Luca, sono allibito!
Your talent is leaving me speechless!
How can you decipher those things?



P.S. Il link all'immagine non funziona

exercise, exercise, exercise ...... (and a bit of love for genealogy )

Luca

Sei davvero grande Luca......

Laura .....

Thanks everyone for you answers and help ---- I would guess that this is something I will need to do in person as I have written to the Diocese in Trani with no results ---- maybe I will have to move to Italy for a long visit

liviomoreno wrote:

Luca, sono allibito! Your talent is leaving me speechless! How can you decipher those things? P.S. Il link all'immagine non funziona

Not for self-celebration (I hope it's the exact term), but only for information: the above documents are quite simple to read.
But not everytime it's the same thing; this is an example (but not the worst):



Luca

It comes from experience actually, once you begin to understand what is generally recorded in these documents, and how it is typically presented you become more familiar with terms and abbreviations (they are the worst to get used to). I mean I would never have thought I could read these 1538 Baptisms, but soon enough I was able to. It's the initial shock to the eye which makes us think they are impossible to read.

Carini 1538 Baptism Page

You are a lucky man! Only in a case I was able to find a baptism document earlier than 1600, and never before 1575 !!! (Concilio di Trento)
You are right, anyway: it's only a question of experience. A deed has a wide spread of forms than a parish register, but not endless. The main trouble isn't with the form, but with the bad writing and the preservation of the paper

Ciao
Luca

Luca wrote:

but with the bad writing and the preservation of the paper Ciao Luca

And don't forget the abbreviations!! Not every notary and priest used the same ones... That was always frustrating for me!



Oh and Luca check this out, the oldest recorded Baptism from Carini:

1527

Back then the name of the mother was not included. When a marriage occurred it would simply state something like "Antonino Catalano married a daughter of Domenico Russo.." (without giving her first name)

JamesBianco wrote:

Luca wrote: but with the bad writing and the preservation of the paper Ciao Luca And don't forget the abbreviations!! Not every notary and priest used the same ones... That was always frustrating for me! Oh and Luca check this out, the oldest recorded Baptism from Carini: 1527 Back then the name of the mother was not included. When a marriage occurred it would simply state something like "Antonino Catalano married a daughter of Domenico Russo.." (without giving her first name)

James,

How did you obtain these docs?? In person, via a cousin or via the mail?

charliemis wrote:

JamesBianco wrote: Luca wrote: but with the bad writing and the preservation of the paper Ciao Luca And don't forget the abbreviations!! Not every notary and priest used the same ones... That was always frustrating for me! Oh and Luca check this out, the oldest recorded Baptism from Carini: 1527 Back then the name of the mother was not included. When a marriage occurred it would simply state something like "Antonino Catalano married a daughter of Domenico Russo.." (without giving her first name) James, How did you obtain these docs?? In person, via a cousin or via the mail?

Nothing that complicated, they were microfilmed by the LDS church