Emmanuele Darmenia was a trader from Valletta, but it’s hard to say what he traded in. Most of the information I have is from official state records.

Emmanuele is my great-great-grandfather.

He was born in Valletta, Malta¹, son of Paolo Darmenia¹ and Teresa Imbroll^{1 2}.

There is some confusion about his birth date:

• According to his death certificates he was born in 1838^{3 4}.
• According to the details from his first marriage, he was born in 1842 or 1843⁵.
• According to both his son’s birth certificate and the details from his second marriage, he was born in 1841^{6 1}.

Maltese state records only go back to 1863 so I will only verify his birth date when I go through Church baptismal records.

Family

On Tuesday 27 June 1876 Emmanuele married local hat-maker⁵ 28-year-old Elisa Felice, daughter of Gio Carlo and Fortunata Brincat⁵. Both of Elisa’s parents were dead at the time of marriage⁵. They married at the church of Our Lady of the Pillar⁵. Fr Gaetano Tommaso Galea officiated⁵.

Amusingly, their marriage certificate misspells their place of marriage as “Valletata”.

On Thursday 24 June 1880 Emmanuele married Rosina née Grech also from Valletta^{1 2}. The church certificate lists her as Rosaria Grech ².

They married in St James Church on Merchants street in Valletta¹. Fr Emmanuel Maria Debono conducted the ceremony^{1 2}.

They registered the marriage on Saturday 10 July 1880¹. It entered the state records on Tuesday 13 July¹.

Emmanuele and Rosina lived in Valletta at least up till 1885⁶. They were living in Cospicua in 1913⁷ and later in Sliema³ but I don’t know when they moved.

Emmanuele and Rosina had the following children:

• Paolo⁶, named after Emmanuele’s father.
• Giuseppe⁷.
• Theresa,
• Lorenzo
• Edward
• Evelyn
• Carmelo
• Albert
• Yvonne

Notable events

In 1876, he described himself as a cabinet maker⁵, which is the same profession as his father’s.

In 1880¹ and in 1885, Emmanuele described himself as a Trafficante (EN: Trader) ⁶.

His death certificate lists him as a Negoziante (EN: shopkeeper) which is another way of saying trader³. It is also possible he downsized from trader to be a shopkeeper later in life.

Either way, since his father was a shopkeeper⁸ it is also possible he continued the family business.

He died in Sliema^{3 4}, and it is reasonable to conclude he died at home, which makes his address 80, San Strofino Street^{3 4}, which was part of the newly-established parish of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.

Death

Emmanuele died at 07:30 on Thursday 18 November 1920^{3 4} of arteriosclerosis and senile myocarditis³. He died at Number 80, San Strofino Street^{3 4}.

Unusually, his surname is mis-recorded as ‘Emmanuele Darmanin’ on his state death certificate³ despite being ‘Darmenia’ on all other official documents. His religious death certificate lists him as Darmenia, so this is a clear mistake on the government’s side.

His family registered his death on Tuesday 23 November 1920³. It entered the state records on Monday 13 December 1920³.

His family buried him at the Addolorata Cemetery in Marsa, Malta^{3 4}.

Lineage

Emmanuele is my great-great-grandfather.

References

1. Act of Marriage of Emmanuele Darmenia and Rosina Grech; 1880-06-24[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Church record of marriage of Emmanuele Darmenia and Rosina Grech; 1880-06-24[↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Act of Death of Emmanuele Darmanin; 1920-11-18[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
4. Death certificate. (1920). I(298), p.100[↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
5. Act of marriage of Emmanuele Darmenia and Elisa Felice. (1876). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 28 Aug. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
6. Act of birth of Paolo Darmenia. (n.d.). [online] (4631). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 24 Apr. 2018][↩][↩][↩][↩]
7. Act of Marriage of Paolo and Paolina Darmenia; 1913-12-01[↩][↩]
8. Act of Death of Paolo Darmenia; 1881-02-07[↩]