Dear all, I would be extremely grateful for help or guidance on the following please, which I'm stuck on. I am researching a lovely series of letters from an Italian family called Massoni dated 1813-1822. They wrote regularly to an English naval officer they had befriended, Lieutenant John Monk. I know quite a bit about the family from these letters, but to my surprise, I'm really struggling to find an identification of them more widely.
What I know for sure:
Parents:
Marcello Massoni (b. around 1760?)
m. name unknown
Children:
Nora / Norina (b. about 1795?)
- Amiti (daughter)
Teresa (b. about 1800?)
Carlo (b. abt 1805?)
m. Marietta Farini (b. abt 1805?)
- Francesco (son)
- Thomaso (son)
Guiseppe (b. abt 1806?)
Pietro (b. abt 1808?)
Marco (b. abt 1810?)
The Massonis had a large house in Carignano, on a hill overlooking Genoa, and had a country house with large garden in Corsanico.
In 1869, John Monk's nephews were in Genoa on business and decided to look up the Massoni family from their uncle's tales. They met Marietta Massoni, the widow of Carlo, together with her two sons Francesco and Tommaso, and her nephew Amiti, the son of Norina.
After capturing Genoa in 1813, the British set up a provisional government, of which a Marcello Massoni was part. I don't know if he is the same one.
From the letters it is likely that my Marcello was a lawyer. There was a local lawyer at the time called Marcel Massone.
My further research has just met dead ends and wrong paths:
I've looked for Marietta Massoni, but the one I've found was married to Nicola Massone, architect, and had different children (Louise, Laurent, Agata).
In Benevento, there is a Palazzo Massone of San Lorenzello, but again I think that this is a different Massone family.
Even within the family, the surname seems to change from Massoni to Massone sometimes. Do Italian surnames follow the gender of the person, or it is just a name in transition?
From other research I'd done, I felt sure that the certainty I have about the family's names would be helpful, but I'm getting nowhere! There is nothing obvious on Ancestry or FindMyPast. Is there a different site more commonly used by Italian genealogists?
V best wishes, Simon
