I have been trying to figure out who this Raffaele Napolitano is for 3 years! I finally know now but am having a problem reading his death act extraction. I know his parents well...they are my great, great, great, great grandparents. His father was Antonio. But if I am reading this document correctly his mother's surname varies from the name I have on several other documents. Can I have an opinion on her surname please? Also, I am having a problem reading much this document. I don't want to ask for a complete translation - its too long but could you let me know the date of the death and if you see any information in it that you think I might want to know could you pass it on to me. Also, I see references to Napoli! I have never seen that before on Montalto documents. Because of my surname I would like to know about the Napoli references.
The document is in 2 pages below. Thank you so much!
PAGE 1
PAGE 2
Sorry the handwriting is so bad. (Yikes - its at bad as Tropea document handwriting!) Thanks again!

I read Anna Di Filippi(s) or De Filippi

JamesBianco wrote:

I read Anna Di Filippi(s) or De Filippi

All other documents listed her as Filippo. This one looked like DeFilippis to me too. Thanks James! Maybe this is why I cannot find her death act on the archive.

If I understood well, this death took place in the Ospedale Marina in Piedigrotta (a hamlet of Napoli) on 26th February 1844.
Raffaele Napoletano (or Napolitano) 41 years old, son to Antonio Napolitano and to Anna De Filippis married to Caterina Chinnicola(?).
I will take another look to see if what I read is correct.

Ada

What was he doing in Napoli!! Yikes!! OMG! This could be a huge clue... Our surname indicates we may have come from Napoli at some point. Is there anything else in the document that may be a clue? His wife was Caterina Chimenti. Thanks so much!

His occupation seems, to me, miller. He died in the Royal Navy Hospital, I don't know if this means he was working there or that he was hospitalized there because he was ill. He could have been there for some reasons and became ill. I didn't find any explanation on his death, the second page is a bit hard to read. I will have another look.

Ada

Well one point of interest is that his mother Anna was still living at the time of his death, and of course it also states (which I am sure you know already) that he is a native of Montalto.

You should be able to easily find Anna's death !

Thanks Ada! Yes, I know he was born in Montalto as was his father and all my Napolitano men were property owners and millers. His grandfather died in Montalto in 1812 at the age of 98! Still, I can't help but wonder why he was in Naples. I am wondering if they still knew family there....perhaps....

Cathy,

I am so thrilled to have found this website. I too have relatives from San Fili and Bucita Cosenza Italy. I had the priveledge of visiting San Fili and Bucita and was fortunate to stay at the same house my great grand father was born in. I also visited the church Santa Lucia which is over 300 years old. I have access to all the Civil Registration records from San Fili including Bucita from 1809 - 1910. Cinsisting of birth, marriage and death certificates from those time frames. I was also priveldge to obtain the Onciara record from San Fili dating back to 1742. Which is housed in Archives of Naples Italy a good friend of mine was able to get a microfilm and xerox copies of every page in that book. I was told that the preservation room is incrediable. Perhaps this is an approach to preserving of records that seem to be fading away is to contact Naples archives to see if they would be willing to perserve those records. As far as the civil registration for San Fili and Bucita if anyone is interested I would love to help you with your genealogy. i have been a profession researcher for 15 years. I specialize in Italian records research.

Again I am grateful to have discovered this site and look forward to hearing from you all.
Jeff Skousen

Hi Again Jeff. We're happy to have you here. Maybe you could post some of your surnames on the board? You may also want to have them added to the Surname Database. Just let me know!

Hi Cathy, in going through the LDS collection for Castellammare di Stabia (online) I came across the Napolitano surname more than once. I thought you might want to check it out.

lilbees

Thanks Lillbees. The surname means man from Napoli so I am sure there were tons of them near Napoli. I can only hope that one day I can connect my family back to the area around Napoli. I tend to doubt it though. Although I still do not know what this farmer was doing in Napoli!