Chasing Moschittos: Line Expansion Moschitto + Bongiovanni
Guiseppa Moschitto is John's paternal great-grandmother in his Ciacchella line, having been married to Sebastiano Ciacchella. This blog talks about my extended research on her line, particularly after gaining access to some Augusta church marriage records. In this blog, I talked more deeply about Giuseppa, my early research, DNA matches, and the disorder thalassemia that runs in the Moschitto line. So, head over there if you would like more background.
When I began this project, Giuseppa's tree was as above (after completing my 5th great-grandparent project November 2024). As you can see, I thought I was "at the end of the line" for her ancestors. As it turns out, I wasn't! I was able to make additional (in some cases, substantial) progress this time around.
Moschitto
My first task was to consult the newly available marriage records. (Quick reminder: I'm not able to share images from these records, per the conditions of my access to them.) I was looking for marriage records for the following couples:
- Giuseppe Moschitto + Sebastiana Bongiovanni (3rd great-grandparents)
- Sebastiano Moschitto + Giuseppa Passanisi (4th great-grandparents)
- Giuseppe Passanisi + Domenica Fricia (5th great-grandparents)
I was happy to find one of them, the marriage record for Sebastiano Moschitto and Giuseppa Passanisi. While I already knew the names of Giuseppa's parents (5th great-grandparents) from her death record, Sebastiano's death record did not include this information. So, we now know the names of the 5th great-grandparents in his line: Gaspare Moschitto and Anna Zanti.
Sebastiano Moschitto, son of Gaspare Moschitto + Anna Zanti, married Giuseppa Passinisi, daughter of Giuseppe Passanisi + Domenica Frixia, 18 November 1781, Augusta, Sicily. Zanti is a new surname in our family tree.
I did a small sweep of records for the children of Giuseppe Moschitto and Sebastiana Bongiovanni. I was able to find some death dates. As well, I identified another child that wasn't in the tree. This is the 4th child named Luigi that this couple had! The previous 3 all died in infancy (in addition to 4 others with different names). I cannot imagine how difficult that must have been. This Luigi only lived to age 30. I believe this is a reflection of the Thalassemia that we now know ran in the Moschitto line.
Luigi Moschitto, aged 30, never married, son of Giuseppe Moschitto and Sebastiana Bongiovanni died 15 April, 1860 in Augusta, Sicily.
Aside from this and some additional records for people already in the tree, I did not push through any more walls in the direct Moschitto line. However, I was able to compile and sort several DNA matches. I'd like to share information on the DNA matches from the Moschitto and Passanisi lines before moving on to discuss research in the Bongiovanni line.
Family Tree of Sebastiano Moschitto + Giuseppa Passanisi. Circled in red are lines with DNA matches. There is also a DNA match extending from the parents of Giuseppa Passanisi, through her sister Maria.
Through Rosa Moschitto and her husband Giovanni Amato, there are 5 confirmed DNA matches. They are all 5th cousins, or 5th cousins 1 time removed. The shared DNA estimates range from 9-40 over 1 or 2 segments. This suggests to me that for some of the matches, there might be a double relationship from one of John's other lines. I wasn't able to find photos of any of the DNA matches, but here is a photo of the father of two of them.
John Anthony Bucceri, 4th cousin 1 x removed. Handsome! This branch of the family tree ended up in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA.
Through Giuseppe's son Concetto, there are 3 DNA matches, while through son Pasquale, there are 5. I've talked about these folks, several who have been collaborators, in the Moschitto Mysteries blog. If you love genealogy, I recommend checking out this blog. You can also see photos of these cousins there.
The remaining DNA matches extend from John's 2nd great-grandparents, Domenico Moschitto and Carmela Barbarino. Via the daughter Sebastiana, there is 1 DNA match, and via son Sebastiano there is 1 DNA match and 1 family tree match (who I mention here because I have collaborated with him).
Sebastiana Noe, pictured here in context of her family tree (since I have lots of photos), is John's 3rd cousin. They share 37 cm on 2 segments.
Walter Malkauskas, pictured in his family tree (piccies!) is John's 3rd cousin. They share 79 cm over 4 segments. Undoubtedly, they are related another way. My collaborator and family tree match is Walter's cousin Eugene Cassis, who is also John's 3rd cousin.
The two remaining DNA matches are 1/2 cousins. They are descendants from Carmela Barbarino's remarriage to Vincenzo Strazzulla, via their son Giuseppe. That pushes us into content for the next blog in this series, where I will cover the Barbarino line. However, it made sense to talk about it here. Both matches are 1/2 2nd cousins 1 time removed. Thomas Savino, who I couldn't find a picture of, shares 37 cm on 1 segment. The other match is Donna Strazzulla.
Donna Strazzulla shares 50 cm, over 2 segments. Again, I think there is another relationship not yet identified. I actually have an hypothesis about how they are related (I think a Strazzulla spouse in our tree is another cousin), but I cannot go down that rabbit hole now - FOCUS!***
The final DNA match is via the Passanisi-Fricia portion of this branch. Joseph Arangio is 6th cousin to John, sharing 21 cm over 2 segments. Below are pictures of Joseph (Jr.) and his father Joseph (Sr.) who would be John's 5th cousin, 1 time removed.
This DNA match also pushes us into content for the next (Barbarino) blog, because Joseph Arangio is also related to John through the Barbarino line. He is a 6th cousin via this additional line. This helps explain the amount of shared DNA (also on more than one segment) that seems high for 6th cousins, but it's possible he and John could be related yet another way. Only time will tell.
Summary tree for direct Moschitto line. We now have a complete set of 5th great-grandparents, with the new surname Zanti.
Bongiovanni
This tree shows where I left off with the Bongiovanni line after the 5th great-grandparent project. As with the Moschitto line, you can see that I thought I was at the end of the line. However, the church record access opened the door to more information, and our tree grows!
Before I go on to discuss my research, I have to give a shout-out to a young cousin I met through my exploration of these lines. Diego Velotti is a super genealogy researcher, and he is so young (in his teens). I am always impressed by his enthusiasm and research skills. Since the time that I wrote the 5th great-grandparents blog, Diego managed to get the Augusta church to let him conduct some research with the records. He generously shared with me records from his and John's shared line. Many of the records I'm sharing in this section came from him.
Diego is John's 5x2 cousin, with shared ancestors Luigi Bongiovanni + Sebastiana Battaglia (John's 4th great-grandparents and Diego's 6th great-grandparents). Lucia Toretta, Diego's great-grandmother and John's 4x1 cousin.
Maria Marino, b. 1904, and Giuseppe Marino, b. 1862, Augusta. These are Lucia's mother and grandfather, John's 3x2 and 2x3 cousins. Thanks again to Diego for all of the resources!
First on my list with access to the church records was to find the marriage record for Luigi Bongiovanni + Sebastiana Battaglia. At first, I wasn't able to find it, as Luigi was not appearing in the index. However, through a stroke of luck on an unrelated task, I learned that Luigi is Aloysius in Latin. *forehead slap* When I went to the index for A names, there it was!
Luigi Bongiovanni, son of Leonardo Bongiovanni and Vincenza Messina, married Sebastiana Battaglia, daughter of Giovanni Battaglia and Concetta Adamo, 31 December, 1786, in Augusta, Sicily.
This record confirmed the names of their parents, which I had found on their death records. New information garnered was that Sebastiana was a widow, previously married to Giuseppe Imprescia. I haven't yet found any records indicating if they had children.
Known children of Luigi Bongiovanni and Sebastiana Battaglia.
Before going on to discuss the expansion of Bongiovanni - Battaglia lines, it makes sense to discuss the DNA matches here. This is because there aren't any current DNA paths going back further than this couple. In the diagram above, the couple in red are John's direct ancestors. Their DNA matches were discussed earlier under the Moschitto section. The couple in green are the direct ancestors of Diego, discussed above.
The remaining DNA matches are all descendants of Agata Casserino Prato, a daughter of the couple in blue.
There are 4 DNA matches through Francesca Prato, 5th or 5th cousins 1 x removed, with 9 to 14 cm shared DNA. I wasn't able to find photos of all of them, but here are a couple.
Deana Sicari is a 5x1 cousin. Ellen Bellissimo is sister to DNA match Joseph Bellissimo, who is also a 5x1 cousin.
The two DNA matches via Rosa Prato are Paul and Anthonly Sarcia, pictured below.
Anthony Sarcia (who, unfortunately, passed away in 2021) is a 4th cousin, once removed, 14 cm on 1 segment. Paul Sarcia (his nephew, pictured here with his sister) is a 5th cousin, also with 14 cm on 1 segment.
The remaining DNA matches, of which there are 6, are via Salvatore Prato. This line has some photos available of the older ancestors, which are always fun to find.
Salvatore Prato, 2x3 cousin, born in Augusta in 1866, immigrant to and naturalized citizen of the US.
Rosa Prato, Salvatore's daughter, 3x2 cousin
Francine Costa, Rosa's daughter, 4x1 cousin.
Two of the DNA matches are Francine's daughter (5th cousins, 18 cm, 1 segment) and granddaughter Erin (5x1, 16 cm, 1 segment), pictured here.
The other DNA matches are 5th or 5x1 cousins as well. Here are some that I was able to find photos for.
Jennifer Garant, 5th cousin, mother of DNA match Nathan Walker, 5x1, 14 cm, 1 segment.
Patricia Pogue, pictured, and her sister Sarah are 5th cousins (13 and 14 cm on 1 segment). Patricia's daughter, Jessica Vincent, pictured, is a family tree match.
One final interesting point to note: Ancestry's algorithm insists that about half of these are DNA matches on John's maternal, not paternal, side. When I look at their shared DNA matches, they do have matches with people who are either unassigned or assigned to John's maternal side. This is quite confounding since the maternal side are from Alcamo, while this one branch - and only this branch - is from Augusta. A question and mystery for another day!
Okay, back to the line expansion! First I'll discuss finds in the direct Bongiovanni line (then through the female Battaglia line). For a refresher, when I left off, I knew the names of Luigi Bongiovanni's parents from his death record, then I recently confirmed those names - Leonardo Bongiovanni and Vincenza Messina - with the discovery of his marriage record (discussed above). Next step, find their marriage record - success!
Leonardo Bongiovanni, son of Sebastiano Bongiovanni + Giovanna Raimondo, married Vincenza Messina, daughter of Santo Messina + Rosaria Salamone, 6 January 1755, in Augusta, Sicily. I also found marriage records for two of their children: Vincenzo m. Giovanna Lastorina, and Domenico m. Pietra Sergi.
With this find, I was excited to see if I could go back any further by finding the marriage records for 6th great-grandparents Sebastiano Bongiovanni + Giovanna Raimando and Santo Messina + Rosaria Salamone. I'm excited to report that I made excellent progress with this! I'll share what I found on the latter first, because it's a little more straightforward.
Santo Messina, son of Antonio Messina + Giovanna Santapaolo, married Rosaria Salamone, daughter of Rosario Salamone + Giovanna Gentili, 14 April 1738, in Augusta, Sicily.
This record gives us the names of another group of four 7th great-grandparents! I wasn't able to go back any further for the Messina-Santapaolo line, but there was a marriage record available for the Salamone-Gentili line. This discovery, below, provided the names of four new 8th great-grandparents!
Rosario Salamone, son of Alfio Salamone + Clara Ferrisi, married Giovanna Gentili, daughter of Vincenzo Gentili + Rosaria Bellicchi, 23 December 1713, Augusta, Sicily.
Here is the summary tree for Vincenza Messina. I'm very pleased at going from her previous status as "end of the line" to uncovering 2-3 more generations! New surnames in this line are Santapaola, Salamone, Gentili, Ferrisi, and Bellicchi.
In the Bongiovanni line, I had actually tried earlier to find the marriage record of Sebastiano Bongiovanni + Giovanna Raimondo. I was unsuccessful, even though I was able to find Sebastiano's second marriage record (after he was widowed) to a Rosaria Motta. Diego to the rescue! Diego, who is much better at translating these Latin marriage records, recognized that Sebastiano and Giovanna were originally from Sortino, Sicily. And, great news, some of this town's older records are available digitally on FamilySearch. Yay!
Sortino is in Syracuse province and has a population of about 9,000. How interesting to add another ancestral home town! We're going to have to figure out how to visit.
Sebastiano Bongiovanni, son of Leonardo Bongiovanni + Bernarda Santo, married Giovanna Raimondo, daughter of Giuseppe Raimondo + Antonia Arnone, 29 August, 1734, in Sortino, Sicily.
Now that I was in the Sortino records, I was also able to find their son Leonardo's baptism record. Leonardo Bongiovanni, son of Sebastiano Bongiovanni and Giovanna Raimondo, was baptised in Sortino, Sicily on 13 August 1735 (date appears on previous page, not in image).
The Sortino records were so productive, that here I'm going to split the couple Sebastiano Bongiovanni and Giovanna Raimondo to share records in each of their respective lines. Otherwise it's going to get too confusing going back and forth. Normally, I would share a summary tree at the end of this section, but I'm going to put it up front in order to show the big picture.
Direct ancestor tree for Sebastiano Bongiovanni. As discussed below, I was able to research back to the complete set of 9th great-grandparents!
Marriage record for 7th great-grandparents. Leonardo Bongiovanni, son of Filippo Bongiovanni + Eleonora La Scarsa, married Bernarda Santo, daughter of Antonio Santo + Giuseppa Grasso, 18 August, 1698 in Sortino, Sicily. While I was flipping through images to get to this one, I got lucky and found the marriage record for Leonardo's sister as well!
Maura Bongiovanni, daughter of Filippo Bongiovanni and Eleonora La Scarsa, married Paolo Buxello 7 September 1698 in Sortino, Sicily.
I was also able to find Leonardo's baptism record. Leonardo, son of Filippo and Eleonora Bongiovanni was baptised 18 July 1676 in Sortino, Sicily.
For Bernarda Santo, I was unable to find her birth certificate, nor her parents' marriage record. However, I found who I believe to be her parents in the index of marriage records. The inconsistency is that the bride is called Margherita Grasso, not Giuseppa. Note, though, the bride's mother's name: Giuseppa. My belief is that the name Giuseppa was an error in the marriage record presented earlier; it's not the first time I've seen this type of error. So, this record gives us the names of 9th great-grandparents in this line. Yay! Antonio Santo, son of Blasio and Antonina Santo, married Margherita Grasso, daughter of Sebastiano and Giuseppa Grasso, 23 March 1675, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage record for 8th great-grandparents. Filippo Bongiovanni, son of Antonio Bongiovanni + Andriana Bonzio, married Eleonora La Scarsa, daughter of Sebastiano La Scarsa + Natala (surname unknown), 3 May 1664, Sortino Sicily.
There are some potential leads to follow to go back a bit further in the Bongiovanni line, but I haven't been able to find the marriage record for Antonio Bongiovanni and Andriana Bonzio. Without this, there is no way for me to tell which Antonio Bongiovanni in the birth records is ours (as the marriage record would confirm the names of the parents). So, that's where I'll stop for this round. I'm super-excited to have gotten back to the names of the 9th great-grandparents in this line! The new surnames in this line are: Santo, La Scarsa, Grasso, and Bonzio.
On to Raimondo...
Marriage record for 7th great-grandparents. Giuseppe Raimondo, son of Natale Raimondo + Andreana Manfre, married Antonia Arnone, daughter of Giuseppe Arnone + Antonina Lo Zito, 9 February 1709, Sortino, Sicily.
Because I was able to go back some generations in both the Raimondo and Arnone lines, I'm splitting them here and presenting the summary trees, as before, for clarity and the big picture.
Raimondo
Raimondo-Manfre Trees
Marriage for 8th great-grandparents. I wasn't able to find the actual records, but here is the summary in an index. Natale Raimondo, son of Giuseppe and Giovanna Raimondo, married Andreana Manfre, daughter of Mariano and Maria Manfre, 5 October 1681, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 9th great-grandparents. Giuseppe Ramundo, son of Francesco and Mariana Ramundo, married Giovanna Salonia, daughter of Natale and Margherita Salonia, 20 October 1649, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 10th great-grandparents. Francesco Ramundazzo, son of Mariano, married Mariana Ciaffaglione, daughter of Pietro, 13 February 1611 (date not in photo), Sortino, Sicily. I was uncertain about her father's name, but I luckily found a 1621 marriage record for her brother Pasquale, which had Pietro clearly written in. An interesting point to note is how this family's surname evolved over time. It begins here with Ramundazzo, then evolved to Ramundo, and finally to Raimondo.
Marriage for 10th great-grandparents. Natale Salonia, son of Leonardo and Ursula Salonia, married Margherita Mazzotta, daughter of Nicola and Perna Mazzotta, 5 June 1629, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 11th great-grandparents. Leonardo Salonia, son of Natale, married Ursula Gungello, daughter of Antonino, 26 September 1602, Sortino, Sicily.
While researching, I uncovered the marriage record for Leonardo's brother Antonio (11th great-granduncle!). I include here just because it's so old - interesting! Antonio Salonia, son of Natale, married Sofia Gentili, daughter of Geronimo, 5 June 1623, Sortino, Sicily. Unfortunately, as with Leonardo's certificate, the mother's name is not included. So, at the end of this line, we only have the male names.
Marriage for 9th great-grandparents. Mariano Manfre, son of Antonino and Vincenza Manfre, married Maria Raffa, daughter of Pietro and Lucrezia Raffa, 18 November 1657, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 10th great-grandparents. Pietro Raffa, son of Giuseppe and Francesca Raffa, married Lucrezia Lopes, daughter of Damiano and Lucrezia Lopes, 26 October 1634, Sortino, Sicily.
This record proved to be particularly interesting. The handwriting was very difficult, so I asked for assistance in my Sicilian Genealogy group. One person wrote back who had a lot of experience with Sortino records. Not only did she help decipher, but she recognized the surnames I was working with and had some cool information to share, in photo below. She also pointed out that the Raffa family originated from Calvaruso, a comune in Messina province.
Calvaruso relative to Capo d'Orlando, Sortino, and Augusta. Another city to add to the visit bucket list! Unfortunately, there aren't any Calvaruso church records online, so I'm not able to go back any further with the Raffa line.
Spanish connection! Spagnolo is a surname in our town. I wonder if there is a relationship?
Marriage for 11th great-grandparents. Damiano Lopes, son of Antonio, married Lucrezia Alonzo, daughter of Giuseppe, 27 May 1617, Sortino, Sicily.
Summary of new surnames in the Raimondo branch: Raimondo (Ramundo, Ramundazzo), Salonia, Mazzotta, Gungello, Ciaffaglione, Raffa, Manfre, Alonzo, Lopes (Spagnolo). Wow!
Arnone
Arnone - Lo Zito - Buccheri Trees
Marriage for 8th great-grandparents. I was not able to find the actual records, but complete information was in the index. Giuseppe Arnone, son of Tofanio and Antonia Arnone, married Antonina Lo Zito, daughter of Sebastiano and Sofia Lo Zito, 5 May 1669, Sortino, Sicily. This is the final record I could identify for the Arnone line, while the Lo Zito line had more to explore.
Antonina Lo Zito, daughter of Sebatiano and Sofia Lo Zito, was baptised 12 December 1648, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 9th great-grandparents. Sebastiano Lo Zito, son of Antonio and Antonina Lo Zito, married Sofia Buccheri, daughter of Cola and Sebastiana Buccheri, 6 October 1647, Sortino, Sicily.
Sofia Buccheri, daughter of Cola and Sebastiana Buccheri, was baptised 19 September 1631, Sortino, Sicily.
Sebastiano Lo Zito died 20 September 1661, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 10th great-grandparents. Antonio Lo Cito (note name evolution), son of Mariano, married Antonia Jerna, daughter of Antonio, 14 February 1599, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 11th great-grandparents. Mariano Lo Cito, son of Crispino, married Agatuzza Galicia, daughter of Ciano, 1 May 1569, Sortino, Sicily. This one has a lot of names I've never encountered before: Crispino, Agatuzza (diminutive of Agata), and Ciano (shortened version of names like Luciano, etc.).
Marriage for 10th great-grandparents. Cola Buccheri, son of Antonio and Mattia Buccheri, married Sebastiana Maiorca, daughter of Lorenzo and Paula Maiorca, 8 October 1628, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 11th great-grandparents. Antonio Buccheri, son of Cola, married Mattia Mazzarella, daughter of Manno, 19 December 1597, Sortino, Sicily.
Marriage for 11th great-grandparents. Lorenzo Maiorca, son of Gregorio, married Paula Cuniglio, daughter of Pietro, 24 April 1599, Sortino, Sicily.
With these very old marriage records, where the mothers' names are not listed, I've been checking to see if I can find the baptism records in order to identify the mothers' names (records are available back to 1562). I had a little success, but there is still a problem that only the mother's first name is listed. Different times! For these two sets of 11th great-grandparents (above), I was able to find the baptism records for Antonio Buccheri and Mattia Mazzarella. Their mothers' names, respectively, are Antonella and Francesco. While I wasn't able to find baptism records for Lorenzo Maiorca and Paula Cuniglio, I did find the baptism records of several of Lorenzo's siblings. With these, I was able to identify his mother's name: Bartolomea.
Mattia Mazzarella, daughter of Manno and Francesca, was baptised 21 September 1597, Sortino, Sicily.
Antonio Buccheri, son of Cola and Antonella, was baptised 4 November 1564, Sortino, Sicily. This is the oldest record I uncovered in this project. Amazing, when you think about it!
Summary of new names in the Arnone branch: Lo Zito (Lo Cito), Galicia, Jerna, Buccheri, Maiorca, Mazzarella, Cuniglio. Some of these names sound Spanish to me, so perhaps there is a Spain connection, like in the Raimondo line?
Almost done! For Giuseppa Moschitto's line (inserting tree of where we started again for reference), we have covered Moschitto, Passanisi, and Bongiovanni. The last line to explore is Battaglia.
I was able to go back one more generation in this line, with discovery of the marriage record for Sebastiana's parents.
Giovanni Battaglia, son of Vincenzo Battaglia + Rosaria Consulo, married Concetta Adamo, daughter of Silvestro Adamo + Crocifissa Ramundazzo, 3 November 1758 in Augusta, Sicily.
While I wasn't able to go any further back in this line, I did identify two additional children of Giovanni Battaglia. One child, Rosaria, was with his second wife (our direct ancestor) Concetta Adamo, while the other, Vincenzo, was with his first wife (not our direct ancestor).
Rosaria Battaglia, daughter of Giovanni Battaglia and Concetta Adamo, wife of Paolo Ternullo, died 23 July 1826, Augusta, Sicily. Rosaria Battaglia and Paolo Ternullo married 1 February 1778 in Augusta, Sicily.
Vincenzo Battaglia, son of Giovanni Battaglia and Rosaria Monte, spouse of Sebastiana Spinavaria, died 28 September 1820 in Augusta, Sicily.
The identification of Vincenzo led to the discovery of a DNA match - it harkens back to earlier in the post - *** (scroll back up if you want a refresher). It turns out my theory about DNA match Donna Strazzulla was correct. The project ended up taking me down the rabbit hole to test my theory, even though I said I wouldn't go down it, LOL! Donna and John are 2x1 cousins through the Moschitto (via Carmela Barbarino) line, but they are also cousins through the line of the second husband of Carmela Barbarino, Vincenzo Strazzulla, who is a descendant in the Battaglia line. (Put another way, John's 2nd great-grandmother is married to his 3x3 cousin in a different line.) John and Donna are 1/2 6th cousins in this line, because this relationship is through Giovanni Battaglia's first marriage to Rosaria Monte. Are you confused? I'm barely hanging in there. Anyway, the additional relationship helps explain John's and Donna's shared amount of DNA, but it still seems a little high to me. Perhaps another linkage will reveal in the future?
Here is the summary tree for Sebastiana Battaglia. New surnames in this line are Consulo, Adamo, and Ramundazzo.
Well, that's a wrap for this one. There is one more research project in this series of 4 I've been conducting on John's Augusta line. I'll see you later this year for the final line: Barbarino - Amato.
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