Hi Everyone,

This isn’t really a request for a translation, but more of a request for clarification from someone with knowledge of Riveli records. I just received a Riveli film at my FHC and it isn’t like any other Riveli film I’ve seen before (but then again, I am not a Riveli expert). It’s the last few books of the 1748 census for Modica.

On the index for this film, you see a person’s name in one column on the left-hand side of the page and to the left of the name is an abbreviation. To the right of the name is written “con” and then there is another column on the right-hand side of the page with another person’s name. You may see the same person’s name in the left-hand column numerous times.

As far as the abbreviations on the far left go, the only one I could make out was “stab” which I can only assume is short for stabili.

My question is this—what are these indices for? I can only guess that perhaps the first person (in the left column) has indentured servants or slaves or something and those are the people who are listed in the right hand column? (The names in the right hand column are both male and female and don’t appear to be relatives).

The actual records are rather short and don’t look like the other Riveli records I have seen either. Unfortunately, I don’t have a scan to upload right now.