Living a rural life means it’s hard to be clear about Luigi’s age because of lax record keeping.

He is one of my paternal great-great-grandparents.

His date of birth is a mysterious matter because:

• He declared himself to be 40 when his daughter was born¹, suggesting he was born in 1839 or 1840.
• He declared himself to be 22 when he married in 1864², suggesting he was born in 1841 or 1842

He was born in Qormi², son of Giuseppe Attard² and Alberta Galdes².

Family

On Sunday 3 July 1864^{2 3}, he married Grazia Bezzina^{2 3} at the parish church in Attard². Parish priest Fr Antonio Vassallo officiated^{2 3}.

Together they had at least 10 children⁴:

• Giuseppa¹
• Giorgio Beigno Angelo
• Giovanni Maria Paolo Giorgio
• Giovanni Maria Paolo Giuseppe Giorgio
• Giuseppa Michelina Carmela
• Giuseppe Giovanni Paolo Anton
• Liberata Giorgia Concetta Teresa
• Ludgarda Carmela Maria Giorgia
• Maria Giuseppa Consolata Concetta
• Maria Carmela

The sequence of the children is not clear. While the use of similar names is not unusual, some cases are so close that it’s possible some of these children died soon after childbirth.

Notable events

Their marriage declaration to the state was made by a notary, Ludovico Zarb. All other state marriage certificates are filed by the priest who conducted the Roman Catholic marriage. Since 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.

Profession

In 1864, he declared himself to be a Carrettiere² (EN: Carter). It’s not clear if this means he had a horse and cart or if he was a coachman.

Between 1880 and 1903, he declared himself to be an Agricoltore¹ (EN: farmer)⁵.

Residence

He was born in Qormi but moved to Attard at some point because that’s what he declared when he married².

After marriage, he and his family lived in Qormi because this is where his daughter was born⁶. Since his father was a farmer as well, it is likely he inherited the family business. He would therefore have remained in Qormi to tend the family fields¹.

There is a Luigi Attard living in Qormi mentioned in the electoral register of 1900⁷. He doesn’t appear before or after that date so it’s unclear if this is the same person or not. If so, his address was Contrada tal-Ħlas, Qormi.

Death

He was still alive in 1916 when his granddaughter was born⁶, but he’d died by 1945 when his daughter died⁸.

References

1. Act of birth of Giuseppa Attard. (1880). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024][↩][↩][↩][↩]
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. Extract of Marriage of Luigi Attard and Grazia Bezzina. (1864). Liber Matrimoniorum 1815 – 1871, [online] IV, p.77. Available at: www.maltaparisharchives.org [Accessed 7 Mar. 2025][↩][↩][↩]
4. Velin, N. (2024a). Maltese baptisms – Digital Genealogy. [online] Digital Genealogy. Available at: https://en.geneanum.com/malta/databases/baptisms.html [Accessed 14 Jan. 2025][↩]
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][↩]
6. Act of birth of Maria Borg. (1916). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024][↩][↩]
7. Archive.org. (2025). Electoral register for Malta – 1900. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20180722215202/http://website.lineone.net/~remosliema/voters1900.htm [Accessed 7 Mar. 2025][↩]
8. Act of death of Giuseppa Attard. (1945). Malta Government Public Registry. [online] Available at: www.certifikati.gov.mt [Accessed 1 Oct. 2024][↩]