PATERNOSTER: Their Origins in Romallo, Expansion into 10 Other Villages, and a Genuine Dynasty of Millers. By genealogist Lynn Serafinn.
My ‘Christmas Surname Countdown’
As you may already know, this month I am on a mission to publish a new surname study every day between December 15th and December 24th (Christmas Eve). To keep it a surprise, I’m not going to announce which surnames I’ll be posting on which days.
This PATERNOSTER article is number 6 of 10 in this series. If you enjoy it, and you want to keep it to print out or share with family, you can purchase it as a 14-page PDF for $2.50 USD, using the form below.
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Linguistic Origins of the Surname Paternoster
Variants: Pater Noster; Sometimes abbreviated as ‘Pr Nr’ in census records.
The surname Paternoster it a composite of the Latin words ‘pater’ (meaning ‘father’) and ‘noster’ (meaning ‘our’). Thus, its literal meaning is ‘Our Father’, and it is also the Latin name for the Lord’s Prayer.
Linguistic historian Aldo Bertoluzza says the surname is derived from a soprannome (nickname) indicating that the family lived near their father,[1] but I personally think it may have been a reference to the prayer, possibly as a way of invoking a divine blessing.
Geographic Origins of the Surname Paternoster
The surname Paternoster can be found in many parts of the Italian peninsula (even in the south), but the heaviest concentration is undisputedly in the province of Trento.[2]
The place with which many of the Paternoster are historically most associated in Trentino is ROMALLO in Val di Non, were we find them by the late 1400s. From Romallo, the family spread out to numerous places not only in Val di Non, but in other parts of the province, and eventually to the ‘New World’.
For the sake of thoroughness, I should also mention that there are a few early references to Paternoster living in Vigolo Vattaro, which lies southeast of the city of Trento. In 1491, for example, we find the Last Will and Testament for a Pietro Paternoster, son of the late Antonio, a cobbler (calzolaio) from Vicenza (in Veneto), who had been living in Vigolo Vattaro.[3] More than forty years later, we find a Giovanni Maria Paternoster of Vigolo Vattaro, son of the late Francesco, selling a plot of land.[4] Aside from these references, I know nothing more about the surname’s longevity there, but it does appear to have been a short-lived ‘import’ from the province of Vicenza, and not an indigenous Trentino family.
In this article, using Romallo as our starting point, we will see the chronology of how the Paternoster of Romallo evolved over the centuries. Beyond Romallo, we will specifically look at their presence in Cloz, Tregiovo, Cagnò, Rumo, Castelfondo, Vervò, and Vigo di Ton (all in Val di Non), as well as in Magras, Malé and Cavizzana (in Val di Sole).
SOMETHING TO KNOW BEFORE WE START: My presentation will not always be chronological, as I want to show how the various lines connect to the previous one. For example,
- I will start with Romallo, in the 1400s.
- I will then move to the Tregiovo line (that started in the mid-1600s) and all the lines that evolved from them.
- Then I will go BACK in time to the Cloz line (which started in the early 1600s) and follow their expansion in a sequence through the centuries.
Please note that there ARE other Paternoster lines in Trentino, but I have not yet been able to research them all, nor determine if they can all be linked back to the early Romallo forefathers.
Main Locations of the Paternoster in Val di Non
Below is a map of the comune of Val di Non as they were in 2003.[5] I am using this map because it shows comune I will be discussing in this article. I have highlighted the comuni in Val di Non that I will be discussing in this article. The ‘epicentre’ is Romallo (the smallest land area) highlighted in yellow. In the interest of space, I have not included a map of Val d Sole, as there are only a few places there we will mention: Malé, its frazione of Magras, and their neighbour Cavizzana.
NOTE that Romallo used to be an independent civil comune, but due to the decline in rural populations, it was merged with Brez, Cagnò, Cloz and Revò in 2020 to form a new civil municipality of NOVELLA. Tregiovo is considered a frazione of Revò, so it does not appear as a separate entity on this particular map.
The Early Paternoster of ROMALLO (from 1400s onwards)
ROMALLO is a curate (a sub-parish) of the larger parish of REVÒ, and although it has full parish status today, the parish registers throughout most of its history were recorded in Revò. This is also true of Tregiovo, which we will visit later in this report.
The baptismal records for the parish of Revò begin in 1619; marriage and death records begin in 1624. To find out about people who lived before these dates, we can find scattered bits of information in the form of legal parchments (pergamene), tax records and a rare census taken in 1624.
The late 1400s to mid-1500s
In 1541, we find an Antonio Paternoster of Romallo (son of the late Domenico), acting as agent for Iorio (Giorgio) Paternoster of Romallo (son of the late Paolo) in a legal dissolution of debt owed by Iorio to the Counts of Thun.[6]
To appear in official documents such as these, both Antonio and Giorgio would have been legal adults (over the age of 25). Knowing this, we can estimate that their late fathers would have been born sometime in the second half of the 1400s.
The Carta di Regola of 1598
In the 1598 Carta di Regola (Charter of Rules) for the comune of Romallo,[7] we find the names of three Paternoster men:
- Antonio, son of the late Antonio Paternoster of Romallo, who was among the men who were elected men to serve as a ruling body and Jurists for the comune.
- Domenico Paternoster (no additional information), who was present at the meeting.
- Another Antonio, son of the late Leonardo Paternoster, who was also present at the meeting.
Again, all of these men would have been legal adults at the time of this event, as well as head of households.
From this document, we can deduce that the Paternoster had not only become well established in terms of numbers, but that they were considered important householders in the community.
The 1620 Tax Record and the Census of 1624
There is evidence in other documents that the Paternoster men listed in the 1598 Carta di Regola were not the only adult Paternoster males living in Romallo at the end of the 1500s.
In the Archivio di Stato in Trento, there is a book of tax records from the year 1620. In that book, we find a list of all the residents of Romallo who paid tax on 1 November 1620.[8] Among these, I have found only one Paternoster (abbreviated ‘Pr Nr’): a Simone Paternoster of Romallo. None of the men recorded in the 1598 Carta are mentioned, implying they were either already deceased or exempt for some reason.
A few years later, in the summer of 1624, a comprehensive census was performed throughout the parish of Revò. In that document, we find three Paternoster households,[9] but in all three cases, the male patriarch is deceased, leaving their widows and/or their children behind. The names of only two patriarchs are recorded: a Matteo and the above-mentioned Simone. Thus we know Simone died sometime between November 1620 and August 1624.
But the 1624 census helps us glean more information about these men, even though they were already deceased.
For example, Simone’s widowed wife Peregrina (Pellegrina) is said to be about 60 years old, and his son Stefano, still single and living with his widowed mother, was 20 years old. Understanding that these ages are often very rough estimates, we can place the late Simone’s birth sometime around 1560, give or take a few years.
Similarly, Lucia, the widow of the late Matteo, is said to be 35 years old in the 1624 census, with four children ranging in age from 9-21 still living at home. Based on the age of the eldest two children, I presume she was Matteo’s second wife, and he might have been several years older that Lucia. Thus, I would estimate he was born around 1575 or so, and that he was married at least by 1602.
Piecing together all these fragments of information, we can clearly see that there were definitely more Paternoster households in Romallo at the end of the 1500s than are mentioned in the Carta di Regola.
The Paternoster of TREGIOVO (from mid-1600s)
On 26 January 1660, Udalrico (sometimes spelled ‘Odorico’) Paternoster of ROMALLO (son of Stefano Paternoster and his wife Lucia)[10] married a Margherita Flaim (daughter of the late Giovanni Antonio Flaim and his wife Maria) of the neighbouring comune of Tregiovo.[11] Rather than living in Romallo, the couple chose to settle in TREGIOVO.
The couple had at least three children (two of whom were sons), but I suspect some records are missing. After Margherita died in 1679,[12] Udalrico remarried the widowed Brigitta Vender (original of Rumo). Even though Brigitta was already in her late 40s, the couple had one more child together, a son name Maurizio.[13]
When researching this family, note that some of the records for Tregiovo in this era will be found in the parish of LAUREGNO (Laurein). Lauregno is within the Diocese of Bolzano, hence the records are not held in Trento. However, the Diocese of Bolzano has digitised all of their parish records and made them available online.[14]
To the best of my knowledge, many of the descendants of Udalrico’s sons from his first marriage are still living in Tregiovo today. I am told that his youngest son Maurizio moved to Vigo di Ton, which we will discuss a bit later. Another descendant founded a new line in Cavizzana in Val di Sole in the late 1700s.
The Paternoster of CAVIZZANA (from 1775)
Around 1775, Floriano Paternoster of Tregiovo (born 25 January 1752), who was the great-grandson of Udalrico and Margherita, moved with his wife Anna Flor to Cavizzana in north-eastern Val di Sole. There, he worked as a MILLER, a profession we will see in many other Paternoster lines (most of which stemmed from Cloz, however).
This line continued to flourish throughout the 19th century.
The Paternoster of VIGO DI TON (from early to mid-1700s)
In 1759, Giuseppe Paternoster from the TREGIOVO married ‘Cattarina’ Frasnelli of TOSS in the parish of VIGO DI TON.[15] The couple chose to settle in Cattarina’s parish, establishing a new line of Paternoster there, where their descendants continued to the present day (in various villages).
Unfortunately, Giuseppe’s father’s name is not mentioned in his marriage record, but the only Giuseppe Paternoster from Tregiovo who was born in the right timeframe is Giuseppe, born 24 December 1731, son of Giovanni Udalrico Paternoster and ‘Agata’ Wegher.[16] This Giuseppe was the great-grandson of Udalrico Paternoster and his first wife Margherita Flaim.
I have been told that Maurizio Paternoster – the youngest son of Udalrico and his second wife Brigitta, and half-brother of the above Giuseppe’s grandfather – had already moved to Ton and had a family there. I have not personally researched this line, but I was told this by one of Maurizio’s descendants. While it is POSSIBLE Giuseppe was a grandson of Maurizio, and they were still considered to be ‘of Tregiovo’, I suspect this was not the case; the 1759 marriage record says the banns were also announced in the parish of Revò, and I doubt they would have done this if Giuseppe had been a native of Ton.
Giuseppe and Cattarina’s great-great-grandson, Giovanni Battista Celestino Paternoster (born in Vigo di Ton on 4 August 1858)[17] emigrated to BRAZIL at the end of 19th century. He is the great-grandfather of one of my Brazilian clients.
The Paternoster of VERVÒ
In the early 19th century, another line of Paternoster sprang up in VERVÒ, when an Antonio Paternoster (son of Giacomo) of Toss in the parish of Vigo di Ton married and Maddalena Marinelli of Vervò in 1820.[18]
The Paternoster of CLOZ (from early 1600s) – Beginning of a Dynasty of MILLERS
Sometime before the taking of the Romallo census in the summer of 1624, a Giovanni Battista Paternoster, who was a miller by trade, moved from Romallo to CLOZ with his wife Anna and their son Domenico (who had been born in Romallo in 1619).[19]
In Cloz, they had at least one more child – a son name Simone – who was born in 1625.[20] In that record, it clearly identifies Giovanni Battista as a miller (‘molinar’). I should point out that a ‘miller’ doesn’t necessarily refer to someone who mills grain. In fact, many of the mills in this part of the province were actually sawmills, cutting timber into wood that could be used for building. On the cover of this report, I have a photo of a sawmill that was built much later a good 150 years after the era of Giovanni Battista, but it gives you an idea of what it might have looked like in earlier times.[21]
From what I can tell, these brothers Domenico and Simone are the ancestors of all the Paternoster of Cloz, as well as many lines in other parts of the province that can ultimately be traced back to them.
You also see the profession of MILLER reappearing throughout the generations. In fact, this prolific line became a veritable dynasty of millers throughout Val di Non, and even into Val do Sole, over the next one and a half centuries.
In the next sections, we will look at how that expansion happened.
The Paternoster of CAGNÒ, RUMO, and CASTELFONDO
Around the year 1735, we suddenly see a Paternoster family living in the village of Cagnò. As Cagnò is part of the greater parish of Revò, you might normally have expected that they had moved there from Romallo. But actually, this Cagnò line (which would later become one of the most numerous of all Paternoster lines in Val di Non), came from CLOZ. Thus, they were one step removed from their more distant Romallo ancestors.
Continuing the Family Trade as MILLERS
The apparent reason for the shift was again an opportunity in the MILLING industry. The Paternoster who moved his family from Cloz to Cagnò was named Giorgio Paternoster. Born in Cloz on 13 March 1695,[22] he was the great-grandson of the miller Giovanni Battista who had come to Cloz from Romallo nearly a century before.
Like his father and his Paternoster forefathers in Cloz, Giorgio also carried on the family profession as a miller. After he married in 1726, he and his wife stayed in Cloz for a few years. But then, we suddenly see them appear in Cagnò with the birth of their son Giorgio Giuseppe in 1735.[23] In the baptismal record for their son Simone on 24 February 1738, the priest has written that Giorgio is ‘from Cloz, living at the mill in Cagnò’.[24] We find similar information in other records.
The Paternoster of RUMO
This Simone Paternoster of Cagnò, whose baptismal record we just read, was to become the founding father of yet ANOTHER Paternoster line, this time in VAL DI RUMO (often considered a ‘sub-valley’ of Val di Non). We find him living in the village of Mocenigo (Parish of Marcena di Rumo) in the 1760s.
Again, the move was apparently due to a business opportunity, as we find him living ‘at the mill’ (molitori) in his newly adopted home. See, for example, the 1765 baptismal record of his son, Giovanni Battista Romedio, born 16 January 1765.[25]
The Paternoster of CASTELFONDO
The descendants of Simone Paternoster and his wife Domenica did not continue very long in Rumo (there are none on Nati in Trentino), but again, the son whose baptismal record I shared above was to become the founding father of yet ANOTHER Paternoster line in Val di Non, this time in Castelfondo. This Giovanni Battista Paternoster, son of Simone of Rumo, settled in the frazione of Raina Castelfondo after marrying Domenica Ianes of Castelfondo in 1808.[26]
I don’t believe I have seen any reference to a connection with the milling profession in Castelfondo, but I haven’t scrutinised this line in detail.
The Paternoster MILLERS of VAL DI SOLE (from late 1700s)
By the late 1770s, a new line of Paternoster had begun in area around Magras and Malé in VAL DI SOLE. This line was a branch of the CLOZ family. This should come as no surprise, as these Paternoster were also millers by profession.
It was the great-great-grandson of miller Giovanni Battista of Cloz – yet another Giovanni Battista – who made the move. He shifted from Cloz to Val di Sole sometime in the 1770s, to take up his trade at the lucrative mills near Malé.
At least since the early 1200s there had been famous mills Val di Sole, in the area known as Pondasio sul Rabbies. In later centuries, they were known as the ‘molendini de Maleto in ponte Asii’. Over time, the number of mills increased, and forges were also developed. The operation of these mills were valuable investitures owned first by the Lords of Caldes, and later by the Counts of Thun.[27]
Of course, these noblemen did not do the day-to-day operations of these mills; rather, they had experienced millers run them for them, surely creating a ‘win-win’ opportunity for both of them (although I don’t know the specifics of the business arrangement).
In our Paternoster story, we find the younger Giovanni Battista and his wife Maria Anna Menghini (also of Cloz) settled at the mill there sometime by 1775.[28] We see, in this baptismal record for their son Carlo Luigi, that the priest has nicely spelled it all out very clearly for us:[29]
15 MAY 1781: Baptism (in the parish of Malé) of Carlo Luigi, son of Giovanni Battista Paternoster of Cloz, miller at the Molendini Pontis Asii, and his wife Maria Anna Menghini.
From what I can tell, their line of descendants in and around Magras/Malé continues to the present day.
From the 19th century to the Present Day
The Nati in Trentino website lists an impressive 1,175 Paternoster baptisms registered between the years 1815-1923 (although some of these might be duplicates, that were registered in both a curate and its mother parish). Of these, 234 Paternoster were born in Cagnò alone; 155 were born in Vigo di Ton, 134 in Tregiovo, 64 in the parishes of Revò and Romallo (Romallo only started keeping its own baptismal records in 1907), 53 in Castelfondo, 32 in Cavizzana, and another 32 in Vervò.[30]
As I’ve demonstrated in this article, in EVERY case, all of these particular lines can ultimately be traced back to the early Paternoster of Romallo. As mentioned earlier, there are Paternoster lines in other places in Trentino, but I have not yet researched them.
It is estimated that there are about 625 families with this surname in Italy today, with 170 of them in the province of Trento alone.[31] About 48 Paternoster individuals are said to still be living in the area around Revò (including Tregiovo) and Romallo and Cagnò. Although I don’t see any mentioned for Cloz, there are about 28 Paternoster in and around Malé, and even a few still in Cavizzana and Castelfondo.[32]
Such figures tell us a story of a strong, ambitious and hard-working family, who were great at seeking economic opportunities – and who obviously had great genes. It is little wonder, therefore, that Paternoster is one of the most frequently shared ancestral surnames amongst my own genealogy clients.
COMING UP TOMORROW…
This was article 6 in my special 10-part ‘Christmas Surname Countdown’.
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Warm wishes,
Lynn Serafinn
20 December 2024
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NOTES
[1] BERTOLUZZA, Aldo. 1998. Guida ai Cognomi del Trentino. Trento: Società Iniziative Editoriali (S.R.L.), page 255.
[2] The COGNOMIX website shows there are about 625 families with this surname in Italy today, with 170 of them in the province of Trento alone. Accessed 15 November 2024 from https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani/PATERNOSTER.
[3] PROVINCIA AUTONOMA DI TRENTO. ‘Testamento, 26 March 1491, Trento’. Last Will and Testament of Pietro Paternoster, son of the late Antonio, a cobbler (calzolaio) from Vicenza (in Veneto), living in Vigolo Vattaro. Archivi Storici del Trentino, https://www.cultura.trentino.it/archivistorici/unita/851267. Accessed 15 November 2024.
[4] PROVINCIA AUTONOMA DI TRENTO. ‘Compravendita, 4 November 1537, Vigolo Vattaro’. Giovanni Maria Paternoster of Vigolo Vattaro, son of the late Francesco, sells a plot of land to a Giovanni Perati. Archivi Storici del Trentino, https://www.cultura.trentino.it/archivistorici/unita/851359. Accessed 15 November 2024.
[5] ANZILOTTI, Giulia Mastrelli. 2003. Toponomastica Trentina: i nomi delle località abitate. Trento: Provincia autonomia di Trento, Servizio Benni librari e archistici, page 321.
[6] PROVINCIA AUTONOMA DI TRENTO. ‘Cessione a soluzione di debito, 30 May 1541, Romallo’. Antonio Paternoster of Romallo (son of the late Domenico), acting as agent for Iorio (Giorgio) Paternoster of Romallo (son of the late Paolo) in a legal dissolution of debt owed by Iorio to the Counts of Thun. Archivi Storici del Trentino, https://www.cultura.trentino.it/archivistorici/unita/49951. Accessed 15 November 2024.
[7] GIACOMONI, Fabio. 1991. Carte di Regola e Statuti delle Comunità Rurali Trentine. 3 volume set. Milano: Edizioni Universitarie Jaca, volume 2, page 327-328.
[8] ARCHIVIO DI STATO DI TRENTO, APV Sezione Latina. Capsa 9, 169 1620 Tax Census (Revò, Cloz, Dambel, Romeno, Fondo, Livo, Bozzana).
[9] Revò parish archives, anagraphs, pages 90, 91, and 92 (Romallo, 4 August 1624).
[10] Udalrico was born in Romallo on 29 October 1637 [Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 1, page 156-157].
[11] Revò parish records, marriages, volume 1, no page number.
[12] Margherita died 8 September 1679 [Revò parish records, deaths, volume 1, no page number].
[13] Laurein parish records, baptisms (1620-1899), image 456SLA_01_036, page 33.
[14] You can find the records for Lauregno at this link:
https://www.registriparrocchiali-altoadige.findbuch.net/php/main.php#4b425f4c41555245494e5f4c41555245474e4f
[15] Vigo di Ton parish records, marriages, volume (?), Trento file 4256184_02003, page 116-117. Cattarina’s full name at baptism was Anna Cattarina Antonia.
[16] Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 3, page 290-291. I have put his mother’s name in quotation marks because she was baptised ‘Gertrude’, but known always as ‘Agata’.
[17] Vigo di Ton parish records, baptisms, volume (?), Trento file 4256184_01535, page 128.
[18] Vervò parish records, marriages, volume 2, page 1.
[19] Domenico Paternoster was born in Romallo in August 1619 (it might say the 10th but it is difficult to make out). [Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 1, page 2-3].
[20] Simone Paternoster was born in Cloz on 23 March 1625 [Cloz parish records, baptisms, volume 1, page 35].
[21] The photo on the cover is of the ‘La segheria dei Molini di Malé’ (sawmill of the mill at Malé), which was constructed by the Zanini family (not the Paternoster) in 1774. I am using it as an illustration because it is such a clear image.
[22] Cloz parish records, baptisms, volume 2, no page number.
[23] Giorgio Giuseppe was born in Cagnò on 27 September 1735 [Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 4, page 34-35].
[24] Revò parish records, baptisms, volume 4, page 33.
[25] Marcena di Rumo parish records, baptisms, volume 5, no page number.
[26] His death record (5 February 1845) gives his age, place of origin, wife’s name, and marriage date [Castelfondo parish records, deaths, volume 4, page 44-45].
[27] PARCO FLUVIALE. ‘Muline, seghe e fucine ad acqua in Val di Sole: Il millenario lavoro dell’acqua’. Accessed 20 December 2024 from https://www.parcofluvialealtonoce.tn.it/pun_dettaglio.php?id_pun=2395
[28] The couple married in Cloz on 27 September 1757 [Cloz parish records, marriages, volume 2], but the first child I found for them in Magras was a son named Giovanni Battista, born 29 July 1775 [Magras parish records, baptisms, volume 1, page 70-71].
[29] We find the baptisms of some of their children registered in the curate parish of Magras, but this one is from the mother parish of Malé [Malé parish records, baptisms, volume 5, page 37].
[30] NATI IN TRENTINO. Provincia autonomia di Trento. Database of baptisms registered within the parishes of the Archdiocese of Trento between the years 1815-1923. https://www.natitrentino.mondotrentino.net/.
[31] COGNOMIX. Mappe dei cognomi italiani. ‘Paternoster’. https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani/. Data accurate as of 20 December 2024.
[32] COGNOMI IN TRENTINO-ALTO ADIGE. ‘Paternoster’. https://italia.indettaglio.it/ita/cognomi/cognomi_trentinoaltoadige.html Data accurate as of 20 December 2024.