My third great grandfather Francesco Antonio Ferraro was born in 1798 in the Talanico neighborhood of Sei Casali d’Arienzo, Caserta, Italy, or what is now present-day San Felice a Cancello, to Filippo Ferraro and Giuseppa Frugierri. In mid-April 1823, while he and his bride Angela Maria Delle Cave, daughter of Luca Delle Cave and Olimpia Librera, were expecting, they married. They were third cousins. A little later that year, their first born, Clemente, arrived on September 13th.
Approximately 11 months later, I found Francesco Antonio and Angela Maria living in Marcianise, Caserta announcing the birth of their next born, Filippo. Filippo’s birth record states that Francesco Antonio was a Soldato di Terzo Cacciatori (soldier of the 3rd Hunters, aka the Neapolitan Hunters). The Cacciatori origins dates back to the reign of the Spanish House of Bourbons, and King Ferdinand I, who in 1788 established five regiments of Volunteer Cacciatori of the Frontier. They were fed by local recruitment, and tasked with guarding the borders.
With the restoration of Spanish Bourbons and the formation of Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in 1815, Naples was again ruled by the Spanish. The military of King Ferdinand I at that time was made up of two Cacciatori regiments, as part of the Guardia Reale (Royal Guard). Please see the data below from: L’Esercito Borbonico Dal 1815 al 1830 which highlights the make up of the Guardia Reale in 1816.
In 1818, King Ferdinand enacted a mandatory conscription where recruiters chose by lots. While this mandatory concription was suspended for a year, it was restored on March 28, 1823. On June 27, 1823, it was decreed that two more Cacciatori regiments would be formed. Francesco Antonio was a part of the mandatory conscription that formed two more Cacciatori units. The photo below is credited to Benny Mag21 on Pinterest and is titled Cacciatore del Terzo Reggimento. (However, I can’t say this is from the time period of Francesco Antonio.)
In 1825, Ferdinand I died and his son Francesco assumed the throne. Not wanting to depend on the occupying Austrian troops in his kingdom, he tried to enlist Irish troops, but instead made agreements with authorities of the Swiss Cantons starting in May, 1825, bringing in conscripts from Luzerne, Uri, Unterwalden, and Appenzell. Later Fribourg, Solothurn, and Valais provided batallions. In 1828, Bern sent a regiment of Swiss troops.
Between September 1824, and early May 1827, I can’t find Francesco Antonio in the records available to me. By May 7, 1827 his military service must’ve ended, because he was living back in the town of his birth, San Felice a Cancello, and listed on his son’s birth record as a hired farm worker. Francesco Antonio and Angela Maria had two more children in San Felice a Cancello. By 1842 though, they had moved their family to San Prisco, Caserta, where Francesco Antonio continued employment as a hired farm worker and Angela Maria gave birth to my second great grandfather Angelo.
Angela Maria died in 1881 in San Prisco. Interestingly, Francesco Antonio, nor his son Luigi, nor his son-in-law Stefano notified town hall of her death, which means to me they may not have been present in town at the time. I know from researching Italian records that the male head of the family is often one of the witnesses giving testimony at town hall when someone is deceased. Angela Maria’s son Angelo was not in San Prisco. He was residing in Naples and busy in the military – which is a story for another Monday. We know for sure that Filippo had already moved to Grazianise, Caserta. The two men giving testimony were 70 year old Michele Casertano, a peasant farmer, and Francesco Di Caprio, a 63 year old matchmaker who also happened to be her neighbor.
The death record said Francesco Antonio was still alive. I cannot locate his death record in San Prisco, San Felice a Cancello, nor Grazianise. His place and date of death remains a mystery.
Sources:
Antenati San Beniculturali
Family Search
L’Esercito Borbonico Dal 1815 al 1830
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 