1860 Torre le Nocelle Death - Alessandro Luongo

Pedigree of Alessandro Luongo

#32 Filed 16 Ottobre 1860
Name: Alessandro Luongo, 80, contadino, figlio dei furono Rocco Luongo e Carmina Vozella, contadini
Death: 12 Ottobre 1860 ad ore ventiquattro
Declarant: Domenico de Santis, 45, contadino
Declarant: Sabino di Stefano, 60, contadino

Those of you with a sharp eye will notice that Alessandro's pedigree chart shows Rosa Angela di Iorio to be his mother.  Here's the deal ...

Rocco Luongo's first wife was Carmina Vozella.  They had three children - Onorata (1772), Alessandro (1776/77) and Gennaro (1777/78).  Onorata died sometime between 1789 - 1794.  Alessandro and Gennaro were confirmed in Torre in 1782, at which point this Alessandro drops off the radar ... never to be seen again.

Mother Carmina died between 1778 - 1780 and Rocco went on to marry Rosa Angela di Iorio on 4 October 1781.  They had four children - Alessandro (1785/86), Giovanni (1787), Angela (1788/89) and Carmina (1790).  Giovanni, along with this second Alessandro were both confirmed in 1790.

In addition,  Rosa appears as mother on Alessandro's marriage record to Gesamunda Ardolino. Since marriage acts are notoriously more accurate than death acts ... I'm sticking with Rosa.  Subject to change on a moment's notice of course  ;-)

On another interesting note, since the name Carmina does not appear to be affiliated with either Rocco or Rosa's ancestors, Carmina Luongo (1790) was probably named after Rocco's deceased first wife.  

I've seen this happen quite often and thought it was done out of respect, but Flo says the tradition stems from superstition. By naming a child after a deceased spouse it's thought that said dead spouse (sorry!) will be appeased and look kindly upon the new marriage.  Ya gotta love Italian superstitions.

"Italian Genealogical Records" by Trafford Cole