04 June 2017

The Italian Genealogy Goldmine: "Wedding Packets"

I've shown you how to dissect Italian birth records, Italian death records (twice, in fact), and Italian marriage records before.

But I promised to explain the treasure trove I call Italian "wedding packets". (Maybe these exist for other countries, too!)

If you're researching your Italian ancestors, and you're lucky enough to find your ancestral hometown's records in the Italian genealogy archives (Antenati), then you have access to the wedding packets.

On the Antenati site, you'll find different kinds of "matrimoni" documents for each year.

  • First comes "Matrimoni, pubblicazioni" which includes the two times a couple had to publicly post their intention to marry. The first record may not tell you anything more than the names of the groom and bride and both sets of parents.
    First notification of intention to marry.
    First notification of intention to marry.
    The second record provides ages, occupations, places of birth and/or residence. If the bride or groom is widowed, you may also get the name of the deceased spouse.
    Second notification of intention to marry.
    Second notification of intention to marry.
  • Second is "Matrimoni" which adds the date on which they were approved for marriage (think of it as a marriage license date), and the date they were married in church. Sometimes you'll also find the names of the priest and witnesses.
  • Third comes "Matrimoni, processetti"—my favorite! This wedding packet can contain many pages. It starts with a birth record for the bride and groom. If either is a widow, you get the deceased spouse's death record. Then there is a death record for any of their parents who have died. This, of course, can tell you the names of the bride or groom's grandparents. If the father of the bride or groom has died, and their grandfather is not alive to give his permission for the marriage, then you'll also see the grandfather's death record.
    Groom's first wife's death record.
    Groom's first wife's death record.
Groom's father's death record—giving me the names of my 4th great grandparents.
Groom's father's death record—giving me the names of my 4th great grandparents.

The best-case scenario is an older couple, both widowed, and both with no living parents or grandparents. I've had wedding packets provide me with one or both spouse's great grandparents' names!

We're lucky because in the old days, no one stayed single. If their spouse died, they absolutely remarried—sometimes again and again. Life was too hard not to have a partner.

6 comments:

  1. I haven't explored the proscetti yet but definitely will now.

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  2. Who would I contact for a wedding packet? I don't know where this man lived, he changed his name when he came to America. He was my grandmother's 1st husband, 2nd marriage in America.

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    1. What I call the wedding packets are called Matrimoni Processetti or Matrimoni Allegati in Italy. Tons are online on the Antenati website, but you have to know the town where the marriage happened. If husband and wife came from different towns, they usually married in the wife's town.

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  3. All I know is he came from Italy , born:21 Sep 1863, probably Chieti Abruzzo, Italy and his name would have been Filippo Guerini. Change his name to Phillip Warren when he reached the United States.

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    1. I checked the 1863 Chieti birth records for every last name starting with G, and he isn't there https://antenati.cultura.gov.it/ark:/12657/an_ua17522393/LaaJWdD

      I also checked to see if Guerini or Guerini are found in the Chieti province today, and they are not.

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    2. Oops, I meant to type Guerini or Guerino.

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