Mattia Culeddu

Mattia Culeddu, daughter of Antonio Culeddu and Giovanna Maria Biddau, was born in the 1810s or 1820s in Ozieri and died on 23 Aug 1891 in Ozieri at age 67 or 78.

General Notes: Julio Ruffini thinks that the Culeddu name means "little ass," although possibly "little hill." Today, the name appears in Sardinia 39 times, twice in Ozieri: http://elenco.libero.it/elencotel/public/RicercaOmonimie.jsp

Mattia Culeddu’s name is certain: she appears in both of Giovanni Maria Ruffinu’s marriage entries as his living mother. Giovanni Maria's father's name is given as Giuseppe Salvatore Ruffinu. She also appears listed as the mother of Antonio Francesco Ruffinu Culeddu, whose father's name is given as Giovanni Ruffinu. Giuseppe Salvatore and Giovanni appear to have been the same individual; Mattia was therefore the wife of Giovanni (Giuseppe Salvatore) Ruffinu: see the marriage record pictured to the right.

The name Mattia Culeddu appears only once in Ozieri's Italian civil death index. That entry, August 23, 1891, gives Mattia’s age as 78, implying a birth-date in circa 1813. If this is the same woman, it in turn implies an age at maternity of 44 years for the birth of her son Giovanni Maria. In passing, I should note that 78 appears as settantotto, and the first double-t could easily be a double-s but for the stroke through the tops. Could it be an error for the more reassuring age of 68, hence maternity at 34, not 44? I could not find Mattia in the 1813 or 1814 Ozieri baptisms. Nor did I find her in the 1822, 1823 or 1824 baptisms. I did however find a Maria Francisca Culeddu, daughter of the same parents, baptized in 1825: see right.

The material on Mattia's ancestry included above is based on the names of her parents as listed in her death record, item 160 under 1891 on the roll 1805477. In that death entry, Giuseppe Craba, 29, bracciante, and Antonio Francesco Polo, 47, bracciante, report that she died at 7 AM in Vignazza 72. This is the same address given in the birth report of a child Matteo Ruffinu two years later of Giommaria Ruffinu and Francesca Lai. Assuming Francesca is another name for Pietruccia, Mattia died in what may have been her son’s house.