Need help to find Maltese relatives??

I thought this might be helpful for those searching their Maltese heritage.

Search for the parish records on micro film. http://www.hmml.org/

You can only get the Status A.(mentioned in earlier post) at the main library in Malta in Valletta, although i think they will give you photocopies but you cant buy it remotely, ie get them to send it to you, i have tried :( here is the 1687 one that is not full, its an essay
http://www.geocities.com/melitahistoricac/hw19845.html
they also have all the parish records on micro film.

BDM certs can be got from this site
http://www.gov.mt/frame.asp?l=1&url=htt//www.certifikati.gov.mt
if they are after 1863.

anything before that you need to visit the parish churches.
You can email some http://www.maltadiocese.org/parishes?l=1
most will not answer, very busy. You can also write to them. A donation is always a good idea as well as stamped addressed envelope.

Good info and links on this site http://www.maltagenealogy.com/

Maltese surnames.
http://www.maltagenealogy.com/libro%20d%27Oro/listsofmaltesesurnames1418.html

also here is the surname connection.
http://www.searchmalta.com/surnames/

you can search this site too.
http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp

Maltese genealogy forum.
http://genforum.genealogy.com/malta/


My family tree website.
http://rosa466.tribalpages.com

A lot of Maltese surnames have an Italian link.
http://italiangenealogy.tardio.com/


Other than that the best way is probably to go Malta and get your hands on the documents there!!
something i have not been able to do yet!! but would love to.
Hope this helps some :)

Good luck in your search!!

Looking for info

click on pic to enlarge

I'm looking for help to identify the people pictured above.
My grandparents Carmen Camilleri nee Bonello and Paul (Pubblio) Camilleri are both amongst the group.
I have some idea that it has something to do with the Lascaris war rooms??
My grandfather is listed as telephone operator on his marriage cert 1948, and it was said that my grandmother had her own office in the Lascaris office.

Also below is a group photo of men taken in Malta circa 1940`sclick on pic to enlarge
I am trying to identify the regiment, any ideas?

Earliest Delazzaro so far....

A friend of mine did some research for me whilst on her on own genealogy search in Malta.
She came across a record in the Parish church of Senglea of a

Michele Di Lazzaro from Mitolin married Speranza Unknown

on the 22 July 1605 in Senglea.

I searched the net and found that Mitolin was the Latin name for

Mytilene (Greek: Μυτιλήνη - Mytilíni) is the capital city of Lesbos, a Greek island

Again I am endlessly excited by my discoveries.

I have no conclusive proof (yet) but I do honestly believe that this was the first Delazzaro to arrive in Malta.

I never would have thought that there could be a Greek linage in our history.

Greek history and mythology is one of my biggest passions J

Further info also gathered from my friend. It is possible that these baptism records are linked to a brother /male relative of the above Michele Di Lazzaro???

It’s around the same time, ISH!!

1.Vittoriosa Baptemes 1614-11-04 LAZZARO Angelica

CHILD OF

Baldassare LAZZARO and Olivera UNKNOWN

2.Vittoriosa Baptemes 1617-04-02 LAZZARO Francesco

CHILD OF

Baldassare LAZZARO and Olivera UNKNOWN

3. Vittoriosa Baptemes 1621-06-20 LAZZARO Nicola

CHILD OF

Baldassare LAZZARO and Olivera UNKNOWN

4.Vittoriosa Baptemes 1624-03-18 LAZZARO Anna

CHILD OF

Baldassare LAZZARO and Olivera UNKNOWN

. The De/Di seems to be omitted, so I`m not entirely sure that they are of the same family.

8th jan 2010

to add to this, i found a small entry regarding slavery on the Malta genealogy webiste regarding slave names.

With all released slaves, the surname of adoption is always used with "de" to show difference. Though their offspring's don't carry "de" after their surname.

Could the Lazarro`s had slaves and therefor the salves took on the name Lazarro and then carried on the DeLazarro name??? hmmm?? not sure as quote suggest that offspring did not carry on the de/di??

Possible link to a Saint??

On a recent visit to friends and family in Malta I discovered another family story.
I always find these so fascinating and think that mainly these stories normally have a grain of truth to them. This one backed up more than others.
My dear Aunt told me that she and many other relatives where asked to attend a meeting in approx 1986 regarding Nazju Falzon.
On 10th February 1987 in Rome the Theological Councillors agreed that Nazju Falzon lived the Theological and Cardinal Virtues in a heroic degree. This was a great step towards the Beatification of the Venerable Nazju Falzon.
later that year, in Rome the Cardinals confirmed the yes vote of the Theological Councillors.It On 3rd April 2001 it was announced that the Venerable Nazju Falzon was to be declared a Blessed on May 9th 2001 in Malta. It is believed that Nazju was a distant cousin on my grandmothers side. As yet I can not establish a link with the current family information I have but I will be looking into this much further and would love to hear from anyone who might be related to Nazju, if you are think you might be or have your own family history regarding this PLEASE do contact me!!

Status Animarum II: a Census of 1687

Having researched a paper I found published by The Malta Historical Society, 2005.
There was no mention of DeLazzaro or spelling variations, listed in the Status Animarum II: a Census of 1687, so they must have come to Malta after this date.
The earliest date have for Delazzaro I have so far, is a marraige between

1st Generation

1. Gabriel Delazzaro was born About 1682 unknown birthplace. He married Teresa Zerafa January 9, 1707 in Cospicua Malta. She was born About 1682
in Cospicua Malta, daughter of Leonard Zerafa and Anna ??.

Children of Gabriel Delazzaro and Teresa Zerafa:

i. Generosa, Margherita Delazzaro was born March 15,

1709 in Cospicua Malta.

ii. Anna Maria Delazzaro was born January 21,

1716 in Cospicua Malta.

iii. John Baptist Charles Delazzaro was born June 23,

1718 in Cospicua Malta.

Delazzaro Additional Info

I received all the certificates from the Cospicua Parish and deciphered the info as below:

Descendants of : Cete Augustino Delazzaro
Generation 1
1. Cete Augustino Delazzaro was born ABT 1777 in Vittoriosa Malta. He married Rose Fenceh ABT 1794 in Cospicua Malta. She was born ABT 1777 in Cospicua Malta.
Children of Cete Augustino Delazzaro and Rose Fenceh:
	i.		2.		Vincent Delazzaro was born ABT 1795 in Vittoriosa
Generation 2
2. Vincent Delazzaro was born ABT 1795 in Vittoriosa. He married Maria Abela 07 Jan 1812 in Cospicua Malta. She was born ABT 1795 in Cospicua Malta.
Children of Vincent Delazzaro and Maria Abela:
	i.				Augustius John Delazzaro was born 20 Nov 1815
	ii.				Joseph Carmel Delazzaro was born 30 Jul 1818 in Cospicua Malta
	iii.		3.		Giuseppe / Joseph DeLazzaro was born ABT 1824
Generation 3
3. Giuseppe / Joseph DeLazzaro was born ABT 1824. He married Catarina / Catherine Ellul. She was born ABT 1824, daughter of Ignatius Ellul and Margaret Bastianini.
Children of Giuseppe / Joseph DeLazzaro and Catarina / Catherine Ellul:
	i.				Rosario Lorenza Delazzaro was born 17 Mar 1842 in Cospicua Malta
	ii.		4.		Vincent Ignatius Delazzaro was born 20 Aug 1846 in Cospicua Malta
	iii.		5.		Ignazio / Ignatius / Nazio Delazzaro was born Nov 1851 in Cospicua, Malta
Generation 4
4. Vincent Ignatius Delazzaro was born 20 Aug 1846 in Cospicua Malta. He married Antonia Schembri ABT 1880 in Malta. She was born ABT 1846 in Cospicua Malta.
Children of Vincent Ignatius Delazzaro and Antonia Schembri:
	i.				Maria Concepta, Teresa, Josepha Delazzaro was born 08 Dec 1874 in Cospicua Malta
	ii.				Josepha Michealina, Carmela Delazzaro was born 11 Feb 1884 in Cospicua Malta
	iii.				Josepha Carola, Paula, Victoria Delazzaro was born 17 Apr 1886 in Cospicua Malta
5. Ignazio / Ignatius / Nazio Delazzaro was born Nov 1851 in Cospicua, Malta. He married maria carmela schembri 20 Apr 1873 in Cospicua. She was born 1843 in Vittoriosa, daughter of Michele / Michael Schembri and Guiseppa / josephine Mizzi.
		Other events in the life of Ignazio / Ignatius / Nazio Delazzaro Occupation: 01 Apr 1876 in British Royal Navy 94819 as a Stoker
Children of Ignazio / Ignatius / Nazio Delazzaro and maria carmela schembri:
	i.				Maria Concepta,Teresa,Josepha DeLazzaro was born 30 Aug 1874 in Cospicua
	ii.		6.		Emmanuela Maria Concepta Josepha DeLazzaro was born 25 Dec 1876 in Cospicua
Generation 5
6. Emmanuela Maria Concepta Josepha DeLazzaro was born 25 Dec 1876 in Cospicua. She married Emmanuele Bartolo. He was born 1875, son of Michele Bartolo and Maria Antonia Gatt.
		Other events in the life of Emmanuela Maria Concepta Josepha DeLazzaro Baptism: 26 Dec 1876 in Cospicua

there are still quite a few Delazzaro family members cerificates that I can not make
any link to the above, I will need to do further research.
Also see website for other branches of the Delazzaro family.

Further Delazzaro Info

Some months a go I emailed the Local Parish Church in Cospicua in Malta. I had almost forgotten about it until yesterday, when I recieved the following reply
email from the archpriest:

Dear,
Sorry for taking so long. However it involved long hours of research.This
the information I have:-
De Lazzaro Gabriel married to Teresa in Vol III pg 162. Their children
recorded were Generosa(Vol IV pg 24; Anna Maria pg 111 and John pg 140).
De Lazzaro Vincent married to Maria in Vol VIII pg 423. Their children were
Augustinus vol 12 pg 232, Joseph pg 319, Joseph Vol 13 pg 34, Rosaria vol
15 pg 139, Vincent pg 320, Ignatius vol 16 pg 77 , Concepta born in 1874 pg
85, Josepha 1884 pg 54 and Josepha 1886 pg 130.
De Lazzaro Joseph  married to Catherine Ellul in Vol X pg 166.
Le Lazzaro Ignatius married to Maria Carmela Schembri daughter of Michael
and Josephine Mizzi on the 2oth and not 28th of April 1973 whose children
were Maria Concepta born in 1874 pg 79; Emanuela born in 1876 pg 141; and
Vincent born according to your information on the 17th October 1913 who is
not recorded in the baptismal documents of our parish.
Other details about De Lazzaro include Paulina daughter of Catherine 1864
pg 189; who was probably born out of wedlock and then John (1907, pg 231),
Antonius (1910 pg 280); and Vincent (1912 pg 320) all sons of Carmelo
On the telephone directory of our country I could not trace andbody with
that surname so it is probably abolished by time.
Regards.

I certainly wasn`t expecting so much info and was so greatful.
All very interesting but a little confusing, this has given me alot more info
the elusive Delazzaro family from Malta.
I have spoken once again the the archpriest and he is kindly sending me
the certificates for all the people mentioned in the email!
Hopefully this should make things a little clearer.

Will post the results soon. :)

names update

Agius Azzopardi Barbara Bartolo Bonello (13) Bugeja Busuttil Cachia Cambell Camilleri (19) Cassar

Ciappara Degiorgio DeLazzaro Deraffaele Dimech Duncan Ellul Falzon Fava Francese

Galea Gatt Grech Lucchese Micallef Misfud Mizzi Pace

schembri Sciberras Scicluna Vella Zerafa

I now have 144 Maltese family members in our family tree.

Mysterious Uniform!!

Vincenzo BONELLO

Born 1847
VALLETTA




This handsome young fellow is my maternal g g grandfather.
The family legend is that he was a soldier who defended the Pope against Garibaldi.

OK, defended the pope? but his uniforms nothing like the Swiss Guards!
Even though the picture is black and white, I`m told his uniform was grey with red piping.
Having spent many hours looking at military uniform sites I came across a picture of the Zouaves.




From there I discovered the Papal Zouaves were formed in defence of the papal states by Lamoricière in 1860. The Zuavi Pontifici were mainly young men, unmarried and Roman Catholic, who volunteered to assist Pope Pius ix in his struggle against the Italian Garibaldi.
I also found a piece writen by Dr. John C. Rao called "The Last Crusade" a quotation from that piece mentions there only being 17 Maltese serving in the Papal Army.

"The recruits belonged to twenty five different nationalities. Curiously, although their country had a Protestant majority, the most numerous were the Dutch. Then came the French and the Belgians. The Italians, almost all Romans or Neapolitans, are well represented, above all in music (a question of competence). But one finds also Swiss (among them the officers of high rank), Irish, Austrians, Germans, among whom the Prussians and the Bavarians are the most numerous; Poles, Spaniards, a number of British, whether English or Scot, eight Americans, these above all from the southern states. From South America, Peru, Chile and Equator are each represented by one volunteer; Brazil by two. One finds also seventeen Maltese, one Abyssinian, a Turk, a Moroccan, and an Indian from Madras. Finally, one must speak of the one hundred thirty Canadians from Quebec, who will arrive in 1868. They will not have the chance to fight, but some will participate nonetheless in the siege of Rome. Another wave of one hundred twelve volunteers left Canada in August of 1870 to engage." (Ibid., p. 40)

In a letter from my great Uncle Joseph Bonello he states that Vincenzo fought for 3 yrs from 1867 to 1870 then returned to Malta. Uncle Joe also said that the the picture was drawn by a marmist (a marble sculptor) called M Spampinato ?
Vincenzo was also at some point a teacher and a tintore (painter) at the time of his marriage to Concetta Galea circa 1883.

A little update 24/01/2008

through further research I found a blog about the Zouaves. This blog had information about a museum in the Netherlands called the Zouaven Museum. I emailed the museum to ask for some help in tracking down the military records of the Papal Zouaves and here is the reply:

Dear,
I've found his name in the "Matricule"-book of the Papal zouaves:
Vincent Bonello, born in Talleto, Ile de Malte at 1847.
Zouave from 28 march 1868 till 31 march 1870.
His number was 7413.
That's the only thing I could find about him.
My regards,
Marijke Zonneveld-Kouters
conservator Nederlands Zouavenmuseum Oudenbosch.

I was so very excited to receive conformation of our
family's legend.


Thank you so much Marijke!! :)

(I am assuming the place Talleto is a gross mis spelling of Valletta, since there is no Talleto in Malta)

Status Animarum

Whilst searching on the Internet I came across a review of a document called "Status Animarum" it is basically the census taken by the church, an ecclesiastical census.
I was very excited to have come across this information as I wanted to be able to trace where my ancestors had lived, quote " individuals are not simply counted, but are listed by name, surname, family, age, town or village and quite often with several other interesting details as to nickname, occupation, status and location in the village, not to mention of course the “state of their souls”

I am going to write to the Church of the Latter Day Saints and ask them to send me a copy of the last year the Status Animarum was taken and see if they can send a copy of the microfilm to my nearest Mormon family centre.
I found a list of what documents they have on their website.

Distant Delazzaro?

Through my maternal line I have found family called Delazzaro. As far as I can tell the name is not Maltese. I have purchased the book "The Surnames of the Maltese Islands" and its not present there.
Researching where the name is from is proving difficult, I have come across a few different ways of spelling the name such as Dilazzaro, D`lazaro, De Lazzaro, Delazzar etc.
I have concluded that the name is possibly of Italian origin, probably from the Saint, Lazarus.

Interestingly I found this article on Wikipedia

Order of Saint Lazarus

The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem is a religious/military order, purportedly dating back to the First Crusade. The Order is run by two distinct channels of authority, referred to as the Malta Obedience and the Paris Obedience.

The Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem originated in a leper hospital run by hospitaller brothers, founded in the twelfth century by the crusaders of the Latin Kingdom. It was originally established to treat virulent diseases such as leprosy.

and their insignia is the Cross of the Order of Saint Lazarus

My first certificate

After the death of my Nonna in 2005, I decided to get her marriage certificate. After a bit of research on the Internet It was surprisingly easy.
I applied to the http://www.certifikati.gov.mt/
I received an email to say they had found the document and I received it about 3 days later.

Armed with my new information I managed to trace a number of descendants, such as my great grand parents and if they where alive or dead at the time of the wedding and their occupations, also the names of the two witnesses, which in my experience can also have been a relative.

How it all began!!

This time last year I began the search for my ancestors in Malta.
I currently have 113 names in my tree mainly from my Maltese ancestors.

Agius Azzopardi Barbara Bartolo Bonello (13) Bugeja Busuttil cachia

Camilleri (19) Cassar Ciappara De Lazzaro Degiorgio DeLazzaro Deraffaele ?? Dowsey Duncan Ellul

Falzon Fava Francese Galea Galea (fabri?) Gatt Grech

Micallef Misfud Mizzi schembri Sciberras

Vella Zerafa

This blog will be about how I found my descendants and my progress.