The Ruffini Family in Sardinia - Revision history

Admin: /* Girolamo Ruffino, Master Mason */

2017-07-10T17:33:39Z

Girolamo Ruffino, Master Mason

Admin: /* Background */

2017-07-10T17:23:23Z

Background

Admin at 17:21, 10 July 2017

2017-07-10T17:21:46Z

Admin: /* History */

2017-07-10T17:18:31Z

History

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Admin: /* Preface */

2017-07-10T16:06:12Z

Preface

Admin at 16:01, 10 July 2017

2017-07-10T16:01:57Z

Admin: /* Preface */

2017-07-10T16:00:30Z

Preface

Admin: /* Preface */

2017-07-10T16:00:12Z

Preface

Admin: Created page with " == Preface == == History == ''The full text of the article will be uploaded in the near future.'' == Afterword == The Neapolitan genealogist located marriage and baptism..."

2017-07-10T15:58:41Z

Created page with " == Preface == == History == ''The full text of the article will be uploaded in the near future.'' == Afterword == The Neapolitan genealogist located marriage and baptism..."

New page

== Preface ==

== History ==
''The full text of the article will be uploaded in the near future.''

== Afterword ==
The Neapolitan genealogist located marriage and baptism records in Naples that indicated that the Domenico and Girolamo Ruffini (aka Ruffino, Rufinu) were brothers, born in Naples, to Santo Rufino and Nicoletta Vuovolo or Huovoli, who were married in Naples December 29, 1701. Santo was born in Accumoli, son of Antonio, approximately in 1681. Nicoletta had been born in Naples March 24, 1685.

There children were:

Luigi Antonio Rufino, born February 28, 1704

Geronimo Michel'Angelo Rufino (our Girolamo and note the middle name!), born September 30, 1705

Domenico Antonio Rosario Rufino (presumably not ours, presumably deceased, as another child later is also named Domenico), born January 29, 1708

Giovanna Antonia Serafina Rufino, born June 24, 1710

Camilla Teresa Lisabetta Rufini (sic), born February 11, 1712

Domenico Antonio Gennaro Rofino (sic) (presumably our ancestor), born January 28, 1714

Those were the children of Santo and Nicoletta. Nicoletta died and Santo married Orsola Barracca, May 9, 1723. Their children were:

Gennaro Giro Rofino (sic), born May 14, 1724

Giuseppe Antonio Giacomo Ruffino (sic), born March 16, 1726

Giacomo Gioacchino Nicola Rufino (sic), born July 26, 1728

Anna Maria Irene Rufino (sic), born October 10, 1730

I can't locate any statement from the genealogist to indicate that the first Domenico died and that the second Domenico is our ancestor, although in the genealogical tree that he provided he did use a larger font for the second Domenico, presumably to indicate that he was our ancestor. Until now I had not thought to ask if he had searched death records for the first Domenico, although I doubt that he did.

Therefore, at this point, we don't have conclusive evidence that the second Domenico is our ancestor. Presumably people could give living children the same first name although I am not aware of the custom. In any case, our ancestor is one of those Domenico, born either in 1708 or 1714, brother of Girolamo and son of Santo and Nicoletta.

@@ Line 399: / Line 399: @@
 I assume he went to Benetutti because he had the offer of work.  I doubt he would have left Sassari, as a skilled craftsman, for Benetutti a remote village of mixed agricultural-pastoral economy, without specific arrangements for work, possibly for a church or to construct houses or public buildings.  I would think that through his family, relatives, or guild contacts he would have been told of work that would be given to him.  He presumably had worked somewhere earlier if he had saved enough to purchase two houses in Benetutti, although, of course, mortgages were common in those days.
-So we have a picture of a successful, ambitious young craftsman willing to take chances and explore new places, arriving and settling down in Benetutti and finding work, possibly thriving.  Benetutti possessed some noble and wealthy families, somewhat more pretentious a place than nearby Nule, which was higher up the mountain and more strictly pastoral.  Girolamo, while residing all this time in Benetutti obviously did not find a wife there.  He did in Nule, perhaps while he was there on some work assignments while living in Benetutti.
+So we have a picture of a successful, ambitious young craftsman willing to take chances and explore new places, arriving and settling down in Benetutti and finding work, possibly thriving.  Benetutti possessed some noble and wealthy families, somewhat more pretentious a place than nearby Nule, which was higher up the mountain and more strictly pastoral.  Girolamo, while residing all this time in Benetutti, met his future wife in Nule, perhaps while he was there on some work assignments.
 A book I have on Nule mentions old photos that display the old traditional buildings of the town before they were stuccoed over and show how fine the stone work was done in those distant times by masons who had to work with less than ideal, modern tools.  I don’t know when those particular buildings were constructed, public buildings as well as homes, but it is possible that Girolamo did work on a number of buildings in Nule prior to his marriage and subsequent residence there.
@@ Line 424: / Line 424: @@
 I suspect he became rather an impediment, at least a pest, possibly a dangerous threat, at least unwelcome in Nule, perhaps forsaken by his family.  Otherwise a population of 1000 people, all of whom well known to each other, with a carefully nurtured sense of community, the men mainly shepherds who spent their lives in the wilderness, and who formed teams to search for missing or stolen animals, would have looked for and found a vulnerable person wandering about helplessly. Or perhaps he often wandered off and returned and it was assumed he would once again return, but this time he didn’t.  We shall never know, but whatever happened, it is a sad story.
 == Luigi Ruffinu, Mason, and the Ozieri Ruffini ==

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 == Background ==
 This document is meant to be the final and complete description of the findings of the research undertaken to learn the history of the Ruffini surname and line in Sardinia.  It was undertaken in an effort to learn the history of the Ruffini; since it is not a Sard name, there was a family legend that the first Ruffini went to Sardinia from France during the Revolutionary War, and there was thus some hope of finding some historical evidence about this line of the family while the others (all of the maternal line – Meloni, Corrozzu, etc.) and all the rest of the paternal line (Lai, Ledda, Culeddu) were so far as could be discerned, anonymous, obscure Sards about which nothing more than dates and places of births, marriages, and deaths could be learned.
@@ Line 79: / Line 77: @@
-== Seventeenth Century Naples
+== Seventeenth Century Naples ==
 Naples during the 17th century (as well as earlier and later, of course) was a center of a rich and thriving art world.  Caravaggio was active there at the beginning of the century and Luca Giordano during most of the rest of it.  Naples was part of the vast Spanish Empire, as was Sardinia, and artists moved back and forth between Naples and Spain, often through Sardinia.  Neapolitan artists were much sought after in Sardinia and contributed enormously to Sardinian sacred art, through paintings and wooden sculpture and golden finishing.
@@ Line 107: / Line 104: @@
-== Girolamo Ruffino, the Painter
+== Girolamo Ruffino, the Painter ==
 Sources:
@@ Line 147: / Line 143: @@
-== Girolamo in Sassari
+== Girolamo in Sassari ==
 I am assuming that Girolamo was born in Naples some time between 1700 and 1710 at the absolute latest, more likely no later than 1705, perhaps before 1700, but these are only guesses.  Scano, see below, has him painting at Sant’Antonio Abate at the beginning of the church itself, some time between 1701 and 1707 with no convincing evidence.  Sari, with no evidence that I can see, has him doing that same painting some time before 1729.  Since the next known painting is in 1734 and for other reasons, it is safe to discount Scano and assume that if he painted some time before 1729 (let us say 1728) he would have been a young, but reasonably established painter in Naples when he arrived in Sassari, or younger, not yet established in Naples, but with excellent contacts there and in Sassari, enabling him to acquire the commission for the painting at St. Antonio Abate.
@@ Line 342: / Line 337: @@
-== Domenico Ruffino, the Painter
+== Domenico Ruffino, the Painter ==
 Sources:  We learned the little we know of him largely ourselves, with the parish records at Ozieri and Nule; the parish records at the Archivio Diocesano in Sassari; a notary act in Benetutti located by my research assistant; and the information provided by Dott. Schoeneberger.  It is also possible that Domenico Ruffino is also Mastru Domingo, Napoletano, who is known for a painting at a church in Cagliari.  If so, that information was given to me by Tola, and I discovered it myself later in a book and have a copy of the page of the convent records that record the contract for a painting.  But we do not know whether they are the same person.
@@ Line 395: / Line 389: @@
-== Girolamo Ruffino, Master Mason
+== Girolamo Ruffino, Master Mason ==
 We do not know when or even where he was born, presumably some time prior to 1755 (he bought two houses in Benetutti in 1779 and could not have done so as a minor, which is up to the age of 25).  Probably he was born before his sister Nicoleta, who was born in 1751, since at the time of her death in 1752 the family was living in San Nicola parish and two daughters were born there in 1752 and 1756, and a perusal of those records for that time period did not disclose his birth.  If he was born around 1750 he would have been 40 when he married in Nule in 1790.  That is our first documental evidence for him.  Earlier we had learned from the civil records of Nule that Luigi, born in Nule, had a Girolamo as his father.
@@ Line 435: / Line 428: @@
-== Luigi Ruffinu, Mason, and the Ozieri Ruffini
+== Luigi Ruffinu, Mason, and the Ozieri Ruffini ==
 Most of the information in this last section was obtained by Nino from the civil records, followed up by our search of the Ozieri and Nule parish records, and later by some atti notarili, and the legal proceedings regarding another Luigi, my uncle.
@@ Line 444: / Line 436: @@
 Luigi married again in 1831.  His wife was Francesca Farre/Crabangiu.  There were six children from that marriage.
-The Nule cadastal records indicate that he owned just over 13 hectares of land.  In 1860 six of those hectares were alienated to his children Giovanna, Nicolo, and Giovanni Antonio (Farre).
+The Nule cadastral records indicate that he owned just over 13 hectares of land.  In 1860 six of those hectares were alienated to his children Giovanna, Nicolo, and Giovanni Antonio (Farre).
 The Nule civil rolls state that he died in 1870, and gave his age as 81, which would be incorrect, as he was born between 1793 and 1795.  He was described as a muratore, or mason, of Monte Cabadino, which I presently take to be a neighborhood of Nule.  He was also described as a muratore in the Ozieri civil records.
@@ Line 459: / Line 451: @@
-== Giuseppe Salvatore (aka Giovanni) Ruffinu
+== Giuseppe Salvatore (aka Giovanni) Ruffinu ==
 Before I knew of the sad end of Girolamo in the wilderness of Nule, I had the idea that the Nulese Ruffini had done fairly well, while the Ruffini who left Nule for Ozieri fared less well, perhaps even badly.  Knowing now as we do about Girolamo’s end we no longer have such a rosy picture of the Nulese Ruffini.   Still, the family seemed to do well enough there, as witnessed by Luigi’s possession of 13 hectares of land, not a bad property, perhaps vineyard, olives, fruit trees, vegetable garden, maybe even some grain planted.
@@ Line 477: / Line 468: @@
-== Govanni Maria (Giommaria) Ruffinu, Contadino or Bracciante
+== Govanni Maria (Giommaria) Ruffinu, Contadino or Bracciante ==
 He is thus variously described in the Ozieri civil records, peasant or day laborer.  Zia always told me that he worked in a vineyard, and I took that to mean he made a living from it, but I never ascertained definitely whether he was able to make a living from a vineyard of his own or whether he merely owned a small, family vineyard as many people did and do, only sufficient for the family or less, or whether he worked for other people in their vineyards.  We were recently able to find land records which showed that he did in fact at least own a very, very small vineyard, on the road to Nughedu, but it would certainly not have been sufficient to make a living.  Perhaps he had earlier had more land which was sold or inherited by various people, we don’t know.
@@ Line 517: / Line 507: @@
-== Giovanni Ruffinu, American
+== Giovanni Ruffinu, American ==
 Strictly speaking, this family saga is restricted to the Sardinia Ruffini, so it will say little about Giovanni.  For a fuller description please see Nino’s excellent webpage.
@@ Line 535: / Line 524: @@
-== Luigi Ruffinu, Thief?  Or Victim of Unjust Accusations?
+== Luigi Ruffinu, Thief?  Or Victim of Unjust Accusations? ==
 Luigi Ruffinu is my uncle, the brother of my father, son of Giovanni Maria Ruffinu and Pietruccia Lai.  He was born in Ozieri February 16, 1893, six years after Giovanni.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-The Preface, History, and Afterword below were written by [[Giulio Laurenzo Ruffini]].
+The contents of this page were written by [[Giulio Laurenzo Ruffini]]. The preface and afterword were written in July 2017, and the main text written in November 2012.
 == Preface ==
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 So, the updated Ruffini Family in Sardinia, originally a single document written in 2012, now contains two additional brief segments, this updated introduction at the beginning, and at the end a brief description of the information obtained in Naples (along with the sad notice that further efforts to extend our knowledge beyond Antonio were demolished with the church in Accumoli in the earthquake that occurred there and in the surrounding region in 2016; the genealogist in Naples had offered to go there to continue the search several years ago but I declined the offer, to my regret).
-== History ==
+== Background ==
 BACKGROUND
@@ Line 80: / Line 79: @@
+== Seventeenth Century Naples
-Seventeenth Century Naples
+ ==
 Naples during the 17th century (as well as earlier and later, of course) was a center of a rich and thriving art world.  Caravaggio was active there at the beginning of the century and Luca Giordano during most of the rest of it.  Naples was part of the vast Spanish Empire, as was Sardinia, and artists moved back and forth between Naples and Spain, often through Sardinia.  Neapolitan artists were much sought after in Sardinia and contributed enormously to Sardinian sacred art, through paintings and wooden sculpture and golden finishing.
@@ Line 107: / Line 106: @@
 Girolamo Ruffino, the Painter
 Sources:
@@ Line 145: / Line 146: @@
 All of the following information on Girolamo pertaining to artistic works comes from the secondary sources and originally presumably from the church registri.  Atti notarili provide most of the sources for the other activities recounted.
-Girolamo in Sassari:
 I am assuming that Girolamo was born in Naples some time between 1700 and 1710 at the absolute latest, more likely no later than 1705, perhaps before 1700, but these are only guesses.  Scano, see below, has him painting at Sant’Antonio Abate at the beginning of the church itself, some time between 1701 and 1707 with no convincing evidence.  Sari, with no evidence that I can see, has him doing that same painting some time before 1729.  Since the next known painting is in 1734 and for other reasons, it is safe to discount Scano and assume that if he painted some time before 1729 (let us say 1728) he would have been a young, but reasonably established painter in Naples when he arrived in Sassari, or younger, not yet established in Naples, but with excellent contacts there and in Sassari, enabling him to acquire the commission for the painting at St. Antonio Abate.
@@ Line 338: / Line 341: @@
 Domenico Ruffino, the Painter
 Sources:  We learned the little we know of him largely ourselves, with the parish records at Ozieri and Nule; the parish records at the Archivio Diocesano in Sassari; a notary act in Benetutti located by my research assistant; and the information provided by Dott. Schoeneberger.  It is also possible that Domenico Ruffino is also Mastru Domingo, Napoletano, who is known for a painting at a church in Cagliari.  If so, that information was given to me by Tola, and I discovered it myself later in a book and have a copy of the page of the convent records that record the contract for a painting.  But we do not know whether they are the same person.
@@ Line 389: / Line 394: @@
 Girolamo Ruffino, Master Mason
 We do not know when or even where he was born, presumably some time prior to 1755 (he bought two houses in Benetutti in 1779 and could not have done so as a minor, which is up to the age of 25).  Probably he was born before his sister Nicoleta, who was born in 1751, since at the time of her death in 1752 the family was living in San Nicola parish and two daughters were born there in 1752 and 1756, and a perusal of those records for that time period did not disclose his birth.  If he was born around 1750 he would have been 40 when he married in Nule in 1790.  That is our first documental evidence for him.  Earlier we had learned from the civil records of Nule that Luigi, born in Nule, had a Girolamo as his father.
@@ Line 427: / Line 434: @@
 Luigi Ruffinu, Mason, and the Ozieri Ruffini
 Most of the information in this last section was obtained by Nino from the civil records, followed up by our search of the Ozieri and Nule parish records, and later by some atti notarili, and the legal proceedings regarding another Luigi, my uncle.
@@ Line 449: / Line 458: @@
 Giuseppe Salvatore (aka Giovanni) Ruffinu
 Before I knew of the sad end of Girolamo in the wilderness of Nule, I had the idea that the Nulese Ruffini had done fairly well, while the Ruffini who left Nule for Ozieri fared less well, perhaps even badly.  Knowing now as we do about Girolamo’s end we no longer have such a rosy picture of the Nulese Ruffini.   Still, the family seemed to do well enough there, as witnessed by Luigi’s possession of 13 hectares of land, not a bad property, perhaps vineyard, olives, fruit trees, vegetable garden, maybe even some grain planted.
@@ Line 465: / Line 476: @@
 Govanni Maria (Giommaria) Ruffinu, Contadino or Bracciante
 He is thus variously described in the Ozieri civil records, peasant or day laborer.  Zia always told me that he worked in a vineyard, and I took that to mean he made a living from it, but I never ascertained definitely whether he was able to make a living from a vineyard of his own or whether he merely owned a small, family vineyard as many people did and do, only sufficient for the family or less, or whether he worked for other people in their vineyards.  We were recently able to find land records which showed that he did in fact at least own a very, very small vineyard, on the road to Nughedu, but it would certainly not have been sufficient to make a living.  Perhaps he had earlier had more land which was sold or inherited by various people, we don’t know.
@@ Line 503: / Line 516: @@
 Giovanni Ruffinu, American
 Strictly speaking, this family saga is restricted to the Sardinia Ruffini, so it will say little about Giovanni.  For a fuller description please see Nino’s excellent webpage.
@@ Line 519: / Line 534: @@
 Luigi Ruffinu, Thief?  Or Victim of Unjust Accusations?
 Luigi Ruffinu is my uncle, the brother of my father, son of Giovanni Maria Ruffinu and Pietruccia Lai.  He was born in Ozieri February 16, 1893, six years after Giovanni.

@@ Line 11: / Line 11: @@
 Rather than going through the original document to make changes to reflect this new information, we decided to leave the original document intact, as a testament to our speculations at the time regarding the pre-Sardinian data.
-So, the updated Ruffini Family in Sardinia, originally a single document written in 2012, now contains two additional brief segments, this updated introduction at the beginning, and at the end a brief description of the information obtained in Naples (along with the sad notice that further efforts to extend our knowledge beyond Antonio, were demolished with the church in Accumoli in the earthquake that occurred there and in the surrounding region in 2016; the genealogist in Naples had offered to go there to continue the search several years ago but I declined the offer, to my regret).
+So, the updated Ruffini Family in Sardinia, originally a single document written in 2012, now contains two additional brief segments, this updated introduction at the beginning, and at the end a brief description of the information obtained in Naples (along with the sad notice that further efforts to extend our knowledge beyond Antonio were demolished with the church in Accumoli in the earthquake that occurred there and in the surrounding region in 2016; the genealogist in Naples had offered to go there to continue the search several years ago but I declined the offer, to my regret).
 == History ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:01, 10 July 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	The Preface, History, and Afterword below were written by [[Giulio Laurenzo Ruffini]].

	== Preface ==		== Preface ==

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 ''Update to Ruffini Family in Sardinia, July 3, 2017
 ''
 The following document was written in 2012, after we had completed our research on the Ruffini family in Sardinia.  We thought, at the time that we could learn no more.  Later, however, we hired a genealogist in Naples who obtained valuable information on our ancestor Domenico and his famous brother Girolamo.

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:00, 10 July 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:

	== Preface ==		== Preface ==
		+	''Update to Ruffini Family in Sardinia, July 3, 2017
		+	''
		+	The following document was written in 2012, after we had completed our research on the Ruffini family in Sardinia. We thought, at the time that we could learn no more. Later, however, we hired a genealogist in Naples who obtained valuable information on our ancestor Domenico and his famous brother Girolamo.

		+	The genealogist obtained church records that linked the Sardinian Ruffini to the Ruffini in Naples and back to the earliest Ruffini now known to us, Antonio, from the small village in Central Italy, Accumoli, in the 17th century.

		+	Rather than going through the original document to make changes to reflect this new information, we decided to leave the original document intact, as a testament to our speculations at the time regarding the pre-Sardinian data.
		+
		+	So, the updated Ruffini Family in Sardinia, originally a single document written in 2012, now contains two additional brief segments, this updated introduction at the beginning, and at the end a brief description of the information obtained in Naples (along with the sad notice that further efforts to extend our knowledge beyond Antonio, were demolished with the church in Accumoli in the earthquake that occurred there and in the surrounding region in 2016; the genealogist in Naples had offered to go there to continue the search several years ago but I declined the offer, to my regret).

	== History ==		== History ==