2017-03-16

The Turi Celere's mistery

I found one of the pictures in Mr Catalano's Mazara Forever website very interesting:
The one pictured above is the family of Turi Celere.
Born "Salvatore Alcibiade Celere", Turi is not in the picture, because he was living and working in the US, often sharing his flat with my own great-uncle Girolamo Asaro, but his family was in Mazara (likewise Girolamo's).
The lady standing up is Maria Giacalone, who was one of the many great-grandchildren of my third grandfather Paolo Giacalone.
The young ones are the children of Turi and Maria. The elder and taller child was named Luciano. Exactly like the elderly gentleman on the middle of the picture.
Unfortunately the surname of the gentleman is not given, but the site states he was the father in law of Maria, which was quite surprising, as I know for a fact, as I have seen his birth record, that Turi's parents were officially unknown (and Maria's own dad was named Antonino).
I know that my mother's uncle, Girolamo Asaro, declared Turi as a cousin to the US authorities, but until I saw that picture I had deducted that he had meant "cousin's wife".
I am now wondering if this gentleman may be a Luciano Asaro or Rallo, e.g. a biological, adoptive or foster parent for Turi.

Pino Catalano's Mazara Forever

I just found out a gentleman from Mazara, Pino Catalano, has a website full of wonderful pictures.

The site is called Mazara Forever, and it is split across two separate blogspot sites:

http://pinum.blogspot.co.uk/ (part 1)
http://bypassdue.blogspot.co.uk/ (part 2)

Examples:


I have exchanged a couple of mails with Mr Catalano, I gave him the link for an article (the death records of two criminals decapitated by guillotine in Mazara in 1852).
He has asked me if I have some old pictures to give him for the site, I don't have many, but I have given him a few of the older ones (mostly taken before the 1930).

2017-02-27

2017-02-22

24 July 1852: guillotined in Mazara

On the left, the death record of the Mazarese Rosario Messina, aged 22, son of Pietro, on the right that of the Salernitanian Giovanni Summa, aged 20, son of Francesco.
Both were beheaded just outside the walls of Mazara, specifically near the Mokarta Gate (Porta Mokarta).

The records are in the Mazara 1852 register of death records, kept at the State Archives of Trapani, and it can be viewed online at the Portale Antenati site, at the following address: http://dl.antenati.san.beniculturali.it/v/Archivio+di+Stato+di+Trapani/Stato+civile+della+restaurazione/Mazaraoggi+Mazara+del+Vallo/Morti/1852/007843330_01103.jpg.html

Unfortunately the quality of the scan is not very good (e.g. I can not read the margin notes).

This is the actual guillotine used that day, it is on display as part of the collection of the Pepoli museum of Trapani:
  DSC00475