Grazia’s age is a matter of mystery since she married in her 30s, and 2 years later claimed to be in her 20s.

She is one of my maternal great-great-grandmothers.

Like many early state records, Grazia’s birth is a matter of conjecture. Either she was:

• Born in 1850 or 1851 because she was 33 when she married in 1884¹. She is also listed as being 64 when she died² which suggests this date range is the correct one.
• Born in 1861 or 1862 because she was 24 when her second daughter was born in 1886³.

She was born in Zebbuġ⁴, daughter of Filippo Balzan⁵ and Calcedonia Aquilina⁶.

Family

On Saturday 6 December 1884^{7 8} she married Giovanni Farrugia in the Roman Catholic Basilica of St Helen’s⁹ in Birkirkara, Malta^{10 11}. Canon Pisani officiated^{12 13}.

Together they had many children:

• Annetta
• Florentina
• Emmanuele

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Notable events

Residence

After growing up in Żebbug, according to official documentation, she moved to Birkirkara^{14 15} at some point. Birkirkara was huge at the time, much larger than it is today.

Later in life, she moved to Ħamrun and lived at 59 Villa Ambrosa Street.

Occupation

As was customary in those days, she didn’t work and was always documented as a housewife¹⁶.

Curiosities

There is some confusion around her father’s full name:

• Her wedding certificate lists her father’s surname as Balzan. Since this would have been information she provided, and since he was still alive at the time, I consider this information to be accurate.
• Her death certificate curiously specifies her father’s surname as Baldacchino¹⁷. This is a curious situation because typically the details registered at death are registered by a family member.
• All other details on her death certificate tally which means I am sure this is her death certificate.

I also know that since she died in 1915, this was still at the beginning of proper record keeping and it’s easy to imagine this wasn’t as meticulous as we would like it to be. My conclusion is that I have the correct record, but which has an error in the name of her father.

Death

There’s a teeny doubt about the details in this section, as I explain above.

She died at 22:00¹⁸ on Thursday 5 August 1915¹⁹ at home in Ħamrun, Malta²⁰. She died of kidney failure²¹. Her family buried her at the Maria Addolorata Cemetery²² in Paola, Malta.

References

1. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
2. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
3. Act of birth of Florentina Farrugia; Malta Government state records; 1886-10-14[↩]
4. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
5. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
6. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
7. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
8. Certificate of Marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). Registers of Marriages Held in the Basilica of St Helen, [online] 10, p.385. Available at: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org [Accessed 20 May 2026].[↩]
9. Certificate of Marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). Registers of Marriages Held in the Basilica of St Helen, [online] 10, p.385. Available at: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org [Accessed 20 May 2026].[↩]
10. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
11. Certificate of Marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). Registers of Marriages Held in the Basilica of St Helen, [online] 10, p.385. Available at: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org [Accessed 20 May 2026].[↩]
12. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
13. Certificate of Marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). Registers of Marriages Held in the Basilica of St Helen, [online] 10, p.385. Available at: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org [Accessed 20 May 2026].[↩]
14. Act of marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). [online] (948). Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 20 Aug. 2024][↩]
15. Certificate of Marriage of Giovanni Farrugia and Grazia Balzan. (1884). Registers of Marriages Held in the Basilica of St Helen, [online] 10, p.385. Available at: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org [Accessed 20 May 2026].[↩]
16. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
17. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
18. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
19. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
20. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
21. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]
22. Act of death of Grazia Balzan. (1915). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: https://certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 11 Apr. 2026].[↩]

Family Tree