Geneanet Database Update: April 2012 Thursday, Apr 19 2012 

Genealogy and Lists and Update , Matteo Giunti 1:55 am

The project database hosted on geneanet has been updated today. Last update was made on Jan. 17th, 2012. For those of you who have access to the prosopographical database, you will find the new data seamlessly integrated. If you do not yet have an access: discover how to get it.

Summary of the April update:

  • Individuals added: 2014 (of which 225 with recorded events in Livorno)
  • Individuals modified: 876 (of which 148 with recorded events in Livorno)

The whole database is now composed by approximately 120,000 people, with 46,000 marriages and about 20,000 family names.

These are some of the families that have been added or modified since last update in January:

  • ABBOTT
  • ABDY
  • A’COURT
  • ACTON
  • ALDERSEY
  • ALLEN
  • ANDERSON
  • ANDRE’
  • APREECE
  • ASSHETON
  • AZZATI
  • BARRINGTON
  • BEDINGFIELD
  • BELASYSE
  • BENDISH
  • BENSON
  • BERRY (more…)

 

New Blog Section: the Greek-Orthodox Nation of Livorno Tuesday, Apr 3 2012 

Lists and Sources and Update , , , , Matteo Giunti 5:41 pm

A whole new page with several sub-sections has just been added to the blog’s main menu:

The Greek-Orthodox Nation of Livorno

Fellow historian Mathieu Grenet provided me with several documents he compiled during his research trips in Livorno and Greece. The lists added to the page are a first nucleus of sources regarding the Greek Nation of Livorno:

Most of the primary and secondary sources used to establish these lists were originally in Greek and thus quite unaccessible to the majority of researchers. For the first time, they are available on this blog, transcribed in the latin alphabet and translated in English.

 

On Tobias Smollett’s grave(s)… Reality or poetic licence? Thursday, Mar 29 2012 

Articles and Biography and Cemeteries and Old English , , , , , , , , , , , Matteo Giunti 4:29 am

Tobias Smollett’s grave in the Old English Cemetery of Livorno has always sparked people’s interest: numerous visitors were attracted to the English Cemetery just to see the tomb of the great Scottish writer and historian. Some of them even took pieces of marble off as souvenirs, or left messages inscribed on the monument. Many travellers left short accounts on their visit to the cemetery and to Smollett’s tomb. Later on, the apparent mystery of its wrong inscription led to a written confrontation between Consul Montgomery Carmichael and Col. Buchan Telfer on the pages of The Times. More recently, after WWII, some concerned readers wrote to the Editor of The Times to denounce the state of neglect of the cemetery and of Smollett’s grave. The newspaper even published two pictures of the burial ground, of which one portrayed the writer’s monument at that time (1953).

The following picture shows (more…)

 

Anonymous writer identified: a new source about Tuscan life in the 1840s Thursday, Mar 8 2012 

Biography and Books and Cemeteries and Genealogy and New English and Sources , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Matteo Giunti 8:46 pm

Few days ago I stumbled upon a curious and intriguing citation on the “Church of England Magazine” issue for October 31st, 1857, p.287:

“NOTICE OF BOOKS:

AMONG the books which have lately reached us are the following: 

The Bow in the Cloud a Memoir of MEH. By her Sister, London: Hatchard, 1857. This is the account of a young lady who lived, for the most part of her life, and ultimately died, abroad. The pity we feel for those, whose lot it is to dwell far from their fatherland, augments the interest with which we peruse such records. The disadvantages, social, political, and religious, of the continent, are obstacles and stumbling-blocks which to many have proved of ruinous effect. And yet, in spite of them, God has often been pleased to cherish the spiritual life of his people, and render such sojourners the means of usefulness to those around them. Thus it seems to have been with the subject of this memoir. An accident in early life destroyed the sight of one eye; and subsequent ill-health was a continued chastening from the Father of her spirit. She was brought into believing union with the Saviour; and the copious extracts from her journal depict very touchingly the working of her inner life. Her last hours were peace; for Christ sustained her; and she sleeps (having died in her 27th year, a few weeks after her father, and a few months before her mother) with her parents in the British cemetery at Leghorn, in sure and certain hope of joyful resurrection. We cheerfully give our testimony to the value of this little volume; and we think it likely to be acceptable and useful, especially to young persons.“

I was not yet sure whether this information on the author and her family was true or invented and I went (more…)

 

Gould Francis Leckie (c.1767-1850): the rediscovered grave and a biography. Sunday, Mar 4 2012 

Biography and Books and Cemeteries and Genealogy and New English , , , , , , Matteo Giunti 5:53 pm

In 2009, during frequent email exchanges with Professor Michela D’Angelo and Dr. Diletta D’Andrea of the University of Messina I was informed that Dr. D’Andrea was carrying out a research on an English Esquire named Gould Francis Leckie. He was a classic scholar and a publicist who lived in England between the end of the XVIII century and the beginning of the XIX. As Dr. D’Andrea had found out, he had also spent some years in Sicily and, later on, had moved to Tuscany where he had probably died, though nobody had ever known where or when exactly, so I was asked by them to check my sources for any further information.

Checking the Chapel Register vol. 2 (1784-1824) and the inscriptions at the Old English Cemetery of Livorno did not reveal any trace of his. Next possibility was to check the Registers of the New Cemetery. Indeed, I felt a strong emotion when I read “Leckie, Gould Francis, 4-9-1850” in the Burial Register kept by the caretaker of the New English Cemetery in Livorno. I made copies of the whole register and wrote down the reference to the location of the grave.

This happened in the winter 2009. The cemetery was completely overgrown. My first attempt at finding the grave ended as soon as I arrived close to the relevant section, where the tomb should be: the whole area was totally covered with brambles to a height of 7-8 feet.

I immediately advised (more…)

 

Reminiscences of Mary Thompson, daughter of the British Vice-Consul in Livorno Wednesday, Feb 29 2012 

Articles and Biography and Cemeteries and Genealogy and General History and New English and Places and Sources , , , , , , , , Matteo Giunti 8:22 am

by Piero Posarelli, edited by Matteo Giunti.

On the Internet site www.bristowefamilies.com, we can read the passage Reminiscences of my young days, written by Mary Thompson, daughter of Frederick Thompson who was British Vice-Consul in Livorno from 1839 to 1852. The first part of the Reminiscences speaks about Mary’s memories of that period, when Livorno was full of revolutionary ideas that brought to the battle of Porta San Marco in 1849. On the site we can also find information about her father and her family.

There is little known about the first years of Frederick Thompson’s life. We know that  he was born about 1805 in Maldon, Essex, England, and that for some unknown reasons he went to Malta where he opened a school. In Malta he met and married Mary Ann [Mary Ann Bingham born 1810, NdR], who was born there from English parents [William Bingham and Eleanor Temple, NdR], and had two children: Fred (born in 1833) and Mary (born in 1835). It is from the information that Mary left us in the form of reminiscences written in her later life in Charlcombe, Somerset, England that it is possible to piece together some of the events surrounding the life of this family. (more…)

 

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