John's Direct Ancestor Trees to 5th Great-Grandparents: Part 2, Ciacchella and Adamo

 

Benedetta Adamo and Giuseppe Ciacchella

This blog is a continuation of my project of balancing up John's tree a bit by attempting to get every branch to the level of 5th great-grandparent (in other words, 4 generations back from the 8 people in the top row of the graphic below, or 128 people). 

This blog focuses on the 4 ancestors on the left side of the top row.

Part 1 covered the Impellizzeri and Milano branches (the 4 ancestors on the right side of the top row), where I identified 60 of 64 5th great-grandparents. Was I as successful in the Ciacchella and Adamo branches? Read on for my discoveries.

Sebastiano Ciacchella, father of John's paternal grandfather, Giuseppe Ciacchella

For these next two sections, we're moving from Alcamo, in Trapani province, to Augusta, in Siracusa province. 

Augusta in relation to Alcamo and our town of Capo D'Orlando (blue dot).

Unfortunately, there is a big hurdle with research in Augusta. Only civil records are available for researching, and civil records only began in the early 1800s. Until fairly recently, the records were only accessible by visiting an LDS library. I've talked about struggles with this in previous blogs. However, more recently the Italian government made the records available online, so that has been very helpful.

To extend further back would require access to the church records, which are not digitized. Now that I live in Sicily, this is not an insurmountable problem. However, I have hit a roadblock, as I have once requested to see the books, and the priest said no. I will try again in the future, but the priest really holds the cards in this situation.

At the beginning of this project, I had identified 4/16 of the 5th great-grandparents in Sebastiano Ciacchella's line. Given the record difficulties, my goal was to identify any additional. As well, I was interested in finding more information on the 4 I had identified. 

The progress I was able to achieve is thanks to a new researcher I met, Catherine DiMare. Catherine is a long-standing unresolved DNA match for John in the Augusta branch. I have been trying to resolve this match since 2018, particularly because when I saw Catherine's profile picture, I immediately thought of John's niece Michelle. 

Michelle and Catherine. Now, you might not agree about resemblance, but you have to take into account that these ladies are 6th cousins, 1x removed. So, that to me is a lot of resemblance for the level of relationship. Regardless, the fact that Catherine reminded me of Michelle was an impetus for understanding the DNA relationship.

Recently, with many more records and people in our tree, and another re-visit, I was able to (finally!) figure out how John and Catherine are related (it is via the Moschitto line, below ... any maybe others). I began chatting with Catherine, and she taught me about how to use another type of civil record. These records are called Processetti, which are an extended set of marriage records. The marriage records I have been using have the basic information, but the Processetti have additional documents that are extracts of other documents like birth certificates for the couple, death records for deceased parents, and sometimes death records for grandparents (taken from church records). 

The reason these packets (as I like to call them) are so helpful, is that when the person is far enough back in time where their birth wouldn't be in the civil records, an extract of their birth certificate is in the packet. Correspondingly, if their parent is deceased, then there is an extract of the death record, which helps estimate their birth date (all documents not likely to be available in the civil records). As well, these extracts might reveal the names of the grandparents. And, in a really lucky situation, there might be a death extract for a grandparent (with the same helpful information).

So, with this new knowledge and technique, I began searching for Processetti. And, I was able to successfully use one to identify one additional set of 5th great-grandparents. Let's look again at the tree of Sebastiano Ciacchella, but from a different angle.

The line where I had success was that of the paternal grandmother of Sebastiano, Antonia Carrabino. In the Processetti for Antonia's brother Domenico's (circled in blue) marriage to Gaetana Scata, I found several helpful documents.

Giovanni Carrabino, married to Lucia, died on 4 March 1799 at age 45. So, now we know when John's 4th great-grandfather died and that he was born about 1754.

Lucia Saraceno, spouse of Giovanni Carrabino, died on 13 October 1817 at age 55. So, now we know when John's 4th great-grandmother died and that she was born about 1762. 

The most important discovery in terms of this project ... The death extract for Giovanni Carrabino's father, John's 5th great-grandfather. This record tells us that his name was Giuseppe Carrabino, that he died on 22 October 1763 at age 60. So, we know he was born about 1703. And, it lists his wife's name, including her surname! John's 5th great-grandmother in this line is Antonia Budinaro. 

I spent a couple of weeks looking at Processetti for any marriages that might contain additional documents that would allow me to tap into church records, via extracts. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to identify any additional 5th great-grandparents. However, I had some other great finds using this method, three of which I'd like to share.

First, I was able to find the baptism records for a set of John's second great-grandparents in this line: Domenico Ciacchella and Rosaria Tringali. I was really happy to find these!

Domenico Ciacchella, baptised 19 March, 1822, born 18 March, 1822. to Giuseppe Ciacchella and Antonia Carrabino. Godparents are Carmelo Saraceno and Margarita Grassi.

Rosaria Tringali, baptised 23 October 1823, born 22 October 1823, to Sebastiano Tringali and Lucia Fareri. Godfather is Francesco Niccora.

Second, I was able to find a death extract for 5th great-grandparent Giuseppe Prato in the marriage packet of one of his grandchildren. This provides his death date and approximate birth year.

Giuseppe Prato, age 85, spouse of Lucia Pinto, died 28 December 1810.

An aside before continuing ... Once I had more information on Giuseppe Prato, I was able to work on resolving a DNA match in this line. For context, John often jokingly bemoans his lack of famous cousins compared to the plethora of them in my ancestral lines. So, I'm always on the hunt for a famous cousin. I've found two mildly famous so far, but this DNA match identified a very famous - or should I say infamous - one. John and his direct Ciacchella cousins are cousin to Giuseppe AKA Joseph Conforte. 

Joe Conforte was the original owner of the Mustang Ranch brothel and is considered the father of legalized prostitution in the U.S.! Before he was married to the also infamous Sally Burgess, his business partner, he was living with another woman (could not confirm if they were married), who is the mother of the DNA match. Interesting!

Third, I was able to find additional information on 5th great-grandfather Antonino Fareri, including the names of his parents. So, now we have our first 6th great-grandparents in this line! This one was a bit of a challenge. I was on the hunt for the Processetti for Sebastiano Fareri's second marriage. This is because at the time of his second marriage, his parents were deceased. So the Processetti were likely to include Sebastiano's birth extract and his father's death extract. And, bonus, it also ended up including Sebastiano's grandfather Pietro's death extract. Treasure!

Finding the documents took 3 tries over 3 days. These records are not indexed, and things were out of order. I had to do a lot of paging through images, but perseverance paid off.

Antonino Fareri, spouse of Domenica Poli, age 60, died 23 July 1780. 

Pietro Fareri, age 50 (if I got the Latin correct), died 10 July 1738. He was the spouse of Filippa Giangrande. So, now we know the names of the 6th great-grandparents in this line!

Summary: Ancestry tree for Sebastiano Ciacchella. Two new 5th great-grandparents identified, for a total of 6/16. Two new 6th great-grandparents identified. Two new family surnames identified: Budinaro and Giangrande. You may notice at the top there are two 5th great-grandparents called "Unknown." This is from some DNA and family tree matches that I'm working on (another blog, another time).

Giuseppa Moschitto, mother of John's paternal grandfather, Giuseppe Ciacchella

Giuseppa Moschitto, also being from Augusta, presents the same challenges with records described above. However, I've had a bit more luck with her line. During the pandemic I conducted a huge research project on the Moschittos. I met many nice cousins in the U.S. and Italy and solved some big mysteries. If you're interested, you can read about that project at the link.

At the beginning of this project, I had identified 14/16 5th great-grandparents, although 2 of those had some unresolved record issues (Antonio Amato + Agata Randazzo, with construction signs in graphic above). My goal for this project, then, was to try and find the other set of 5th great-grandparents and to clear up any confusion regarding Amato and Randazzo. As well, I decided to do a Processetti sweep to see if I could find any information for those ancestors marked 'end of the line.'

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go any further back to uncover the missing 5th great-grandparents, parents of Sebastiano Moschitto. However, using the Processetti, I was able to find Sebastiano's death record in an extract of a grandson's marriage.

Sebastiano Moschitto, spouse of Giuseppa Passanisi, died 27 January, 1822, at the age of 70.

Proceeding down the list of 5th great-grandparents, I was able to find additional information on Antonio Strazzulla. Specifically, I uncovered his death record in a marriage packet of one of his grandchildren. 

Antonio Strazzulla, age 50, spouse of Margarita Passanisi, died on 20 October, 1793. 

For most of the remaining 5th great-grandparents, I wasn't able to find any additional information, so they remain the 'end of the line' for now. However, I did find some interesting miscellaneous records for ancestors earlier in the tree. For example, this birth record of direct ancestor Sebastiana Bongiovanni:

3rd great-grandmother Sebastiana Bongiovanni, daughter of Luigi Bongiovanni and Sebastiana Battaglia, was baptised on 2 March 1794. Her godparents were Paolo Turnello (di Sebastiano) and Maria Tringali.

For the 5th great-grandparents 'under construction,' I was able to confirm Antonio Amato. His death record was in the packet for his granddaughter Giuseppa Amato's marriage to Sebastiano Barbarino. 

Antonio Amato, age 44, died 27 November 1806. Unfortunately, the spouse listed does not match who I have under construction in our tree, Agata Randazzo. It states his spouse is Concetta Domenico. This is a problem, because one of the grandchildren's marriage packets includes a death extract for Antonio Amato, died in 1785, with a spouse of Agata Randazzo. So, I went through all of the marriage packets for Antonio's grandchildren (time-consuming, boo!). With the exception of that one, they all list his death date as above, with the spouse as Concetta Domenico. So, I'm concluding that the 5th great-grandmother is Concetta Domenico, not Agata Randazzo, and chalking it up to a clerical error.

Aside from confirming Antonio Amato as a 5th great-grandparent, this marriage packet had quite a few extra finds for information I was missing. Bonus! I found the death record of his son (father of the bride), Francesco Amato (4th great-grandparent), as well as the birth records of the bride and groom, 3rd great-grandparents, Giuseppa Amato and Sebastiano Barbarino.

Giuseppa Amato, daughter of Francesco Amato and Rosaria Saraceno, was baptised on 4 April, 1803. Her godparents were Giovanni Saraceno and his wife Rosaria Salamone.

Sebastiano Barbarino, son of Domenico Barbarino and Carmela Strazzulla, was baptised on 4 October, 1802. His godparents were Sebastiano Traina and Giuseppa Spinali.

Uncovering this information helped me resolved a DNA match that I've been working on for years. I was happy to email the account owner 5 years later and tell her how her husband (and mother-in-law) and John were cousins. We had a nice conversation. Here are photos of some of the matches coming from the children of Antonio Amato and Concetta Domenica, as well as photos I found of their ancestors. Family members can decide what they think about resemblances. :)

 

Billy, 6th cousin, and his grandmother Giuseppa Amara, 4th cousin, 2 x removed.

Nicholas, 6th cousin, and his grandfather Francesco Amara, 4th cousin, 2 x removed.

Cheli Jo, 6th cousins, 1 x removed, and her grandfather Michael Saraceno, 5th cousin, 1 x removed.

Giuseppe Arangio, 5th cousins, 1 x removed, father of DNA match Joseph Arangio, 6th cousins, and Giuseppe's aunt, Leonarda Farina, 4th cousin 2 x removed. Leonarda is married to Sebastiano Moschitto, who is John's great-granduncle in a different branch of this line. So, identifying this branch also lead to the discovery of secondary cousin relationships for several DNA matches!

Continuing in this line to the last couple listed, Natale Saraceno + Giovanna Farina, I can report some good finds. In a marriage packet for one of their children, I was able to find the death record for Giovanna Farina, which not only provided some biographical data, but also provided the names of her parents, for another set of 6th great-grandparents! For some reason, even though he was deceased, Natale's death record was not in this packet. However, the death record of his father, Antonino Saraceno (previously unidentified), was in the packet, which provided the name of his wife. Another set of 6th great-grandparents!

Giovanna Farina, age 78, widow of Natale Saraceno, died on 11 September 1833. She was the daughter of Giuseppe Farina and Grazia Scalzo.

Antonino Saraceno, age 56, spouse of Rosaria Mastretta, died 15 June 1781.

Newly identified 6th great-grandparents circled in red. Natale Saraceno and Giovanna Farina, by the way, are the shared ancestors with researcher Catherine DiMare, who I mentioned earlier.

Summary: Ancestry tree for Giuseppa Moschitto. One new 5th great-grandparent identified, and 1 uncertain confirmed, for a total of 14/16. Two new 6th great-grandparents identified. Three new family surnames identified: Domenico, Mastretta and Scalzo (can't make all visible in tree at same time). 

Pietro Adamo, father of John's paternal grandmother, Benedetta Adamo

Benedetta Adamo's line was an early focus in my genealogy journey for three reasons. First, cousin Frank Ponzetti was able to provide names and other data on Benedetta's siblings. Although Benedetta relocated to Detroit, while her siblings remained in New York, some of them maintained regular contact. Many of the cousins recall visits, and there are pictures of some of them. 

Benedetta's nephew Pete Adamo, his wife Marianna, and two of their children, Vincent and Carmella.

Benedetta Adamo, left, standing next to her sister Maria Adamo Eterno. Maria's husband Anthony in the foreground (holding the jug). The last of Maria and Anthony's children passed in 2015. 

Aunt Carmie, Carmela Mosca Adamo, sister-in-law of Benedetta. She is the mother of Peter Adamo, two photos above.

Pasquale "Patsy" Adamo, son of Aunt Carmie and Benedetta's brother Vincenzo Adamo, with his cousin Sebastiano "Buster" Ciacchella (son of Benedetta) and Buster's wife Mary.

Frank Adamo, son of Benedetta's brother Pasquale Adamo, with his cousin Virginia Ciacchella Saigh (daughter of Benedetta).

Second, since all but one sibling immigrated to the U.S., I was able to tap into many records. Finally, several of John's top DNA matches seemed (and later proved) to be in this line. (These are descendants of Benedetta's siblings.) Resolving the matches helps build the tree. For Ciacchella / Adamo cousins, you can connect with many of these people on Facebook.

DNA Match descendants of Vincenzo Adamo + Carmela Mosca: Francine Adamo DiSpirito, 2nd cousin, and David Amodio, 2nd cousin, 1 time removed.

DNA Match descendants of Josephine Adamo + Joseph Scarlino: Philip Cavareta, 2nd cousin, and Matt Scarlino, 2nd cousin, 1 time removed. Matt has a band Outta the Red. 

DNA Match descendants of Vincenza Adamo + Felipe Castrogiovanni: Jean Castrogiovanni Marielli, 2nd cousin, and John Lacognata, 2nd cousin, 1 time removed (as well as his daughters, Katrina and Jenna, 3rd cousins, who I couldn't fit into the shot).

DNA Match descendants of Pasquale Adamo + Anna Castrogiovanni: Ann Marie DeBlase and Vita Ruvolo, both 2nd cousins. Two other points to note. The man circled in blue is Frank Adamo from the old photo above (with his cousin Virginia). We had the opportunity to speak with him several years back, but I just did a little research and discovered that he passed earlier this year. This couple and the couple above are brother and sister married to sister and brother. 

DNA Match descendants of Maria Adamo + Anthony Eterno: Anthony Eterno, 2nd cousin.

Because of these factors, I had done a lot of work and made good progress in this line, having already identified the 5th great-grandparents. However, that doesn't mean there wasn't work to be done for this project! For this grouping, I wanted to fill out more information on those circled in blue, as they appeared to be missing birth and / or death dates. As well, for one (Anna m. Tauro), I didn't know her surname and hoped to identify that, as she was the only 5th great-grandparent whose surname I hadn't yet identified.

I first tackled Vincenza Reginella, 4th great-grandmother. All I had for her was a marriage record, so I wanted to identify her baptism date. I made a lot of progress on her line. (Actually, I got so involved, it caused a delay in working on the blog!) 

My first successes were finding the baptism records of both of her parents. Knowing their baptism dates, along with the existing knowledge of their marriage date, helps me narrow my search for Vincenza's baptism record. While I was searching for Vincenza's baptism (success!), I also tried to find baptism records for her two known siblings, Maria and Rosalia. In addition, based on naming conventions, I thought there would be more siblings. I was correct, identifying 4 more siblings! However, for one of the names, Vita, I couldn't figure out where the name came from. So, I searched for the marriage record of Vincenza's paternal grandparents (success!) and discovered the name Vita. Additionally, based on godparents appearing in these records, and other random relatives I found in my search, I was able to add to our tree two siblings of Girolamo, as well as one nephew / cousin. I have a list of several to add at a later date; I had to stop myself and get back to my blog project! Here are some of the documents I reference, as well as a mini-family tree for this group.

Vincenza Saveria Reginella, daughter of Girolamo and Brigida Reginella, baptised 9 February 1747.

 

Girolamo Ignazio Giovanni Reginella, son of Francesco and Brigida Reginella, baptised 28 December 1706. 

Giovanna Brigida Drago (Vincenza's mother), daughter of Nicolo and Anna Maria Drago, baptised 27 June 1709.

Marriage of 6th great-grandparents; the record begins on the bottom left and continues onto top right. Francesco Reginella, son of Vincenzo and Vita, married Brigida Mannino, daughter of Girolamo and Maria, 14 July 1697. This find allowed me to identify the surname of Brigida, previously unknown, as well as to identify 2 sets of 7th great-grandparents in this line.

Reginella family tree. Circled in red are people who were already in the tree, but now have additional information. Circled in blue are new additions to the family tree. One interesting note in this family tree. Vincenza Reginella and her sister Maria Reginella are married to two brothers, Giuseppe Adamo and Girolamo Adamo, respectively. 

Next up was Anna (Tauro, surname unknown). She was a piece of cake. However, when I started work on her, I realized that 4th great-grandmother Vincenza Tauro was missing a birth date; there was only a marriage record for her. I found her record within minutes, and her mother Anna's surname - Giambruno - was actually listed! However, I decided to search for Anna and Liborio's marriage record anyway, because that would give me names another generation back. Again, it was only a matter of minutes to find their marriage record. Yay!

Bottom right. Vincenza Giuseppe Santa Tauro, daughter of Liborio Tauro and Anna Giambruno, baptised 1 November 1754.

Liborio Tauro, son of Liborio and Vincenza, married Anna Giambruno, daughter of Guiseppe and Anna, 16 January, 1754. This record identifies a new set of 6th great-grandparents.

Maria di Maria was my final task for this line, as I saw there was no birth record for her, only a marriage. Actually, when I began work on her, I realized that there were several 5th great-grandparents with no birth records. However, if I went off on a tangent to find all of those, this blog would be published in 2025. Those will have to wait for another day. Focus!

As with the Reginellas, while in the process of finding her birth record, I was able to find her parents' marriage record, identify her mother's surname (La Monica), and discover additional siblings (using naming convention clues). Interestingly, one of the siblings I discovered by chance. I wouldn't have found Dorotea without an extensive records search, since she is not named after a grandparent. However, she appeared on the same page as a person I was researching in another branch! Since the surname is not common, I thought to check it out. 

Maria di Maria, daughter of Onofrio and Anna, baptised 23 December, 1740. Unrelated, whenever I work with Maria di Maria I can't help but hear this song in my head.

Onofrio di Maria, son of Francesco Paolo and Anna, married Anna La Monica, daughter of Francesco and Vincenza, 24 September 1730 (date is on previous page).

Di Maria family tree. Circled in red are people who were already in the tree, but now have additional information. Circled in blue are new additions to the family tree.

In closing for the Adamo line, a quick mention of the couple circled in red - Damiano Tartamella and Caterina Varvera. As I wrote in a previous blog, in identifying this couple, I discovered that John's two  grandmothers, Benedetta Adamo and Maria Milano, were distant (4th) cousins! Correspondingly, John's parents, Peter Ciacchella and Virginia Impellizzeri, were also distant (5th) cousins. If you'd like to dig deeper on that, click on the link above.

Summary: Ancestry tree for Pietro Adamo. All 16 /16 5th great-grandparents identified. Four new 6th and four new 7th great-grandparents identified. Three new family surnames identified: Mannino, Giambruno, and La Monica.

Maria Teresa Bruno, mother of John's paternal grandmother, Benedetta Adamo

Benedetta Adamo's mother, Maria Teresa Bruno, has the most diversity of places among all of John's lines. While she was born in Alcamo, we only have to look back the next two generations to find other places from which ancestors originated. I had three general focal points for this part of my project, the people circled in red. More on each below.

First up, Maria's father, Raffaele Pasquale Bruni, who brings another Calabrian connection to our tree. There is one in the Impellizzeri line, but that is much farther back. It's been a while since I researched this branch, so my goal for this project was to re-visit the 5th great-grandparents, to determine if they really are the 'end of the line' in terms of records availability. Maybe my skills are better now or new information is available?

Calabria is the region next to Sicily, across from Messina. It is the portion of the mainland that forms the 'toe' of the 'boot' of Italy. Raffaele Bruni was from Lago, Cosenza, Calabria. Cosenza is the largest province in Calabria (capital city of the same name), the second largest in the South, and the fifth largest in Italy. It is the most populated province in Calabria.

Cosenza has 150 municipalities, of which Lago (including the village of Lago) is one. I'm hoping to visit Calabria once John is back on his feet. I would also like to make a trip to this ancestral home town, but it might be a bit challenging to get there. Future goals!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any new information on the set of 5th great-grandparents in this line. I did a review of 30 years of civil death records and wasn't able to find any of them. The civil records do not go back far enough to check for their marriages or births, and I'm not aware of any available church records to search.

However, in the marriage packet of third great-grandparents Eliseo Bruno + Anna (new first name) Teresa Posteraro, I was able to find extracts of their births, dates I did not have.

Anna Teresa Posteraro, born 13 October 1796 to Francesco Posteraro and Nicolina Scanga.

Eliseo Bruno, born 10 March 1798 to Francesco Saverio Bruno and Anna Cupelli.

Next I focused on Maria's mother, Giuseppa Gambino, who was born in Alcamo. Giuseppa's mother Vita Messina's line appears to be from Alcamo. I was hoping this project would confirm this, as I didn't have much information on the 5th great-grandparents in this line. 

I had some good finds in Vita Messina's line. For her father, Vincenzo, I was able to find his baptism record. Additionally, I uncovered Vincenzo's parents' marriage record, which identified another four 6th great-grandparents. 

Francesco Vincenzo Messina, son of Baldassare Messina and Vita Cammara, was baptised 18 February 1796.

Baldassare Messina, son of Giuseppe and Laura, married Vita Cammara, daughter of Vincenzo and Rosaria, on 16 April, 1780. Since I knew the parents' names, I was also able to search for additional children of Baldassare and Vita, using the Sicilian naming conventions. Here is their little family.

In addition to three additional children, I was able to identify a sister of Baldassare (Carmela), as she served as godmother to one of their children. Bonus!

For Vita Messina's mother, Giuseppa Milito, I was able to find her baptism record, as well as her parents' marriage record. As above, this allowed me to identify 2 more sets of 6th great-grandparents. And, bonus!, the records listed the females' surnames, so we have two new surnames in our direct ancestor tree: Ferrara and Maltese.

Giuseppe Milito, daughter of Vincenzo Milito and Antonia Marcellino, was baptised on 10 January, 1798.

Vincenzo Milito, son of Giuseppe Milito and Antonina Ferrara, married Antonia Marcellino, daughter of Francesco and Giuseppa Maltese, 22 February 1789.

Finally, I was interested in more exploration of Giuseppa Gambino's father Antonino Gambino's line. His ancestry traces back to Carini, a city in Palermo province. 

Carini isn't far from Palermo; it would be what is described as a suburb in the States. We've passed through several times en route to the Palermo airport, but we've not yet had a chance to visit this ancestral home town. There is a Facebook group for descendants of Carini. The administrator of the group, Marc McDonald, often mentions trying to hold a reunion there. That would be fun and easy for us to attend. I hope he makes his dream a reality. 

I've already completed a good bit of work on Antonino Gambino's grandmother's Gaetana Mandala's line, having identified the complete set of 6th-9th great-grandparents (see tree below)! 

Family tree of 5th great-grandmother Gaetana Mandala, with a set of 6th-9th great-grandparents.

I think Antonino's mother Filippa Mannino is also from Carini, so my focus for this project was to verify this and learn more about her line. My suspicion was confirmed when I found her baptism record. I knew from another record that her parents, Antonino Mannino and Antonina Zerilla were married in Carini, so finding their marriage record was next up in my search, and it wasn't terribly difficult to uncover.

Filippa Mannino, daughter of Antonino and Antonina Mannino, was baptised on 18 September, 1776.

Antonino Mannino, son of Cristoforo and Filippa, widower of Vincenza Pecovaro, married Antonina Zirillo, daughter of Vincenzo and Santa, on 11 June 1774. 

Because there was some confusion with the name of Antonina's mother for me, on the record above, I reached out to my Sicilian Genealogy group. The person who helped me graciously added, as a bonus, the marriage record for Antonina's parents, Vincenzo and Santa. Yay! As well, I was able to find the baptism records for Antonina and Antonino, thereby verifying their baptism dates.

Record beginning bottom left: Vincenzo Zirillo, widower of Agata Passalacqua, son of Filippo and Antonina Zirillo, married Santa Amato, daughter of Francesco and Rosalia Amato, 30 April, 1750.

Summary: Ancestry tree for Maria Teresa Bruno. All 16/16 5th great-grandparents identified. Twelve new 6th great-grandparents and 4 new 7th great-grandparents identified. Three new family surnames identified: Amato (already in tree, see Gaetana Mandala tree), Ferrara, and Maltese.

Well, my 5th great-grandparent project has drawn to a conclusion. For the Ciacchella-Adamo line, I've been able to identify 52 of 64 5th great-grandparents. Given the difficulties with the Augusta records, I'm pleased with what I've been able to accomplish. In total, I've identified 112 / 128 of John's 5th great-grandparents.  Maybe more in the future!