Mattia Culeddu

17. Mattia Culeddu [498], daughter of Antonio Culeddu [496] and Giovanna Maria Biddau [495], was born circa 1813 in Ozieri and died on 23 Aug 1891 in Ozieri at age 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. But much else of her life remains confusing.

Mattia Culeddu appears only once in the Ozieri 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. That death entry also lists her as the widow of Giovanni Ruffinu, not the Giuseppe Salvatore Ruffinu known to be the father of her son Giovanni Maria. However, Mattia Culeddu is also listed as the mother of an Antonio Francesco Ruffinu Culeddu, whose father’s name was given as Giovanni Ruffinu.

In short, the possibilities:

1) that Giuseppe Salvatore and Giovanni Ruffinu are the same people referred to variously.

2) that Mattia Culeddu married two Ruffinu men and had at least one son by each, in circa 1855 and 1857 respectively.

3) that two Ruffinu men married two different women named Mattia Culeddu.

4) that some combination of errors has entered these documents.

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 include in this file research on the ancestors of Mattia Culeddu. This material is based on the names of her parents as listed in her death record, item 160 under 1891 on the roll 1805477. I am confident that this ancestry is a reasonable conclusion, but the complications noted above should be taken into account.

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.

Mattia married Giuseppe Salvatore Ruffinu [558] [MRIN: 222].