Today in family history in 1797, my fourth great grandmother Francesca Paola Innocenza Carusi was born in Farindola to Signor Nicola Carusi and Signora Giovanna Marzola. Francesca grew up during the time of the brigands and the French occupiers in Farindola. Her grandfather Paolo Carusi, the town’s scribe, was named as a Lieutenant of the Urban Guard, which was formed by the French occupiers to quell the actions of the brigands in and around Farindola. It is suspected that Paolo had some kind of military experience that allowed him to be given that title. The brigands happened to be made up of a lot of former soldiers who fought the French. The worst of these were the local leader, Massimo Marcella, and the Dell’Orso family. They used to meet in Massimo’s home in contrada Trosciano.
When Francesca was 9, a large gang of brigands in Farindola had a gunfight with French occupiers and the Urban Guard. 6 brigands were killed and the rest went back into hiding. Francesca’s father Nicola ordered the French to go after those that fled. That did not go well. Even though the Farindolesi sided with the French at the beginning of the gunfight, they did not afterwards. Nicola and his entire family, Francesca included, and 4 of her siblings, one of which was a baby, were threatened with their lives. So Nicola wrote to the French General Chavardes and asked to be hidden and be given rations. He took his entire family to Penne to hide for a few weeks. At this time Nicola was the miller in Farindola. By 1809 he became the Cancelliere of Farindola. See Storia di Farindola at gelsumino.it. (Some of this data also comes from my cousin G. Carusi in Italy.)
Francesca married 2 times before she married my 4th great grandfather Sabatino Massei. She had no children with her other husbands, but had 4 with Sabatino. Her sister Tomassina was a midwife and the town’s Receiver of the Foundlings at the church. Francesca died at contrada Macchie at age 80. These were my nonna’s ancestors. The Dell’Orso family were ancestors of my nonno. Massimo Marcella is likely a relation of my nonno as well. By the way, if you take a good look at the transcribed baptism in the image below, you will see that a lady named Anna Dell’Orso was the midwife present at Francesca’s birth.
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Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 