain, and two went
on to “the Americas.”
She mentions her
father Manuel GRAZZIANI GARCÍA, born in
Seville, then her grandfather Segundo (she continues describing
Segundo, but my mind is suddenly swimming with the stories of
Federal-Segundo and Nitroglicerina-Cecilia).
I don’t know how to
proceed – surely the entire Federal-Segundo story
is too bizarre to mention, so I don’t. I
do, however, meekly ask "Were there
any stories in the family about anarchist ancestors?" "Yes," she says,
"but my grandfather was so nice, I don't want to believe them. . . And
those stories about assassinating Prim . . . "
Conversation
with Ramón. Eerily, at almost
the same moment that I hang up the phone from
Esperanza, I receive a phone call from Ramón GRACIANI RUIZ.
He says the original
immigrant’s name was Flavio [I suppose
Flavián was a Spanish version]. He concurs with
Esperanza’s explanation that he came to Spain as a refugee escaping the
political situation in Italy in the 1830s. He knows that Flavio
had come over with at least one family member – a cousin, he thought.
We agree that I can’t
be descended from Flavio – his son Francisco
(Paco), Ramón’s great-grandfather, was clearly a different
person from my great-great grandfather Francisco (Frasquito) of the
same generation. I must be descended from Flavio’s brother /
cousin, he thinks.
I am a bit doubtful,
again, as to whether or not we are related.
I decide to try to continue the Federal-Segundo thought: “I was
speaking with Esperanza GRACIANI earlier, and she mentioned that her
grandfather was named Segundo. That’s not a common name, is it?”
I am still reluctant to bring up the legend. “Oh, you’ve spoken
with Segundo’s granddaughter? That’s interesting, I’ve never met
her.”
Then, a little
embarrassed, I spit out the Federal-Nitroglicerina story
I’d heard as a kid. “Yes,” says Ramón to my astonishment,
“that story is just the way I’ve heard it . . . Except that the
daughter’s name was Mónica.” And the father?
“Domingo GRACIANI MARTÍN, brother of Ramón’s
great-grandfather.
And, I continue, "What about Prim?
Was there a Graciani involved in his assassination?" "Well,
yes. At least that's what
my father told me," Ramón answers.
My wife Heide says
she’ll never forget the look on my face when I got
off the phone: “Federal – Nitroglicerina” – it’s true! Now
I know who they are, and I just spoke to Federal’s granddaughter!”
Unfortunately, I
wasn’t able to meet either Esperanza or Ramón
on this trip, as I had previous plans with Lagos, Besteiro and Signes
relatives in Madrid, Málaga, and Alicante. But what a
wealth of information!
After these
conversations it was clear that “my” GRACIANI family was
part of the same extended GRACIANI family as theirs. No two
people could ever make up identical Federal and Nitroglicerina stories,
and now tio Paco and tío Domingo de Sevilla had been identified.
I did meet with Janina
MARTÍNEZ DELGADO, whom my mother had met in 1978. She
notes that Fernando's son Alberto is also an actor. In addition
she is in contact with the descendants of Alejandrina's second
marriage to actor Ángel SALA LEYDA, and promises to introduce
me the next time I come to Spain.
I also get to see Fernando Delgado in a play and meet him afterwards!
Madrid, 1998: Janina
Martinez Delgado,
Julia's daughter / Emilito with Fernando [Martínez] Delgado,
Julia's son, following a performance
Ramón sends
treasures.
In
December I
received
a huge package from Ramón in which a
great series of family branches were carefully set out on huge sheets
of paper. Copies of several birth, marriage, and death
certificates were included. Also included was a 1978 mini-history
of the Graciani family contained in a letter from Antonio GRACIANI
VÁZQUEZ to his 2nd cousin Cesar GRACIANI MARTÍNEZ.
And a picture of Flavio and his sons, undated but with the children
marked. (I never found out how Ramón ascertained which was
which.)
This is the photo Ramón
sent of Flavio and his sons.
It was undated, but Ramón
guesses it's from the 1860s or 1870.
Finally,
there
was a
little handwritten note from Antonio GRACIANI
VÁZQUEZ to Ramón, in which he stated that Flavio was born
in Vilabona, Lucca (Italy). This is the only reference I have
seen
to Flavio’s birth town.
Handwritten
on a piece of scrap
paper in 1978, this was our only hope to find the Graziani ancestral
home.
"Flavio Graciani," it says, "native
of Vilabona, province of Lucca
(Italy)"
Pleased as I was,
I
realized that a huge question remained: who
was the father of my great-great grandfather Francisco, and how was he
related to Flavio?
Villabuona.
One evening soon thereafter, I was visiting my good
friend Steve White, and was recounting my possible origins in
Lucca. Steve commented that the
town he lived in for years – Livorno – is very near Lucca and that he
had a detailed map of the province. We spent a seemingly endless
amount of time looking for Vilabona (which we assumed would be
Villabuona in Italian). Just as we were
ready to fold the map back up, Steve shouted “There it is!” And there,
indeed, it was: a very small town, very close to what seemed a larger
community named Pescaglia.
This is a just a small part of the
map of Lucca province. Lucca city is at the lower right hand
corner.
Pescaglia is at the very top of
this section, just right of center.
Just below and slightly to the
left of Pescaglia is Villabuona.
The lower left hand corner is the
Mediterranean Sea at Viareggio.
If it were not
for
this fortuitous discovery I may never have found
the Graziani.
1999:
I Meet Family in Spain and Cuba
For me, genealogy has been a two-pronged pursuit. One is the
search for data, and the quest to make it mean something, all of the
researcher’s instincts, in other words. The other is the human
interaction that results from these efforts. 1999 was a great
year for this latter aspect of the study.
Although I made no
further inroads into my goal to get back to my
Italian past and work into the future from that origin, I finally met
Esperanza. I finally met Ramón. I finally met
José Ramón and his family.
Madrid,
1999: Great-granddaughters of Domingo, Ana Maria and Esperanza GRACIANI
CASTILLA
Valencia, 1999: Ramón
showing Emilito one of the many Spanish Graciani lines
And – on my first
visit to Cuba in 44 years -- I met Alicia
PELLÓN GRACIANI (Manolita's
daughter) in Cuba, and became determined to find the
Graciani of Ecuador.
Havana,
1999: Alicia PELLÓN GRACIANI and her daughter Roxana
[On my trip to Cuba, I
also met many descendants of my grandmother’s
siblings Domingo and Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI, but of course, this was
the branch we had always known about and I had already met the older
ones in the 50s.]
Spelling update.
During a trip around the web I find a subject
heading on one of the genealogy sites entitled “GRAZZIANI from Lucca”.
. . I immediately contacted the author. Her surname is GRAZINI,
but her surname spellings had included GRAZZIANI and GRAZIANI.
She told me that when
she finally visited Lucca she was surprised at
the number of GRAZIANI she found. BUT – there were NO GRAZZIANI
in any documents, including the entire 18th century.
As
2000 arrives, I still need to find a connection to documented people in
Italy and also the Ecuador GRACIANI.
2000: Alicia Found in Ecuador, Ramón Dies
Finding Alicia Graciani
Alicia
PELLÓN
GRACIANI of Cuba had told me that her first cousin
Alicia GRACIANI ENCALADA was last heard from in Guayaquil, and I
started looking.
I could find no
information on either her or her husband Bolivar RIVERA
MANTILLA on the web, and finally contacted the Ecuadorian Embassy in
DC. They were able to find a Quito address and I sent a note, and
when there was no answer, called. The man who answered said “Oh,
they don’t live here any more, but I’ll give you the phone number of
their landlady, she’ll be able to find them for you.” So I called
her and she gave me a number. I called the number and got a fax
tone. “Damn!” I thought, and then sent a fax to the number.
A week later I got an email from Alicia.
It turns out that
all
three of Bolivar and Alicia’s children live in
the United States, and in May, on the same weekend our son Ricardo
graduated from Boston University, their son Roberto graduated from
Clark University in Worcester. These two Graciani branches met
for the first time since Alicia’s father Emilio left Cuba for the last
time in the 1920s or 30s.
Boston, 2000: Alicia (front left),
her 3 children (right) and US family
Ramón
dies
In May I receive
an
email from José Ramón: on 26
April 2000 my soul mate Ramón has died.
I’ll miss him!
It’s sad, especially
so because I’ve come so much to rely on his help
and friendship, and also because I know now I am on the verge of a
great discovery . . . a discovery that I have been bursting to share
with Ramón when it comes.
During the year I
continue to search for Graciani on the web and make
contact with a few. I’m hoping I can finally meet them, and see
the Seville of my mother’s dreams.
Seville
Although she was born in Alcalá de Henares (near Madrid), my
great-grandmother Victorina apparently never stopped talking about the
beauty of Seville. My mother honored both Seville and her
grandmother when Victorina died in 1931. In a book of poems I
found among her papers appears the following (my translation from the
Spanish):
To
Maina, my Granny
Today when I awoke
And at my window
Heard myself being
called
By the cold wind
Of the nascent winter,
Violently, my heart
Skipped a beat
Thinking of the hurt
The cold brought you.
And I remembered your
face, always beautiful
And I remembered your
voice like a lyre
I thought of you
telling me thousands of stories,
And among them, your
praises of Seville.
There, the wind soft
and caressing,
There, beautiful
roses, and every day
A new carnation
scatters its bouquet;
There, never a tree
without leaves,
Never can a child
freeze;
There all is joy and
goodwill . . .
That was your picture
of Seville.
And I, by your words
inspired,
Asked God, which our
love required,
That one day I might
go, helped by his will
And led by your hand,
to visit Seville,
But today, you should
know all I want to do
Is go to Heaven, so I
can be with you.
Carmen J. Lagos
Carmen Lagos Besteiro
(1931)
2001:
Loose Ends Begin to Meet
2001 was a phenomenal year for discovery. Yet, at the same time,
I made some key mistakes interacting with family in Spain.
It was a year of many emotions.
Betty,
Bill,
Flavio,
Frasquito
In December 2000,
my
first cousin Betty Goetz and her husband Bill
Serow move to Florence for nearly six months. They promise to
travel to Lucca and search for family data.
I continue to be
frustrated by my ignorance of the identity of my
great-great grandfather and that of his father – Flavio’s
brother? cousin?
I do know that my
great-great grandfather’s name is Francisco and that
he was born in Alicante. As his first child was born in 1858, I
figure his birth year to be 1835 or earlier.
I’m despairing of
getting any information from Alicante. As the
Civil Registry did not begin until 1871, it would have to be from a
church and there are a lot of them. In addition, my parents were
in my father’s hometown near Alicante in July of 1936 when the Spanish
Civil War began. The communists and anarchists burned down the contents
of all the local churches, destroying forever centuries of vital
records. I know the same fate befell many churches in
Alicante. And where to begin?
On May 14 I discover a
web site for the Archdiocese of
Orihuela-Alicante, and on the spur of the moment I send them a note.
“The only thing I
know,” I tell them, “is that he was born in Alicante
around 1830 to 1835. I deduce this from the oral tradition that
his father arrived in Spain from Italy around 1830 and also from the
fact that his oldest child was born in 1858.”
On 29 May, cousin
Betty and Bill arrive home from 6 months in Italy and
give me the word: they have found Flavio GRAZIANI’s baptismal
certificate: he was born on 1 February 1797 in Pescaglia, Lucca.
He is the son of Giuseppe GRAZIANI and Maria Lucia MARCHI. They
have also been to the area and
photographed both Villabuona and the Pescaglia parish church from the
road.
Arcivescovato
di Lucca, 1797: Baptism of Flavio GRAZIANI, 2 Feb 1797 (born 1 Feb 1797)
On the last line of the picture, there is a Flavia GRAZIANI baptized on
the next day. Emilito has not been able to document a
relationship between the two.
Piazzanello
(Pescaglia), 2001: the Church of Saints Peter and Paul - where most of
the Graziani were baptized
They also,
however,
find that in the entire time period 1795 to 1812
there are only two siblings – both sisters: Agata, born in 1795, and
Maria I. [possibly Irina], born in 1802.
Oh well, I think, back
to the cousin theory.
As yet there is still
no concrete proof that Flavio and I are
related. Only circumstantial evidence.
Imagine my amazement,
when on June 18, my birthday, I open up an
envelope which bears the postmark of the [Bishopric] of
Orihuela-Alicante.
It is a transcription
of the baptismal certificate of Francisco
GRACIANI! He was born in Alicante on 11 August 1832, the son of
Ramón, native of Sercallo [sic], dukedom of Lucca, and Dolores
PASTOR of Ayora, province of Valencia. Ramón is the son of
“José and Lucia MARCHI.”
An
official typed copy of the baptism of Emilito's great great grandfather
Francisco de Asís GRACIANI PASTOR
I have met my
great-great-grandfather and he is Francisco de
Asís GRACIANI PASTOR. And his father, Ramón
[Raimondo?] is certainly Flavio’s brother.
José and Lucia
MARCHI are clearly the Giuseppe Antonio
GRAZIANI and
Maria Lucia MARCHI of Flavio’s baptismal certificate, and though
Sercallo is not Pescaglia, this is a typed copy, and it seems clear to
me that this is simply a misreading, i.e. written, “Sercallo” and
“Pescalla” can be confused. (And there is no municipality in Lucca that
is spelled anything at all like “Sercallo.”
The reason, if this
theory is correct, that no record on
great-great-great grandfather Ramón/Raimondo was found in Lucca
is that he was likely born before 1795. As both Ramón and
I thought these original migrants were born around 1805, 1795 certainly
seemed to Betty and
Bill as an early enough year to start. I see
no option but to continue the search, but as Betty and Bill have
returned home, I’m not sure just how to do that.
Nevertheless, I will find a way.
Yes, 2001 has been a
phenomenal year for discovery. How fitting
that the “original” ancestor of my GRAZIANI branch to set foot on
Spanish soil was named Ramón! How I wish I could have
shared this with Ramón!
A Few Steps Backwards
I finally manage, in 2001, to make a few contacts with a Graciani
family in the Community of Valencia, and after we exchange several
e-mails, I send them a detailed list of the family information I have
put together. The responses from the other end cease immediately.
I also note that the
only other person to whom I have sent this
“Graciani narrative” has not responded.
After re-reading what
I have sent, I realize that I have entered all of
the information I received from other sources and that some of it –
mostly in the form of comments from the GRACIANI VÁZQUEZ letter
– is very unflattering.
I realize, “How would
anyone react to some random person putting out a
dossier on their family that treated their ancestors so unkindly?
I realize that what I have put together has the potential to anger a
lot of people.
I review all the data
(more than 6800 people at this time) to remove
any controversial and offensive comments that currently exist and to
avoid any comments of this type in the future. I continue.
Meeting Seville Graciani
Although my
mother
finally got to Seville in 1992, months before her
death, she never met any Graciani. Through the good offices of
Jose Ramón in Valencia I receive introductions to several and in
October Heide and I spend 3 days in Seville, where we meet members of
the GRACIANI LUCINI and GRACIANI RUIZ families and get acquainted with
the beautiful city of Seville. A bonus visit from Pedro Antonio
GRACIANI SAMANIEGO just as we were getting in our car to leave town
resulted in a new relative met. Pedro Antonio also gave me a chart of
the Flavio tree with new information.
Seville,
2001: two siblings of Ramón, Maruja and Jesús GRACIANI
RUIZ
Córdoba:
Descendants of Manuel
Although Francisco GRACIANI MARTIN’s descendants represent nearly 90%
of Flavio’s descendants, Domingo and Manuel also produced descendant
lines. Esperanza (great-granddaughter of Domingo) had given me
the address of Enrique GRACIANI GUILLÉN, a great-grandson of
Manuel.
During the 2001
Andalucia visit I get to Córdoba where I meet
Enrique, his wife and son (and continue to be amazed by the beauty of
Andalucia).
Nothing is known about
Manuel, where or when he was born, lived and
died (other than that he had already died in 1926). Some of
Manuel’s lines are also proving difficult to crack. A promising
lead on a José GRACIANI LIQUETE unfortunately fizzles out.
Córdoba, 2001:
Enrique GRACIANI GUILLEN and wife Rosalia
Enrique's uncle
César was the recipient of the letters written by Antonio
GRACIANI VÁZQUEZ
Málaga: More
Graciani
There are two
groups
of Graciani in Málaga – GRACIANI MOYA and
MARTÍN GRACIANI. I am in contact with Coral MARTÍN
GRACIANI but am not able to meet with them. We do, however, get
to meet several GRACIANI MOYA relatives and their children. The
GRACIANI MOYA are children of Antonio GRACIANI VÁZQUEZ, whose
work -- and 1978 letter --
inspired Ramón and ultimately has made all of this research
possible.
Málaga, 2001:
Antonio GRACIANI MOYA and
daughter Marta GRACIANI VILLAR.
Antonio's
father wrote the seminal 1978 Graciani history
A
Graciani Baptismal Place
We visited relatives in
Ajalvir
(Madrid). They are grandchildren of Jorge BESTEIRO GRAC[C]IANI,
and
thus, like me, great grandchildren of Victorina GRAC[C]IANI
LORENZO.
We know that Victorina was born in nearby Alcalá de Henares,
where her father was -- so the family story goes -- working on a
restoration at the cathedral. We know she was born on 23 March 1862
and baptized in the same baptismal font as Cervantes although no
records exist (burned by the Reds in the early days of the Spanish
Civil War). The font used to baptize Cervantes and Victorina
still exists.
Alcalá
de Henares, 2001: Emilito with
Ricardo and Yolanda BESTEIRO DE LA FUENTE.
They are at the baptismal font of Miguel de Cervantes and their great
grandmother Victorina.
Another
Visit to
Villabuona
My friend Steve
White,
who helped me discover Villabuona on the map,
and his wife Julie were in Tuscany in the Fall of 2001 and visited
Villabuona. They noted that its most important product seems to
be chestnuts and brought one back as a souvenir, along with a large
number of photographs. Steve, who speaks good Italian, has
promised to accompany me on a future trip there.
Villabuona, 2001: Steve and Julie
photograph their entry into Villabuona.
To get to town you must walk up this narrow street from the only area
big enough to drive or park cars.
2002 (more or
less) - New People, New Discoveries
Graciani in Brazil
Pedro
Antonio GRACIANI SAMANIEGO’s list indicated that there were
Graciani in Brazil. I went to the Internet and found two GRACIANI
MOTA families, one in Brasilia, one in São Paulo. I
wrote them both. On November 19, 2001 I received a phone call
from Rosa
FERNÁNDEZ GRACIANI in Brasilia. She is the daughter of
María Encarnación GRACIANI MOTA, and the granddaughter of
José GRACIANI PÉREZ, one of Paco GRACIANI MARTÍN’s
grandchildren. She put me on the phone with her parents and also
told me about her uncle Bernardo in São Paulo.
Although
I had never been to Brazil in my life, I got the opportunity,
in July 2002, to take a rugby team to a tournament in the mountains
outside São Paulo. During that visit I got to visit
Bernardo, his wife Clotilde and his two sons Henrique and Luiz.
They were very friendly and helpful. Discussions with them led me
to believe there were some GRACIANI PÉREZ descendants in
Venezuela, but I was unable to track them down.
São
Paulo, 2002: Luiz and Henrique with their parents Bernardo GRACIANI
MOTA and his wife Clotilde
In
February 2003 I received an e-mail from Amparo GRACIANI
GARCÍA, daughter of Pedro GRACIANI SAMANIEGO, offering new
information and also to correct some of my own Spanish translations of
what I’ve written. I eagerly accept. As I write, Heide and
I have planned a June trip to Spain, and Amparo is going to help us
meet other Graciani relatives during our visit.
Even
here in the US we meet more of Flavio’s descendants. While
we were in Málaga we were told of a Teresa VALCARCE GRACIANI
living in Washington, DC. On May 3 we visit our pregnant daughter
Carmita and her husband Kip and all of us spend a very enjoyable day
and evening with Tere and her husband Donald FOLEY CORDERO, an
Irish-American/Andalucian.
Maryland, 2003: A Flavio
Descendant Found Living in the USA
Tere VALCARCE GRACIANI and her
husband Donald (left) with the Signes Family
Still,
many questions remain, One of them: although there is no doubt
that I am related to all the Graciani of Spain, after 2 years I have
still not had any confirmation of the birth in Italy of my
great-great-great grandfather Ramón [Raimondo?]
Giulio Salemme
Two years ago I
was
given the name of a Giulio Salemme, a resident of
Tuscany that does family research on a fee basis. Although I had
wanted to do this research without incurring large fees, the urge to
get answers takes over and in May 2003 I ask Giulio to help. It
ends up
costing me 500 €, but the rewards, in the form of increased
information, are huge.
Because I had – once
again – miscalculated the probable dates of my
ancestor’s birth (I had asked him to look starting at 1790),
Giulio did not find him at the “Arcivescovato” in Lucca.
Romano!
He then went directly to the
rectory at the Pescaglia parish church in Piazzanello where he
discovered that my
great-great-great grandfather was named “Romano,” and was born on 8
August 1788 (9 years earlier than Flavio). There can be no doubt,
he notes, that they are brothers. They have the same parents,
lived in the same house, etc.
Other
siblings: Maria
Teresa (1784), Maria Maddalena (1785), Olimpia
Paulina (1791), Agata Olimpia (1795), and Maria Irina (1802).
This
information
awaited me at home when we arrived from our DC visit
with Tere and Donald. Thank
God for written records!
Pescaglia, 1778: Emilito's great
great
great grandfather
comes alive again - and his name is Romano!
Taking
Inventory: May 2003
I'm
planning to visit Spain in June
and hope to visit Lucca - finally - in the Fall. It is time to
take inventory of what I do and don't know.
May
2003: Our Graziani Branches: What We Know
Flavio and Romano
GRAZIANI were brothers, born in Villabuona,
Pescaglia, Lucca, that moved to Spain in the early 19th century.
We know their birth information and the name of their siblings and some
information on three generations previous.
My
great-great-grandfather Frasquito was born in Alicante in 1832 and
his first cousin Paco in Aranjuez around 1838.
We know a large number
of descendants of the two brothers and where
they are located. On Flavio’s side there are many that retain
Graciani as their last name. On Romano’s side, there is only one
tiny branch that has retained the last name Graciani. The only
one of this generation that is in a position to pass the name on is
Emilio GRACIANI BUENO of Guayaquil, born in 1976, a great-grandson of
Frasquito’s son Joaquín. I have never met him, and it is
beginning to look unlikely that I ever will.
We've now identified seven members of the first generation born in
Spain. They follow, along with the number of known descendants of
each one.
Children of
Romano
Francisco 289
Dolores 23
Children of Flavio
Francisco 427
Manuel 30
Domingo 19
Andres 0
Antonio 0
We can now construct
a partial 5-generation tree in which the most recent generation is that
of Romano, Flavio, and their siblings.
1-Graziano GRAZIANI
(abt 1690-)
sp-Signorina UNKNOWN (-)
. . 2-Giovanni
Bartolomeo GRAZIANI (-)
. . sp-Maria GAMBOGI
(-)
. . . . 3-Giuseppe
Antonio GRAZIANI (10 Jun 1754-)
. . . . sp-Maria Lucia
MARCHI (abt 1756-1809)
. . . . . . 4-Maria Teresa GRAZIANI (1784-)
. . . . . . 4-Maria
Maddalena GRAZIANI (1785-)
. . . . . . 4-Romano
GRAZIANI (8 Aug 1788-)
. . . . . . sp-Dolores
PASTOR ALIAGA (-)
. . . . . . . .
5-Francisco (Frasquito) GRACIANI PASTOR (11 Aug
1832-aft 18 Jun 1889)
. . . . . . . .
5-Dolores GRACIANI PASTOR (abt 1835-)
. . . . . . 4-Olimpia
Paolina GRAZIANI (1791-)
. . . . . . 4-Agata
Olimpia GRAZIANI (5 Feb 1795-)
. . . . . . 4-Flavio
GRAZIANI (1 Feb 1797-)
. . . . . . sp-Paula
MARTÍN (-)
. . . . . . . . 5-Manuel GRACIANI MARTÍN (-bef 1926)
. . . . . . . .
5-Andrés GRACIANI MARTÍN (-)
. . . . . . . .
5-Domingo (tío Domingo de Sevilla) GRACIANI
MARTÍN (-abt 1910)
. . . . . . . .
5-Francisco (Paco) GRACIANI MARTÍN (1838-1905)
. . . . . . . .
5-Antonio GRACIANI MARTÍN (-)
. . . . . . 4-Maria Irina GRAZIANI (13 Jun 1802-)
May 2003. Our Graziani
Branches: What We Don't Know
Of the seven
members
of the first generation born in Spain, we have a
document of birth for only one, my great-great grandfather Francisco
GRACIANI PASTOR. Still to find (at least search for): Frasquito’s
sister Dolores and all five of the GRACIANI MARTÍN siblings.
We have not traced our
Graziani ancestry back as far Giulio says is
possible. Nor have we yet precisely located our ancestral house.
We don’t yet know if
it’s possible to find relatives living in Lucca
today.
The mystery of the curious “zz” – the origins of the spelling GRAZZIANI
– remain a mystery to be solved. It is clear that in my branch
this spelling was used – my mother was told that Frasquito signed his
sculptures “F. GRAZZIANI,” and my grandmother and her siblings all used
the double consonant in the spelling of their names “BESTEIRO
GRACCIANI.” This spelling was also used among the descendants of
Domingo GRACIANI [GRAZZIANI?] MARTÍN, and the MARTÍNEZ
GRAZZIANI siblings – Domingo’s great-great grandchildren – use it today.
We’ve
learned so much and yet there’s so much more to learn.
If
the secret to success is persistence, success is in the cards.
Emil Signes
12 mayo 2003
Rev 6:
Summer
and Fall 2003: More Knowledge, More Questions
Spain
in June
Heide
and I visit Spain in June, and mix in family visits and studies of the
Lagos branch of my family with Graciani studies.
Madrid.
In Madrid we meet Janina again, who introduces us to several family
members, including Maripi PUERTO SALA, another descendant of
Alejandrina CARO GRACIANI. Whereas Janina is descended from
Alejandrina's first actor husband Paulino DELGADO, Maripi is descended
from
Alejandrina's second actor husband Ángel SALA LEYDA.
Maripí's mother, Pilar SALA
LÓPEZ, holds a part in Spanish theatrical
history -- she played a leading characters in one of the most famous
mid-century Spanish plays -- she was the original Rosa in Buero
Vallejo's 1949 Historia de una
Escalera.
(This
was a family affair as her aunt Julia DELGADO CARO played Paca and
Julia's son
Fernando M. DELGADO [sic] played Fernando, hijo.)
Unfortunately Maripi has lost track of her mother, who she believes to
be still alive.
On Friday the 13th we get to see
the 4th generation of actors, Alberto
Delgado (b. MARTÍNEZ VALERO), great grandson of Alejandrina CARO
GRACIANI, in a play about Inés de Castro, "Corona de Amor y
Muerte." I meet Alberto after the show; he is excited about
performing in this play as, on his mother's side he is descended from
Inés de Castro.
Madrid, 2003: Alberto Delgado with
Emilito after performance, 2003
The Great
Consonant Shift. In Madrid I finally complete my
collection of birth certificates of my grandmother's siblings.
The official spellings are as follows:
b. 1883 Domingo BESTEIRO GRACIANI
b. 1884 Josefa BESTEIRO GRACIANI
b. 1886 Emilio BESTEIRO GRACIANI
b. 1889 Jorge BESTEIRO GRACCIANI
b. 1896 Isabel BESTEIRO GRACCIANI
In our branch of the family, therefore, the double consonant seems to
be a product of the late 1880s, presumably as a link to the GRAZZIANI
they felt was in their past. I wonder how this correlates to
Esperanza's branch's use of the double Z.
Aranjuez.
Aranjuez seems to be the Spanish origin of Flavio's branch of the
family. Oral history has him married there and Antonio GRACIANI
VÁZQUEZ's 1979 family history states that he believes his
grandfather Paco GRACIANI MARTÍN to be born there. We take
the train there and meet Pachi GRACIANI MANZANARES, who took us for a
tour of town including the cemetery where several GRACIANI were
buried. We also stopped at City Hall where they confirmed what I
already knew - they couldn't help. The Civil Register did not
begin until
1871 and the church data had been destroyed in 1936 by the Reds.
Pachi updated the local GRACIANI data for us.
We had a wonderful day -- including a great meal of conejo with a bit of wine -- and
learned about a few more GRACIANI, but
learned no earth-shattering knowledge.
Aranjuez, 2003:
1. Graciani Family area in Aranjuez cemetery
2. Heide and Pachi enjoying wonderful meal (good bread, wine, rabbit,
salad, etc.) at "El
Paraiso" restaurant
Málaga.
In 2001 we visited one of the two Graciani families in Málaga,
the GRACIANI MOYA. This year we got to meet a ton of
MARTÍN GRACIANI relatives including the family matriarch Olvido
GRACIANI RODRÍGUEZ. We had a wonderful time and met many
recent descendants of Flavio.
Málaga, 2003: 3 Graciani beauties, GRACIANI RODRÍGUEZ
branch.
Marina DEL ESTAL GRACIANI surrounded by Cristina (L) and Paloma SALINAS
MARTÍN
Seville.
Besides coming to Seville to meet more family I also came with a
search plan this time. Based on information from Amparo GRACIANI
GARCÍA, I got myself a card at the Municipal Archives and went
through, volume for volume, the "Guia de Sevilla y su provincia" by
Vicente Gómez Zarzuela, a yearly guide that provided information
about Seville business and prominent citizens. There I found tons
of Graciani during the first few decades of the 20th century. As
well as many of the descendants of Paco GRACIANI MARTÍN, I found
Segundo GRACIANI GARCIA (the once "Federal") and - just once, in 1908 -
his father Domingo.
I also discovered Paco GRACIANI
MARTÍN's burial certificate,
which indicated he had died in 1905, having been born 69 years
previously in Aranjuez, two years earlier than Ramón's data
showed.
Paco GRACIANI MARTÍN's barely
readable burial certificate
Pedro Antonio took me to
Pepita
CONTRERAS RAMOS's house where I met
lots of GRACIANI descendants (and stupidly left my camera at the hotel)
and also got some information on GRACIANI descendants in Venezuela.
Seville, 2003: Pedro Antonio
GRACIANI SAMANIEGO and his wife
Ángeles at feast of Corpus Christi
Slowly I'm gathering information on
20th and 21st century
Graciani; I'm
still itching to know, however, more about the family's past in Italy
and the transitional years (now limited to sometime between 1815 and
1832).
September 2003
- Forward to the Past
Lucca
in September - my future will be to explore its past
Steve
White and I like to say that we're each other's "oldest friends."
Not that we don't know older people but that we go back to when we were
4 years old. Steve not only speaks Italian, but lived 4 years in
Livorno with the US Army (a nice place to spend the Vietnam War) and
his best Italian friend lives only 5 miles from Lucca. On top of
that he was willing to go over with me and help me search for early
Graziani data. The detail of this trip can be found in Emilito's Trip to the Land of the
Graziani: September 2003.
At first I was crushed; the one
place I had hoped to spend most of my
time - the Arcivescovato - was still closed for summer (talk about poor
planning). But -
after some agonizing days - I was able to spend a couple of hours
searching old books at the rectory of Pescaglia. I got lots of
information and especially learned what I needed to do next.
And - perhaps most exciting of
all
- I got to walk along the streets of
my Villabuona ancestors, visit the Pescaglia parish church where almost
all were baptized (and the Villabuona chapel where, in the case of bad
weather, the occasional baptism took place); got to spend some time
talking to an ancient (well, not 18th century) resident of
Villabuona. I visited the town of Villa a Roggio, home of the
Marchi ancestors (am I related to the Boston Marchi? -- many of whom
come from Villa a Roggio, per the folks there), and many other
towns in the region. I visited the Museo della Figurina di Gesso
e dell'Emigrazione (Museum of Plaster of Paris Figurines and
Emigration). Although I have not yet confirmed (and possibly
never will be able to confirm) that Romano (&/or Flavio) was an
image maker, I believe it to be so, and this was a fascinating look at
the profession.
Villabuona, 2003: 16th century streets plus 21th century satellite
dish
Examination of the parish data -
brief though it was - showed me the
path to future studies. The data goes back to the 1540s - I drool
at the possibilities of future discoveries.
It was a wonderful experience and I was there - the origin of virtually
all of Spain's Graciani and their descendants. All of them ancestors of
what we know
as the US Lagos-Besteiro family.
Oh - and I forgot one thing. In my search for Graciani in the US
a couple of years ago, I was in contact with a Dr. Gilberto Graciani,
of New Jersey and Puerto Rico. He claimed to have a lot of family
information, but when he said all the Graciani he knew had come from
Corsica, I kind of lost interest, because to my knowledge there has
been no Corsican connection.
While photographing the baptismal certificate of Clemente Graziani,
born in Pescaglia in 1792, however, I noticed that, written in the
margin were the words “morto in Corsica 14 7bre 1821” (died in Corsica
14 September 1821)!! So . . . it may be coincidence, but more
than likely there was some kind of contact between the Pescaglia and
Corsica Graziani (and therefore the Puerto Rican Graciani may well be
related to "my" Graciani). Amazing!
Clemente
GRAZIANI, born in Pescaglia 1792, died in Corsica 1821. He was
Emilito's first cousin six times removed (and also a second cousin 5
times removed, a fifth cousin 5 times removed and a fifth cousin six
times removed; and just a fraction of the family lines have been drawn)
This ton of new knowledge held me for nearly two years, and 2004
was
not a year to study GRAZIANI or GRACIANI (or GRAZZIANI or GRACCIANI for
that matter).
Rev. 7
2005
- Forward to the Past II
Graciani
-> Graziani -> Gratiani -> no surname -> pre-1492!
I
learn Italian
In
1965, while living in Cambridge (England), I decided I wanted to learn
French. When I went to register for the course at the local
Technical College, however, the French teacher, a stereotypical --
Americans know the type -- pompous, superior Brit (luckily not at all
like any of my English friends) told me "I'm sorry, you're a week late
in registering, and in my experience Americans aren't capable of
learning a foreign language, so I'm not going to accept you into my
class." So I found the Italian teacher and enrolled. By the
end of the year, not only did she tell me I was her best student but
even asked me if my parents came from Venice. "I miei genitori sono
spagnoli," I said; "Ah," she replied . . .
40 years later, however, my
Italian is close to nonexistent, so I set
out in search of a tutor.
I find Anna Maria Mammano, a
Sicilian living in nearby Easton, and from
June to October we meet
twice a week and I cram like crazy to try to make myself
self-sufficient. Although by now I'm comfortable I can make
myself
understood in person, I ask Anna Maria to call Italy for me to finalize
arrangements.
A
very scary near-miss
I
had written don Flavio Belluomini, the priest I had met in 2003, to
organize a visit to the archives in Pescaglia, and he had graciously
agreed. About 10 days before my departure date, at the end of a
class, Anna Maria calls him in my presence. When she calls,
however, she is told he has been transferred.
Urk!
Finally we track down don Claudio Francesconi, who graciously agrees to
honor don Flavio's commitment and finds me a college student to
accompany me to the archives. (Ironically don Claudio will be
transferred the day before I arrive, but to the Arcivescovato in Lucca
city where he is always available.
10
days in Lucca: I visit the 15th Century
By the time the trip was over, however, although I hadn't achieved all
my goals, I had more than 250 years of baptismal, matrimonial, and
death certificates from the Pescaglia parish records - from 1542 until
the early 19th century - on digital media. I got additional data from
the Arcivescovato and more from Villa a Roggio, although unfamiliarity
with the format there minimized the value of the Villa a Roggio data.
I get tremendous help from Andrea Luciani, a student at the University
of Pisa, who accompanies me and helps me photograph zillions of
pictures. Andrea speaks English and Spanish but I try -- as much
as possible -- to speak to him in Italian.
Villa a Roggio, 2005: Andrea Luciani. Emilito made several
mistakes
here. The light was very dim, and even with the camera on a
tripod and on a timer, 1/8 of a second was the longest the shutter
would stay open and, even with Andrea holding the pages down, the depth
of field was too small and part of every page was out of focus.
Finally, because of the shape of the page (taller than wide; the
opposite of Piazzanello books), the camera should have been turned 90
degrees . . . duh!
I have not completed analyzing the data, but by early 2006 I had
reached back from Romano and Flavio to Giambattista [no surname], my
13th great grandfather.
I'm sure it will be impossible to go back farther than Giambattista.
So, taking him as our historical first, we see that our Italian
forefathers, Romano and Flavio GRAZIANI, are the 11th documented
generation born in - most likely - Villabuona. We're not sure
about the first 3 generations, but if Villabuona was already there, it
seems likely that they were born there. Although Francesco's 1565
baptismal certificate doesn't specify beyond Pescaglia parish, his
granddaughter Antonia's birth certificate says that her grandfather
Francesco is
from Villabuona.
Francesco's 1565 baptismal
certificate
"Franc° figliolo di marsilio
di bart° di gia~battª fu
batizato a di 25 genaio . . . "
Continues with godparents,
"co~pare pischaglino . . . comm- lisabetta . . . "
I have estimated birth dates for the first 3 generations based on
25
years per generation; actually the average time between generations
over the course of all the generations is more than 30 years. But
even at a 25-year average, Giambattista's birth date is pre-Columbian.
The following tree represents all eleven documented generations of
forefathers
born in Italy. In these data, available birth and death years are
given. In addition, spelling of birth and death -- and sometimes
marriage -- surnames is
included, and we can see how we go from no surname to GRATIANI to
GRAZIANI and, with the move to Spain, GRACIANI. Despite what we
learned as youngsters, GRACCIANI and
GRAZZIANI are later additions.
Giambattista (c. 1490? - ?) [no surname]
Bartolomeo (c. 1515? - ?) [no surname]
Marsiglio (c. 1540? - ?) [no surname]
Francesco (1565- ?) [no
surname]
Marsiglio (c.
1599-1677) [b. no surname, m. no surname, d. GRATIANI]
Gratiano 1638-1709) [b. no surname, d. GRATIANI]
Bartolomeo (1663-1717) [b. no surname, m. GRATIANI, d.
GRATIANI]
Graziano (1710-1758) [b. GRATIANI, m.
GRAZIANI, d.
GRAZIANI]
Gio. Bartolomeo
(1731-1813) [b. GRAZIANI, d. GRAZIANI]
Giuseppe Antonio (1754-1817) [b. GRAZIANI, d. GRAZIANI]
Romano (1788- ?) [b. GRAZIANI,
d. GRACIANI]
Flavio (1797- ?) [b. GRAZIANI,
d. GRACIANI]
Two
more representations of these data can be seen in the following links:
1.
Known descendants of
Giambattista [GRATIANI] - first 11 generations.
2.
Ancestors of Romano and
Flavio GRAZIANI.
Tons of Interesting Miscellany
Browsing thousands -- and
reading hundreds -- of baptismal, matrimonial and death certificates
was a fascinating, if difficult, chore. It is my intention to
write something up that deals with, in more detail, some of the
fascinating things I found. Here are just a few.
Names
Surnames.
The entire issue of surnames, their existence, origins, construction,
spelling, etc., is fascinating and the Pescaglia data shed a lot of
light on the situation (as well, of course, as pose questions).
Existence.
The earliest written data seem to coincide with, in many cases, the
origins of
surnames in this region. For example, in 1565, the date of the
earliest "Graziani" record, and well into the 17th century, baptismal
records with no surnames coexisted with ones with surnames. Thus,
my 10th great grandfather is listed in his 25 January baptismal
certificate simply as "Francesco figliolo di Marsilio di Bartolomeo di
Giambattista."Another baptism, from 25 March, however, has "Francesco
figliolo
di Giusto di Santi GAMBOGI"[My caps.] It seems that surnames
were
being established sometime during these centuries.
Furthermore, I've been told, it's not a Tuscan surname if it doesn't
end in "i." Tuscan names were apparently constructed from Latin
genitives -- and for most male nouns, the genitive ends in "i" - thus
Gratiani for children of Gratiano, etc. It seems as though the
particular
generation in which this was started varied from family to
family. Thus my 8th great grandfather Gratiano was born in 1638
with no surname, as were his children at birth. On their marriage
certificates, however, they were GRATIANI. (In fact, the earliest
use of the surname that I found was the 1677 death certificate of
Gratiano's father (!) Marsiglio. As there were no other
Gratiano's in the
family's background, my best guess is that the family surname began
with reference to this 1638-born Gratiano, probably sometime in the
1670s.
Spelling.
There appear to be global spelling changes in Italian that took place
in the 17th and 18th centuries; thus GRATIANI became GRAZIANI,
MAZEI/MAZZEI became MASSEI, and the surnames BIANCHI and BIANCCHI
regularized to BIANCHI. There were lots more.
Conflicts.
There also seemed to be confusion, perhaps even arguments, as to which
male's
given name began the surname; this is the case in one of my ancestor's
lines, where LAZZARINI and MAZZEI were used, sometimes interchangeably,
for a family that eventually settled on MAZZEI (and later spelled
MASSEI).
The earliest document I can find of this family is the 1614 marriage of
"Giuseppe di Matteo di Lazarino MAZEI [sic] et Gabriella," my ninth
great
grandparents . . . Three children
of Giuseppe and Gabriella -- Matteo (b. 1621), Agata (b. 1627) and my
8th great grandfather Giovanni (b. 1630)
-- are listed without a surname, but the fourth (the fourth that I've
found, at least) - Francesca,
born in 1639 (yes, 25
years after their marriage Gabriella was still giving birth to
children) - is listed as LAZZARINI.
On [9th ggf] Giuseppe's 18 Nov. 1660 death certificate he is listed as
LAZZARINI. On
[8th ggf] Giovanni's marriage certificate (28 Jan. 1672) he is listed
as LAZZARINI as well. Giovanni's first son, Giuseppe, was born and died
in 1674 and was a LAZZARINI. Giovanni's second son, however --
also
Giuseppe and my 7th great grandfather -- was born on 7 April 1675 and
on his baptismal certificate his surname is written "LAZZARINI o
MAZZEI." (Although the "o Mazzei" looks like it might have been
added later.)
[7th ggf] Giuesppe's children, including my 6th great grandmother
Camilla, are born MAZZEI, and on Giuseppe's 1739 death certificate he
is
listed as "MAZZEI o sia LAZZARINI."
From death certificate of Emilito's 7th great grandfather Giuseppe
MAZZEI /
LAZZARINI
I can't help wondering what
infighting, if any, was
going on. As both my 10th great grandfather Matteo -- [9th ggf]
Giuseppe's father -- and
my 11th great grandfather Lazzarino -- [9th ggf] Giuseppe's grandfather
-- were in the ancestral
line, I wonder if there was some discussion as to which ancestor to
honor.
My
surnames.
To
date, I know I
have direct ancestors with the following surnames (derived from Romano and Flavio's Ahnentafel):
GRAZIANI, MARCHI (2 lines), GAMBOGI, BERNARDINI, MAZZEI (3 lines),
PIERCECCHI, BIANCHI (2 lines), FREDIANI, NICOLAI (3 lines), BARTELLONI
(2 lines), RENALDI (or possibly RINALDI).
First names.
First names were spelled in many
ways as well - most variations involved presence or absence of "h,"
double vs. single consonants, a vowel change: Mattheo, Matteo, Mateo,
Mazzeo later
Masseo;
Paulo and Paolo; Franchesco and Francesco; Elizabetta, Elisabetta,
Lisbetta, Zabetta; in short way too many to
mention here.
With regards to spelling of first names, however, one person's story
stands out (from the point of view of my curiosity at any rate.)
This
is the person I call "Amadeo/Amadio GRAZIANI." He is
referred to as "Amadeo" on both his 1749 baptismal and 1809 death
certificates, but in between it gets interesting. On his 1770
marriage
certificate the priest wrote "Amadeo volgarmente dº [detto] Amadio
[Amadeo commonly called Amadio]." His name was written in 3
different
ways on the baptismal certificates of the 13 children from his first
marriage: "Amadeo" on four (#1, 3, 4 and 11), "Amadio" on two (# 2 and
13) and "Amadeo, o Amadio" on seven (#5-10 and 12). Amadeo/Amadio is my
fifth great granduncle (his brother was Romano and Flavio's
grandfather). He is also my fourth cousin 6 times removed.
On his 2nd marriage certificate (1796) his name is written
"Amadio."
The entire issue is curious: Why was it so necessary to write both
options in the official documents? This is left as an exercise
for
the reader.
From
Amadeo/Amadio's first marriage (1770) certificate
Bastards
and Bigamists
Bastards.
There are several children born of
unwed mothers in the Pescaglia data (none as yet identified as
relatives) and these are handled in different ways.
One that I found interesting is the 1 Oct. 1742 baptismal certificate
of "Remigio, figliuolo di [followed by an asterisk and a space to put a
father's name] e di Maria Francesca di. . . " On the bottom of
the page, in the margin, the priest notes that this information was
unknown to him until 1775, when he filled in the name of the father
between the asterisks.
The proverbial child on
the
doorstep was not unknown in Pescaglia. On 24 August 1716, a
child, "nato di genitori incerti, fu portato a qta
Chiesa [born of unknown parents, was brought to this church]." In the
left margin was written "Bastardo."
I strikes me that in such a tiny community it had to be quite
enterprising to hide a pregnancy until birth.
Pescaglia, 1716: Baby left at church. First they were going to
baptize him Matteo, then settled on Bartolomeo.
The godmother is Fiora, wife of Bartolomeo GRATIANI. This is not
Emilito's ancestor Bartolomeo GRATIANI, but a contemporary. No
connection between the two lines -- with many similar given names --
has been found.
Bigamists.
Another odd certificate is that of the 8 Jan. 1778 marriage between
"Paolo di Giulio Ragagli Bigamo, e Mª Elizabetta dal fu Graziano
Graziani [Paolo son of Giulio Ragagli 'Bigamo' and Maria Elizabetta
daughter of the deceased Graziano Graziani]“: there is no other
definition for "bigamo" in my dictionary
than "bigamist." I have no idea what this means, nor whether the
"Bigamo" refers to Paolo or Giulio. Note that I have not gone back and
looked for earlier marriages of either. (Mª Elizabetta is my fifth great
grandaunt -- oh, and also my fourth cousin 6 times removed.)
Mª Elizabetta
Graziani marries "Paolo di Giulio Ragagli Bigamo" -- (??)
Deaths
Cause.
Cause of death is given
infrequently, and normally in a word or two, but in some cases details
abound. For example, on 16 June 1714 "Francesco, son of the deceased
Jacopo of this parish, fell from a chestnut tree, struck a branch,
rolled over and over and was found dead."
My 8th great grandmother Fiora
BARTELLONI (who, BTW, was also my first cousin 9 times removed) died on
26 May 1688 at age 31 after giving birth to a stillborn child: "doppo
havere
partorito un figlio morto. . . "�
Pathos.
We sometimes forget that the priests that signed all these certificates
had family too. Reverendo Lorenzo MARCHI -- my first cousin 10
times removed -- wrote on one death certificate, on 25 Sep. 1685,
"Bradamante, my mother . . . died . . . "
For me, the
most poignant document was the death certificate of Bradamante's son
Francesco MARCHI
(29 Dec. 1708). The document, again written by Lorenzo, goes
through the entire ritual
stating the name of Francesco's father,
grandfather, place and age of death, the sacraments received, place of
burial, etc. Then after all is said and done, a final line says, " --
et era mio
Fratello [and he was my brother]." Chokes me up every time I
look at it.
“
- and he was my brother.“ Final line
of 29 December 1708 death certificate for Sgt. Major Francesco Marchi,
brother of Reverend Lorenzo Marchi, who wrote the certificate. Lorenzo
died 3 years later.
note to self: NEED TO WRITE
SPECIAL REPORT ON 2005 VISIT and reference it
9th Cousins in St. Louis!
I
had posted my intentions on a Lucca
genealogy users group,
and was in touch with a couple of people with Pescaglia ancestry.
One of those was Sandra GIACOLETTO (now Worth) from St. Louis, and
after a few
emails we realized we were related - in fact, it turned out, I -
although older than Sandra, am her daughter Vicki Lynn's 9th
cousin. Common ancestors? Mazzeo MAZZEI (b. 1641) and Fiora
BARTELLONI (b. 1657), both natives of Pescaglia.
I still need to follow up the
data I have and make a couple of
follow-up visits to rectories: first and foremost to Piazzanello, where
I want to look at some pages I photographed poorly, and also at the
19th century data, to see if I can begin the process of finding
relatives in Lucca today.
