Living in a much more rural Malta, Grazia was born in Attard, then married someone called Attard before moving to Qormi.

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

She was born on Sunday 21 April 1839¹ in Attard, Malta¹, daughter of Gio Maria Bezzina and Maria Sammut¹. Her parents baptised her on the same day in the parish church¹ as Giuseppa Angelica Teresa Grazia¹. The baptismal register is clear her parents wished her to be known as Grazia¹.

Family

On Sunday 3 July 1864^{2 3}, she married Luigi Attard^{2 3} at the parish church in Attard^{2 3}. Parish priest Fr Antonio Vassallo officiated^{2 3}.

The church entry uses formal Latin versions of their names – Orazia Bezzina and Aloisio Attard.

Together they had 1 child that I know of:

• Giuseppa⁴

Notable events

Ludovico Zarb, a notary, made their marriage declaration to the state². In all other state acts I have, it’s the parish priest who filed the declaration. However, they married in 1864 when the state had just started keeping records. I conclude they treated it extra seriously and sent their notary to deal with the government.

She sent a third-party to register her daughter’s details with the state⁴. This was washerwoman⁴ Francesca Sciberras⁴, who is named on the state certificate because she had to ask for help completing the forms as she was illiterate⁴. It’s not unusual to send someone, but sending a non-family member in Malta’s close-knit society is unusual. I conclude Francesca was a trusted person, possibly helping or working with the family. It implies Grazia’s family was well-off enough to afford hired help.

She declared herself to be 42 at her daughter’s birth⁴, which is 1 year more than her real age. It’s likely this was a small mistake.

Profession

In 1864, she described herself as Lavorante in Terreni² (EN: Works the land), which implies she worked on the family farm since her father was a farmer.

In 1880 she described herself as “without profession”⁴ which is how they described stay-at-home women in those days.

In 1903 her family described her as Agricoltrice⁵ (EN: Farmer) which suggests she worked on the farm in later life. This could have been after her children no longer needed immediate care, or because the estate needed an extra pair of hands.

Residence

She moved to Qormi at some point⁴, before her daughter was born.

Death

She had died by the time her daughter married in 1903⁵.

I have no more information about where or when she died.

References

1. Baptismal entry for Grazia Bezzina. (1839). Liber Baptizatorum 1837 – 1857, [online] 6. Available at https://www.maltaparisharchives.org/catalog [Accessed 20 January. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
2. Act of marriage of Luigi Attard and Grazia Bezzina. (1864). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 6 Nov. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
3. Marriage extract for Orazia Bezzina and Aloisio Attard. (n.d.). Liber Matrimoniorum 1815 – 1871, [online] 4. Available at: https://www.maltaparisharchives.org/catalog [Accessed 10 Jan. 2025][↩][↩][↩][↩]
4. Act of birth of Giuseppa Attard. (1880). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩][↩]
5. Act of marriage of Giuseppa Attard and Giuseppe Borg. (1903). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024][↩][↩]