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CERINI Family History, Part VI

Maria Elisabetta CERINI (1760-1763)

117321. Maria Elisabetta Cerini was born and baptized on the night of September 12, 1760, in Giumaglio, Ticino, Switzerland, and was apprently named for her paternal grandmother. Her godparents were named as her maternal uncle Giacomo Pietro Gasparini and Mrs. Maria Angela (Lucchini) Pozzi, whose husband, Giovanni Francesco Pozzi, was her father's cousin.^{[Bap 1760]} Elisabetta died at the age of two and half years on February 26, 1763, during a a widespread malady that took the lives of 11 parishioners between December 1762 and March 1763, including her mother and maternal aunt, Catterina Gasparini. She and the others were buried in the cemetery of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.^{[Dth 1763]}

Maria Innocenza (CERINI) POZZI (1764->1795)

117322. Maria Innocenza Cerini was born and baptized on the night of December 28, 1764, in Giumaglio, Ticino, Switzerland. Her godparents were named as Giovanni Antonio Giovanotti and her paternal aunt Maria Cerini.^{[Bap 1764]}

Innocenza married Giacomo Pietro "Lessio" Pozzi, a three-time widower who was about 19 years her senior, on February 5, 1783, at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Giumaglio. Witnesses to their marriage were Giovanni Cerini (perhaps her younger brother Giovanni Antonio⁴) and Giovanni Giacomo Pedrotti, whose mother-in-law, Maria Giacomina Zamaroni, would beome Innocenza's stepmother the following year. Innocenza became Lessio's fourth wife and only two months after his previous wife died.^{[Dth 1782]} Their marriage record notes that they were related through affinity (by marriage, rather than by blood) to the third and fourth degrees, perhaps through one or two of his previous marriages, and obtained dispensation through Locarno from Lucerne.^{[Mar 1783]} Of Lessio's earlier six children, the first of whom was born before Innocenza, only one son, Antonio, who was only 7 years younger than Innocenza, survived to his father's remarriage. Innocenza gave Lessio at least one daughter:^{[Bap 1784, Cen 1795]}

Maria Innocenza and her brother Giovanni Antonio⁶ were confirmed on July 29, 1769, when Giambattista Muggiasca, Bishop of Como (1765-1789), held confirmation ceremonies for parishes in the valley at the Church of Santi Placido ed Eustachio in Someo, 2 kilometers upriver. Her sponsoring godmother was named as Maria Margherita Lafranchi of Coglio.^{[Con 1769]}

Innocenza was named as godmother to Giovanni Antonio (Giovanetti) in 1780^{[Bap 1779]}, perhaps her godfather's grandson.

Lessio's Earlier Marriages

Lessio's first marriage was to Giovanna Maria De Bernardi of Lodano, 3 kilometers downriver, and they had at least one daughter. Giovanna died on March 11, 1763, at the age of 25, during a widespread malady that took the lives of 11 parishioners between December 1762 and March 1763. Giovanna was buried in the cemetery of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.^{[Dth 1763]}

Lessio's second marriage was to Maria Giacomina (Cerini) Pozzi, the widow of Giovanni Angelo Pozzi. (There is no yet known relationships between either Lessio and Giovanni Angelo, nor between Innocenza and Giacomina, on their Cerini lines, although that is probably their most likely relationship by affinity.) Giacomina bore two sons before her death.^{[Cen 1769]}

Lessio's third marrage was to Maria Catterina Pozzi on June 1, 1772. Despite sharing the same family name, no impediment of consanguinity (blood relation) was found between the two, only a relationship of the third degree of affinity (relationship by marriage). Recorded witness to this marriage were Giuseppe Pozzi, Giuseppe Lesina, and Giovanni Pietro Sartori.^{[Mar 1772]} (Similarly, there is no yet known relationship between her and either Lessio or Giovanni Angelo.) Catterina produced three sons, none of whom survived infancy, before she died on November 28, 1782.^{[Dth 1782]}

Innocenza and Lessio

Innocenza was named as Lessio's "second wife" on the parish census of 1795. Her husband, stepson Antonio Maria, age 22, and daughter Domenica, age 11, were enumerated as well.^{[Cen 1795]} Perhaps this accounts for describing Innocenza as Lessio's second wife rather than his fourth.

A year after their marriage Lessio was recorded as a witness to the remarriage of Innocenza's father.^{[Mar 1784]}

Innocenza and Lessio named Giacomo Pietro Adami and Maria Angiola De Bernardi of Lodano, possibly a relative on Lessio's mother's side, as godparents for daughter Domenica.^{[Bap 1784]} Innocenza was later named as godmother and apparent namesake of niece Maria Innocenza Cerini.^{[Bap 1795]}

Giacomo Pietro "Lessio" Pozzi may have died before 1807, when daughter Domenica was married, and during a period of incomplete, back-entered parish records. He would have been in his 50s or early 60s.^{[Mar 1807]}

Maria Innocenza (Cerini) Pozzi lived at least through 1795^{[Cen 1795]} and may have died during a period in which parish death records are missing between 1808 and 1826. As such she would likely have been in her late 40s or 50s.

Giovanni Antonio CERINI (VI)⁶ (1767-<1817)

117323. Giovanni Antonio (Gianantonio) Cerini (VI)⁶ was born and baptized on the night of June 18, 1767, in Giumaglio, Ticino canton, Switzerland. His godfather was named as Giovanni Antonio Pedrotti^•, his second cousin and apparent namesake, although he was also likely named for his paternal grandfather. His godmother was Maria Appolonia Pozzi of the neighboring village of Coglio.^{[Bap 1767]} Antonio married Maria Teresa Giumini⁶ between 1793 and 1795 and had at least six children:

Antonio and elder sister Innocenza were confirmed on July 29, 1769, when Giambattista Muggiasca, Bishop of Como (1765-1789), held confirmation ceremonies for parishes in the valley at the Church of Santi Placido ed Eustachio in Someo, 2 kilometers upriver. Antonio's sponsoring godfather was named as Giovanni Antonio Lafranchi (Jr.) of Coglio, likely their maternal uncle.^{[Con 1769]}

Antonio and Teresa chose the following as godparents for their children:

1. Maddalena: Giovanni Maria Guglielmetti of Coglio, Antonio's elder half-brother, and Maria Giumini, Teresa's elder sister^{[Bap 1796]};
2. Margherita: Giovanni Domenico Piezzi and Mrs. Margherita Guglielmetti, wife of Giovanni Guglielmetti, above^{[Bap 1798]};
3. Giacomo Pietro⁷: Giacomo Pietro Adami and Catterina Sartori, Teresa's cousin^{[Bap 1800]};
4. Antonio Marcello: Antonio Maria Lafranchi of Coglio, husband of Teresa's younger sister, and Mrs. Marianna (Bonetti) Cerini, wife of Giacomo Pietro Cerini, Antonio's second cousin^{[Bap 1802]};
5. Anna Maria: Giovanni Pietro Pozzi and the widow Mrs. Anna Maria Filipponi of Someo^{[Bap 1807]}; and
6. Maria Angiola: no baptism record available.

Curiously, while the families of the three Cerini brothers were enumerated adjacent to one another in the 1808 civil census, son Antonio Marcello, age 5 at the time, was counted with his uncle Pietro Antonio⁶, who had no sons at the time, rather than with his father and elder brother Giacomo Pietro, perhaps suggesting he was adopted.^{[Cen 1808]}

Giovanni Antonio Cerini died between 1809 and the 1817 parish census. He was therefore probably in his forties.^{[Cen 1817]} After Antonio's death, baptism records that mentioned sons Giacomo Pietro and Antonio Marcello misrecorded Antonio's brother, Pietro Antonio⁶, as their father on six occasions between 1826 and 1837.

In 1817 Maria Teresa, age 47, lived with five children between the ages of about 8 to 24, the youngest of whom, Maria Angiola, was curiously not recorded in the parish census of 1817 but later was in the civil registry.^{[Cen 1817, Reg ~1851 ]} Furthermore, no baptism record for Angiola has been found to confirm that she was in fact Antonio and Teresa's daughter because parish baptism records from 1809 until 1826 are lost to history.

Maria Teresa (Giumini) Cerini died at the family home on December 6, 1831. She was reported to be 61 years old.^{[Dth 1831]}

Pietro Antonio CERINI⁶ (1769-1859)

117324. Pietro Antonio Cerini⁶ was born on October 10, 1769, in Giumaglio, Ticino, Switzerland, and baptized the following day. His godparents were named as Giovanni Pozzi and Mrs. Maria Domenica Pozzi^{[Bap 1769]} and may have been named for his suspected maternal uncle, Pietro Antonio Maria Lafranchi. Pietro Antonio married Maria Catterina Lafranchi⁵, of the neighboring village of Coglio by 1795.^{[Cen 1795]} She appears to have been his stepsister and perhaps a cousin to Pietro's mother. At the time they were 25 and 15 years old. Pietro and Catterina had at least six children together:^{[Cen 1817,1843]}

Pietro and brother Giuseppe Antonio Maria were confirmed on August 1, 1776, when Giambattista Muggiasca, Bishop of Como (1765-1789), held confirmation ceremonies for parishes in the valley at the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Cevio, 8 kilometers upriver. Their sponsoring godfathers were named as Giuseppe Pezzoni of Someo and Guglielmo Zanone of Bignasco.^{[Con 1776]}

Pietro and Catterina lived with Pietro's father and Catterina's mother in 1795, and afterward their daughters Giacomina and Perpetua were appended to the household.^{[Cen 1795]}

Pietro and Catterina chose the following godparents for their children:

1. Innocenza: Giovanni Giacomo Pedrotti, Catterina's brother-in-law, and Mrs. Maria Innocenza (Cerini) Pozzi, Pietro's elder sister^{[Bap 1795]};
2. Giacomina: Giovanni Antonio Lafranchi, Catterina's elder brother, and Marianna Giumini^{[Bap 1799]}, possibly Catterina's cousin;
3. Anna Maria: Giovanni Antonio Cerini, Pietro's second cousin, and Mrs. Maria Barbara (Martinosa) Pozzi^{[Bap 1800B]};
4. Maria Anna: Giovanni Giacomo Cerini, Pietro's half-brother, and Mrs. Giovanna Maria (Pozzi) Gasparini^{[Bap 1802]};
5. Felice: Pietro Antonio Caneverini of Coglio and Maria Pozzi, perhaps Pietro's niece or step-niece^{[Bap 1805]}; and
6. Giuseppe: no baptism record available.

During the Napoleonic Era (1798-1815), Emperor Napoleon ordered a census that named every male, regardless of age, in 1808. The Pedrotti's recorded were Pietro Antonio, age 38, married; Pietro Antonio, age 2; and curiously Pietro's nephew, Antonio Marcello, age 5.^{[Cen 1808]} Antonio Marcello's inclusion perhaps suggests that he had been adopted. After his brother's death, baptism records that mentioned nephews Giacomo Pietro⁶ and Antonio Marcello misrecorded Pietro Antonio as their father on six occasions between 1826 and 1837.

Catterina was named as godmother to Giacomo Pietro Gasparini^{[Bap 1797]}, a grandnephew to Pietro's father's first wife; godmother and namesake to niece Maria Catterina Lafranchi^{[Bap 1800A]}; and Pietro's nephew Giovanni Antonio Cerini.^{[Bap 1806]}

One of the elder two daughters, "Maria Jacoba," died on November 13, 1827, at the age of "about 30 years." She was buried the following day at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Giumaglio.^{[Dth 1827]}

Maria Catterina (Lafranchi) Cerini died on May 16, 1847, at their home in Giumaglio and buried the following day at the cemetery at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. She was said to be 73 years old.^{[Dth 1847]}

Pietro Antonio Cerini died on January 12, 1859, at his home in Giumaglio. He was buried the following day in the parish cemetery at the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.^{[Dth 1859]} He was 89 years old and the oldest resident of Giumaglio at the time, following Giovanni Domenico Piezzi, who died three years earlier and had been married to his sister-in-law Maria Teresia (Giumini) Cerini's sister.

Giuseppe Antonio Maria CERINI (1774->1795)

117325. Giuseppe Antonio Maria Cerini was born and baptized on the morning of January 28, 1774, in Giumaglio, Ticino canton, Switzerland. His godfather and apparent namesake was Giuseppe Antonio Maria Lafranchi, who is of an as yet unknown relationship to his mother; and his godmother was Mrs. Domenica (Piezzi) Giovanotti,^{[Bap 1774]} the mother of his future bride, Maria Anna Giovanotti, whom he married by 1795. (Domenica's husband, Giuseppe Giovanotti, was also the son of the godfather to elder sister Innocenza.) At that time he and his bride were still living with his father and elder brother's young family.

Giuseppe Antonio Maria and elder brother Pietro Antonio⁶ were confirmed on August 1, 1776, when Giambattista Muggiasca, Bishop of Como (1765-1789), held confirmation ceremonies for parishes in the valley at the Church of San Giovanni Battista in Cevio, 8 kilometers upriver. Their sponsoring godfathers were named as Guglielmo Zanone of Bignasco and Giuseppe Pezzoni of Someo.^{[Con 1776]}

Giuseppe and Maria Anna are not found in the parish records of Giumaglio after the 1795 parish census.^{[Cen 1795, 1808, 1843]} What became of them is unknown.

Giovanni Giacomo CERINI (1785-1848)

117326. Giovanni Giacomo Cerini was born on June 8, 1785, in Giumaglio, Ticino canton, Switzerland. He was baptized that same day. His godfather was named as Giovanni Giacomo Pedrotti, apparently his namesake, his eldest half-sister's husband, and the son of the late Giovanni Antonio Pedrotti^•, his father's first cousin and godfather to eldest half-brother Giovanni Antonio Cerini⁶. His godmother was Mrs. Maria Angiola (De Bernardi) Cerini, the wife of Giovanni (Pietro) Cerini^{[Bap 1785]}, his father's second cousin. Giacomo married Giovanna Maria "Maria" Lafranchi, who may have been a grandniece to Giacomo's father's second wife, Maria Perpetua Lafranchi⁴, on May 6, 1805, at Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo in Coglio.^{[Mar 1805]} They had as many as six children:^{[Bap 1806, Cen 1817,1843]}

Giacomo was named as godfather for niece Maria Anna Cerini in 1802; niece Maria Domenica Lafranchi^{[Bap 1805]}; grandnephew Giuseppe Bonetti.^{[Bap 1820]}; and, along with daughter Marianna as godmother, to grandnephew Giacomo Cerini.^{[Bap 1846]}

Giacomo and Maria were married on May 6, 1805, at Church of Santa Maria del Carmelo. No relationship impediments were recorded, however, Maria was likely the grandniece of the mother of Giacomo's elder half-siblings. Recorded witnesses to the marriage were Pietro Caneverini, Giacomo's cousin, and Carlo Pozzi, both of Coglio.^{[Mar 1805]}

Only the baptism record of son Antonio survived to the present because of a gap in parish records from 1808 through 1825. Antonio's godparents were named as Giovanni Battista Lafranchi^• of Coglio, Giovanna's paternal uncle, and Maria Catterina Lafranchi, wife of Giacomo's half-brother Pietro Antonio⁶.^{[Bap 1806]}

Giacomo and his elder half-brothers were all sequentially recorded with their sons during Napoleon's census of all male residents in 1808.^{[Cen 1808]}

The parish census of 1817 enumerated the family as Giacomo, Maria, and daughters Maria Maddalena Giacoma and Maria Domenica.^{[Cen 1817]} Son Antonio had likely died by that time and elder son Giacomo was not observed in the parish records until his death in 1870. Similarly, the family was again enumerated in 1843 with Giacomo, Maria, and daughters Giacoma, Domenica, and Marianna.^{[Cen 1843]}

Giovanni Giacomo Cerini died on March 29, 1848, at his home in Giumaglio. He was buried the following day at the cemetery of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta. He was 62 years old.^{[Dth 1848]}

Giovanna Maria (Lafranchi) Cerini likely died on April 27, 1859, at her home in Giumaglio. She was buried two days later in the parish cemetery of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.^{[Dth 1859]} She was 71 years old.

Continue on to Part VII