 Geronimo Sanfilippo was baptized as Geronimo Michel on September 30, 1557, in the mother church parish of Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicilia, Italy, the son of Francesca Ferraro and her husband Giovanni Antonio Sanfilippo. (Mouse over and click on his baptism record image upper right to enlarge in a new window/tab.) The main church of Sciacca was The Basilica of Maria Santissima del Soccorso, and is called the mother church and is referred to as the Matrice in Latin records.
 On November 11, 1576, Sciacca notary Stefano Caruso filed a notarial marriage contract for Geronimo to marry Margarita Bentivegna, the daughter of Sigismunda Ayello and her husband Antonino Bentivegna. This marriage contract is also documented in Pellegrino Mortillaro’s book, Andrea Randazzo un notaio storico Volume Primo, which is much easier to read. (Mouse over and click on their marriage contract entry, upper left to enlarge in a new window/tab.) The full text contract is almost four pages long with a side note date in September of 1578, which is six months after their first child was born. It describes Margarita as a virgin pubescent, legal and natural daughter of her parents.  (Mouse over and click on page 1 image of their marriage contract middle left to enlarge in a new window/tab.) This seems to imply that she was very young at this time. Her baptism is uncertain, partially because a mother’s name is not listed on the early Sciacca baptism records. There are three possible options for her baptism. Two are Sciacca mother church baptism records for daughters of Ant’no Bentivegna.  The earliest one is for a Rosa Margarita dated March 22, 1557, but that is more than 4 years before her parents married. This child would be 19 years old when the contract was written, too old to be considered pubescent. The other one is dated December 1, 1561, just ten months after her parents married, for an Elisabetta Bentivegna, which would make her almost 15 years old when the contract was written. (Mouse over and click on her possible baptism record image 2nd down on right to enlarge in a new window/tab.) This option is a good possibility, as being the first born daughter, she should have been named after her paternal grandmother Margarita, but the priest just made a mistake with her name, as one of the witnesses was named Elisabetta. The only other option is that she was baptized in another church about 1563, which would make her 13 years old when the contract was written. But why would they baptized their child in another church? The second option seems to be the most likely of the three. (Mouse over and click on her possible baptism record image lower right to enlarge in a new window/tab.)  Fifteen days after the contract was written, on November 26, 1576, 19 year-old Geronimo and Margarita were married at the Sciacca mother church. (Mouse over and click on their Latin church marriage record 3rd down on right to enlarge in a new window/tab.)
Thirteen Sciacca mother church baptism records have been found for the children of Geronimo and Margarita Sanfilippo, sometimes abbreviated as Sanpho. The children are as follows — Giovanni, named after his paternal grandfather, was baptized as Jo: Antoni on March 26, 1578; Antonino, named after his maternal grandfather, was baptized on April 6, 1580; Francisca, named after her paternal grandmother, was baptized as Francischella on December 12, 1581; Vincenzo was baptized on August 21, 1583; ancestor Calogero; Geronimo, named after his father, was baptized on September 20, 1586; Gesmunda Francesca, who was probably named after both of her grandmothers, was baptized on April 12, 1588; Filippo as Petro Filippo on January 13, 1590, who may also be an ancestor (see Filippo); Leonardo as Nardo on January 28, 1595; another Francisca was baptized as Fran'ca Bradamant on March 31, 1596; Leonarda as Leonarda Fran’cs on April 2, 1599; Caterina Leonarda on June 20, 1601; and another Giovanni was baptized as Jo: Petro Vito on July 20, 1603.
 There is a 1594 Sciacca Rivelo (census only) for this family, but it most likely was recorded in May of 1595. (Mouse over and click on their Rivelo image lower left to enlarge in a new window/tab.) On it, Geronimo is listed as being 50 years old, but he would have been only 37 at that time. Marg’tta is listed as his wife, without an age, followed by their five male children, whose listed ages are all much younger than they actual were — 12 year old Jo: would have been 17 at the time; 10 year-old Ant’no was actually 15 at the time; ancestor Calogero is listed as 7, but he was actually 10; 3 year-old Filippo was actually 5; and 4 month old baby Nardo was probably listed correctly. Did the recorder make the age errors, or did their parents intentionally give the ages incorrectly?
 It is documented that Geronimo was alive on September 3, 1620, the date of his son ancestor Calogero's marriage. Geronimo died and was buried in the convent of St. Dominico cemetery on August 18, 1627. (Mouse over and click on his Latin burial record lower right to enlarge in a new window/tab.) His mother church burial record lists him as Heir. Sanpho age 72, but he was actually only 69 when he died. Heir is an abbreviation for Hieronymus, which is the Latin name for Geronimo. It is not known when his wife Margarita died, so for now, this is all that is known about them.
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 Giovanni Antonio Sanfilippo and his wife Francesca Ferraro’s ancestries are unknown, but they lived and raised a family in the mother church parish of Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicilia, Italy. On March 30, 1540, Sciacca notary Pietro Falco filed a notarial marriage contract for them to marry. (Mouse over and click on their marriage contract entry image right to enlarge in a new window/tab.) Unfortunately, church marriage records are not available for research this far back, so their parents are unknown.
Five mother church baptism records have been found for the children of Jo: Antoni SanPho as follows —Guglielmo was baptized in October of 1542; Giovanni was baptized as Jo: Cola on December 19, 1544; another Giovanni was baptized as Jo: Pho eight years later on November 28, 1552; ancestor Geronimo; and Francesco was baptized as Fran’co Vincenzo on September 7, 1566. They probably had several other children baptized in another Sciacca church parish, in that eight year gap, but those records are not available for research.
 It is not known exactly when Giovanni Antonio and Francesca died, but it is documented that they were deceased on November 11, 1576, when their son ancestor Geronimo’s marriage contract was written. There is an inventory listing for Gio. Antonino Sanfilippo in Pellegrino Mortillaro’s book, Andrea Randazzo un notaio storico Volume Primo, that is probably for this ancestor. (Mouse over and click on his inventory entry image left to enlarge in a new window/tab.) The inventory was taken on November 19, 1575, and filed by Sciacca notary G. Vella. He probably died shortly before this inventory was taken. It is not known if his wife Francesca remarried or when she died. For now, this is all that is known about them. |
 Antonino Bentivegna was the son of Margarita, whose surname is unknown, and her husband, whose given name is unknown, but his surname is clearly Bentivegna. It is not known where or when he was baptized, but he married and raised a family in the mother church parish of Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicilia, Italy. His parent’s names come from his February 11, 1561, notarial marriage contract document, which is extremely hard to read. (Mouse over and click on page 1 of their marriage contract image right to enlarge in a new window/tab.) One researcher believes Antonino's father's name is Nicolò. To this researcher, the father’s name looks like Ant, short for Antonino, but it is not clear at all. This contract was written by Sciacca notary Pietro Falco, is 2 ½ pages long, and has 3 side notes on the first two pages dated in March of 1561, June of 1563 and 1564. These side notes are also very difficult to read. This contract is documented in in Pellegrino Mortillaro’s book, Andrea Randazzo un notaio storico Volume Primo and is for Antonino to marry Sigismunda Ayello.  (Mouse over and click on the marriage contract entry image left to enlarge in a new window/tab.) She was the daughter of Calogera Furmusa and her husband Francesco Ayello. Unfortunately, church records have not been found for Antonino and Sigismunda’s baptisms or marriage.
Eight Sciacca mother church baptism records have been found for the children of Ant’no Bentivegna, dated after their marriage contract date and only the last two list a mother’s name as Gisimunda. Two of the children were baptized two months apart, which may indicate that they are not from the same set of parents, or they may be twins who were baptized separately. There is no additional information to identify their parents or birth dates, so this will remain a mystery. The records found are as follows — Elisabetta, who was probably ancestor Margarita on December 1, 1561; Theodora Calogera on July 30, 1564; Francesca on October 4, 1565, who grew up to marry Vito Luciano Parrino in 1583; Andriana on June 20, 1568; Giacomo was baptized as Jacupu Vin’zo on April 10, 1570; two months later, on June 12, 1570, Filippo was baptized as Pho Nardo; Antonino, the first to have his mother listed on the record, was baptized as Ant’no Fran’co on November 24, 1571; and Angelica, who was baptized on November 6, 1573.
It is not known when Antonino and Sigismunda died, but he was alive and she was deceased when their daughter ancestor Margarita was married. It is also documented that Antonino was still alive when his daughter Francesca was married on January 9, 1583. For now, this is all that has been found about them. |
|  Francesco Ayello was the son of Pietro Ayello and his wife Giovanna, whose surname is unknown. It is not known when and where he was born, but he married and raised a family in the mother church parish of Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicilia, Italy. On June 6, 1529, Sciacca notary Pietro Falco filed a dowry marriage contract between Francesco and Calogera Formusa. She was the daughter of Caterina, whose surname is unknown and her husband Antonino Formusa. Church baptism and marriage records are not available for research this far back. This dowry contract is two and a quarter pages long and has seven side notes dated October 10, 1530, January 20, 1530, Sept of 1532, 1533, May of 1535, September of 1535, and September of 1539. (Mouse over and click on the page 1 image of their marriage contract right to enlarge in a new window/tab.) It also lists the four parents as being alive.  This contract is also documented in in Pellegrino Mortillaro’s book, Andrea Randazzo un notaio storico Volume Primo, and is much easier to read. (Mouse over and click on their marriage contract entry image lower left to enlarge in a new window/tab.) Francesco and Calogera are the parents of two ancestors, daughter Sigismunda and son Benedetto who married Antonina Vincenza Dayna.
It is not known when Francesco and Calogera died, but it is documented that he was alive and she was deceased when their daughter ancestor Sigismunda’s marriage contract was written on February 11, 1561. For now, this is all that is known about them. |
